In what was a mixed week of weather, my two days in Sydney were glorious and my favourite jacaranda trees were doing there thing all over town. Purple puddles against that perfect cerulean blue sky. Just gorgeous. It’s spurred me on to finding a nursery down here where I can buy a tree as I have the perfect spot for it at my entrance gate. Watch this space.

The beautiful jacarandas in Sydney

After my action packed 30 hours in Sydney I headed back South to pick up The Chocolate Drop from her kennels (more like Club Med for pooches) and go home to Cam and Smutz who were doing blokey things like fixing fences, creating hanging spaces in our outdoor shed and mending a leaky pipe. We had a lovely weekend together despite the weather turning foul and very dramatic. In between the downpours and storms we got everything done – thanks to our very own almost-live-in tradie.

Handyman HQ.

The weather was very dramatic with Sydney copping this amazing storm which looks like a tidal wave about to engulf Bondi Beach and closer to home with some very impressive lightening.

The wild and stormy weather.

I must say that whatever the weather it is always nice to be at home – working outside in the sunshine or curled up in front of the fire with a good book I am happy. When I drive down from Sydney and get to those magnificent Kiama bends my heart sings to see the beautiful countryside hugging the coast, the red tin roofs of the white weatherboard farmhouses and the undulating valleys with grazing cattle and horses. How lucky am I to be able to have the best of both worlds!!

We had a lovely little local story this week that made it all the way to the National News when Brooklyn, a big boofy bulldog belonging to a homeless guy who lives in a tent on a local field, chased a wombat all the way down a wombat hole and disappeared underground. People could hear him barking from deep inside the earth and local rescue teams arrived on the scene with their sonic equipment to locate exactly where the adventurous hound was stuck.

He was a long, long way in and the rescue started on Wednesday after shoring up the earth (after lots of recent rain it was pretty dangerous) and digging down towards the chamber. Brooklyn let everyone know he was alive and kicking by barking every now and again and hope was held to get him out within 24 hours. Unfortunately by Friday afternoon they still hadn’t got him and the sad decision was made by the authorities that it wasn’t a viable rescue any longer with the chances of Brooklyn surviving being slim to none……

People power then kicked in with all the Nowra locals taking over with shovels and their bare hands and at 10.45pm in the pitch black Brooklyn was pulled up into the loving arms of his very grateful owner Charlie. He looked a little bewildered and obviously exhausted and hungry but he was finally free!!

 Brooklyn survives to play another day…..

One very lucky and well loved dog – Brooklyn back at his campsite with Charlie.

(There is a rather unexpected postscript to this story……due to this story hitting the national news it appears that Charlie was recognised in Victoria where he is wanted for several crimes so although he has his beloved boy back he may have simultaneously sacrificed his own freedom.)

This week I was ridiculously excited to discover some fruit on trees that I had previously thought were purely ornamental. We are now the proud owners of three plum trees and an apricot tree! All are full of fruit so now I just have to hope that we get enough sunshine to ripen them and that we manage to harvest them before the birds get to them. Apricots have to ripen on the tree so it will be a race to see who gets there first. I guess we can try netting the trees if things become too much of a contest!

Here are the baby apricots with their furry speckled skins ^ and below the hard baby plums with their shiny skins – a lovely addition to our little orchard of fruit trees. We also have oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruit, apple and pear trees, with blueberries and raspberries planted too. Almost a fruit salad…….

There are so many things flowering at the moment I almost discover something new every day. Luckily some of the plants that had died back during winter have sprung forth and are now filling in the flower beds and blocking out the weeds and roses are tumbling over the walls and spilling out over their pots.

The next plan for the garden is a large hydrangea hedge – this has mostly come about as we couldn’t secure the services of a bobcat driver. We have phoned a dozen people over a couple of months to no avail. They are all super busy as most of them have been contracted to help with the building of the new road. The whole area has benefited from the works with lots of local houses being rented to RMS contractors and the local pubs reaping the rewards of hundreds of men not wanting to cook their own dinners Monday to Friday. The food shops are sold out of pies and sandwiches by 1.30 in the afternoon and business is booming in Berry! It is the upside of what appears to be a huge scar on the beautiful countryside. It will look better once it’s finished and landscaped and there is no doubting the fact that it will improve the drive to and from Sydney.

