Scatterbrained

Yesterday was Australia Day

I am in the habit of doing my blog posts first thing in the morning. I usually write about the day before but I am thinking about changing it and doing it of a night time instead. Yesterday of course was Australia Day. We had planned a day BBQing on our river bank and having some friends over but Scott's fishing partner really wanted to go on a practise fish for a big fishing competition in a couple of weeks, and to tell you the truth, all the summer socialising is wearing me out a bit.

So I happily gave up our Australia Day plans so he could go fishing. Instead, I took the kids fishing for trout on our river bank. We almost caught a big eal but no trout. Luckily Scott caught some fish which we had for dinner along with the traditional BBQ sausages.

After the fishing it was swimming and play time at our favourite spot on the river.

I went to Launceston the other day and bought four more books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. This one of course is number three!

The kids got naked and decided to to some nude construction building. They dismantled the steps I made to the water on New Years to make an underwater bridge.

 

Then they dismantled the bridge and made a bathtub in the middle of the river.

So we had a nice relaxing Australia Day this year and we woke up this morning to find this, AT LAST!

Clover, the last of my cows to give birth finally had.

Sometime early this morning. We didn't think this one was ever going to come out. Poor Clover could hardly walk.

 

Now there is only one more baby left to be born and this one will be the owner of 'The Secret Project' I am still yet to finish.

Some of the other creative things I have been doing lately are making pineapple vinegar.

If you want to try this go here.

I have started crocheting scarves for my market stall. Not that anyone would buy a scarf in this weather but on a cold Sunday morning at the Evandale Markets a scarf would come in handy if you don't have one already so I am stocking up.

 

This is a little Valentines Day present for Scott. For his phone.

I made it out of thrifted recycled wool yarn which I dyed myself.

I finished another vampire. This one is The Vampire Le Feu.

I spun this wool,

into this yarn.

I'm crocheting this into a scarf as well.

I have a lot of unfinished projects I need to get on with so that is what I'll be doing for the rest of this week. We have an overnight birthday camping party this weekend so I might take a bunch of crocheting along for that.

Jump higher so I can get a cool in the sky shot!

Yesterday I made a little outfit for Ruby out of a pair of my old Thai fisherman's pants which I bought when I was pregnant with Dustin but only wore a couple of times because they never stayed right. They had big wide legs and were made out of a light cotton. I thought of Ruby because she likes pink and I whipped up this very simple skirt and top set and we headed out to the trampoline for a photo shoot.

I love rick rack. I have it in many colours :)

This little outfit probably wont fit her next year but at least it will a cool fun little thing to put on after a bath on a hot afternoon or for an evening walk on the beach this summer.

Dustin wanted his own photo shoot even though he didn't get any new clothes yesterday.

Hay season is over for another year

All of our hay has been cut, baled and put in the shed. We have enough hay for two year at our current amount of stock. We are not selling any of this years hay because we want to make sure we have enough for our animals until we finish putting in crops.

The potatoes in the other paddocks are growing nicely. They are at new potato stage so we can start digging some up. We officially don't need to buy potatoes anymore.

Now we need some rain to freshen things up.

This last photo was taken by Ruby from the window of the truck. This is my favourite hay photo.

Pincushion!

Yesterday I did some more work on The Secret Project but I got distracted because I needed a pin cushion so I made one out of scraps from The Secret Project. Then I made a whole bunch more. They are not stuffed yet but I thought I could sell them for a few dollars at my market stall. At least they will add a little bit of interest and colour.

Flinders Island Day 4 (cont)

Scott was really impressed with this river crossing. He wanted me to take a photo of it because he was amazed at the work put into making something that is mostly going to be covered in water or mud. The fresh water on Flinders Island is very scarce and what there is doesn't look very appealing.

The answers to some questions

Fleasha asked "What is dampa?" It is Aussie bread traditionally cooked over a camp fire. You can cook it in the oven as well. Like Sam said it is nice cooked with cheese although I haven't put sage in it before and now I have to because cheese and sage dampa sounds great. What kind of cheese do you use Sam?

The thing about dampa is it is only really good warm out of the oven or camp fire with loads of butter. After that it goes a bit dry but maybe you can find a better recipe. I'll make another dampa this week and post my recipe on my blog.

Sandra asked "How big is the island and what is on it?" (about Flinders Island) I am not really sure how big it is. It has 450km's of dirt and sealed roads, I remember that. Probably the best way to understand how big it is is to look it up on Google Earth. We spent a lot of time doing that before we went away. I wonder if I can save a Google Earth pic and post it to my blog?

Most of the island is farm land. There are a couple of very small towns with not a lot in it. The island only has two pubs. Loads of cows and sheep. Most of the island is quite dry. There is a national park in the south of the island.

The population is 850. The people are pretty... basic? They live simple and uncomplicated lives. They were all very friendly and welcoming.

Tracey asked "How on earth did they get the rope up that high?" (About the swing from this post.) Can you believe someone climbed all the way up that tree! Jesse has a tree trimming and removal business and one of his employees has a bit of a talent for tree climbing!

