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.

Fabulous February ...... !!

As always time gets away from me and now before I know it February is here !!  ..... Have spent a bit of time over the last two weeks getting out and about .... there are so many great places to visit in and around Gippsland..... A big favourite is the small township of Loch .....  what a gorgeous place it is ... wouldn't be a visit without a trip to my favourite cafe for a cup of tea !!

OLIVE at LOCH .... a lovely cafe

A fabulous quirky cup of Green tea.

The Baw Baw Sustainability network held their Creative Garden 2019 exhibition and I popped in to fellow blogger Around the Mulberry Tree, whose permaculture garden was among the many that were on display ..... included along with local artists creating their craft in the gardens..... Maree has a great productive garden and now runs sourdough making classes..... got to sample her bread and it was really good.

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The Mulburry tree after which she has named her blog.

Lots of nice things in her garden..

Sculptures look great....

 We also took a trip to Cape Patterson to walk the fur babies.....unfortunately it was non dog-walking season for the beach....who knew (probably everybody else except me !!).... thought if they were on a lead it was okay....so we travelled along to Inverloch and found a sneaky spot where we could walk them.....found these amazing shells on the beach ....the sea snail shells are so beautiful and had an iridescent mother of pearl glimmer...I've always loved shells,  they are works of art I think.

Shells picked up from the beach near Inverloch.

 My daughter and G-boy stayed over last Sunday and she decided to paint mandalas on a couple of the small rocks from my garden....I love these .... I had some wall paint sample pots for a small project I was working on....she did a beautiful job....very crafty

A pleasant way to spend an hour painting these..

 Today took a little trip to Jindivick to attend the market....it's small and not too busy.....Jindivick is lovely...unfortunately the smoke from a small bushfire in Noojee was thick....and the smell of burning vegetation was everywhere....it's a nervous time for those living in rural bush land.

The lovely town of Jindivick.

Finally as my 60th birthday draws ever nearer I will leave with this message..  :-)

Jumping Into January...........Slowly !!

It's my first post for 2019.....it's been a slow start to the year...after all the excitement of weddings and baby announcements...followed by Christmas...the New Year went of with a tiny little POP.....no Big Bang ...... and started with just a slow trickle, which isn't really a bad thing.  I've been trying to spend some time in the vegie garden....but this last week has been so Hot !!!....then we had very strong winds which knocked the fruit trees around... lost most of the apples and pears on our trees and also the poor old tomato plants took a beating....It should be a much cooler day tomorrow so I will try to repair the damage.......!!

I spend most days at the desk in my office and my window looked out onto a pretty barren courtyard which is alongside the house.....I recently gave it a spruce up with some plants and a little tweak .... set under the kiwi fruit vines (which unfortunately had lots of blossom but no fruit developed!!).  .... I'm a lot happier daydreaming out the office window now.

The New View.

The year has clearly started off pretty slowly for Daisy as well..... this is one of her favourite sleeping positions ....she loves to sun-bake along the back of the couch.....this picture was last week , not this week , as the blinds have been closed and sun-blinds down keeping windows shaded for most of the time......it's been way too hot for me.

Daisy taking it easy.

 My new years resolution to walk the dogs more often got off to a very slow start.....I'm not that good in the heat....I have managed a couple of walks to the lake and loved this annual sunflower display.... (which grow wild along a vacant block opposite the lake).....they were all turning their fabulous yellow heads skyward....there is just something so joyous about sunflowers. 

I might have to try growing some of these in my garden

On another note...I have a big milestone coming up in February......

I will be turning 60.... It's quite a significant number I think...

and while it does seem a little daunting I am reminded of two beautiful

woman who I sadly lost in their 40's, both to cancer....

 and I am simply grateful to be here.

Wedding Bliss .....and Baby News !!!

Two weeks ago my baby girl got married and announced she is having a baby girl !! ..... Wedding guests got a wonderful surprise as the celebrant announced their baby girl is due in May....it was a truly beautiful wedding ....Flowerdale Estate in full bloom and the sun shone all day.    So lucky !!

Me the proud mum.....walking my daughter down the aisle.

Giving my girl away.....her lovely man waiting at the altar. 

The big announcement.....they are so excited.

The happy couple.....the roses on the arbor and surrounds were so beautiful.

The gorgeous garden and amazing tree at Flowerdale .

The kiss......and the cake....fresh flowers and three different flavours....scrumptious.

My girls....My eldest daughter (Matron of Honour) and the Bride......and the bride's best friend (Bridesmaid).

My beautiful family.....my husband now in trouble for not buttoning his jacket !!

The amazing pavilion where we held the reception....all the roses on the property were in full bloom....!!

The Tables....waiting for the guests.

Like most country weddings it involved an overnight stay for many of the guests....

so lovely to see the newly weds next morning at brunch.....

Before they headed off for a honeymoon in Thailand.

The new mister and misses.....complete with matching t-shirts and baby bump 

I was joined at brunch by one of the resident Maremma's ....... I LOVE DOGS  ... just sayin'......!!

 I've been incredibly lucky this year with two weddings.....

both of my girls now married to lovely men

.... and a new grandbaby on the way....

....fabulous.