So now, instead of trying to flatten some of the side garden, we are going to plant it with what will (hopefully) eventually become a thick wide hedge of white mophead hydrangeas. As none of the local nurseries have enough I am going to give a mail order nursery a go. It feels like a weird concept – sending mature plants in the mail – but apparently they have a great track record getting them to their customers in one piece so fingers crossed people!!

Its been a big week of sport with the biggest thing being the Rugby World Cup Final featuring the All Blacks v Wallabies. It was the culmination of a great competition and we all got up at 2.30am excited that we may witness the fall of the mighty AB’s with our amazingly energetic boys seemingly on a high. It is now history of course that despite a valiant comeback in the 2nd half we failed to bring Bill home but the boys can hold their heads high and we have a great few years coming up if their performance is anything to go by.

Yesterday was the race that stops the nation and despite the mist and drizzle we got frocked up and drove out to the Nowra Turf Club for an afternoon of race watching, betting and a few glasses of bubbly. All three local Raine & Horne offices come together for the afternoon and it’s nice to gradually get to know the staff at the other offices too. The day ended rather sadly with a horse being spooked after finishing a race and running into a fence throwing the jockey and breaking it’s leg. Paramedics were still treating the jockey who had not moved as we were leaving and goodness knows what will happen to the horse too. It is definitely the “other” side of racing that we tend to forget when we are all enjoying ourselves, caught up in the colour and fun of the day.

We had a lovely weekend with our friends Paul and Emma coming to visit The Meadow. We took them to all the local haunts and the sun shone despite dire weather warnings. It’s hard to tell if it’s going to be 28 degrees or 18 lately but we’ve had a nice little bit of rain so I’m not having to water the garden at least.

So it’s basically happy days in The Meadow except for the differing philosophy between Cam and I about pests and death. I am basically a live and let live person. My belief is that every life has a value however small the creature. Cam on the other hand has strong ideas about what should be allowed to live in the vicinity of our home. High on the list of things he hates are Myna birds and rats and mice. We have native Australian Noisy Miners which are deemed OK but the Indian Mynas are a definite no no. His love of birds ends with these introduced birds that take over an area and drive the little native birds away. Somehow, in talking to some locals he found a guy that makes Myna traps and after completing the transaction the old fashioned way with a slab of beer we are now the proud owner of said contraption. Luring the little devils in with dog biscuits is apparently the way and on inspection the next day we could see that something was in there.

Before – The Temptation….!!

Not a Myna as it turns out but a little rat. It was actually quite a cute one if there is such a thing and as it stuck as much of its body through the bars as it could attempting to escape, my thoughts turned to the film ‘Ratatouille’ and I was a gonner. Cammo stuck to his guns and little Ratty was no more by the time I got home from work. I didn’t ask for details. For me, as long as they stay outside I am happy to let them do their thing – it is their territory after all, but for Cam any rat is a rat too many when it’s on his property 😦

It was a busy week at The Meadow with the arrival of several groups of the family popping in for an overnight stay in The Lane. The Queensland mob found the weather a little unpalatable and their ‘de rigeur’ outfits of shorts and tees a little understated for the chilly turn in the weather! The cooler temperature did however suit us having a couple of meals and several bottles of red in the dining room with lots of chats about the old days growing up and plans for the Patriach of the family’s 90th birthday celebrations next year. It was great to see everyone and yet again I am grateful that we are not TOO far away from Sydney and we are still fairly accessible to all.

 The family in the sunshine (it came out as they left of course!)

Tom was also in Berry as one of his Sydney mates parents had just sold their Berry country house and the lads were having a farewell party there! He managed to meet up with the senior Cameron brothers for a drink at the pub before heading up the mountain to the action. (The photographer made Tom sit down to get in the frame with the rather more vertically challenged ones!!!)

Of course once everyone left the sun came out and we had a perfect weekend for The Shoalhaven River Festival and for a bit of work in the garden. The Festival was a huge success with riverside markets, bands, fireworks and SUP races, a colour fun run and jet boat races- something for everyone!

