Wednesday 31st July

Last night I snuggled down into my bed and I watched the beginning of a new series which I bought recently.
‘The Pillars of the Earth‘.
So far it is showing an excellent portal of the times during the Dark Ages.
Somewhat brutal in places but very real.
The producers have done an brilliant job with set creation.

I woke this morning to hear Tardis approaching.
It was a flat calm morning, perfect for seeding up a line.

I met this young man heading to the spa as I stepped out to take some early morning photos.

Anson has a real bounce to his step these days.
I heard him bounding down the path to meet Seb when he arrived in with the ‘Tardis’ around 8am.
It is so lovely to see my boys working together so happily.
They were busy loading up stocking and ropes before heading out to harvest some spat so they could seed up a new line.
I could hear their voices chatting away, discussing what they needed to do the job for the day.
And when they are out on the water the sound of their voices carries across the water.
You can’t hear exactly what they are saying but it is music to my ears 🙂

Anson loading tubes of stocking from the shed to the boat.

Loading a few bags of rope on board.
Getting another bag ready to hoist onboard.Discussing what and which next.Seb teaching Anson how to use the hoist.
And away they go.
Harvesting from the spat line
Gathering up some extra floats before heading out further to seed up a new line.

I had stuff to do online so sat in bed and did that.
Bri has invited Mahalia to go skiing with them in a few weeks time so I was organizing travel plans and booking tickets.
She is so excited 🙂
Mahalia went round to help Marah with Eden and feed the dogs.
Azzan brought me breakfast in bed.
Caramel latte and fresh fruit salad with yoghurt, coconut, cashews and a teeny sprinkle of coffee – the last was his decorative addition, I never asked for that!!

I finally got up and had a spa and read my book somewhere around 10:30ish.
Azzan decided to make muffins.
He did have a recipe and he made them all by himself 🙂
Only thing I think he did wrong was he used plain flour when it said self-raising flour, which we do not have.
But as the recipe also included extra baking powder all was not entirely lost.
They were edible and interesting.
He added chocolate chips, black currants plus banana slices for decoration.
I tried to feed them to the boys when they arrived back from work 😉
He had made a 1 1/2 times of the recipe – far too many for us to consume.

Mahalia decided she needed to make her own batch of muffins.
They were very tasty – boysenberry and chic chip.
I ate several for my lunch while I carried on working in the study.
Was trying to sort out some accounts etc.

Then finally I managed to get them to clean up the kitchen and sort washing and I went off to start sorting books in the school room.
I did fill two banana boxes with books I can sell or pass on so I felt I had made a small amount of progress.
But I kept on finding books I want to use with the kids yet.
Also I am aware I have grand babies coming along and some of them plan to home educate so they will need curricula.
Best not to be too heavy handed with the sort out eh?

I did unearth ‘Adam and his kin‘.
I had read it to the older children years ago and decided it would be a good book to begin reading to Mahalia & Azzan.
So while dinner was cooking I read the first chapter.

Azzan prepared the veges for dinner.
He roasted some yams, boiled up some carrot and parsnip to mash and cooked some brussel sprouts.
Mahalia added some lasagna and chicken Toppers to the oven.
Only problem was that Azzan took the pots off the stove and left them on the bench for ages before dinner was served and they were all cold.
So I served it all onto our plates and popped them back in the oven and read another chapter while they heated through again.
After reading we talked a while.
Talked about Daddy and where he is and being grateful we can be that we know where he is.
And how we should live our lives.
That one day we will all be together, and how glorious that will be.
Until then we can be sad we don’t have him here with us,  glad that we know he is waiting for us in a much better place, and be happy to remember the wonderful times we had with him and the loving Daddy he was – and still is in our hearts.
Tears were shed, thoughts thought, and memories stirred.

The sky tonight was amazing.
The reflection on the bay was so beautiful!
Everything was intensely pink.

