A very busy time but lots of fun

I enjoyed what turned out to be a very long night at the School Spectacular a few Saturdays ago. Luke was performing and I took Alex out to meet Ellen there and see the evening performance. It will be televised this coming Saturday 7th December, Channel 7 in the evening.

The next Monday I headed to Blackheath to join friends from church for the weekend. I caught the train up and had a surprise as we loaded at Central to find Joan (a travel buddy) get into the same carriage I was in. We had a great catch-up until her stop at Blaxland.

Sue, Vivien, Kathryn and I joined Christine in her family holiday home in Blackheath for a few days. I met the ladies at Blackheath Station then we browsed Blackheath shops and had lunch before a quick visit to the Rhododendron Garden, Govetts Leap and Echo Point before the looming storm hit.

Home to the house to settle in. A decision was made to have substantial nibbles and wine rather than dinner either out or in while we played a variety of games and chatting together. It is the first time I've had a chance to have any real conversation with any of the ladies except Kathryn who comes to the Rainbow Connection Quilters.

The evening was filled with side splitting laughter and went long into the night watching the storm light the sky and wet the dry bushland.

We played Hanabi, Take Two, Concept and The Mind - all challenging in different ways.

I was the party pooper and called it quits at 11:30pm. The others played on becoming pumpkins I'm sure.

On Tuesday of course I was up at 6:30am on the 10th anniversary of Surrey's death. As I sat quietly watching the freshly washed bush awakening I had time to contemplate some of the changes of the last 10 years while writing and sharing emails with Geoff and Ellen. Somehow I think I still think surrey is just away on one of his many collecting trips or conferences but I've stopped wondering if and when he'll return.

When eventually all the others were up we had breakfast and headed out for our day by 11ish. Our first stop was the Community Op Shop. Most of us found something but Sue fell in love with the shop and its owners. We were delayed there for a while with a heavy storm but eventually left Sue to browse some more while we drove down into the Megalong Valley to a winery for lunch. It was a beautiful drive but unfortunately the winery was closed. After a quick turn-around and toilet stop where we all admired the view we headed back to the Tea Room we'd passed on the way.

The lunch at the Tea Room (at about 2pm) was delicious.

On the way back we stopped for a walk to Mermaid Falls ("an easy walk" but not for those with dodgy knees and hips and poor balance as the stone steps had no railings or hand holds).

Back to Blackheath through an impressive dust storm. We found Sue and browsed the shops for a short time. I bought a hemp shoulder bag which will go well with my "jeans outfits'.

Back home for a quiet evening chatting and solving the problems of the world.

More games and laughter around a table loaded with nibbles and finger foods until I collapsed into bed at about 11ish. The others stayed up until well into the wee small hours.

I've never been a night owl so felt a bit of a party pooper again but was pleased that the others just ignored my retiring.

Wednesday morning I was up again at about 6:30 enjoying a coffee on my own looking out through the trees on a calm and sunny morning. The storms and winds of yesterday had all cleared and the sky was blue again.

After greeting the others as they woke I caught the train back home just after 10am and was home by about 3:30 ready to collapse.

Special Friends at Underhill

Last weekend Rauri and Janice came down to Underhill for the first time in about 15 years. They arrived in their new converted ambulance.

Elaine came down with me and we three ladies went into Bungonia for Happy Hour at the Hall. This is now on every Friday night while the weather is warm.

After dinner we had some great games of Take Two using two sets of tiles.

Elaine and I took the opportunity before Geoff, Jen and the girls arrived to clean up a bit and sort the scullery. Stella (black dog) just supervised.

Rauri spent lots of time basking in the sun.

and Janice brought various bits of sewing along for the ambulance.

Ivy and Heather just loved playing in the ambulance and finding Hugh and Cameron's special cupboard full of things they are allowed to play with.

Of course there was lots of chat time...

and we picked one nearly ripe loquat to try it. I hope we get more as the years go on because I would like to do a bit of experimenting with them. It tasted sort of lemony.

A friend from afar

Carolyn is a friend I found whilst singing over the last few years. She is staying with me for most of November as she is between homes in Italy and house sitting in Sydney.

We walked down to Carss Park and were both astonished by the new walkway around the point. It is great and apart from the bridge seen below there are lots of nooks and crannies built into the new sea wall that provide habitat for all sorts of creatures. It is worth a visit.

A week ago I was diagnosed with skin cancer on my ear so we had lots of fun trying to keep my hair out of the biopsy site as it healed. I was really lucky that Carolyn with her training in medicine was able to take the dressing off for me. I could not see a thing. A very awkward spot.

After it is healed I will be prescribed some chemotherapy cream that is supposed to kill off any remaining cancerous cells. This diagnosis (a result of too much sun!) comes on top of a blood test some months ago that showed very low vitamin D (a result of too little sun) and just recently was scanned and I have osteoporosis (again too little vitamin D - too little sun). This all seems very illogical.

Nevertheless, life goes on and both issues seem to be treatable so we laugh a lot and continue to watch lots of movies together.

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.

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.

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.

A short trip to Underhill

Last Saturday Geoff, Ivy, Heather and Ponyo took me down to Underhill for the day. There we met Nathan, Karita and their 9 week old Acacia. Karita's mum Connie was also out from the USA so was down with them.

We had a few chores to complete, the first of which was planting two clumping bamboos that should grow tall and strong enough to use as construction material.

It is a worry planting bamboo but as we are having trouble getting anything to grow Geoff has decided to give it a try. If it gets eaten out then so be it. If it becomes a weed then we will remove it.

A simple lunch of instant sandwiches from our fuel stop was enjoyed by all.

Another chore was to scatter some green manure seeds and cover them with mushroom compost and/or chicken manure. We can buy the chook poo from a local who obviously must have a lot of chooks. He also sells beautiful veges when he has them on his honesty stand.

Geoff is also covering some of the seeds with some fibrous underfelt that we have scrounged in the hopes that it will keep the soil moist enough for the seeds to germinate but is also open enough for the seedlings to grow through.

We are due for rain this week so it will be interesting to see if there is any growth next time we go down.

At last I also got the photos I had meant to take previously of the quilts I had made for Geoff's family from Surrey's shirts. For photos of these take a look at the tab My Quilts 2019.

A great weight was lifted from Geoff's shoulders when he and Nathan were able to fell the last of the Callitris that Surrey and I had planted as Christmas trees for home. The last one had grown enormous and had become quite a fire hazard close to the sheds.