Wonderful Wedding

by . Posted on
17 Mar

I know I left you hanging . . . but really, that was enough for one read!

OK, where were we . . . ?
Ged and I  were clutching a glass of champagne each (I had done a deal with the baby about this!) and making some rounds of our lovely guests.  We were soon marshalled for photos by our assortment of talented and delightful photographers (all friends) and we pretty much did photos on demand with all our friends and guests who wanted one while everyone else sipped champagne and ate sushi and smoked salmon sandwiches.  Then Ged and I went down to see the horses for some pics with them and for some reason Naughty Tinkerbell (obviously realising that this was a serious photo opportunity and her big chance to shine in the limelight!) suddenly turned into Miss Butter Wouldn’t Melt in her Mouth!  Quite bizarre!
After that miracle we adjourned to the marquee for the meal, the speeches and the small amount of dancing (don’t know quite what happened there – too much talking?)  The food was superb.  Our friends excelled themselves.  Steve Fripp (Ged’s mate) did the pig on the spit which looked and smelt divine and was apparently so succulent and tender that it literally melted in your mouth (of COURSE I didn’t have any!)  Jane and Shirley’s grated organic carrot and raisin salad with my secret, special, lemon and coriander dressing was truly divine and the similarly cheffed potato salad was lovely.  Onc everyone was sated and sufficiently lubricated we kicked off the speeches.  Daddy was first and amazingly restrained – he didn’t talk about the hell I put them all through in my troubled teenage, truculent twenties, tortuous thirties and flirty forties AT ALL!  He just said that they thought I was mad when I wanted to buy the farm and now they knew why I had been so insistent and persistent and that he was bloody glad someone was finally brave enough to take me off his hands!  I had been prepared to blush and hang my head in shame but no need!  Steve was next and told long tales about how he had known Ged since they were nippers together and all the strange boys’ own clubs and sports they had done together.  He, too, was very restrained for fear of telling the McCarthy’s things that they had no idea about in their son.  Then, Ged who said lots of thank you’s, and lord, we have lots of people to thank!  I had always planned on making a speech (you know I like to have the last word!) but when Steve opened up the floor to anyone else who wanted to say a few words, the resounding call was for ‘the bride’ so it was good to have my decision condoned!
Firstly I had to thank Steve for a level of unselfish friendship that was an honour to behold.  He has humbled us all with his decision to serve and to ensure his friend had everything he ever dreamed of and more.  He gave us all a new model for love and friendship.  Then my family who not only came half way around the world to bear witness to a miracle, but came prepared to work to make the miracle happen, and did!  My parents who have supported so wholeheartedly for so long and who, with misgivings, put their money into the farm to make my dream a reality – let’s hope that today they see that they did the right thing.  Then I had to thank MY friends who know me so well, through thick, thin, flaws and more and still talk to me!  Who come to the party every time whether it’s a pity party, a celebration, a wake or a dreaming and support and nurture and applaud.  I love you guys.  Then George who has been the apex on which our world has turned for the last 9 months and who has single-handedly rescued the farm from the relentless twisting arms of lantana and blackberry, the devastation of fireweed and the scourge of bracken.  Who makes us laugh every day and who is a joy to have around.  And then the Grippers who I love with all my heart, Shirley and Marcel who came, and saw and conquered and have remained my friends though our differences have been huge, for over ten years.
Ged and I are very lucky – we finally found each other and in doing so have been embraced by the other’s friends – people of great humour, strength, honour, integrity, humility, joy and love.
Finally I shut up and those much agonised over blueberry tarts made their appearance and were devoured with relish by all present (well done, Jane!).  Then we cut the cake which had been made with so much love by Ged’s Aunt, Fran and just looked and tasted, beautiful.
And then, by popular demand, and thanks to Angus’s ipod we got down and did Nutbush City Limits (twice!)  Which is certainly a novel first dance for the bride (the groom didn’t dance!)
But then, the whole day was completely unique, essentially beautiful, totally from the heart and soul.  Perfect.
Sunday morning we woke to see young Grippers and Millie and Phil and co., coming over the hill to rouse us and we spent a happy morning drinking tea with a succession of risers and downloading their photos into the Mac, reliving the day and enjoying the photographic evidence.  When all the happy campers were up and about we got the bacon and sausages on the barby and indulged in a hearty, greasy hangover cure and then waved goodbye as everyone left soon after.  Ged and I both cried as my family drove away – it was too short, too little time, too much else to do, and it will be too long before we see and spend time with them again.
With just the hard core left (us, Grippers, Steve and family, Gary) we got down to work – checking crockery, cutlery and glassware for cleanliness and breakages, counting and packing them all away as delivered.  It was a relaxed day with friends, talking, discussing, philosophising, character building and assassinating, all the essential accoutrements for the day after.  Finally it was all done and we could relax.  The Grippers got in the river and we just put our feet up.  The Torpy’s (Steve and family) and Gary left us with their cars laden with leftover beer and we had a happy family supper and an early night.  Monday morning saw us up with the larks, still sorting and packing and feeding the children and taking phone calls from Mel whose train to Sydney had turned into a coach (is there more than one Cinderella in this family?) and could she come in the car with me?  So it was all systems go getting hire stuff back to Port Macquarie, picking up Mel from Wauchope, getting Phee’s jabs done for kennels, getting the house and fridge cleared and locked, the chooks chased in their pen and the Grippers to the airport.  And then there was a general reunion at the airport as my parents, Judy and the girls and the Grippers were all on the same flight to Sydney.  So that was a lovely surprise and bonus and we all got to say goodbye without the stress.  Then Ged left to do the last of the running around before his later flight to Sydney and mel, Phee and I set off on the long road down to Sydney (Mel) and Berry Kennels for me and Phee and then back to Sydney for me!
Needless to say it all got done though there were some very tired little soldiers at the end of the day . . . .

