new beginnings

October 18

It is raining again! The school camp is coming next week with 21 children and I am trying to work out how to cope.  We will need two sets of tasks planned so that there are wet weather activities and many of the other tasks we were ready for cannot be done because there is too much water around and the creeks are running.  The grass is growing like mad and we are now looking under stocked, it would be so nice for once if things happened in moderation.

The shower is now in action and it works really well.  All the water drains at the right speed in the right direction and nothing sprays out of the door even though there is nothing in the gap like a shower curtain. It still feels like a privilege to be able to shower every day, but I suppose that will wear off. I think I am going to take a break from tiling for a bit.  I still have the kitchen and some of the mudroom to do but nothing too urgent.

We had a fabulous evening with Bo in her restaurant last night for her monthly music do.  We first had two local youngsters perform and then the older guitar players. Two brothers played and sang together beautifully and two other guys were really talented. In the end everyone jammed together and Bo let fly with the singing.  We seem to be having a very musical time lately.

Al is trying to move down to the coast with his family.  His back is a bit better this week but he wants a break from house building and I can’t blame him.  He and Pip have virtually rebuilt their cottage around themselves. Ti plans to live with them next year too, so it will be very much a time of new beginnings. We miss Josh who is still working in Brisbane but we have brought a speakerphone so we can all talk together.

I am still phoning my Mum every night.   Her health and mental sharpness varies from day to day but she can still sound very robust.  Not bad when you know she will be 96 next months.  I am more worried about my sister’s family also in the UK, who are going through some very bad times.  I wish we could support them in some way but distance and years apart separate us. 

On a brighter note we started to put collars on the baby goats today so that we will not get them muddled. They look really cute with their flash red collars and orange nametags. They will probably suck all the markings off if we do not keep an eye on things. Xena, Yoko and Ziggi look very alike now they are all dehorned so we needed to label them.