better late than never party

June 5 2014-

I am packed and waiting for Edd because we are off to visit friends in Tasmania. At least that’s the theory. It has been an effort this time to get the house tidy because all the stuff from Mum’s house in the UK arrived and had to be unpacked sorted and put into place. The lovely thing is that my sister sent over lots of the tapestry cushions that Mum made and they are a colour that meshes in well with everything here.  I was awfully sad that Mum has been separated from all her household goods when it first arrived but at least this stuff has remained with the family.

My eldest Grand daughter is down in Victoria for a holiday and today she and a friend are taking the horses for a ride. She was up in Canberra for her 20th birthday so we had a late party for her as compensation.  I should have done the house cleaning yesterday but Edd had borrowed the digger from our neighbour and he needed me to help put in posts for the stockyards. We got one line done but there are more we will need to do when we get home.  

June 2 2014

Another week passes and it is not really cold. It is hard to believe it that the shortest day is in about three weeks time! Usually July is our coldest month but it is so easy to get this house as warm as toast that I am not worried. On wet days I have accounts and other indoor jobs to do. I have got my spinning wheel at work too in the dark evenings.

In the garden the new winter vegetables we planted have so far dodged slug attack and the older plants are still providing plenty of fresh greens. Last week I found lots of lucerne tree seedlings and I have planted them up in pots so the rabbits do not eat them. We will need a lot of new trees to create a privacy barrier between our land and the new neighbours, who have started to build in a very visible spot.

The people above us at the end of the valley are also building.  I went up there today with Edd on the tractor to collect the augers for the large, machine he has borrowed to dig the postholes for the stockyards. Their building site is screened from everyone by existing trees and they have created a fascinating little hamlet. They like really big things, and down their drive they have set up massive ribs of steel as an art installation. They have used huge tree posts to build fences and pens and livened things up with small dashes of orange paint on a few edges and window frames. The whole place has a definite and very different “look”, and I rather like it.

On a sadder the neighbours on our south side have decided to sell up and move. The present owner is the son of one of the Hargreaves brothers that we brought our land from. We call the property Hargreaves Hill , which is of course the name Simon uses for his beer. We have lived with the family as neighbours for over 35 years so it will be a big change if they leave.