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.

Underhill in December

As the weather forecast looked reasonable with cool nights and days in the low 20s Geoff, Jen, Ivy and I went down to Underhill for two nights after Boxing Day. The weather followed the forecast and we enjoyed a most pleasant time.

Ivy was happy playing with toys in her portacot with fly lid. And also happy crawling around the floor with Dad and Ponyo.

She was even happier when it was bath time.

We adults spent a lot of time sorting sheds again and the scullery is now quite workable as long as between us we remember where everything has been put. You can now walk in and open all cupboards. We even used the tiny stove, that has been stored in the tank shed for at least 30 years. It fitted well on top of the chimnea.

Jen spent a lot of her time emptying the tank shed and cleaning from the ceiling to the floor. The floor itself will be done next time when she is bringing down her battery operated vacuum cleaner. They will also bring a new set of drawers they have at home to store their clothes and things.

We have sorted a lot of excess STUFF for the bins at home or for a trip or two to the tip in 2016. We just have to stockpile it in the covered space until then.

Geoff was able to fix the watering system to the fruit trees and also the power lead from the caravan to the pavilion and sheds inside it. We were also able to make a start on an updated map of the fruit trees.

I gathered a lot of windfall apples and plums (actually bird fall) for the chooks at home and spent a bit of time shooing away beautiful Crimson Rosellas from the fruit, explaining to them that it was actually our fruit. We have now netted a peach and a pear tree that have quite a bit of fruit on them. We may have to invest in tree netting if we are to get a harvest.

In the second toilet shed a Grey Shrike Thrush was busy raising a second batch of babies. It was amazing to watch her flying in with worms and insects. I hope they make it through.

Christmas Fun

This year Christmas was at mine. Unfortunately I was not at mine until midday so Geoff and Jen had to start the cooking and entertain the family when they arrived.

I arrived home from singing at church with an awful cold so had to stay clear of Mum especially.

The kids (cousins Alex, Luke and Ivy and second cousin Alex) entertained one another amidst the chaos of food, gift wrapping, sleeping aunts and uncles and other amused rellies.

Ivy and Christmas Music

The last month has been filled with music and Ivy. I was lucky enough to go with Ivy, Geoff and Jen to Ivy's last swimming lesson of the year. She just loves the water and all the singing and playing with Dad that goes with it.

Then when Ivy comes to my house she has a huge playpen to entertain me in. The house looks like Fort Knox with barriers on every door and the stairs.

She came in her Giraffe outfit the other day and it even had a little tail.

She is so pleased she can pull herself up on all these barriers.

We were even able to start making the Christmas cakes.

Intermingled with Ivy days are my singing practices and performances. In late November there was Celebration Sing Out with a huge choir, kids choir and full orchestra. There were quite a few of us from Sutherland Shire Choral Society.

The practices for the Westpac choir are held in the Westpac head office in Kent St overlooking the developing Barangaroo area.

Our performances for that are held in the foyer of the same building and next week we have a concert pianist accompanying us!

Practices for the Messiah this coming weekend have now finished and I sang the alto part of Purcell's "Rejoice in the Lord Alway" in a trio at church on Sunday morning. The afternoon was then filled with another practice.

In the next week I have only one day (tomorrow) that is music free but I am loving all the opportunities to sing.

A busy end to October

The great grand daughters Alexandra and Ivy had a lovely visit with Gram. One day they'll be old enough to get to know one another. We also had a great lunch together in Cooper Park.

Arianne's final exhibition in early November was a stunner and despite the flu she was able to reach her target and enjoy the process. Friends and family came to stay at mine and helped with the transport of it all.

One surprise during October was that I actually did have potatoes in my garden. I thought they had all died. In fact I ended up with about 4 such trays of potatoes.

Dealing with excess has meant lots of chopping and freezing. And I've even tried some with my potatoes, making some little potato patties out of left over mashed potato ready for heating for another meal.

The celery and capsicums below are not from my garden.

The spinach is from my garden and I froze some cup cake sized servings for reheating later or using in stews etc.

I continue to get fabulous carrots, one of which was about 20cm long! We have eaten some fresh but I have also diced some to freeze for later cooking.

October ended with a lunch for St Stephens choir members. It was a great afternoon with people coming and going to fit in with various gigs around town.

Last weekend was a mammoth 15 hours of singing with a final concert in the Town Hall. A wonderful experience.

Now it is my turn with the flu so I am cancelling things left right and centre.

Three new residents at my place

Arianne has added lots of green/blue/purple hues to my back room and has introduced another two residents as company for Bertha.

It is now the countdown to the due date and there is lots of sewing happening. Arianne's line of evening dresses with a 'theatrical twist' is stunning.

A long weekend at Underhill

Last weekend I broke with my usual pattern and stayed down at Underhill for two nights. We (Geoff, Jen, Ivy, Ponyo and I) were joined by Elaine (who did all the washing up as well as helping with other jobs). Nathan and Karita, Brad and Mic also came and joined in.

Ivy just loves being at Underhill and there was only one short cry one night when Jen got up to the call of nature.

Mic is always fabulous with Ivy.

My project for the weekend was to finish tidying the Tool Shed so that now you can actually walk in to retrieve the tools needed and PUT THEM AWAY.

In the process I was able to get some of the tools stored in the Scullery and Geoff and Jen's shed. Geoff put up a weldmesh wall lining in the Scullery and we cut lots of hooks for cups and utensils. This means that the Scullery is also looking orderly. There is still a lot to go in there though.

Unfortunately I did not remember to take photos of those two achievements.

One of Geoff's project for the weekend was to set up more solar lighting in the Living Area. This achieved we had to wait extra long in the evening to test it as now daylight saving time has started and it does not get dark quite so early. I even have light in the Scullery!

His other project was to dismantle the stove area end wall and remove the old stove. This all meant that we started using the chimnea for cooking. It is really a great way to cook. We were able to produce a camp oven roast, fluffy rice, toast, barbequed sausages, and even porridge. In fact it is much better than any of our stoves have ever been.

Geoff is now playing lego with bricks to see how his new rocket stove construction will work.

One surprise when we arrived was to find that the eggs in a nest in the second loo had hatched and were well looked after by mum - a Grey Shrike Thrush.

We are all really pleased with the achievements of the weekend and feel that the whole area is becoming more liveable.

School Holidays

During the recent holidays I had a great time with the grand kids.

The boys helped me carry and load bricks and did a lot of work around the house when we were at their place. At mine they did sewing for a little while and drew lots of pictures.

Ivy now has a tiny white tooth. She loves chatting, singing, doing pelvic rises and kicking those tiny legs.