This photo was taken on one of the rare days when it’s been lovely all day and we made the most of it with a coastal walk around Kiama. Bailey loved it and so did we…so nice to feel the sun on your skin again and everyone had a smile on their faces! It reminded me of growing up in England and the difference a sunny day made to people – I think we have swapped weather with them this year with us having too much rain and no sun and them sweltering and dry!

After a very busy 6 weeks of flying around the country and New Zealand to say goodbye to his customers and introduce them to their new account managers, retirement has begun for the MOTH and so far its been fab! We started off as we mean to carry on with a lovely lunch at Bangalay Dining in Shoalhaven Heads with our friends – the food was delicious and we were cross with ourselves for not having come here earlier! We often have coffee or brekky there after walking the beach as dogs are welcome, but we hadn’t been into the restaurant – something we will be doing much more often now that we know how yummy the food is!

The next day we packed up and headed north to Forster, overnighting in Sydney and enjoying some live footy and another delicious meal with friends before continuing on up the Motorway. It’s been 6 years since we have spent any time there and it was great to be back in a place we went to often when the kids were growing up. My Father In Law lived there for many years as do our old friends Wayne and Kathy and our summers were full of beach days, Smugglers when the kids were small (a great caravan park) and rented houses as they got older. We have many fond memories of the kids sliding down this huge sand dune at North Oney on flattened cardboard boxes and the simpler holidays of old when we all enjoyed fish and chips wrapped in newspaper and an ice-cream at the milk bar after a day at the beach. Bailey came with us this time and we had walks every morning around the wharves which are still full of pelicans and ended up with coffee on the beach – definitely a good way to start the day.

We treated ourselves to 4 x pensioner tickets to see the Top Gun Movie on our only rainy afternoon and we followed up with drinks in the pub overlooking the lake – and all before 5pm on a school night!! We caught up with everyone at The Surf Club where the MOTH is an honorary member and there was a comfort to seeing the same people in the same location after so long!!!

Sam and Cooper also had a little holiday to Tasmania. Coops was so excited to catch the big ‘hairoplane’ and see his cousins. He and Myla are only 9 weeks apart so it was perfect with days full of exploring the beach and then the snow and Cooper was very chuffed with the creation of his very first snowman! Lunch at a winery where a helicopter landed right in front of him (something I think he will NEVER forget!!) and feeding the ducks at nearby Richmond all made for a super long weekend and Sam finally got to see both his Sister and Hobart!

When Cooper got back to daycare he was very excited to host the day’s “Show and Tell” which has changed somewhat since our kids went to school! He was very excited to share his adventures with his class and is still buzzing about all the experiences he enjoyed.

Finally after 7 months liaising with the cemetery in Tumut and the organising of a plaque etc the Cameron siblings got together to put Pop to rest. He had always wanted to be laid to rest with his Mum and brothers in Tumut where he grew up and Rod organised everything to grant this last wish. Their sister flew in to Canberra and rented a car and they had all booked to stay the night in Jugiong and have dinner together before the interment of the ashes the following day. Jugiong is about a 4 hour drive from our place so Big Bro drove from Sydney leaving his rather smart car in our garage and transferring into the MOTH’s ute which was more suited to the rough terrain. About 5 minutes from their destination the MOTH suggested they go through the plan for the next day when Rod turned ashen faced towards him and he immediately knew something was wrong….Pop had been left on the back seat of Rod’s car 3.5 hours away!!!! Luckily Tom was staying in The Meadow and he hopped into the car and drove halfway to meet them and Pop was safely “exchanged” but it was a hairy drive. Dusk and then pitch dark on a remote dirt road with kangaroos everywhere, not to mention the gigantic potholes from the heavy rain and then a long drive back to Jugiong finally arriving at 9pm – Pop definitely got the last laugh!! The next day under a blue sunny sky he was reunited with his beloved Mum and farewelled by 3 of his children (and watched from Switzerland by the 4th) in a simple ceremony that he would have approved of. Rest in Peace Pop.

With two weeks to go until our European trip we are busy getting both the house as ready as we can for our house sitters and organise everything for 6 weeks of living out of a case! Hot weather at the beginning and cold weather at the end means careful packing and after 3 years of not going anywhere we are rummaging around looking for the adaptor plugs, the squashy travel hat and travel handbag that has all the sections required for the various certificates, passports and hotel bookings and feeling a bit like first time travellers! I’m sure it will all come back to us once we board that plane! I’m starting to feel a quiver of excitement and barring any other disasters (surely we’ve covered them all in the past 3 years??) we will be enjoying the pristine scenery in Switzerland, the food in Italy and the wildness of the Scottish Highlands very soon! Ciao a tutti!

This is one of the incredible photos taken from The James Webb Space Telescope of galaxies a million light years away from ours. It’s literally too hard to wrap your head around how microscopic we are in the scheme of things and right now I feel like the Universe is trying to tell us something but I have no idea what? To say we are experiencing unusual times is an understatement as yet another year of challenges unfold. The bloody pandemic is still in our face – in fact it is infecting more and more people every day but as with everything we eventually get more used to it and become a bit more blasé as the months and years tick over. I still have a healthy regard for what it can do but how long can we hide away at home and not live our lives as we would like? In our age bracket in particular time is not on our side – we don’t have decades left to enjoy travelling and adventure so we have to seize the day despite the virus and make the most of the opportunity to enjoy our lives as much as we can. A few things have made that extra hard recently…the aforementioned virus has been having a ball literally infecting people as they pass each other in the street.

