ANZAC week

Sunday morning and its  chilly when the alarm goes at 6.15am.. there is a Book Fair at Kingston and Duncan told us to be early... Dearest John makes the lovely suggestion that he will go alone...leaving Tom and I in our cosy beds...lucky us....
Neither Tom or I go back to sleep...but its nice to lie-in a bit longer. We are up and going by 7.30..
Breakie then we get into a big clean and tidy of the flat...Tom is a great help with the mop!!
We get washing done then head out back to bike ride along the laneway and just enjoy the wonderful sunshine. Tom gets out his archery gear and has a lovely play for awhile...

John arrives home about lunch-time. We pack up a picnic of bread, salami and cheese, Anzac biscuits and apples and head up to Wattle Grove.

After lunch each wander about to different favourite spots...I begin collecting kindling ...and the weather begins to turn. The wind picks up and the grey clouds whoosh across the sky. The boys return from a tree climb with armloads of kindling to be broken up... The rain begins and we eventually abandon the last pile as we are getting too wet...(It'll be there next visit.)
We go home and John has a snooze while Tom plays lego and I read a bit.
John gets up for a Harry session and I decide to have a nap  (can't keep my eyes open).
We all head to RV for afternoon tea...cosy and yummy.
Thomas does some planting of Pine seeds he collected a few weeks ago .

We all take a delightful walk up the back road looking back into town to our place. We continue through the Golf Course and do the circuit... Such a pleasant  afternoon/ evening stroll.

John is delighted to spot some Agaricus growing under pine trees up on the Golf course...so we brig one back to process to make a fresh tincture.

Monday and its a cool day today...but a colourful start.

I get to work early to give the shop a good vacuum...and top up the window display. (John sold a few books on Saturday...noticed someone looking in the window and writing down book details so opened up and ended up selling 4 books from the window)
We have orders throughout the day and customers to keep us busy.
I bake a Rye sourdough today..its really delicious... even though a little burnt on the crust..we gobble about half the loaf in one sitting...

We sell quite a few books today. John hunts out any ANZAC related books for the window display.
Mathew (Evans) drops in and we get him to sign a few of his books that we bought through our distributor..

John prepares an new ointment ... Aloe /Urea Comp ...for cracked dry skin conditions...so I get busy creating new label.
I finish off work on updated medicines list including our new creams and powder...
I go across to get Tom (with umbrellas) as it begins to rain heavily right on school time..
We get email about the Scout sleepover tomorrow night...Tom has to bring something to share for supper/ morning tea...so he decide we should make Mars bar slice.. A fun afternoon activity when there is a chocolate bowl to lick..
Tom gets his "camp" gear together.. Cubs are sleeping over in the Scout Hall before going to the Dawn Service. Scouts are camping in tents and Venturers in Bridge Cottage. Very exciting!!
Cosy night reading last few chapters of Harry..one more to go in the morning.

Tuesday and its an early start for me. Going to Hobart to have the Prius serviced at Toyota. I head out at 6.30 as the car is booked in at 7.30...lovely drive into town through the mist at Huonville with magnificent sunrise over the Derwent as I come down the hill into town.
I arrive with plenty of time to spare and once car is dropped off I walk back into town.
I spend a pleasant morning wandering around Spotlight and various other shops..
Its a beautiful sunny day..I can't resist taking a photo of these stunning trees near Spotlight.

After some lunch I walk back to Toyota and am soon on my way again. After a short top at Officeworks I head home arriving about 2.
John has had a steady morning of work and customers...all is under control.
After school I go over to Parent/Teacher interview with Mrs Brain and Mrs Helm(Tom is at Ball games this arvo)
They are delighted with Thomas and give good reports of his work in class..
Back home and Tom does final check of gear, has his shower and is ready to go to scouts...problem is he has to wait another hour and a half before its time!!...keen as...
After some Harry and dinner we all pack up the car with his gear and drop him down to the hall..
There is already a sense of excitement as other cubs arrive. Tom shoos us off pretty smartly..
John and I return home to a quiet flat...but I have Hedwig watching over me tonight.. (Tom asked me to look after him while he is gone and placed him next to the bed.)

Wednesday and we are up at 5.30am to attend the Dawn Service. The rain is coming and going a bit so we grab umbrellas and head out the front in time to see the Scouts parading up the road followed by a police vehicle... We join in and march the rest of the way to the cenotaph.

It is a real credit to the leaders to have the group there and we stand in silence awaiting 6am...gradually more people arrive and the Service begins.Very simple and moving. There were short readings then a lone guitarist played and sang Eric Bogle's "And the band played waltzing Matilda..." The Town Band teacher Malcolm played the last post on trumpet...always brings tears to my eyes..really wonderful.
We all went back to the Scout hall for breakfast put on by Scout parents... cereal, toast, eggs ,sausages and baked beans...a great spread. I did a stint in the kitchen washing up for about half an hour... Didn't know anyone..but it felt great to be helping out.
John and I headed home about 7.30. The day is grey with a promised high of 15 degrees...
We go to RV for coffee / muffins/cake at 9am...yum..then back to the shop to pack a few orders.
The weather is still quite grey and threatening so as 11 am  approaches we note that the ANZAC service has been moved to the Town Hall instead of the Cenotaph. Veterans and families begin to arrive with wreaths, along with Army and Navy personnel.The Hobart Veterans Band strikes up and the hall begins to fill. The scout group march up the main street again from Burton's Reserve...a grand sight.
The service is quite long with many participants..Thomas and another cub scout lay their wreath at the appointed time.

