Its 1979 and I’m living in Athens and working as a live in Au Pair for a Scottish-Greek family with two boys age 5 and 10. They are a busy family and as a result I spend a lot of the time with the boys moving them around between their (divorced) parents and in between their holiday houses on Patmos and Paros. I have MANY wonderful memories from those days. The houses were typically Cycladean – white with blue shutters and doors and very simple. Eating was mainly outdoors and with a very bohemian group of potters, artists and cheffy types. Long tables laden with large platters and bowls of local produce – the sweetest tomatoes, local lamb, lemons and figs from our trees and our neighbour’s olive oil. Nothing flash but eye opening for me and a lifestyle I fell in love with. For 40 years I was too scared to return to Greece and especially to the islands in fear that those memories would be tainted or spoilt but I decided I didn’t want to put it off any longer and I am SO happy I didn’t. Paros is busier and more populated than back then but it still carries the essence of all I remember, and life still revolves around friends, family and food – traditional and local for the most part and most definitely seasonal. I loved every minute of our time in Paros and many memories were unlocked from the recesses of my brain!

I managed to find an airbnb as close as possible to those simple houses we lived in and in the best position overlooking the ocean and the sunset. It was up a steep set of stairs but we found a back way to get to and from the local restaurants and cafes which saved us from a heart attack every night climbing up them! It was a simple little two bedroom apartment with a great balcony. We had a little restaurant right next door to us whose kitchen opened from 6.30 until midnight meaning there were often people there until 1 or 2 in the morning but mostly it wasn’t too intrusive although I’ve decided drunk women of a certain age are the absolute noisiest of all humans!!!

We stayed in Parikia which is the main port of the island and where I lived all those years ago. The old town is a labyrinth of alleyways with crazy paving and whitewashed buildings swathed in vibrant pinks and reds of bougainvillea and little shops and cafes were wedged into the smallest of spaces with brightly painted tables and chairs spilling onto the pavement – a perfect spot to watch the world go by. Church bells pealed and people chattered in many different languages and we enjoyed that special holiday feeling you get in a beautiful and unique setting.

We ventured out to Naoussa – the other main town of the island – to enjoy a day at the beach and lunch next to the ocean. Literally by the ocean! Eating octopus and drinking chilled wine next to the blue sea lapping the shore is a memory for the ages. We caught a boat to a nearby beach where we swam in the crystal clear water and sunbaked on warm rocks. A local ‘entrepreneur’ was asking $50 an hour to rent a sunbed and a brolly so we did what we did all those years ago as backpackers and went au naturel! The land surrounding the coast was as dry as I remember with only a little greenery around the houses and with rather barren land in between. The wind plays havoc on these islands and nothing seems to grow over 5 feet and everything has a bit of a jaunty lean!

Another day trip was spent in Antiparos, a 20 minute boat trip away, a smaller quieter but equally pretty version of Paros. It was like going back 50 years and very relaxing (maybe why Tom Hanks has a holiday house here) – you truly feel displaced from real life! For us that meant walking around the island and eating and drinking yet again before braving the boat back to Paros in a very high wind on a choppy sea. I was a bit scared that our little wooden ferry wouldn’t make it but apart from getting drenched we all survived to tell the tale! If the winds had become any stronger they would have cancelled the boat apparently and then goodness knows what we would have done!

The food we had on Paros was amazing – loads of fish and seafood for me and the MOTH enjoyed his favourite moussaka and gyros, all pretty reasonably priced and eating outside at a taverna full of families and tourists alike under the stars on a balmy evening was all we could have wished for. Our location right on the water meant we were spoilt for sunsets which were spectacular.

We also caught a bus to the other side of the island, venturing inland to a hilltop town called Lefkes which is authentically Greek, quiet and charming. It was nice to see a few trees and meander through the narrow alleyways until we reached a lovely shady square and enjoyed a delicious lunch, zucchini fritters, souvlaki and greek salad followed by portokalopita – the famous orange cake of Greece. Delicious and addictive!

As our time in Paros came to an end I was grateful that my memories had not only NOT been ruined, they had been enhanced. We both thoroughly enjoyed our time here and our fitness improved with all the hills and stairs we climbed! A little balance to all the yummy food consumed hopefully. Our next stop was Mykonos where we were meeting up with the MOTH’s sister and hubby and treating ourselves to a hotel stay. We caught the fast boat which only took us about an hour and powered through the choppy waves like a hot knife through butter! On to the next stage of our Greek Island Odyssey…..

After the usual flurry of “to do” lists and packing/repacking (as one of our legs demanded a maximum of 15kg of check in luggage – no easy feat when you are away for 7 weeks!!) the day finally arrived when I was to fly solo to the UK to meet up with my family. Being knackered helped me sleep on the overnight flight to Dubai and by the time I arrived in London I felt quite human! I caught a train down to Hampshire where my Mum met me and I pondered how much easier travelling was nowadays with credit cards easily used to tap for tickets and free wifi on trains and stations making communication easy plus the luckiest thing of all is that we are English speaking – the most commonly used language in the world just happens to be our native tongue! It does have the tendency to make us a bit lazy though and you have to make a real effort to try and speak French, Greek or Italian when you know they can speak excellent English!
I spent a couple of days with Mum in the area I grew up in England and we revisited some of our favourite haunts and met up with old family friends which made me feel like I’d gone into a parallel universe where hardly any time had gone by rather than the 40 odd years since I’d left! It was lovely to stay at Mums and meet her friends and see in person all her pots and hanging baskets that she lovingly plans and nurtures each season – one of the many things that help keep her busy and stay young! We packed up the car and she drove us to Wales for our reunion with the other half of the family and before we knew it we were all chatting and clinking glasses and enjoying being back together. As I get older I get more and more nostalgic for these moments of reconnection and appreciation for our family so in that vein we planned an overnight stay at my cousin’s house in Warwickshire. Here our octogenarian parents could also easily get together and enjoy reminiscing about times past and Celia seamlessly managed to whip up a magnificent beef roast in her huge Aga which we enjoyed with copious quantities of lovely wines and lots of laughs were shared around the table. Thanks to Roger and Celia for hosting another wonderful family reunion….

