Well it’s been a few weeks folks, because, well…Covid… and let’s face it every day is like Groundhog Day adding or subtracting the odd trip to the supermarket, garden centre or medical appointment. I must say however that as each day creeps towards Spring we have noticed lots of changes in the garden which help to keep me focussed on lovely warm days ahead and hopefully a Christmas with the sound of laughter and children playing whilst their parents enjoy a cold beverage! Dreaming is free right?

So as the fresh new leaves unfurl on the trees and my wisteria is sporting fat purplish buds just waiting to burst open any day it makes me hopeful that better days lie ahead. The jonquils and hyacinths have been and gone and now the sweet peas and salvias are having their turn, a prelude to the roses which after their recent pruning are already filling out with leaves and the promise of flowers to come. It is so nice to be able to bring some of the outside in with blooms strategically placed around the house to make me smile. Covid may have spoiled our lives over the past 18 months but nature carries on regardless and has probably even enjoyed the lack of people out and about. It is uplifting to see the cherry blossoms on our daily walk and the birds are dipping and darting and flirting with each other ahead of some serious lovey dovey and nest building. I love seeing the parrots sitting in pairs canoodling and snuggling up together, they seem to genuinely enjoy the whole process as opposed to other creatures for whom it’s all over in a second or two, occasionally coinciding with their death! Nature is sometimes very weird!

Before the lockdown I was having a lovely old time as I have made some new friends! Whether you are 6 or 60 it is always nice to meet new people who you enjoy being with and who have similar outlooks on life. In these times especially I relished meeting up with some girls who I met initially through a mutual friend but have continued to see through our love of dogs! We all love our furry friends and it is so nice to meet up for a walk or at our houses for some afternoon tea and chatter while the pups play together! Vanessa has the most beautiful views from her house and has sheep, cows, alpacas and goats whilst running a home away from home specifically for Golden Retrievers. Luckily Bailey and Billy have been granted a special dispensation to join in on Doggy Daycare Thursdays!

In the best news in ages, we were so very happy this week to welcome India Elizabeth Cook into the family. She kept us all waiting an extra 9 days but she was definitely worth the wait. 4kgs of deliciousness and already settling into family life in Tassie. We are so happy that they are all free over there with no Covid cases and as they are locked out from the rest of the world they will hopefully stay that way. Sadly that means I can’t be there as we had originally planned although I still hold out a tiny bit of hope for my October 18th flight yet to be cancelled. Luckily her In Laws came to the rescue, staying with them before, during and after the big event to help with our little Myla. She was very much looking forward to being a big sister but I’m not sure the reality is quite what she expected and she isn’t too keen on sharing Mummy at this point in time. I’m sure she will get used to it all very quickly and be Mummy’s Number One Helper before long. In the meantime she is rather overly enthusiastic in her affection to her baby sister and her Dad has suggested they may need to bring in security! In a lovely nod to our family India bears her maternal Great Grandma’s name – Elizabeth, as Myla has her paternal Great Grandma’s name – Josephine. A wonderful duo to emulate that’s for sure and a little bit of history passed down the line. Needless to say Gigi is very chuffed!

Another thing that brought a smile to my face this week was a parcel we received in the mail with these words on the back!! Inside was a batch of homemade baklava from our friend Nick and it definitely left us feeling all warm and fuzzy as well as overjoyed to have something delicious to eat with our afternoon cuppa. A simple kindness that meant a lot. It has inspired me to try and pay it forward …a chain letter of deliciousness and kindness…

When you move to Australia from another continent as I did and know absolutely no one, your new family and friends really have a lot of work to do to fill the void of home, but I have been very lucky with my In Law family. They are all lovely and even if we don’t see each other very often we always pick straight back up where we left off and now as we are slowing down a bit we hope that we will get to spend a bit more time with them all. Heather was my local sister in law and with 3 kids each and married to the two Cameron brothers we had a lot in common. We used to call each other every Wednesday to chat and de-brief, especially when we were missing our kids who were living overseas or the husbands were being especially Cameron-ish!!! Thirty minutes later having solved the problems of the world we would hang up feeling much better about things. Sadly 18 months ago she was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and it all happened just as Covid raised its horrible head meaning we haven’t really been able to see her. She passed away two weeks ago at home with her family around her as they luckily all live nearby. She had some good patches in that time and was so thankful that her expat children had all come home prior to Covid and she could spend some time with them and even witness the birth of another little grandson. Family was everything to her and she would have derived immense pleasure from cradling that little guy. We went through a lot together throughout the years and I will miss her a lot. Make the most of every day folks, you never know what lies around the corner…

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

As the UK celebrates “Freedom Day” and covid restrictions are all lifted with people free to live ‘normally’ again, we in NSW are plunged into the biggest crisis we have so far experienced since the pandemic began. Delta is causing havoc and so far we are in week 4 of lockdown in the Greater Sydney Area. Here in rural NSW we are not in lockdown but we are feeling the ripple effect of it. Being only 2 hours from Sydney a lot of our businesses rely on the weekend tourism and local holiday homes to provide them with income. Things here are VERY quiet and as masks are once again a requirement most people have cancelled their gym and exercise classes and with so many friends and family unable to visit from Sydney cancelling restaurant bookings etc – we are mostly just waiting for this to pass before resuming normal activities. I have been personally affected by the shutting of State borders to NSW leaving me with cancelled plane flights to Tasmania where I was due to fly this week ahead of my Daughter giving birth. Her In-Laws are also stuck in Queensland (where they were catching up with their daughter who they hadn’t seen in over a year) when this escalation occurred. As they have their car and caravan with them they are finding it hard to find an allowable route back to the car ferry in Melbourne by August 2nd as it is tricky trying to avoid all the border closures. Not what we had all hoped and planned for and needless to say we are more than a bit devastated that we may not be there to help but we are madly hoping that Tasmania will open it’s borders to rural NSW again soon and I can hop on that plane asap.

