Autumnal Equinox and Full Moon ..... !!!

The Equinox and full moon coincided last night ...... I love the full moon   .....   and only recently found out I was born on a full moon ... perhaps that explains why I am so drawn to it.... the Equinox  (when day and night are of equal length)  brings with it the change of seasons and is also something I really look forward to .... cooler days of Autumn after the somewhat exhausting heat of Summer is something to revel in and reviving and preparing the garden with new season crops is also a joy..... I've made a start on the planting ... and setting up the garden beds to discourage the feathered girls from digging out the seedlings as quickly as I put them in....

The changing of the seasons..... Welcome Autumn !!

First of the broccoli, cauliflower and leafy greens in.

Re-purposed poly pipe and bird netting to make covers to hopefully keep the girls out

Our first year getting a crop from the Pink Lady..... we netted the tree... and after a long wait for them to ripen properly ... we got around 40 apples.... our two other apple trees (an orange blenheim and an Akane) didn't do as well and we hadn't netted so just stewed and froze the handful of apples the lorikeets and their pals left us.

The last of the Pink Ladies from our tree...

The last of the tomatoes.... Roma's did amazingly well... others not so good as last year.

Our grape vine also produced several bunches of grapes which took FOREVER to ripen ..... and I'm not sure why the bunches have large and tiny grapes on them... this doesn't seem to happen with commercial grapes... we had netted them but the birds still managed to find the way in and ate their share !! 

First time for grapes on our vine.

Grabbed lunch this week at the Cannibal Creek Bakehouse in Garfield.....Lovely little spot and the guys are busy baking their delicious sourdough.... and the cafe has great food ...I ate a freshly baked foccacia straight out of the ancient wood fired oven !

Always love and share tea presentations.... lemongrass and ginger just for a change from my usual green tea ..

My gorgeous G-boy.... now in Grade 3 !!.... come home very excited with his ribbons from School Sports... He came first in the hurdles.... who knew !!  Also ribbons for relay and discus ...  So glad that he loves sports and competing and is doing so well at school.

Big smiles as he wears his ribbons....... just love this little guy.

Hope everyone enjoys Autumn and spends happy times with  loved ones.....especially you Carolyn. !

So This is Sixty ...... !!

Last week I celebrated my 60th birthday by taking a week away with my husband..... we travelled to Berry NSW and spent a joyful 4 days in a gorgeous old cottage soaking up the beautiful weather and all the fabulous heritage sights and buildings in and about the area...then we spent a couple of nights in an eco adobe villa in Mallacoota.... my first time returning there in about 13 or 14 years...after having holidayed there annually since I was 15, then when married returned each Christmas with my children...it was lovely to return and take time to reacquaint ourselves with all the magic that is Mallacoota...took the fluffy girls along for the trip with us..they loved it too.

Lovely card from my main man.

The view from the cafe  at Bermagui ....brunch stop on the road trip.

A lovely restaurant in Berry for dinner on my Birthday....staff produced a scoop of sorbet with a candle !!

You can never eat too much cheese or drink too much sav blanc on holidays !! 

Daisy out for the count after a hard day at the beach 

A day trip to Kangaroo Valley ----absolutely amazing part of NSW....loved it !

A street full of beautiful old heritage buildings in Kangaroo Valley

Can't go past a community garden without a visit.... Kangaroo Valley

Loved the half drums .... want to make a couple of these for my garden.

The Hampden Bridge ..only surviving suspension bridge from the colonial period of NSW 

The cute little  Gelato shop in Berry ....scrumptious gelato

Berry is full of wonderful old buildings .... so much character in this beautiful town.

This awesome carved post is in Mogo .... great little stopover for lunch and a cuppa

It was so intricately carved...amazing

Unbelievable amount of native birds in the garden of Adobe Units Mallacoota....so tame...this tree was on our patio !!

Whiling away the time relaxing at the beach.... stacking stones !!

Betka beach at Mallacoota.....almost deserted and perfect beach weather....fabulous.

Lots of interesting rock formations along the beach

Sunrise on the lake at Mallacoota ....view  from our balcony on our last day 

We had a really lovely break....celebrated a milestone that I wasn't particularly looking forward to but   have come to the realisation that any birthday is a good one.... and this holiday was something special and memorable that I shared with my husband.....a reminder to enjoy everyday........you just never know !!

Home only one day and we were confronted by the devastating Bunyip State forest fire.....pictures from the back and front yard of our home....we were on watch and act alert on Sunday with thick smoke and ash everywhere....thankfully it never got this far but my heart goes out to those who lost homes.... reminder to never take anything for granted.