December

What an interesting month it has been so far.  Two weeks spent in Western Australia with my Mum and then bringing her back with me to spend time with family in Victoria.  The trip to and from Western Australia is a long one.  It involves a two and a half hour train journey to Perth, a taxi ride to the airport and then waiting time for the plane departure and a three to three and a half plane ride depending on the wind.  We get on the train at 11.00am and get back into Melbourne about 11.30pm which includes a three or two hour time difference depending on daylight saving.  It's a hour by car from the airport to our home so it makes for rather a long day.  Mum is just the best person to travel with and despite her mobility difficulties and age, she never complains.  

One very sad thing happened before we left Western Australia, we had to say goodbye to Mum's beautiful 18 year old cat Humphrey.  He has been a great farm cat catching mice and rabbits and a loving companion to Dad and Mum.

Last Tuesday I took Mum to one of our large shopping centres for a little Christmas shopping and a bit of a look around.  We had a fun girly time and were successful in our purchases.  And then on

 Thursday evening we took Mum to see a productions of the ballet Sleeping Beauty at the State Theatre, at The Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne.  It was such a treat for us all but especially Mum who has never seen a live ballet production of that quality before.  The dancing, costumes and orchestra were wonderful and as we had a special seat for Mum, we were quite close to the stage and had a very good view.

Members of the household were ill last week with a head cold, thankfully Mum only got it mildly, and in amongst that our washing machine broke down.  It was only 5-6 years old, they just don't make things to last anymore.  Genevieve and I became sick on the weekend and are still recovering and hoping to be feeling much better on Christmas Day.  My sister is hosting Christmas this year so the pressure is not great.  It doesn't matter if the house isn't cleaned, that can be attended to after we feel better.   I have some baking and cooking to do for Christmas lunch which can be done tomorrow.  The big grocery shop is on today after the delivery of a new washing machine.  Hubby is on holidays so I'm enlisting his help.

In other news, we have been enjoying cherries from a local orchard and bought from a road side stall.  They are big, sweet, fat and juicy.

We also had our first harvest of home grown beans with our dinner last night.  They were beautiful.  Even the youngest lady in the house who doesn't care for beans said how much nicer they were than those bought from the supermarket.

A little bit of seasonal decorating has been taking place.

Just the other day I received a lovely calendar from Louise of Ramblings of a Roaching.

I get to try a different recipe each month and here are two I'm looking forward to trying.  The scenes in the calendar are beautiful.

 
Thank you Louise for such a lovely calendar.

I would like to wish everyone a beautiful, peaceful and happy Christmas sharing this special time of the year with family and friends.  Thank you for continuing to follow my blog despite my sparrodic posts, it is much appreciated.

Take care,

Anne xx

Catch up

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and from the posts I've had time to look at it seems that you did.

It has been very busy here since I left Western Australia with Mum so she could visit with us here in Melbourne.  The time has gone very quickly and tomorrow she flies home to Western Australia with my sister.  We've loved having her stay with us and the time spent with our family before Christmas was quiet which I think was very much needed after the trip over which seemed to take forever after our flight was delayed by three hours.  It had us arriving in Melbourne at 2.20am which was just little bit late for my liking.  Anyway we recovered and had a very enjoyable Christmas.  

Genevieve took control of the table decoration and I think she did a fabulous job.

Here is Charlotte well and truly getting into the spirit of things.

Boxing Day was spent with hubby's family in Ballarat where we met for a picnic lunch.  Yet more yummy food was consumed and we had a fantastic time relaxing and catching up with family we don't see very often.  It is hard being so far away from family so we certainly enjoy the times when we get together.

We spent New Years Eve at my sisters house and had the most wonderful time.  The weather was perfect and we ate outside.  Mum had a fabulous time enjoying being with family and enjoying the spirit of seeing the New Year in.  We were wondering if some of us would make it though as we were all a bit sleepy.

I've been catching up with Mum while she's been at my sister's house and we went out to lunch at a cafe in lovely garden nursery on Friday.  I came home with two spectacular plants, one I've never seen before and another I've always wanted to buy but never seen available anywhere.  So it was a good day.

I'm very excited to say the studio is finished on the inside and now all my bits and pieces are in their place.  I bought a nice long table, another storage unit and a task light from Ikea which have been assembled and set up.  I also bought an office chair from Officeworks which will not remain black for much longer.  I have much to do in completing this space and making it look how I want it, but the basics are there and it is a truly wonderful space to work in.  My thanks to my wonderful hubby who has made this dream possible and come true.  Here are a few photos of how it's looking at the moment.

We still need stairs to be made to get into the studio but we have something temporary in place until hubby has the time to make them.  The guttering also needs to be done but it too can wait.  My hard working hubby needs a good rest before he tackles those two things.

Hubby made me a key ring for the studio key, a little Christmas gift.  I love it.