So as life has shrunk once more to our immediate environment we just thank our lucky stars that we have such a lovely choice of local areas to walk around and grab lunch outdoors which is still a delight in the winter as long as the sun is shining. Kiama has a wonderful coastal path that hugs its shores and you can walk as little or as much of it as you desire. Diggies is a fantastic café-restaurant where you can tie your dog up and enjoy a delicious lunch outdoors with a view of the coast that fills you with gratitude for our natural environment. I’m praying that Covid stays out of the regions as it would be a death knell for these little places.

We’ve had a rather bird orientated week here in The Meadow. Firstly the Corellas have come back. They hang in huge groups of at least 200 and we can hear them coming from kilometres away, great swathes of white in the sky as they swoop and turn before settling on the perfect trees or water troughs making a great hullabuloo as they do so. I have NO idea what they are trying to do? There is no food here for them? They stay only 10 minutes or so and then they are off again in search of goodness knows what. They look like baubles on a Xmas tree when they land, screeching across to the other trees which are similarly laden with birds.

The plovers are also in full throttle, their calls are heard constantly across the paddocks as the Dad wheels and soars above the nest where much against the odds they somehow raise a few chicks right in the middle of a field which houses cattle and the odd fox. Goodness knows what their success rate is but you wouldn’t want to be betting on it.

Our “chicks” who are now almost the same size as their Mum, are demonstrating teenagerish habits in as much as they don’t want to be thrust out of the nest. Peaches has up until literally two days ago been a supremely diligent Mother, still tucking them under her wings at night in a nesting box but the tide has turned and now she has abandoned them, finally returning to the roost at night and after so many months you can’t blame her. The kids have now got to be brave and follow suit and despite the pecking order in the hen house I don’t believe the older chooks would actually throw them off if they gave it a go??

One thing that discouraged all of them to enter the Chook-Mahal yesterday was the presence of 2 crows who had greedily snuck in and stolen the newly laid eggs before realising they couldn’t get out again. Rather stupidly they forgot how they had entered and spent a few fruitless hours flapping about trying to get through the mesh to the great outdoors. I managed to get the adult crow out as he was too large to take refuge in the rafters like the juvenile crow and ended up on the floor right next to the exit. Sadly the younger bird spent hours trying to escape and rather exhausted in the end was easily caught by the MOTH and released to its family who had gathered on the fence line above the chookyard trying to encourage its departure. Hopefully once bitten twice shy and they will stay away.

Our own little chick, Oliver, has been growing steadily while we have been locked out of Sydney and we are so sad we cannot be there to enjoy this gorgeous stage of his babyhood. He is a happy contented little chap and proof that good things can still happen during a global pandemic. Hopefully we will be able to make up for it big time when this is all over. In the meantime thank goodness for facetime eh?

I have taken some solace from the garden which continues to need my attention. This is the time of the year that we prune everything back – especially the roses and the salvias. The hydrangeas have to be trimmed back to the fat buds and the fruit trees need to be thinned out and pruned to a height where we can actually pick the fruit. The wisteria is best trimmed back whilst it is leaf-less and we can see its winding tendrils, even now there are new buds arriving every day so I am on notice to get it done soon. My veggie garden has been bare this winter as we let it rest and breathe. The weeds have diminished (for now anyway) and I have added loads of compost and soil improver to build it up ahead of Summer. I’m planting some perennial basil to encourage the bees around the perimeter and I’m looking for a good spot for a new lemon tree and to transplant my Olive tree, which currently lives in a pot. Our exposed position in the middle of the paddocks mean we have very little sheltered area away from the wind so despite our couple of acres we are not spoilt for choice unfortunately. I picked the last of the roses mixed with some camellias which made me feel happy for a day or two at least!

• 

• 

One of the biggest things we’ve learned from this pandemic is how important it is to have something to look forward to. A visit from your family or friends, going out for dinner or a drink at the local pub and most definitely holidays. A trip abroad is on most people’s to do lists after all this is over. A trip to Queensland is almost as hard to organise with State borders opening and shutting like a barn door. With a visit to the UK high on my list to visit my Mum and Sister I also have a yen to revisit Greece where I lived for a couple of years back in the early 80s. I have such fond memories of it despite the fact I was living on the smell of an oily rag, sleeping on beaches and in Youth Hostels and limited to one main meal a day! I think I’ve been scared that if I went back it would spoil those memories but I now think I owe it to myself to do it in a bit of style! I can just imagine the MOTH and I wandering these beautiful little alleys and enjoying some great food overlooking the Med……

