While the Northern Hemisphere freezes in minus temps with masses of snow causing avalanches we are sweating it out under 35 degree skies with icy drinks and salads galore (anything to avoid putting the oven on!) and this is how we know it is January. Every year it somehow takes us by surprise with media headlines crying record temps and adverts for aircon and swimming pools tempting us with their wares. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise for either continent that we are experiencing these conditions. The height of winter and summer respectively and I love both of them!

How terrible it would be to live in the same temperature all year round and never experience the seasons. No change of clothing, snuggly jumpers in winter or shorts and singlets in summer, no change in bedding from cosy throws to light linen sheets, no pies and puddings or bbqs and salads, mulled wine or icy rose. It would all be rather ho-hum and don’t even get me started on the garden and the variety of plants and trees we’d miss out on! So I’m not going to whinge about the heat, I’m just going to get up a bit earlier to water the garden and wait for a cooler day to work out there and in the meantime I’m going to enjoy everything that summer brings as it will only be a matter of months before everyone starts to complain how cold they are again!!!

Having said that it has been so wonderful to be able to cool down in the pool and not have to stay inside under a fan or in the air conditioning and we have made FULL USE of it over the summer period. Lauren had a few of her girls to stay for the weekend including Estella who is 2 and we had a great weekend mooching about and talking non stop as girls tend to do when they get together! Poor Cam just couldn’t understand how we could listen and talk simultaneously. Luckily the cricket was on so he wandered off shaking his head to the sanctuary of the TV room! He was however in his element in the evening when he stoked up the woodfired oven and cooked up a whole load of pizzas for the girls. We’re starting to get the hang of it now and have discovered we don’t actually have to have a fire burning for hours and hours beforehand, about an hour and a half is fine so it is much easier to be spontaneous nowadays!

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Our Son-in-law joined us for 5 nights before he had to return to Vietnam and we had a lovely few days together.They explored the South Coast, venturing down to Jervis Bay and a few pristine beaches accessed through the National Park meaning the tourist throngs hadn’t quite discovered them yet and generally fell in love with the area. The boys squeezed in a couple of rounds of golf and bonded over the cricket. Fish and chips on the beach, a few coldies around the pool and before we knew it he was gone. Strange to think that the next time I will see him both he and Sam will be Fathers!

Needless to say babies are very much the topic of conversation around our place at the moment. Sam and Liv’s little bundle is due in 3 weeks and Lauren’s in 12 so the girls decided to make the most of the fact that Lauren was in the country and on her last weekend they hosted back to back baby showers! It was fabulous to fully immerse ourselves in everything girly, pretty and baby orientated with both sides of the family and celebrate this special time in their lives. It was so sweet of Lozzy’s friend Claire and her family to offer their Sydney home as a venue for us and we all had a fun afternoon playing games and celebrating little baby Cook. Our little Missy is going to be so very lucky to have so many “Aunties” to play with and talk to as she gets older!

It was really nice to finally meet Liv’s close friends, most of whom are already Mums and to see how much they relish it despite those first few months of being tired and emotional. Liv is lucky to have some real advise givers close at hand and the odd babysitter to boot! Both afternoons were just delightful and with some very generous gifts too I might add. Such lucky little babies.

So after a wonderful 5 weeks of having her home, Lauren flew back to Ho Chi Minh and to her hubby and the next stage of her life. We squeezed in some great beach walks, a visit to her 92 year old Pop, loads of baby shopping (especially for those important things not available in Vietnam) some time with her brother and her friends and a lot of relaxing in nature and the fresh air. My flight is booked for 2 weeks after her due date so I can hopefully be a helpful Granny and in between we have all the wonders of modern technology to keep us connected. How lucky are we?

Life in The Meadow continues and we finally got the last bit of landscaping completed this week with some metal edging being installed in the flower beds. After 4 years of continuously pulling out grass runners on a daily basis we bit the bullet and paid to install a barrier! It gives the MOTH an edge to whipper snip to and will hopefully deter at least 80% of the runners. It actually makes everything look a lot neater and more finished so I’m a happy bunny. No more projects for a while now except our little grandies, who I am so very looking forward to meeting and hopefully being a big part of their lives. WATCH THIS SPACE FOLKS!!!!