This picture of our book club girls taken a few weeks ago was when we got together to remember our lovely friend Marilyn one year after her passing. She loved bright colours and we tried to do our best to honour that love brightening up a table in a Balmain Pub where we enjoyed a couple of hours together having lunch and chatting about anything and everything. A few days later 7 of the 8 of us had Covid!! This came straight after my few weeks with the flu so I really won the lottery! I am now feeling better but taking precautions when out as I’m pretty sure my immunity must be a bit tired and emotional after the last 2 months and we literally have only got 4 weeks until our trip to Europe.

That is yet another challenge to be overcome with airports around the world struggling to keep up with the eager tourists who have been deprived of travel for the past 3 years heading out in droves to enjoy the northern hemisphere Summer. Depressing pictures of abandoned luggage strewn around Heathrow Airport unclaimed for days together with tales of cancelled and delayed flights doesn’t fill me with warm fuzzy feelings and for the first time ever I am considering taking carry on luggage with a couple of changes of clothes etc incase I am parted from my case for a few days! The only thing in our favour is we are arriving at the end of Summer and hopefully most people will be home from their holidays and getting the kids ready to go back to school instead of heading abroad….. #pray for us!

The third part of the catastrophe trifecta is the weather – still causing havoc left right and centre around the world for different reasons. Here in Oz the rain is still hanging around with the odd few days in between taunting us with sunshine and light breezes which started to dry up the mud again but it was just a ruse as we now have a week of rain predicted with very little of the wet stuff needed to top us back up again and the poor cows are still up to their knees in mud. Our local roads are very compromised with several still shut due to landslides and you never know when you come around a corner if there will be a tree fallen across the road or if indeed you can even see the road……we took this picture a few days ago driving home with a large amount of water covering both the road and a gigantic pothole which luckily we managed to avoid but many others didn’t. There is talk of a third La Nina this summer but I seriously hope they are wrong. Meanwhile in the UK they have had their hottest day ever at over 40C and have endured days of melting temps, wildfires and are now acutely aware of how they are not set up for hot summers. I have a feeling that air conditioning companies are going to see a surge in demand over there after this!!

But it works both ways I guess. We have had a cold wet winter which is not our happy place either. Our houses are built to stay cool, the charming old weatherboards are not great insulators and our 13 feet ceilings are nice in the summer when the hot air rises but in winter we want it down here near the couch thank you very much! Builders tend to do big builds and renovations in Winter as in the past it has been reliably dry and sunny but cool. We have NOT had that this year and I’m sure most of us are dreading getting the electricity bill after trying to keep our houses cosy. There are two groups of Aussies in Winter – the first have puffer jackets and boots to top off their 6 layers and the other half are still in their shorts and flip flops saying “it’s not even that cold” every ten seconds but in general we are underprepared for anything under 20 degrees and our houses are like fridges. Thank God it only lasts 3-4 months.

On top of all that we are now being warned that Foot and Mouth disease is on our doorstep in Indonesia and with the Aussies love of Bali it’s only a matter of time until it’s here. As usual the powers that be are saying “we will be getting sanitation mats and footbaths at the airport” instead of just doing it already! These things really have to be nipped in the bud quickly and I’m pretty sure no tourists would complain about an extra step coming home to protect our dairy and livestock industry. If they do they can’t complain when we have no beef/lamb/pork/dairy products on the shelves in 6 months time. As if farmers don’t have enough to worry about already…..

Hopefully my next post will be much more upbeat and full of fun in the sun and the joy of being immersed in new places and the wonder of exploring new food, old buildings and different cultures! Until then lovely people stay safe and optimistic that things will improve soon and let’s make the best of what we have……remember we only get one bite folks!!

It’s been a few weeks of ups and downs here in The Meadow. The rain finally stopped allowing us to eventually get out into the garden to start our much needed working bee but unfortunately I then came down with Influenza A which meant I didn’t leave my bed or couch in nearly 2 weeks! I literally had 2 days of feeling good to start the ball rolling before it all came to a grinding halt again…..aaaaargh!! Luckily I started to improve (with the help of some antibiotics) just in time to hop onto a plane to Hobart for our planned trip to Tassie to see the granddaughters. After 2 weeks of vertigo and nausea I was rather worried if I’d be able to join in all the fun (read ….enjoying the Tassie pinot) but apart from a rather painful ear on landing I was feeling quite human and was able to mostly join in with all the fun on offer!

We all came down with it after the June Long Weekend (well 4/7 of us did) but luckily we managed to squish in a couple of days together first. Slow cooked food, big reds and log fires by night and some walks in the crisp sunshine during the day made for an easy couple of days before the lurgy set in! The little boys had some much needed country air and the cubby house was finally back in action! The flu definitely seems to be as active as Covid right now. Typically I had a flu shot booked for Tuesday at 10.30 but came down with it on the Monday at 4pm – rather frustrating! Don’t wait folks!