After many years of our cousins living in New York and Sweden whilst we lived in Wales and Australia we were finally all in the UK at the same time and we arranged to meet in one of my very favourite cities – Bath. As its about halfway between Mum and Sandy we have often overnighted here and it never ceases to hit the spot. Built for pleasure and relaxation, beautiful Bath has been a wellbeing destination since Roman times. The waters are still a big draw today, both at the ancient Roman Baths and the thoroughly modern Thermae Bath Spa, which houses the only natural thermal hot springs in Britain you can bathe in. It has much to offer the visitor, once the home of Jane Austen there is now a museum dedicated to her, beautiful Pulteney Bridge that shares a similarity with the Rialto bridge with its built in shops, Bath Abbey and the grand curve of The Royal Crescent built in the late 1700s – there is much to see and admire.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch and a few hours of chatting and catching up with my beautiful cousins before we headed back to our hotel to rest up ahead of our Michelin starred restaurant dinner – no rest for the wicked!! Menu Gordon Jones was a set menu, very creatively put together and most delicious. I love that these great chefs are more and more concentrating on small restaurants with maybe 30 covers and doing what they love most – their passion shines through. Cocktails and girly chats rounded off our day and we retired to our hotel full and happy!

The next morning we had a final breakfast together at The Ivy and headed back to Wales on the train to spend our last few days together – walking along the beach with the sunshine warming our backs, shopping in Cardiff, a movie and an Indian meal out and lots of lovely home cooked food and wine with enthusiastic participation in board games – simple stuff but absolutely what I miss the most! We laughed at how we had different words for the same things despite speaking the same language (courgette/zuccini, aubergine/eggplant, peppers/capsicum) and how our lives differ mostly because of our different climates. Theirs is more indoors with long cosy months of cold weather and ours is based more outdoors as we can confidently organise a bbq or a walk along the beach or a play date at the park without fear of rain.

On my last day they drove me to Bristol from where I was flying to Athens to meet up with the MOTH and we enjoyed that other great British tradition – a pub lunch! The perfect full stop to my trip home. Saying goodbye never gets any easier but we have been lucky over the past 2 years with more frequent get togethers post covid but as nothing has been actually planned for our next meeting this goodbye felt harder. We are thinking of renting a cottage in the Lake District for a week or two next year perhaps which will keep us from being too sad!! Farewell for now lovely family…..

We took a week off to go to Queensland and celebrate the MOTH’s sister’s 70th birthday. We could have flown but a road trip is always such fun, giving us an opportunity to visit places we hadn’t been for yonks or that we’d never been to before. We overnighted in Port Macquarie, lunched in Yamba and then caught up with old friends in Byron Bay where they have a lovely house above ‘The Pass’ which is a stretch of beach between Clarkes Beach and Wategos and a very popular spot with surfers and swimmers alike. We thoroughly enjoyed our beach walk after so much driving and equally enjoyed our sunset glass of wine overlooking the bay from their veranda! A trip into town and a delicious dinner at their favourite restaurant Jonsons before heading home and chatting until we fell asleep exhausted in their beautiful treehouse! They rent the house out so if you are ever looking for a great spot in Byron have a look at https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/42258391 We could easily have stayed another day or two but we had a party to get to!

It was a special reunion as the four siblings had not been together for years thanks to Covid and one of them living in Switzerland! She flew in and surprised her big sister Jo and our nephew and his family had also flown in from Calgary in Canada so it really was a wonderful reunion when we arrived in Sovereign Island. Jo’s partner Ivan has a lovely home there and in the afternoon we bundled up a few bottles of champers and headed out on his boat to look at all the amazing homes and gardens in the area. Needless to say a good time was had by all and it felt just like minutes rather than years since we had all last been together which was wonderful. Thanks Jo for giving us all a reason to reunite!

The next day we decided to give TopGolf a go. It’s a bit of a new “thing” for people of all ages and skill levels – even non-golfers – to come together for playful competition. From your very own bay (from where you can order food and drinks) you hit a golf ball containing a personalised microchip into one of 11 giant targets on the outfield, ranging from 25 to 190 metres away, scoring points when you hit them. Every section of each target has a reader that detects the microchip in your smart ball, which computes your scores based on the accuracy and distance of the shot and sends your results to the bay screen. Despite being pretty hopeless it was lots of fun and we all thought it was a great concept and not a bad way to improve your accuracy and practice certain strokes. There were also a lot of bucks and hens parties so it doesn’t have to be too serious!

The day of the party dawned sunny and beautiful as always in Queensland and we got stuck into the food preparation and making the place sparkle. A DJ arrived to set up his station, the boys bought their weight in ice and chilled numerous bottles of champagne and beer and we all frocked up for the celebration. Jo and Ivan had invited friends from New Zealand and from Jo’s expat years overseas as well as the extended family so we were a perfect amount to mingle, chat and dance before some great speeches and a fabulous cake. It was a great evening and we ended up in the kitchen finishing bottles of bubbles and eating prawn baguettes at midnight like a bunch of naughty school kids raiding the pantry! It was a quiet start to the next day that’s for sure…

Back home and we had plenty to do. The new chook house is up but we haven’t transferred the girls just yet, we still have to re-do the fencing and create a new shed for all the gardening gear before we can strip out the chook house, with only 3 weeks left before I go overseas I can’t see too much happening prior to my departure. Luckily it is a straightforward job once we get all the permissions in place and should happen magically while we are away. It will be a fun project for me once I get home to do the styling stuff and do the landscaping etc. The grandsons came for the weekend and we had fun with a new soccer net (the women’s world cup had inspired us all obviously) and after a big day scootering at the skate park, where Papa kept them fuelled with piping hot cinnamon donuts from the Berry Donut Van, we had a big bonfire before they collapsed into bed at 6.30!!! The TV didn’t feature all weekend which was great, Cooper loved the bike we rescued from the side of the road and has instructed us to remove the trainer wheels for his next visit!! Ollie insisted on going on it too even though he couldn’t reach the pedals – he just wanted it to be his turn to be a “big boy”!! They are all growing way too quickly!