1. The only travelling we are doing right now
2. The crazy ups and downs of Covid….

I love this picture of bucolic bliss with the chooks free ranging next to the cows, we also love the fact that we can enjoy the cattle without any of the work that goes with them! We have been grateful as always to be here especially when Sydney went into a Covid lockdown for 3 weeks. We were lucky here to only incur restrictions – masks and social distancing and 5 guests to your house – but the ripple effect from Sydney on our little town has been huge. It happened just as school holidays began and of course that meant many, many cancelled bookings of accommodation, restaurants as well as the lost hordes of people that we generally see during school holidays visiting our retailers leaving many to reduce their opening hours and resort yet again to offering takeaway. We had several fun things planned that have all had to be cancelled including our annual Xmas in July weekend but so many people are doing it tough I can’t bring myself to have a whinge! Hopefully by Spring we will be on a path to opening up Australia as the country becomes vaccinated. I had my first one a few weeks ago and already feel I am better equipped if I came face to face with the virus and look forward to the day I can be fully jabbed and hopefully freer to book some overseas trips, especially to the UK to see my family.

Luckily we managed to squish in one of the infamous long lunches hosted by The Old Church at Milton before the lockdown came into force. This one held a rather special place in their heart as it was a fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer, something their daughter went through at 30. She is one of the lucky ones that caught it early and she is now a spokesperson for the cause as many young women never imagine it will happen to them. She is a lovely young woman and it was fabulous that with the generous donations from many people they were able to raise $19500 to further the research being done by UNSW to get on top of this disease. The entertainment for the day was superb. Murray Hartman who is an amazing Bush Poet and raconteur had us laughing in the aisles with his very clever verses about life’s ups and downs and a great comedian Tahir Biljic who had us in stitches with his unique brand of humour and very kindly drove the 7 hours round trip to contribute to the afternoon. News of the lockdown came through the marquee like Chinese Whispers, a ripple up and down the rows as people’s phones beeped and rang alerting everyone to the new stay at home orders starting a mere 2 hours later! The band had barely begun to play when we all had to pack up and head home. The important stuff had been done though and we had had a great day to boot.

Winter is in full throttle here. We wake to white frosty lawns that crackle underfoot as we walk to let the chooks out in the morning, our breath blowing great plumes of steam. Almost daily we see firewood deliveries and the evening air is perfumed with wood smoke. Most days however we have blue skies and sunshine and by 10am it can be warm enough in the sun to be in a tee shirt but inside the house its cold and a two layer minimum is necessary until we light the fire in the afternoon! The veranda is THE place to be and 5 minutes out there warms you better than one hour in the aircon. It has to be my favourite place in our house no matter what time of the year but especially in Winter.

I think Marilyn must be the number one fan of this blog. She has never failed to read it and leave a comment, she loves reading the stories of our country shenanigans and seeing our little family expanding. A happier, shinier person you couldn’t wish to meet. Her positivity got her through breast cancer a decade ago and through it she discovered she had a talent which then became a business helping others through guided meditation and teaching relaxation techniques. She loved music and singing, travelling everywhere she possibly could, she believed in the strength of friendship and family and the power of the Universe. Thus it came as a cruel blow a couple of years ago when she was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. She fought it and then accepted it in her own inimitable style despite hating it and the restrictions it brought her. Covid certainly didn’t help. Her only son was living in England and she had rented a house for 3 months to coincide with the birth of her grandson but it was not to be. Luckily the kids managed to get jobs in Australia and returned at Christmas to spend some precious time with her and she finally got to cuddle her grandson. Sadly she lost her battle last week and she has left a big hole in the Universe. A shock to us all but also a blessing to be released from such an insidious disease that steals your body whilst your mind remains fully functional. We will miss her smile and her company. I will personally miss her encouragement which she gave me constantly and hope one day to fulfill some of her suggestions to me.

This is a rare picture of Australian parrots in the snow! Their striking colours contrasting beautifully against the white background as they search for some treats on snow laden branches in an inland town during the big polar blast experienced here last week. The lowest June temperatures in 123 years apparently and we have never been so grateful for the all encompassing warmth of our woodfire. Somehow nothing else warms a house up quite like it. The air con makes it comfortable enough but no where near as cosy and despite it needing a bit of effort (ordering the wood, then stacking and moving it) it totally makes winter an enjoyable season for us! I’m making the most of waking up later as it doesn’t get light until 6.30ish rather than 4.30 of mid summer and by 4pm the sun has sunk behind the escarpment and it’s pitch black by 5pm! We eat dinner earlier as it literally feels like 9pm by 6 and we indulge in some Netflix or my current fave program on Amazon Prime is Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm which is a scream. To give you an inkling his farm is called “Diddly Squat” which is what he reckons he’s going to make from it! The program is all about the trials and tribulations of farming of which there are many – definitely worth a watch! Jeremy’s rather gormless/gloomy face as he realises he’s made yet another farming faux pas just cracks me up! 😂

I love this word and the way it sums up something intangible that some people feel, the need some of us have to upsticks and move to another country or to try our hand at farming because we feel a connection to the land. Feelings that may seem unfounded but stir deep within us and have no apparent logical beginning or end. The sea calls to many and to others the green of pasture land or a stream running though the woods and is the yearning we call home or Hiraeth.

