Xmas day and a new pony

December 29.12. 2013

Wow, the year is nearly over. 2013 has been a difficult year and I am happy to see it end, surely things must go better next year. Al and Pip are having a hard time in the UK with terrible weather and my mum fading before their eyes. Perhaps they will realise how lucky we are in Australia despite iffy leadership and natural hazards.  One good thing already is that the new pope seems to be putting out an up to date message that heads away from fundamental beliefs. We seem to have a lot of Catholic relatives and friends who I suspect will be pleased.  

Christmas day was hot. My eldest grand daughter arrived early and caught the pony that Bo had hidden here. We put it in the house entrance where we store wood behind the bulrush gates Justin made. You had to look straight at it to get into the house but all three grandkids failed to see it when they arrived looking for the big present Santa had promised them! Bo had to call them back to look again!  The youngest aged 5 cracked us all up with laughter when she exclaimed 

” I didn’t know Santa made horses”!

Bo has started teaching all three kids to ride and so far the pony, Charlotte, has been very good. She is a bit small for the eldest boy but that is probably good at this stage.

We are gradually sorting out all the Xmas food. I have boiled up the turkey bones for dog food and made jam from fruit I turned out of the freezer to make room for the sliced turkey to go in. We are still making cheese several times a week too, so I have still not had enough time to sort the garden out. This is the first year that the zucchinis have not grown well. It has been quite wet and cold and even the grass is still green.

Yesterday was Edd’s birthday so we had a day off and went to the beach at Phillip Island. This seems to be the way we celebrate every year. This time it was just Edd and I so we dined out at the restaurant on top of the cliffs where the shear water birds come in at night. We shared a lobster and really enjoyed ourselves. Bo and JJ had done all the animals when we got home so the day was a real treat.

Next week my adopted son is off to the UK to meet his birth siblings. Yesterday I printed out lots of photos from our albums to send with him and put them together into a folder. He came over in the evening with a birthday gift for Edd. It is all an enormous step for him but I cannot think of much to do to make it easier.

Teddy flies to the UK

December 14.12. 2013

We had an early start this morning because we had to meet my eldest son and his partner outside the brewery very early. They are catching a plane today and flying to the UK so we had to collect stuff they wanted to leave in our keeping.

I am sad that they will be away over Xmas but I really need them to get to the UK and find out what is happening to my mother. My sister E-mailed me a few days ago and it seemed that as yet no one had decided on her treatment or if she could return to the nursing home.  I have not managed to speak with her whilst she has been in hospital, apparently bedside phones are all provided by a private company and are not accessible from over seas. My sister is leaving the UK today to join her husband for a holiday so I will not get any updates from her now.

My daughter, Bo, gave us a large soft teddy bear yesterday that she wants taken to my mother so we had to pass this over. Luckily my son’s partner is very loving and she actually looked pleased to be donated extra luggage at the last minute! I shall have to go on planning the Xmas feast without them. Everything has to be ready for next Friday evening!  I think I will try the mustard potato receipe that our friends from the UK taught us.  I have ordered two free range, chemical free turkey’s and the vegetables will have to wait until later in the week.

I have mainly concentrated on the table and it’s decoration. I have now got all the bits and am ready to make the Xmas crackers. I make my own because I resent paying for rubbish trinkets that no one wants. I put useful stuff in my crackers so that if they are left all over the floor at the end of the party I do not have to throw them away.

I have just had a call from Bo, who is on her way towards her younger’s son Ollie.  Apparently Ollie has had an accident at a friend’s party and is being taken to hospital in an ambulance! Bo thinks he has knocked a lot of teeth out but is unsure of the details. Poor Ollie, I just hope it is not too bad. Now I have two family members to worry about.

I have spent the morning in the garden. It is very much over run with weeds after this period of mild wet weather. The vegetables have done well , we had good  snow pea crop and broad bean crops but I have neglected the flower beds. The plan is now (due to the couple having to go to the UK) to have a wedding here in May.  This means I can hack everything back and it will have time to recover. At least that is the theory.

A fun Xmas party

December 22.12. 2013

Ollie has cost his parents a fortune for dental surgery and we are all desperately trying to stop him rowing and undoing all the work. He was over here on Friday for our family Xmas meal. The day started badly as the temperature just kept going up! We must have got well over 30C by lunchtime so I decided to cook the turkeys in the dairy and donga ovens. It was far too hot to light the Esse wood fired stove, but we cooked the vegetables in the house on the gas stove along with the Xmas puddings Bo had made. Bo’s puddings get better every year and I think the amount of brandy involved goes up too.