While we ate dinner we watched an episode of ‘Castle‘.
Unfortunately it was not the best episode to view just before bed and the kids were a tad freaked out.
It was a Halloween one – “Vampire Weekend”.
Azzan sat and laughed all the way through at Castle’s antics and wants to view some more.
I got a few more rows of my knitting done.
It is getting easier the more I do.
They both decided they wanted to sleep with me tonight!
I said a very firm no and sent them off to get ready for bed.
I did put on the new Celtic Thunder dvd to lighten the moment.
Mahalia and I sat and talked by the fire for a while while Azzan was getting himself ready for bed.
Nice to have some one on one with her.
I banked up the fire and then went down to tuck Azzan in, only to find his bed empty.
Yep! He was cuddled up in my bed, little monkey.
So I have another body in my bed tonight!

When I was sorting books this arvo Azzan was sposed to be cleaning up his room.
He started asking me where he could put all his bathroom stuff.
He reckoned he needed a special shelf, cuz after all Shoshannah has one.
I brushed him off with a, ‘we will talk about this later when you have cleaned up’!
Tonight when I went to the bathroom I found a whole heap of my things dumped on the vanity.
Looked up and found he had cleared the small wall shelves and now all his hair products etc are in residence there!!
This kid is only 10!
You’d think he was jolly well 16 already with all his ‘products’ 🙂

Tuesday 30th July

This is the scene that greeted me when I opened my curtains this morning.
The fog was down almost to sea level.
Very ethereal.

I had a spa and then got busy in the study.
Azzan brought me a scone and muffin and a cup of Caramel Latte for my breakfast so I could eat while I was working.
Mahalia came and asked if we could go for a picnic.
She had ideas of kayaking but that just seemed a little too wet and cold to me.
So she called up Marah & Phoebe and we arranged to meet up the hill for a picnic lunch.
I was busy so left the kids to organize the picnic.
Mahalia did most of it.
Azzan had lots of ideas but wasn’t very focussed on taking them to fulfillment!
So when I got out to the kitchen at 12:20pm the sausages he wanted to take were still in the freezer
I quickly got them boiling while we packed up the rest of the stuff.
Halia had enough food to feed an army – she did good 🙂
We were all loaded up and heading up the drive by 12:45pm so not too far behind schedule.
Stopped off at Marah’s and Mahalia ran in to see if she was still coming.
She & Eden were sound asleep 🙂
Mahalia woke her and they followed us up in the truck.
We got up the top and found Phoebe waiting for us in the sunshine.
Glorious day up there.

Phoebe hopped in with us and we drove along to the tailing yards to try and find the small fire drum that Tim used for his fires.
But we couldn’t find it so came back and found a sheltered place on the lee of the hill below the superbin to make a fire and have our picnic.
We gathered up rocks to make a fireplace.

Then we gathered sticks and lichen and the girls tried to make a fire.
Azzan brought his notebook with him and decided now was the perfect time to write!There was just enough breeze that lighting the fire was a tad tricky.
So we all gathered around it to block the breeze.
I also cheated a weeny bit and brought a small fire starter block from home to help get it going 😉
Success!

Marah arrived and sat in the truck to feed Eden before joining us.
I love this satisfied milky grin 🙂Just go away, I am too sleepy to picnic!Oh well, if I have to, I suppose I can wake up enough to join your picnic.
Phoebe made this cool toaster out of a branch and some twisted twigs.
Worked a treat 🙂 Then there was the multi sausage toasting machine in action as well!
She really was in an inventive mood today 🙂
Eden at her first Shand picnic – she was totally unimpressed with the essential smoke that always accompanies the food! She got to have a cuddle with her Nonna and gave her Mum’s arms a rest.
She is one hefty wee baby, totally ‘build your biceps chick’ this one!!

So not impressed!But she has very smoodgy kissable cheeks!

Aunty Halia had a wee cuddle too.

Warming up Joy’s muffins over the fire marshmallow style, just the trick, made them even yummier 🙂Of course marshmellows were on the menu too.

Aunty Phoebe took Eden for a walk and rocked her off to sleep.
She was very contently snuggled up in all her blankets.
Eden’s singing makes Aunty Phoebe’s baby dance 🙂

Marah – the Port Ligar fashion plate 🙂

Anson arrived up on the quad bike with all his dogs.
He stopped and joined us for a few moments before heading off to go do some mustering.Just before we left I saw a small hobbit lurking in the woods.