Tasmania never fails to show you a good time. We were super lucky with the weather which was neither wet or as freezing as I had imagined it would be in June. Lozzy’s house is very cosy and as long as you had your trusty puffer coat for outdoors everything was rosy! The only way you know it’s a bit chilly is that Berry puts on his beanie with his shorts and sweatshirt! We had outings every day – it’s all about co-ordinating with the timing of baby sleep times and meals. Fish and chips at the beach, park plays, feeding the ducks in Richmond followed by pizza and pinot at Pooley wines, cocktails and Italian food in Salamanca, beach walks for the Mummies, whiskey and beer tastings for the menfolk, fire pit and toasted marshmallows, painting and walks with Myla and cuddles with India all made for a perfect 4 days together. The worst part was the 2 hour wait on the train station coming from the airport – two cancelled trains in a row and the coldest platform in history made for an uncomfortable time. If only Australia was as civilised as the UK and Europe who have cafés and waiting rooms (sometimes even with a wood burner to keep you warm) on their bigger stations which would have made things much nicer.

So with a month to go before the MOTH is a man of leisure it is all systems go! Trips to Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand are all scheduled over the next few weeks as well as packing up the office, hosting the boss at The Meadow and squishing in a Christmas in July weekend here after a hiatus of 2 years due to you-know-what. It is nice to have things in the diary again and we all have a new found appreciation of actually getting together and we certainly don’t take anything for granted anymore! We have our lovely European holiday to look forward to later in the year and hopefully a few weeks to cobble the garden together before we go – another week of rain is forecast from tomorrow so let’s hope it doesn’t take us back to square one! I optimistically bought some winter veggies today and am off to plant them before the big wet! If you haven’t had your flu shot please do! I haven’t had Covid but those that have had both say the flu was worse! I’m swallowing vitamin C and Zinc at the rate of knots to help my poor immune system but the thought of a few days of sunshine in Portofino in a few months is what is helping the most – I swear it is a mental balm – hahaha!!

I’m snuggled up indoors while the wind roars outside and down the chimney, rattling the old sash windows and occasionally making the whole house tremble. At times like this it is reassuring to remember this house has stood since 1896 and has seen numerous “weather events” over the years and is unlikely to buckle for anything less than an earthquake! They made things well back in the day and she is as solid as they come thank goodness. We are actually grateful for the wind (but why does it have to be the freezing cold westerly?) as it is doing a grand job of drying out the mud. We now have a crisp eggshell of dry mud enclosing the squishier stuff underneath making for an interesting moonscape of our previously flattish green lawn as it is all lumps and bumps from previous footsteps that sunk with each step we took and which will probably take months if not years to even out again! It has however stopped raining for which we are very thankful and after years of fires, floods and a pandemic we are hopefully on the way back to normal – whatever that is!! So despite the coldest start to winter since 1982 we are feeling a bit upbeat and cautiously optimistic about planning things again.

It has been a lovely few weeks of celebration – starting with Toms birthday where we ventured up to the Big Smoke for the night and indulged ourselves at one of the nicest restaurants – Freds – in Paddington. Like eating in a friends home and with a true Farm to Table philosophy we loved the food, service and sense of old fashioned generosity that the place exuded and it was the perfect way to toast our youngest family member! A trip to the downstairs cocktail bar Charlie Parkers capped off a delicious meal – it has a great heritage feel whilst boasting an extensive list of very modern cocktails, a modern day speakeasy which is well worth a visit at the beginning or the end of an evening out. To end our night Tom had bought us tickets to The Comedy Festival which we thoroughly enjoyed – all the more so because we haven’t seen a live performance for so long and just being in a room with loads of other people all enjoying themselves was a novelty in itself! All in all a super night out.

The slightly bigger celebration this month emanated from London and was of course the Platinum Jubilee – a huge party celebrating Lizzie’s 70 years on the throne and a magnificent 4 days of unbridled adulation for Her Maj with everyone wishing each other “Happy Platty Joobs” as only the Brits can!! I was still living in England in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee and remember well stringing up loads of bunting and waving my little flag as she drove by in her Rolls Royce looking every bit the star that she was. Fast forward 45 years and this bigger, better and much flashier Jubilee was the most fitting way to celebrate her history making reign and to have a good knees up after the stresses of the past two years – uniquely British and totally fabulous.

Back in Berry we have enjoyed a few outings, firstly attending the opening of a local artist’s exhibition held at Belle Property to help raise funds for a foundation that provides free counselling services for young people navigating challenging times in their lives. – KYDS. A silent auction and a portion of all sales by the artist Alexandra Strong meant over $4000 was donated directly to the foundation. My friend Kathy did a great job speaking at the event and also bought the beautiful artwork featured above. A great local initiative and a terrific turnout.

A totally different offering was The Celtic festival held enthusiastically at the very muddy Showground. A lot of people turned out to watch the jousting which was quite entertaining but not as much fun as seeing the diehard Celts all dressed up in their kilts and playing the part so authentically I felt I was in an episode of Outlander! Their tents, food and weapons were all on display and in the muddy conditions gave a true likeness of what life would have been like back in the day! It made us really quite excited for our own visit to Scotland later this year when we are hoping to explore the area that the original Camerons hailed from and find out a little bit more about our family history.

