Another incredible week in Cygnet....

Sunday and the sun is streaming in when I get up this morning...(a later start today)

  

After some washing, breakie and a potter...we go up to Red Velvet for morning coffee, tea, hot chocolate-with a T.. (and Tom trawled the red velvet lounges for change left behind)..

Market day today and its the usual social event of the week with lots of people out and about on such a fabulous sunny morning..

We open and sell a number of books and some medicines too... John even makes up a cream for a lady..It's such a wonderful atmosphere today..

We closed up about 1-ish and went in to Hobart. I wanted to go to Spotlight...and the boys ended up at their favourite haunt...

It was an amazing afternoon...such a warm sunny day..

We wandered back to the car via the Parliament House Lawns

...the boys picking up Chestnuts on the way..

A stunning evening over the paddocks

...and we enjoy a quiet meal and usual routines.

Monday and its a foggy morning. As I head out for my walk it is already beginning to clear..

By the time I'm back home the blue sky is appearing. After breakie I give the shop windows a clean while the boys have a reading session..then off to school and the working day begins.

We have a really busy one today...lots of orders..

I take a break about lunchtime to walk the first load of parcels up the street.. (a good opportunity to get out in the lovely warm day.. must be in the 20's today)

Then back to the shop for a quick bite and continue with orders..

During the afternoon we notice out our window the artwork from the exhibition in th Town Hall is slowly being picked up.. We watch the barbed wire horse being loaded up...a tricky business.

By mid afternoon we are up to date, so I drove around to Kate(the breadmaker's) place to buy some more flour from her Garden Pantry.(5 mins down the road).

Such a lovely view across the back paddock at home.

John makes up a special order Betula Cream .

After school Tom has a bit of a scooter around town then a read before we walk him down to Scouts.

It's a beautiful warm evening...

I got on with some sewing while John spent time in the shop and garden...

We enjoyed watching the evening light over the paddocks as we had dinner..

Tuesday and promises to be another warm one..(we'll enjoy it while it lasts as Friday's predicted top is 13). The sunrise is spectacular today giving a wonderful light show during my walk.

John starts the day by attempting  to make a soft soap...an ingredient we use for Bath Milks..

He is delighted with the results..One less product we have to buy in..

The day is fairly quiet order wise...but we have some lovely customers through.

Author James Boyce who wrote "Van Diemens Land"  was in the shop and had a pleasant chat with John.  I met a woman who's dear friend Madeleine Winch wrote "Come by Chance"...a delightful children's book that the girls and I loved to read...such a gentle story and wonderful illustrations..

We finally receive our Certificate of Registration...Yay..

The day was not as hot as predicted, but warm none the less..

Spent the afternoon labelling Copper oint and Betula oint that John made yesterday.

Tom was late in from school as he went to after school Ball Games activity...a happy chappy when he got home.

The clouds are gathering as a change is on the way...

John and Tom do a bit of re-potting out the back while I prepare dinner. (well Tom plays with the windmill he made at the Folk Festival)

There wind is picking up but it is still a really warm evening. Gorgeous Autumn glow on the hills..

I do a bit more on Jess' dress while the boys have a read.

Wednesday and the wind continued throughout the night. We wake to another spectacular sunrise and 22 degrees. We hear on the news that this is the last hurrah of summer as the winds will swing around later today and the long range forcast is colder weather...(that's ok 'cause we have our wood pile ready!!)

I make a sourdough loaf before work...

The boys start reading a Harry Potter book..

As I head over to kitchen class the sky darkens....and soon the rain pelts down and the temperature drops...

We make chutney today...a learning curve for me as I haven't made it before.. I ask Roy our chef for the recipe so I know what to do when my stuidents arrive...he says he has a great recipe..gets the book to show me ..then says ..oh but its in Dutch!  Roy is one of these chefs that cooks by feel...great if you know what the ingredients are!!

Anyway , we had fun. I got some tips from Felicity (another volunteer) who was working with a group opposite me.

My group's ingredients were onion, chilli, ginger, squash from the garden, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds, vinegar and brown sugar... Ended up really tasty...bottled it up to sell at some point to raise money for the garden project.

One group made chocolate beetroot muffins...which seemed to go down well with the class.

Back at the shop and not much is happening.

As the day progresses we get more orders coming in and customers too.

Tonight the TSO (Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra) is in town... we watch to roadies unload gear into the Town Hall next door.

After school, Tom gets on with homework then I make a batch of Apricot Oat cookies for a school fundraising stall to be held Friday morning outside IGA. (for "Relay for Life" a Cancer fundraising event).

We have early dinner and open the shop before the TSO performance...no customers but some interest in the window display. I decide to go to the concert. The boys are happy to stay home and read. Its quite a wonderful experience to see such a world renown Orchestra playing on the stage of the Cygnet Town Hall...quite amazing to mingle with the world class conductor Marko Letonja as he wanders about before the performance..really becomes an intimate experience. The Mozart Clarinet Concerto was particularly lovely...(the other works of Hayden and Dvorjak not so familiar).

And the beauty of it all was that I could nip home for a cuppa at interval..

