It’s at times like this that I absolutely LOVE living here! Coming home to my beautiful veranda draped in my Pierre de Ronsard rose gets me every time. They are really starting to fill in now and are unashamedly exuberant with tightly furled buds that change into huge blousy blooms before wilting and scattering petals like confetti all around the garden! The boys of my household were not fans of me planting them here and winding their thorny stems around the posts so close to where we sit, but now they are starting to appreciate my original vision of a rose clad country cottage…

As part of a long term bookclub in Sydney it is one of the things that I ALWAYS make time for if I am available. The best group of gals that I have shared my life with now for nearly 30 years and it’s always wonderful to see them and catch up. We all take it in turns to host an evening but obviously since I’ve moved 2 hours away it has been impossible to host in my own home so some of the girls have generously offered their houses for me to “borrow” over the years. Some of the other girls have also moved further away so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and share a bookclub and combine it with a sleepover in the northern beaches. It was like a mini holiday as we arrived at Carolyns beautiful home in Avalon and we set up outside on a balmy evening to enjoy a meal, some wine and some laughs. The next morning we gathered at the old boathouse in Palm Beach for a delicious breakfast in the most magnificent setting – all in all it was a big success that may just become an annual event!

A few days later we headed to Tassie for our 3 monthly catch up with our girls and my heart nearly burst when they came running towards us at the airport and leapt into our arms for a big cuddle. It’s always so lovely to be back in Hobart and to spend some time with them. Loz whisked us out on the 2nd night for some grown up time in central Hobart. Our favourite ramen at Bar Wa Izakaya followed by drinks at Pablos cocktails, a great little underground bar with live jazz and a suitably interesting group of patrons and to top the evening off she had got her hands on some tickets to see The Whitlams at The Odeon. A fun night all round and typical of the wonderful diversity that Hobart and indeed Tassie in general offers.

The girls are growing up fast and have two very different personalities although they overlap on their love of the outdoors, playing Mummies and Daddies for hours with their dolls and are both always up for a treat of some sort! We enjoyed taking them to the Hobart Show for the day where they were allowed 2 rides, 2 alley games and 1 show bag each. A lot of thought went into their choices and although Indi was fascinated by the dodgem cars they both plumped for the much more sedate ride on the elephants. Glad they are still little enough to get so much enjoyment from something so simple! They rode a mechanical horse and sat on a police motor bike, ate icecream and won shiny glittery prizes as well as patting baby goats and watching piglets clad in sequin vests race! A good day was had by all and a special shout out to Papa who queued up for 45 minutes for their show bags in the rain (something he never would have done for our own kids back in the day!!)

We finally got to take Myla to school and see her classroom. She LOVES her uniform and the whole ritual of her school bag, library bag and sport bag on various days and was proud as punch to show us her classroom which was gorgeous, a huge converted weatherboard house full of character and nothing like the classrooms we had growing up. This day they were cooking dumplings and she recounted in great detail how to make them when she got home! Learning the very best way there is – very hands on – and they use ingredients from their own veggie patch to boot! They are lucky to live a mere 10 minutes walk from the school and it was one of our favourite parts of the day walking with the girls who picked flowers and skipped the whole way!

They also absolutely LOVE getting dressed up. Their costume basket is overflowing with outfits from mermaids to princess outfits to geisha/maori and Heidi dresses. They benefit from having older girl cousins that pass things on down and their current favourite was this beautiful ballet inspired dress that they both took turns in wearing and twirling around in! Gorgeous!

They have an outdoor mud kitchen that they play in a lot and when things get heated indoors (as it does with little kids) we would bundle them up and go for a walk/ride on their bike and scooter and collect various bits of nature to play with in the kitchen. Flowers, twigs, leaves, bark and petals all found their way back to the mud kitchen and they then spent hours cooking them into cupcakes, pizzas and pies and presenting them to us!

After a wonderful 10 days we headed home to The Meadow and a garden that was exploding with Spring blossoms. The jacarandas, hydrangeas and gardenias were all flowering and the first of my tomatoes were gracing the plants with plenty more to follow. Cucumber, green beans, eggplant and capsicum are all planted and the spinach and rhubarb are doubling in size every couple of weeks. I tried to be more sensible this summer with my plantings so that I don’t waste too much food and I resisted the temptation to plant the entire punnet of zucchini as they are like triffids and take over the entire patch. There are baby apples, plums and apricots on the trees too so I will be making some jam if the parrots decide to leave me any fruit this year! I was also ecstatic to see my very first dahlia blooming – she’s a real beauty I think you’ll agree!

The boys movie club and partners met in Huskisson for a few nights, staying in the local caravan park in a mixture of cabins, caravans and a safari tent. It is located right opposite a beautiful little beach and is just a ten minute walk into town and the famous Husky Pub and a few great little eateries. There was a fabulous coastal path you could walk all the way to Hyams beach if you felt like it and that crystal clear water was a magnet on a sunny warm day with nothing to do but read and chat and swim – a perfect getaway. On our last day we ventured out to Milton and The Altar Bar which our friends own and run. It is a beautiful and unique location situated in the grounds of an old church and amidst the old graveyard which sounds macabre but isn’t! They have delicious food and some awesome wines as well as cocktails on offer which we enjoyed whilst listening to some live music and I can thoroughly recommend popping in for an hour or two if you are in the area – they even offer a pickup and drop off service locally, what more could you ask for?

Time to go home to our little white house and our chocky dog but not before calling in to our neighbours to meet Harvey, their new labrador puppy who was 8 weeks old and absolutely delicious. His little round tummy and softest ears nearly had me wanting another one but I’m just going to ‘borrow’ him from time to time to fill my puppy needs as this stage goes so quickly and then they become a little bit naughty! Is there anything cuter than a labrador puppy though??