Our other celebration of sorts came when the MOTH went to Melbourne and his upcoming retirement was officially announced. A big day for our Cocoa man and more emotional than he had anticipated. After a long time in the industry his knowledge and down to earth approach to Sales will be much missed I’m sure – I’m pretty sure no-one can get away with not doing spread sheets or budgets any more but luckily his figures always spoke for themselves and he never had to delve into the murky world of Microsoft Excel! He will be finishing up at the end of July and has lots of travelling to do before then as he hands his accounts over to his colleagues and says goodbye to customers who have become friends over the years. I’m sure it will be a strange transition after working for over 50 years but it will also be wonderful to be able to do what you like when you like without having to think of work while you’re doing it! More golf, more road trips and catching up with friends and family and some time to do a few projects around the property that we have been wanting to do for a while so hopefully it will all be good times ahead and he won’t miss the work buzz too much! Now I’m off to brave the wind and sweep out the cubby house ahead of the long weekend arrival of the grandsons and no doubt lots of cuddles and laughs. What else could possibly go wrong? Plenty apparently….

There seems to be an issue reading the blog via email with photos not presenting the way they were uploaded! It seems if you press either the title ‘The colours of Autumn’ or the small ‘The Move To The Meadow’ in blue at the top right of the opened email it will take you to the site and the correct visuals. Apologies for the glitch everyone!

It really is a beautiful time of year. Usually mild days and crisp evenings which suits me down to the ground. This year of course we have the rain….the unending rain. Our third La Nina in a row apparently – very rare supposedly…..blah blah blah. It’s all so very tedious but we have managed two separate days of mowing and tidying up the garden in between the deluges for which we are very grateful. It’s just going to be a loooong haul getting things back into shape as every centimetre of rain takes us back to square one with puddles everywhere on top of the completely saturated earth. Luckily this time of year also gives us amazing sunsets – peachy apricot hues changing to deepest vermillion red in mere minutes before we are plunged into darkness.

Luckily in between the rain we had some nice days and some visitors – AT THE SAME TIME – miraculous! The Tassie crew came for a week after our 70th weekend and managed a few trips to the park and the beach and we could even occasionally sit outside although there was definitely no walking on the grass without wellies! Lots of painting and making bead necklaces and indoor games and cuddles were enjoyed. On their last night we had a farewell for my Nephew and his wife who were leaving to live in Tokyo with their 10 month old son and we were so happy that we could finally get everyone together so the little cousins could meet each other! A pizza night was had under the stars with wine and music and stories recalled of life BEFORE (kids) and the adventures that lie ahead! We wish them lots of luck in their new life in Tokyo and hopefully we will get to visit them in the next year or two as I have never been to Japan.

The other thing I see this time of year is large swathes of white corellas swirling and turning in the sky like huge shoals of fish. Not quite the murmurations you see in the northern hemisphere but special enough to make you watch enthralled until they land or fly away. There is also colour everywhere if you look – the lemon, gold, russet and chestnut leaves making rich puddles under the now bare trees; the vibrant yellow splash of fireweed in the paddocks, the lemon pink and white flowers of the lantana and the purply pink flower balls of the clover in the hedgerows. My veggie patch has been rather optimistically planted with winter veggies – broccoli, cauliflower cabbage, spinach and garlic and the citrus is going crazy with so much fruit that we can’t keep up! We’ve swapped our limes for the neighbours lemons and we have dozens and dozens of ruby grapefruit and mandarins – so heavy they are dropping off the trees daily and rotting in the puddles before we even get a chance to collect them!

As work has stalled at home we gratefully accepted an invitation from some friends to some afternoon drinks at a local winery – Two Figs. It is located at the top of a hill overlooking the winding Shoalhaven River and is perfectly positioned to enjoy those sunsets. Inside they have a log fire to keep you cosy and huge picture windows overlooking the view when the outdoor seating isn’t viable. It’s quite easy to while away a few hours here chatting and laughing with friends and we should definitely do it more often!

I enjoyed a few days in Sydney helping out with the grandsons as their Dad was away on a work trip. It was lovely spending so much one on one time with them and seeing Cooper’s little face light up every morning when he realised I was still there! We tried to get outside as much as we could – racing sticks down the rain filled gutters, collecting leaves and stones and deciding which houses we both liked on our walks! Surprisingly a 3 year old can have really logical and viable opinions as to why a house is good or bad – very entertaining! I’m loving this age of independence when they want to do everything themselves – here Coops is determined to do his own jacket zipper up – such concentration! Little Ollie is so close to walking and zooms around the house with his funny crawl – back legs up and front ones down! He LOVES hats and looked particularly fetching in his brother’s chef hat I thought!