Eden all snuggled up and strapped in.
Don’t worry, she was not going anywhere!!
She just looked real cute all propped up there so I strapped her in.
Marah stayed up the hill in the sunshine for a while to feed her after we left.

Graham got home last night so we stopped to chat with him on the way back down the hill.
Mahalia got out to walk and try to find Olly.
Azzan headed off with my camera and took a million photos!!
I love these ones of the spring flowers which are all blooming at present.

Azzan made this daffodil tree 🙂
I backed down to the house to unload.
I was deliberately trying to keep as far to the left as possible to allow room for folks to walk past once I had parked up.
I misjudged and hit a waratah, saw a blast of dust and heard an almighty woosh as the air abruptly escaped from the tyre.
Damn!
Brand new tyre too.

 

Phoned up Seb and moaned on his shoulder.
He and Anson will sort it tomorrow.

The kids arrived in.
I got Azzan unpacking and cleaning up the picnic stuff and Mahalia got firewood in.
I made a quick dinner of nachos and beans for Azzan and myself.
Mahalia had salad.
We watched several episodes of The Mentalist.
I managed to get a few rows of knitting done.

I came to the study to get this written and ended up with Azzan on my knee.
He had been quite stroppy as I was trying to get him off to bed.
He is missing his Daddy but doesn’t know how to say.
So he gets angry and frustrated and stroppy and difficult.
He sat and cried and we talked and hugged.
Now I am finishing here and am going to go tuck him and Halia in and give them some big hugs.
Cuz we are all missing him real bad.
He was missing from our picnic today and we all felt that big time in our hearts.

Monday 29th July

I was still awake when the 5.4 quake hit at 1:07am.
Even though it was a severe jolt and wasn’t too major over here it really unnerved me.
Took me a while to calm and get to sleep.

Woke before 8am with Azzan stomping down the hallway.
Got up and had a spa.
Mahalia was up early and baking treats – for the horse!!!
She cleaned up the dishes and kitchen.
She then went off for a ride on Olly.
He loved her biscuits.
Azzan hung out the washing and then vacuumed the living room.

Seb came to get Anson and they headed out to work in Tardis.
It was a perfect day for mussel working, flat calm and sunny.
We spent the morning cleaning up the living room and kitchen.
Marah & Eden walked round.
Hadn’t seen them for a week, Eden is growing so much, such a wee cutie.
Marah is a really good Mum.
It is lovely to see her and Anson with their wee poppet.

I wasn’t feeling too great.
Started feeling quite nauseated.
Had a slight headache which seemed to be stemming from my neck or back so took some Panadeine which kept it in check.
I made cheese scones and focaccia bread.
Both went down a treat for lunch with the soup.
I wasn’t happy with this lot of soup.
Not my normal best, but it was eaten so must’ve been edible.

Joy, Tony & Phil arrived in their boat just after midday.
We chatted over drinks and choccy biscuits for a while.
But when the conversation turned to wedding attire the guys decided to head off and look at machinery.
Phoebe arrived and then finally the guys came in from their mussel working.
We had a very happy lunch time together.
Lots of stories told of days gone by and gruesome accidents and events that our older children got up to.
And tales of mischief Tim created over the years.
Marah was able to join in lunch after Eden had hers and she cuddled up sleeping in Anson’s arms looking ever so sweet.
He has the magic touch ❤

Azzan wasn’t feeling too well so he headed off to bed for a while.
Mahalia had a sleep for a while and then went off to look for Olly again but he evaded her.

Sebastian went off in Tardis to pick up floats and then home to do some boat maintenance.
Tony, Phil & Joy left around 3:30pm to go catch some fish on their way home.
It was lovely to have them over – thanks for coming guys 🙂

It started getting cold again mid arvo so Iit the living room fire.
Phoebe & I sat and chatted by the fire for a while.
I was starting to get nauseous again.
The pain was coming from some tight muscle knots in my back so Phoebe gave them a real pummeling and I started feeling loads better.
Then she drove home to cook dinner for Seb.