Tick, tick, tick . . .

by . Posted on
03 Mar

I left a message for George the other day since he’s been doing his Scarlet  Pimpernel trick and impersonating the invisible man.  It said: ‘tick, tick, tick, George.  That’s the sound of time ticking away in the lead up to 15th March.  WHERE ARE YOU?  Tick, tick, tick . . . ‘

Bless him, he’s kept it on his machine and says it gives him his daily laugh!
The message seems to have worked though because he’s fronted up finally (what’s he trying to do, give me a heart attack?) and has dismantled the cattle yards (at last, at last!) although the constant rain means he’s also created a mud bath on the river flat and down my drive, which after all my dedicated grass seeding over the last five months, has broken my little heart!  Oh well, I guess you pay a price for everything in life!
He’s been back in the big gully by the house snigging out the trees into a big pile for burning and he promises me, faithfully, that next week he and his brother, Rex, are going to be putting up my much maligned semi-circular fence from gate to gate to separate the house paddock from the farm.  This is the fence that I saw as clear as crystal in my mind’s eye from even before I took possession and everyone has told me can’t be done.  Now you know me, the best way to make me bull-headed is to use the word ‘can’t ‘ . . . . so I’ve been patient, persistent, petulant and precious by turns about it and George and I have had many a head to head over  it.  Finally he has capitulated (sometimes the easy way out is the best way forward!) and roped in his younger brother (who looks ten years older than George) to give him a helping hand.
I had to take my car in for a lengthy stay at the car doctor.  I don’t think I told you about my little prang.  The only way I can describe the weather we have had over the last three months is by saying it has been ‘typically English’ . . .  wet, wet, wet.  So when the plumber was her the other week weaving his magic over my new bathroom and getting ready for my new kitchen, he had to drive in with all his tools then drive out again straightaway as the river was rising over the bridge.  When he finished for the day I drove him and his tools back over to the other side of the river to reunite him with his car and was just about to drive down the dip when I thought ‘this looks a bit slippery, he’d better not drive down here’ and I engaged 4 wheel.  To no avail.  Instead of going forwards I slid sideways – straight into the bullbar on George’s truck!  Which, of course, did absolutely no damage to the bullbar, and wiped out my drivers wing!  I guess it never rains, but it pours!
We have been waiting and waiting for the weather to clear even for a day so we can have our farm road graded.  We’ve been waiting since Christmas.  Finally they came on Monday and Tuesday and did a relly great job turning our rutted old goat track into something resembling a road.  On Wednesday we had 4 and a half inches of rain in under 3 hours.  Even the stalwart, resilient, and endlessly optimistic Ged just sat on the verandah and cried.  One step forward, ten steps back, are we ever going to get there . . . are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet  . . . ?
You know when I get a bee in my bonnet about something I just go out there and will the universe to please me (!)  Well, last week I got fed up of worrying and waiting about our new kitchen benchtop which with Scott’s heavy work schedule seemed like an impossible dream, and he was having problems with the tallowood etc so I just said ‘Leave it to me!’  I got out the yellow pages, let my fingers do the walking, and my sweet voice do the talking and found a mob in Wauchope prepared to bend over backwards to give me what I wanted.  You’ve never seen anyone get washed, dressed, and in the car so fast – I was like Penelope Pitstop on speed!!
We picked it up on Monday and it looks fantastic.  How far we have come, how long we have journeyed, how much we appreciate this moment in time . . . .