The MOTH’s favourite Aunty has been a bit unwell and we decided to make a flying visit to Wagga to see her and the extended family. We had a delightful time catching up with everyone, especially Joan and Terry who still tell the most wonderful tales of their years on the land and of country life, keeping us in stitches with stories of some very unique country characters. It seems road trips are our thing at the moment! Its always nice to head out on the open road and with just a 5 hour drive each way it wasn’t too intense. What made it even lovelier was we were surrounded by yellow! The wattle was in full bloom along the roadside and was further complimented by fields of bright yellow canola. Splashes of sunshine everywhere we looked and you couldn’t help but feel happier for it. Wattle gets a bad rap as lots of people are allergic to it but as Australia’s national floral emblem it is also a well loved and oft used symbol, there are over 1000 different types of wattle and they are a very welcome sight in the middle of winter when things are cold and typically bare. It has been in Australia for over 65000 years and Indigenous people were always pleased to see it as it was a sign that the whales were migrating, mullet were ready to be caught and eels would start to appear in the rivers. National wattle day is celebrated on September 1st – the first day of Spring which reinforces the flower’s status as a symbol of new growth, renewal and fresh beginnings. It’s funny how nature has a colour theme at different times of the year. From September onwards it’s all about purple – it starts with the wisteria and then is followed by Lavander, irises, hydrangeas, daisies and salvias. The Queen of all though is the Jacaranda – which paints both the city and the bush with pretty purple puddles of pigment – providing a beautiful contrast to the millions of eucalyptus trees and something for the nectar loving creatures to enjoy! What a beautiful country we live in!!

A couple of years ago I made friends with two ladies new to Berry and we connected initially through our dogs. Kathy has a Golden retriever (Bear) and a Beaglier (Billy) and she met Vanessa through her business – Golden Retriever Retreat – which is basically a luxury retreat for Goldies! The dogs have the run of their house and garden and it is literally a home away from home for these very well-loved pooches. Us three girls hit it off and got together for walks and coffee and the occasional lunch and Bailey LOVED her walks with Bear and Billy (we called them the 3 Bs) which made it a no brainer for Kathy and I to meet up for a regular walk and combined chats! However Kathy’s life changed dramatically when she and her (English) husband decided they would like to move to the UK and bought a gorgeous stone Georgian house in the country and two weeks ago they boarded a plane with their 2 dogs and 2 cats for their new life. Our farewell was bittersweet as we will miss her but we’re also excited for her and her new adventure and wish her much happiness for this next stage. Thank goodness for WhatsApp keeping us in touch 🙂

Speaking of friends, I recently caught up with a girl I initially met when I was 11 and I started at boarding school in England. There was a group of us that became exceptionally close and to this day 5 of us stay in contact 50 years and a few continents later!! There is nothing like old friends where you can go months or years without seeing or talking to each other and once you do it’s as if it was yesterday and you pick up exactly where you left off! Jenny lives in Hobart now which is fabulous as I can meet up with her every time I visit Loz. Friends both old and new are little treasures in your life.

Our recent 10 days spent with Lauren and family in Hobart was lovely. Our son in law who is a sports teacher was taking his year 9 and 10s skiing to Victoria for a week and had suggested it would be a perfect time to come and spend some time with the girls and help out with the logistics of daycare etc while Loz worked. She has a fantastic new job as Tasmania’s inaugural Carbon Action Advisor to Tourism, a role that combines her communication skills with her passion for environmental sustainability and what better state to do this than Tasmania! On her days off we visited wineries, cideries, distilleries (can you see a trend here?) as well as every park within a 50km radius!

We also played mud kitchens, read books, painted nails, cooked brownies and danced to Barbie, Frozen and Moana. We did craft – made necklaces and pom pom pictures, taught them Connect 4 and drew endless pictures and had LOTS of cuddles and fun. Little Myla cried when they dropped us off at the airport saying she thought she’d never see us again (despite them coming to us for Xmas this year) which was so sweet but also heart breaking!! Hopefully she doesn’t know something we don’t!!

On our last day in Tassie we found out that our little grandson Ollie had been rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties and after various tests they think it was a viral induced asthma attack. He stayed 2 nights until they could get his oxygen levels operating properly and once again we are so grateful that there is a good hospital nearby when time is of the essence. At 2 years of age it was hard for him to understand what was going on and he HATED the mask and fought it until eventually he was so exhausted he finally gave in. A worrying few days for Mum, Dad and all the family as he is usually a little ball of action and it was hard to see him like this…

We are back home now and we have a longer list of jobs than usual as we have undertaken another project. We decided to repurpose our rather gorgeous chicken coop into a studio in the garden for me and my painting/writing and the first step is to relocate our 8 chickens. We have cleared an area that had been home to some dilapidated duck houses within the chicken yard and have taken delivery of a flat pack chicken coop which will eventually look like this.

