Summer Holidays

Well the year is underway and time for me to recap on the summer holidays. Following two days of singing in services leading up to and including Christmas Day I enjoyed Christmas lunch with extended family at Desley and Jack's. A large crowd and a very long table in their newly renovated home.

Boxing Day was another extended family gathering at Geoff and Jen's. Again lots of children to keep us all busy.

Trying to get children (or even adults) together for a photo is nigh on impossible.

 I then had a few days of dealing with our apricot harvest from Underhill which we'd picked a few days before Christmas. Lots of drying, cooking, freezing and sharing. I even picked a bunch of bananas from my plants at home.

Then Geoff, Jen, Ivy, Heather, Ponyo and I had a holiday at Gerroa. Lots of surf, jigsaw, visitors, and shopping trips.

Back home for my hand saga and more grandchildren visiting. Ellen, Alex and Luke came to stay for 2 weeks or so. The grandchildren get on very well together.

Mousey is lots of fun!

We celebrated Heather's first birthday.

I dealt with the plum harvest from Underhill in January. Damsons, Greengage and other little red plums. Again lots of cooking and freezing ready for jam but we ate the Greengage - delicious!

Jane came to stay. We enjoyed quilting together and a day at Cronulla with Elaine. Jane even went for a swim - 'mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun'.

I bought a new car too though I don't think I'll get to use it much as Ellen is using it at the moment.

With all the ups and downs of the summer, the sometimes extremely hot temperatures and very dry season, time without a hand and no singing with the choir break, fun with kids and dealing with harvest, the time was very full. But that is life! Thanks to all my support team during the stressful times and traumas and to those who bring fun and laughter to my life.

Happy New Year

As you can tell from the delay in updates, life has become quite busy with Geoff, Jen, Ivy and Ponyo moving in, Christmas and all its music and family commitments and then our holiday in Gerroa.

Gerroa was a great place to start the new year. Plenty of room for us all although Ellen and family were only able to come for one day. So here is a little glimpse of life in Gerroa.

Friday 30 December 2016
Today we drove south to our annual beach holiday. After settling in (we had to wait an hour for the cleaners to finish) we went to the local restaurant for dinner.

It has been a stinking hot few days and the stillness and humidity today has been quite debilitating.

Eventually Ivy settled and we all collapsed into bed with a bit of a welcome breeze.

Saturday 31 December - New Year's Eve
Today we had time at the surf and did some shopping in Gerringong, stocking up on food at the IGA for the next few days.

Ivy is a bit dubious about the waves but loves looking for shells along the beach.

She enjoyed drawing on the back paving with her Christmas chalks.

The random NYE fireworks through the night meant none of us had much sleep except for Ivy. Ponyo slept in my room and I sat on the floor with her for the noisy midnight fireworks.

Sunday 1 January 2017 - Happy Anniversaries
An early swim, meeting Gherry coming out on our way down. This time we spent more time walking along the beach with Ivy to help her adjust from pool to surf.

Ellen, Rod, Alex and Luke arrived in time to have lunch with us and then another surf while Ivy slept. Then we had a walk along the beach and back to the house. The river is still not flushing through.

Brad and Ali, Keogh and Lily called in for a chat and Nola and Gherry drove past on their way for a walk.

Dinner at the Fisherman's Club then Ellen et al headed home and we returned to the house for an early night.

Monday 2 January
A walk along the river with Ivy. As we had no visitors expected today we drove to Nowra to do a bit of shopping - pool noodles for Geoff's roof rack and shoes for Ivy and I.

The traffic was quite slow as it was the last day of the Christmas break and lots of people were heading home so we decided to skip a stop in Berry.

In the afternoon Geoff and I walked Ivy along the river shallows again and this time she walked in past her knees and actually fell over a few times with no tears or fear. Much more confident but not happy with even tiny waves yet.

Movies on TV and an early night.

Tuesday 3 January
Ivy was much more confident in the river this morning and looks so cute in her wet suit.

Janice and Rauri arrived at about 11am for their annual beach holiday with us. We had a long chat over nibbles in lieu of lunch, working hard on a jigsaw that came with the house. It was a map of the streets of Paris so many pieces are just green with the word Rue on them.

While Jen and Rauri each had a nap, Janice and I took Ivy to the beach. Still no luck with the waves and surf beach but lots of fun in the river. She actually went out further than me and wanted to play with all the "babies" having fun with their families.

Back for an early dinner of Werri fish and chips. What beach holiday is complete without a fish and chip dinner served in newspaper!

More jigsaw after Janice and Rauri left but we were just too tired and went to bed early again.

