Home again, home again ...jiggety jig

A fabulous time was had by all in Sydney...so many delights....bookshops, opera, seeing dear friends and family, wedding talk,wave pool at the aquatic centre and much much more...no wonder I hit a wall when we got home... (Thanks John,for holding the fort while I stayed in Sydney a few days longer)


Good omen..our table no. is the chosen date of Jess & Aaron's wedding Jan 2013

Lots of orders, catch up work and customers to attend to on Thursday and Friday...by Saturday my head was reeling so had a very restful day...(but did manage to do 2 loads of washing and a tidy up of Tom's bedroom...which made me feel a bit better!!)

Tom processes Carduus marianus from our garden

 

Dinner at Peppermint Bay Thurs evening...yum

Saturday evening we took a walk to Burton's reserve and come back via the  back paddock...the Blackberries in our lane are beginning to fruit.

 

So Sunday arrived a beautiful clear day.

After tackling a few chores we decided to take a drive to Richmond..

Had a very pleasant day poking around the area..had a yummy morning tea..

the shops were dismal (mostly not so cheap imported trinkets...) but the buildings and history of the area is quite wonderful.
We all enjoyed visiting a National Trust home Oak Lodge...really fascinating and the convict built Richmond Bridge is magnificent.

(Mind you..Tom will probably tell you the lolly shop was pretty good)
Home to have a snooze then spent time ordering the books in the shop...roughly alphabetical now..and we have a craft,children, poetry, short story, biography, Australiana,Tasmanian sections.

Monday and its a warm one coming up  (27 degrees..a scorcher for here)...nice and cool in the shop.
Lots of orders to do and a Calendula cream to make fill and pack.  Customers drfting in throught the day...sold a few books from the window.
After work we took the kayaks to Randalls' Bay ...really beautiful out on the water...and a cool breeze blowing for John on shore. (Thanks John for getting us to the water..I know you hate the heat)

Home to dinner on the back 'terrace' in the cool breeze ...lovely.

Tuesday and the boys headed to Hobart to do some chores and some Lego shopping....yes more lego!!!.There is always just another REALLY GOOD ONE!!. Tom spends hours amusing himself building all sorts of fabulous creations while we work in the shop... so I guess its his equivilant to 'holiday camp'
Another warm one today in the high 20's...Pretty quiet around town. Quite a few orders to do though which is good....and the Calendula cream is labelled now too!! (another good job when things are quiet).
That afternoon felt quite hot. Tom and I drove to Huonville so I could apply to transfer my driver's licence to a Tassie one..
When we got back the day had cooled off so we opened up the flat and shop doors to let a lovely cool breeze through the building.

On Wednesday we pottered through more orders and Ryan and Dave came over to assess the remaining ' to do' list of finishing off jobs throughout the building.
Tom had a great time roaming about town and ended up at the school playing with a girl (Isabelle) who will be in his class this year..John and I had to go looking for him a couple of times as he was away so long we were getting concerned...but he was just having fun.
Wednesday evening there was lovely light over the hills out the back... I never tire of looking at the wonderful changing colour as the light fades over the hills..

Thursday we made a very early start at 5.30am to head to the midlands to collect seeds...Hypericum, Onopordon and Chichorium.

We enjoyed breakfast at Campbell Town at the Red Bridge Cafe then drove north of Westbury to spend a few hours at the Australia Day Rodeo on a property called Harveydale... It was alot of fun...There  were working dog trials too..

As we haded back we stopped at the Westbury Maze and Tom enjoyed leading us through to the centre..(we snuck through the hedge to exit faster though!!)

We also stopped in at a Second Hand bookshop and John had a poke around...not much there of interest.
We drove south via back roads to Campbell Town and stooped to revive with a coffee break. Tom enjoyed a run in the park. I'm always conscious of the expanse of sky when we are up here...the ever changing cloud formations are amazing..
Continued on our way stopping at Kempton to explore...(too us about 10 mins to see what there was there!!...now we know)

Drove to outskirts of Hobart to harvest Cichorium seeds then on to Hobart and had early dinner at Mure's Seafood..( Tom's favourite place as they do Chicken nuggets and Chips in a basket!!)  It was significantly colder in Hobart compared to up north of the island!!