There is quite a lot to do before the strip out officially begins, new windows and doors to be ordered and made, our potting shed has to be sorted out and relocated and all our “stuff” either chucked out or relocated – we have bits of wood and rolls of wire and all those bits and bobs that you keep “just in case” so we have plenty to keep us occupied. We are also on a bit of a timeline as I go away mid September for our 2023 sojourn to Europe so I have to have all my ducks in a row before I leave or the MOTH will be making decisions solo which is always dangerous! This is the before and hopefully similar after pics…

So we have 6 weeks now to get everything under control before our big holiday. The snowdrops are out as well as the blossom on the pear trees, the camellias are still in full throttle and the lavender has joined them and even a few roses and salvias are still blooming despite having been cut back so our winter garden is not without colour but I’ve spent this week preparing and sowing loads of beds with meadow flowers so I will hopefully return to lots of cheery flowers in amongst the veggies in the patch. My sweetpeas are loving this warm weather and have already started flowering so the bees are happy chappies and will no doubt help the veggies with pollenation which is the basis of my plan! The citrus are in full fruit so the next gloomy day we have I intend making a few batches of marmalade to use up all the fruit that is falling off the trees! I did have a little daydream this week when I bought my ticket in the $100M lottery that maybe if I won I could get a gardener in to help me and then I started thinking what else would float my boat….. this hit the spot!

Hell yeah!!

I’ve been in Australia 40 years in October and I am still incredulous that I have an orange tree growing in my garden. It seemed so very exotic when I was growing up in England – something I associated with the Mediterranean or Morocco – of warm evenings perfumed with the scent of orange blossom or a beautiful French Chateau with orange trees potted in Versailles planters in equally beautiful orangeries yet here I am in a country farmhouse in Australia with a tree that is in full fruit in the middle of winter!!!! Weird to say the least! As we have so many oranges I love to make an orange and cardamom cake I saw in the paper years ago that has become a favourite…the recipe is in the kitchen section if you are interested!

It has been very chilly here the past few weeks – well from 4pm to 9am at least, the days are gorgeous with huge blue skies and lovely sunshine to warm our bones. It is warmer to sit outside on our veranda than in our house (unless we have the wood burner going of course) so it is a pleasure to walk the dog or work in the garden until the sun drops behind the escarpment at exactly 4pm and we are forced inside to rug up and get the dinner going! By 5 we are plunged into darkness – a blanket scattered with stars thrown over the property, chickens snuggled up against each other on the roost to keep warm and the hound curled up in her bed oblivious to the time but responding to nature. Winter – a time to rest, relax, recuperate and enjoy the lethargy that comes over us at this time of year. We eat our dinner earlier and sleep longer – making the most of the later sunrise to snuggle under the doona and the cooler days mean we can spread out our activities instead of having to cram them in early because of the heat so in spite of it not being my favourite season it is actually a lovely time of the year!

Our little town of Berry was voted Best Small Town in NSW this year which was a nice pat on the back for our local shops, cafes and wineries that work tirelessly to bring a lovely experience to the jaded out-of-towners from the big smoke! For a small town Berry seems to be known far and wide. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat on a plane from a far flung place to have my fellow passenger know of Berry! It’s reputation is bigger than it is! It seems people have always loved coming down to the South Coast – even back in the 1930s when the road was slow and winding and the cars just pootled along, people came down here. Artists that went on to be famous such as Arthur Boyd, Brett Whitely and John Olsen all painted the South Coast in some form or another whilst holidaying down here, bringing it to the attention of the city folk.

I recently discovered some old photos of Seven Mile Beach from the 1920s and 30s when the beach was known as the Gerringong Speedway and where it apparently played a significant role in the history of the motor car in Australia. Horse racing had been popular on the straight flat beach from the 1860s right up to when the cars started using it in the early 1920s. In 1925 Don Harkness (1890-1972) an automotive designer, driver and engineer set the Australian land speed record on Seven Mile Beach. With an estimated 2,000 people cheering Harkness on, he reached a staggering 104 miles per hour, or 167kph. The media lapped up the story at the time, extolling the virtues of the sea-scape environment and referred to it as ‘the greatest beach in the world’ for racing.

And in 1933, the long, smooth hard beach was selected by Charles Kingsford-Smith for his maiden international voyage to New Zealand. At Low tide at 2:30am on the morning of January 11, more than 200 locals lit flares and turned on their car lights to help ‘Smithy’ see the runway. It’s hard to believe this all happened when nowadays the beach is virtually empty except for the now ubiquitous beach cabanas that seem to be populating all of our beaches and the odd beach fisherman. I can’t imagine people getting dressed up in their Sunday best to view a land speed record or inaugural plane flight on these same sands!

Last weekend we had our little grandsons to stay – their first solo visit without their parents and we had a lovely time! Apart from the usual fascination with the cows and the chickens we made the most of our fabulous park in Berry – Boongaree – where there is SO much to do. We spent 3 hours there with them and they absolutely loved the skate park. There is a small one for the littlies but they tired of that quickly and then progressed to the BIG guys ramps which freaked me out but gave them an enormous amount of pleasure! They really are fearless on their scooters and I loved watching them work out the best ways to get around as some of the ramps were really steep but they did it with no help from us and the bigger guys were pretty patient with them when they got in the way a bit. Ollie is amazing at just over 2 how he gets around dropping his body when cornering and whizzing around just a tad too quickly for this Grandma!! We stopped off at the Fairy Garden on the way home so that Cooper could look for his namesake rock! The lady that started the garden had painted a load of rocks with various local families’ names and Coops had the best fun looking for his. It is a wonderful spot to spend an hour as the kids love playing with all the toys there – dinosaurs, trucks, dollhouses, musical instruments and rota tennis all provide a break for kids and parents alike! It’s also a great place to donate any unwanted toys, the kids get a real sense of donation and sharing with others which is a valuable lesson.