The kids and I were not really hungry so no planned dinner tonight.
Just snacksville stuff.
Azzan was wanting to play a game of Monopoly Millionaire Deal.
I was wanting to head off to bed by 6pm.
I am so boring at the moment.
Just can’t do evenings.
All I want to do is curl up in my bed and tell the world to go away.

But..

instead I sat shivering by the fire, I was so cold and headachy.
Mahalia got the fire cranked up and draped me with my dressing gowns.
Azzan gave me a foot massage and then we played Monoply Millionaire while Mahalia made smoothies for us all.
Then she made a pasta dish, which we ate whilst watching The Mentalist.
By this time the fire was generating so much heat that we were all cooking!

And now finally at 9:15pm I am in bed.
And a hoping that the two darlings are also on theirs!

Sunday 28th July

Woke at 6am.
Was sitting in bed blogging when Mahalia came in.
She was up and dressed and heading out to find Olly.
She put her pile of washing on before she left.
I got up to light the fires.
Cleaned out the wood fire, it was getting too clugged up with ash.
Got two buckets full from it!
Then headed to the study to pay some accounts.
Azzan was up and sorting out his clothes and tidying his room.
He was so funny.
I went in to see where he was at and he had all his clothes sorted into piles of matching outfits.
He was planning to hang them together, matching pants, tee shirts and over shirts.
His creative and colorful brain allows for nothing as simple and straightforward as to putting his clothes away in respective orderly drawers!

I finally had my shower.
Wanted to give the water time to really heat up as I didn’t want a luke warm shower.
Mahalia finally came back, she had been cleaning Olly from top to toe!

She hung out her washing and then cooked up some pasta for lunch.
The kids started their acting up again.
I was not impressed.
Told them that it actually had been rather pleasant not having them fighting  all this past week and to sort themselves out.
I was really teed off with them and they knew it!
I left them too it and they soon were friends again and being nice to each other.

Watched a move while I ate a late breakfast of fresh fruit and yoghurt – ‘Heartbeat‘, another Danielle Steele dvd.

Seb popped around to bring me stuff from town.
He has been getting stuff for ‘Tardis’ and working on maintenance while the weather has been rubbish.
Hoping the wind will have dropped to get out and start seeding soon.
Just waiting to hear when it will be going up on the slip for survey.
The slipway is booked solid but they are trying to squeeze us in as we will only be a small job in the scheme of things.

Played a few games of Monopoly Millionaire Deal with Azzan while Mahalia had her shower.
We have just bought the game in town so he was keen to have a go.
It is very similar to Monopoly Deal so easy to learn.

Made up a pot of soup for tomorrow.
Asked Azzan to watch and stir the capsicum as they fried.
They got burnt, but I was able to salvage  most of them.
He had decided he was pretty useless, but I assured him that I burnt food too.
And that it wasn’t cuz he was useless or dumb, just that he wasn’t being attentive to doing what he had been asked.
Then followed a great discussion as to whether the famous cooks/chefs had ever burnt food?

There was discussion as to whether anyone wanted dinner or not.
Finally decided that yes we did.
So I got some dinner on.
Made a salad with mashed spuds and lasagna toppers.
Nice and easy and very tasty.
Watched some of The Mentalist with the kids.
Mahalia made smoothies for dessert.
Tried to get some knitting done.
Got stuck so called up Wendy and Eilidh for help.
Between them both I got it sussed and had a lovely catch up chat with Eilidh at the same time.
Managed to do a couple of rows.
Then went to study to do some more work, ended up skype-ing Jesika and now it is past time for bed.

 

 

Saturday 27th July

Woke early but thankfully was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours.
Got up at 8am and hopped in the spa with my book.
It is unbelievably quiet here.
Tried on some clothes which arrived in the mail.
I was hoping they would be ok for the wedding, but I am not happy so with the colours so now will have to make another decision
Wasn’t feeling too great so gave breakfast a miss.
Washed my backlog of dishes instead.
Tears were pouring down my face as I did them.
Just all of a sudden felt really sad and empty.