A good day had by all...but we were glad to be back home and didn't take long for us to be looking for our beds...

Friday was beautiful sunny one ..

As I walked down towards the water I noticed several groups of mainly Asian young people making their way towards Burton Reserve...I followed them and found they were in fact going to work at a fruit packing factory on the other side of the park.. There was much activity and chatter as they all arrived for the day's work..

John was very excited to have found a White Tail Spider in the shop's kitchen sink on Wedneday night. (We have had enquiries re a homoeopathic remedy for their bite).
He began processing this morning...will leave it to sit in alcohol/water mix for a while before potentising. We have been researching info re the most appropritae potency for remedy...an interesting process.
The day was spent doing orders, greeting customers, making a Rose Day cream, adjusting the Children's book section...

Tom did a few rounds around town to see what was happening...reported back that there is painting etc going on at school.

After work , John and I had a snooze as we were both feeling the effects of our long day yesterday..
Meanwhile Tom got busy with another Lego inventon....amazing Alien spacecraft...

After dinner, John got on with filling a Rose cream he'd made today then had a reading sessionwith tom. They are thoroughly engrossed in "The Lord of the Rings"...

I did a circuit walk up to Guys Rd across the Golf course and down the hill back via Port Cygnet...beautiful to be out in the peaceful evening..

Saturday we awoke to mist decending over the hills..

We watched as it moved further down towards us engulfing the view... wonderful

We set out for Hobart  where I did some 'wedding dress' research at Spotlight ...and enjoyed a couple of hours doing the 'girl' shops. Tom and John trawled the Markets and book shops.

The mist lifted to a sparkling day

We met up and had some refreshing fruit salad for lunch ..sitiing in the Parliament House Lawns area under a shady tree.

Made our way home and had a lovely afternoon reading the paper and chilling out...

We will open the shop tomorrow as it is Market day here..

There is also a Car rally event running over the weekend in the area.. (We saw some of the vintage car entrants driving back towards town as we drove home).. Might see some more coming through town tomorrow...

Tom is looking forward to viewing "The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe " tonight!!....

 

Our First Cygnet Folk Festival......then the Carnival is over

Wow...what an amazing weekend...
John and I had been feeling somewhat anxious about how we would handle the Folk Festival crowds and our lovely shop.... and instead we experienced an overwhelmingly joyous weekend.
Saturday dawned clear and there was was much activity around town...from the camping ground to Loongana Park where the market was setting up for the day.. Tom met me as I returned from my morning walk and we went up to see what was happening in the Park...

Back home for breakfast then Lucy and I headed over to Carmel hall to do a Cajun dance workshop..(a bit like a slower form of rock and roll...jitterbug/ jive)
John and Tom did a bit of a walk around to see what was happening and called in to the hall.
We did a partner swap...Lucy dancing with Tom and I danced with Ned (our friend the boat/table builder...) Great fun!! John went back to open up the shop.
By the time I finished the dance workshop we had a shop full of customers browsing the books etc...

We had a lovely flow of customers throughout the day....sometimes one or two ...other times big groups... Sometimes looking to buy...other times just sitting and enjoying a rest in the space...wonderful. We received many compliments on the renovation....so many remarking on the lovely welcome atmosphere in the shop...John and I were so delighted with the interactions we had with so many wonderful people over the weekend....Making new connections and amazingly...meeting face to face..some of our long term customers who came from Vic for the festival..