• 

• 

Home is also where family comes together and for this June long weekend we had Sam, Liv and the boys down to stay for 3 nights which was lovely. Oliver’s first trip to The Meadow and he was such a good little pumpkin, literally eating, smiling, blowing raspberries and sleeping! Cooper was very happy to be back and made good use of all the facilities available to him! Cooking Rara toast, pasta and eggs in the cubby house kitchen was high on the list and helping Papa with the chickens became a ‘must not miss’ morning routine. He loved picking oranges straight from the tree and he and Papa shared some special moments whilst peeling them while a certain little Choccy dog looked on hopefully!

As the never ending highway upgrade is happening right at the end of our lane we managed to get our ‘digger’ mad grandson up close and personal with a huge one currently not being used. On seeing it he threw his arms open wide declaring he was excited!! He was thrilled to “touch it” and “feel it” I love how easy it is to make a 2 year old happy sometimes!

So now the house is a little empty and the pantry no longer full of the baked goodies that tend to come with the arrival of visitors and I am ready with a LONG list of things to do. I know Spring is the traditional time to clear out cupboards and clean but somehow I always feel more inclined in Winter when its blowing a gale outside and I’m snuggled up indoors as opposed to a beautiful Summer’s day when I’d rather be walking the dog on the beach! Thus the list and this includes a few little jobs I’ve had in the back of my head since we moved in – changing the surround to the front door is one of them. It currently sports a yellowy coloured reinforced type glass which doesn’t let in much light to the hall so I’m thinking of changing it to proper glass, perhaps with an etched border or something to give a nod to the age of the house. Some research and pricing is necessary before I get too carried away. The same applies for another little project – to change the hearth tiles around the two older fireplaces which are cracked and also a bit boring. The trouble with little projects is it’s hard to get someone in for a small job unless they have a small gap between jobs for the big boys so I’ll just have to have everything ready to go for that window of opportunity! The other task is to rearrange the artwork in the bedrooms. We have changed the furniture around since we moved in and now the art looks out of whack as a result. The trouble is as soon as you move something you leave holes behind that need plugging/painting and then the paint looks weird next to the old paint and you end up re-painting the whole room!!! Watch this space!!

Steam rises from the cows as they lie on the dewy grass, the remnants of the morning mist hangs low in the dips of the hills like splodges of fairy floss and the leaves are falling from the trees creating a crunchy golden carpet underfoot. This is Autumn in The Meadow. It’s been quite a chilly one this year with an early start to buy firewood, unearth the electric blankets and generally cosy up. It seems crazy that just a few weeks ago the weather was warm enough for us to be in the garden in tee shirts and even to enjoy a meal outside! Luckily this coincided with a visit from our Tassie girls, Lauren working remotely meant she could work from here as long as I could provide childcare which I undertook gladly. We had some lovely days together with Miss Myla making me MANY cups of tea and toast in the cubby house, walks down the lane to see the cows and the horses, art work of every possible persuasion (I now have playdough of various colours inserted into several rugs!!) She absolutely LOVED feeding Bailey every night and her little face just shone with pride as she made Bailey sit and wait before she gave her the magic instruction to eat! Such power!! Her other favourite thing was waiting for Papa to come home in the afternoon and for her to help “drive” his truck, occasionally leaning out of the window and singing “la-la-la-la” rather operatically to the cows as she passed by! It was just so nice to spend some consistent time with them and do the simple every day things together, it helps us cement a bond with her that she remembers even if its a few months in between visits. Facetime certainly helps too, we even managed a call to Gigi in England so they could see each other in the flesh! Wonderful technology indeed and we’re so lucky that at 85 Mum is embracing of all of it!

On the weekends we managed a couple of trips to the beach, some local walks and playgrounds and a particularly lovely trip to Kangaroo Valley where we ate a picnic next to the river while Bailey swam and did her happy dance filled with the pure joy of it all. While she was here we also managed to celebrate that they bought a house! They have been looking for a while but the housing situation in Hobart has gone completely mad in the past 18 months and things were selling within hours of going on the market and for up to 20% more than the asking price, all of which was a bit nightmarish for our 1st time home buyers! After several very ‘close but no cigar’ moments they saw this house online and Berry had to go and see it alone, videoing it all for Loz to see and then ultimately becoming the lucky winners without her even having set foot inside! It’s a very exciting time for them after more than a decade of living overseas in furnished apartments to finally be able to furnish and decorate their own home. They will rent it out for a year as it’s all a bit too hectic now with the new baby arriving in 2.5 months and it will give them some time to work out their plans to renovate it. It’s hard to believe that this was their last trip to The Meadow before the new baby arrives and things will no doubt be slightly more hectic next trip with 4 kids under three joining us for Christmas!

We enjoyed another night in Sydney with Sam and Liv before she caught the plane home and the little cousins had fun together dancing around the lounge room and playing musical statues as well as plenty of joint artistic endeavours! Baby Ollie was again the star of the show, being the first thing Myla would request to see in the morning! He is 2 months old already and a good little bub, luckily very happy to eat and sleep and is starting to become his own gorgeous little person. I am looking forward to them coming down to stay for the June long weekend, this is the longest we have ever gone without them visiting but now that he is starting to sleep through the night hopefully they can relax and enjoy some time away and a change of scenery and Cooper can be reunited with his bestest fur friend Bailey.