A kitchen at last!

by . Posted on
25 Feb

Well, it’s all go here!

From fear of never finishing and frustration at the slow progress and lack of productivity of yours truly, we have hope, renewed confidence, and a light at the end of the tunnel.
Gary was very brave and got stuck into the flat pack IKEA kitchen which Maria so kindly donated as our wedding present.  There were a few wrong turns as he ‘read’ the pictorial instructions, which, in black and white, are pretty hard to follow! and there were a few scary moments when we thought it wasn’t all going to fit.  But fit it did and now, at last I have a kitchen.  OK, right now I don’t have a BENCHTOP, so I can’t actually USE it, but I have a kitchen!
All the skirtings have been cut to size and await the attentions of the painter (me!), and the new door frames around the cupboards in the bedrooms have also been installed and ditto.  Progress, my friends is being made!
Everyone convenes in my bedroom in the morning as I sip my hot juice and delicately pick my way through my toast and I dole out the day’s instructions just like the Queen of Sheba.  Then the boys all get to work and I warily get up and then spend the next hour or so alternating the venues for my morning retchings.  Everyone just ignores me wherever I might be!  Situation normal in the Love household!
Just a reminder of the kitchen I have been living with for the last 6 months or so . . . .

Are we there yet?

by . Posted on
11 Feb

Lordy, I’m so far behind . . . better buckle down and try and piece together the past for you!  Get ready for a marathon!

I feel as if we’re never going to get there.  I am weak as a kitten, prostrate over porcelain and tired beyond my worst nightmares and Ged, too, is over it.  Talking of marathons, it feels like we are in the last 3 or four miles when you’ve already hit the ‘wall’ – everything hurts and it seems too far, too much, and an impossible reach to the finish line.  Every fibre of your being is screaming ‘give up, give up, give up’ and it is only the exhortations of the strangers on the sidelines that keeps you putting one foot in front of the other . . . .
There’s so much still to do and that determined, ambitious, can do, will do, nothing gets in my way, never say can’t female that we all know so well, seems to have deserted me.  She has gone AWOL and left behind, in her place, this weak willed and muscled, floppy, drooping over furniture female who is a complete stranger to me and let me tell you gets precisely nothing done!!
It was good to get away to Sydney and have a dress fitting (thank God, Adam cut the dress big is all I can say – when that feisty female left she took my waistline with her!) and have my haircut by Ilia and begin to get some sense of how this hair will be for the big day.  I also found a jewellery valuer who could do an on-the-spot evaluation of my engagement ring which was very gratifying – it’s already worth substantially more than we paid for it – so it’s doing much better than my first foray into the share market!!
Let’s hope that great Amazon warrior woman we know and love comes back soon . . . !

Mr Goanna who keeps eyeing up my chickens and their eggs!

