IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE . . .

CHRISTMAS!  Lights are up outside, the tree is decorated, we had a dinner at the pub last night, and my xmas 'bird of the week' made the front page of the Wentworth Standard - he he!!!

Christmas trees -  mine, susan's and jenny's

The local bakery always has a 

scary easter rabbit sitting outside.

Now they have an equally 

unsettling santa and very strange 

reindeer to stop us in our tracks.

etta

 devil in a blue dress . . .   :0)    

etta wears a spud design,  so happy it fits for the summer.  little possum is growing so fast

IT'S HOTTING UP

WEATHER IS GETTING HOTTER - it's time to try and do things outside early in the day and then hunker down with the aircon.   Also time to make sure the birdbaths are topped up and everything is watered.

the new birdbath is a winner, this cute young

kooka was having a lovely time until the

feisty resident willie wagtail chased him off

Although it's been hot the air is still and the days are lovely, mornings have been really beautiful

i'm sorting pics for Romeo

and Juliet and have been

watching a Zeffirelli film 'Brother Sun Sister Moon' from the same 70's era he made Romeo and Juliet.

i think i've found 

my Romeo

  

Sewing for Etta - 

she needs some 

light summery

rompers, here's

version no 1

SUNSET

          ZOOMING IN on two kingfishers, i focussed on

       the lower one and as i took a second shot they

       both took off - and i captured them, pure fluke

   I've just had a lovely long talk to rene, they had a four day visit to      Osaka to catch up with all their old Giracha mates and other

Mara with her little cousin Ao,  Yuna's little boy

    Etta with a friend, wearing the jumper i knitted, perhaps not the      best shot of it, but Etta's pretty cute  :0)

HOME ALONE

 THIS IS THE FIRST MORNING i've woken up in an empty house for two weeks.  

After my busy busy week down south Gail drove back with me last tuesday and left yesterday morning with Ian for a few days travelling home via echuca. 

classy sign at the Meredith servo  :0)

 

a must - pasty and vanilla slice at Birchip Bakery on the drive home

it's been a lovely time of us gardening together, playing scrabble, watching movies, just spending time together doing not too much :0)   Productive time though.  we mosaiced a couple of pavers, the beginning of a pathway that will go thru the middle of the circular drive garden.

On our walk to get the paper Gail spotted this brown snake crossing our path.  eek!

LOVELY!!   brekky in my own bed again

I bought a new birdbath

waiting now for the first bird to decide it's ok, i'm betting it will be the willie wagtail.

Gail and I had a lovely seafood lunch at Trentham estate, it was gail's fourth day here and we completely conked out for the afternoon.  it's tough having a good time day after day 😂

a visit to Fossey's for a G&T after Ian arrived.  gail and i had spent a hot and blustery afternoon at the movies

after two weeks of non stop socialising and travelling - a bath!!

lovely to be back on the river

BACK HOME AGAIN!!

 WOW, what a whirlwind it's been, travelling down south as soon as the borders opened, visiting don at Lake Lonsdale with jenny on the way then straight to sunny's to see etta.  

FABULOUS SKIES out in the mallee, how wonderful to be on the road again.  Last time was June

AT DON'S  the gorgeous grampians

Jenny and I

went for a walk

up to lake

lonsdale and

were rewarded

with this little

fellow crossing

our path

How divine to finally hold my gorgeous granddaughter after 5 long months of watching her grow online. and great to see sunny and luke in their new two level apartment, so much more space than they had before.

I visited janet and bevan at queenscliff, gail at torquay then sunny,luke and etta came down and we all shared gail's house for the weekend with more catching up with friends and family on saturday and sunday.  i completely ran out of puff and could hardly speak or listen to one more word by the time i left.  good to visit anne and dennis though and see the work that anne is doing, and to meet their granddaughter luca.

baby magpie at janet and bevan's, part of a family that visits every day along with kurrawongs and butcher bird

Everyone visited us at gail's on Saturday - the first time Etta has been introduced to the geelong/torquay crew and the first time great aunt jen has held her.  She took it all in her stride :0)

       ETTA MEETS MOCKIE

It's a funny thing to observe how tricky it was to keep up the pace of visiting after so many months of lockdown and lots of time alone.

It's been almost a month now that victoria has enjoyed 'double doughnut' days of no covid cases or deaths.   we're so lucky compared to so much of the world,  USA, Europe and Britain are in a terrible state.  thank goodness it looks like vaccines aren't far away.

more fabulous skies on the drive home

gail is here with me at home now, we drove back on tuesday, it's friday now and we've had a lovely few days in perfect warm weather, gardening, playing scrabble, watching movies, walking, sipping g&t's and just being together.   so nice.

today we're off to trentham estate for lunch and a wander round mildura. 

    aah!  enjoying a cool rose on the riverbank