The drought continues at Underhill

Last weekend I drove my car down to Underhill for the first time in ages. Elaine came with me and put up with all my practice music on the way there and back.

We arrived to find the wreckage of both the snow event about a month ago and the strong winds last week. Geoff had reported about this damage when he went down over the October long weekend but it still surprised us.

The dams are still very low, evidence that the drought is still in full swing even though there has been a little rain.

The pot with waterplants in a semi sunk polystyrene box is doing well and the hope is that the plants will seed and spread to the dam margins.

The two oaks next to the top dam are also doing fine with new spring leaves showing on both.

Terry and Ellie arrived to stay with their van (very comfortable).  So the stay was a mix of lots of chat and then hard work.

The hard work was mostly clearing the drive of fallen twigs and branches then removing the old grey lounge from the shelter, straightening wind-blown carpet and rearranging chairs.

This old lounge was a roadside pick up back in 2005. It was used by the Tyrls for their 6 month stay in Sydney then well used at Underhill where it became a great home for spiders as it fell apart.

Adult's morning sun lounge

Kids cubby house corner

We also spent some time identifying birds. Ellie is quite good at this so it was great to have her help. While it was very difficult to find the birds making the calls we could hear I was able to get a few rather blurry ones that assisted us in identification.

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Rufous Whistler

 We also heard Kookaburras, Yellow Robin and Grey Shrike Thrush. I found a little dragon when I was moving some fallen timber and he stayed still long enough to get a great shot except for the shadow.

A sleep over and a garden hunt

Last week Jen and the girls came for a sleepover. It is always such fun with 4 in my bed. Ivy is allowed to sleep with me. Of course that means Heather also wants to sleep with me but she won't go to sleep without Mummy. So Jen sleeps with me until Heather falls asleep then takes her out to her cot and stays out there. But 4 in the bed is a bit of a squash.

I had the girls the next day anyway so we went on a photographic garden hunt. Lots of aphids on the roses.

The mushrooms on the orchid stump are interesting too.

But the tongue orchids are just about finished.

There are so many colours in my nasturtiums. As well as the ordinary orange ones there are...

Here is a bee on the Tradescantia. Click on the photo and it will be enlarged.

And finally the grape flowers as we went back inside when the wind came up and made me sneeze a lot.

Happy Birthday Rauri and Bob

Last weekend family and a few friends gathered at mine to wish Rauri (Roger) a happy 90th birthday. It was fun to see all my grandchildren playing so well together.

Rauri enjoyed time with everyone as we played chair hopping in the dining room and Janice assures me that he really loved it.

Of course Heather helped blow out the candles.

Alex taught Ivy how to play chess then had a few real games with Rauri.

All kids escaped outdoors to burn off a bit of energy leaving the adults to chat quietly inside.

What a great day. Thanks for coming everyone.

Fun in the bag yesterday

Elaine came to hang out yesterday and I decided, after we'd sorted her quilt that I would like to try making the Japanese Origami bag Kerrie showed me at the weekend.

I used two 16" pieces of fabric for it and have decided that 18" squares would probably make a more useful bag. However, I am please with the outcome. It holds a small bottle of water, my keep cup and my phone in the front (or back) pocket.

A cultural experience for a wet Saturday

Time for Kerrie and I to catch up again so we met at Central Station. Our plan had been to visit the Chinese Gardens but as it was teaming we decided to head for Paddy's Market and Market Town for the day.

First we wandered around the food market absolutely astounded at the beautiful fresh produce and such a variety. As we did not want to carry purchases all day we decided to return later in the day.

We chose an Asian bakery from which to buy our morning tea and tried three things we'd never seen before. Such a lot to choose from.

I bought a dress and jacket for summer but apart from that we just wandered.

There was a school holiday activity going on involving Chinese Dragon dancing. The puppets were magnificent. Later in the day they actually performed but at that stage we could not get close enough to get a photo.

We bought a small fruit salad to share so that Kerrie could taste Dragon Fruit then back down to the food market to make our purchases. We both went home with some beautiful young sweet corn, dragon fruit, and blueberries.

By then we were quite exhausted so walked back to Central and had a late light lunch in the Eternity Cafe. I had been talking about a bag design I had seen online that I wanted to try making. When we were at the cafe Kerrie pulled out a bag that someone had made for her. It is the same design! So I was able to have a really good look at it before I try making one.

Our day ended just after 3pm so that Kerrie could get her train and be back at work for the evening. I just love our days together. We keep finding little things we have in common and seem to be able to just know what the other is thinking.