We are settling into our new normal. Whatever that is. Some days feel no different from the old days, the sun shines, we play cricket in the driveway, take the dog for a walk, clean the house and prepare meals. Other days things are just plain weird. Cannot pop into the newsagent to buy a birthday card or into the shops to peruse the toy section for my granddaughter’s upcoming first birthday. Cannot check out what looks fresh in the greengrocer and decide what to cook from that – everything has to be planned in advance and a detailed shopping list given to our “designated shopper” – no deviations allowed! We cannot see our little grandson except via video link, this is the longest we have gone without seeing him since he was born and we miss the other arm of our family who are seeing out this time of isolation in Sydney. But we thank the universe that we are all safe, that everyone still has a job and we have the technology to stay in touch the best way we can for the moment. These times are not tough. Tough was life in concentration or prisoner of war camps. Tough was life in the depression. Tough was signing up for the war in 1914 little knowing what you were going to have to face. Tough is working 20 hours a day in a hospital overflowing with people who are close to death and not being able to do anything to help. Tough is having your parents die of Covid19 and not being able to be there with them and hold their hands and tell them you love them. That’s tough.

So despite the fact that things are certainly not ‘tough’ here in The Meadow, we have found we need things to plan and look forward to apart from what we are going to eat for dinner every day. We had Easter to kick things off and a certain little baby girl’s 1st Easter egg hunt to organise! Her Mum did a grand job of hiding eggs all around the garden and leaving a bright shiny trail in full sight for Myla. She got the idea very quickly and had her eye on the prize – a big Humpty Dumpty egg – from 50 feet away!

We made the most of the beautiful sunny day, playing Boules, eating outdoors and finishing up the day with a big bonfire. It was a good day.

One of the most common lockdown issues has been what to do with our hair. As the weeks go by the styles become more unruly and the colour becomes much more ‘natural’. A lot less blondes and brunettes are walking around I imagine as the true colour starts to emerge from our previous six weekly meticulously coloured and cut coiffures. Grey is definitely the new black and for lots of us who had been unsure when to embrace our salt and pepper reality this has been a good trial. Will we go with it bravely or be the first to book an appointment at the hairdresser once this is all over? Time will tell…

In the meantime the boys of the household decided to take matters in to their own hands. A hair cutting kit was purchased along with the groceries and a makeshift salon was created in the garage. Our first fearless customer was the MOTH who in a rash moment decided to go the whole hog and shave down Bruce Willis style. The reality of that first strip of smooth head was enough to send both the Stylist and the Client into fits of laughter as he realised what he’d done!!

Then Tom (or Raoul as we prefer to call him when he’s in the salon) had a little play and decided to cut a cheeky rats tail into his unsuspecting Client’s hair…

Needless to say it didn’t last once Bruce Willis caught sight of it however it must have played on Raoul’s mind as a couple of days later after a solid few hours of Friday night drinks and after the rest of the household had gone to sleep he took up his trusty tools and created the kind of hairstyle you can only have during a lockdown in a global pandemic……to be fair it doesn’t look TOO awful from the front but from the side and the back it’s feral. Raoul oscillates between feeling quite smug about his new look and covering it up with a beanie or baseball cap!!

In between these shenanigans Lauren (who had not been well for over a week) had a tele-health appointment with the local GP and ended up at the local Covid Clinic being tested for Rona. She was advised that until her results came in she should completely isolate from the rest of the family despite us all living together so off to the caravan she went. With a baby who she is still breastfeeding, that was quite a wrench but it was also a blessing as she could get some proper rest. Three days later we got a call to say she was negative and she was reunited with Myla although she still isn’t 100% and neither am I to be honest. We must be suffering from a change of season cold/virus typical of this time of year. Goodness knows how I could have got anything as I haven’t been anywhere for 4 weeks but such is the ingenuity of a virus that nowhere is safe!

As Tom had purchased a poker set the idea was formed to hold a Casino Royale night. Lauren created a beautiful cocktail corner and we all dressed up in our finery, threw in our $25 per head for the lucky winner and got stuck into it! I really enjoyed it despite having no prior experience of the game and it was fun to have a themed night with no pressure to do anything other than raid each others wardrobe and make a bit of an effort.

Miss Myla celebrated her last week of babyhood by enjoying the edible finger paints her Mum made for her to play with. As anticipated it was a messy affair but she seemed to love it. I can’t say that we have a Picasso in our midst but she did get the idea that the gooey colourful stuff was meant to go on the paper at least! A bath in the laundry tub in the sun rounded out the afternoon and I’m sure it won’t be long until my fridge proudly bears the baby artworks that all grandparents seem to have displayed!

So life continues on and we can sometimes forget what is going on in the outside world. Until I speak to my family in the UK that is, they have things so much worse than Australia and very sadly my sister has a friend who lost both of her parents to C19 and several more who are unwell. Luckily my Mum and her small over 55s complex are all well and I have everything crossed that things remain that way. In the meantime we stay isolated in the hope that we can avoid the dire situation playing out in Europe and America and it is worth every bit of inconvenience and boredom that people may be feeling to ensure we do. Patience people, patience…..

What was normal just a few weeks ago is but a distant memory now. The freedoms and choices that were our everyday life are no more. We are the most basic essences of ourselves right now. You may be home alone or stuck in a share house with many different people each with different ideas about what exactly social isolation and distancing is. Either scenario has its pros and cons. The structure of our days is largely formed around work and family life, but now the two have merged and people are working out of a communal space with parents needing to home school their children on top of work commitments and lots have a very real fear of how they are going to cope with the next 6-12 months both emotionally and financially. The government have I think been brilliant, helping out in as many areas as possible to keep life flowing and hopeful that there will still be businesses for people to return to when this is all over. Thank goodness Australia has some money in the coffers and has been able to lessen the burden for people affected by job losses and sickness. Thank goodness too for the fact we are a few weeks behind the rest of the world and can learn from what has come before. Thank goodness we have the luxury of hand wash, space to distance ourselves and technology to keep us connected and sane. Thank goodness we have a fabulous medical system, available to all if necessary. Thank goodness for all those wonderful doctors and nurses working at the front line of this deadly virus, at the risk of their own and their families health, to help people at this frightening time.

