Farewell 2010 .. Hello 2011!

It's here - the end of the year 2010. Another year gone and a few scant hours to get everything done that I said I would this year. The pressure, the pressure!! Then again, maybe that's asking a bit much - perhaps my to do list is just already half done for 2011!

The hot summer weather finally hit yesterday - we've had days in the last week when we've all been back in long sleeves and sweaters, but yesterday dawned clear with one of those typically bright blue summer skies, and today was no exception. We're back to opening up the house as much as we can at night and closing everything up into semi darkness (hard at our house with all our windows and glass) from about 7.30am with the ceiling fans valiantly moving the air around.

The pool comes into its own in this sort of weather and we all live in our swimsuits as we dive in, have a quick splash and then get out walking around in wet cossies and letting nature do its evaporative cooling on us :)

I've had the opportunity to get out on a few walks in the last week - they brought back to me WHY we moved out here a dozen years ago. The fresh air, the smells of the bush, the peace, being surrounded by nature, the fresh air and the togetherness that was possible in such a setting. I'll relate:

On Christmas Day while the kids were busy playing at Grandma's hubby and I escaped for a walk. Grandma lives closer to the highway than we do but being Christmas Day there was nary a car on the roads, so the distant rumbling of trucks and cars was unusually silent, there was no quad bike humming nearby, no tractor roaring away either near or in the distance (everyone who still had harvest to do had stopped for Christmas) and no fumes from any of the vehicles mentioned. Many varieties of birds were chirping, cicada's buzzing, the sun was warm but the air was cool. It felt so wonderful to be outside amid it all.

As I walked down the track in between the dry oat stalks (from harvest a few weeks ago) on an early morning walk this week, a light breeze started and the stalks rattled together, clicking and tapping, making an odd but delightful sort of music.

Last night I had to drive hubby down to collect the header from where he had been doing some late contract harvesting. The paddocks he had done were WAY down a little used track. As we entered the track there was a section of 'scrub' or 'the bush' - native trees and grasses - that we had to drive through. It had the most incredible smell - evocative of the walks I used to take myself on as a child on our farm on the north coast of NSW. When we finally got to our destination it was about 7.30pm the sun was low and not as hot, and we were able to appreciate the stunning vista before us, before turning homeward and back to reality.

So, do you all want move to the country now? :D

My girls will be 10 years old tomorrow, so whilst the rest of us reflect on the past year later tonight, they'll just be bouncy and happy waiting for 01/01/11 and their birthday! No doubt we'll be off in the land of nod by the time the clock ticks midnight - New Year's Eve parties are a thing of the past for us these days.

So, here's to a fabulous year - let's see all the new and amazing things 2011 brings to us all!

Cheers
Annette

Shows, an Airshow and now its almost holiday time!

I’ve been a very bad blogger. I’ll admit it. I’ve been going along at a 110% (which we all know is totally unsustainable) so things started to drop off. I miss being online. I feel like I’m falling behind by not keeping up to date in my fellow blogger’s worlds!

And just to compound my discomfort offline, I am off on our annual holiday in a couple of days time. YAY for the holiday – lots of reading, lazing around, beach walks, bike rides and family time. But BOO to no internet coverage!

Since I last wrote I’ve had two, two-day shows. Quirindi was the first. The show was great fun and many husbands said “oh no, not you!” but their wives smiled widely :D . The second show was at Merriwa with gorgeous weather, lots of familiar faces and ladies keen to look at and partake of the new collection. It’s so lovely to be welcomed by the ladies so warmly!

Country shows are great fun and as I’m situated in the ladies pavilion, I get to see all the local talent – the green fingered ladies with their flowers, the cooks with their cakes and preserves, the patient ladies with their needlework, embroidery, sewing and knitting, the artists with their paintings and sculpture, the budding younger artists with their drawings and the avid photographers with their creative photos. It’s always great to see the men having a go too – Merriwa always has a brave gent or two competing in the cooking arena and lots of them in the fresh produce department.

Naturally there are the horse events, cattle judging, pet parades and more. Merriwa had a ute muster and with all their big lights and myriad of aerials, I assume these young fellows are very lonely and scared of the dark! They also had a roving magician as part of the entertainment and I had my own private little show at one stage with some incredibly good card ‘tricks’ – a polished performance, I still have no idea how he did it.

We finished the weekend off with a visit to the RAAF Williamtown Airshow. The last one we attended there was in 1985 and when I told this to one young airman he made me feel incredibly old when he told me he hadn’t even been born then!

The show was quite spectacular, starting off with Matt Hall, of Red Bull Air Race fame; two incredible formation flights of aeroplanes from different eras (the poor old Neptune at the front must have been going flat out compared to the F111 in the same flight!); the last public performance from a F111 that was awe inspiring and made everyone jump when he sneaked up on us all; and a fantastic solo by an F-18 that showed so much skill and control in such a powerful machine. Of course there were many more air displays that we all enjoyed but the ones above were amazing! All in all a fantastic day, although it was soooo long with a three hour drive each way added on to a full day at the show. Truly memorable though and worth it.

So, please forgive my absence, including one for the next couple of weeks. But I promise I will think of you while I’m walking along the beach, playing games with the kids, reading a huge pile of novels and snoozing regularly … well, maybe a passing thought now and again ;)

Till next
Annette

PS. Today’s pic – this one found a new home last weekend - from my Beach Party Collection, it’s fun and bright mother of pearl shell, sterling silver and freshwater cultured pearls.