Prone over Porcelain and Snoozing my life Away

by . Posted on
05 Feb
Now I know that Little Miss has said that the farm is to be organic but we have a weed problem that is out of control and several steep banks where even the death defying George daren’t take his tractor, so there is only one thing for it – Grazon.
Of course I can’t do any spraying (or much of anything since I am so often prone on the sofa snoozing my life away!) so my brave husband-to-be has to go into the chemical fray.  We are both so conscious of the toxic fallout from these quite frankly HORRIBLE chemical soups that we would far rather not expose ourselves, and I made Ged get all the kit to protect himself.  Attractive, isn’t it?!
Little Miss appears to have had a hand in the proceeding from where she watches her potential parents as they endeavour to get her new home finished for her arrival, because not long after Ged commenced Operation Chemical Fallout I heard swearing and stripping in the front yard and found that he had come under enemy fire!  For some reason beyond my comprehension the sprayer I have used faithfully for the past few years turned traitor on its new master and blew a gasket (literally!) causing a fountain of chemical soup to deluge the one part of his body unprotected . . . his eyes.  Poor, poor love was in so much pain so we flushed and flushed and flushed, rang the poisons hotline and then laid him down with a cold flannel over his face to rest them as they recuperated.  Looks like Little Miss is going to get her way after all  . . !
It is very hard to feel enthused about the renovation while I am Little Miss Slumber and I am afraid I am falling behind.  I went to the doctor and we agreed that an ultrasound was essential to correctly date my pregnancy so we booked me in that same afternoon and Ged came to have his first peek of his little princess.  Apparently there’s a very strong heartbeat there and we are six weeks pregnant so we are in for a lot of momentous changes to our lives this  year, culminating in a new arrival at the end of September (they say 25th, I say 22nd) but I have been known to be wrong before . . . . !!
When I told Mummy she said ‘are you feeling sick yet?’ and I said in my most superior and patronising tone ‘I don’t believe in morning sickness, it’s all in the mind’.  Boy, was I wrong about that!  I never knew you could feel so sick and still stand up (although lying down is by far my best position for coping with the unrelenting nausea.  Why do they call it morning sickness  it’s from the moment I move from horizontal to halfway close to vertical in the morning, until the moment I lay my weary head down to sleep at night.  Ugh.  And what is it with the secret society of women who have borne children, that they never initiate their childless sisters into the horrors of hanging over ceramic from dawn to dusk?  I’m amazed that the world is as over-populated as it is – I can’t imagine why you’d willingly go through this more than once (even with the Australian $5,000 baby bonus and exhortations to have ‘one for you, one for Australia’!!)
Ah well, this too shall pass . . . . x

A brave dog, a tough man and a fading wife

by . Posted on
22 Jan

Back to peace and quiet (I miss those kids!!) and as soon as the Grippers drove away on the next leg of their ‘Holiday Coast’ adventure, the sun disappeared, the heavens opened and the deluge resumed!

Thus we are back to parking on the ‘other side’ of the river and riding home in the Flying Fox.  Whoever is doing the winding gets a fine upper body workout, but pulling yourself across hand over hand is very wearying!  Phoenix leaps in and out with panache and daring and stays still for the crossing, and when he has to stay behind sits longingly on the platform watching until we get to our cars before he takes up his ‘watching’ position on the verandah or snuggles up on the wicker sofa for a snooze.
The only time he has braved the big waters was when the Grippers had first arrived and we all traversed the river on the fox to go for a drive up to Comboyne.  Poor Phee must have thought that there was no way his newly rediscovered friends were going anywhere without him so as the last of us stepped off the fox I heard distant yelping and had horrific visions of Phee hurtling down the rapids at the end of the House Pool so I clambered down the rocks, screaming for him.  Only to hear Angus say ‘he’s here, Sophie’ and there was a small, bedraggled, black dog with wildly waving tail jumping all over his Gripper friends having swum the raging river and clambered (somehow!) up the sheer rock face.  He’s living proof that ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way!’
George has been in tears and sick with worry because Marcia woke up one morning unable to move and he had to carry her into the bathroom etc.  She was in so much pain and he was in a complete panic.  Ged rang me and told me he’d met George on the road and heard the sorry tale so I rang and said I would go up and massage her (she has arthritis in one hip and needs a replacement but apparently they won’t do replacements on Alzheimers patients because the anaesthetic adversely affects their brain).  When I got there Marcia was in tears of pain and frustration and Mavia who lives further up the road from us and who has been looking after Marcia a day or two a week while George works had got her washed and dressed etc.  We got her on a spare bed for a massage and eased up the cramping in her thigh and calf until she was walking normally again, but the next morning the same thing happened and every time George tried to move or touch her she just screamed with pain so he called the ambulance.  Marcia was admitted to Wauchope hospital for tests and condition assessment (ie was she able to live at home) while we all counselled George that the best thing that could happen was that the authorities make the decision that he simply didn’t have the wherewithall or facilities to care for her deteriorating condition at home.  Poor George, he was lost without her.  While caring for her had been exhausting and often demeaning, she was the axis on which his world turned, and now he had no focus, no point, no pole star to guide his way.  We took him food and had him here and rang the neighbours to rally him, but it was so sad to see him, who is so strong and sure, falter on his path.
As we predicted, the powers that be decided that Marcia must be cared for in a home and she was admitted to one in Laurieton and we are trying to pick up the pieces as George grieves his wife, their married life and the end of their time together.  It is worse than death to see someone you love so much and for so long, fall apart and lose sight of themselves and all normalcy as they disappear into a fog of endless forgetfulness.  Say a little prayer for a tough man who is cracking and a beautiful woman who should be spared the humiliation of a childlike dependence in an adult body and a slow demise into dementia.  Please God, there is a better end for us all.