Apart from the family fun we have been kept busy with our new baby chicks who are now getting rather confident in the manner of teenagers and are brave enough to mix with the other chooks but still run to Mum’s side and answer her clucking if they sense she isn’t happy. They are big enough to do nearly everything now and are 3/4 feathered but they still snuggle up under Peaches wings at night in one of the nesting boxes. They are safe and warm in there with her and it will still be another month at least I imagine before they roost with the whole gang. We haven’t had any eggs in weeks but today there was a freshly laid egg for us when we went out to check on them so fingers crossed they will all steadily get back into the habit as it has been most strange to have added eggs to my shopping list lately!

The next job on the to do list is to prune everything back in the garden. Once the leaves are finally off we can prune the fruit trees, wisteria, hydrangeas and attack the mulberry tree. This involves sawing it off at the top of the trunk before it branches out, leaving a totem pole from which new supple branches will grow which we can tie to the trunk forming a lollypop type shape which means the fruit will be available to us and not the birds (the inside part anyway!) and make it much more manageable. My roses are still blooming despite the cold end to Autumn although they are looking a teeny bit sad and leggy so I am hanging on until July to cut them right back. The gardenias are happier than ever and they have been joined by the camellias of various colours so there is still a bit of interest in the garden for now.

With Winter’s imminent arrival my thoughts are turning to slow cooked meats and curries, oozy cheesy bakes, home made pies with flaky pastry and hot puddings with custard! A salad just doesn’t seem to cut it at this time of year and after a few hours working in the garden there is nothing better than a bowl of hot soup with some fresh bread from the bakery. Thank goodness we live in a climate that has 4 distinct seasons so we can enjoy all the different foods at the appropriate time meaning we never really get fed up with any of it! After a summer of barbeques and chilled rosé it is so nice to come inside, light the fire and enjoy some more substantial food with a nice glass of red! Vive la difference!

We are at that stage of the year when the colours begin to look more like Scotland than Australia and the leaves are crunching underfoot as I walk to the washing line and the chookhouse. The nights are cool and we have upgraded to the winter duvet and the electric blankets are about to be brought out of storage. Day time temps are still mild from 19-24 degrees and this creates the most spectacular morning mists. I awoke today to a complete whiteout and lumbering through the mist came huge hulking shapes passing our back fence in a steady stream. That they were cows became apparent as the sun rose and the heat burnt off the mist, so much less menacing in the daylight and already steadily ripping and chewing the grass in the paddocks. A chorus of silent chewing as they go about their daily task of eating their body weight in grass – they need every minute of the daylight at this time of year to get their necessary calories. I love their collective concentration on the task at hand just occasionally looking up if we venture too close to the fence or a certain chocolate dog cheekily barks at them whilst running past. The younger cows are very curious and will run across the paddock to see if we have anything special for them and will follow us until they are stopped by a fence, they remind me of a pack of large over excited dogs.

It has been a lovely few weeks with a trip to Sydney for a surprise 60th birthday lunch for my Sister in Law who is here from Switzerland. Her sons and their partners did a great job of rallying some of her oldest friends and family from far and wide to come together for a lovely sunny afternoon in Bronte where we enjoyed a seafood and champagne extravaganza in her honour. Lots of the cousins hadn’t seen each other for 4 years or longer so it was a very special afternoon for many reasons. I loved that she had absolutely no idea that it was going to be anything other than a lunch with her sons, we managed to capture a few pics of her shock when she arrived!

It was a great opportunity to see the latest additions to the tribe and for Aunty Sue-Ellen to grab some rare cuddles with the littlies. As she and I know to our cost, the decision to live in a country that is not your birth country and without your extended family on hand, means we miss out on a lot of these kind of events and have learned to grow a thick skin or we would be forever a babbling emotional mess, Covid has upset the apple cart further by taking away what was basically an exercise in saving the money and then taking the time to visit our families overseas and has made everything sooooo much harder to plan anything for the foreseeable future. We both try not to think about it too much as it would really be upsetting especially as we have parents in their 80s and 90s and we feel precious time is being wasted. 2023 will hopefully be the year we can once again safely plan a trip to Europe.

This lunch gave us a great excuse to have a quick catchup with our little grandsons. Oliver is growing fast and is so far a dream baby and Cooper really couldn’t be any sweeter as a big brother. He gives him little cuddles and pats him gently with the odd kiss to his head and has shown no jealousy at all so far which is always a relief! He has however started to escape from his cot, even from within a sleeping bag he can climb out and waddle down the corridor to Mum and Dads room. Great timing with a 5 week old and already with limited sleep, the last thing they need is a midnight wanderer!! Here he is caught in the act via the baby monitor!!

A week later Myla and Lauren arrived from Tasmania for a two week trip. As she works remotely she can easily work from here but Rara has to provide the daycare that Myla would normally go to 4 times a week! We made the most of a Sydney Airport pickup to stay in Sydney so that Aunty Loz could meet little Oliver and Myla and Cooper could reconnect. They are really so close together in age they are almost like twins, one minute cuddling and kissing and the next proclaiming the same toy to be “mine” and having a bit of a Mexican stand off! It works well with both of them having their midday nap and bedtime at the same time so basically life is either STOP or GO depending on the time of day!!