Thursday and the day is cooler...John has an early visit to the dentist...so Tom and I bake a chocolate cake for the fundraising stall tomorrow.

Tom heads off to school and I get on with some orders that have come in.

Before too long John is back and we continue with work tasks...

There is action in town.with Graeme the butcher getting his Bendigo Bank  machine installed.

Jane and Phil across the road at the School House Coffee shop are getting new signage done by our mate Tim...who did our signage..

We have some tourists through who enjoy the shop and buy books and creams etc..

After school we jump into the car and head to Hobart so Tom can take part in a 'workshop' at Fuller's Book shop...run by Susannah..someone...who writes the BoyVSBeast books. (Tom discovered this series at the library at school and really enjoys them. He seemed to enjoy the session..while John looked at the books and I did a quick flit to Spotlight.

We had a walk along the wharf to take a closer look at two interesting vessels ...the Sea Shepherd and The Endeavour..

Dinner at Mures (family-style seafood place) where we bumped into Susan, Michelle and Elise from Cygnet Cobweb...small world.

Then a walk back through the Parliament house gardens where we picked up lyme tree seeds...

We drove to Fitzroy Gardens (a beautiful garden on the way out of town) to look for horse chestnuts (Aesculus ).

We harvested loads of them...Tom delighted in this process..humming away as he found another bundle on the ground..

Tom also enjoyed climbimg a wonderful Oak tree (with Dad's help)

Then drove to Cascade Factory where we looked for Sweet Chestnuts...only found a few.

Then home and snuggle down for the night...a chill in the air.

Friday and BANG...winter is upon us!!. I am the only one out and about this morning...apart from the garbo man.. and I don't stay out too long either!!.

I help Tom across the road with cakes for stall today..then back to work to fill orders that have come through the night. John has been up early,as usual, potentising and getting a start on the orders.

The sun makes an occasional appearance this morning ,but the temperature remains in the low teens..

We decide its time to light the first 2012 fire....so cosy..

We have some really interesting encounters this morning. Ros from Hobart calls in to ask if we will put up a poster about a plant-dyed fabric exhibition at the Botanical Gardens... She has extensive knowledge of Tassie plants and has worked at the UTAS Herbarium...she spent quite a bit of time going through our plant album advising John of where we might find various plants we need...a delightful woman..

Windsor Dobbin our local wine critic was in to buy some of our products. (I did a Winter Remedies display for the window and he came in on ther absis of what he'd read...good one!!) He writes travel, food and wine reviews for some of the Tassie papers and magazines.

Orders came throughout the day...we were happy to be tucked up inside with our work as the day got greyer and colder. The shop exudes such warmth with the fire going and the red foor and books etc...very inviting for passers-by.

Our first delivery of new books arrived today. John had placed an order for mostly Tassie books earlier in the week.. Quite exciting to price them and display them around the shop.

I  decided to have a Lotus Eaters Soy Chai...Yummy treat on a cold day!!

Sadie (Evans) was there too and we had a chat about our boys (Hedley is about 3 yrs now) She said she intended coming into the shop afterwards to do a bit more of her Uni assignment..(She is doing a secondary teaching degree part time).

I raced over to school with umbrellas at 3 as the rain began to fall again..Tom was very glad to see me..

He and John got to work preparing to process the Aesculus as I went up to the Post.

When I got back we had some people in the shop browsing and Sadie was set up in one of the lounge chairs quietly working away on her laptop..nice

Tom delighted in the Aesculus processing...magic.

It looked wonderful when bottled up..and we leave it for about 10 days before filtering.

Before Sadie left she mentioned she'd noticed we had Matthew's " Winter on the Farm" book in the window. She offered to see about getting us some copies at a good rate as Matthew gets author discount...we naturally said we'd love that...(and I asked if he could sign them too!!) She is such a lovely person..

As the afternoon cooled off I decided to do a roast chicken dinner and Apple Crumble dessert...both well received by the boys!!

A cosy evening snug inside...as the rain fell heavily.

Saturday and its cool again.. Tom is keen as ..to get to sailing. (and surprisingly it is still on despite the weather)  I do some washing, make a chicken soup and set the fires again while John drops Tom down to the Sailing club. Then he and I go up to Red Velvet for a morning coffee and read of papers.

Back home and I potter while John continues with the papers..

By 11ish we decide to head down to see how Tom is going...and just as the next bout of rain begins...we find him back on shore and ready to head home to a hot shower...cold but still smiling.

Snuggling by the fire....

Hot chips and Harry Potter...a great combo...

We took a drive in to Huonville and went to a secondhand shop..looking for old venetians that John can use for plant tags in his pots...found some..

We also noted quite a fall of snow on Sleeping Beauty...

Then to the Re-Use Shop where we picked up some books, pots and glass sheets to improvise a glass house..for seedlings.Tom enjoyed himself on the gym equipment!!

We drove to Franklin to see what was going on with Focus on Franklin Festival,... a few tents on the oval with this and that...nothing remarkable..

Then home for some toast and tea..yum.

Spent the afternoon pottering after a snooze..

Lovely Autumn evening at home..