These photos were taken before we went on holidays. The potatoes were coming along nicely and the hay was ready for cutting. The two freishan cows, Willow and Clover, are due to give birth this month. Probably later in the month but I am keeping a close eye on them now.

Here is yesterdays 'creativeness' for the day.

It is a tea towel I began embroidering while on holidays. Almost finished now.

Jasper is here!

Have you ever seen a cuter nose? We picked him up yesterday from The Tasmanian House of Fibre and got to meet all the cute bunnies. Dustin and Ruby especially loved the big white German angoras and want to get one of those as well, and we just might too. Sue was very helpful answering questions and letting us cuddle the bunnies and she has a bunch of adorable alpacas too.

I should have taken some photos of the alpacas but I was too excited about the rabbits. She has them in all the colours. Jasper's dad is particularly pretty he kind of looks like a seal point siamese only prettier.

We love our baby bunny though. His colour is called 'smoke'. He is currently in his cage in my craft room getting used to the new sounds and smells. We are trying not to bother him too much and let him rest after the long drive home yesterday although I did take him out this morning for a quick photo shoot.

I have been sticking to my everyday creativeness in small amounts over the last two days. I picked up a little scarf I started making for Dustin a few weeks ago and worked on it a little in bed on the 2nd and along the way on the drive to collect Jasper yesterday in the car.

The green yarn is mulberry silk and the brown is a mohair blend and I am crocheting the two together. It seems a little strange crocheting a scarf in the middle of summer but these yarns are light and I want to have a few little projects like this ready for Dustin's birthday in March.

Today I might get the scarf finished and also work on a project I started while I was away on Flinders Island, which brings me to day 2 of our holidays :)

These are all the fish Scott and Jesse caught that day. We had fish to eat for the rest of our holidays and some we froze to bring home.

Happy New Year

Our new years eve party just officially finished at lunch time today, January 2nd! The kids and Scott are laying on the couch eating fresh raspberries from our neighbours raspberry patch and watching cartoons. I just downloaded our pictures from the river party which was a huge success. I think it might become a tradition here at Willowdale.

Here is a photo of Dustin and I especially for Sandra. I had to alter it a bit because my face was really red, a little sunburnt with messy hair and no make up so I put us in sepia! I am afraid that is the best I can do until I am more decent (blow dried and fancied up).

Just after we lit the fire I heard on the radio they were talking a total fire ban. We had a fire pump though and we were on the river bank on our own property and there was no wind so we kept a close eye on the fire and it was all OK.

Scott had the great idea to take the trampoline down. It was a hit!

Ruby was so happy to have some girls to play with.

Men and boys hung around talking shit and drinking beer... and milk.

We had such a great time. Thanks for coming you guys!

 

It was really HOT!

The river came in handy :)

The dogs had a great time as well.

This was the view from my deck chair.

 

The potato have grown a lot since we've been away. We had to drive down through them on the little track and they are almost as tall as my car.

That's my car. Edward Cullen isn't the only one who drives a silver Volvo!

 

We had a bit of flying fox action!

A bit of contemplation.

A lot of great food. Our friends across the river brought over a couple of legs of lamb and our camping friends brought over their woodfired spit roasting thingie.

Mel caught a trout!

 

There was the usual marshmallow toasting.

 

There was a nice cool breeze down by the river.

Someone made a swing.

OK! One more thing! Remember my new years resolution was to do something creative everyday. Well the party went longer than we expected however I did remember a collaborative creative project I did with Nigel yesterday! We made a dampa! I mixed it up and kneaded it into a nice little ball and gave it to Nigel who put it in the camp oven and cooked it to perfection. So dampa is creative and that counts right?

Five more sleeps!

Or maybe four depending on which boat we depart on. This is where we are going.

1. Red lichened rocks, 2. Sawyers Bay, 3. Flinders Island Tasmania, 4. Flinders Island Tasmania, 5. Castle Rock, 6. Planter Beach East Coast, 7. Castle Rock Marshall Bay, 8. Sawyers Bay to Mt Strezlecki, 9. Emita Sunset, 10. Settlement Beach, Wybalenna, 11. DSC_0590, 12. Killecrankie

Scenes of summer

Dandelions in the hay paddock.

Potatoes and hay growing nicely.

The view from my letterbox to the south.

View of our farm, Willowdale.

View from our letterbox to the North West.

Potatoes, hay and current grazing area for cows and Sneezy (the ram).

I cant wait to go on holidays :)

1. Fresh and Alive, 2. Beach macro composition 2, 3. She talks to angels, 4. The Beach Of Lonely Branches, 5. For the wind that had died in the ropes..., 6. clouds with blues, 7. Bleached Coral Garden, 8. Jan van Gent, 9. Glass on Beach - Full Circle, 10. Glass Wall Wave (Sea Sculpture No.6), 11. The Town of Monterosso al mare, Italy, 12. Gracious power, 13. basking in the light, 14. Gilded Dunes, 15. Tiny Shell Collection Bottle Charm 2, 16. 2 stones and a starfish