A pictorial catch up

There's been plenty to occupy us around these parts of late, and each activity is worthy of a blog post of its own, but because I can't be bovvered, I'm going to do the edited version :-)

The stars aligned and lick run day fell on the weekend for once at the prickle farm. The cows are now out in what we call our "bush country" which until recently was unfenced on the northern boundary. I'd never been out there before (no tracks) so after putting out lick and chatting to the cows, we headed out to check out the new fence and The Gorge.

 

Our back boundary is The Great Dividing Range/ Burra Range.  The high point along the new fence affords a view that stretches for many many miles to the north.  I was also excited to find some little outcrops of slate like sandstone rock - GARDEN PAVING ANYONE?! Loaded into the ute with some coercion required ;-)

An updated shed photo...

Moving right along, this was meant to be a summary of events wasn't it!!

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We went for a little horse-play-day at a nearby friends place. Being short on horses that weren't too light on in condition, Angus had to entertain himself. Girls had a great time, despite Georgie's pony having his naughty pants on. BBQ followed. Late night. All tired!

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Yes, time for the third edition of Dogdy Birthday Cakes for the year! Boy mumbled something about rainbow, which I interpreted into decoration (and badly done at that!).

He is now SEVEN. My word, how did that come about so quickly....

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We went to a wedding at the Atherton Tablelands, which involved a little bit of touristy tripping about and a lot of soaking in of the green stuff. And checking out the farming things happening, as you do. ;-)

     

Wedding was in a glorious location and was just lovely, and marquee set up beautifully with all of the little touches. Loved it. Bride collected bottle after bottle and spent hours hot gluing hessian string, which turned out brilliantly!

I went with a black and white dress and black jacket ensemble as you can see. With a pop of orange. The little boy clown was an extra surprise accessory ;-)

We also took the chance to have a mini holiday, loathe to leave the green. Visited some local attractions and waterfalls.

(Lake Euramoo, a volcanic crater). Climbed a million steep steps in our water fall viewing quest. Nearly needed to take out second mortgage to eat at Lake Barrine fine dining establishment (however we were STARVING and indeed the food was good). Did not see a platypus (not surprising) but did feed several well fed ducks and a not so smart but very round eel. Climbed a few more thousand steps. (Ellinjaa Falls below, one of the ones that one can see from the bottom)

Headed home taking in The Crater, Dinner Falls and Millstream Falls on the way (more uphill downhill walking! ye gads my aching calf muscles, but at least NO STEPS) and stopping to let the kids frolic in the popular swimming/camping spot Archers Creek (near Innot Hot Springs). Not a bad way to spend some time, sitting by a running creek in the nicer temperatures of the high lands!

And then home James....Where the temperature is NOT nice, the skies hazy with dust (we home, rather than smoke) and more washing than I can poke a stick at.

Need a holiday to get over the holiday!

Photobooks

So, you may have noticed, I take a lot of photos. A lot. Especially in this digital age, and especially since an iphone arrived in my hot little hands (it takes great photos!)

But. But. I'm not so good at getting those photos off my computer and out there for my family and friends to enjoy. Pretty woeful at it actually. I've recently printed off my blog in yearly chunks using blog2print. Love love love the result (despite its layout issues, which I can forgive).The family love them too. But this hardly touches the side of the wealth of great family photos that a year of snapping can bring.

I have, in the past, printed off a great wedge of photos, and slipped them into the generic slip in albums, or more recently, scrapbook type albums with divided page protectors (same thing as the former, just fits more and sturdier). But that all takes up SO MUCH SPACE on my limited shelf space.

After seeing how lovely and compact the blog books are, I've made a resolution. Photo books are my answer.

I might be around 3 odd years behind in my printing. But I've made a start. And its been a great trip down memory lane as I do so, keeping it simple. Not thinking too hard, making my selections quickly from my folders, by month. (and realise this: not every photo, especially of the same event/thing/time, needs to be shared).