I cooked the mustard potatoes the way my friend Liz had taught me. This worked really well as they were attractive and not too greasy. I rigged up a massive steamer for the rest of the vegetables and that worked too. My adopted son and his partner and her mother brought lots of seas food for starters and Bo’s mother in law cooked an ice cream cake as well as fruit mince tarts so we had loads of food.

My youngest son, JJ , and his partner Robbie, helped me set out the tables in the hall. We had at least 25 guests expected so this year we used four tables lined end to end. I had brought several metres of cloth to roll out as a tablecloth.  Bo had decided that this years colours were to be turquoise and silver so we used silver coloured bowls for the dried fruit chocolates and Turkish delight and had silver tinsel and sparkles on the blue cloth. It all looked very festive but I was too busy to take a photo.

Luckily as evening approached the temperature dropped and it was possible to all be indoors with out cooking ourselves. My eldest son, Al , and his partner, Pip, are now in the UK with my mum so they could not be here for the feast but Pip’s parents came and her brother and his partner, so their family was represented. Al’s daughter brought her partner and Al’s son brought his girl friend. Our family gets larger every year! I wonder if one day my adopted son will be able to have some of his birth siblings at the feast.

I am at a bit of a loss to know how one relates to adopted children’s half siblings. Today on face book I find one of them seems to have lost their sister from the adopting family they grew up in.  I would like to send words of condolence but as we have never met it is hard to know what to say. I have seen the childhood photos of the two brothers and they look so like my son (even though they are have different birth fathers) that they feel like family.

There has been another sad event today. We were woken by the sound of helicopters flying overhead. They circled for hours until they found the place were an ultra light air craft had crashed yesterday killing the two passengers. They had set off yesterday from a conference centre just over the hill from us but never made their destination. The crash was in the forest with in sight of our farm but we never heard anything.

It is warm and over cast today and feels quite ominous. 

wow

December 7.12. 2013

So much for hot weather.  We have just endured more cold wet days. The sheep have suffered most. We finally got them all shorn just as the good weather ended, they look much happier with out their long coats but they made a fuss asking to be let into the fold so that they could shelter in the shed at night. Our sheep have learnt that they have options, and they have now taken the initiative and begun to ask for things they need. I am not sure if this is good or bad!

There has been a big family event this week when my adopted son was contacted by his half siblings in the UK and actually spoke to his birth mother. We are all so happy for him because he has wanted to find out more about his past for a long time. So far it seems that the information that the social services provided us with is basically correct. My son is rather over come by it all but he has plans to visit the UK with his partner already in place so now he may get to meet his UK family at the same time.

turning the heat up

December 2.12. 2013

It is hot today, plant-wilting type hot. I watered the vegetables early to try and keep them going but by lunchtime they were struggling. I really need to plant out more seedlings but it will have to wait until it cools down again. The snow peas are in full production so we are eating them every day, but today was the first time we could eat the new celery. The tomatoes are large and flowering but the zucchinis are still suffering transplant shock.

I think my eldest grand son is staying this week to earn pocket money for Xmas so I hope he will bring some compost in from the paddock where it was stored. I also need help moving the building materials behind the dairy. It is impossible to mow around them and the long grass is a fire hazard. We must start thinking about fire prevention measures now it is heating up.

Today our friends set off on the long flight to the UK. I do not envy them. It is a very long journey to be cramped up in an uncomfortable position. We

have had a wonderful time taking our friends round the district and showing them our Australian life style.  My eldest son and his partner are also leaving soon so that they can keep my mother company over Xmas whist my sister is on holiday. My mother is in hospital after a fall and I miss being able to contact her regularly on the phone. My daughter is going over in the New Year and we can only really leave the farm in winter so it was easy to decide who should go this time. My son’s younger children are going on holiday with their mother, so he would not be caring for them over this period. This week we have my youngest son staying and his partner should be joining us at the end of the week. We have never met her before so I hope she is not horrified at our rather peasant life style.

Our baby chicks are growing and Edd has made a new bigger box for them with Perspex sides. I have moved them into the mudroom and we have put up the Xmas tree as the new point of interest in the room. I am worried about the Plymouth Rock chicks who are not growing very well. At least we can see what is happening to them better now. The house stays a very even temperature so keeping the box the right temperature is relatively easy.