Change of scenery.

We are at Rathmines on Lake Macquarie for this week attending a church conference. K has volunteered here for 25 years organising the dining room...not the catering but all the other things that need to be done to get food to a big mob of people. There are a tribe of helpers here today setting up chairs, checking rooms, moving beds. painting and cooking afternoon tea ready for the attendees to arrive for dinner tonight. Watching them scurry around I am once again amazed at the impact that volunteers have on society. First Aid, Fire Fighters, SES workers,  hospital volunteers, church groups, charities, soup kitchens ... the list is endless. At this time of the year when many are full with the happy memories of Christmas, and full with the food as well, I guess it is a bit humbling to remember that others are out doing things for the love of their neighbours. If you are a volunteer I thank you.


Back to my topic. Change of scenery.  We are not in the caravan, although quite at home here at Rathmines. We have  the use of a room here, bed ensuite and a couple of cupboards, that is a bigger piece of real-estate than our caravan and annex. Really comfy digs. Not flash but nice. And I don't have to wiggle past the end of the bed to go to the loo. If we took the extra bed out of the room we could even have a proper lounge chair or two.

While I quite enjoy my spacious room here, contrary as I am, I miss the other things that are usually on hand and here I have to walk to find. Laundry down stairs not in the annex, coffee machine downstairs not two steps away, that sort of thing.   It makes me appreciate just how much is crammed into a caravan. Storage for food, clothes, cooking utensils, tools, gas, batteries and whatever else we carry, and a fridge, wardrobe, toilet, kitchen and bathroom sinks, shower, stove...this list goes on. The careful arrangement of all this is what makes tiny living possible.

Our room is on the corner of the building and looks down into the playground ideally placed for a  grumpy grandma or off duty teacher to  lean out of the window to settle a dispute.  Not that I would do that of course.

The centre is right on the lake with a grassed area for morning teas. Christmas Eve day Santa blew by in a speed boat and every now and again the vintage Catalina airboat gets flown in.


For many years the caretakers and other volunteers have encouraged the local kookaburras and their babies to nest nearby.  I took this photo last year in April.

 I am really looking forward to time to fill up the spiritual batteries.

 

There is a sober note to this time as well. The photographer who was killed in the crane accident in QLD recently was well known to most of us here.  There are quite words and tears as well as prayers for the family mixed in with the joy of renewed friendships.

Settling into a very different week and not sure how much blogging will get done. I hope you have safe and happy holiday time and I will blog you all soon.



Cheers Sue


A Ferg on the Move

Swelter one day, shiver the next

The next chapter in the story of our family get together on the farm involved an abrupt change of weather. Saturday and Sunday we were kicking the rams out from under their favourite shade tree. By Monday we were sheltering from the wind and rain.
The son-in-law the farmer has been hanging out for rain, as the grass has browned off quickly over the last week or so. The Queensland family members who were tenting would have been quite happy if the rain waited until they headed off on Wednesday.


What we got was very strong winds and fairly consistent drizzle, not all out rain, and, for NT and QLD dwellers, cold temperatures.


So late at night after we farm campers got back from town, Mr Fix It and his son were wrapping the grandsons' tent, a cheap 2 man job with the three boys sleeping in it, in two tarps. It looked like a silver envelope sat over a triangular prism. Very stylish! A dash of hundred mile an hour tape over a couple of warn spots on the old tarpaulin and no water would have dared to enter.

Silly me didn't get a photo.


It was still very cool and windy next morning so, before anyone ventured into the annex for breakfast, I sprang into action in my role as Mr Fix It's Mrs. You see the annex is dressed in its warm weather coat, that is shade cloth walls not canvas as the canvas version is in storage, and wind break was definitely in order. With a clothes line, clothes pegs, a couple of bungee cords, a tarp or two and lots of grunting later I created a protected corner around the burners and chairs. Pretty proud of myself. But once again silly me didn't get a photo, so you will just have to take my word for how brilliant it was.


We had toast, cereal, eggs and coffee accompanied by a kids video on the outside TV, while the wind blew and the rain fell. (Did get a photo of the outside TV set up... and here it is. )



K and I are very grateful for these few days of us all together and proud of the way the two mums managed  four young children and two babies between them,  packing food and running between the farm and the house in town, while the men did jobs together, entertained the children and cemented friendships.  True family time.


We have now packed some things into the car and headed to Newcastle for a week leaving the Crookwell lot to have family time without grandparents.