The dreaded Winter Westerly Winds have arrived, last night was the first big one of the season and we woke up to branches strewn everywhere and furniture blown off the veranda. The whole house shakes and rattles, the old sash windows no match for the ferocity of the wind and the eerie whistling of the wind down the chimneys makes you think the whole house is going to blow away! It is however very reassuring that the house has stood here since 1896 and withstood many years of this kind of pummeling. Luckily, this time of year also brings the most beautiful sunsets, everything from the palest peach to bright vermillion and sometimes a sky full of pure purple. It’s a fact that no matter what happens and how wonderful or awful things are, the world continues to turn and show us it’s magnificence. It never fails to make me feel super small in the scheme of things and remind me that we are only here for a nanosecond and also to make the very best of every single day that we are lucky enough to witness!

It’s the first Sunday of winter and it’s gloomy. A fine mizzle is making me stay inside, log fire crackling gently, mug of tea and the newspaper in hand. There’s something about it being Sunday that gives me permission to snuggle up and enjoy indoor pursuits without judgement! My wardrobe cries out to be sorted out – the summery things folded and put away for another few months and the jumpers and jackets to be brought to the fore. I’m also sorting out my old “corporate” clothes as I can’t see me needing them much anymore. The tailored dresses, fitted shirts and the like are superfluous to my needs here in the countryside and spurring me on is the fact that my daughter is a similar size and will benefit from this clean out! Yesterday was a glorious day and I ventured out into the garden with my paints for an hour to attempt to capture the amazing golden russet colours of my crepe myrtle trees before they lost all their leaves. It feels good to sit in the gentle afternoon sun and just give in to creativity and enjoy the moment.

We have been lucky to have had our house full of little people over the past few weeks with visits from both sets of grandchildren. The girls came from Tassie for 10 days which gave us lots of opportunities to explore the local area as well as immerse them in country experiences. Little India, 21 months, was particularly enamoured with Bailey and the cows and chickens and it was lovely to see them happily accompanying Papa to do his daily chores. Everything is magical at that age – making a fire, feeding the chooks, baking a cake, mowing the lawn – the most mundane things become fun through their eyes.

The local playgrounds and bushwalks kept them busy and ensured they slept well at night and dinner eaten outdoors bundled up next to a fire was fun for all of us! Uncle Tom came down for a few days to join in the fun and it was nice for them to reconnect with him prior to our Cameron Xmas later this year. It will be a very busy and noisy one with 2 x 4 year olds and 2 x 2 year olds in the mix!! The year is already racing – hard to believe we are half way through already. Tempus fugit and all that jazz!

The little boys also love all the animal related pursuits but being boys they also LOVE Papa’s garage and his many tools and of course the ride on mower. Cooper who is ever curious as to how things work is now Papa’s helper when it comes to chopping wood and collecting kindling. He knows how to put the logs into the vice and then dons his headphones as they are cut with the saw. He loves nothing more than being given a length of wood, half a dozen nails and a hammer and then banging them in and taking them out! Simple fun but also teaching him something practical which is the best thing about 4 year olds as they are sponges and absolutely love learning new things. The littler ones are finding new words every day and of course think they can do anything that the bigger ones can which leads to the odd disaster but also lots of fun together as a group. It really is a unique and special time for our family unit.

Winter brings with it early morning mists and fogs, settling thickly into the dips of the hills and keeping us asleep longer with no sun to wake us. Huge flocks of Corellas fly further afield looking for nuts and seeds, we hear them squawking loudly from kilometres away and then see them resting, strung out like fairy lights on the power lines. Most of our outlook is still green thanks to the native trees but there are vibrant squares of red and orange where people have planted deciduous trees in their gardens, breaking up the green in the most delightful way. I still get much joy from the piles of fallen leaves, so many shapes and colours and the rustling and crunching as you walk through them takes me back to my childhood in England and walking through our local woods.

So this is the time of year to rest and recuperate, indulge our love of slow cooking and baking, finally managing to (almost) get on top of those pesky weeds in the garden, time to paint and stain the outdoor furniture and prune the fruit trees, read on the verandah in the sunshine and binge watch shows (especially the British ones) with a glass of red by the fire after dinner. A walk along the beach on a sunny day with the dog and catching friends for lunch at local wineries. Shorter days and colder nights when climbing into bed under the cloud of our winter duvet is heaven. If our chickens would just start laying some eggs again things would be perfect! Its been 2 months now since they started moulting and stopped laying but now they are all fully fluffy with feathers and STILL no eggs. We got a tip from an old chook guy who said to feed them warm porridge every evening just before they went to sleep all to no avail and now I feel they are having a lend of us. Trouble is I love them! All 8 of them are so sweet and love standing near me and making little crooning noises when I’m working in the veggie patch next to their chook house and when we let them out in the afternoon they run off together as a pack – wings flapping and clucking loudly – until they find a warm sunny space under the roses where they like to make little hollows to lie in with their wings out to soak up all that warmth. They are real little characters but are entirely useless. Even when we get eggs again each one will have cost about $10 each with all the food we’ve given them for no return over the past few months! I really love seeing them wandering around the place though and the grandbabies love them so for now they stay…….

Luckily Easter and it’s long weekend meant that Sam and Tom could join us in The Meadow and spend a few days with Gigi and Sandy which was lovely. The weather was pretty good meaning we could hang out on the veranda chatting in the sunshine and then at night enjoy some home cooked food in front of a roaring fire. The boys cooked for us the first night – an Italian Feast – which went down a treat, the limoncello certainly went down well also (I literally never thought I would ever see my Mother in a baseball cap!!!!!) and it was nice to have the house full of noise and laughter again. I felt a bit guilty tucking into my cosy bed thinking of Sam in his swag on the lounge floor but sadly we are a bedroom short when everyone is here. It’s a dilemma for lots of people our age who live alone 90% of the time and then somehow have to expand 2-3 times a year to cope with extended family but we manage for the most part and Sam was a trooper taking one for the team that weekend…

Easter Sunday was fun – boules on the front lawn with drinks in hand followed by a lovely slow cooked lamb lunch and then a bonfire under the stars with us all rugged up listening to music and chatting away. A special time for my boys and my UK girls to remember…..