We have some new baby chicks! After thinking that the eggs Peaches was sitting on were not viable the MOTH went to take them away after 3 weeks but when he lifted a squawking Peaches off the nest there was a little fluffy chick and he could see that another egg had signs of activity with cheeping from within! So we are very happy that two of the 6 hatched and it is such a different experience from when we bred chicks in an incubator. It’s fascinating to see how Peaches looks after them and they became independent far more quickly than those born without a Mum to teach them. They follow her around copying her every move, scratching up the straw to find treats and now we let them outside every afternoon (separated from the other bigger chickens) they bury themselves in the dust with Mum as if it was the best fun in the world. My Swiss SIL has named them Citron and Plume meaning yellow and feather and I think it’s just perfect. Now let’s just hope that they are both girls……pleeeeeeeease?

So Rara is now girding her loins for a very busy couple of weeks of Myla daycare and hoping that the weather gods are kind to us so we can play outside a lot although the forecast is not looking too good……HELP, wish me luck!!!

All eyes are on Master Oliver Jack Cameron, our third grandchild, who arrived in the world on March 23rd and is the cutest little bundle of sweetness. Just 3kg and with a head of dark curly hair and a calm personality (so far anyway!) Big brother Cooper was very intrigued with the new arrival wanting to “hug Oviler” and “pat it”! He has been very gentle and loving and seeing him “help’ Sam bring him home from the hospital made my heart melt. Seems like just yesterday that Sam was helping his own Dad bring his baby sister home…..how the circle turns!

It has been a very busy few weeks as we hopped up to Sydney to see the newest addition and I stayed to help with Cooper and be there while Sam and Liv spent some time in hospital with Oliver and shared some time with family and friends basking in the euphoria that envelops you for those first few days. There was a post partum hiccup involving a hospital stay for Liv but now she is home and well and they are starting their next phase of life as a family of four. As those of us who have multiple children know it is a whole new ball game with the 2nd child. You can’t spend hours just gazing at them, cuddling them and sleeping when they do…there is a toddler in the house! Sam takes Cooper as much as he can when he’s not working and Liv’s Mum lives nearby which is a godsend! I’m looking forward to some newborn cuddles when I make a quick visit this week. He has already changed with his little folds of skin plumping out nicely and those cheeks are just gorgeous!!

Easter, which previously was going to be spent home alone, turned into a great weekend with our long term friends and Toms godparents coming down for the weekend and Tom was also able to get away for a few days. The weather was fantastic and we literally ate breakfast and lunch outdoors which was a plus this far into the year! A golf red letter day where Little Bear finally beat Big Bear, some nice meals and some good wines (the cellar is finally being raided for these events) beach walks, a quiz night and a bonfire and we were all happy bunnies! With no small people here this year there were no decorations or egg hunts but that will make it even more special for when they do come! The Tassie Crew made it by the skin of their teeth to Queensland, flying the day after the lockdown ended and are enjoying some lovely beach weather and catching up with their family for the 1st time in 18 months! Special times all round.

The Hen House is confused. Just before Easter we decided our Rooster Boris had to go. He hadn’t been at all aggressive to us but he had a huge fetish for our two oldest chooks and gave them the rounds of the kitchen morning, noon and night. The poor girls would run as fast as their little legs could carry them to get away from him – literally getting air and launching themselves at the fences in a feeble attempt to escape him. They had lost 3/4 of their feathers due to stress and were looking severely bedraggled. They are our two oldest Australorps, not even laying anymore and I had no idea why he picked on them so. They are my fond favourites as they always come up to me wherever I am gardening and “talk” to me through the fence! They have always been very social and gentle and we couldn’t let Boris beat them up like that so he has been let go. It breaks my heart every time I have to let a chook go and we just don’t need the guilt so that’s it – NO MORE ROOSTERS!! Having said that our smallest hen Peaches has been sitting on 6 eggs now for about 3 weeks. She started just before he left so we presumed that some of them would be fertilised and she has been so patient sitting on her clutch of eggs through heatwaves and now a cold snap. She only gets up for a few minutes morning and evening to eat and drink and have a quick preen and then she’s back to her box. Sadly we can see no activity at all and by now you would expect to see a pipped egg where the chick has had a tentative peck for freedom. In another 24 hours if she hasn’t given up we will have to remove the eggs as it means they are not viable. It’s a tough life one way and another in the hen house.

• 

• 

• 

We had a lovely catch-up last Saturday with my sister-in-law who has been really enjoying being out and about in Sydney after doing her 2 weeks in quarantine. She lives in Switzerland but her two sons live here so she has been missing them plus her 94 year old Dad and her siblings and the 2 weeks were worth it to now be able to see everyone. Luckily the weather has been beautiful since she escaped and after a LONG winter in the northern hemisphere and a bout of Covid she has immersed herself in coastal walks and beach swims and is thoroughly loving the blue skies and sunshine. Rightly or wrongly somehow all is well with the world when the sun shines! We had a great day, and a rather adventurous kick of the rugby ball gave Jason an opportunity to see the world from our roof – it all looks so different from another angle! Hopefully she will come back down for a day or two soon before heading back to her other life.