Cheers Sue


A Ferg on the Move

Shearing, hot weather and a BBQ

Our little camp at the farm has expanded this week, with the arrival of the Queensland family. Two tents are acting as spare rooms for our son, daughter in law and four grandsons. We have split our time between the farm property and the family house in town.



This weekend has brought us the hottest weather we have had since we got here. A busy Saturday was planned shearing a friend's massive pet sheep, followed by a BBQ in the shearing shed. We at the block needed to find a cool place for the morning.

The coolest place on the block is under a massive tree, where the rams like to spend the day. The poor things had to find another place to laze the day away on Saturday because grandparents, mum and dad and four boys invaded their space. The kids set up a makeshift mini golf course under the tree, with little holes and sticks making obstacles. Tarp spread out, portable cot containing the crawler and chairs strategically placed in the deepest shade the tree became Ferg Central well into the afternoon until the shearing started.  Unexpectedly there was intermittent phone signal..... so I texted this amazing fact (that there was phone signal under the ram's tree I mean)  to our daughter who was still in town. "Do you hang out with the rams often" she asked me.  Well no,but 34 degrees will make a person try anything. 

I didn't get a photo of us under the tree, but here are the usual inhabitants in residence.

Shearing started mid afternoon. The grandsons packed the fleeces into the bales  imitating a wool press by climbing into the bale and stomping. There were only a few sheep to deal with and soon it was time to fire up the  BBQ and feed the hoards. Family... all the grandkids... old friends and new ....including the closest neighbours who came to meet the baby and were persuaded to stay for the meal.

The Crookwell girls had cooked up a storm,  a cheese platter,  cheesecake slice and killer brownies and of course our granddaughter's chocolate balls with sprinkles. She entertained at desert time by taking the plate around to be sure everyone had one. A variety of meat on the BBQ, fresh bread and potato bake in our lidded BBQ. Big bowl of salad.

The children ran all over the place, jumped on the trampoline and explored under the watchful eyes of an adult or two.

Conversation raged over dinner covering life stories, weather, the wool industry, the state of the world and cooking. The newest friend is an expert baker of gluten and lactose free goods that she sells at the local market once a month. Got a few tips.

The day made me reflect on the old fashioned art of hospitality. All this entertaining in a shearing shed!!   And including a couple not planned for just because they had come over to visit.

Simple cooking, a bit of planning, great company. True county hospitality.


And left overs for dinner tonight.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move

Grandma stuff

Tonight and for the next few days we will have almost all of the family together. Our son and daughter in law and four boys from Queensland, our daughter and son in law and their daughter and new baby son (they live here) a niece from NT and K and me. Our other son is still in QLD. All the grandkids together.

Tomorrow there is shearing scheduled at the farm followed by a BBQ so we are cooking  a few things.  I made cake balls and our granddaughter did the all important decoration with a mixture of hundreds and thousands and sprinkles. She didn't help me chase the escapees all over the bench afterwards. Apparently that is too hard for her. What are adults for after all?

 

I have really enjoyed doing craft with our granddaughter. So much easier than a whole class of kids.

We  are doing cutting and sticking. First experiences with scissors which are  "sharp"....thankyou Mister Maker.  Concentration lasted all  the way through the rectangle decorated castle but after she cut the bits for the car the sandpit was much more interesting. Design by child, assembly by grandma.  Lots of fun to be had making mess with grandchildren.

I  really enjoy craft with the QLD crew too, but no photos as the last time was BB. (before blogging)


What is Mr Fix It up too on this wonderful day? Fixing things of course.

This morning before I came into town Mr Fix It finished off the wiring for a double power point from the inverter directly next to the coffee machine. He had run a cable along the front widow last week. Today he put the cable channel in and tidied it up so it all looks like it has always been there. The power point even has "inverter only" written neatly on it.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move.

A quiet wander. Things you find on a day out.

Travel Memories. Its all about the animals

Strolling through the pics archive has become something I do when I am too chilled to read, and too lazy to cook or crochet. I got the computer out today and chose a few shots to share with you. I'm not sure why these pics snagged my attention but they must have connected somewhere in the brain.  Although these pics are loosely related to family holidays since many of our family times seem to have revolved around animals.  Visits to SeaWorld with the Brisbane family when the two older boys were very little, Holidays at the beach, visits to farms and to various zoos. For the city kids exposure to animals is a great adventure.