One good thing about the rain is I then have permission to do indoor pursuits and apart from Spring cleaning in Autumn – I finally got around to washing all the curtains (woohoo!) and planning and booking our accommodation for our big holiday later this year I have been trying to keep up my newfound hobby and paint! This is a little collection of things I’ve done thus far which I’ve really enjoyed. Practise makes perfect they say so I’m trying to draw or paint something every few days to get my brain used to this new thing I’m teaching it and hopefully one day it will get easier and better! As they say – it’s all about the journey……

Before that however we enjoyed a lovely Easter weekend. Number one son offered to ‘do’ Easter this year which was delightful! They have a beautiful home and are both fabulous cooks so it made total sense for us to go to them where the boys could stay in their bedrooms and sleeping routines and we were treated like Kings! We were blessed with the weather after SO MUCH RAIN and Uncle Tom came too to the delight of little Coops who worships the ground he walks on! We had a super weekend and we look forward to being able to visit a bit more frequently soon. They live in Seaforth and we had a lovely morning walk along the foreshore where I fell in love with Sydney all over again (except for the $10 per hour parking!!) and enjoyed a fun dinner at a local brewery with food trucks which reminded us of the huge variety of things there are to do in the Big Smoke! The South Coast is definitely improving but some great places have come and gone over the past few Covid years and we are still a bit short on for really good local venues.

The following week saw us escape to Mollymook for the night of the MOTH’S big birthday and the sun came out for us again! A day of mooching around the pool and walking along the beach before our good friends Karen and Phil joined us for a delicious dinner at Rick Steins restaurant made us thankful for the beautiful part of the world we now call home and for all the good stuff we have in our lives. A close friend just had a near miss with a horrible cancer diagnosis and it made me realise it really is now or never. The whole ‘make hay while the sun shines’ thing is more pertinent than ever before so watch out peeps we’re about to take life by the horns and make the most of it! Whilst walking we had a discussion about the disastrous last few months which has seen our property look the WORST it’s been since we moved in and whether or not we want the constant upkeep that our beautiful home requires and deserves. The bottom line is we are trapped by her spell……it’s not her fault that La Nina has ruined things for us and we know how beautiful she is once things are back on track. For now we are hers and she is ours! We have several months work ahead of us once the rains stops and the ground dries out enough to a) mow and b) get things under control and it’s a bit disappointing after so many years keeping on top of things but it’s not insurmountable. I keep thinking of all those people re building after bushfires or floods and realise we are pretty lucky. It’s still a necessity to wear gumboots every time you want to put the washing on the line or feed the chickens and the mud is super thick and slippery but hopefully it will soon dry out and we can get on top of it all over winter.

One thing that has been a joy whilst the weather has been awful is my new found hobby. My art workshops sadly came to an end and I really enjoyed them despite not being very good at it! I loved the whole letting go aspect of it and the fact that you didn’t think of anything else for the whole time you were there. The girls were a lovely mix of personalities and very encouraging and welcoming so I was pleased to be able to go and support one of them at her very first exhibition at Fern Street Gallery in Gerringong. It was a lovely afternoon and her collection of works looked amazing under the lights and professionally hung. She sold loads of paintings and as she herself said she could never have imagined a few years ago that this would ever have happened. The fact that they have all only started painting in the past few years and can produce such wonderful pieces has given me the inspiration to keep going. Kerry has taught me so much in such a short time and now I need to keep practising and trusting myself to have a go and just see what happens! It is a constant surprise as to what I can get onto a canvas both good and bad!

The Birthday Boy’s Big Weekend was memorable in many ways. It was the first time the whole family had “holidayed” together – taking the 4 grandkids out of their amazing sleep routines and sharing rooms with their parents was a risk but after a wobbly start they did very well. The sun came out, the grounds were dripping with Autumn foliage and the escarpment glowed orange at sunset as we sipped drinks around the fire pit and the kids stomped in piles of leaves in their wellies! The boys played golf, the girls snuck away for an hour to paint ‘au plein air’ and we ate and drank and chatted and laughed. Loz had secretly contacted a couple of the MOTH’s mates from his travelling days (thanks Baz and Duncan) and asked for some stories and photos which was ‘enlightening’ and a fun way to acknowledge his earlier years whilst blowing out the candles on his 70th! The kids loved hearing about his youth and couldn’t stop laughing over some of his hairstyles and fashion statements from the 70s!!

The 3 year olds had great fun on an egg hunt, the grounds a perfect hiding spot for leftover Easter eggs from the previous weekend. The hunt itself was as much fun if not more than the chocolate and seeing their little eyes light up as they spotted a glimmer of green or pink foil in a tree or tucked under a plant was sheer delight. It is such a wonderful age and they are both genuinely good company…nothing better than a conversation with a three year old!!