I’m lucky as we have a baby in our house and babies keep us all grounded with meal preparation, play and bath time and when her little arms wrap around my neck as she gives me a cuddle it makes me forget temporarily all that is happening in the outside world. Babies also make you tired so we are all in bed by 10pm especially as she is teething at the moment and a bit more wakeful than normal. I suspect if we didn’t have a baby in the house we may well be descending into an alcoholic haze whilst watching reruns of some sort of inane television into the wee small hours of the morning….

We are also lucky to have a dog. Our beautiful Bailey gives us an excuse to get out into the fresh air and walk. We have many local laneways to enjoy and as our local beach is 7 miles long we can still get into the car and walk and swim on a nice day, the ozone soaking into our lungs and psyche and reinvigorating us. She is also available 24/7 for love, cuddles and company.

Luckily everyone is out of their 14 day quarantine period with no symptoms and we are now 5 adults, a baby and a dog in The Meadow which means we have lots of hands to make light work of cooking, cleaning, laundry and little Myla has lots of people to play with and Bailey gets loads of walks! We have each other to interact with and some nights are loud and noisy and filled with quiz games and others are quiet as we all retreat to our various corners . So far we are fine. We all get it that this is our new normal and we have to make the best of it so patience and compromise is the new black and we are all grateful to have each other and be safe. We keenly miss the other branch of the family in Sydney but thanks to videos and chats we still feel connected. We are all enjoying our food. The planning, cooking and eating of meals is a highlight in an otherwise predictable day. Add the fact that winter is around the corner we will have to be careful not to come out of this crisis 2 sizes bigger! We try and walk at least twice a day to offset the extra calories and with all this extra time on our hands there really is no excuse to not come out of this whole thing a bit fitter at least!

Loz and Tom have dug out their old guitars from the loft and now spend an hour here and there practising new songs (thanks to an app) and are enjoying reconnecting to their love of music. It gets them away from their laptops which is where all the work is happening nowadays and is a welcome break to the routine. My paints are still languishing in the cupboard but my veggie patch is bristling with late season lettuce, silverbeet, capsicums of every shape and colour and eggplant. A few zucchini are still arriving and loads of little tomatoes are ready to burst onto the scene in the next week or two. Tom has been making up fresh jars of pesto, the smell pervading the house in the way only basil can. We enjoyed a pizza night at the weekend, firing up the wood fired oven at sunset and using up all the odds and sods in the fridge to create some deliciousness. Tinned tomatoes have become a precious commodity so our passata and tomato paste is stepping up to fill the gap but with winter looming and the braises and stews that we normally enjoy all needing the tinned variety it is a constant on our shopping list, literally being transferred from one to another along with toilet paper, cleaning products and baby wipes! Hopefully the ones growing in our patch now will be able to be jarred for use in the next few months…

The other upside to this strange time is that people are saving money (if you are lucky enough to keep your job)! You can no longer get your hair done, no beauty treatments, no massage, physio or chiropractic appointments. Staying at home means minimal car travel therefore no money spent on petrol or tolls. No events means we don’t need any new clothes, there are no holidays to save for , no pubs or restaurants to spend in etc etc… The things people ARE buying are books, magazines, games, jigsaws, apps. Netflix, Foxtel and streaming platforms are doing huge business. Food is a highlight and purchase of alcohol is being rationed as we all come to terms with long days at home.

So as the days stretch into weeks and the weeks into months and the numbers keep climbing it feels more and more like we are living in a sci-fi novel. We are only watching the news twice a day to prevent an overload of information and pessimism. The morning news is a depressing necessity as we find out what has occurred in the rest of the world while we slept. I struggle to come to terms with the magnitude of this virus. No one is really safe from it, fit and healthy, young or old, all have fallen prey to it so all we can do is wait, at home, for as long as it takes for it to stop multiplying and one day even a trip to K Mart will be akin to going to Paris as we are allowed back into the real world again, in the meantime the general consensus of opinion is that…..

Well the world has well and truly turned on its head since I last posted. So many things have changed and every day brings new restrictions and requirements as the world plunges into the pandemic that is Covid-19….

All I can say is I’m VERY glad I’m not on a cruise ship. Life is particularly hard for people living cheek by jowl in the city and in apartment blocks and in any high density living situation but cruise ships are most definitely the total pits. The MOTH has subtly been trying to get me to agree to cruising over the past few years but it has never appealed. A river cruise in Europe yes but not one of those floating cities with all its vulnerabilities and sheep like qualities. The flagrant lack of regulation by people leaving these ships in port is downright disgraceful and has placed thousands of people in danger when it could have been so easily avoided. Our biggest mistake so far as an Australian government I think. The other is not to have placed us in total lock down earlier. I think despite a later than European arrival at the severity of things the Aussies were more than ready to go the whole nine yards straight away. We hate half measures lets face it and love the whole sooner we start the sooner we finish scenario so bring it on Scomo!

A week ago today we were due to celebrate my son’s wedding and we were in full planning mode for it, getting pedicures and madly weeding the garden and planning speeches. 48 hours prior to the wedding we gathered around the television to listen to our prime minister laying out new laws banning the gathering of more than 100 people and we knew immediately that the wedding would be cancelled. So many emotions swirled around in my head but strangely enough the biggest one was relief. The not knowing had been awful and the fact that we couldn’t gather together without anxiety and knowing we couldn’t hug, dance and generally celebrate everything in the style we would want to made it all less than satisfactory and I was almost glad when we had a directive saying it couldn’t happen. My heart went out to Sam and Liv after all their hard work and planning and dreaming and looking forward to their special day, they have unfortunately been swept up in the biggest thing to ever happen to our generation. To be literally within 2 days of the wedding was tough and as loads of people were already committed to their accommodation lots of people still came to Berry and in lieu of the wedding we had a small gathering in our garden with immediate family and the bridal party. The pig had literally already been fattened and ‘processed’ and on a beautiful sunny day we gathered in small groups to have a last hurrah before things became more serious. It was to be our last social function before we locked ourselves down.

