A country garden

My mum's to be specific. Its been built on and expanded and grown and worked on religiously for nearly forty years, or maybe more...this is it in its current state today. Large and sprawling and going through constant change, some big, some little. Not modern, but green and growing. A true country garden.

One of the new sections, the gravelled area with old fencepost bridge.

Sweeping lawns with raised, shady garden beds.

   On the edge of the hill, one sees snatches of the landscape beyond through the foliage. Tough, hardy bougainvillea gives a splash of colour.

The old mother in law's tongue, the bane of my child hood (a large garden bed of the stuff wasn't called the snake pit for nothing) has been allowed to stay, one small bit of it in a pot as a concession to the new modern trend. I'm still not convinced myself. Pavers to allow, with luck, access to the toilet and office end of the house without trudging mud/cow poo everywhere else.

The lawn and garden beds wrap themselves around the house, protecting and cooling from the harsh seasons...

Dad calls this the turkeys nest (back up supply of water for the house and livestock should the bore stop pumping for whatever reason) Mum calls it her pond. ;-) A little family of ducks live here, and we think a turtle (well I put it there, but it has only been "maybe" sighted since).

AAll manner of plants rub shoulders together...

some strategically planted to allow the view off the hill to peek through, some to block the wind, and some just because they grew where nothing else would.

   More water storage, the working end of the horse (and not co-incidentally, the side where the prevailing wind attacks from. Getting washing to dry isn't normally an issue at mum's place!) and a garden bed slowly being filled.

There you have it, a tour of a true country garden...hope you've enjoyed the wander around!     

a page...

I've not been sharing many pages here lately, figuring that if you wanted to see that sort of thing you would be visiting the collaborative blog at Simple Aussie Girls.

But I like this page, and I like this photo, one that neither Mel or I took, but one of the other guests (possibly with a lens that is worth nearly as much as my car! maybe I exaggerate, just slightly, but I sighted a lens at the wedding that made me feel slightly inferior and wondering if the owner was a paparazzi on holidays!)

Who knows what my boy and his little friend Maggie (my new sister in law's niece, would then then make Maggie and Angus cousins in law?!)

I was pleasantly surprised to find the government gave me a little surprise cash infusion (don't be fooled that its working Julia, we are really not that silly or easily persuaded to forget what a bloody mess you and your mates have made, but I'll take some of my money back without arguing, thanks!) and am deciding whether to get all reckless and upgrade the old camera....

We'll see what The Husband has to say when he gets around to a little light blog reading, I suppose!

Sports Day

Friday was our small school's turn to host sports day (we have four other schools in our group, two other teeny one teacher schools and the Distance Ed outreach group of our district) and instead of using the grounds of the big school in town, we prepared our own oval.

Bear in mind when I say "oval" I really mean paddock out the back of the school that has been slashed, graded and dragged to get a smooth (ish) dirt running track. We held a working bee on the Wednesday to mark the lines (the old fashioned way, with string line, tape measure, bags of lime and a hand held wheelie marking thing). Now I wouldn't say the lines are dead straight, done by hand and all, but lines they are and distances correct after much head scratching, hilarity and many laps around the oval with the old click click wheeled measuring thing. (some people aren't good at keeping count...299, 300, 301, oh sh*t what was I up to?!...but that wasn't me, I was one of the dodgy tape measure holders).

Kids don't care about lines however. They had a great day.

Even though they don't seem too enthused about the March Pass!

He runs with enthusiasm if not style :)

and these two inherited their fleetness of foot from their mother (as in none)...mind you the one on the right can run fast if she doesn't think so hard about it!

Hi-jump was fun to photograph!

I'm pretty sure she didn't clear this jump!  Despite her long legs, she hasn't quite gotten them co-ordinated at this stage in her life, again getting her athletic ability from her mother!

Long jump was fun too.

(despite the appearance of much airspace here, he didn't actually jump that far in distance!) watching the little kids do their thing is utterly hilarious, entertaining and frustrating at the same time.  My brother in law had to walk away from his fairy princess daughter prancing through every (yes every) event...

and doing long jump with two feet from the line (but with a smile on her face!)

We ended the day with ball games, presenting of trophies (two of mine bringing home age champion, but don't get too excited, their age group wasn't overflowing with kids, however all three kids participated with enthusiasm in every event, which is what matters most ultimately!) and dragging home three very tired kiddies.