Got both fires going, need to give the hot water a top up before it gets too cold.
With only me here not much hot water is getting used so haven’t needed to light the fire for several days.
Still windy here, gusts aren’t as violent as yesterday, but it is quite a cool wind.
Made myself a hot elderflower drink and went to attack the study.
It is in such a mess.
I went through several pile of things.
Got rid of a mountain of plastic & paper bags – amazing how many accumulate in the back corner where they get stuffed for ‘just in case’ times.
Refiled old company accounts ready for attic storage.
Then tackled a pile of old photos and letters.
They were quite nostalgic, put them aside for another day.
Called up Rachel for a chat about wedding stuff.
She was very helpful and helped me tick off another few things from the list.

It was then 3pm and I was getting hungry so fossicked for food and kicked back by the fire to watch a movie.
I’ve had the dvd of ‘Oranges & Sunshine‘ here for ages and only just gotten to watch it.
It is so good, but so tragically sad.
I have read a book about the Lost Children many years ago.
This is a story needing to be heard.

After my rest I got stuck into the study again with major vengeance.
Got rid of a heap of stuff.
I had mail from quite a few weeks of mail days piling up all over the place in no order at all.
I just couldn’t get my head around it all and it had gotten totally out of control.
Sorted all the current papers into piles –  to be filed, to be paid, to be replied to, and I now have a lot more order and space in there.
I can now tackle it more easily tomorrow.

I had just gotten into my dressing gown with the intention of heading off to bed around 7:30pm as I was quite weary when I heard a vehicle.
I thought Seb was taking the kids home with him and then bringing them over here in the morning.
But as it wasn’t too drastically late he decided to bring them straight home.
They were both very happy with their camp and pronounced it one of the best!
Azzan won the dress up competition 🙂
Mahalia forgot to take a photo of him so I might have to see if he will model his costume for me tomorrow.
They had already eaten so they took themselves straight off towards bed.
Mahalia came out for a wee chat, thankfully she is loads better than when I left her at camp.
Must be all the Vitamin C I was shoving into her!
I grabbed a bowl of ricies and banana for ‘dinner’ and hopped into bed and watched a movie, ‘Secrets’ by Danielle Steele.
Nice to have the kids back home again.
The silence here has been deafening.

Friday 26th July

Woke around 8am, so did get a good 5 hours of sleep.
Needed to!
It was really windy, the bay is white today.
Probably the hardest wind gusts we have had in quite a while hitting us.

I stayed in bed for a while then went and had a spa around 10:30am.
The wind was playing havoc with my washing.
It was all dry but some strewn across the ground and bushes.
I could see that something had gone from the pegs still on the line but couldn’t find it.

Anson came around to meet the mailboat.
I had been primed to get him there as they had something for him.
I told him that he needed to be there to sign for a parcel 😉
I was actually quite glad of him as there is a huge mountain of ropes on the wharf which make accessing the boat quite a mission.
I went down with him so I could record the presentation.
It was for the local pig hunting competition held recently.
Anson normally goes but this year he hadn’t caught anything so gave it a miss.
He was presented with the biggest losers ‘shield’ and a dozen of beer as a consolation prize 🙂

Just as he was leaving I went out to get the washing in.
I bent down to pick up a towel which had blown free when a huge gust picked up the washing trolley and whipped it over the bank.
I could see it down there with pegs strewn everywhere, and I could also see the errant sheet which I hadn’t found earlier.
It was tucked in under some bushes and I only saw it cuz the trolly cover was near it.
Anson hadn’t quite left yet so he came back and scrambled down to retrieve them all for me.
Thanks Ans – didn’t want to tempt fate and try going down there myself.
Probably wouldn’t have got back up!!

I went back to watching my movie ‘Waitress‘.
It is really cool to see Andy Griffiths as an 80 year old, I grew up with the Andy Griffiths Show,  and Nathan Fillion  – much younger than the Castle we know and love!