Iluka was a favourite holiday place for a few years. I think we found out we were going to be grandparents for the first time there and for a couple of years we shared a week  a year there with our son, daughter in law and their first two boys. One walk along the beach we found these crabs. The whole beach was covered in them.

Another summer when the same two boys were still quite little we went to Sea World. I remember it being hard to pull the boys away from the glass windows of the aquariums but the favourite was the polar bears. This large one came right up to the window to say hello and the younger ones wrestled in the water.

 

 

And of course there are the tigers. We are a tiger mad family.




This  lizard came to visit as we had lunch and posed happily for a number of photos before wandering off to find a bug or something.

 

One summer more recently K and the boys went snorkelling in a rock pool on the Sunshine Coast. Even in knee deep water there were fish! K had just bought a cheap water proof camera so there are lots of shots of legs and knees and funny underwater faces as well.

Then there are photos of  dingoes and the giraffes and turtles and lions and horses and ........ Maybe for another day when  I get bored.


Cheers Sue

A Ferg  on the Move.

The joys of small town shopping. Or K makes friends everywhere

Having a couple of good coffee shops and a decent supermarket close by is a real treat. Not to put down the supermarket and tourist season cafe in Mataranka. They do a great job. But to be somewhere that gets fresh food regularly is good.


Just at the moment we are coming in to town most days and so taking advantage of the luxury of being able to buy fresh bits most days.


I got an unusually bitter brew here at the cafe we like best last week and K decided to tell them, cos I couldn't drink it. So unusual for this cafe. Turns out the grind was all wrong. Machine had not been set up correctly after a clean or something. After a long conversation he had with them about coffee brands and such we have become unofficial tasters. They serve Australian coffee here, which is what we buy for the plunger. I am happy to report that today's coffee is just perfect. So far our collection of coins is holding out for treats. We put all our change into a bag and at the end of the season it gets counted and packed away into amounts for a drink and snack. Zero impact on the budget during the times like now when we are living off our savings. Seven months worth of coins goes quite a long way.

 

K has an uncanny way of making friends wherever he goes so we are now greeted with enthusiasm by the staff in just about every shop we go into here. He recognised by the camping and outdoor goods shop man, who has refitted the roof lining of the sedan, recovered arm rests and a chair and made carry bags for the solar panels for us the last couple summers.


The car and electrical supply bloke is a source of parts and advice about projects and the post office staff know who we are. The supermarket ladies are always up for a chat.
There is a lovely doctor here as well.
It is true that country towns are small places and people are noticed, but K manages to fit in at lightening speed and with lasting effect.


Every year we visit the Sock Factory where we buy woolen socks made on old machines on site and talk to the information centre staff to find out what is on in the area.


So shopping is good here.


Cheers Sue


A Ferg on the Move.

Down the hill.

A quiet couple of days here in Crookwell.

Grandparent time has been wonderful. Baby is four weeks old already and still very cute, as is his very bright big sister. (I really treasure the time we get with all our grandkids. Earlier this year while the youngest grandson was just a baby we spent  a  good long time in Brisbane with them. Really great memories)

Our little camp is well established, with four chairs and the outside TV in the annex and a shade area on the other side sheltering the fridge and providing a spot to sit in the mornings. K has gone crackers with the solar lights around the camp. Lots if "crickamas lights" to quote our granddaughter.

Under the caravan annex  life proceeds as normal. The BBQ is doing duty as an oven, producing bread and meals. The outside  TV is providing background noise for my knitting.  The dog is sitting at the door hoping someone will throw a ball. Washing  is  again dancing on the lines at the back of the van.  Mr Fix It has  addressed the non-working bits of  the twin tub, saving $145 by  repairing not buying a new one. He removed the spin timer which was cactus, so now I just open and shut the lid to turn on the spinner. The mechanism to empty the tub is now on a cord and hook out of the back of the tub...  She should work for another 12 months.

Sunny weather has the grass browning off quickly. The lambs are all out of the cute gangly stage but still play games together in big groups before baa-ing loudly and rushing off the grab a feed from their mothers.

The animals have a routine they seem to stick to. The horse has a route she follows each day, starting the morning up near us and then circling the paddock. If we drive in late at night she is usually in the middle of the driveway. K really set her off yesterday throwing an empty bottle for the dog to chase. The horse was obviously upset by his extreme breach of morning protocol and protested loudly before kicking up her heels in disgust and cantering off down to the dam much earlier than normal.  The rams spend the day under the tree near us, heading down to the dam to drink when the shade on their side of the fence is gone.

