Sydney Visit...Engagement Party

Had a fantastic visit to Sydney...packing in stacks of things as usual!!
Lovely to have my dear Tom (and friends) smiling before I left.

John and I stopped in at Cambridge with architect Paul...to look at the double glazed windows we are planning to order for the house on the hill.
Then off to airport...
I tried out my OPAL card in Sydney...it worked a treat..so easy.
Made my way to Ashfield and walked up to see Pa. We had a lovely chat and cuppa together. Every visit is special...and I leave treasuring the time we shared.
Back down to Ashfield and train to West Ryde. Lovely Chris met me at the station and we went to Libby's for afternoon tea...wonderful to see two of my dear sisters...and Jane is on the way to arrive tonight..
Fantastic evening of shared stories trips to Iceland/Greenland/UK and Turkey and house building updates
Thursday brings a much awaited visit from Jess and Benjamin..so so lovely to see them...and we all get cuddles..

Thanks for babysitting while Jess and I went for a coffee Libby...
Lucy arrives after work and we drive to her new home...very exciting..

Paul arrives home and Jess, Aaron and Ben come over for dinner. Lovely evening...but I fade out about 10ish and go to bed..
Friday Lucy and I take the dogs for a walk at 6.30am...absolutely lovely...so much parkland..

Then we head to Parramatta for breakie before looking at Wedding Dresses.. very productive morning..(how my heart skipped a beat to see my beautiful Lucy dressed as a bride!!) Sorry ...no previews...TOP SECRET

Home again and we get stuck into food preparation...
Libby arrives later after work...and stays to lend a hand.
I can't get over being with Lucy in her own home in her kitchen...so wonderful.

Preparations continue until we collapse in a heap...
I have a short go at playing pool...then hand over to Paul to finish the game with Lucy..good fun.
Off to bed.
I am up early and go for a walk...then we get going on more food prep and set up. Looks like the
weather will be good.

The day passes quickly and Hannah, Jark, Jess, Aaron and Ben arrive...lovely to have the girls and partners all together...

The party is soon upon us... and it is a fabulous success...of course. With Lucy and Paul's planning and work I did not expect anything less..

The happy couple...hang on a minute!! that's not Paul and Lucy..

 Good on you Jark...thanks for cutting up the cake...

Time for a last hug with my little boy...

Eventually everyone drifts off home...leaving just a few stayers.

We thoroughly enjoy watching the Rugby game..(even if the Wallabies victory is snatched at the last minute)..then to the pool room we go....

The presents are opened..

 Yes...it's Brandii dog!! Good idea Hannah and Jark..

I eventually wend my way to bed...and sleep VERY well.
Sunday I don't get up so early...but still have a lovely walk before everyone is up.
We enjoy a slow morning ...the 'kids' have a cooked breakie....

then we get the boys to drop us off to try on the wedding dresses again for Hannah's benefit..
Then we head to Alexandria to 'The Grounds' for a late lunch..lovely.

then a walk through Salts, Meat and Cheese deli ...always interesting to see what they have.
I am dropped to the airport to await my plane and the others head home via Leichhardt so Jark can be introduced to Gelato.

Very glad to see my lovely boys and get home..
How lucky am I ....

One last favourite of Ben... (and Dad)

Week 2 holidays...Business as Usual and Eclipse

We are all a bit holiday lagged from our busy weekend in Sydney and with the change to Daylight Saving Time the mornings are a bit darker so we are a bit slower to get up on Monday.

Tom enjoys his second week of holidays .. he has a lovely routine ..
Helping Dad with making creams or making up mixtures, Hot chocolate at Red Velvet, Minecraft hour then lego time... He also goes over to feed the school chooks each day....Nice

Tom and I go to Hobart one day to do some chores...buying school shoes etc. We manage to find some lego too!! It is great that Tom has his own income as he is more discerning about what he buys...(and John is happy to subsidize him too!!)

John and I go up on the hill while Tom is at work to check on the slab.
It has to stay damp so has been covered in plastic.
It is a cool week and the wind isn't too bad so things look good.

 

 We inspect the fence line...still quite a bit to do..

We are very glad the skies clear for the Lunar Eclipse..
We have a fantastic view of the moon rising over the hills.

 

Our huge telescope really comes into it's own tonight..

We all enjoy the spectacle...
Such a fantastic show..

 Hard to get a photo through the telescope...the view was much better than this..

 And gradually the moon gets redder... Fantastic

John has begun reading some Arthur Upton books about the detective Bony...great adventures

 Saturday we are up on the hill early as John has discovered that our plants are being eaten by the wildlife...so we pull out all stops to get the fence up.

 The weather comes and goes...it is a long tiring day.

 I buy us some time by making individual floppy nets around each plant cage.

Darling Hannah has come back from Launie for the weekend...and she visits in the afternoon. She drops Tom down to work then prepares delicious dinner for us...and a Lasagne for tomorrow night...what a treasure. It is lovely to see her.

 Sunday we are up on the hill again. The weather looks a bit better today.

 The boys get to work on making the gates possum proof ...looking good

We call it a day when it is time to take Tom down to work at 3.30..
Just as I drive up towards our gate and an Echidna crosses the road ..Lovely

We have a visit from Janine (and husband Mick) who used to work for John at Pennant Hills.

They live in Canberra and are having a short holiday in Tassie.

Lovely to catch up.. Hannah's lasagne comes in very handy as they arrive late...so we have dinner together.. Thanks Narns!!

 The house plans are being tweaked as we go along..very exciting...

And my favourite Ben photo this week is......