Got in a few armfuls of wood for the fire.
Phoned Phillipa to talk wedding plans.
Am trying to get all the catering sorted, lots to do but it is all falling into place.
Made myself some dinner.
Into bed to watch Bette Midler in ‘For the Boys‘.
Great movie 🙂
Now, my eyes are struggling to stay open so I am shutting down for the night.

 

Thursday 25th July

Morning movement began slightly earlier today.
Nathan was up as he was expecting Anson to come round and help him cut up a mutton.
Mira & I chatted over breakfast while waiting for Seb & Phoebe to arrive.
They turned up around 11am.
Seb was wanting to get out to town and try and get through his list.
So I hurried Nathan & Mira to pack up and get moving along.
They were all loaded and ready to go around midday.
Lots of huge goodbye and they were gone.
It was good to have Nathan home even if it was only for a few days.
I know how hard it is for the older kids to come back and face home without their Dad being here to greet them.

House back to quietness again.
Sun is coming back fast now.
Mo was making the most of it and sunning himself on the trampoline.
I put a load of washing through and for the first time in several months was able to hang it on the line.

Left it out over night as the forecast was favorable.

Did a spot of cleaning up.
Topped up the firewood to keep the wood fire chugging along.
Made myself some lunch.
And under instruction from Sunni took myself off to bed and rested while watching a movie.
‘27 Dresses‘ – a pretty harmless chick flick.
I really like Katherine Heigl so she added to the viewing enjoyment.

Got up and made myself some dinner.
Pretty much eating through leftovers.
Sent home a large platter of leftover roast dinner and tiramisu with Anson for their dinner.

I hopped into bed and watched the rest of my movie.
Then started working on some online photo books.
I had some internet left to use up before midnight.
Got really involved in what I was doing so didn’t hit my pillow until 3am!
Stupid I know, but no-one here to worry me or tell me off

Wednesday 24th July

Bit of a slow start to the day.
The house was very quiet.
I got up and then went back to bed for a while.
Finally around 10am decided it was time for a shower.
Nathan wandered out around 10:30am and lit the fire and crashed out in front of his laptop.
I cleaned up the kitchen and declared breakfast was available after Mira appeared a bit later.

Nathan and I spent the next hour or so sorting bank accounts and finances.
Because the kids and I have changed all our banking from TSB over to BNZ we needed to get his weekly payments set up and talk over budgets etc.
It is hard to make ends meet and budget easily when you are only earning base hourly rate and are on casual shift work so don’t know exactly what will be in your pay each week.
I was trying to access my online banking on my laptop but for some reason couldn’t get into it.
Nathan was able to access his on my laptop so I called up online help and then spent the following hour telling various people the problem and then being put on hold over and over.
While I was waiting I tried using my iPhone to log in and was able to, so sat and did some banking on that while waiting for the ‘help’ to actually help!
Finally they decided they couldn’t help me and that it was a problem affecting not just me, that they were aware of others and were trying to fix it and that I needed to go back to my own branch and talk to whoever set it up.
Well that was a very useful waste of an hour

While I was doing that Nathan & Mira made themselves some lunch.
While I made mine I suggested that as it was such a lovely day they really should head outside for a walk.
After all Mira hasn’t been here before so Nathan really should go show her around.
So they took off for a wander.
I started watching ‘Bride Wars‘ while I had my lunch.
It’s a funny chick flick – nice and light and fluffy – just what I needed 🙂

Sebastian brought Phoebe over mid arvo to help get dinner ready.
Nathan and I already had the roast cooking in the wood stove  so Phoebe got to work and prepared the veges.
Murray had a day off work so caught me on Skype, I ended up chatting with him for a while.
Seb, Nathan & Mira arrived back so he enjoyed catching up with them too.
It all got a tad noisy with everyone in the kitchen so I took my laptop to the study and talked for a while longer.
Phoebe had the roast veges in the oven when I finished so I made the cauliflower cheese and the gravy.
Also put on a pot of carrots while we waited for Anson & Marah to arrive back from town.
It was 9 years ago today that Marah’s Mum died so they had gone out to meet up with her bro and extended family for lunch at Smugglers.
The boys munched their way through a couple of bags of chips and watched more of the series Nathan is engrossed in at the moment.
Mira went off for a nap.
Phoebe & I talked and I was able to cast on my new knitting project.
I have been getting some not too nice twinges in my back when I make certain movements and tonight they were a lot worse.
Sorta feels like if I just do one wrong move my back will ‘go out’, so I was being a bit careful as to how I was bending and moving but it got worse as the afternoon went on.