Wednesday 4 January
Our early morning swim saw Ivy actually riding on the body board and chasing fish as she ran through the water.

Charmaine and Patrick came at about 12:30 pm and went to the beach but after we'd had our lunch we went shopping to Berry. Of course this exhausted us all but we were able to stock up on a few dinner necessities.

More jigsaw when we came home then a barbeque dinner before settling in for the night.

Thursday 5 January
Another early swim after breakfast but only for Ivy. Geoff, Jen and I just supervised although Geoff did get a few waves before we others got to the beach.

A sleep for Ivy followed and a fun at the dog beach for Ponyo.

We all then headed for Berry where we bought pies to take to Rauri and Janice's for lunch. It was only a short visit for Geoff to fix some computer and TV issues and for Ivy to meet the cows, ride on the tractor and ride on the little tricycle. The two dogs went crazy of course, Ponyo and Stella just loving the fun of having another dog to run with.

Back home to start packing and to enjoy last-night left-over stir fry for dinner. More jigsaw but unfortunately we were not able to finish it.

We watched the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy then off to bed ready to leave in the morning.

Gerroa to start the year

Saturday 2 January
I left home at about 9:30 and visitied Karen and Andrew at Mt Pleasant for lunch. They have made much progress on their house renovations and garden since I saw their home about a year ago. Luckily I was driving against the traffic as the number of people heading back to Sydney was horrendous. I arrived at the beach house a few minutes before Geoff and family. We called the agent and were soon delivered keys so made ourselves at home.

Geoff and Ivy went for a swim in the river to christen the new Nemo wetsuit. She loved the water even though it was colder than the warm baths and swimming pool she is used to.

We spent the evening settling in and scrounging dinner from the left over food we had brought with us from home.

Sunday 3 January
This morning we treated ourselves to breakfast at the local cafe. It was delicious and Ivy was quite happy eating one of my crusts.

A lazy day with me resting to try and shake this cold I got just before Christmas.

After lunch Ellen and family arrived and settled in then at about 4pm we headed for the surf. Luke loved his new green surf board, Alex used Jen's body board and had a ball. We all caught waves and Ivy just loved the splashes and jumping over the shore ripples with the help of Geoff and I.

Monday 4 January
After a slow morning with heavy rain and lots of herding of adults and children Ellen and family left to meet friends at Huskisson and Geoff and Jen left to see the new Star Wars movie.

Ivy, Ponyo and I had a really lazy day at home. The rain continued on and off so we watched lots of kid's TV.

Tuesday 5 January
Rain, rain, rain! This morning we relented and had a surf in the rain and a few walks in the rain too. It is amazing how we long for rain but after a full day of it we are bored and crave just even a walk outside. The rain is doing my garden at home so much good though.

Janice and Rauri, and Karen and Alastair arrived in time for a cuppa before we all ascended the hill to the Fishermans Club for a huge seafood lunch.

My jig-saw (an Escher one), trivial pursuit and movies with a lot of chatter filled the afternoon before Karen and Alastair left for home. We had a light dinner of salad and eggs (from Rauri and Janice) before they left for home in the still heavy rain.

Wednesday 6 January
With all this rain the whole village is very quiet. More movies! Geoff, Jen, Ivy and I went to Berry but even got drenched ducking between shops.

Tonight's movie was The Imitation Game.

Thursday 7 January
We had spells of blue sky and enough clear weather to take Ponyo for a run at Werri. Geoff and Ellen's family went for a swim mid morning but soon returned as it is now an offshore wind with the rain so it was quite miserable.

At least Ivy is sleeping well this morning.

Geoff, Jen, Ivy and I went to visit Rauri for lunch at the farm. It gave Ponyo time to run wild with Stella and us time to look at the vegie patch and discuss options in relatively fine weather.

Back to the house then the day fined up. Kite flying was amazing in the fair sw wind. The surf was quite rough and the wind offshore so we ditched the idea of a surf. It was amazing how many people came out of the woodwork to enjoy the river once the weather actually fined up.

Ellen's family left after dinner to return home and we watched The Adjustment Bureau.

Friday 8 January
Up to a fine, sunny morning at last so an early surf before breakfast and then a morning of sorting.

Jen's cousins Charmaine and Patrick arrived. They spent the afternoon at the beach. I went for a walk in the afternoon and soon afterwards we made our way up to the Fisherman's Club for dinner. It was really crowded compared to our lunch on Tuesday.

We enjoyed an evening together and did a bit more sorting.

Saturday 9 January
This morning was all go packing the cars and sorting the house for our return home.

Even though it had been a very wet week we were pleased to have had the break and felt ready to return home and begin our new year.