John and I took turns to go out and see different things throughout the day.
The atmosphere in the shop was terrific as we could observe all that was taking place...buskers out the front of our shop(we'd open the doors wide to hear the music)...people coming and going from the venues around us

Anne Foale (St James' Principal) dropped in to see the shop for the first time... I gave her the full tour and we had a lovely converstaion. She grew up in the area and has known the Green Inn from way back... We got to talking about what she had done over Christmas and she mentioned she had spent the day at her brother Paul's place at Randall's Bay.. (we had walked past the house in the bush on Christmas afternoon on our walk to Mickey's beach)...The penny dropped when she said that Paul had built the house recently to return to the area he grew up, with his parner Bob... (Bob Brown)
I went over to St James Church (being used as a venue...just beautiful) to hear Penny Larkins & Carl Panuzzo..simply spinetinglingly (is that a word?) wonderful.
John recommended I walk through the market at Loongana Park and bring back berries and icecream for 2!! ... Yummy.

So many fabulous musicians playing in the street.

Tom had such a great time wandering about on his own or with Lucy...enjoying the activities in the Children's Festival area and the park..

The afternoon was delightful..a couple asked if we'd like some quiet music played in the shop...we readily agreed and enjoyed a very lovely atmosphere.

Lucy and I set off at about 3.45pm to walk down to the Sailing Club for the Slipway Shanty and Sea song session....its a fair walk and we passed many others heading that way too. We enjoyed a cool drink from the bar as we sat outside listening and singing along to the shanties...

When we arrived back, John had closed the shop and was having a snooze..Tom was playing lego.
We relaxed in our loungeroom to the sounds of the headlining act "My Friend The Chocolate Cake" concert in the Town Hall next door!!
I made some Chicken wraps for us for dinner and we all went out to the grassy hill in front of the church to see a circus performance....but they didn't show up ...so we walked up to Loongana Park and caught the brilliant Brazillian drumming group 'Chicada'...(and had icecreams & berries for dessert!)

The boys made their way back home..finding a couple of buskers set up out front of shop....

 ...while Lucy and I went to the Scottish Ceildh...(haven't danced like that for 10 years....) FANTASTIC FUN!!
It was an incredibly warm night and we were so hot after 2 hours of fast dancing we decided to stop at Carmel hall and caught the end of the 'Sweet Jean'(Folk) performance then heard some of Andy Baylor's Possum stole the Pumpkin (Creole/Cajun)....then we came home showered and enjoyed the last 2 performances in the Town Hall from the comfort of our home..(My Friend the Chocolate cake  again and Madre Monte (Latin/Reggae)
Sunday and Lucy and Tom joined me for my morning walk.. We went around to Martin's Point so Lucy could see another aspect of Port Cygnet...lots of camper's at Burton's reserve.

The weather was looking very threatening by the time we got back.

We got to work cleaning windows, sweeping and washing the front path and vacuuming the shop as the rain came down...

Within half an hour, the sun was out and the day just got better and better....how lucky for the market people in the park.
Ned called in at about 8 to drop off one of the stools he is making to go around the table he made...it looks beautiful.

Lucyand I made our way over to the Contra dance workshop at 9am and the boys were going to a themed presentation about radio in the 1930's..with songs/slides and fun put on by The New Holland Honey Eaters..

After another great dance session, I came over and opened the shop.
Again another wonderful day of customers and activites up the street and outside our doors bringing us much joy.

I went over to the church to hear The Rainmakers(Family harmonising singing group I have heard at the Nationals)..  fabulous.
There was a Festival Parade at 2.30pm that was brilliant. Tom had a lovely time following the parade with Lucy..the parade stopped at different places and had mini performances/presentations..

We closed the shop at about 5.30 and had a bit of a relax before Lucy and I went to the Drill Hall for the Pan-Celtic Ceilidh...more enjoyable and varied dancing.
The boys did a final walk around looking in at concerts and the park etc (They even looked in at our dance but Lucy and I were too busy dancing to notice!)

Lucy had dropped in to various venues over the afternoon ...and saw a range of performances...

After our dance, Lucy and I waited to get into the final Festival Cabaret (it was so packed we had to wait for someone to leave)..Such a great mix of festival performers and silly skits...with Bob Brown being a good sport as he was drawn into the skit... he even sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to the Festival (celebrating 30 years) to the delight of the audience..
We came home about 11pm tired but really happy. Being right in the Festival was the most wonderful experience..