Our little chocolate dog has been up to no good this week. She suddenly decided after sleeping in her doggy bed for the past 7 months that it may make a tasty snack and proceeded to chew it to bits, pulling out the foam interior! Despite her obvious embarrassment when challenged about it she did it 3 nights in a row and I was forced into taking preventative measures. It is now sewn and pinned back together and quite heavily dredged in cayenne pepper to discourage further midnight feasts and it seems to be working so far. To be honest there isn’t much else she can turn her teeth to in the laundry but no doubt she will come up trumps and surprise me yet again at some stage!

After our visitors left we had a solid day working in the garden and I must say all our flowers are starting to make it look very pretty. I love being able to walk around snipping off little bunches of flowers for guest bedrooms and the lounge room.

My sweet peas are also in full swing and have completely taken over our fence in the veggie patch! Hopefully they will attract bees etc to help pollinate our fruit and veggies. I was sure it said they were dwarf plants on the seed packet but obviously not!!!

We also discovered a nice walk alongside the river which Bailey loved. She gets a bit fed up with us hanging around the house working and LOVES it when we venture out and about. Some of the local scenery is gorgeous and we really do have to make an effort to see some of the surrounding area. Hyams beach and Vincentia is beautiful and not too far away. We might even treat ourselves to a night away and rent one of the lovely old whaling cottages for an overnight stay!

A little rest after a local walk with the hound.

One of the beautiful whalers cottages

Hyams beach is reported to have the whitest sand in the world but whether or not that is true it is a great place for a weekend escape even if it just down the road! The South Coast is full of such gems to discover.It’s like being on holidays 7 days a week except for the fact that we still have to work……

Unfortunately this is all too true………..

I feel like a kindergarten kid who is obsessed with the nature table at the back of the classroom. My beautiful hall table is morphing into one as I find little baby nests and then hatched eggs, pine cones and seed pods and needless to say I have little jars of flowers from the garden everywhere too!

                

It has been a week involving various animals with spring and the warmer weather spurring them on to mate, nest and generally bask in the sun. Our local rabbit and hare population is getting brazen once again and they run straight across our property to get to the open fields. The chocolate drop can see them a mile off and chases them as fast as she can but to no avail (thankfully). Despite their ridiculous zigzag running style they always outrun her and she is yet to realise that she can actually get out of our garden and into the open countryside (double thankfully) and she returns to the veranda a little miffed and crestfallen that the bunnies got away again…..

On my way to work this week I came across my first ever echidna in the wild. It nearly became an ex-echidna as it was leisurely walking across the main Princes Highway with cars whizzing by at 100km per hour. Luckily we all managed to avoid it and I snapped this pic as it made it across to the safe zone and hopefully an assignation with a lady echidna to make all the effort worthwhile……

Bailey had a lovely afternoon when we invited our neighbours up for afternoon drinks. They are the proud owners of Wally (Walter when he is in trouble) a black Lab about 6 months older than Bailey and after spending her first few months being petrified of him they are now firm friends and they had a great old time dashing round and round the house and wrestling together on the lawn.

Bailey and her beau….

Yesterday I heard a dreadful ruckus going on in the garden and came outside to see a horrible huge scary bird frightening all the little birds up in our big cedar tree. They were flying around it and doing their best to screech at it before it eventually took off. We think it is an asian cuckoo and I can see why the little birds hate it – I was scared enough. A very Hitchcock type scary bird performance it was indeed……..

Later in the afternoon Cam and I noticed a little bird at the base of the tree and we went over to check it out. It was a baby galah that I think must have either been frightened and tried to flee the nest or been tipped out of it’s nest by the cuckoo but although it wasn’t a teeny tiny baby it was still too small to fly. Cam managed to catch it (a sturdy pair of gloves were needed as those little guys can really take a big nip out of your hand) and put it up in the lower branches of the tree where hopefully no foxes can get it. The parents were flying around but I haven’t actually seen them feed it so I really hope it will be ok and quickly learn to fly. It is a real cutie….

In a rather more  cliched ‘Australian’ type animal encounter I had to grapple today with a rather large red bellied black snake which was basking in the front yard of a house I had open for inspection. When I say grapple, it was more a question of poking it with a big broom and shooing it into the bushes between the adjoining properties!! Then I came inside to see a huge pregnant huntsman spider on the door – what next!!!! This Real Estate malarkey is starting to become a bit dangerous!!! However it presented beautifully to some unsuspecting city types….