I received a beautiful calendar from Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling blog.  We exchange calendars each year which I think is so lovely.  I adore the Christmas paper the calendar was wrapped in the card is just so beautiful.  Thank you Louise, the calendar is gorgeous and is hanging up where I can see it when I'm in the kitchen.

Now that the studio is completed the room that use to house all my craft gear as been removed and made into our guest room.  I was remaking the bed the other day and had to leave the room to attend to something else.  When I came back there was a very suspicious lump under the top sheet.  My suspicions turned out to be correct.

It was Bungee.  This poor baby had to have his teeth cleaned with the possibility of one tooth to be removed at the vet last week.  When I went to pick him up he had had five teeth removed.  I felt ever so sorry for him.  His teeth were in worse condition than what we originally thought.  The good news is he is back to his old self and eating well.

Just one more photo for you.  I planted this pale pink pelargonium only a few months ago from a cutting.  It is flowering profusely and looks so pretty sitting in amongst the blossoms of the pendorea just above.

It's good to be back in blogland and hopefully there won't be such a gap in time between this post and the next.

Anne  xx

Harvesting on the farm

I'm currently in Western Australia on the farm spending some time with Mum until we fly back to Melbourne where she will be having a holiday and spending Christmas with us and my siblings and families.

It's harvesting time on the farm, almost at the end of it with only a few more paddocks to do.  Late yesterday afternoon I hitched a ride with my big brother on the harvester and did a few laps around the paddock with him.  Here are a few photos taken while on and off board.

Big brother approaching on his harvester

Filling up the field bin.  The grain is loaded onto my cousins truck and taken to the wheat silo in the local town.

My nephew on his harvester.

The big brother.  He's an AWESOME farmer.

I crouched down to take this photo of this wheat yet to be harvested.

So good to be back in wide open spaces, big blue skies and plenty of sunshine.

Anne  xx

Very rustic multi-sized fruit mince pies

I finally made them, the fruit mince pies that is.  They've turned out very higgledy piggledy (I like to think of them as rustic), a bit like the state of my mind at present.  Nevertheless they've been baked, are in the container and being slowly devoured.

I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas and New Year.  Enjoy your time with family and friends, eat, drink and be merry.  See you soon.

Anne  xx

Queen of Kong

Yesterday I took our cats Stripey and Bungee to the vet for their annual checkup and vaccinations.  I'm happy to say that at 12 years of age they are both doing well and Stripey's hypothyroidism is under control with tablets twice a day.  

While talking to the vet, I took the opportunity to mention Sophie's recent reaction to the brisket bone I gave her and he said that some dogs can react badly to the fat content of the bone.  He said the boiled rice and chicken I was giving her while she was sick was the perfect bland diet until she had recovered which she now is, thankfully.

When Sophie was a puppy I bought her a Kong which has long since been destroyed.  So while I was paying the bill at the vet I took the opportunity to buy her a new Kong and a one of those manufactured bones that is good for chewing but wont do her any harm.  I'm saving the bone to give her on Christmas Day as we will be spending the day away from home with my sister.

When I got home, I filled the Kong with pieces of homemade bread crust and gave it to Sophie.  She had so much fun and was kept occupied for hours trying to get that bread out.  Here are a few photos of her enjoying herself.

Charlotte in the background and evidence of dog hair under the occasional table.  :)  Oh and evidence of a happy, well treated dog!!

The Kong has rolled under the sofa and Sophie is waiting for me to get it out for her. 

So cute with that tongue hanging out.

She looks pretty good doesn't she?!  At this moment she is out on the back deck sleeping in the sunshine.  She asked to go out and is very content snoozing away the hours.  Stripey is trying to climb on my lap while I'm typing this post and purring loudly in my ear.  There is nothing quite as wonderful as a purring cat.

Well I'm off to make pastry for Christmas mince pies.  The fruit mince has been happily doing it's thing in the fridge the past few days.  It smells divine.  I'm not sure if it's the brandy or the lemon rind but the proof will be in the tasting I'm sure.

Have a wonderful weekend and good luck with your last minute shopping, baking and general preparation for Christmas.  Have FUN!

Anne  xx

In my neighbourhood and what my dog did!

 Yesterday when I was driving to yoga class I passed this front yard all decked out with Christmas hats and giant candy canes.  I didn't have my camera with me so went back today to take this photo.  The house is set quite a way off the road so I tentatively made my way up to get a closer look.  I think it's rather a cute idea. 

 

Last Sunday afternoon hubby and I went to the local movie cinema to see the latest Bond movie which we enjoyed immensely.  In front of the car park and on the main road through our local town was this fantastic yarn bombed tree.  I took the following photos today too.

 

 

 Someone has put an incredible amount of work into this display and I love the bird cage too.

Now to the DOG!!!