My Mum was also a statistic as her planned holiday to Vietnam on the way home together with her return flight was cancelled and she had to make a call as to what she wanted to do. As is often the case in times of crisis humans just want to be home with all that that word entails. Familiarity of surroundings, the ability to speak to family and friends and have the back up of the health services that you understand. She knew she was going back to a tough time in England and a 12 week quarantine period for anyone over 70 but it was worth it to her so we managed to get her on one of the last flights out before Dubai shut down and I am very glad to report that she is now happily ensconced in her cosy little flat with a view of the Spring flowers in her garden. At least Europe has Spring and Summer to look forward to, nature has a way of filling us with hope despite the gloom of our current global situation. Before she left we enjoyed a last weekend as a family and our four generation gathering will be long remembered…

We miss you already Mum/G’ma/Gigi

In the midst of all this my daughter got word that her husband had an opportunity to get out of Vietnam and catch one of the last planes back to Australia. He has been remote teaching for the entire year as Vietnam made an early call not to send kids to school or Uni and therefore he could teach from here as easily as from his apartment in Ho Chi Minh City. Of course this meant he has had to self isolate for 14 days and this has been made possible by our gorgeous neighbours lending him a caravan to live in for 2 weeks. It resides in our garden and he has been able to conduct his online classes and virtual meetings from the pool cabana. We leave dinner outside his door and he has a little kitchen and fridge for brekky and lunch. Obviously it is hard for him to see his wife and baby daughter but not be able to give them a cuddle but he is already half way through and once he is symptom free for another week they can be reunited. At the moment this is how we catch up with him…..from a distance!

As I have dodgy lungs I too am staying home and Tom is now our dedicated shopper and conduit to the outside world. The MOTH has his entire office building to himself and is super busy trying to work out what is happening in the wide world of chocolate for his customers. So as we bunker down in The Meadow we are reflecting on many things. Firstly how lucky we are to be here surrounded by green fields and a dirt road where we can happily walk the dog and the baby with no chance of bumping into anybody. Secondly that we are together and can enjoy conversation, jigsaws, table tennis, Netflix and finally get around to cleaning out those cupboards and reading those books!! In another week once I have planted what few seeds I could find and we are officially locked down (surely that will happen soon??) I am hoping to get those paints out. For years everyone has been saying they don’t have any time to do this or that and now ironically that is what we have loads of. Is the world finally giving humanity the adjustment we needed albeit in an awful way? Cities are shutting down thus improving the air quality and there is no traffic chaos, A lady that lives near the Colosseum in Rome reported that her local dog walking path, previously well trodden by a gazillion tourists has now been overtaken by flowers, birds and bees, climate change in the right direction. Families are spending time together and we are all appreciating the simple things much more – especially a lovely home cooked meal as things become harder to find. The world certainly works in a mysterious way…..

As in everything there are a few silver linings – as some businesses shut down others are flourishing and we are eternally grateful that we are at least living in a technical age where we can all chat, work and video call online which is helping people stay sane. Social media which has long been derided is now a vital link for people isolating and most people will get through this ok. My heart goes out to all our medical workers who are literally at the coal face of this virus and learning as they go. To see people so dreadfully sick and not be able to do anything to help, to have to play God and decided who gets a bed or a respirator whilst they themselves can barely get a mask or gloves to protect themselves is a dire situation. The very least we can all do is to stay at home if you are not an essential worker to enable those that cannot have that luxury to have a better chance of survival. Now is not the time to be selfish or stupid. Lets all be kind and patient and vigilant and we will get through this thing together.

On a lighter note we have a whole new vernacular on the way…….

It has been a rather celebratory few weeks for us one way and another. We have had a plethora of special birthdays starting with little Cooper turning one. We celebrated this milestone at a local bowling club where kids and adults alike could relax with a few drinks and nibbles and sing Happy Birthday to our little man. His Mum made the most amazing birthday cake showcasing the jungle theme and Coops got his first taste of sugar! Needless to say he loved it and his face seemed to say “how come you guys haven’t given me this stuff before??” It was great to get both sides of the families together as well as Sam and Liv’s friends to congratulate them on surviving the 1st year of being parents and to toast our little prince!!

In the next fortnight both his Grandma’s celebrated BIG birthdays and we welcomed back to our Aussie Shores the family matriarch who flew in from her 30 hour journey from England as bright as a button despite her 83 years! Our beloved GG is a great example of how I hope to age, she loves to join in all the fun and refuses to be left out of anything because of her age!

She is here mainly to attend Sam’s wedding but as my big birthday was so close she came earlier to help celebrate with me. I still can’t believe I’m 60!!! It feels so strange to be old enough to apply for a Seniors card and get cheap movie and train tickets as I still feel the same as I did 10 years ago just with a few more crinkles! I haven’t ever gone crazy on the decade birthdays but this one seems different somehow and I am determined to squeeze every bit of fun from it! Several friends haven’t been lucky enough to make it this far so I am grateful that I have and I’m going to tick a few bucket list items in it’s honour this year! My lovely husband started the ball rolling with a surprise new car complete with gold bow when I took my old car along to supposedly get it valued. I love all the new flashy technical capabilities and extra space and grunt that it has. Now to try and keep its brand new looks despite living on a dirt road and owning a Labrador who loves to swim and get muddy!!

We had a birthday lunch at the picturesque Cupitts Winery in Ulladulla with the family and local friends which was special and delicious and afterwards we popped back to Milton to Phil and Karen’s place to see their farm and trial a few rosés for the wedding. They run a wedding venue ‘The Old Church at Milton’ and a wine bar aptly named The Altar Bar so they have a good knowledge of the wines people like. It is such a beautiful spot where they are surrounded by horses and cattle grazing as well as a terrific market garden setup, Claydon Park, where they grow veggies for the local restaurants and also sell at the produce markets. A wonderful all rounder of a place!

We had a nice week of weather when Mum first arrived so we made the most of it by lunching in pretty places and showing her the local area. Tom has been here in between working so he has spent some quality time with his G’ma and keeps us very entertained with his antics! Mum has loved spending time with all the boys both small and tall!!