Earlier in the week I had a lovely day out in Bowral, combining some shoe, furniture and plant shopping! I had a great time pottering around a few local stores and also drove to have a look at The Cherry Tree Walk which runs alongside the river for several kilometres and encompasses a war memorial dedicated to The Vietnam Veterans. It is very pretty being lined with hundreds of cherry trees and is a beautiful tranquil place.

               

My very favourite place to furniture dream is Susie Andersons at Dirty Janes in Bowral and she is a super friendly, lovely lady to boot! She is keeping an eye out for an armoire for me for the guest bedroom. Outside her shop this gorgeous little canary was singing it’s heart out in the sunshine at The Potting Shed and really showing off to everyone passing by. I love how he is colour co-ordinated with all the terracotta pots!

To round the week off our friend Dave came to visit. He is familiar with this area as his parents used to have a house in a nearby lane and he still knows quite a few locals. He and Cam met about 12 years ago when we had Harry’s Cafe De Wheels in Newcastle and Cam used to stay in a hotel that Dave ran – and they’ve been good mates ever since.

As luck would have it The Mollymook Cup was being held at Nowra racecourse the next day and the lovely Rileys invited us to come along. We got frocked up and set off to see what a bit of country racing was like. We had a great day although absolutely no luck on the gee gees and met a load of localish people from Milton and Mollymook who had very sensibly organised a coach to get them home. I always forget how fantastic the horses are until you’re right up close and personal – they really are magnificent and with all the brightly patterned silks, bottomless champers and fashions on the field it was a colourful day indeed.

  The Fab Four

Fashions in The Field

And in racing micro fashion…..

and always remember folks…………..

(ps…In case any of you were wondering the little galah flew off happily into the wings of it’s mother about 36 hours later  xx)

 Sunset over 7 mile beach.

My favourite part of the year begins – daylight saving!! It feels like we are on holiday being able to come home after work and enjoy a nice campari and soda on the front veranda and still have loads of daylight in which to prepare dinner and potter in the garden.

 Some Susie time…..

As things heat up we are back to hitting the garden first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon to plant or weed or water. The summer veggie patch has been planted – corn, zucchini, capsicum, tomatoes, eggplant, beans , lettuce, beetroot, carrots and cucumbers as well as plenty of herbs, garlic and onions. This time I have planted a lot more from seed as apparently that way only the strongest seeds survive and you get good plants. It is an excruciating slow process for this little gardener who is a bit of an “instant” girl! We were very excited when, after months of nothing in the asparagus bed we saw this…

Our first asparagus spear!!

Sadly, the done thing with asparagus is to leave the first (and sometimes the 2nd) crop to grow and die down before you can finally cut them down to have with some nice hollandaise sauce for brekky or lunch. In the same vein the blueberries and raspberries that we planted may not fruit until next year dashing my hopes of home grown fruit for a Christmas pav. Our new passionfruit which is happily winding it’s way up the wire fence around the chooks may offer up something in time for the big day but I’m not too hopeful. I guess this is why we enjoy it all so much more when we finally get to eat it because we have nurtured it all from baby seeds and watered and weeded and staked and pruned it for weeks before it hits our plates. A labour of love indeed….

The flower side of the garden is luckily a bit quicker to show its face and we are slowly getting on top of the new garden beds and whipping the trees into shape. Lovely Will has come to the rescue once again with our driveway trees, creating some beds around them making it easier for Cam and his trusty ride-on mower to wizz around them without injuring the trunks. I am referring to them as donuts for obvious reasons….

The front veranda is an even nicer place to sit now with the gardenias and lavender in bloom and the bees are LOVING it.

We had a break from the garden work with the arrival of the Barrett family who broke their trip to Mollymook with an overnight stay at The Meadow. It was lovely to have them here and they embraced the country vibes and loved the cows who were grazing this week at our back fence. Kate fed the cows the long grass that they couldn’t quite reach in our garden. There is an electric fence between them and it, otherwise I’m sure they would be in our garden in a flash!

 A moody sky and gourmet grass for the cows thanks to Kate.

I popped in to the cabinet maker to see how our library was progressing and I can see it’s finally taking shape. The bed inclusion has been a real nightmare but now we are on the home straight – a couple of weeks for all the cabinets to be painted and the mouldings etc to get done so I’m actually getting excited about getting those last few boxes out of the garage and having somewhere for all my books and photos etc.

 Getting there…slowly….

