Advent begins

Sunday and there is alot happening in town today..
BUT..........
The big news I forgot to include last week is..the Middle Pub had a fire on Friday evening...caused by a power surge (they think). It's completely gutted...a real tragedy...Luckily they got everyone out though. It happened at about 10pm after a blackout...
The Top and Bottom Pubs will no doubt pick up trade as the Central was a popular watering hole for many. It was also a venue for alot of the Folk Festival events..(not sure what will happen there)

 

The marquee is up in the Community Garden for the annual Huon Crier Book Sale..

It's a double hall Christmas market today..I did a walk around town earlier and spotted lots of Christmas window displays...Lovely.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a woodchop event on at the oval area today too..
John and Tom go to the Book sale and later take a walk to see some woodchopping.Tom takes these great photos on his camera..

 

 

I mind the shop and do a round of the markets...meeting up with a number of people for a chat. (it feels so good to actually stop and talk with friends I've made over this past year..I treasure those relationships).
After a busy morning..we close up about 2-ish and get ready to go up on the hill.
We do quite a bit of pruning, then John gives the chainsaw a spin...We are thinning out the dead trees near the house site..It involves a bit of tree climbing.. Tom reckons John gets the Silver Medal and I get the Bronze...guess who gets the Gold for climbing!!

 

Tom manages a break to have a quiet read...

 

 

Can you spot John in the tree?

 

 

 

We head home and prepare for the coming week. Tom and i make a batch of chocolate Christmas puddings for my Book Club Christmas dinner tomorrow night...

We enjoy a quiet evening ..and begin our Advent ritual tonight.. Moving a star from the path to the night sky above the stable and lighting a candle to burn through the night..

 

 

Monday and we are really busy with orders all morning..

Ryan drops in to show us some new ideas he has for our house...

He shows us some great photos of his recent marathon run along the Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair track...fantastic.

The afternoon passes quickly..with customers and various other tasks..

Tom arrives in from school and take a great delight in unpacking a shipment of new toys for the shop..

 

Soon its time for Tom to go down to Scouts...

John harvests a Chamomile plant to process.

 

I prepare dinner for the boys then get ready to meet the "girls" out the front.. We are car pooling to go to Lyn's place..(only 5 minutes down the road)

We have a  fabulous night...great food and company...lots of fun and laughter...

 

Tuesday and the weather has turned quite cool again.

The showers of rain come and go..

I go down to Community Garden..and we plant out Tomatoes, Capsicum and weed the Basil patch..

The rain sends us into the polytunnel or onto the verandah every now and then..

 

It's a small group today and most have to leave a bit early so we don't have a cuppa together today.

The afternoon at the shop is very hectic with lots of orders to do...

Tom arrives in from school and we have a great time pricing the soft toys and placing them around the shop..

 

 

 

We go up to Red Velvet and join the crowd there today for Soup and bread and socialising..

John takes a nice photo with my phone that captures the atmosphere..

 

 

Next week will be the final Tuesday social for the year as Steve has decided to begin again in winter... Thomas delights in hanging out with Archie Cumper who will be coming to St James next year (Yr 7). Fabulous chickpea and veg soup tonight..and we have a lovely chat with Steve and Cate.

Home again and I get on with some more Christmas gift preparations...while the boys read.

We light the Advent candle and move Mary and Joseph another step before bed....

 

Wednesday and its grey and cold outside..

 

 

Thomas is snuggled in bed waiting for the 7am news...which is his cue to jump up and get dressed...

 

It looks as though some of the new toys(or maybe John) have had a good night in the shop!!

 

 

We have a steady morning of orders....and some customer sales too..nice.

Ryan and Dave(builder) come through at about 10.30 to do a 12 month inspection.. There are a few things that need looking into...

John is delighted to receive a package of calcium stones (gastroliths) from a Marron Farm on Kangaroo Island. We need these stones (which are found in the gut of Freshwater Crayfish) for a medicine we have been asked to make for Melbourne Therapy Centre.  Linda has done a fabulous job of tracking them down for us.Thanks Linda!!

 

The rain sets in for awhile and its feels like a good day to be indoors..

We have a mixed afternoon...customers, enquiries and paperwork to do..

I have an afternoon tea to attend at Red Velvet this afternoon. It's a farewell for four the of teachers who are leaving at the end of the year. There are a number of speeches from various teachers who highlight the achievements of each of these wonderful men..a couple of them have been at the school for 35 and 28 years...extraordinary. I found myself thinking sadly of the loss of such committed and solid men from the St James staff and what impact that will have. I'm confident that Anne (our principal) will be looking for equally extraordinary replacements...not an easy task..

When I get home, John and Tom have the fire roaring...its a nice cosy welcome on a cold evening.

We have a quiet warm evening..

 

Thursday and although fresh out..it promises to warm to a balmy 22 degrees today.

I'm not sure who is having the most fun with our new toys....this morning I find a little pup playing with one of our wooden cats!!

 

We are making plans to go on a search/harvest this weekend for Hypericum. We will probably go Sunday and drive as far north as Sheffield if we have to...will be a big day. John goes to inspect a small patch of Hypericum he saw growing up by the oval...but it is no longer there.

We had a very quiet day. Very little happening in the morning.

A few orders came after lunch.

I went over to Tom's class and we did Christmas Craft..lots of fun..

Some lovely customer/friends were in the shop during the afternoon.

Rose and her lovely mum Elke brought us some organic sweets that Saint Nicholas left this morning..so kind.

We have a quiet afternoon/ evening doing some more Christmas cooking etc before bed.

 

Friday is a cool morning..but it will be 22 again today..

Those animals have been at it again!!!

 

 

Tom is excited about today... Its the "Hello Summer" disco and BBQ tonight at school...a P&F event..

The day is sunny and although the wind picks up in the evening we have an enjoyable time in the park next to the Drill hall. The children are fed and then they go to the hall for the Disco.. (we have some very generous teachers who are running the disco so the parents can socialise outside. (There is not a huge roll-up of parents though!!...Jason and Melanie Lundon (Finn's parents) entertain us along with others performers.

 

Tom and Finn enjoy a quiet sit together...not really into the disco scene these two..

 

 

John remains at the shop until about 6ish as Nolan is doing another reading of the Tao in the shop for anyone interested. There is a small group tonight..

We decide to call it a night about 7.30 as it is getting quite cool in the wind..

 

Saturday and 32 degrees is predicted today..

The morning already feels quite mild..

We head off about 8am to Hobart.. The Huon River looks lovely as we pass Huonville..

 

We stop at Kingston to buy our Christmas Tree from the Scouts...then into town to do some Christmas shopping.

 The boys go down to Salamanca Market while I do some shops in town.. We enjoy lunch together ..Tom making his latest Hero Factory lego figure...

 

before heading home via the Cat Protection shop at Margate (looking for 2nd hand Cat books...they are big sellers!!...True)

Tom and I make some biscuit pastry that has to go into the fridge for a bit..

Then we decorate the tree..It looks lovely.. while John has a snooze..

 

We pack the car in readiness for our harvest trip tomorrow ..then enjoy a Family movie evening watching Apollo 13....Tom enjoys it very much...

It has been a very hot day...reaching 33 degrees...but a cool change comes across late afternoon and brings rain...

Off to bed ...early start tomorrow...