Life is full

Well we have had a busy busy time of it here.

John and I have been working hard to get stock up to date for when I'm away..

We had an absolutely delightful visit from Martin and Gilly. Was so wonderful to have them here at last..

Jane and Ali graciously invited me over for dinner and afternoon tea to do a bit more catch up..

Marty took this lovely photo of The Swan

 All 5 of us went over to Little Boat Choir at Frankin and enjoyed a sing with Tiffany..
Martin and Gilly set off on a road trip around Tassie..amazing warm weather for them.

I'm loving the Autumn morning light.
The days are shortening very quickly...

 Talan is closing her little Trove shop as the lease has ended. I will really miss seeing her across the road. She has moved to the old Post Office and has set up a very elegant version of Trove. Such a beautiful space and Talan has such a wonderful eye for design and detail..

 Friday night we head to Sydney for La Traviata...

I take the bus out to Macquarie Park to visit Pa while the boys do the usual bookshops .
I enjoy a lovely lovely visit. We chat and just sit together for a couple of hours...Pa looks at the paper while I knit..very special time together.

 It is wet wet wet in Sydney...
So hard to believe Cygnet is sweltering in 29-30°C heat

 The sun makes a brief appearance in time for Tom to have a dip in the pool..one happy boy

 We can see the set is up for Handa Opera on the Harbour... CARMEN.
We will be back in Sydney on 22 April to see it...and hope the weather is a bit better

 All togged up for the show..

We were snapped by the Opera Aust photographer and apppeared on the OA facebook page

 Fabulous performance...even if it takes Violetta a long time to surcumb to her TB..
Poor Tom...he thought she was on her last legs then she picked up again and sang on for another 10 minutes..I heard him groan!!

I had high hopes for a lovely catch up with the girls and their boys on Sunday morning before we flew out..
I had planned for us to meet at The Grounds at Alexandria...Unfortunately it seemed the entire population of Sydney had the same idea!!
We aborted this plan after an hour long wait for a table...and get a lift with the girls to the airport.
The food court was not what I imagined...but they all assured me it was probably a better option for the boys as they were happy with their nuggets and chips...and we got to watch lots of planes anyway.

Was just wonderful to be able to hug everyone and have brief conversations with them all.

 Back home in time to unpack and rev up for the week.

Love the snapchats that Lucy sends through of darling Bailey. He is growing up so fast

 A beautiful Birthday portrait of Paul with his son

The countdown is well and truly on now.
Tom and I fly up to Sydney tomorrow night and out to Equador on Friday. Very Exciting...
Adios

Into March

 Well time gets away..
Work has kept us running and Tom and John have been focussing on getting the cubby construction moving again.
They have begun the process of laying an internal brick wall to house the slow combustion fire...a bit of a challenge, but they are making good headway.
I have been trying to get more slashing and mowing done.
Everything is drying off really fast due to a run of extraordinary "summer" weather..
Midweek evenings can sometimes be taken up with other activities..
Had a big one last week.. with Taketina (Rhythm workshop) on Tuesday night, Concert by The Eastpointers (Canadian Folk Trio) at Frankin on Wed night, Thursday night was my monthly Knitwits group , Friday was Art show opening night in Town Hall, Saturday was Ex-serviceman's Gala dinner..Phew..

Jane came along to the Art show opening...which turned out to be an excruciating experience as Paul Thomas, the usual host was away and the woman who took on the job was just awful....making all sorts of errors and apologising all the time.. very disappointing. The art awards were less than inspiring...don't know who the judges were but they made some pretty ordinary choices..Oh well

 Consolation prize for me was staying up to see the Auruora...and getting these photos.
The night has to be clear and dark (no moon)...often the Auruora is strongest in the small hours of the morning...so I was glad to get these pics at 10.30ish

 I could detect light beams with naked eye...every so often.. Always so exciting to see

 Our days are cooling off ibn the morning..Beautiful. It is quite dark at 6.30am now..

 Love the views I had from the mower on Saturday..

 So much blue sky..

 We were impressed by the preparations that went into the Gala dinner set up in school 's Carmel hall.
We probably would not have attended except that we were invited by Ronnie, Rohan and Stacey...who agist their horses on our place. They were on the organising committee and hope to raise funds...
The focus of the evening was on the three VC recipients from Cygnet area. .An amazing tally for such a small community
We heard their citations and learnt a bit about their history..

 Parcels of home cooked Anzac biscuits at every place setting.

 Members of the Lighthorse attended

 The hall was transformed with art works, hanging lanterns, floral displays and fancy chair coverings.

 Me and my mate. We sat ourselves down...and unbeknownst to Tom, were at the table with St James staff...and he was next to Allan Clark...our new Principal. They had fun bantering during the evening.

 A 'speed''artist painted a local Vietnam vet while we had dinner...he was very good and it was an amazing likeness

 The food was prepared by Roy a local chef with assistance from Isabel and Joe from Red Velvet..fabulous.
So great to spend time with this group of old time residents of Cygnet...and they appreciated that we went along.

 Sunday morning, I took myself into Hobart for a beginners Flamenco dance class.
Absolutely wonderful teacher..we covered so much in one hour...hand clap rhythms, footwork, hand and arm work then putting it all together in a short choreographed dance sequence...finishing with a short session of freedance  trying out whatever elements we wanted to..
I found it quite challenging...especially the Gypsy moves...definitely felt my more staid Celtic roots.
Would love to be able to just let go..

 Saw the Spiegeltent being set up for Ten Days on the Island festival programme.
Hannah and I are going to see the Djuki Mala (indigenous)dancers on the weekend

Never tire of these views

Gorgeous morning light

 John and I have a lovely walk on Thursday evening to look at our Oaks

 Tom goes off to Snug Scout Regatta on Friday evening.. (John drops him there). Will be back on Monday afternoon. Long weekend here.
John and I go into work on Saturday Morning to fill a Stannum Oint..John will be back in the afternoon to make a Rose Cream..
I head into town to have dinner with Narns at Miss Jane...then we go to see the Djuki Mala dancers at the Spiegeltent. Despite queing up for a half an hour in torrential rain without an umbrella - ( Thanks for sheltering us with your coat narns) We were all smiles to find great seats in a booth..

 These photos give you some idea of the fabulous fun, high energy performance..

 And we got a photo with a few of the boys afterwards..

 We were glad to get back to Hannah's place and change out of our wet gear and enjoy a cosy night .
Sunday morning we had breakie at The Duchess in Sandy Bay...lovely.
Thanks for a wonderful night and sleepover Narns..