So our last week was upon us and we had just a few places left to explore – Shoalhaven Heads is a nearby favourite because it has an off-leash beach for Bailey and also the beautiful river which is easy to walk along, followed by a drink in the afternoon sun at the Heads Pub overlooking that beautiful view. We also ventured up to the Southern Highlands for a day stopping off in Moss Vale for coffee and a bimble around the beautiful homewares shops there before heading to Bowral, Somehow within an hour we all had several shopping bags on our arms and decided enough was enough before heading to Dirty Janes and its treasure trove of goodies and lunch at the wonderful Harrys on the Green. It was like stepping into someone’s home, with books from floor to ceiling and chandeliers reflecting the flames of the log fire that was making it very cosy indeed. Lovely food and the obligatory glass of wine left us feeling very happy at our choice of day out and a reminder to me to go over the mountains more often!

All of a sudden it was their last night and after a delicious dinner and the last couple of bottles of Alicante Bouschet from the wine cellar the MOTH took some pics of the three Bradley Girls for posterity and they were packing for their last hurrah in San Fransisco. Five weeks had flown by and we had been just about everywhere within 200kms of our house to share our little piece of Australia with them. Our last morning was spent in Kiama in glorious sunshine exploring this little coastal gem and enjoying a last lunch at Diggies overlooking the sea – fish tacos, prawn rolls and salt and pepper squid all washed down with some pale pink rose before dropping them to the train and their journey to the airport. With huge hugs, a few tears and LOTS of waving we parted ways feeling very lucky that we managed to have this special time together…I hope I get to do the same with my adult kids when I’m in my 80s!!

So my 5 week ‘holiday’ had come to an end and I had no more excuses to avoid the garden! My veggie patch was the first hit on my list. We are still re-invigorating it back to some semblance of functionality after all the rain whilst being sensible about the amount of things we plant. Winter crops in particular can take 2-3 months to ripen and then you get just one cauli or cabbage for your efforts! We are trying to plant the things that we enjoy eating – some faster crops like peas and beans and broccoli and then some of the other longer growing crops like Brussel sprouts, cabbages, leeks and our perennial favourite – garlic! All the seedlings are planted and mulched with our new fave product – Who Flung Dung – a nutrient and probiotic rich compost/mulch which feeds the soil rather than pumping nitrogen rich fertilisers into the soil which are often not able to be absorbed and then wash away via rain into our waterways causing algae bloom and other chemical reactions. Organic fertilisers add to the microbial abundance and diversity in the soil much as a probiotic helps the human microbiome and it makes far more sense to me to be using these products in our little patch than anything else. With our remaining beds (we don’t need 14 beds of veggies!!) I’m planting flowers – mostly wildflowers from seed to attract bees and butterflies and pollinators. I have always wanted to sow a wildflower meadow on part of our land but ‘he who mows’ deemed this impractical and annoying so I feel this is my only alternative! Also a bed full of flowers means less weeds and much more vitality. Everything has a place in this ecosystem of life!

We left The Meadow for a little road trip down the South Coast. Our first stop was about a 3 hour drive south which was just abut our limit as the night before my Sister had a nasty fall and hurt her knee. She tripped over our Chocky Dog who is admittedly rather hard to see lying in the hallway in the dark. She came down really hard on her knee and couldn’t put any weight on it whatsoever. We were a bit worried she may have snapped a ligament or dislocated her kneecap as it swelled up straightaway and things were looking less than good however a drugged-up night’s sleep had her packed and balancing on crutches with a knee brace and ready for the off! Luckily she could stretch out a bit in the back of the car and prop it up on a pillow with an icepack working its magic. By the time we arrived in Narooma for our lunch she was able to manage enough to get to our waterside table and enjoy a fantastic Mexican style lunch washed down with a chilled French rosé and enjoy the ambience. Justin Hemmes has taken over this old fishing shack and imbued it with his usual sense of style – in this instance straw lobster pots hanging from the ceiling and surf posters from the Pacific that dotted the walls, The hero was the view (and the food) and we had a very pleasant couple of hours before heading off to Bermagui for the night where we stayed in the old beach side hotel and enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and comfy rooms alongside a spot of shopping in the small boutique shops – 24 hours after leaving home we felt as if we were well and truly on holidays!

We managed to get an appointment with the local physio to appraise Sandy’s knee who gave her a list of dos and do nots as well as some exercises. He massaged all the fluid surrounding it and the pain was worth it as it started to subside a bit. Knowing she hadn’t done anything permanent gave her the courage to use it more and she graduated from crutches to Mum’s stick (who luckily didn’t need it!) All this just in time to board a flight to Hobart and spend 4 nights reconnecting with Mum’s great granddaughters and meeting little India Elizabeth (who was named after Mum) in the flesh. It was so special to have 4 generations together and for Mum and Sandy to get to know the little girls as well as spending some lovely grown-up time with Loz! I stayed in their new house (on Myla’s top bunk) and amazingly there was a lovely Tuscan style hotel just around the corner for Mum and Sandy to stay! We enjoyed a wonderful night out with Loz in Salamanca where we had cocktails followed by a great meal at Peppina and caught up on life. Hobart is a wonderful city with so much to see and do no matter how many times you visit!

We visited the Salamanca Markets where Sandy finally got to try one of their world-famous scallop pies, we watched magicians and classical guitar players, perused the many local artisan stalls and ate yummy food. We visited the Huon Valley and lunched at Willies cider shed, checked out sheep cheeseries and had an amazing morning tea in Cygnet, browsed local antique shops and drank some lovely wines as well as fish and chips on the beach in Kingston while the girls played happily and in the evenings we ate at Lozzy’s place and chatted happily (and noisily according to her MOTH…) until it was time to say goodbye and fly home. We had a fab few days and I was so happy that my girls got to meet Laurens girls at last!