Our week finished on a high note with a visit to Cupitts Winery in Ulladulla for a lovely lunch with our holiday makers. I thoroughly enjoyed being out and about as it happens so rarely nowadays for me  (whilst Cammo is sick to death of eating out after 3 nights every week of batching it in Sydney and eating at pubs and restaurants). Cupitts is a popular wedding venue and has a strong french provincial feel which I adore so apologies in advance for so many photos!!!

Cupitts WInery

 A lovely entrance

 France or Australia???

The new extension makes the most of the beautiful countryside views.

The cellar is cut into the hillside

A beautiful view from the bar deck and live music on Sunday afternoons to top it off!

A beautiful interior.

The Crew!

A delicious end to the meal – vanilla panna cotta with poached rhubarb and raspberry sorbet with almond tuile.

This week has been beautiful. Spring in all it’s glory and it’s hard to not feel pretty darn happy to be honest. As it has been school holidays we have had a small stream of visitors popping in on their way to or from Sydney to the South Coast. Little people have visited the chook shed and collected warm eggs and either been ‘scared of’ or ‘played with’ Bailey and other friends have called in for a cuppa or to have a look around the property which has been really nice.

     Ruby loved Bailey but Mali preferred us! 

I had to go to Huskisson on Wednesday  as I finally found an upholsterer to make some cushions for my big cane chairs that I bought at Auction in Sydney. A lovely smiley man, John, who works out of his garage behind his house is making them for me and was telling me it might take him a few weeks as he also Captains the whale watching cruises and it’s “the season” at the moment! Everything in the country happens when it happens and there is no point hurrying people along. He was very unassuming but I noticed he had a big thank you letter framed on the wall behind the desk from Government House in Canberra where he “did” the dining room and the meeting rooms etc. Amazing what you can whip up in the back of a garage isn’t it??

I took Bailey with me and we met up with my friend’s hubby and son who were holidaying down there, for a quick catch up and a choccy ice-cream for Lucas – another lovely little guy who will no doubt look back on these holidays with fond memories as he gets older. I’ve noticed a lot of people that come househunting in Shoalhaven Heads where I work on Saturdays are there to look for a beach house because they are so nostalgic for the type of holiday they used to have as a kid. As parents I guess we are the creators of good memories for our children and they invariably end up wanting the same kind of thing for their children Then it was my turn to be like a little kid as I packed excitedly for my little trip up to the Big Smoke for my regular book club meeting. The same group of girls, with just a couple of plusses and minuses, have been meeting for the past 20 years ( we were one of the very first clubs to form I think) and it is like therapy for all of us to meet up over a glass of wine and some yummy cheese and discuss life (and the book of course!) In this time we have seen our children grow up, a couple of husbands go west and now weddings and grandbabies are the order of the day and we have a lovely easy relationship together which is very special to me and well worth the 2 hour drive.

My lovely book club girls

This monthly meeting gives me a great excuse to come up to Sydney and do some shopping, meet up with my boys and nowadays stay overnight with one of the girls. I am working my way through the club and it’s lovely to have some extra one on one time with them. This week I stayed in my old stomping ground of Balmain and in a beautiful apartment overlooking Sydney harbour. Sitting out on Jill’s veranda with a glass of wine and looking at the twinkly lights of Sydney I felt so lucky to still be able to get my fix of a city I will always love.

The next morning after a lovely walk and coffee with the Balmain girls I met Sam for lunch down at Balmoral. It was a picture perfect day and a yummy fresh lunch and a catch up with ‘the life of Sam’ on the pier at The Boathouse just topped off my Sydney trip perfectly.

The beautiful Boathouse at Balmoral

A yummy lunch with Sammy

Hopping back into my car to go home with the back seat pleasantly full of shopping bags and flooring and tile samples for the new extension as well as a new cozzie – I was a happy chappy. The swimsuit shopping however was pretty tortuous, after trying on half the shop I finally chose one that takes me 5 mins to get into and then I am pretty much sealed into it in order to rearrange my squidgy bits into a slightly more pleasing shape than my natural one. And on top of all that I had to cough up a small fortune to buy the damn thing.

                                                     Sigh………………………..