Slow progress and paint stripping

by . Posted on
08 Jan
On New Year’s Day we left Phee with the hungover hosts and went shopping for something for Ged and his best man, Steve, to wear on the big day.  Success!  As usual, I had a vision in mind, and we managed to find the right jackets and shirt even if the pants were all the wrong sizes, but at least that gives me an on-the-phone challenge for the New Year!
Back to Avalon and work on the farm and on the house.  We were preparing for the imminent arrival of the Grippers, so Ged replaced the platform for the Flying Fox on the house side, and also made an all new ‘basket’ lining so it was solid and safe for my beloved Gripper kids.  We ordered an ‘enviro-loo’ from Brisbane which came complete with Cane Toad (oh. my. God!) and set it up in one of the old corrugated iron ‘builders bog’ that we inherited with the property.  Ged also made a sink stand and a wooden base for an ablution block out of sleepers and piped cold water to the site.  We never quite got to the hot water, but we will one day . . . .!
I stripped and sanded a little antique table I had and spent a day stripping a window – layer upon layer upon layer of paint, dating from sometime early in the last century and STILL the window is not close to being ready for painting – ugh!  I put another coat on the ceilings and painted yet more doors.  Other than that, we read some good books, went for some nice runs and enjoyed staying on the property.  The weather was glorious, the river peacable and pristine and we spent a lot of time platypus watching which was bliss (the new Flying Fox platform is the perfect platypus viewing post!)
Slow progress is being made!

The Myrtles in full bloom over Christmas.

End of a very big year

by . Posted on
31 Dec
Looks like I was premature to be signing off the year in my last missive – it still had a week to run!
I have to admit that I was FOUL in the run up to Christmas (poor Ged!), over-tired, over-stretched, and as it now transpires, suffering from severe hormonal fluctuations.  I was dreading my first Christmas with the ‘out-laws’ and as always at that time of year I was homesick for the traditional rituals, aromas and rain of England.  After all, it is the traditional time for family and I wanted mine, not his!!
We opened our ‘stockings’ at home before heading off to his parents’ place which is a beautiful 400 acre farm they raise Santa Gertrudis bulls on, about 40 minutes away.  Due to a flat tyre on the way (heaven-sent!) we missed the sit down dinner and were able to have a more relaxed afternoon with a moveable feast of family members as we munched on our vegetarian lasagne.  We were embarassed to get gifts from all Ged’s nephews and nieces (I know now for next year!) and got away at a reasonable hour so we could have our ‘first Christmas’ at home.  We opened a bottle of my favourite bubbles and traded gifts – I got my long awaited handbag and a punchbag and baseball bat which now have pride of place in the garage (he knows me well!!) and I gave Ged a big A4 filofax and new halters, lead ropes and a carrot stick for his horses so we were both very spoilt.  We only managed a glass of champagne each before we were pissed . . . and so to bed!
I had invited all his family over on Boxing Day so we had a whirlwind few hours turning the building site into something vaguely resembling a home and cooking up a storm and then had a very relaxed and easy day.  The boys BBQ’d organic beef steaks and sausages from a local farm in Comboyne, and I did potato and green salads with my special vinaigrette and homemade tomato sauce which, amazingly, all the boys hoed into and loved (just goes to show, you don’t need sugar!).
The 27th was my birthday (42!) and Ged made me Queen for a day and waited on me hand and foot so I slept on the sofa all afternoon and we both just relished the peace and quiet of a day off.  Then we had to put in a couple of days of work on the house before driving down to Ged’s best friends’ annual New Year’s Eve bash on the central coast.  I swapped places with Phee on the way down – I curled up in the back of the Pajero and slept and Phee took the passenger seat and kept Ged company in the front!  To be honest we were so tired, we weren’t great company that night, although it was good to meet a lot more of his old friends.  We were clock watching ’til midnight (‘are we there yet?’) and glad to escape to our tent once the celebrations had died down a bit.  The die-hard drinkers kept going until the wee smalls, but we were safely off with the sand man . . .