Monday morning and the weather had turned...The winds had picked up... I decided against a morning walk...feeling a bit Festival-lagged..and there was washing to do and already a few orders to get on with in the shop.
Thomas said he felt unwell and soon sure enough...he was demonstrating his unwellness..(poor little fellow). I think all the anticipation and excitement over the weekend just wore him out. He had a pretty miserable day being sick a few times and feeling very uncomfortable... Finally he slept for a few hours which gave him some relief...
Not much entertainment for Lucy...but she took it in her stride..
She ended up going over to the Festival Volunteer centre and helping with the clean up for an hour or so..getting classrooms back in order... (thanks Luc), helped with my washing and shopping and baked a yummy apple tea cake (almost slicing the top her thumb off in the process...OUCH)
There was much activity as all sorts of people were busy at different venues around town, cleaning, dismantling and packing up.

 

We had some festival customers throught the shop buying books during the day.
Lucy and I took some post up the street and enjoyed the sights of Festival folk lining up for the Hobart bus ....also saw that someone had got to work early washing the volunteer T-shirts ready for next year (using the Library as a clothesline).

The weather came and went all day

After work, Lucy and I went up to Wattle Grove to have a walk around...cool but just lovely.

Back home to cook up dinner then I decided to venture out for a walk even though the weather looked dodgy...I did get a bit wet..but enjoyed my hot shower all the more!!  
There was the most brilliant rainbow stretching over the back paddocks in the early evening light.

Tuesday and Tom was feeling much better...
Lucy and I did a morning walk ...and saw an amazing number of swans....

Back home to prepare for the working day..
Tom did a bit of reading, maths etc with Lucy in the morning then they set out for a bike ride around town..

John made up the  Rose Night Cream as the ingredient we needed had finally arrived.
We had a nice mix of interesting customers through the shop during the day...mostly buying books and creams.
We had a couple of  architects who wanted to know more about the building so I did the grand tour with them...they were delighted and I enjoy showing it to them..
After work we headed to Hobart stopping for Organic Cherries on the way.
I needed to buy Tom some sandals for our Sydney visit..(no luck...not a big demand for sandals in Hobart)
We had dinner with Lucy at Raincheck Lounge in North Hobart before dropping her at the airport..(Thanks for visiting Lucy...it was fantastic having you here over the festival)
Home to a quiet read and bed ...to watch the moon rise over the hills...lovely

Wednesday...and the morning is cold and grey.
John and Tom set out at 8am to go in to Huonville to transfer licence and Subaru rego to Tassie plates...RTT is no more ....

There was continued activity happening next door in the Town Hall..packing  charirs away etc
The day was very chilly with downpours of rain every so often...even hail at one point...
We had a number of tourists through the shop and orders to keep us busy.
After finishing work around 6 ish we went for a walk....it was brisk out but very enjoyable. We did a circuit of Burton's Reserve and Tom was delighted to find two tent pegs that were left behind by Festival campers..

Stopped in the Community Garden to look at the Garlic flowers...and Tom spotted a rabbit hopping under the bushes...Peter perhaps??

Home to hearty spagetti bol for dinner ...yum....

Thursday and although cool out, the winds had abated.

We had a few orders to start the day and john made an Urtica gel during the morning.
Had some customers throughout the morning enjoying the books
Tom set to work on a lego design he had in mind...
Ryan is comng over with Arlo this afternoon to discuss the house plans in detail..then we are meeting Colin the excavator up at Wattle grove to discuss dam works...

By the time we reached home it was almost 7.30...so I opted for a Devour dinner...burgers and chips...The boys were happy with that...and so was I..

Friday and we all slept in...til 7.45!!
I had my morning exercise sweeping and mopping the floors in the flat...
A quiet morning in the shop with a few orders and customers coming through.
Tom enjoyed a morning of lego building...he has such great ideas and is creating new ships each day.
He would spend all day building if we didn't get him to take a break every now and then...

After work John had a snooze then we all went for a walk down to the water..chilly wind blowing but we were rugged up against it...good to be out in the day.
Home again for a quiet night at in readiness for our visit to Sydney this weekend....