We celebrated the first evening of daylight saving by having a celebratory champagne with our friends N&N at their beautiful new house on the mountain opposite us. They were very sad a couple of months ago to find out that the RTA had compulsorily acquired their current home for the widening of the new highway. They had literally just laid the last paver around their new swimming pool when they got the news and it must be said, a few tears were shed. A few Saturdays later they inspected this house with expansive panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and out to the ocean all on 5 acres. It has a lovely old rustic dairy shed that Nicki plans on converting into a commercial kitchen alongside a dining space in order to hold long table lunches (she is a chef) and it has a perfect place for a veggie patch and maybe even that pool she was hankering after. As the sun went down and the parrots ducked and weaved past us on the veranda I thought how lucky I was to have this new life with some lovely new friends and I look forward to seeing them shape this new house into one that they love and enjoy.

    

p.s…..in celebration of daylight saving I have added a few summery recipes to the kitchen page. Dips and salads for outdoor entertaining. Enjoy  xxx

In a week where we had to get our winter woollies out AGAIN and the on/off rain was a pain for all the things we wanted to do involving machinery, we still managed to get some stuff done. This was in no small way due to our friend Smutzer coming for the weekend with his trailer full of trusty tools and a huge ladder to facilitate the installation of our new downpipes. When the recent floods occurred we discovered the moat of water we got around the side of the house was partially due to wonky downpipes and the rain spilling in a Niagra-Falls-esque fashion onto the grass. A few dollars and a couple of hours later we have beautiful straight pipes actually connected to the drain so whatever Mother Nature decides to bring we should be a little better prepared. He also coerced our wisteria into submission and it’s now winding it’s way over and around our pergola.

Our friends in Milton recently purchased an old church together with it’s considerable grounds that adjoined their 100 acre property. It was built in 1883 and renovated in the late 1980’s to become an individual and eclectic home and with it came a grass tennis court (apparently used as long ago as the early 1900’s) and a few outbuildings including a lovely weatherboard cottage used as a Sunday School and some sheds for storing the tennis and croquet gear! All surrounded by beautiful gardens that have been let go a bit but still show the bones of the original design. A wisteria walk, woodland glades, a circular lawn complete with sundial and a lovely aviary/garden room where you could imagine the ladies of yesteryear taking afternoon tea. The entire property (including a remnant graveyard including the headstones of some of the area’s oldest pioneers) is heritage listed.

                        

The Old Church at Milton

 

So it was that a dozen of us gathered on a showery day to help them clear out the garden and restore it to some of it’s former glory. The men got stuck in whilst the women folk whipped up some lunch and prepared the dinner etc to keep them all happy. At 3pm it was tools down and a well deserved beer or 3 before we tucked into a magnificent feast of Bangalow pork, duck fat cooked roasties and amazing salads fresh from their kitchen garden, enjoyed in the old tractor shed which was transformed into a rustic dining room with candles and portable heaters. All washed down with some lovely bottles of red we teetered home with a feeling of satisfaction from a job well done  and a sense of contributing to the newest chapter in the life of the old church.

Hard at work

A folly found in the middle of the woods

Lunch break for the workers

Happy to finish after a day working in the rain and the mud

Tilly and Sofia feeding the little orphaned calf Buster

A bit of “pruning” and the makings of a good bonfire to have before the end of the burn off season next weekend. Should be able to see it from Sydney!

Life poddles on in The Meadow as we fall into the rythmn of our new life. As it becomes our new normal we hardly recognise our newly relaxed selves as we wake with the sun and connect ourselves to nature. A half an hour in the veggie garden checking on the new seedlings and plucking the odd weed before collecting the morning’s eggs from the girls and then off for a walk with the chocolate drop is the perfect way to start the day.  I have been exploring some of the other local ‘lanes’ with her and have come across some magnificent properties and beautiful countryside. No wonder our office at Raine & Horne is going crazy with enquiries from city folk looking for a country getaway. The hottest segment of the market is the 1-5 acre plot in the $1-1.5M price bracket and we could sell 5 a day if we could only get some stock!! It makes Cam and I feel better that our house falls exactly within those parameters and if and when we are ever fed up with it I know we would have no problem at all selling it. Luckily we love it – even Cam has fallen in love with it – and hopefully we wont part with it for a long time yet!