I love my dog, I really do, but sometimes I don't like what she does.  In the last six months (please bare in mind we are talking about a 10 year old dog not a puppy), she has developed some not so nice habits like getting out of the yard, trying to dig under the gate and upending my pot plants on the back deck.  I did wonder if she was letting me know she wasn't happy that I left her for two months in May/June while traveling in Europe and the times I've visited Western Australia this year.  (She's always been at home and with family members).  She usually sleeps out on the deck at night in a very nice sheltered and warm kennel but as I was feeling sorry for her, we started to let her sleep in side.  She then developed another bad habit of sleeping on our lounge chairs which is NOT allowed.  Perhaps you may think I'm harsh but she is a pale Labrador and Labradors shed two coats of hair.  We have fabric lounge chairs and her hair gets stuck in the fibers resulting in vacuuming taking 30 minutes for one lounge chair. It's bad enough having two white haired cats let alone a dog that when she wags her tail, she sheds enough hair to stuff multiple pillows and cushions.  

Yes, it's a bit of a long winded story so if you are still with me well done and thank you for your patience.  In my wisdom (not so wise I since discovered), I bought a lovely big brisket bone for her thinking it would keep her busy during the night while she got use to sleeping outside again.  It did keep her quiet and out of my pot plants but two days later made her very sick with diarrhea and vomiting.  I felt so bad for her but she had to stay outside the second night because she was so unwell.  Apparently not too sick to do this though.

The guilty party.

  She is well again thankfully after a diet of boiled rice and chicken but I'm still not going to let her inside at night because she will be up on the chairs again.  We've tried putting things on the lounge chairs to stop her climbing up, so much so that we had boxes, bags and other paraphernalia nearly up to the ceiling.  We tried putting sachets of smelly things unpleasant to dogs like eucalyptus and tea tree oil on the lounges, we even sprayed eucalyptus air freshener near the chairs but to no avail.  After I cleaned up the above mess I decided that I would pour a liberal amount rosemary essential oil over the pot plants in an effort to keep her from upending them again.  It has worked for the last two nights, so fingers crossed she is breaking a bad habit.

Never a dull moment eh?!

May you all have moments filled with peace and well behaved dogs (if you have one) in the lead up to Christmas.

Anne  xx

 

Festive images

Yesterday I did a little Christmas decorating in our lounge room.  I love turning off the main lights and letting the Christmas lights take over.

 

 

 Have a fabulous weekend everyone,

Anne  xx

Christmas Cracker Swap 2012 and an update on Dad

In November I stumbled across Tracy at  Made About Bags blog and as she was organising a Christmas Cracker swap I decided to join in.  I was paired with Kimberley from Creative Chaos
who lives just across the ocean from me in New Zealand.

I had to get my cracker off to Kimberley well before the deadline as I was going to be in Western Australia.  When I returned home my Christmas Cracker from Kimberley was waiting for me.  I love what she sent me all wrapped up in very pretty Christmas fabric with a gorgeous card.

In my cracker was a very handy Christmas tree biscuit cutter.  I'll be using it to make white chocolate drizzled shortbread for Christmas.  Also included was some Eco soap, some red starry buttons (always handy for a Christmas crafty project), a craft pen, candy cane, reindeer ornament, a kiwi cross stitch, chocolate (already eaten) and the most beautiful handmade house ornament to hang on our tree.  My photos don't do it justice unfortunately.

Part of the swap was including something handmade so I made this little bird below for Kimberley to hang on her Christmas tree if she likes.  I had a lot of fun designing and making my little bird.  I know I have a huge stash of craft products but I didn't have to buy anything for this project, it was all to hand.  The silver decoration on the tail and feet are jewellery findings.

Thank you to everyone who has left comments about Dad.  He is currently having a stay in hospital for observation and adjustment to medication.  In the two weeks while I was home in Western Australia I saw him become even more frail and needing more assistance than can be provided at home.  Health wise he is as good as can be expected in the circumstances, eating quite well which is wonderful and mostly on oxygen all the time.  He is quite chirpy when speaking on the phone, so I know he is comfortable.  After his hospital stay he may spend some time in a care facility in a local town which cares for elderly people.  It is very hard for Dad and Mum to be separated, with Mum living at home.  Despite the fact that Dad is very unwell, he and I had many lovely conversations and lots of joking around.  It was a very special time in many ways.  We were able to help Mum with organising some things in the home to make it easier for her and had a number of giggling sessions along the way.

 I would like to make mention of my two nephews who live very close to my parents on my brother's farm.  They are wonderful young men who were and are willing to help out in anyway they can.  I'm so very proud of who they have become as people, they are a credit to their parents.  Thanks fellas, knowing you are nearby to help out  makes it just that little bit easier living so far away.

Something resembling normal blogging will resume soon.  I have many photos to share during the time spent in Western Australia.  Many of them were taken by Genevieve who seems to have quite a knack for taking artistic photos.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,

Anne  xx