Party season

December 26. 2014

Boxing day, and we have all eaten our selves to a stand still! We had fabulous glazed ham and vegetables at Bo’s restaurant and then yesterday we visited Wayne’s in-laws at Rye for Xmas day. We decided to go on the toll road to save time but it was so full of cars that the traffic was very slow moving. Luckily we had left in plenty of time so we were not too late. The house is perched on a ridge with panoramic sea views and is tastefully done up in a relaxed seaside way.

I was very impressed with the table set up that was mostly white and natural colours with a dash of glowing turquoise. The food was pretty impressive too. I seem to have a slight virus and tried hard not to show I felt crook, luckily Edd did the driving and fed the animals when we got home because I collapsed. I am glad that we were able to meet all the family and start to get to know them. Everyone is very excited about the baby that is on the way. It is an amazing thing to think we could have another grandchild by this time next year.

This afternoon I am trying to send off the rest of the Xmas cards and letters. It is very hard with out the support of my old computer where I had everything organized. I do enjoy the letters from my friends that arrive this time of year so I have to make the effort to keep the tradition going.

Tomorrow it is Edd’s birthday and I am trying to organize the kids for some sort of occasion. After that we have just to get through New Years Eve and then we will have survived another party season! Then it will be back to farm work as we get the hay in and organize the sheep to be shorn. Our usual shearer cannot come this year so we will have to find someone else. We also have Zulu the alpaca to deal with. That might be interesting!

Our vegetables are growing fast. Today I cooked our first capsicum for lunch and I picked the first tomatoes. The blue berries are also ripe and the black cockatoo’s have started on the apples, even though they are still small and green. The goats are in full milk and we are eating and giving away lots of cheese. As they say, it is summer time and the living is easy.

mid summer feast

December 22. 2014

We are in recovery mode after our big solstice party last night. It was a very hot summer evening so we set up tables in the ruins and ate out feast al fresco. What a feast it was too. Beth made her usual fantastic Xmas Puddings and brandy butter. Alvyn cooked a sweet potato dish and roasted grapes, Graeme brought a fantastic salad and I cooked turkeys, broccoli and potatoes. Everyone brought a dish of some kind so there were mountains of glorious food and wine. Margret’s Pavlova looked so good that photos were taken of it.

This year we missed Josh and Robyn who are in Cairns, and Wayne and Danielle who had a prior engagement. Danielle did send us big jars of home made treats for the tables that made the kids eyes pop. Alvyn brought his sons over at lunchtime and they got the sailing boat out onto the dam. I was very surprised that they could actually sail it round because I had imagined the dam would be too small to sail on. I think the wind was just right so they could move easily and not too fast. The boys remembered how to turn too, which helped.

After the sailing everyone under 40 got into the pool to cool off. With eating outdoors it did not matter how wet anyone got. Arj slunk off at one point and shot a rabbit. He prepared it and I marinated it so that he could cook it on one of the 44-gallon drum cookers. Pip came back from work and joined the frolicking in the pool and it seemed that we were a seething mass of happy relaxed young people all romping like kids.

I think the young kids will have memories from this that will last all their lives. It is so pleasing to see them having fun in good old-fashioned ways and interacting with adults so naturally.  It is a lot of work organizing a feast for 25 people but I am sure it is worth the effort. I am lucky too, in that I have a daughter like Bo, who puts in such a huge effort with me.

Today there is lots of washing to do but Al and family helped move the furniture back at the end of the night. Bo is hosting another Xmas party in her restaurant tonight so we will join her there. I think it is fair to say that the Xmas festivities are now in full swing.

A cat arrives and the brewery birthday

My attempt at a winter scene

  the climbers

Birthday in the brewery

December 9. 2014

The weather changed from hot and dry to cool and wet. This helped us a lot, especially as we had not cut hay yet. (Others have not been so lucky and we see several paddocks full of cut damp hay as we drive each day to Yarra Glen.) The new trees and the vegetables leapt into growth action and I had a weeks break from watering.  It is starting to warm up again now, so the respite is over. When the sun shines it has a strange bite to it that feels stingy on the skin.

Indigo and her friends make use of the pool to keep cool but I have not been tempted in yet. Basically the house is such a nice temperature that I tend to head indoors if outdoors is uncomfortable. I have cleaned out the sunroom, set up Xmas decorations and repotted all the plants that had grown. Next I need to tackle the gardens by the ruins and the potted succulents down there. They have not been sorted for years so look very neglected.

We have been putting our effort into growing vegetables. Edd has built more raised beds and they fill up quickly so that there never seems enough growing space. At least we get plenty to eat and excess to sell. We have used up all the lemons and there are no limes ripe yet so we are bartering cheese for lemons.

At the weekend we all went to Beth’s restaurant where they had an open party to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the brewery. They cooked meat pies and ice cream all containing beer. I do not usually eat ice cream but curiosity forced me to try beer ice cream and it was surprisingly good. The meat pies were pretty flash too. Beth’s youngest child and a friend occupied themselves by practicing rock climbing on the front of the building. I am not sure of the birthday cake had beer in it but it tasted pretty good.

Al’s eldest son and a school friend came to stay on the farm after the party. They brought bacon in Yarra Glen with the idea that they would shoot rabbits to make a hot pot. We have so many rabbits that you would think it would be difficult to miss but this time they escaped. I have been adopted by a cat and I had to warn the boys not to shoot it. We do not usually keep cats because they kill the native animals and birds but this cat arrives each night and asks for milk at milking time. We had rather too many mice in the shed so I am accepting it for the present. It is a rather battered tabby cat with wounds on its’ neck but it tries hard to act gratefully.