Using a template (kindy shared by a friend) and loosely following the Project Life template (why mess with something that works) I am dropping photos into a 12x12 template using Photoshop Elements. I am sure the same thing can be achieved in Picasa and the like as well.

And a sample of one a bit closer up...

I roughly envision four pages per month, but if there's more, so be it. Or less, the same. I probably should have added dates on the second lot of pages, but will leave it be and remember for the next month. Doing these couple of pages probably took me an hour, less if I didn't stop to read emails and faff about!

I'll save the pages, and then wait for a nice sale to come along at Snapfish or Blurb or the like and print. And these will sit on the shelf in order beside my blog books (which I will share soon!).

I'm feeling organised (if not thinking I need to be dedicated in doing at least a month a day!) What about you?

She is nine (dodgy birthday cakes - edition 2/2013)

The years keep rolling on by at a fast pace, one minute you have a troublesome toddler, the next a ratbag 9 year old. How did THAT happen?!

There was much deliberation over cake choices (but kindly realising the limit of mum's abilities, they make their requests to allow for a wide margin of error, and their expectations low!), and much the same from parents re giftage.

A new bike and much longed for onsie (which much to her delight, included a bum flap!) plus Diary of a Whimpy Kid books were unwrapped with glee.

Much much mess was made in the decorating of the cake.

Discovered that candle in the cupboard wasn't in fact a nine, but a six. Sharp knife applied, some creative candle rebuilding and TADAAH! It now IS a nine.

With the school now only have a population of 10, it means that cakes can be brought back to regular sizing, rather than giant slab cakes to feed a large crowd!

And inside the cake, the requested RAINBOW! (which apparently was very hard to focus on...perhaps my lens did not recover as well as I thought it did?!)

 

And now, with barely two scant weeks between them, I have to roll out another birthday cake for the little boy. Not sure if I can handle the pressure to produce... (but I will say this: a friend gifted me with a pallette knife and said it would make all of the difference. It did indeed make smoothing the icing much easier. A pity the cake underneath wasn't all that smooth!! ;-)

The Races

Lets pretend I haven't been AWOL, and pick right up were I left off. Just that funny thing called life, and can't-be-bothered-itis getting in the way of a good old bloggy chinwag.

Anyhow. Races. Annual. Dusty. Dirty. Catering. Frocks. Long day. Fun times.

As I wasn't the principal organiser this year, I had time to do some faffing. The Thursday before the races, scratching about looking for a big sheet of card to make the price list, I was inspired. Went to the shed, found the perfect sized bit of fibro (ply would have been better, but beggars can't be choosers). Found the small time of blackboard paint purchased eons ago and never used, went to work. Dried instantly, so that afternoon armed with chalk got busy. Made a zillion spelling mistakes in my concentration on letter formation, which IG people very helpfully, and loudly ;-) pointed out. Rest assured, I repaired the errors the next morning.

Girly fashion choices were made. For the little girls in the family at least.

  Food shed. Decorated gaily with bunting and green masking tape to stop our plastic tablecloth blowing away. Little ladies having a day out.

Fashion at its finest, The Husband finding himself wearing a pink cupcake apron whether he liked it or not (matched the rest of the canteen staff! and protected his new shirt from fat splatters). The school staff scrubbed up all right - teacher aides in the middle and Miss Mach on the right.

The Husband was supported ably by our local chopper pilot/campdraft president/ratbag, who wore a floral apron with flare (he thought florals suited him more than stripes).... Loving that orange/coral with navy!! And so nice to see YELLOW!!! (the girl on the outside taking home the Fashions on The Fields for the day).

And we even saw some horses run past.

   

And there endeth the annual race meeting for another year. Sandwhiches made, wrapped and sold. Pies heated, roast-beef-and-gravy-rolls served up, kebabs cooked with love (and quiet swearing).

All over til next year!