So with one week to go until Lauren and Myla arrive from Vietnam for the wedding and with a new car under my belt, Mum and I decided to make the most of the timing and take a little road trip together before things amp up a notch or ten. As she hadn’t really ventured to the North Coast before I decided a trip to Forster via the Central coast would be a perfect fit and off we poddled on a beautiful sunny morning to Killcare. We stopped off at the pretty riverside town of Brooklyn for a beautifully presented iced latte which slid down very nicely on the 37 degree day before continuing on to our overnight accommodation at Bells. This is a gorgeous little boutique hotel in sleepy Killcare with a great pool and terrific restaurant with an Italian bent.

We continued on to Forster to stay with our lovely friends Baz and Cath and as the weather had become rather miserable Baz kindly gave us a personally chauffeured tour of the area, stopping at various locations to give us a great view of a pod of dolphins jumping happily out of the ocean followed by a drink at a bar overlooking the lake. A delicious dinner, several wines and lots of chat later we were on the road again and the car was officially christened!! Our mini break was over and we were homeward bound to my “to do list”!!

Wedding prep is well under way. We are not hosting the actual ceremony this time around, instead we will be enjoying it all at the gorgeous venue Jaspers in Berry. I am getting very excited to see my first born son wed his beautiful Livvy in front of his family and friends, what a party it will be!! The next day we are hosting the Wedding Recovery at our place and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that the rain will stay away and the sun will be shining so we can enjoy catching up with everyone in a more casual setting. This still means we are madly trying to get on top of the garden which has gone crazy after all the rain and seems to be on steroids with plants (and weeds) growing a foot overnight! At least it is green again – after being so brown and crunchy at Christmas it is now green and velvety underfoot!

Corona Virus has arrived to spoil the party somewhat. At a time when my family is at peak international travel with people coming and going between the UK, Vietnam, Fiji and Australia it couldn’t have really happened at a worse time. Even though we know rationally that we are very unlikely to contract it there is a little annoying voice in the back of your head warning you not to take unnecessary risks. Of course the MOTH and I had literally just bought tickets to Italy for later in the year when they suffered the biggest outbreak in Europe so far and travel is banned to it! Hopefully things will settle down in the next few weeks and months and all will be well but in the meantime all sorts of conferences and work trips have been cancelled until further notice and we have our fingers well and truly crossed that everyone will be able to get safely home without any nasties on board. Mum is of course in a high risk group with her age and also little Myla coming from Asia on a plane packed full of people flying from goodness knows where. Seemingly in Australia so far the biggest concern is that we are going to run out of toilet paper causing a panic buy leaving supermarkets empty of the precious commodity!

It has of course brought home to most of us that International travel which is so easy nowadays also brings risks that are hard to curtail. We truly live in a global world and it really only takes one sick and unaware person to spread it far and wide. Sometimes tending my roses in The Meadow seems like a wonderful option to the risks of the big wide world!

Since then we have had about three months worth of rain in 3 days and what a deluge it was. As usual in this great wide land of ours it’s a feast or a famine with floods often following fires. It’s all too much, too quickly and the hard dry cracked soil couldn’t really absorb the gallons of water and lots of it has run off and caused massive erosion. Trees already half dead from the fires have fallen and there are landslides galore. Add into the mix massive gusts of winds akin to a category 1 cyclone and we really have copped just about every weather element there is in the past few weeks. Life has a way of carrying on though and we are already seeing the regeneration in the bush and it will no doubt go gangbusters after this huge fall of rain. It is amazing to see the bush grow back almost before your eyes, the new growth so very bright – almost neon – against the charred black tree trunks.

Maree Clout, a local photographer captured these beautiful shots of local wildlife discovering the food that dedicated volunteers have been distributing in the hope of staving off almost certain death as the few “lucky” survivors all search madly for non existent food. It has been so heart warming to read about so many wonderful people giving up their time and money to help establish water and feeding stations, rehouse bees and get injured animals the help they need. I would like to have done more but I don’t have the knowledge or equipment needed to venture into the forest to set them up. I do however applaud those that have and there are quite a few funds set up to help them implement the measures that are needed quickly and without the red tape of some of the bigger organisations. I have read some great stories from BlazeAid, where people who need new fences for instance are put in touch with manufacturers and labourers who can donate and install what they need. Sometimes it’s easier for these folk to ask for something tangible like fencing rather than the general cry for ‘help’ which most of them will never do, always thinking there are others more deserving.

In happy news I spent a lovely day on Saturday celebrating a rather special ‘Hen’ when Liv and her bridal party organised a beautiful long lunch at North Bondi Fish in Sydney. The fact that it was bang in the middle of the huge storms, high seas and torrential rain was unfortunate but it didn’t stop us all enjoying a beautiful afternoon together. The theme of an Italian Fiesta putting some much needed colour into the day….

So with six weeks left until the wedding things are ramping up a bit with plans being finalised and overseas people flying in in the next few weeks to partake in the festivities. Of course it is at this very time that Corona Virus has decided to show up to spoil the party. I am really hoping that with all the travel bans it will not escalate to the point that flying is not safe and that they manage to curtail it as much as possible in the next couple of weeks. It really couldn’t have happened at a worse time with The Lunar New Year meaning literally hundreds of thousands of people were on the move around the globe making it VERY hard to isolate and track. I really don’t want my 83 year old Mum being exposed to ANY yukky germs on her long flight from London or my daughter and granddaughter coming from Vietnam. Fingers crossed it will be safe for them all to come….

Next week we celebrate the 1st birthday of this gorgeous little chap, I really can’t believe how very fast this year has gone and babies are living proof of it! Every week brings new achievements and changes and it is a pure delight to see him growing up into such a happy, inquisitive and loving little boy. Happy Birthday Cooper – we love you!!

Ain’t this the truth!!

After what can only be described as the weirdest few months we are finally experiencing some “normal” summery weather and life feels as if it is returning to normal. No longer do we wake up to a smoky horizon, our beautiful outlook is back in full view. It is as if someone has popped some badly needed prescription glasses on and suddenly everything is clear and defined and colourful as if a black and white movie has been transposed into glorious technicolour.

