Summer arrives in The Antipodes this Friday. This traditionally means that the sunshine arrives, together with mangoes, expensive prawns, not quite ripe avocadoes that cost the GDP of a small country, our bbqs are back in use, the passionfruit vine is pumping out it’s fruit, the baby zucchinis are flowering and in our little patch of the South Coast our chooks are laying and the flies are out in force. We have social gatherings left right and centre, there are various lists of varying length and importance outlining Xmas gifts and copious quantities of the festive food and drink necessary to make it “feel like Christmas”. This involves a disgusting amount of squishy cheese and an embarrassing amount of prosecco. Aaah it’s definitely the most wonderful time of the year!

All of these things have an impact on life in The Meadow but annoyingly I think the flies are winning this week. The new farmers have in their wisdom placed 4 grain feeders for the heifers within 200 metres of our house. This is convenient for them as the trucks can easily access the paddock to refill the feeders but for us it is rather annoying seeing as they have 300 acres they could have used. Needless to say the little cows are quite pleased with the extra feed in their diet and congregate, mooing and eating as if it was their local pub. This is all well and good but where cows congregate, flies gather in droves and on their way to and fro from the cows they pop into our garden to investigate any potential delicacies that we may have for them. We are forced to wear the very latest in headgear as we work outside, looking very fetching in a fly net as we sweat and toil. Thank goodness as darkness approaches the little buggers leave us in peace although it won’t be long until the mozzies come out to play! Am I selling the Aussie Country Life to you all yet???

Despite the flies there is a sense of excitement (or for some people it’s more a sense of dread) about the impending Festivities and all that entails. I’m feeling quite smug this year as my gifts have already landed in the UK a whole month prior to the Big Day. I was spurred on by my BIG fail last year when my gift for my dear little Great Niece aged 5 didn’t arrive until January and I was deemed unworthy (not by her but by me). I have lists for my immediate family that are gradually getting crossed off and next week I will venture up into the loft in the garage to find all the Xmas decorations and dress the main part of the house with jaunty baubles and felt gnomes and elves! The tree (always a real one) will be installed about 10 days before Jesus’ birthday and then as we smell the pine needles it really does begin to feel a lot more like Christmas.

So for now it’s more about the Christmas parties, lunches and dinners that all need to be squeezed in with people we either don’t see all year or those that we hang out with all the time. Slightly crazy but hey, it’s that time of the year. We started the ball rolling last week with a Xmas lunch with my FUN (Females United Networking) ladies in beautiful Kangaroo Valley at the tranquil and beautifully put together Jacks Corner Retreat which is available to rent for weekend or weekly retreats or family get togethers. This is owned and run by our fearless leader Belinda and she put together a lovely lunch for 21 of us followed by a raucous Secret Santa where we all nicked each others prezzies or hid those that we didn’t want to give away!  http://belindaestate.wixsite.com/jackscornerretreat

The main reason we were all getting together, apart from to celebrate the season, was to hand in our bags for Share The Dignity. This is a charity that came about because women and girls who were doing it tough or were in homeless shelters had no money for food let alone sanitary products so for the past few years this charity has provided these items to help improve the dignity for these women.

The ‘It’s In the Bag’ Christmas campaign is one of their major appeals, collecting donations of pre-loved handbags filled with essentials and a few little luxuries, which are then redistributed to women’s shelters and charities who work with homeless women. They are generally filled with essentials such as shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, tampons and pads. And then add a few little luxuries that would make someone smile such as a lip balm or moisturiser, book or magazine, a scarf or pair of socks. Individuals are also asked to add a message of support to let the girls and women know that they are special and someone cares about them.

It was a great day and hopefully our bags will make a small but helpful difference to some of the many women and teenagers suffering in refuges around Australia. Next year I will start collecting items much earlier and will include a few more meaningful items to my bag. http://www.sharethedignity.com.au

From Kangaroo Valley to Melbourne…My husband’s company had generously invited me to their work Xmas party at the iconic Donovans Restaurant on St Kilda Beach. As I had only previously met a handful of his colleagues this was a wonderful way to get to know a few more of them and we had a fantastic night in this beautiful restaurant with great food and wines. Thanks so much for including me guys.

We had spent the previous couple of nights in Melbourne while he worked and I had an opportunity to catch the tram into the City and do a bit of Xmas shopping. It is a great town and they certainly know how to dress it up for the holidays. It has a European flavour and the public transport makes getting around a breeze. I can see why people love living there despite the changeable weather. We were so lucky with temps of 28-32 every day we were there!

Then it was back to Sydney just in time to celebrate a good friend’s 80th birthday. He was one of Wayne’s first bosses and really taught him a lot about trading and sales and we have witnessed their children grow up and become parents themselves so this was more like a family occasion to us! They live in a lovely home with a glorious outlook to Sydney harbour, a great spot for a party! Our 1am finish is testament to the fact that you don’t have to be young to know how to enjoy yourselves – those octogenarians have staying power that’s for sure!

After all this socialising and travelling we were happy to get home to our little patch of serenity. I couldn’t believe how much the veggies had grown in 4 days – the tomatoes were a foot taller and we had a forest of asparagus!! We are finally eating our own tomatoes (soooo different from the supermarket variety) and the baby zucchinis are prolific so we will be able to eat from our own crops again soon. Eggplant, cucumbers, capsicum, beetroot, beans, radishes, lettuce, herbs, spinach as well as a tree laden with apricots, passionfruit, rhubarb and a gazillion baby apples all potentially up for the dining table in the coming weeks and months. We occasionally let the chooks out into the garden (except for when we have recently mulched as they LOVE digging it all up!) and they wander around as if they own the place! I love seeing them pecking away making their little happy noises as they go…

Our garden is coming along although we could do with some consistent rain. Our hydrangeas have finally started coming to the party with some magnificent blooms although our acid soil is making a lot of them pink. I had bought a range of colours to ensure I had lots of choice for cut flowers but apart from the white ones and the red ones that don’t change colour they are much more on the pink side so I am going to artificially meddle with a few of them to “blue” them. Watch this space…..

As we gear up for another solid weeks of lunches and dinners (my waistline is groaning already) I still have a childish excitement for Christmas, made even more special nowadays as it is the one time of the year our little travellers are guaranteed to return to their homeland and we all have some real family time together. In the end the food and drinks, prezzies and parties are all just the icing on the cake. It is the sharing of special times together and the making of our own family traditions that really makes us happy. As they all get older and our family widens to include partners it is harder to spend this time together but it makes my heart glad that they all prioritise this and somehow make it happen. A Mother’s heart is really happiest when surrounded by her family – nothing beats it in my book ♥♥♥

 (except maybe winning the lottery – hahaha!! )