We decided to carve the meat and serve dinner around 8pm.
First roast meal in a long time.
Mira is a vegetarian so there was a lot of teasing and bantering from my carnivores 🙂
Phoebe & I had made sure everything was ‘kosher’ except the platter of meat, despite what the boys kept trying to tell her 🙂

Anson & Marah arrived soon after with a very distressed wee Eden.
The two days of traveling was quite hard on her and she was very tired and windy.
She just wanted her Mum so we packed up Marah’s dinner for her to take home and eat later when they were both feeling better.

Poor wee darling – this socializing business is just way too exhausting.


A very socialable lot – wonder if they were texting each other 😉


Once Anson arrived the bantering got way worse.
Poor Mira was getting hassled mercilessly!
Not only is she vegetarian but she also happens to be German and Nathan just happens to be able to impersonate a very badly spoken English speaking German.
Anson is even worse.
We were all in stitches.
I was very pleased to see Mira show that she can stand up for herself 🙂

Tiramisu for dessert – went down very nicely.
Although there was an awful lot left over.
Tiramisu for breafast anyone??

Anson finally took his wee family back home – they had had two long days and were very tired.
Seb & Phoebe left a wee while later.
While Nathan & Mira did the dishes Jesika skyped.
It was good timing – she was able to chat with Nathan about his role at the wedding.
Naturally he is organizing the drinks and bar staff.
Nathan & Mira went off to bed as it was getting late.
We carried on talking despite it being such a bad connection – most frustrating when you are sitting there talking to yourself and don’t realize the connection has dropped
Jesika was very happy as she finally felt she had pretty much everything under control and all her lists in order and ticked off.
Anyway, by 11pm I was knackered so said goodbye and headed off to my bed.
Lay back and finished watching my movie and finally snuggled down around midnight.
The electric blanket was really good for my back tonight.

Tuesday 23rd July

Slept in till nearly 8am.
Stayed in bed for a while and started writing something which had been swirling in my brain for a while.
Then got up and lit the fires.
One sink was blocked, poured boiling water down the other one and thankfully they slowly cleared.
Unpacked my suitcase
Put the washing through.
Caught another mouse.
The cat came and fished it out of the pig bucket so I ushered it outside to enjoy its feast
Then took my book out to the spa.
I picked it up at the library yesterday.
Michael King’s ‘At the Edge of Memory‘.
It is easy to read and rather intriguing so far.

Went up and fed all the birds.
Filled up their water containers and fossicked in the workshop freezer for some cat meat.
Nothing there so got some fish out instead.

Unpacked the storage bins and tipped the 20kg bag of flour into one only to find it was too big.
Anson came by and got all the stuff I had bought in town for them.
They are heading out this arvo so I gave him some things to be returned.
Also packed up the wee clothes and a card for a friend of Anson & Marah’s in Australia who has just had a premmy babe.

Kept the fires going.
Made some lunch and ate it while relaxing by fire and dealing with emails and wedding stuff.
I have been getting soft and letting the cats inside more.
But Mo finished that idea off this arvo when I caught him pooing under the piano.
So gross!

Lay down on the sofa by the fire and read for a while, dozed off.
So tired that my body was aching.
It’s a bleak, grey, damp day.
Not very inspiring really.
My mood was quite flat and grey – just like the day.

