This was Fun!

It's always fun to try something new, something I had wanted to do for ages but had no idea we had one of these places relatively close by!  So Stace took me up to the place and we had a great time - although my arms did feel a little "jelly like" afterwards! LOL

Harness on & halfway up the wall......

Made it!

Stace on her way back down.

Left overs Turn Fab

I stumbled upon a fantastic crocheted bag that could be made with lots of left overs.............. ok, so instead of left overs I went and bought a whole rainbow coloured collection of yarn so I could have a go at making up a few of these little bags to have ready for some birthday gifties for my grand daughter and little nieces later this year!  It was super easy and I'm really pleased with how it's come up.  Aren't the little flowers soooo cute! I loved making them and can see alot more flowers are going to be getting made with left over scraps!!  Head over to Attic 24 to find the pattern.








After being relatively inactive on the crochet front for a number of years, up until I got the bug for the dishcloths last year...... it's nice to begin branching out again with some nice easy patterns that give such a great reward...  Thans again Lucy for sharing your pattern with us.






  


And if anyone is wondering about how well the crocheted dishcloths go....... I have a couple just now beginning to fall apart after a year of very hard work!  Each night they get thrown into the wash basket (sooner if I've been doing lots of cleaning with them during the day) - so they work great & look so much nicer on the kitchen sink than the old "chux cloth"!



Last night we had roast chicken for dinner and we had a bit left over from it, so I decided to jazz it up a bit and hey presto........ left over chicken turns into chicken vol e vonts!

It was super easy............ a bit of butter or marg into the frying pan, add sliced mushrooms and very finely sliced broccolli, a bit of salt, pepper to taste & approx 1/4 tsp of curry powder. Saute/ fry till the vegies are looking tender, then add a bit of plain flour to the pan (I added a couple tablespoons) & stir in - now take the pan off the heat while you add a bit of water - small amounts & stir it in so you don't get lumps forming.  About 1/3 cup water.  Now add milk to tthe pan, coontinue to stir it in and place back on the heat - keep stirring & add milk to make into a thickened sauce.  Once you are fairly happy with it - add chopped up chicken & stir.  Place into bought vol u vent cases and then pop a little grated cheese on top - now into the oven (preheated up high) for about 5 - 10 mins till heated & cheese melted.................. all done ready to eat!

Making a Milestone!

I could hardly have a blog and not post about turning 50, now could I??? Especially since it was made into such an enjoyable event.  So thankyou to the lovelies from my work place, to my family, to my friends, penpals, blogging friends and facebook buddies....... you all helped to make me feel special!  Do I feel different? ........ No, so I'm afraid you are all still stuck with the same old crazy person you have knows LOL.

Thankyou to my darling daughter Stace for all the thought  & organizing you did xox

Special Visitors Come to Visit.....

As many of you already know, this past week has been extra special with my Dad and wonderful stepmum, Heather, coming to visit with us.  It took them 2 1/2 days to travel down by car - a fantastic effort on anyones part, but especially when the driver is 83 yrs!  They arrived on Sunday and left to return home yesterday morning (Thursday).  So for family and friends who know us all - here is a bit of what we did............

The rest of Sunday was spent with them just relaxing here at home and getting them settled into a little cabin we had booked for them just up the road from us.  The one thing I really hate about here is that we don't even have room to put in an extra bed for visitors (and with Pete up getting ready for work at 4am each morning, it just isn't fair to have people "sleeping" in the lounge & getting woken up at those times!!. 

Pete and Stace went off in the boat crayfishing in the attempt to catch a crayfish for them to see and have a taste of....... Success!!!  They managed 1 solitary crayfish of the legal size, which we cooked up the next day for them

Monday we headed off on a little road trip - First stopping in at a local olive grove where Heather enjoyed tasting the various olive oils and dressings,   then we headed to Yarrawonga (17kms from here and our closest town), where they enjoyed looking at the Lake Mulwala and checking out the weir on the Murray River before we had some morning tea in the township.