Back in The Meadow we finally got to celebrate the wedding of our close friend’s daughter. She was one of the victims of Covid and the enforced cancellation of weddings in 2020 and missed out on another 2 planned dates before finally making it official this year! It was beautiful, held at Jaspers – a local wedding venue – and for us it was doubly wonderful as we caught up with people we hadn’t seen in over a decade! A truly happy weekend. Congratulations Penny and Greg.

We had a week to play before heading to Sydney to see the other half of the family and the weather was on our side. Glorious early Autumn weather meant blue skies and sunshine during the day and cool evenings perfect for eating and sleeping! We made day trips to Jervis Bay and beautiful Hyams Beach followed by lunch at The Husky Pub, met up with friends at Cambewarra Lookout for amazing scones and homemade jam, had afternoon wines at Two Figs and Mountain Ridge Wineries and had a lovely walk over the cliffs at Kiama Downs to see beautiful Minamurra shimmering in the afternoon sun. Coffees were had in just about every town you can think of and we constantly reviewed the beauty of the multi million dollar beach houses dotted along the coast. We nattered incessantly and we constantly laughed at the different ways we pronounced the same words – who would have thought there would be so many differences between two English speaking countries! All in all every day was GOOD and we just appreciated being together!!

Our final mini trip away was to Sydney to see the great grandsons and we booked a little apartment in Manly, a 2 minute walk to the beach and a great spot to enjoy a couple of days in the big smoke without having the hassles of parking. We caught a ferry into Circular Quay so the tourists could once again see the beautiful Opera House and Bridge and we had a lovely seafood lunch in their shadow. Also in the shadow of an enormous cruise ship which kind of spoiled things but what can you do? They seem to be everywhere that we go – even the smaller places they park offshore and ferry them in so there is no avoiding them. I think it’s their sheer size that gets me more than anything – they literally block out your entire view! Anyway….we had a lovely time seeing the sights and then back to Manly and a twilight drink overlooking the beach with the surfers, runners and dog walkers passing by as the sun set was quintessentially Aussie which the girls loved. A Greek meal at a local restaurant had us feeling like we were in Mykonos and a colourful breakfast at Boathouse got our next day off to a good start.

We headed to Seaforth and had a lovely day with Livvy and the boys, she went to a lot of trouble to give us a beautiful lunch where her Mum joined us and the little boys played happily around us. Gigi got to read a book to Cooper and even play soccer with him – not bad for an 86 year old! I feel now that both Mum and Sandy have properly met all the kids and that they in turn know their British relatives better which makes me very happy! That night we met MY boys at Hugos for a super meal and lots of delicious wine together as well as a lot of laughs which had the wait staff mentioning the ‘energy’ coming from our table – definitely a night to remember! It always amazes me how much you can fit into a couple of days and how much a mini break feels like a holiday! We were officially over half way through their big trip now and we were aware of time ticking by but luckily we still had Easter to look forward to….

What feels like eons ago now we celebrated my birthday and Tom’s new job. All of these things involved lots of yummy food and plenty of glasses raised in various toasts. We had my birthday lunch at Bangalay Dining in Shoalhaven Heads and it was delicious, we are lucky to have this fine dining restaurant nearby and the boys joined us as they were in Huskisson for the weekend for Tom to take part in the Husky Sprint Tri. He and his mates try and do it every year as it keeps them focused on health and fitness after the silly season and gives them 6-8 weeks to buckle down and train. They had a perfect weekend for it and they all got the job done!

We also farewelled families from 2 of the 7 houses in our lane as they start new adventures in Tasmania and Goulburn, it was a BIG night resulting in a couple of sick days being taken the next day and 3 little boys missing the school bus as Mum and Dad slept in!!! A very memorable and fun night was had by all and the next night when I had to leave at 9pm to collect my overseas visitors not one light was on in the lane – a very early night for everyone in the aftermath of The Big Farewell!

I was in Sydney for my monthly bookclub meeting and tacked on an extra day so I could go and see Tom’s new pad in Bondi and after walking the beautiful coastal track from Bondi to Bronte (which made me remember just how beautiful Sydney is) we frocked up and enjoyed a super lunch outdoors at Tottis. There’s a lot of hype about these restaurants but we found it justifiable as they have a great menu, cocktails and that lovely alfresco ambience reminiscent of Noosa. A great Sydney Day Out and a reminder why Bondi commands some of the most expensive real estate in Sydney – it literally feels like you are on holiday there!

After two years of soggy garden beds and therefore a non existent veggie patch I optimistically planted some tomatoes and zucchini this summer and we were rewarded with the most insane tomato crop! They were so sweet, juicy and productive I was literally making passata every 3rd day! We have a freezer overflowing with boxes of the stuff – some with chilli, some with herbs – basically a little hit of summer to enjoy over the winter months. It has been wonderful to have some of our own produce in the garden once again. I aim to plant some garlic, spinach and broccoli in the next few weeks and hope they will do as well as our beautiful heritage tomatoes….

So as it turned out the night after our big Lane farewell I drove to Kiama to collect my Mum and Sister who had flown into Sydney that evening from Singapore. I couldn’t believe we were all together as in the entire 40 years I have been in Australia I have never had both of them here at the same time. It was so lovely to have them here under my roof and I could hardly believe that we were to have the following 5 weeks here together exploring and spending time with the extended family. Mum as the family Matriarch was Great Grandma (Gigi) to my 4 grandies and she hadn’t as yet met the two youngest and my sister hadn’t met any of them as it had been 5 years since her last visit. So primarily it was a family driven holiday but I was determined to show the girls as much of the local sights as I could and of course we had a list to help keep us on track! We are a great family of list makers so this gave us the structure we needed and as it turned out it also gave us a terrific itinerary for their time here. The weather came to the party and despite a few little unforeseen accidents (yes that’s you Sandy Cherry) we had the very best time we could have envisaged….