Seb & Phoebe drove over and delivered Nathan & Mira.
It was nice to see them all.
Raised my spirits a lot 🙂
S&P didn’t stay long, it was getting late, dark and the rain was coming in.
I made up the Tiramisu for tomorrow nights dinner.
I put a loaf of bread on in my brand new bread maker.
And then while I made dinner Nathan & Mira had a spa.
Dinner was easy but tasty – ravioli with sauce and green salad.
N&M cleaned up all the dishes for me.
Then we all relaxed by the fire and they watched a movie.
I have headed off to bed as I am really tired.
The wind and rain have increased in velocity, I can hear the storm blowing outside.
Nice to be tucked up cosy in my bed 🙂

Monday 22nd July

After kicking Mahalia’s long sprawl legs over to her side of the bed I snuggled in and went off to sleep.
Only to wake up at 6am to find her side of the bed empty.
I peered over the side but she wasn’t on the floor.
Found her in with Azzan – apparently I was snoring

The dawn sky was amazing.
I went for a wander out onto the street to take these photos.

 

Because of our early wakening we were all packed and cleaned up well before 8am so had time to hang out with John & Sally for a wee while before he headed off to start ticking off my list.
First thing was to go pick up the plates from the Terrano.
Poor ole girl has finally reached the end of her days.
It is just not economical to fix her anymore so I sold her to the 4WD wreckers and then handed in the plates to get a refund on the rego and ruc’s.

Because Mahalia had been away for 3 weeks there was a breakdown in communication re her camp needs.
She didn’t have any towels or pillow.
We zipped into Briscoes to get some only to find it was shut due to earthquake and was waiting upon engineers check.
So around the corner to The Warehouse.
It was open so we ran to the back of the store and found everything she needed in a few moments and all were on 50% sale – brilliant!

Then back up the road to drop Mahalia off at the orthodontist.
We left her so we could go do some more errands.

Dropped all my recycling off at Hospice shop.
Sorted out all the pre wedding appointments at Nelson Beauty.
Then ordered frappaccino’s for Mahalia and me while Azzan took himself down the street to get manly food from the bakery – pie and sausage roll 😉
When Mahalia gets her braces tightened her mouth is always far too sore to chew foods.
So she enjoyed the cream topped mocha java chip frappaccino – easy to consume calories 🙂

We were just about to leave Starbucks when she phoned to say she was done.
Great timing.
Zipped in to pick her up and make next appointment and then we were on our way to Teapot Valley camp.
We were only half an hour late for sign in so all was good.
Kids were happily absorbed by their cabin leaders and I headed off back to Nelson.

I had time to pop in to Triple One Care and organize first aid kits for the houses and boats.
An expensive exercise doing them all at once but at least they are done and ready for any emergencies now.
Talked about setting up a course for us all soon.
Then headed into city to meet Paula at Nicola’s Cantina.
We enjoyed a lovely chat over some fairly mundane Mexican food.
It was edible but not something I would repeat in a hurry.
The best part was spending alone time with Paula.
Always appreciate that – thanks Paula xxxx

Then I had to zip down the street for counseling.
That was a pretty intense hour, but most beneficial.
From there I just had a few more things to do so raced off to do them.
Picked up a new vacuum cleaner for Marah & Anson as theirs is so old, hardly sucks and is held together with silver tape.
Ordered a new epirb as they had just sold the last one that morning.
Then up to Winnington’s to pick up some curriculum I want to try on the kids soon.
Fuel up the Regulus, get some more groceries and then finally a frappaccino to get me home.
I was leaving town at about 4:30pm.
I thought Nathan was going to be at home so I had been racing to get out of town early.
But when I phoned him he asked if he & Mira could stay with Seb for another night.

The thought of traveling home alone and then facing the empty house was too much and I cried all the way home.
I stopped off to give Marah her new vacuum cleaner.
She was over the moon, totally excited to get it 🙂
What an old domestic she has become 😉
Had a quick catch up with them both and then headed home.
It was dark, and cold.
Such a lonely welcome.
Only the cat meowing around my legs, but he only wanted food.
I unpacked the Regulus and put everything away.
I couldn’t be bothered lighting the fires so I made a quick dinner from the salads and salmon I had bought in town, and hopped into bed.
Didn’t want to think about being here alone so watched a movie to fill the space.
‘Message from Nam‘ – was only planning to watch half of it but it was so intriguing I watched it all and finally went off to sleep around 1am.