Then it was down some country roads, including the occassional detour when crossings were out due to the past flood waters, down some dirt roads to head towards the family winery in Taminick.  Booth Broths Winery, now knows as Taminick Cellars,  is where Pete grew up.  It was founded by his great grandfather and has been in the family for close to 110 yrs, and is now being run by his cousin and his son.

They were amazed by the history of the place and Dad had lots of questions to satisfy his curiosity about how they pick grapes by machine and such.
Then it was time to head to Glenrowan..... just a few kilometers away.  Dad happened to mention that it looked like bushranger country LOL...... Well, he was right - this was the area where Ned Kelly used to like to roam around...... and Dad was thrilled to bits to find that out as we entered Glenrowan and he saw the statue of Ned Kelly!

Tuesday dawned lovely and sunny and we enjoyed spending the morning sitting on the verandah in the sunshine.  Heather had a great time on Sunday evening looking through my bookshelves and finding a book to read while she was here - and Tuesday morning with the lovely warm sunshine proved to be just the time to sit and relax and read, while Dad and I headed around the garden checking out all the plants.  He is a fantastic gardener and so I was after all the advise for my garden that I could get while he was here!  A trip to Rutherglen (28kms away) to get a few things for dinner in the afternoon proved to be of lots of interest to them.  They enjoyed a walk up the historic shopfront street, and a look at the historic water tower.

Dad and Pete spent quite a bit of time looking through his camera checking out photos from various excavation work around the district.  Scruffy throughly enjoyed the extra attention he received from Heather and Dad! 
Wednesday was my 50th birthday and one of the biggest reasons for them making the trip.  We decided we would have a day travelling around other parts of our region........... so we went through Boorhaman (where they got to see our old house), and headed to Beechworth where we had morning tea in the famous Beechworth Bakery

And below is Woolshed Falls at Beechworth.......

Then headed over to Myrtleford , stopping on the way at one of the lookouts.  Heather fell in love with the view here.........

But it was time to head to Myrtlford and have our picnic lunch........

That night was our dinner out to celbrate my 50th. 

We had a great time, and all too soon it was time to wave goodbye as they set off to drive back home.   We miss you guys already xox

I'm loving it!

I can hardly believe that the first week of my holidays is coming to an end. The week has flown by, but I've enjoyed each of my days.  I have to say, it is a lovely feeling waking up and going to bed knowing you don't have to head to work the next day!  It's giving me time to relas, destress and work on getting my home nice and clean, projects finished, started and worked on, and time for pampering as well.  With my birthday (the big 50) arriving next week, I've been blessed with a couple of early gifts....... the first was from my work mates - this was how I found my desk on the last day before my holidays started!  They gave me a great afternoon tea and a wonderful gift - a basket full of bulbs - 75 in all and a great variety.  I'm planning on digging a separate garden for them to let them become a lovely showpiece.  Thanks girls (and boys).  Scruffy loves sniffing flowers and sitting in them, so he had a great time checking out the bulbs LOL

Stace decided she would also give me an early pressie from her, Pete, Scruffy and our bird Cliff....

A gift card to have my hair done, including a pamper package, coffee and chocolated,,,,,,,,, Very Nice!

So this was the Before photo

And this is the after photo with all the scraggly ends gone

This is the after back view

This week has also seen me doing some deep cleaning as we head into winter, I want the house cleaned out well, with all the dusting done, furniture has been moved, and oiled down and more decluttering and sorting has been going on, with things finding proper homes and new places to "live".  And then of course there has been time for the purchase of more wool and yarn and getting stuck into a few projects.  I'll check in with more photos next time.

Shades of Autumn

It's Autumn here in the North East of Victoria, and I thought I might share a little of it with you...... some from our little homestead and some from the area..........

I love this tree in our yard, how it changes with the seasons

Morning Fog  (see the new garden I'm building in the foreground)



Lambs in some of the paddocks in the area

Time to gather wood supplies for the fire to keep warm through winter!

Apples (Pink Lady's)  fresh from the orchard

Hay on the Move - a normal part of traffic around here .