After the service, the scouts head back to Burton's Reserve to have some lunch.

John  does a bit more in the shop while I make a start on making Green Tomato Relish from our lovely small crop..

John picks a very weary Thomas up from scout hall then they have a quiet read together while I finish cooking. Pleased with how it turns out.

John and I have a snooze...then the boys head to RV for takeaway coffee/Hot choc. I walk with them and continue up to the Cenotaph to look at the wreaths laid out there.

Back home and Thomas is fading fast...so we have early shower and early dinner so he can wend his way to bed .. A BIG day...

Thursday and its a cool start. Amazingly noisy this morning with masses of seagulls squawking and cows lowing loudly in response..

The working day begins and we have some orders customers and stock to unpack and price..

I have another go at a Rye sourdough and it certainly looks pretty good..not as burnt as the last one..

And it tastes good too...

I'm going over to Tom's class this afternoon to help Kim Helm with whatever she's doing...I'm going to try to do this on a regular basis each Thurs.

Had a great afternoon with Year 3/4..we started work on Dioramas with underwater theme..LOTS of blue paint all over the place...but terrific fun. Kim is delightful.(She works 2 days a week...as she has two little girls..Ava 4yrs and Abbie 10 months)And despite the fact that Abbie is a terrible sleeper, Kim always seems always bright and cheery. She says she is less tolerant of the class at times since having 2 children of her own.. and demands more of them...which I think is not a bad thing.

After school Tom gets on with his homework in the shop so I can give him a hand...Its quite lovely sitting at the table working together as customers stroll in...

Tonight's the night....I take the leap and go to Zumba!!...

Unbeknownst to me, John and Thomas creep up the Town Hall fire escape stairs and take photos...

Oh how I wish I could get in touch with my Latino side....felt stiff as a board trying to follow Claudia's fluid movements!!... (Riverdance meets Zumba!!) Not to mention getting my head around the hip, shoulder and belly shaking...

Claudia's instructions to the new comers (there were 3 of us) was.. just keep moving...so I did...more or less in the right directions at least... Talk about being out of my comfort zone!! Oh well, its good exercise...so I'll give it a go again next week..

Friday and the day starts with a lovely sunrise...

The clouds come and go throughout the day.

We have orders and customers to keep us busy...

John make a new cream from the plant roots we harvested last week.. Polygonatum.

 Melbourne therapy centre has requested it. I make up the new label.

We both complete the boxing and labelling of the 120 tubes of Viscum Eucalypti he made last week.

The sun streams into the flat in the middle of the day when I go out to make a cuppa and toast for lunch...

We have a busy afternoon with orders one after the other and customers buying books and sphagnis..

I drop in to Near and Far and buy some lovely wool i spotted in the window on my mail run.

We have a delightful Friday evening meal at Red Velvet and return home for a cosy evening by the fire.

Saturday morning and a lovely sunrise...

John takes off at 7am to go to Salamanca Market to pick up some Oak seedlings he has ordered from a bloke there. He also will go to a Nursery near Mount Wellington to seek out some Hamemalis...

Tom and I have breakie then head to the Sailing Club for last sailing session. I drop Tom off as he insists I don't have to wait around, and go home to do some sewing..But when the 9am news comes on there is a severe wind waring for southern Tas...and the gusts are picking up. I decide to jump in the car and go back to the sailing club in case they have decided to cancel today...but its all action with boats being pulled down to the water..

I enjoy a quiet morning of sewing and head back down a bit after 11am. They are slowly making their way in to shore as the rain comes over... Lots of very cold sailors today..

 I give a hand packing away Tom's boat.

We stay for awhile as Dave wants to give a final speech to the group...thanking them for participating and putting up with his yelling at them when they are on the water.. (he said it is quite stressful for him, making sure they are all OK out there and learning something too)

Home to a hot shower for Tom. John arrives in shortly after with Hamemalis and his precious Oaks.

Ryan and Arlo drop over for a visit . Tom and Arlo have such a lovely time together. Its lovely grazing on some lunch as we chat and John strips the Hamamalis of its bark..

After Ryan and Arlo leave we dropped over to visit a couple Judi and John who have a beautiful home called Fair Light just down the road.

We have a delightful tour of the house and property then enjoy a cuppa and cake in their lovely kitchen. The original house was built by John Wilson the boat builder,for his son and his new wife from Paris. An old church was later attached to the home and Judi and John have renovated the joining part of the building to create the kitchen. Thomas has a wonderful play with their Border Collie 'Charlie'. The weather turns very cold...I'm sure there must be snow on the mountain now.. (they predicted it would snow to 800mtres.)

We arrive home and put another log on the fire and I get a roast dinner and apple crumble going...Yum...and we settle in for a cosy night at home while the rain comes and goes...