The grass has come to the party, sending out runners EVERYWHERE (hello weeds and invasion of my flower beds) and greening up the entire neighbourhood. Once again it is a pleasure to sit on the veranda and drink in the serenity, watching the cows rip out the fresh new shoots instead of crunching on the crispy brown offerings of a few weeks ago. Its going to be a long haul with plenty of back up rain needed but hopefully our local farmers will soon be able to stop the hand feeding as nature takes over. It’s not quite the same story inland where the drought has been ongoing for 7 years and what few animals are left have not had any grazing for their entire lifetime. On Australia Day a wonderful group called the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners took 181 trucks of hay from Victoria to Armidale to farmers in need. It was quite a sight as you can imagine and little towns turned out in their full force to clap the truckies as they passed through accompanied by much happy horn blowing by the guys behind the wheel who gave up their long weekend to do something great.This is the 7th year they have made the run, choosing different locations each year. Although it only offers temporary relief it shows farmers how much people care and want to help them. They also carry donated dog food, fruit and veggies, pantry essentials, toiletries and household goods to the more isolated properties providing them with much needed items.

Prior to Australia Day Lauren and Myla flew back from Tassie to spend a fortnight with us before heading back to Vietnam. Unfortunately this was in the smoky weird phase but we did manage a couple of excursions to the beach and nearby towns. Parking in Kiama Downs and walking over the headland to Minnamurra for brekky was lovely and we enjoyed it all the more for the rareness of a blue sky day! Uncle Tom and Bailey came along too and Tom discovered yet another gem of the South Coast!

Every year a few friends come down to stay for a Lozzy catch up and we enjoyed having them here. Estella, 3 just LOVED Bailey and had many a snuggle with her, even covering her with her favourite blanky!She was also a very good helper giving Myla a bath in the kitchen sink!

Needless to say Grammy and Pa thoroughly enjoyed having our girls here and happily took Myla while Loz worked (the life of a freelancer never stops) and she happily accompanied Pa on the mower – not at all fazed by the loud motor – and loved having swims in the pool (once we cleaned all the ash and burnt leaves out…the dust continues to be a challenge…) Of course just as we were really getting to know her little ways she had to return to Ho Chi Minh but the knowledge that they will be back permanently in Australia this time next year makes it a bit easier to handle. That and the fact they will be back for Sam’s wedding in just 2 short months time!

Fun with our little Myla Moo

One of Lozzy’s friends, Matilda, has led a parallel life with both of them spending time in Europe to learn languages at 16, Loz in Paris and Tilds in Turin where they managed to catch up and share a few experiences. Tilds has a gorgeous little girl Mia who is 10 months older than Myla who was also born in Asia as Tilds also lives the expat life but in Indonesia. They both enjoy the same things about being away and miss the same things about home so it was great that they managed to have a night together in The Meadow with their bubs. We enjoyed a few hours on the beach at Gerroa before waving them off!

We had a quick visit to our dear family friends in Callala Bay where Myla got to have a paddle and we managed to squish in some special time in Sydney with Myla’s great grandfather where young and old got on swimmingly in the way that only those each end of the age spectrum can! Finally Loz caught up with her special girls at their annual lunch at North Bondi Fish where Myla made a 5 minute appearance before I whisked her away.

I had hardly any time to change the sheets and spruce up the high chair before the other half of the family arrived for the Australia Day long weekend – we have been so lucky to see so much of everyone lately and while Tom is here too. Little Cooper is growing fast and crawls at the speed of lightening. He is in heaven down here with all the extra space and with all the nooks and crannies to explore so it’s not exactly relaxing but it is such fun to see him so interested and curious about everything. Sometimes we have to employ the use of ‘Alcatraz’ while we do something but it’s wearing a bit thin with our little boy so I did have a chuckle when I walked in to see this….

As the wedding is getting close there was much chat about “the to do list” and how we are physically going to manage it all with 2 babies of 11 months and 13 months!! Luckily GG aka Great Grandma and my amazing 83.5 year old Mum will be here to lend an extra pair of hands or read them a story while we prepare things for The Recovery the day after the wedding. It is always such a nice relaxing fun day after all the pomp and ceremony of the actual wedding and a great opportunity for all involved to catch up informally with guests. Let’s just hope the weather gods are on our side!

So with just a few weeks before GG arrives I am being extremely disciplined with food (no carbs) and drink (one glass of wine on Saturday and Sunday only) to shed the squidgy bits prior to the next couple of months celebrating my imminent 60th birthday, the wedding and being here with Mum. Two weeks in and I’m doing well. Not loving it but loving the results and I can see there are a few dishes and habits that I will stick with going forward or it will all no doubt come back in the blink of an eye!! It’s always tough to change the things we love doing but in this instance it feels GOOD and there is something about a New Year that fills you with the desire and drive to become the best you can be, a newer better you and as usual the thought of change is worse than the reality so as a BIG birthday looms I am going to make the most of every minute and opportunity that comes my way to be the best I can be. It’s never too late folks!!

Whatever is that unusual sound on the roof? Big fat raindrops are bouncing off the ash laden tin roof and gurgling into the downpipes. We have a wet deck and the smell of damp earth is as good as the smell of bacon cooking right now! We got 4mm of beautiful rain. It’s not enough to reverse the drought or even fill the water tank but it is somehow a reinforcement that things will become normal again. As sure as Summer follows Spring the rain will return and grass will regrow, streams and rivers will fill again, the duck pond in Berry will lose it’s open jagged cracks and fill and the kids will once again feed the ducklings. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen. But for now, after the last horrendous couple of months it is a welcome change and will hopefully help put out these monster fires, at the very least it will dampen them down and give fire fighters some time to get on top of containment lines. What a dreadful start to 2020 it has been with so much devastation of our bushland, towns and villages and half a billion animals killed. Our local heroes, the men in the field fighting the fires are totally exhausted. I really hope they have found strength in all the accolades the entire country has bestowed upon them. The free coffees and lunches, the friendly toots and thumbs up from appreciative people as they pass them in their trucks and the outpouring of thanks from hand written signs on the sides of the roads to the amazing contributions from so many people both as donations of clothing and furniture, food and animal feed and the many many millions of dollars donated from both Australia and overseas. It shows the very best of people under the very hardest of circumstances and it makes my heart sing. What is it about a crisis that brings out the best in people? The collaborative way we go about bringing as much help as possible to those in need? Over 200 beds were made available in Berry for evacuees last week, the air conditioned local library and Sport and Rec were made available for people on a 40 degree day with catastrophic fire conditions. Icy cold watermelon and icy poles were distributed by people happy to help in any way possible. Weddings scheduled to be held on parents properties who were evacuated were quickly relocated to safer areas – Silos Winery and the amazing Raj and Sophie opened their doors to help in any way they could. All their accommodation was made available to evacuees and free animal feed and accommodation for animals large and small too. A relocated wedding? Sure – nothing was too hard for them. Truly generous and wonderful people. Please come down to Jaspers Brush and support them if you can…