The beautiful countryside around Berry

It was lovely to have one of my longtime Sydney friends come and stay last week. She was working at Wollongong and decided to drive another hour to stay at The Meadow instead of heading back to Sydney. We had a lovely time chatting non-stop ( we excel at this, as both our husbands can testify) and we ventured into town (!) for a meal at the pub and after a nice walk with Bailey the next day and a bimble around the shops she was back to the big smoke. I’m so grateful that so many of our friends have made the effort to come down and see us as it makes a huge difference to how we feel – our old life can happily merge with our new one – and as the weather warms up I’m sure a few more friends will be booking in to the B&B!!!

Thanks for the bubbles Jilly – so lovely to have you stay   xx

We got our lovely architect Natasha back to draw up a smaller revised alteration plan for the back of the house and have also booked the builder as his first job in 2016. That way we can enjoy Xmas with all the troops without having to worry about it being a building site. The library is in production and should be installed in the next few weeks (nothing happens fast in the country). It has proved quite a headache for the cabinet maker with the large dimensions as well as the pull down bed inclusion. Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

Things are warming up and the garden is springing back into life as we discover new plants we didnt know we had! A gorgeous wisteria has burst into flower and I have to somehow get up a ladder and wind it around our pergola to encourage it in the right direction as it is a nicely established one we can use with our new extension area. It always helps a new build look part of the original if it is softened with some large plants or trees.

One of our beautiful blue tongued lizards basking in the spring sunshine

After one of my lovely country walks and feeling full of the joys of spring, I headed home in the car to find a bad accident just around the corner from our house at The Silos Winery. It has a nasty exit onto the Highway with people zooming past at 100km+ and this poor chap just didn’t time it properly. My happy mood slipped away as I realised how things can change at the drop of a hat and that we really do only have one life to live so we should make it a life that we love.

Luckily everyone was ok but it is a reminder that life can change in a second.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I almost didn’t post anything this week as it has been non eventful and quiet. Then I thought isn’t that fantastic – a calm serene week where I was happy every day, just pottering in the garden, walking the dog, looking after the house and enjoying my environment. I treated myself to a coffee at the gelato shop and thought it was a big deal; I went to Sydney for a haircut and dashed home without shopping at Miranda Fair which was 5 minutes from the hairdresser because Bailey was home alone and I felt guilty. What is happening to me????

I’ve never felt calmer, slept better or been more grateful for the simple things in life. Maybe it’s getting older or maybe it’s a genuine enjoyment of my new life but I am not bored, I love pulling open the curtains in the morning – even if it is before 7 am – and seeing the cows wandering past from their milking and I love saying good morning to ‘the girls’ and collecting their eggs, still warm, in my hand. The fact that all the trees are blossoming or in leaf and the birds are nesting all contributes to my feeling of well being and an overall sense of contentment and happiness.

It was a beautiful weekend for The Berry Small Field Day, a mostly agricultural show with all the latest in 4X4s, trailers, tractors, fencing and chainsaws, sheds and livestock. This year they included a gardening section to make it more appealing to the wider community and there was also an interesting stall featuring the local beekeeping society. We are keen to have a hive and there are several new types available so we will make some enquiries.

 Busy bees

What is an agricultural show without tractors?

Or without a devonshire tea for that matter!

It was a really warm day and we got to use a lovely gift that our friend in Moruya, Sue, gave to Bailey earlier in the week. It is a really fantastic idea – a fold up waterproof bowl (that can attach to her collar) if you’re out and about during the day. It is much easier to find a tap than a drinking vessel and she lapped it up – literally!! Great gift – thanks Suz!!!

A happy puppy A h

We actually used it again yesterday when we decided to explore some more of our local coast and nipped down to Huskisson for a walk and lunch at The Husky Pub. People were out in droves due to the beautiful Spring weather and some brave souls actually went in the sea for a swim. Brave, not because of the surf (which is non existent here) but for the water temperature which is still, shall we say, ‘brisk’???

Cammo appreciating the view from The Husky as well as a cold drink.

Today my friend Jill is coming to stay for the night and I am excited to be going into Berry for dinner and to show her the area I am feeling more attached to every day!! The following may sum up our philosophy but of course as we are old and sensibilish no doubt we will behave instead……….???

Is 7 months equivalent to teenagehood in dog years?

Miss Bailey has been a bit naughty this week.

I was having some difficulties with my computer sound and after twiddling every little button and checking my settings 20 times, I realised that the cable connecting the sound to the computer had been chewed in half. Two guesses as to who was the guilty party??

