Travel Preparations

As our trip to the US and Europe approaches, we are sorting the travel wardrobes.  Today was devoted to the gentle art of shopping.

 They never have quite what you want but coffee and a croissant always smooth the path.

 We also have to be prepared  for negotiating the tipping landscape in the US

 The required footwear is now in the bag.

Lachy’s Full Of Bounce

Bounce training is one of Lachlan’s after school activities.  He loves it.

Birthday Dinner

Yes - we know it is a little late but Christmas and holidays got in the way. Last night we had Cathy's birthday celebratory dinner at "The Living Room".  We have never had a disappointment at that place and last night was no exception. It was a great meal.

New Year - New School

Sophie starts a new adventure this year traveling to a new school Strathcona.  She will be with Holly and Ebony so they can compare notes.

Kate's Birthday

Kate's birthday celebration is usually a multi-functional affair.  Not only do we celebrate her birthday but also Australia Day and the dying days of the Christmas holidays. So it was last night. We had a great family gathering supported by the weather gods that fully cooperated for a fine mild evening.

  For the large group, food distribution strategies become important and we are gradually refining them!

It is a bit of a squeeze but we just make it into the available space.

RIP Jack Kervin

We attended the funeral of Jack Kervin today.  He was the last surviving cousin of Claire's dad, Pat Kervin.  He lived to 96 although he had not been well for the past two years.  He was well loved by his family and friends so it was a celebration of a life well lived.

Bryan and Coral Kervin came down from Leitchville for the occasion.

Mornings Improve

With any luck we might get some more clement weather over the next few days. It would make a change from the last couple of weeks.

 The parks and leafy streets are a joy for walkers at this time of the year

New Blog Book

We took delivery of the new Blog Book today.  This one covers family events of 2019 including the building of the new house.

It is growing to be quite an historic archive as the collection now goes back to July 2010.

Garden Time

Now the house is in reasonable shape we are quite enjoying the planning and development of the garden.  The area near the van is being planted for colour and durability.

The garden next to the deck has some new hardy natives.

The final planting needed the fence to be painted.  It has been very windy so it was hand painting rather than spray painting.

 Once that section was completed we could plant the "neighbour blocker".  Now it just needs to grow a bit!

Annual Portraits

For a variety of reasons, we have taken a little longer than normal to get Patrick and Sophie's portraits for Granny's Gallery.  Today, the garage became the studio for the day and we got our photos.