There are so many images of people escaping to beaches or rivers as the fire burnt down to the waters edge. Firemen ridiculously close to a wall of fire, 4 of them dying in the line of duty as burning trees collapsed on them or their trucks. Dying far too young trying to save their beloved country from a disaster that could have been even more immense without their efforts. Sad funerals with tiny children wearing their fathers medals and uniforms, way too young to understand how their lives have changed but they will grow up knowing how good and brave their fathers were.

Now that the immediate local danger is over our thoughts and actions have turned to helping those displaced by the fires, both humans and animals. Lots of locals have been galvanised into making food and water stations for the native animals who have lost their food habitat. Local plumbing suppliers have donated all the piping and volunteers are making drinking stations and then going out into the bushland and placing them at strategic places, leaving a spray painted orange circle on the trees to let others know it is a maintained station and gradually the animals are discovering them. Local farmers have donated all their fruit and veggie odds and sods not pretty enough to sell and garlands of fruit and veg have been made and placed in the trees. The trees have already started regenerating which is wonderful but it will take far too long for those animals who are already starving and we are all hoping that these man made stations will tide them over until the leaves and fruits etc are back in abundance.

Half a billion animals have perished, whole species may have been wiped out and there will be more deaths still through lack of available food and water. It is almost impossible to imagine. Sometimes pictures speak louder than words….

Scenes like this are heartbreaking but luckily there have been lots of lucky survivors who have been rescued and are being treated before being released back once healthy. Koalas are being rescued and set up in special centres like the one below where their limbs are dressed and they are housed in soft portacot type houses with gum leaves and water for when they are peckish!

At our place we had two scary days when the fire came within spitting distance of The Meadow. Seeing the plumes of smoke rise so high and near made us anxious enough to stay home and prepare just in case but the fact we are surrounded by open land means we were always going to be pretty safe. It is when that Southerly change happens that things can go a bit crazy and embers can be blown in a different direction altogether causing fresh outbreaks of fire where you least expect it. I was sent indoors once the change came through as the skies darkened and the smoke was thick which my lungs really don’t like. The boys sat outside on ember watch but luckily they never needed to pick up a hose. Definitely a few days we will never forget.

In between the extreme bouts of fire danger there was Christmas! The entire Clan came together for 4 days of eating, drinking and chatting (mostly all at once) add in two babies under one year of age and it was basically bedlam!

Luckily the bubs were pretty much on the same sleeping and eating schedule and the kitchen was a flurry of pureeing and chopping of baby size hand held foods. Broccoli, contrary to popular belief, was a big favourite! I wonder how long that will last!!

Feeding the adults was slightly more labour intensive but with so many eager cooks in the house we all pitched in and managed to sit down and enjoy some lovely meals together. Liv’s Mum joined us for the festivities so we could all share in the grandbabies first Xmas and she seemed to cope okay with our crazy noisy family although I’m sure she would have really appreciated the peace and quiet once she got home!!!!

One other consequence of the bushfires was the complete lack of real Christmas trees available for sale and we were reduced to decorating a small artificial one for the first time in 35 years! All the beautifully wrapped gifts made it look much more festive thank goodness!

Having my entire family under one roof was so special and worth all the preparation and planning and cooking. Tom announced that he is home for good from London and he has loved finally meeting and hanging out with his little nephew and niece (he also likes that he can give them back!) and the babies think he is the bees knees as he throws them up in the air and is generally the fun uncle we thought he would be.

Having the babies there together was definitely Double trouble but also double the pleasure and it will be so much fun seeing them grow up together. They both love the pool, the chickens, Bailey, riding with Pa on his ride on mower, coming into our bed first thing in the morning and pulling Pa’s beard until his eyes water and generally exploring all the nooks and crannies that you forget babies can get into! So far there have been no accidents or hospital trips but they are certainly very fast at getting from where you put them to where you don’t want them to be!!!

Happy Days Indeed

So as the whole East Coast of Australia eagerly anticipates the forecast drenching of rain with crossed fingers, we begin a new year and a new century with fresh hope of things to come and a perfect time to make any changes in our lives that we need or want to. A time to take action instead of all the finger pointing and blaming of politicians and make real changes. That starts at home.Whilst we sit in our air conditioned rooms with all our devices streaming through the internet and drinking purified water and using power at the touch of a button we blame politicians for not doing enough about climate change. Maybe if we didn’t demand all the comforts of the modern world things would be a bit different in 2020 but we always want our cake and to eat it too. Perhaps if we all changed just one thing each this year, even just becoming more aware of the repercussions of our lifestyle, things will slowly change so that my little grandchildren and their children will inherit a country and a world that is still beautiful to live in.

