After the craziness of Christmas it was nice to draw breath and relax into some easy summer days spent at the beach, the pool and catching up with friends. Lauren and family left for their planned holiday at Callala Bay for 5 nights and the house became eerily quiet. The dog slept. We read and pottered in the garden. The MOTH golfed. And suddenly it was time for their return. Little India had become ill on their last day of the holiday with a fever and vomiting and had basically slept the previous 36 hours. Now anyone that knows Indi knows that is NOT her normal but as with most 4 year olds we presumed she would improve quickly and be back to her old self imminently. She did seem to pick up a bit and even managed some food but the next day she became worse again and when we noticed blood in her poo it was time to get her to the hospital. Back to our favourite Emergency Room and as per usual we had wonderful care. They are so good with the kids and know all the tricks to try and get them to take medicine or make it easier for them to accept needles etc. Indi needed to go onto an IV drip and they cleverly prepped her with 4 “magic” spots with numbing cream for an hour or so before inserting what she called a “straw” into her vein. They needed 2 of those spots in the end so it was worth doubling up! Indi has a VERY strong stubborn streak and as she had vomited up the panadol meds 2 days earlier she refused to take any more as she was completely convinced it would happen again. Lots of cajoling ensued with promises of apple juice and custard but ultimately I managed to get her to take some fluids with a syringe on the proviso she self administered it! I find that most kids prefer to have a bit of control over it rather than being forced and she was quite chuffed with herself when everyone praised her. HOWEVER it was too little too late and we had to go with the big guns in the end with a 24 hour drip and an overnight stay with Mum in hospital. She took it all in her stride despite looking very small and lost in that big hospital bed. The next day she gradually improved until she was well enough for a visit from her sister and they had great fun playing with some gifts that were leftover from Santa. I think she thought hospital was a pretty cool place after all and the nurses loved having a happy patient. She was released literally 15 hours before we left to take them to the airport and the flight home to Hobart where she continued to improve over the next few days and is now100% back to normal. A bacterial gastroenteritis was the culprit (and is pretty much the ONLY thing that has ever made India quiet and sleepy!!)

While Indi and Mum were stuck in the hospital I followed up on my promise to Myla to take her into the Berry Tea Shop for a special morning tea. She dressed up in her new “lemons” dress and was excited to look around the shop which is full of “beautiful things” according to Myla. A chocolate milk came in a bottle oozing with real chocolate and the scones were big enough to share! When I catch up with the granddaughters it’s lovely to indulge our girly side and to enjoy a trip into town dressed for the occasion, this time with a side trip to the wonderful toyshop where she thought long and hard before falling in love with a 3D printed lizard which she wore casually draped over her shoulder! I love seeing the world through their eyes and was so happy to have our special time together.

No sooner had they all gone back to Tassie when Cooper arrived! It has become an annual tradition for us to have him for a week in his big summer school holidays and I love it! Having the kids one on one is SO different from having them together and at the ripe old age of almost 7 he is easy to have around. He does however love to be kept busy which meant full days for us all. Luckily he loves Lego, games, puzzles, scootering, walking Bailey, the movies, cooking and EATING so he wasn’t hard to entertain and we all fell into bed early every night pleasantly exhausted from our day’s adventures!

The 138th Berry show took place the last weekend in January and it’s famous for either happening in pouring rain or in boiling temperatures – this year we scored the heat! Luckily The Pavilion where we exhibited the produce and the art was air conditioned so everybody was taking a very detailed and considered look at every plant, tomato and painting on display!! My friend Anne won 1st for her perfect eggs and her rainbow cake! Nothing this year for my rainbow rooster painting but I think he made a few people smile….We watched the ever entertaining woodchop whilst sipping on Aperol spritzes and really enjoyed watching the cattle judging where another friend had 5 cows under consideration. Listening to the judge explaining how they award points was really interesting and seeing these (sometimes) huge animals up close and personal was fantastic. A little girl of about 5 or 6 all dressed up in her checked shirt, diamante jeans with huge belt buckle and her cowboy hat lead a huge bull out onto the arena and it made me realise what a wonderful bond the farmers have with their animals and how gentle the cattle are despite their heft!

My sister-in-law Sue-Ellen and her husband Michel who are visiting from Switzerland came and stayed for a few days which was lovely. We took them down to Greenwell Point to Jim Wilds Oysters for some freshly shucked creamy oysters and some delicious prawns all washed down with a couple of bottles of Chablis which made for a very pleasant afternoon (and a wee nap for our jetlagged guests when we got home). It was The Australia Day long weekend and we enjoyed the hospitality of our friends in Tapitallee with some delicious food and wine and a swim on a very hot 39 degree afternoon. The Swiss certainly knew they were in Australia! Sam and the boys came down too so we had a full house, enjoying a fondue with cheese and kirsch that Michel had brought all the way from home and a very Aussie Australia Day brekky BBQ at The Showground complete with gumboot tossing, quoits, horse shoe throwing and other quaint country pursuits for the kids! A wonderful few days and we will see them again in May in Switzerland which we look forward to

One little hiccup we had was a water leak which necessitated digging up our driveway and our lawn to find the culprit. We still have the old metal pipes running throughout the property so it’s just a matter of time before they all start to crack I guess. Our local plumber Mick fixed it all up but sadly not before we got a water bill roughly 600% larger than normal! I’ve filled in a form with the water board but goodness knows if and when I’ll hear back from them! One thing about owning a house from 1896 is that you are constantly maintaining and upgrading things sometimes at considerable cost and the frustrating thing is you can’t even see where the money has been spent, I’d love a new lounge and a rug but instead the budget has gone on underground pipes and replacing rotten weatherboards!

Amazingly we are already half way through February and I just know the time is going to race now. We have a few trips planned for the first half of this year and I am spending hours researching places on the computer and madly booking airfares, train tickets and accommodation but it will all be worth it once we’re on that plane and off to adventure once more and in the meantime, armchair travelling really is quite wonderful…I sometimes go down the rabbit hole for hours!!!