A wisp of smoke curls lazily upwards from the chimney on an old tin roofed farmhouse up on the hill. Not a breath of wind disturbs the morning landscape which has frozen like a photo, a captured moment in time of a widespread morning frost. The grass crunches underfoot and twigs are snap frozen. So pretty to us but not for the cows in the paddock, the chickens in the coop or my new seedlings in the veggie patch. Australia is generally such a mild climate, especially where we are,  so close to the beach and not too far north or south. Our weather is pretty close to perfect with four distinct seasons, hardly any humidity and temperate nights. Cold enough to grow some lovely English plants in a cottage garden but warm enough to enjoy the swimming pool for at least 6 months a year. No wonder they call it the Lucky Country.

In between the horribly cold days we are having mild sunshiny days more reminiscent of Spring! Balmy days of 20-22 degrees and definitely tee shirt weather. Bailey loves nothing more than lying stretched out on the soft grass in the warm air, not a care in the world and I couldn’t help pulling over to snap a photo of beautiful Gerringong on a drive back from Kiama on a perfect day with not a breath of wind (not that that will last of course….)

At the end of these unseasonably warm days we often get a thunderstorm that rolls in over the escarpment or rumbles menacingly out at sea, splitting the sky apart with lightening and causing a strange eerie light and the odd hail storm. Talk about four seasons in one day!

It is action stations at the top of our lane as the upgrade to the road begins in earnest. Thanks to the latest budget approval for squillions of dollars to be invested in South Coast roads we are surrounded by trucks, road work signs and men and women in high vis vests from 8am until 4pm and as they are currently moving and replacing the power poles we have whole days with no electricity. Despite hitherto thinking my new life was fairly self sufficient I realise this is complete nonsense as soon as the power goes. Even my gas fire has an electric starter and I have no internet at home without wifi which means I am reduced to either going for a long walk or gardening if the weather behaves or sorting out my wardrobe or my overly large magazine collection in the near dark at home if it doesn’t. It was quite peaceful reading my book on the veranda until it got cold and even then I couldn’t have a cuppa. The second day they inflicted this on us I fired up the gas barbie for my cuppa, no one is keeping this little English girl from her cup of tea!

Abigail, our last remaining original chook, passed over the rainbow bridge this week. It always happens when I’m home alone and I’m no better now than I was 3 years ago at dealing with it. I am good in the lead up to the end though. As they are usually a bit immobile for a day or two prior I finally have enough courage to crouch down and stroke them lovingly and give them little treats. A last supper of bacon rinds and spinach and a dish of water within drinking distance of her beak so she is comfortable at least. The other chickens couldn’t give a toss or at least that is how it seems, carrying on with their day as if nothing is different and even clambering over her to get to the nesting boxes to lay their eggs. Just another day in the chook house to them. So we are now down to three girls in the coop which actually gives us more eggs than we need for the most part but when our white chicken goes (she’s next in line!!) we may buy a few more as the black ones seem quite gentle and hopefully will be kind to the newcomers….

With Tom’s imminent departure looming in our calendar and an increased sense of limited opportunities to spend time together, we enjoyed a lovely family weekend snuggled up against the cold winds one day and out on the veranda basking in the sunshine the next. Sam brought down an amazing piece of pork shoulder with a ‘secret’ rub that we slow cooked for 10 hours and which was delicious and we broke open a few of the good reds from the cellar to toast potential future adventures in London Town. The boys will miss each other that’s for sure and we will then have 2/3 of our kids living abroad. Thank goodness we now live in a high tech world where we can chat as much as we like for free with Skype, Whatsapp, Facetime, Viber etc which helps the gap feel slightly less than the 12000 and 3500 miles respectively that it is in reality!

Bailey as usual was in her element with so many people to play with and spent the whole weekend being walked, fed and played with, but her VERY favourite time of day (apart from mealtimes) is first thing in the morning when she is extremely cuddly and Liv made the most of the opportunity for some doggy snuggles. A mutual love affair ♥

She really is such a lovely dog, no matter who comes to the house she greets them with a friendly sniff and a wagging tail. We have never trained her with regular treats but each of us may reward her at various times for her behaviour. I did giggle when I saw this though as I’m sure this is the kind of thing that must go through her head at times!