So our next fun thing is planning our holiday to Europe later this year. After a 3 day trip to New Zealand for work this week the MOTH was close to cancelling it as the whole International travel thing has currently lost it’s allure. Hours of pre departure preparation and uploading of tests and documents to attain his NZ travel pass followed by a requirement to arrive at the airport 3-4 hours before the flight to then have it delayed by another hour all to land at 1.30am in NZ as that was the only scheduled Qantas flight to Christchurch!! Painful to say the least…then RAT tests day 1 and 5 before being granted permission to leave! This is all most probably because NZ has only just opened to International travellers and are being overly cautious. As far as I can see Europe is almost back to normal at this stage so I’m hoping it will be less arduous there in September – just the small matter of an ongoing war to worry about now…..but while we’re looking forward to that we will always find joy in the small things…

On what feels like the 158th day of rain in the past 6 months it is hard to feel cheery. The cows are almost floating away and you can hear them coming before you see them as they slosh through the black muddy water that lies on top of their food. They are most certainly NOT getting the nutrition they need at the moment and the farmer visited yesterday saying they are looking to agist them somewhere else out west somewhere until the ground dries out and the grass grows back. Seriously who would be a farmer? They roll from drought to floods and everything in between and it must be heartbreaking for them coming into winter with hardly any edible pasture for their cattle. We have apparently had 1300mm or over 51 inches of rain since the beginning of the year here and it’s only April 12th. I have literally not watered the garden once since October and I’m not sure how much of a garden I will have left after all this rain finally disappears. It has wiped out my entire veggie patch and lots of the sun loving plants – hopefully they will bounce back in Spring, we will just have to wait and see. The Shoalhaven Road network has been severely impacted with 48 major landslips, 114 minor landslips, 4 bridges damaged or destroyed, 8 causeways washed away and 65 culvert crossings ruined bringing the current damage bill to more then $35M just within a 250km stretch of roadways. Potholes are huge and causing lots of damage to cars with some people getting multiple flat tyres in one week and patience is stretched to capacity by motorists also grappling with major roadworks which have now also been further delayed meaning one lane highways for the Easter weekend….what joy!

I’m really hoping that the sun will come out in time for the MOTH’s 70th birthday celebrations at The Casa in Kangaroo Valley in a couple of weeks time. Our family is coming from Sydney and Hobart to pay homage to the Patriarch and some sunshine would mean we could really explore this beautiful property and enjoy The Valley. If the rain persists there will be a LOT of hide and seek and ‘colouring in’ going on indoors with the 4 grandkids ….eeek! This was an old art gallery before it was renovated just over a year ago and has a rather unique décor and a beautiful location so let’s hope the Universe comes to the party and the rain holds off so we can enjoy all it has to offer!

It has been a sad few weeks with the passing of both my Dad and our lovely friend Peter. Both had been unwell for quite a while and I suppose you could say it was a blessed relief for them to be out of their pain although no matter how much you know it is going to happen it is always hard for those left behind. Peter’s funeral was held on what would have been my Dad’s 86th birthday and afforded me the perfect opportunity to think of him – an emotional day all round. Living so far away I rarely saw my Dad and our relationship was more like one of pen pals in recent years but I have some fond memories of us growing up and of various happy times together over the more recent years. Fly high Dad…until we meet again…

We have been lucky to reconnect with Peter since moving down here. It was such a surprise to find him living just 10 minutes away from us. An old school friend of the MOTH and a lovely man who never lost his twinkle and wit right to the end, I shall miss his banter and our get togethers. Farewell Pete, we will raise a glass to you often and keep a loving eye on Susan for you.

I don’t know if we are completely mad but we have started planning our holiday to Europe later this year. It will be a combined celebration of our big decade birthdays – mine delayed from 2020 – and hopefully after 2.5 years of Covid spoiling things we will be able to finally get to Switzerland, Italy and Scotland. We had tickets to see Andrea Bocelli for 2020 and they have finally been rescheduled for this year so let’s hope the tickets really are still valid as we are planning everything around being in Marostica mid September! It is a medieval town in the lower mountains of Northern Italy and he is singing outdoors in the Piazza which sounds magical to me. I have been looking forward to it for a long time now so fingers crossed it goes ahead. Planning International travel isn’t as much fun as it used to be to be honest. Apart from the fact that prices are high post Covid and with erratic global fuel prices, Covid recommended travel insurance also costs an arm and a leg. Hire cars are either impossible to find and if you do find one available the fee is exorbitant so we have decided to travel around Europe by train – less pressure and a wonderful way to see the surrounding landscapes. That in turn has influenced where we will stay – in town within walking distance of restaurants and attractions and not too far from public transport. Scotland however is to be a road trip. The North Coast 500 touring the highlands of Scotland and staying at a mixture of pubs, bed and breakfasts and fishing lodges and tracing some of The Cameron history. We’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and book everything in the hope the world will still be here in August and you never know what lies around the corner so we’re off to adventure while we can and before we’re too much older!!

Well Autumn has arrived after a seemingly non existent Summer and nothing has really changed. We are still getting unprecedented rainfall and after months of rain there is literally nowhere for it to go. The ground is totally saturated meaning even a little shower can send it over the edge again. We are so squelchy underfoot and there is an unpleasant ‘rotting vegetation mixed with cow poo’ aroma wafting around the countryside. My garden is either loving it or hating it depending on which flower you’re talking to. Gardenias are happy chappies but my lavender is a dank black mess of drowned plants. The veggies turned their toes up early in the piece and even the roses are looking a bit sparse. Basically as soon as it’s dry enough I will be pulling out loads of plants and even more grass runners that have overtaken entire flower beds triffid style. Winter will hopefully give me an opportunity to get on top of things before we kick off again in September with Spring.