The new bathroom under the Jacaranda tree . . .

Control freak, moi?

by . Posted on
24 Dec
I left Ged and the plumber ripping  out the bathroom the other day.  After I had bossed them both around and got in the way I decided I had better not ask any more questions when I saw Colin drilling a hole in a strange spot in the floor.  I figured they both knew what they were doing and just had my bath outside under the jacaranda tree, revelling  in nature while they toiled.  Then I made them scrambled eggs on toast and iced coffee and left them to it.  When I came home I was thrilled to see the shower base in and to get a sense of how good my shower will be.  Then I walked into the rest of the room.  ‘Why is the toilet there” I asked.  ‘That’s where you wanted it, honey’ Ged replied.  Oh God, that is NOT where I wanted it . . . you can imagine the rest!
The upshot was that since Colin went away for the Christmas break early the next morning, Ged was given all the instructions and had to spend Saturday moving the loo . . . less than six inches to the left!!  Control freak?  Moi??
I went to Sydney and found a dress so you will be pleased to hear that I will not be fronting up at the hitching rail in my Birthday Suit on 15th March!  It’s going to be made by a fabulous gay Aussie designer called Adam Dixon who I found through a strange set of coincidences and it is exactly what I had in my head so we won’t worry about the dollars!!  Well, I got my wedding shoes at Target for $20.00 so that should offset some of the cost!!  It was good to see Shirley and Marcel and be inspired by their lovely home and it is testimony to how tired I am that I slept through all the cars and trains which create the Sydney soundscape.  I put myself through DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) which is rather like being in a huge fluoro lit maze and first it seems exciting when you come across a dead end and then you become more and more frustrated and fearful as you can’t find you way out, every way you turn is the wrong way, until you finally stumble back the way you came and stagger into the sunshine, heaving deep breaths of relief and vowing never, ever again . . . .
I went to Ikea to look at the kitchens and have found one so we will go back into the breach once more in January to find Ged a suit for the big day and bring home my country kitchen from the big smoke.
I got one of my Christmas presents early . . . I have wanted a Jersey cow ever since I read and fell in love with Colleen McCulloch’s gorgeous ‘Ladies of Missalonghi’ many years ago.  And she arrived on Friday!  She was immediately christened Daisy and when I was out trying to befriend her on Friday night I must have not fully locked in the yard gate bolt.  When Ged got up to make the tea on Saturday morning he found Daisy was long gone!  So we went hunting and eventually Ged and Phee found her hiding on the other side of the river and tried to tempt her with honey sandwiches to no avail.  So I went and played Parelli games with her for three hours until she would follow me home.  We only  had one bad moment when I decided to rope her to get her to cross the river with me and she showed me her strength by hauling me head first and bouncing on my ass through a briar patch . . . so i gave that up as a bad idea!  Bloodied and battered I persuaded to forgive me for such rudeness and love me again and she followed me home across the river, up the bank, all the way down the flat and back into the yard – good girl!!  She kisses on command and she definitely thinks I’m a cow!  She tried to mount me three times that afternoon and played head butting games with me so I had to slap her down a bit.  On Sunday we let her out again and she went off at a leisurely pace to the same spot but when I went to retrieve her a few hours later I just had to call and she came wading across the river to me and followed me home again.  We might be two mad cows together but we are very happy!
This Mad Cow is signing off for 2007.  It’s been a crazy year.  Who would have thought that my single-minded pursuit of my dream farm would bring me my best friend, my life partner and a love I’ve longed for all my life?  Who would have thought I could have found this much happiness someone who understands me and loves me anyway!!
We are in a mad push to get the house done over the holidays so Ged can start building the office and I can plan a wedding and orchestrate all the different things that have to happen at Avalon before she is on show in March.  I hope we also get some time off to enjoy each other and this land which holds and nurtures us and is our much-loved home.
Here’s love to all of you at this time of togetherness, hope and promise.  Let’s see what 2008 will bring us all . . . .