We made the most of the lovely sunny weather and started off locally – walking the beach and the river at Shoalhaven Heads, showing them our local produce at Nowra Fresh Fish and Meat Market and letting the girls enjoy some much needed sun on their skin after a long British winter. They were like lizards basking in the warmth on the veranda at every opportunity and of course there was a never-ending stream of chat! The MOTH had mentally prepared for this but was still very grateful for our two indoor lounges and wrap around verandas meaning everyone could have their own space! We also had some nice trips away planned. The time seemed to lie endlessly ahead of us and there was no rush, which is the beauty of a longer holiday spent in one place I think 😊

Early morning and the mist hangs like icing over the top of the mountain, the cows languorously wander into the field in single file blithely following the leader without a care in the world. Midday and the heat is throbbing, lying heavily over the house, we escape to the pool and watch the dragonflies hover on their search for a tasty morsel. Late afternoon and its Golden Hour when the sun is low in the sky and everything looks like a painting tinted in yellowy gold, the chickens are wandering around the garden looking for delicacies and run squawking every now and again to catch up with the others as they roam far and wide spreading out like a search party to who knows where and we sip our happy hour drinks on the veranda watching them and pondering how lucky we are to live here – simply and happily for the most part. The city isn’t too far away if we feel the need for more “action” and a trip overseas always makes us feel adventurous and richer for the new experiences yet by the end of it craving home in equal measure!! 

The weather has returned to pre La Nina normal and we have had some beautiful summery weather. The odd hot day or two but mostly just about perfect. We have had some amazing storms though where the sky darkens ominously and an hour later we are left battered with branches scattered around the lawn and another 10-20mls of rain in the gauge saving me from too much hand watering thankfully. We have tomatoes and zucchini growing like crazy in the patch and I’m about to plant some beans and silverbeet and maybe some asian greens to help us through Autumn. A big batch of passata will be made in another week or two as there are literally about 200 tomatoes about to ripen on our bushes! The rest of our garden is looking much better after some love from us and some compost and fertiliser, my pots are enjoying some love thanks to gogo juice and all the microbes found within and my hydrangeas that were on the brink of death are looking decidedly happy at last. The dead trees have been removed and the lawn is starting to grow over the patches already. I feel like we can breathe again and with things about to slow down with the seasons I might just have things back to normal by Spring!!

I made a solo trip to Tassie last month to help out Loz and Berry as they were moving into their very first own home which needed a lot of TLC and Lauren had every day organised with military precision. They had 2 weeks to paint everything, install new carpets, flooring and fitted wardrobes and buy some furniture and appliances as they have been living in furnished houses for the last 10 years as expats! It was a steep learning curve for them but they did a wonderful job completely transforming the old tired green, lavender and yellow rooms into fresh clean white rooms which made everything brighter and became a perfect background for their furnishings. I looked after the little girls when they weren’t at daycare and helped paint, weed the garden (I can never get away from this job it seems!!) and generally helped to get the new place ready for a family when they were! There is something about investing time, money and lots of hard work into a house – it makes you bond with it and it starts to become a home. I am proud of them for saving hard for so long and then getting stuck in to do the hard yards and slowly seeing their vision come to fruition. The girls are the most gorgeous age now, loving getting dressed up (Frozen is huge) singing and dancing, reading books and playing outside with anything watery and in their mud kitchen (so simple and such fun!) They are becoming a real team now and Indi copies EVERYTHING that Myla does so we thank our lucky stars that Myla is a pretty good role model! I absolutely love this little video of her trying to explain to me what Cold Rock Ice-cream is……

I came back and met up with my friend who had been in the UK for the past 3 months and we decided to go out to Merribee to have a look around their gardens and get some inspiration along with our coffee. It proved a very educational visit as we chatted to their in-house horticulturalist about the state of our gardens post the cataclysmic rain we’ve had over the past 2 years. They had also endured a similar fate with lots of their hedges showing dead patches and whole stands of dead trees. Their lavender field had to be completely replanted and this time they decided to plant them on little raised mounds just in case of further heavy rain in the future. She was the person that told me about ‘Who Flung Dung’ and ‘Gogo juice’ and the general importance of soil biology which was fascinating! It was encouraging to me that even the professionals were having problems with their gardens and not to give up.

The following weekend was The Berry Show, back for the first time in 3 years and a very welcome addition to this little country towns calander. It is a mini version of The Easter Show in Sydney and there is lots for the locals to get involved in – cattle showing, horse jumping, rounding up cattle and sheep shearing to name a few. There was the ever popular wood chop, a petting corner, a poultry shed full of the most exotic and amazing looking and sounding birds and of course Side Show Alley. Sam bought the boys down for the weekend and Cooper got to go to his first ever fair – going on the dodgems with Dad and loving bumping everyone! The mirror maze, laughing clowns, fairy floss, fluoro slushies and tractors galore all made for a good day for the little boys and then all hot, sweaty and sticky we went home for a swim and an outdoor dinner on a perfect summer’s evening. The huge new park in Berry continues to be on our must-do list when the boys are here and Cooper is getting braver every time – climbing high up to the big kids slide and loving the human hamster wheel and flying fox. Ollie is more into snacks and watching everyone but it won’t be too long before he’s up there too! A ride on our local model railway which opens on the 1st Sunday of the month topped off our fun filled weekend and they both slept, happily exhausted, all the way back to Sydney!

So here we are, Christmas is but a distant memory and 2023 is well on it’s way. I’m getting very excited as my Mum and Sister arrive here mid March and I am excited to show them a bit of the south coast and Tassie that they haven’t seen before. They are getting excited to see the grandkids and great grandkids and hopefully some sunshine after a long few months of winter in the UK and as usual we will just relish being with each other and enjoying the simple everyday things which is actually what you miss most when you are away from people you love. Bring it on!!!!!