When the weather eventually breaks the local roads will finally be able to get the heavy machinery in to fix them. At the moment and for the next few weeks or maybe months you can only get to Kangaroo Valley from Berry with an escort. They meet you on the hour going into the valley and on the half hour leaving it and so far it seems to be working. As beautiful as KV is there is always a downside to being an enclosed valley and the road up to Bowral is also shut for at least 3 months meaning a long detour via Jamberoo or Macquarie Pass. Things change daily with landslides so there is no popping up to Bowral for a day pottering about the shops and having a nice lunch for a while yet.

We did have a reason to brave the weather and go to Sydney recently for the 1st birthday of our little Oliver. That first birthday is a special one and is as much a celebration of the parents making it through 12 months of night feeds, teething and new sleeping routines as it is getting to know a new little person, their likes and dislikes and seeing their emerging personality, the new dynamics of a family of four and the love between two brothers beginning what is hopefully a lifelong mateship. So it was that the two families and all the many little cousins came together on a rainy afternoon to celebrate and it was a wonderful few hours of craziness with a beautifully put together afternoon tea and fabulous cake courtesy of Livvy. It was a real labour of love as she had to hire a strong dehumidifier to stop the icing having a meltdown in all the rainy weather….talk about going the extra mile although as you can see the icing animals really made the cake so I can see why it was needed!

We all got to have some one on one time with little Ollie who thoroughly approved of the get together and especially the cake!

The MOTH finally got to catch up with his Melbourne based boss in Sydney and as an early 70th birthday treat they booked into Oncore by Claire Smythe, a restaurant on the 26th floor of the new Crown building at Barangaroo. She is an English 3 Michelin star chef and has bought her unique food to Australia. No foams and earphones here but a lot of intricate work and wonderful taste combinations according to the lucky birthday boy! In a lovely gesture they got a goody bag to take home containing a malted sourdough roll, home made butter and jam all beautifully wrapped and with heating instructions. The sourdough starter came out from the UK with the head chef Alan and is currently 20 years old! I love that they chose to give something so simple and last weekend I made a mushroom omelette for lunch and heated up my roll to accompany it. It was utterly delicious and that simple lunch was seriously one of the best things I’ve eaten in the past couple of years proving that simple things done well win every time!

We finally jagged an evening where it wasn’t pouring down to hold a pizza night to thank the neighbours for all their help when the MOTH had Covid. They were all so helpful and caring, even coming and mowing our lawns (not an insubstantial effort when you have 2 acres) and running to the chemist/supermarket or newsagency for us. We may only have 7 houses in our lane but they are full of good people and we count ourselves lucky every day to have such good neighbours. Here are the boys trying to solve the problems of the world over a few drinks with a tummy full of pizza!

I finally got brave enough to sign up for an art class! After my Mum and Sister bought me a watercolour workshop a few years ago which I thoroughly enjoyed, I have been looking for something similar and when I saw a local Kiama based artist that I like was running a class for 6 weeks I jumped at the chance. I had some money from my 60th (refunds from the Rod Stewart concert that got cancelled) put to one side for something special and this has proven to be just the ticket! Every Friday I pack up my bits and bobs and head to Kiama where we use the studio in the old stone coach house and I’ve learnt SO MUCH. The day whizzes by and I find myself totally immersed in it with no room to be thinking of anything else and I love it! Kerry is a very patient, encouraging and helpful teacher and the rest of the girls are so lovely too – I guess everyone starts somewhere but as they exhibit and sell their work you can just imagine that my paintings look like they have been done by a 5 year old in comparison to theirs!!!! http://www.kerrybruceart.com.au

The war in Ukraine continues to shock and sadden us as well as frighten us a bit. Putin is such a narcissistic egomaniac that he really could do anything at anytime – just because he can and to supposedly prove to the world what a big powerful man he is. However the majority of the world has sided with Ukraine which may be perceived to be the underdog but has shown the world what a strong, proud race they are and with their fearless leader in the trenches with them seemingly capable of small miracles against the might of the Russian army who are becoming increasingly disillusioned and more aware of the true reality of the situation as they leave the confines of the Russian media currently brainwashing the ordinary Russian folk. It is all so sad and unnecessary and such an immense waste of life, livelihoods and cities….

Meanwhile the local dog park has summed it up beautifully…..

Well here we are folks, another year has begun, so full of promise for about 2 and a half minutes but now looking suspiciously like a clone of 2021. We are much more attuned to it all now and the whole Covid chat is becoming very blah blah blah just as it is in fact the deadliest it has ever been in Australia since it reared it’s ugly head. Two years is a long time to remain interested/fearful/diligent about something and we are all a bit over it…. until it arrives at your house. Yup we have a man down in The Meadow with the MOTH contracting it this week. Suffice to say he hasn’t shrugged it off like a common cold and is feeling pretty awful. It’s a mandatory 7 day isolation period for both of us and hopefully I will continue to be well and our life will resume in early Feb but who knows? I luckily had my booster a couple of weeks ago which may be giving me an extra layer of protection, his was due today. All in the timing perhaps? All we can do is stay alert and stay healthy…these are my kind of preventatives

Anyhoo….before this happened we were trotting along nicely, gradually getting on top of our garden (which seems to be on steroids) and trying to whip things into shape after our holiday hiatus. Maybe because there has been so much rain and everything is prospering the birds have so many choices that they left us with a few of our crops this year. I have a gazillion apples – probably for the first time since we moved here 7 years ago – and finally some macadamias!! We have a very established tree which fruits every year but usually the white cockies get to them before us but this year I got a few which we have shelled from their outer husk and are drying on our windowsill until they rattle which is apparently the correct time to break them open. Watch this space….