I have an overwhelming need to write about the disaster unfolding around us here on the South Coast. There is such a sombre mood everywhere here, no smiles and cries of happy new year just yet, we hardly know what day it is to be honest. Of course we live in a time of 24/7 media so everyone knows about and lives through these things pretty much as they happen but that is nothing compared to living in it and seeing and hearing all the stories of people and animals being trapped or displaced and the sheer overwhelming reality of 12+ million acres having been burnt out across Australia, 10 million in our state alone. Seeing as the world mourned when 2.45 million acres were lost in the Amazon last year there has been little international outpouring for the loss of our unique indigenous animals and birds. There are reports of dead birds falling from the sky, they just couldn’t outrun the fire storm sadly. Here at home we have bowls of water scattered around the garden and I have spread seeds in the hope the birds will find it as food and drink is in short supply for them. The cows are resting more often as I imagine they too are affected by the smoke in the air and the lack of feed on the ground. The farmers are doing their very best and hand feeding them at considerable cost and the dairy cows still have to be milked even though due to road closures they cannot get the milk trucks out and some farms have dumped thousands of litres of milk due to power failures or transport problems. The ripples from these fires are very long and wide, not just the terrible reality of lives, houses and livestock lost. Businesses have also taken huge losses at what is usually their biggest time of the year. Food is spoiling in supermarkets and cafes with the power failures shutting down the refrigeration and all the holiday vacation industry is giving full refunds to people no questions asked when they would usually be fully booked. The upside to this is there is quite a lot of spare accommodation available which is now being offered to stranded or evacuated people. 

The sheer enormity of the losses is hard to take in with whole towns being wiped out in a matter of minutes such was the ferocity of the fire.

We have been very lucky so far and have been in a position to help people who have evacuated by storing some of their larger personal items and by providing the odd night’s accommodation when needed but there is a feeling of uselessness at not being able to do more. We have donated packages of much needed items to the rural fire service via a local real estate agent – sunscreen, hydration tablets, lip balm, wet wipes, eye drops and insect repellent. Others have given out slabs of drinking water, powerade and all the local cafés are giving free coffee and burgers to the emergency services. There are convoys of fire trucks, lights flashing going up and down the highway and sometimes absolutely no traffic as roads get shut – both are equally scary.

There are some great phone apps that can help nowadays – the fires near me app is pretty good at telling us what is happening nearby, the weather apps predict quite accurately what temperature and wind to expect and live traffic apps tell us of road closures. Radio and TV are keeping people up to date too and it is not until all phone/internet and power is cut off that people have felt truly stranded. For many people it is a waiting game. Waiting to hear from loved ones. Waiting for the roads to open. Waiting to go home and see what is left. Waiting to see if your animals survived. Waiting for rain. Waiting for this damned fire to be over.

This picture shows molten aluminium, now solidified. Aluminium melts at 660.3 degrees Celsius. Try fighting anything that hot. Absolutely impossible.

That is my chook shed and this was as close as we have been so far to the fire and on a 43 degree day it felt very ominous. The previous day a paddock 3kms from us caught fire when their hay bales exploded, apparently if the lucerne is cut too green this can happen in the heat. Luckily 3 helicopters poured aerial buckets over it and it was contained quickly. The video footage we have seen of trees self combusting and embers being blown up to 30km ahead of the fire front tells us that anything can and will happen and it’s best not to be complacent even if you are supposedly in a safe area. As we are surrounded by paddocks we are pretty sure we could see anything coming and put it out in time but our gutters have been cleaned out and debris cleared away from the house just in case. Everything is coated in ash, even inside the house somehow, and we all have sore throats and stingy eyes as well as sinus infections so that smoke is having more of an effect than we thought. All this is nothing of course in comparison to the people stranded and homeless. People have lost their lives staying to look after their herds and others report the sound of their animals screaming as the fire overtakes them will be etched in their brains forever. Horse owners are using precious water to keep their frightened animals cool by throwing buckets over them. One local lady evacuated her pigs but they went to Cobargo, a town that was unexpectedly decimated. Somehow one pig survived but she cannot transport it back due to road closures. Our local showground has become a sanctuary for evacuated animals of all shapes and sizes and it is only once the animals have been safely sorted that lots of these kind stoic country people then evacuate themselves.

Of course before all this escalated we had Christmas but it somehow doesn’t seem appropriate to talk about happy jolly things right now so I shall keep it for my next post when hopefully I will report that the worst is over and the fire is finally under control and that it IS RAINING!!! We have to get through this Saturday 4th first with another 43 degree day with strong squally winds forecast. We are all praying the fire will not jump the river. Right now I can hear sirens and helicopters are flying low over the house, the wind has just picked up and that can only mean trouble. A few of the roads have opened to let tourists go home. There is a 30km traffic jam of cars laden with kayaks and surfboards and bicycles with tinsel around the handlebars as the holidaymakers escape back to the big city. Now there is a shortage of petrol as power failures mean garages cannot pump the gas and diesel is in short supply as (rightly so) the firetrucks and first response trucks have first dibs. For those that experienced the Armageddon like redness of NYE it is a holiday they are unlikely to forget for all the wrong reasons but I know the rain will come and once again the south coast will be a green and lush place full of nature as the bush regenerates and people will visit again to enjoy the pristine coastal water and magnificent beaches, the verdant wineries and pretty coastal villages. In fact after losing so much business at the busiest time of the year the one thing we CAN all do is support our local town and shop and buy local, eat out in the cafes and restaurants again and stick together. The one overriding thing I have taken from the past few weeks is the wonderful sense of local community and coming together, of people helping each other, donating time and money, holding fundraisers to help the rural fire services and to re-clothe people left with nothing. Hordes of people making sandwiches and tea ( always a winner in a crisis) and offering paddocks and floors for strangers and their animals no questions asked. People are being good and kind and sometimes in the heart of darkness we really do get to see the best of humanity, that sense of mateship that Aussies hold so dear and that will ultimately help us all get through what has been the toughest of times for so many. See you on the other side…..

Of course these past few weeks have seen all sorts of disasters, bush fires out of control and hundreds of thousands of hectares of bushland burnt out, habitat lost for so many native animals and fires heading dangerously close to our coastal towns on the south coast where they will eventually run out of fuel but at what cost who can tell. The smoke may be causing strife for some people in Sydney but just imagine what it’s like for those poor people left to defend their properties with a mere garden hose and a 40 foot wall of fire ahead of them…. 