With the beautiful Spring weather and the longer days the chocolate one has been waking up bright and early and is ready for action circa 6.30 am. She lets us know that she is awake and ready to play with gentle whining that escalates to a “wake up now please” bark and it is very hard to ignore. I thought I would win this little power play by getting up to tell her “NO” and then leaving her shut off at the other end of the house while I attempted to go back to bed and snooze. She continued to whinge until I gave in at 7 am. I got up and smugly made my coffee feeling I had proven to her who was boss when I noticed something wasn’t quite right with my spare pull out bed……

My smugness disappeared as I realised my tactic had well and truly backfired.

I went ballistic of course and she knew she had done something very wrong. She slunk outside and looked very doleful and sad at this turn of events. During the day every time I looked at it or pointed to it she did the same thing – at least she knows she did wrong and didn’t employ the  “well, THAT will teach you for ignoring me” attitude. She got locked in the laundry that night so hopefully the message got through.

In order to restore the friendship we decided to make the most of a beautiful afternoon and head for the beach where she could run to her heart’s content and tire herself out. When we got there we had the entire beach to ourselves, which always amazes me after Sydney’s well utilised beaches. It is a great beach to walk on with flat well packed sand and people walk, run, ride their horses, cycle and even go kite karting on it at various times of the year. Today it showed the aftermath of the big rain with loads of driftwood and foam balls blowing in the wind like tumbleweed which kept Bailey amused for ages.

Foamy fun…

Not a soul in sight…

What a beautiful way to start the day.

It’s back!!!

After an initial burst of Spring loveliness our bubble was well and truly burst with the floods and now you would hardly know they had happened except it’s still squelchy underfoot in a few places and the plants wont need watering for ages. I stocked up on loads of flowers and veggies to plant and am madly trying to get rid of the last of my winter veggies – cabbages anyone? I am going to attempt to make some sauerkraut this weekend with the last of them and then I can plant some zucchinis in the cabbage bed. As soon as the brussel sprouts are gone (they were fabulous this winter) the tomatoes can go in and the fennel, beans, beetroot, carrots and lettuce are already enjoying their new place in the patch. Anything I don’t grow I can order from Greenbox and our local producers so I am very lucky.

It’s a good job that fresh produce is prolific at the moment as I have embarked on a 6-8 week anti-allergy diet which is basically Paleo and involves no grains, dairy or alcohol . Seeing as I could happily live on bread, cheese and a glass of red I’m not a happy camper at the moment. The first couple of weeks are always the hardest and I have to get into the swing of it by having plenty of options on hand and prepared so I have things to take to work or have in a hurry when I would usually grab a sandwich. As for giving up my evening glass of wine – nothing is going to make that any easier I’m afraid. I can have an “occasional” glass apparently and I am translating that as being able to have one if I go out to dinner or if someone comes here for dinner. Fair enough I think??

So here I am dreaming of this..

when all I can really have is this…..

Anyway……….if it works and I can enjoy a better quality of life (well, breathing anyway) I will happily forgo some of my fave foods. With my body at an all time super sensitive high the least I can do is be proactive in my health and try and ‘do it my way’ as Frank would say. Watch this space……

We had a nice surprise visit from Tom this weekend, his mere presence was his gift to his Dad on Father’s Day and on Sunday we ventured into town with the chocolate button to visit the monthly market at The Showground. It is extremely popular with people coming out in droves for their new season plants and loads of handmade and crafted items. The crowds are a rare experience for Bailey and she gets super excited for the first 10 minutes until she gets used to it all. I found a nice lead for Bailey’s dog friend Chloe (remind me to give it to you Karen Riley) and Tom gifted his Dad a nice new belt. We bumped into Leigh and John from The Valley stocking up on new plants and she showed me the place to get a good passionfruit plant. I have been looking for the common black passionfruit for weeks but all I could find was the banana or golden one so I am happy that we will now have our fave fruit on hand to squeeze over a pav, or some yoghurt or in a tart whenever the fancy takes us!

The Berry Country Fair

Happy Father’s Day

With the arrival of Spring my favourite little blue wrens are back making nests in my rose bushes . I can spend ages just watching them and listening to them sing. Just another beautiful part of daily life in The Meadow.