The garden has been producing some beautiful flowers of the more exotic kind. The sort of flowers that remind me I do not live in England anymore and make me feel like I am on holiday somewhere tropical. The frangipane continues to surprise me – this beautiful crown of flowers pushing through the leaves to show off to everyone and the very impressive flowers of the ginger plant that arrive a couple of times a year and make very architectural cut flowers with an amazing fragrance.

We also enjoyed our first big social ‘thing’ in months when we were invited to a supper show at Willinga Park in Bawley Point featuring Tom Burlinson who I primarily knew as the guy from ‘The Man from Snowy River’. He and his band hosted a Swing Night performing all the hits from Sammy Davis Jnr, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin etc and it was pretty good. Willinga Park is a destination in itself, a fabulous equestrian centre holding dressage, camp draft and show jumping events. The architecture is amazing and the gardens are maturing every year. It reminds me of MONA in Hobart with it’s modern lines and huge sculptures dotted around the grounds. The 2300 acre park is peppered with word-class, architecturally-designed equestrian facilities, including arenas, yards and stables. Public art and native gardens complete the park landscape, while luxury accommodation in the form of modern pavilions rounds out the Willinga Park experience and if you love horsey events I would highly recommend a couple of days in lovely Bawley point for a unique experience. We are going to go back for the Camp drafting in March if things go to plan (which is quite laughable as we can barely plan anything as it is and even then it has maybe a 20% chance of coming together!!!!)

We stopped at our friends place in Milton en route and finally got to enjoy their beautiful Altar Wine Bar. It was a perfect sunny afternoon for a cocktail under the trees and I can see why their venture has taken off so quickly and has become a firm favourite of locals and tourists alike. It is a unique setting and they have a permanent marquee in case of inclement weather, lovely food, live music and even a courtesy bus all set within the picturesque grounds of the Old Church – what’s not to love!

We were very pleased last week to see that our brand new fantastic nature park is finally open in Berry. It has had it’s fair share of setbacks with the weird weather and Covid but is now seemingly being enjoyed by every child within 30 kilometres! It has so much going for it and is only stage 1 of a bigger plan to include a pump track and skate park, a sensory garden and water play and the barbeque areas are in full use already. The only people that probably aren’t quite as enamoured are the people living directly opposite it as parking has already become an issue apparently! I cannot wait to test it out on the grandkids over Easter.

Australia Day was a little subdued this year. I used to really love it as it seemed to be the day where you gave thanks for where you lived and embraced all that was Aussie – a barbie with friends or a day at the beach, a National holiday to immerse yourself in everything Australian, a beer and a flag tattoo sticker or two, the boxing kangaroo flags fluttering from car windows and the Aussie Open or the cricket on TV. Nowadays it is somewhat tinged with the political wrangling over the date. It really shouldn’t be on January 26th which also happens to be Invasion Day as it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip to claim the land as a British colony and the beginning of many brutalities against the Aboriginal people and the taking of their land. I think it is wonderful to celebrate being Australian but not on the date that has so many bad memories for so many. In the meantime here are some of the more affable aspects of being Australian that we love to celebrate……….if you know you know!!!

You Know You’re Australian When:

• You have a spider as big as a dinner plate living in your lounge room and you’re not really worried, because it’s only a Huntsman… (take note Sandy Cherry)
• And a little daddy longs legs never bothers anyone.
• You go to the servo for your petrol.
• You go to the Bottle-O for your grog.
• Your don’t go to a barbie without your beer stubby and your esky.
• You love your barbie (And it’s not a doll).
• You went outside for less than 5 seconds and you are covered in mosquito bites.
• You’re strongly encouraged to slip, slop slap.
• When if it’s not on, it’s NOT ON!
• When you dob in a tosser.
• When you find special beaches for dogs.
• When you are not allowed to keep a Kangaroo for a pet but you are allowed to eat them.
• When you dial before you dig.
• When you each chips – Not fries or crisps.
• When you have a thong tan (On your feet) all year through.
• When you need to get a pen license before you can stop using your pencil at school.
• When you check for Red-Back’s before sitting on the dunny.
• When you have Blue Tongues living in your yard, and you think they’re friendly
• When everyone calls you their mate.
• When half the time walking out in your yard is like walking into an oven, and the rest of the time it’s like jumping in the river.
• When you say “Straya mate!” when referring to where you’re from.
• When there aren’t many full words in your sentences.
• When you understand that it’s acceptable to call Tom – Tommo, but you wouldn’t call Sarah – Saraho.
• When they build the great wall of China to keep the rabbits out.
• When you always have tan lines. Even in winter.
• When you drive though “Macca’s”.
• When you know “Crikey!” can mean something’s either good or bad.
• When your builder is a “Brickie” and your truck driver is a “Truckie”, but your Accountant is still your Accountant.