This is really one of the most beautiful times of the year with cool nights conducive to snuggling under the doona but with days that are still too hot to sit on the veranda for your mid morning cuppa! The leaves are starting to turn colour and the fruit trees are already bare, new views have opened up where once there were thick leaves and it won’t be long until we will see in the big trees all the birds nests built in summer that were so well hidden, like a little town we never knew existed. Once again it is a pleasure to walk the dog, with no flies and bugs to spoil the party and cooler temperatures mean we don’t have to be up and at it by 6.30am to walk before it gets too hot. Autumn is a gentle time of the year before the hibernation of winter, a last hurrah of golden sunlight and outdoor dining before we turn our thoughts towards firewood, electric blankets and more robust food. As I prepare the veggie patch for it’s first season off in 6 years I feel as if I am tucking it into bed for a few months, allowing it to rest and regenerate and giving us time to nurture it’s soil until next Spring when hopefully it will have appreciated our care and will give us bounteous crops of tomatoes and summer veg in return.

We were thrilled when our neighbours recently scored a trip in a friend’s helicopter and took this aerial shot of our house. It has a totally different perspective from above and makes me very glad we kept all the various outhouses cohesive with the commonality of the white weatherboard making it pleasing to the eye. I also hadn’t realised we had quite so many trees but am very grateful that we are a bit protected from those horrible westerly winds that love to whip across the paddocks in winter!

It is quite female dominated here in The Meadow. Myself, the Choccy Drop and ten hens definitely outweigh the MOTH and our new gender bender rooster Boris. Chanel, my sweet elegant little chick who turned into Charlie and is now officially Boris as he morphed into a giant rooster over the past few weeks! So the chook house is once again a place of hormones and rape and crowing at dawn. God help me!! If he gets aggro like Atticus did he will not be welcome to stay but for the moment he is quite shy and is no immediate threat to my safety! Last night however both the ‘men’ in my life proved to be painful. The MOTH was snoring at a decibel rendering sleep impossible (to be fair this is a rare occurrence nowadays) so I transferred into the guest room at 1.30am and was in a deep sleep when the reedy warbling of a juvenile rooster sounded from across the garden waking me pre dawn. The boys basically ganged up on me and ruined my attempt at a good nights sleep. Luckily our bedroom is on the other side of the house so I cannot usually hear the young buck greeting the day.

It has been a busy couple of weeks as we attempted to get the garden under control. After a summer of La Nina and her huge rainfalls and mild temperatures everything has gone completely crazy and even if we spent three hours pulling weeds and grass runners out we would literally only have covered a few square feet. It was like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge…nothing ever got even remotely finished and the whole task became overwhelming so we called in the cavalry in the form of professional help! Within minutes of the trucks arriving there were guys getting stuck into the flower beds, working methodically as a team they soon had things looking spic and span and after 2 days with 5 workers we are officially weeded, mulched and some areas have even been poisoned in an attempt to dissuade the deepset weeds from reappearing. In between we continue to plant ground covers to take up the space the weeds would otherwise occupy and it looks just lovely. However a week later I can already see evidence of life poking above the mulch and as we are almost underwater with the incessant rain it is impossible to get out there and do anything right now. I shall have to make it a priority when I get back from Sydney that’s for sure. For now the biggest challenge is keeping our chooks from scratching up all the precious mulch as they think it has been provided for their pleasure and cannot understand why we chase them away. It means we have to have a sentry when they are let out in the late afternoon as even ten minutes unsupervised they cause absolute havoc!

This is Cooper’s ‘smile for the camera’! He is starting to be aware of it now and if he is in the right mood will bestow you with one of his special grins. It is going to be so interesting to see what he thinks about his new baby brother next week but we will be there to pay him some extra attention while Mum is in hospital and spoil him a bit so hopefully he won’t feel left out when everyone is talking about and cuddling the new bub. He is a caring little boy and I think he will make a super big brother. I’m so excited to see what our next little grandson will look like and what sort of character he will be, special times indeed!

It has been quite a week one way and another. Good news from the UK where my family is being vaccinated as we speak. With everything as dire as it is in the northern hemisphere the vaccine is giving them hope of some loosening of the restrictions that have been in place since October. Six months of isolation for my lovely Mum which she has borne with patience and grace despite the fact she literally only leaves her flat once every 10 days to do her grocery shopping. Thank goodness for the phone, decent TV and her love of reading to keep her from going mad. Six months with no hugs or company to share a laugh with is a LONG time and with her 2nd vaccine being administered next week I really hope she will soon be able to have a bit more of a life outside her four walls. My Sister and Niece have both had their first jab and as the numbers are finally heading in the right direction in the UK lets hope the scientists have it right and we can knock this bloody virus out of the ball park. In the meantime Wayne’s sister has flown in from her home in Switzerland and after 18 months is very keen to see her sons, siblings and especially her 94 year old Dad. She is in quarantine for 2 weeks but as she has already had Corona she should have some protection against any errant germs that sometimes float around these hotels. We are very much looking forward to seeing her once she is out and hope to host her down here in The Meadow at some stage. So with the advent of Spring in the northern hemisphere in conjunction with the vaccine inspiring hope we can slowly dream about reuniting and after the last 12 months everyone will have so much more appreciation for EVERYTHING and hopefully will never take the simple things for granted again!

