A Bush Christening

I’m playing catch up, with a hard drive brimming full of photos reminding me of the year whizzing by. Back in April   - yes APRIL! – my not so little tiny baby niece Violet was christened. Held on my parents property, the event brought together a wide and large range of family and friends of Ashley and Chelsea, as well as those belonging to two other little “unbranded” boys in the district.

The venue for the official bit was held on the “jump-up” overlooking the property.

My oldest daughter Kate and the daughter of close respective friends, Grace, were chosen as godparents (along with a slighter older friend of Chelsea’s) a rather inspired move (I hope!).

Our laid back Frontier Services Minister performed the service. And I took lots of photos…..so many photos.

The little boys not being so sure about this big bloke and his water, but did not leg it (or successfully anyhow, but there was no wailing!)

Stellar family photos for the album…

Chelsea’s cute nieces Vivian and Maggie wanted their photo taken too, along with my mate Mel and cute Isabelle (obviously in NO MOOD to be smiling thank you very much!) The light was so so good.

After the official part of the day was finished, we went back to the house for festivities. I neglected to take photos of the wonderful set up on the lawn – tables and chairs laid out, fairly lights strung and lanterns on the tables.  Another mate, who was handy with a pig on a spit, and required a sleepover the night before in order to have things under way at 6am that morning. He took his job very seriously.

And so he should have…it was delicious! All catering was done by my Mum and Chelsea, and outsourcing handful of family and friends. No one should have been hungry, that is for sure.

And then…we went home. Sore footed (impractical shoe choice for mountain side scrambling) and quite tired from proceedings…two out of three kids having decided that being on the hill after the christening was boring, so walked part of the 4kms back to the house, until they were picked up by granma, standing on the side of the road like some dusty bare footed urchins.

And Violet? went to bed, plumb tuckered by all of the fun, just after dark, and wasn't seen again. After all, she was only the excuse for the party!

home and away

I was going to NOT postpone dentist appointments come hell or highwater (and with or without husbands) so late Sunday afternoon, after a birthday party and feeding the poddies, we headed to the city. On reflection the birthday party with lollies and cordial wasn't a good choice given the hi-jinks in the back seat, but a bit of bawling when Dad hit the roof never did anyone any harm before ;-)

We drove through the fire area, smoke billowing here and there (but all under control). We did the dentist thing (feeling poorer for the privilege) and visited a sweet little newborn baby girl. All of the kids got to have a cuddle of Isabelle Grace, who belongs to my lovely friend Mel. Mel, despites some misgivings about lack of maternal instincts, seems to be coping just fine (the fact that her husband is a nappy changing machine may be of some help!) Ah, the adventure of ones first child! And you know what? I loved holding her, and snuggling her little body close to me, but certainly no clucky or pangs to have some more. They've plumb worn me out ;-)

We managed to squeeze a visit to the Rockpool for an early morning swim. I decided to spectate..oh the thought of wrassling into my togs in the sticky morning (oh the humidity!), and then sticky and salty and damp in the car back to the unit...The kids and dad loved it though. I enjoyed the very slight breeze and the view.

Going to town means one gets to wear ones pretties, and I brought a few of them out to play. And of course, one cannot do so without sharing on Instagram!

I'm really really loving wooden beads at the moment, and I had some time at Spotlight (and a whole lot of fun!) to gather some supplies to have a play making a necklace or two myself, and get some fabric to recover the cushions my cane tub chair on the front verandah (I bought some other stuff earlier but have repurposed it for another job). Although after wandering around looking for something that I really didn't know the name of (still don't) it sometimes really IS easier to shop online at home!

Speaking of cushions...holy moley. Priced new cushions for our 9 year old, sturdy metal outdoor setting....nearly the price of a whole new setting!!! More research is required.

AND HOT OFF THE PRESSES: in most exciting news, as I type....rain on the roof. Now I won't get too excited and say the wet season has set in, but hopefully even a few showers might offer some relief against the fires in the National Park that have been bothering the men over the past few days...and if its offer, we'll take at least an inch or two of the wet stuff to freshen things up til the Big Wet arrives. And purely selfishly, just the drizzle we've had this evening will do my garden no end of good!

With that, and the sweet sound of heavy raindrops (albeit slow drizzle) on the tin roof, I bid you adieu and head for bed. Is there ever a more relaxing sound (and accompanied by thunder is nice too, the lightening tonight seems to be all sheet which is nice to look at and far less likely to lead to more fire fighting escapades!)

and OH! hello Megan! ran into a lovely old friend in the shops this morning...haven't seen her for a couple of years, but she tells me she feels like she kept right up, reading the blog. Love my mates who read and comment verbally ;-) And mates that don't ever seem to age (slightly depressing that part). xo

Rainfall report tomorrow. Having to resort to old fashioned rain gauge instead of new fangled weather station which apparently has gone into shock at the thought of rain and refuses to register any precipitation. Do hope the kids haven't filled the old style one with the hose! ;-)

surprise!

Last Saturday we managed to pull off a surprise baby shower for my dear friend Mel, who I have mentioned here before. Earlier in the year Mel was VERY surprised to find herself pregnant, as this certainly wasn't on her list of plans for the year, nor any time soon. Mel likes to run an organised ship ;-) (I am snickering away to myself at the moment)

Luckily for us, she has been sick with the flu and baby brain has kicked in, as she was completely unaware of our plans despite some strange and often aborted phone calls to her husband in the weeks leading up to the party, organising the hows and whys of getting her to the party. The evening before, there was a flurry of texts and organising new locations, with 40mm of wonderful rain making the road too wet to get to the original venue.

Mel's the one in green, greeting her special group of friends.
 
That is her husband in the blue, who was very chuffed with himself for managing to get her there
We held the party under the golden BER library at school. Decorated and made the place all pretty.

Another friend made and decorated the most gorgeous cake...
And one things for sure, when you ask someone to bring a plate to share out here, no one will go home hungry!

We played games, we drank and ate, and ate some more, talked, chatted and laughed.

And that last one there on the right, that's for Jaki, who now lives in Dalby and just COULDN"T picture Mel with the belly.

the face behind cattle - kids - chaos

one of the great added, unexpected bonuses about blogging is the friendships formed. Slightly unconventional, but still, its wonderful becoming friends with people, while like minded, one would ordinarily never ever meet.  Like my mates over at Simple Aussie Girls. :-)

Another one, not living quite so far away, while I have never met face to face, our worlds aren't so far apart, having several mutual acquaintances, and in the same industry. Like all bloggers I guess, her face isn't seen much around her blog, being behind the camera most times. So imagine my delight when I finally caught up on some essential bush reading, The Queensland Country Life, and found this lovely person photographed not once but TWICE in her role as show president (and Champion Photographer) of her area.

For Old Nev, who wasn't able to buy a paper (must have been sold out to the rest of her adoring fans :-) and anyone else who wanted to see a shirt and necklace previously mentioned on Fiona's blog. Because we care about the important things in life obviously (snickery-snort!)

and againOld Nev, if you want the originals to paste into your scrapbook :-) please email me your postal address to thequietlifeqld (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au. You know the drill, put the @ and . where applicable.  

And folks, please do pop by Fiona's blog and say hi. And tell her how you like her shirt. :-)