It has been a rather celebratory few weeks for us one way and another. We have had a plethora of special birthdays starting with little Cooper turning one. We celebrated this milestone at a local bowling club where kids and adults alike could relax with a few drinks and nibbles and sing Happy Birthday to our little man. His Mum made the most amazing birthday cake showcasing the jungle theme and Coops got his first taste of sugar! Needless to say he loved it and his face seemed to say “how come you guys haven’t given me this stuff before??” It was great to get both sides of the families together as well as Sam and Liv’s friends to congratulate them on surviving the 1st year of being parents and to toast our little prince!!

In the next fortnight both his Grandma’s celebrated BIG birthdays and we welcomed back to our Aussie Shores the family matriarch who flew in from her 30 hour journey from England as bright as a button despite her 83 years! Our beloved GG is a great example of how I hope to age, she loves to join in all the fun and refuses to be left out of anything because of her age!

She is here mainly to attend Sam’s wedding but as my big birthday was so close she came earlier to help celebrate with me. I still can’t believe I’m 60!!! It feels so strange to be old enough to apply for a Seniors card and get cheap movie and train tickets as I still feel the same as I did 10 years ago just with a few more crinkles! I haven’t ever gone crazy on the decade birthdays but this one seems different somehow and I am determined to squeeze every bit of fun from it! Several friends haven’t been lucky enough to make it this far so I am grateful that I have and I’m going to tick a few bucket list items in it’s honour this year! My lovely husband started the ball rolling with a surprise new car complete with gold bow when I took my old car along to supposedly get it valued. I love all the new flashy technical capabilities and extra space and grunt that it has. Now to try and keep its brand new looks despite living on a dirt road and owning a Labrador who loves to swim and get muddy!!

We had a birthday lunch at the picturesque Cupitts Winery in Ulladulla with the family and local friends which was special and delicious and afterwards we popped back to Milton to Phil and Karen’s place to see their farm and trial a few rosés for the wedding. They run a wedding venue ‘The Old Church at Milton’ and a wine bar aptly named The Altar Bar so they have a good knowledge of the wines people like. It is such a beautiful spot where they are surrounded by horses and cattle grazing as well as a terrific market garden setup, Claydon Park, where they grow veggies for the local restaurants and also sell at the produce markets. A wonderful all rounder of a place!

We had a nice week of weather when Mum first arrived so we made the most of it by lunching in pretty places and showing her the local area. Tom has been here in between working so he has spent some quality time with his G’ma and keeps us very entertained with his antics! Mum has loved spending time with all the boys both small and tall!!

So with one week to go until Lauren and Myla arrive from Vietnam for the wedding and with a new car under my belt, Mum and I decided to make the most of the timing and take a little road trip together before things amp up a notch or ten. As she hadn’t really ventured to the North Coast before I decided a trip to Forster via the Central coast would be a perfect fit and off we poddled on a beautiful sunny morning to Killcare. We stopped off at the pretty riverside town of Brooklyn for a beautifully presented iced latte which slid down very nicely on the 37 degree day before continuing on to our overnight accommodation at Bells. This is a gorgeous little boutique hotel in sleepy Killcare with a great pool and terrific restaurant with an Italian bent.

We continued on to Forster to stay with our lovely friends Baz and Cath and as the weather had become rather miserable Baz kindly gave us a personally chauffeured tour of the area, stopping at various locations to give us a great view of a pod of dolphins jumping happily out of the ocean followed by a drink at a bar overlooking the lake. A delicious dinner, several wines and lots of chat later we were on the road again and the car was officially christened!! Our mini break was over and we were homeward bound to my “to do list”!!

Wedding prep is well under way. We are not hosting the actual ceremony this time around, instead we will be enjoying it all at the gorgeous venue Jaspers in Berry. I am getting very excited to see my first born son wed his beautiful Livvy in front of his family and friends, what a party it will be!! The next day we are hosting the Wedding Recovery at our place and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that the rain will stay away and the sun will be shining so we can enjoy catching up with everyone in a more casual setting. This still means we are madly trying to get on top of the garden which has gone crazy after all the rain and seems to be on steroids with plants (and weeds) growing a foot overnight! At least it is green again – after being so brown and crunchy at Christmas it is now green and velvety underfoot!

Corona Virus has arrived to spoil the party somewhat. At a time when my family is at peak international travel with people coming and going between the UK, Vietnam, Fiji and Australia it couldn’t have really happened at a worse time. Even though we know rationally that we are very unlikely to contract it there is a little annoying voice in the back of your head warning you not to take unnecessary risks. Of course the MOTH and I had literally just bought tickets to Italy for later in the year when they suffered the biggest outbreak in Europe so far and travel is banned to it! Hopefully things will settle down in the next few weeks and months and all will be well but in the meantime all sorts of conferences and work trips have been cancelled until further notice and we have our fingers well and truly crossed that everyone will be able to get safely home without any nasties on board. Mum is of course in a high risk group with her age and also little Myla coming from Asia on a plane packed full of people flying from goodness knows where. Seemingly in Australia so far the biggest concern is that we are going to run out of toilet paper causing a panic buy leaving supermarkets empty of the precious commodity!

It has of course brought home to most of us that International travel which is so easy nowadays also brings risks that are hard to curtail. We truly live in a global world and it really only takes one sick and unaware person to spread it far and wide. Sometimes tending my roses in The Meadow seems like a wonderful option to the risks of the big wide world!