In the middle of the chaos of the bush fires my cousin’s son Ed and his girlfriend Lily arrived from the UK after travelling down from Cairns in a motor home experiencing firsthand all that Australia in the summer can offer. They had a few changes of plans due to the fires but they loved their adventure nonetheless. They arrived down in The Meadow together with the Westerly winds and the flies but never complained and they enjoyed having a few days hanging out with Bailey and checking out some of the local sights. They were a lovely young couple and great company and we waved them off to New Zealand and the last stage of their trip with an invitation to return anytime!

The next arrival back on home soil was the prodigal son returning home after 16 months living in London. It hasn’t been the blue skies and sunshine he’d been dreaming of but it was home and he’s had a lovely time reuniting with his mates and catching up on all the news. As this is the only time he is back before Sam’s wedding it was a perfect time to arrange Sam’s Bucks and 30 guys enjoyed a special afternoon on Sydney Harbour and partied into the early hours of the morning. This was taken before things got too silly…

So this week brings my little family back together with the addition this Christmas of our two littlest members which will put a new and delightful spin on it all. They are a bit too small this year to enjoy it all and I’m sure the wrapping paper will be as good if not better than the contents of their gifts but it brings a bit of magic back to the Xmas festivities and I for one cannot wait to read them all the Christmas stories and go to Christmas Carols in the park and generally immerse myself in it all!! So from our house to yours we wish you all a safe and happy Christmas with your special people and if it happens to rain you fill find us all screaming and shouting and dancing with joy as it would be the best gift for most of Australia this Christmas! Fingers crossed xx

Mother Nature has packed her bag and gone on holiday leaving her wicked stepsister in charge of Australia. There are no two days in a row that are the same. Hot and windy one day and cold and windy the next. We haven’t had a blue sky in weeks either because of clouds, smoke haze or dust storms. The lawn is dying and the trees in our lane are dropping their leaves a mere few weeks after getting them! The cows spend all day eating the parched grass but their exposed ribs tell another story. We are watering our flowers (too many dollars invested in them not to) but water restrictions are here so we can only use a hand held hose which is fun with 2 acres! All this and we live on the coast, usually rich grazing land for dairy cows and as green as the Welsh hills. Go another hour inland and the picture is tenfold worse. Just dust. My friend Michael travels with a TV station all around Australia and he took these photos of properties seen a few years apart. Heartbreaking….

The fires are still raging in some parts of Australia and there are SO MANY people in need. There are loads of worthy charities doing great work and all in dire need of our dollars. The bush fire appeal, hospitals for fire affected animals, farmers needing feed and water for their cattle and for themselves and then there are the women and children in domestic violence shelters, the homeless, underprivileged and sick kids. So many people in need it’s quite overwhelming.

There is a family I know that is doing it especially tough. Their 11 year old daughter London was putting their chooks away when she was bitten by a tiger snake last week. As they live on a remote property in the Byron hinterland it took over an hour to a) get a phone signal to call an ambulance and b) for the ambulance to get there and administer the antivenom. A helicopter ride to the hospital which is 2.5 hours away by car and she is now in ICU heavily sedated while her little body fights the toxin. She can’t breathe, talk, swallow or eat, she is on dialysis and may need a kidney transplant and her heart is pumping so fast she’s in danger of having a heart attack. London is one of 5 small children and her Mum is currently staying at Ronald McDonald house next to the hospital to help the 24 hour nursing team and to be there when her daughter wakes up. It is just 3 weeks until Xmas. You can just imagine what she is going through. London will be in ICU for at least 2 months but all hope is that she will be well enough to start high school next year if things go well. There are so many financial pressures as well as emotional ones so if anyone would like to help there is a go fund me page set up for the family…

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tiger-snake-bite-victim-nsw-11-year-old-girl?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

In other news Le Rod has left the building!! He was rather unceremoniously bundled into this cage by the MOTH while he was busy eating and has been whisked away to Ulladulla about an hour south of here where he will father some more baby chicks and hopefully behave more gently towards his new owner. I must say the hen house is a much more tranquil place since he’s gone and our rapidly growing chicks have finally been able to roam free in peace. Not to say that the older hens have exactly welcomed them with open arms (they still let the little ones know who’s the boss) but they are loving their new found freedom and have developed quite a little gang. Trunchbull has resumed her dominant hen status and is the first to run at them or keep them away from the food and we have had to separate her from them a couple of times so they can eat and drink in peace. The littlies haven’t quite plucked up enough courage to roost with the big ones yet and remain in a huddle on the straw floor of the coop at night but surely they will get brave soon? We had them sexed on Friday and are very relieved that there are only 5 roosters out of the 15 chicks, one of which we are keeping (Atticus) and another is being taken by our lovely neighbour Katherine so only three to “rehouse” at this stage thank goodness!

We had a lovely gathering of the clan a couple of weekends ago when my Swiss sister-in-law and her sons and partners all came to stay. Sam, Liv and Coops were also there so the Swiss family got to meet our happy, smiley little boy in the flesh! He took all the extra faces on board with no problems and still went to sleep on time despite the noise level in the dining room being something akin to a U2 concert ! The next day they made a delicious cheese fondue with cheese brought all the way from Switzerland and enjoyed by us all, thanks to my brother-in-law Michel for the thought. You would have thought we hadn’t eaten for a month if you saw us scraping the last little drop of deliciousness from that pot!!!

Cooper had his first swim in the pool which he LOVED! It’s going to be a godsend at Christmas if it’s warm. Much easier for the babies than the ocean and no travelling to and fro either. We stoked up the pizza oven that night and Cooper was very curious to check out the oven with Pa, it felt good to be using all our summer toys again. Young Coops has started moving around the house in a mixture of commando crawling and flipping and twisting rather like a human slinky and he can get from A to B really quite fast so we are going to have to keep an eye on our little boy from now on as he has already discovered the plugs and TV wires and just wait until the Christmas tree goes up….eeeek!

So at a time when we would generally be feeling summery and excited for the season ahead we are all quite on edge. Only a few days into the start of summer and things are very dodgy for lots of people so let’s really look around and appreciate all that we have, for you can bet your bottom dollar there are so many people far worse off. Never forget how quickly your life can change for whatever reason.