DAISY!

Ring on my finger at last!

by . Posted on
17 Dec
I have a ring!  It’s very hard to take a photo of but you get the general gist – platinum rails with pink diamonds in between (channel set for the initiated) so it is pretty and practical for my life on the farm.  It has taken a bit of getting used to as I have never had a ring on that finger before, plus it is a very big step so all my commitment phobia has been playing havoc with my brain.  That and my hormones which are on a roller coaster, and creating a hair raising ride for all aboard.  Poor Ged!  He really is a saint . . .
George has gone AWOL.  Partly the fact that the slasher is still broken and sitting on the flat (I think I didn’t tell you that the blade sheared apart one day and speared one of the tyres.  George said it was ‘over use’ and I said it was ‘antiquity’!) and all this rain has kept him from us for weeks.  He couldn’t get the tractor in, he couldn’t slash, he couldn’t fence, he couldn’t clear with the root raker . . .  So we have been George-less which is always quieter, duller and less to report . . . .
I finally saw the platypus the other day.  It was midday and the first sunny day after what seems like months of rain, the river was a mud slick and I was taking advantage of the sunshine getting the washing done.  I saw movement in the river out of the corner of my eye and went to investigate.  I couldn’t believe it was him at first.  It was so out of character to be fishing in the middle of the day but there he was – ducking and diving, rolling and revelling in the day.  Presumably he, like us, had been housebound during the downpours and was catching up on his chores!  He was bigger than the only other one I’ve ever seen – about 18 inches to 2 foot long.  Amazing to have a creature that we studied in school as a rare miracle of nature living just below the house . . .
Which reminds me, we found a yabbie (crayfish to the poms!) in Angle Creek the other day so that should keep the kids occupied in March  . . .
Ged has replaced the platform for the Flying Fox so it is much safer and he and George were chopping down trees on the other side so it is now easier to get on and off at the other side.  We still need to put a new ‘floor’ in the fox itself and build a platform on the other side and then really it will be perfect!  We had the most torrential downpour on Sunday afternoon.  Incredible lightening directly overhead and we had a race against nature to get both the cars out and on the other side of the river, by the flying fox, pump some water before another mud slick came down the river (SOMEONE keeps leaving the hose on and using all the water – I can’t imagine who could be SO stupid!!) and finish the mowing which I was in the midst of.  It was a terrifying and amazing experience to be in the eye of the storm, soothing the horses under the giraffe shed.  Ged had got soaked playing with the pump and when I handed him his raincoat he just stripped off and got naked under it (we do embrace our nudity on the farm!!)
We were cooking supper when the phone rang.  One of the Comboyne dairies had sparks and smoke coming out of their sockets, so the sparky had to go out into the wilds and winch himself across the river and go to the rescue.  At 11pm I got a phone call from a woeful fiance ‘I won’t be coming home tonight’ (quite early days for THAT sort of behaviour!!) but he couldn’t get across Tom’s Creek which apparently was a raging torrent, at least a couple of feet  over the bridge and with big logs bobbing in the white water so the poor love had to go back to his old home (which I have denuded of any semblance of comfort – I made him burn it all, remember?) and sleep on the floor.  So one of the jobs over the holidays is to kit out that abode so if we get stuck again, we have somewhere to get warm, dry and rested!
We may be landlocked but we are river and creek bound!