Now to the title of this blog.....down the hill.

I am very proud of myself. I drove the ute back down the hill following after the quad that inconveniently decided to pick up a stick in its tyre yesterday needed a repair done before is could be driven to the shed. K volunteered to fix it and drive the quad down and I followed him. Proper 4WDriving!
Ok K didn't think it was very hard, but it was down hill and across the back of the dam and I had to avoid sticks and not drop into the holes or  fall off into the dam. I have got used to dirt roads. But pointing the nose of the car down a hillside still gives me shivers. Beginner NT Schools 4WDriving course passed or not.

I haven't been to this part of the property before because normally it is a  quad drive,  so I took a picture back across the valley to the back of the shearing shed. Not a bad view.

 

Going well.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move

 

Trees. A parable of life

As an artist I have always been fascinated by trees. For me they are a parable of persistence. The way they bend to the wind and grow away again from burnt, broken and cut trunks and can survive  in the strangest places. They are beautiful. My fascination with them started as a child watching my maternal grandmother painting  gum trees. She would have them twisting and twining with the branches pointed in strange directions and I would argue that trees didn't do that. She'd send me out to look. She was right!

I love to paint them myself.

So it is no wonder that I have lots and lots of tree shots in the archives. Here are my favourites.



Kings Canyon

Tamworth, the old tree and the sapling

Murrumbidgee River near Narandra

Somewhere near Cairns



Tree roots  reaching down into the lava tubes at Undaara QLD

 

 

The dead and the green

I am particularly fascinated by the Boab tree. One of the signs that you have travelled into the top of WA is when they begin to appear.



Classic boab twins

Gregory’s Tree WA.



Gregory’s Tree WA with  the dates
the explorers were there carved on the trunk.



Boab Prison Tree near Derby WA.





Boab Prison Tree near Derby. The gap was the door. They put
bars on to keep the mostly indigenous prisoners in.



There are some fantastic trees on the farm so my camera and I will have to go hunting one day for inspiration to get out the pastels or acrylics.

In the mean time here is one of my paintings.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move.

 

 



Window shopping. Or we like our caravan best

Mr Fix It and I drove across to Canberra on the weekend. It is a beautiful drive across the hills. We stopped in Gunning at our favourite cafe. There is a friendly cafe lover's war on in the family. Our son-in-law likes the first cafe on the street and K likes the second. We buy tomato chutney and chilli jam at K’s choice every year.  The owners recognise us and like to catch up on our travels.



The reason for this trip was to go to the Jayco dealer for some parts for the caravan.  (And to give the Crookwell family some time without extra adults around.) The clearance lamps front and back of the van were very dull and the covers had become quite opaque after 8 years in the sun. Mr Fix It is replacing the wind down stabiliser legs with stronger drop down ones and the seal on the toilet cassette needs replacing. Some things in our little home are beginning to show their age.



We were pleasantly surprised by the prices. Caravan spare parts and accessories are usually grossly overpriced. I guess they reckon they have a captive audience and you don’t have a lot of choice. Mr Fix It got chatting to the salesman, describing our life and telling a few entertaning caravan park stories and we got a significant discount on the already quite good costs. K makes friends everywhere!

They even had a new twin tub for 40 dollars cheaper than any other place we have looked. When our poor overworked machine finally dies we know where to come to get a new one.


Then came the fun part.  Caravan window shopping!!!!!

We love to climb inside the show vans. It is a bit like going through show homes.
I love the caravans with the front u-shaped lounge area. Our caravan is a bit lacking in lounging space.  .....Then again I like the front beds. We have an rear end, east west bed I have to climb around to get to the bathroom.
Oh and I love the cleaner, brighter, lighter colours. Our van is very brown.

We both don’t like the bathrooms in the new caravans. We want extra living space not a house size en-suite. We don't like automatic washing machines in vans because it is too hard to save water.

We checked out power point positions and types, chatted about the position of the microwave, discussed the battery system and the storage space.  We disagreed on slide out or no slide our vans. We both like the extra space, but I worry about the maintenance when the slide out is stuck out in the heat for months.





We chose the caravan we are would maybe upgrade to. Led the salesman on a bit and then........ drove home, content with what we have, and slid into our own space. And one or the other of us said, “I love my caravan home.”

Truthfully we like our caravan best.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move