It was a small, intimate sort of sports day, and I think hosting it at "home" made it more so, with parents and children alike enjoying the day.  There was even a parent/teacher/student relay, which sadly I missed watching, at the time busily adding up points and the like in my official capacity of chief score adder-upperer. Since that relay, The Husband has done nothing but moan and ask if he has mentioned to me his sore calf muscles/legs. Heh heh. Its been a while since he's run that far :-)

Sports Day 2012, done and dusted.

some of the finer details

Mel took the above photo, I just love it...

Chelsea and anyone else that wandered past made a truckload of tissue paper pom poms for the decorations. Cheap and easy, apart from the smaller ones, which sent us half silly....

you can only tell they are not real flowers on close inspection...

the little girls carried lollipops instead of flowers :) (proving to be very tempting throughout the day!)

heh heh

  her great grandmothers watch.

allright, that is enough of that, I promise. Moving on. Sports Day this week. That'll be a big contrast, won't it!

the weekend that was...

Its been a whole week between posts, but geez, we've been busy. And sick. Funny how the two seemed to coincide...If you follow my instagram feed you will have noticed the fascinating shots coming in as we travelled to Blackall, a wee five hours drive to our south, to celebrate my brothers wedding.

Getting sicker, the WHOLE family, by the hour, we arrived there and after some rather annoying muck up with our booking at the caravan park (we were not alone, apparently the pressure of peak tourist season and 170 odd extra bushies descending from mostly northern parts was a bit much to handle for more than one accommodation establishment in the town, but never fear no one went without a bed) found ourselves setting up camp at the showgrounds.

On more than one occasion over the past week I had really wondered what sort of sanity made me decide it would be a good idea to take the camper trailer. Non the less camp we did, and fortunately it wasn't too cold.

Saturday came around and the kids were VERY excited. Saturday was one of running here and there and being places at the right time, whilst also being mother, photographer's backstop and also sister of the groom (ie trying to look like I had not just thrown on my dress and arrived with tyres squealing and like the windows had been down at the same time, you know that sort of hair do!)

There was lots of family and friends there to celebrate, and the benefit of marrying a girl that spent her childhood in the same district is that one knew most of the people there, even if you hadn't seen them for years. Sadly being photographers offsider meant that I didn't get a lot of time to catch up, and by the time that was done, thanks to the flu, I was knackered!

Anyhow, the weather was gorgeous, the kids well behaved (and not all sad and flu droopy, thanks to mum allowing them to inhale sugar for the day!) and the happy couple finally married! Here is a little pictorial story of the day....

The little girl was the bride's niece.  And I might be biased, but doesn't my boy just look so CUTE in his suit!

my girls LOVED their dresses....the other little girl in the middle is the brides youngest sister (who looks just like the bride at the same age)

The bride's dad made the big timber archway. There was much talk of how to get the large, very very heavy thing home.

     

that scant few minutes of perfect golden afternoon/evening light was put to good use...

the groomsmen may have taken a bit to manage, somewhat like a bunch of unruly school boys (just harder to control!) prone to doing their own thing and striking odd poses....

fun was had...with varying degrees of hilarity!

LOVE that afternoon light!

I now have a new sister in law!

And you will be pleased to know, thanks to Murphy and his laws, we (the whole fam-dam-il woke Sunday morning feeling SO much less flu-ey. 24 hours earlier would have been nice, but oh well, you can't win them all!

weaning

we finally took the weaner calves off their mothers last week, a process that has been interrupted a few times because, my goodness, it has kept on raining often enough to throw our plans awry.

The process was pretty quick and painless and didn't take long, helped by the fact that there was nearly 100 old dears not present and accounted for, hiding out in the bushes somewhere (but never fear, they did get found).

Some odd shots from the day, and a little (badly shot) video to show you the sheer noisiness of working in the yards...

  Some of the weaners, looking for their mummies through the fence.

not a weaner, but looking so cute, plonked down on a bit of grass soaking up some sun.

Enjoy.