We finally boarded a plane to visit Lauren in Tasmania, masks were the only requirement to go interstate and a small price to pay to be travelling again! They are living in Lauderdale, a part of Hobart I had never been to before but it is in a lovely area and their house has the most amazing 260 degree views of the ocean and there are two beaches within walking distance so a fabulous location for our newly repatriated Aussies and no better spot is there than their deck for a quick sausage sizzle in the sunshine! We arrived the day before my birthday so we gave ourselves permission to have a weekend of fun and food, lunching at various wineries and enjoying a night out on the town courtesy of the kids to celebrate. There is no shortage of food and wine in Hobart and there is also a plethora of people with a home brewery or distillery making bijou gins, beers and ciders so we were spoiled for choice! The boys were pleasantly surprised when they really enjoyed their couple of cocktails prior to dinner and can now understand why girls love them so much! A good time was had by all and a big thanks to Loz and Tom for my special treat xx

This time last year we had just heard the first whisperings of a virus coming out of China, another Sars or bird flu we presumed and carried on with our lives never realising for a moment that everything we took for granted was about to come to an end. 12 months later we know alot more and are no longer under the illusion that it will all be over in a few months, speaking more in terms of years now until we can travel and holiday, even live and work the same way as before. Knowledge is power as they say and as we now know how very clever our adversary is we just have to keep doing the obvious things to keep one step ahead of it and hope for the best. And boy oh boy won’t we appreciate it when things return and so much the more for having been deprived of it!

We have been enjoying this cooler and wetter summer as it makes working in the garden so much more pleasant (and also means less watering by hand) but it has also meant that everything has gone bananas and is growing like we live in the tropics rather than the south coast! The MOTH could honestly mow twice a week if he had the time or the inclination and the plants have gone berserk too. I think it is a season of abundance and we feel like we are in an animal sanctuary lately with babies of all decriptions everywhere we look. Baby lorikeets, baby peewees, baby rabbits, beautiful green frogs have taken up residence in my mailbox, the acoustics amplifying their throaty calls to Opera type volumes at night and we feel very lucky to have so much life happening all around us and reminding us life is good no matter what!

My nephew and his wife popped down for a lovely 24 hour visit on one of our more summery days and we enjoyed catching up with them and eating al fresco, enjoying a bonfire and a beer and a swim in the pool – all of which have been rare this summer in between all the showers! It’s so lovely to have my now adult Nieces and Nephews nearby and be able to offer them a change from their city life when they fancy it. The amount of visitors to The Meadow has shrunk lately as our friends also become Grandparents and the weekends are more taken up with family events and responsibilities. I’m guessing the next wave of visitors will occur as everyone starts to retire and their weeks are freed up a little more although maybe then golf and holidays away will take over instead! We had a very special little visitor a couple of weeks ago when Cooper came to stay for a few days. His Mum and Dad had managed to squeeze in a couple of days away for a Babymoon ahead of baby #2 arriving and we seized the opportunity to have him to ourselves! He is a good little boy with an inquisitive nature so it is quite easy to keep him entertained however he has the attention span of a gnat so it often took me longer to set up an activity than the time he spent doing it!!!! However Papa’s tractor and a pair of gardening gloves can keep him enthralled for hours so it’s just a case of finding the right things to do! I was suitably exhausted after a few days but so happy we could help out for a change. (FYI…Bailey was also exhausted after many many many Cooper cuddles) Our Coops turns two this coming week and is turning into a real little character who I think will be a lovely big brother….watch this space!

The frivolities and celebration of Xmas and Summer holidays eventually came to an end at the beginning of February and many people have turned to living with a tad less excess and more healthy eating and improved fitness. It isn’t too hard when we are surrounded by such tasty produce and I have found that the more appealing and colourful a dish is the more I am inclined to eat it! I challenge anyone to think this is boring…..!! The cooler weather has made a daily walk with Bailey a pleasure and we alternate between the beach, the river and the countryside for our various outings. As my recently tweaked meds seem to be working and are finally allowing me to breathe deeper I am attempting to increase the hills I walk up and although I am still out of breath when I do it I don’t feel I am in imminent danger of collapsing anymore so here is to a year of improving fitness and a few new challenges as well as eating a rainbow and trying new things. We may be down but we are definitely not out!!

With only one true lockdown under our belt and that spent with 5 adults and a baby we never actually got to the stage everyone was talking about – THE BIG CLEAN UP. Finally in the past few weeks we have actually attacked the garage, throwing out all those little cans of paint kept “just in case” and old crockery/pots/lampshades/sheets that you think the kids may want (incorrect assumption as they like to buy everything new!) and the odd box of paperwork from a business we sold 8 years ago! It felt good so we kept going and my office now looks quite zen and my bookshelves have been pared right back and are looking a little bit less ‘mad professor’ than before. I even cleaned out my emails – taking me well and truly down the rabbit hole of things that happened up to 15 years ago and reminding me of things both good and bad. I have the bit between my teeth now and have my wardrobe firmly in my sights. No need to keep all those tailored outfits and high heels from the old days at The Races or those black tie Balls that used to be all the rage. Not only do we not go to those kind of functions anymore they probably dont even fit me! So it’s time to be a bit ruthless and have a big chuck out and it does make you feel lighter and brighter when you pare things back. I could never be a minimalist and I am a very emotional and nostalgic person (ask the kids) therefore it goes without saying that there are still some folders and boxes with “special” things kept for prosterity and they bring back memories of things I would never otherwise remember so it is definitely worth it. It did however take me an entire day to go through the memory cupboard so I can totally relate to this…..