Won't be around here much, have a busy week in front of us, and my brothers wedding this weekend, the kids are getting very excited! All of them are in the wedding party...plus three other kids as well. Won't THAT be fun ;-)

See you after we return from the deep south (well, Blackall is deep south for us northerners!)

as I see it

- I operate best at temperatures above 25 degrees and below 38 degrees. The past few weeks have seen very winter like behaviour of the climate in these parts. The kids aren't the only ones reluctant to get out of bed.

- winter laundry...volume increases tenfold, not so much the quantity of items. Jeans and tracky daks take up more room in the basket and the machine...meaning more loads needing to be done. Yippety-ki-yay.

- rashly, I decided, months ago, that we would happily camp at the caravan park in Blackall for my brothers wedding next weekend (in our camper trailer). Given the plummeting temperatures (and reports that Blackall is the Melbourne of the central west climate wise) I am thinking this was a rather silly idea. Oh well. Too late now. Ugg boots and extra blankets will be packed. A good family bonding experience.

- I wonder how a fan heater would go in a camper trailer tent of a morning?

- children obviously can't feel the cold. Well not until 2am when little boys sneak into your bed.

- interesting fashion choices this one makes. She takes after her father. And I badly want to lop her hair off into a sharp choppy bob. She disagrees. At what age do they get to have the final word. I am thinking 18.

-  I really dislike putting away folded washing. Really really. I dream of  huge built in cupboard in the laundry in which everyone's day to day clothing goes. One place to put them instead of five.

- new favourite slice - hazelnut oat slice. all kinds of yum. Have procured recipe from the person whose slice I tasted. Looks easy and therefore, more likely that I will make.

That is all.

the show

I know you are eagerly awaiting a report on our local agricultural show. So here it is...despite the wet weather and looming clouds we booted up and headed in (white linen pants not being on the list of wardrobe choices for the day!) I had a busy morning sorting out the neighbours animals (they were away) and having not one but TWO smokos with visitors, so it was just after lunch by the time we got to town. Judging by the crowd, or lack thereof, no one else was in a rush much to be there either.

Gosh, I love these outstanding photos for the family album. Hats were really just an accessory, what sun came through was very watery and momentary.  (it wasn't even high UV glary sort of day) (and here's one of me, taken by Georgie, just to show I was indeed there - using the charming backdrop inside the toilet block. As you can see, I refrained from tucking my jeans inside my top boots)

First stop, the arts and crafts pavilion (firstly checking on the chook displays) the kids were eager to see if they had gotten any prizes.

Big girl got first and champion on her section with some sewing she had done with her granny, a little trinket box.

Boy got a rosette too, finally showing some of his mothers genetics and a eye for photography, submitted from school.

Daughter #2 missing out on rosette action, but scoring much more prize money with consistent placings and firsts in her submitted work from home and school (her collection getting a second).

  

Entries in the fruit, veges and photography were well supported, as well as quilting although the rest of the arts and crafts section was lower in numbers, which may be why I ended up getting Senior Champion for Scrapbooking with my four entries!

was pleased with the teal rosette, its my favourite colour at the moment.

We then headed down that wallet draining section of the show, Sideshow Alley.  The rainy weather may have also contributed to the low number of rides etc, but of course the Dodgems were there. The girls went together (very bad drivers) and then Angus and I went...the longest dodgem ride of my life. I really Do Not Like them, hating being hit from behind with a passion (as does my back) hence we hugged the outside minimising our hits. Not totally unavoidable and I have to say I took some pleasure rear ending some wicked boys (their mother is a masseuse, drumming up business much?!) who had done the same to us.

Tuned beforehand that they only got one ride if they wanted a showbag (another wallet draining exercise) they rushed off to choose one and then whined for food on regular intervals afterwards, as we wandered and chatted the rest of the afternoon away.

 

(beautifully decorated and fitted out RM Williams shop truck, from which I did not purchase anything. Husband was pacing outside in fear)

(yes, that is daughter #2 riding the mechanical bull. She has been wanting to for AGES)

And of course, the fireworks that we weren't going to stay for, where spectacular, and wasn't I lucky to get THAT photo on my point and shoot?!!

and this last one cracks me up. Can you hear the ahhhs and the ooohs coming from the kids.

And that concludes our show outing for twenty-twelve.

PS. no rosette winning photos from this camp this year, although I did get a couple of firsts and placings. You don't really want to see them, do you?