THIS IS THE REASON FOR MOVING

ETTA IS GROWING SO FAST already running and i've only seen her maybe 6 or 7 times in the past

 18 mths. I want to be part of her life so although i'll have to wrench myself away from the river, hopefully i'll be living in walking distance from the sea and will resume morning open water swims. It'll be great to see sunny

 on a regular basis again too

love this expression!   don't mess with etta 😁

 

TIME FOR AN UPDATE

I'M PREPARING THE HOUSE FOR SALE - so sad to think i'll be gone from here this year.  I can't imagine not waking up to be surrounded by sunrise, water and green.  But the thought of seeing sunny and etta on a regular basis and being a part of etta's life is all the compensation i'll need.

       

pics sent from japan, it's great to see the

little coat i bought for mara at the mildura

makers market is still going strong

I've been walking a lot more and Thegoa Lagoon is a favorite destination, the lagoon is full of water after a few dry years and the birdlife is just

amazing.  Swans, ibis, spoonbills, ducks, plovers, herons and i saw a new little bird which turned out to be a black fronted dotteril, so pretty. The walking is doing me good and i'm feeling fit enough to face the prospect of moving.

black-fronted dotteril

the zinnia seeds anne

gave me have

decided to pop up

at random - very

pretty and 

cheerful

SUNSETS are as amazing as ever

It's always a surprise to walk out and see

a kangaroo looking at me :0)

two new arrivals, these red wattle birds have been

here for a week now, a bit bossy.  I'm hoping they

don't displace some smaller birds. they're comandeering

the birdbath that is the wrens' favorite.

UNBELIEVABLE sunsets this week, this one lasted half an hour

LEIGH HOBBS'S hands - i 

photographed these from the

portrait i had in the archie, to

share with a friend on FB.

nice to look at that painting

again and remember the good

time surrounding my selection

CHRISTMAS EVE

the house is lovely too, full of thriving houseplants and lovely colour and artworks.  i feel very lucky to be here for a week while i visit friends and family.

I'M VERY HAPPILY ENSCONCED at annie's gorgeous house in highton.  the garden is divine, lush flowers and veges above head height with little pathways in between - a haven for daisy the hen who presides over her domain with low 'bwoooooks' all day

THE TRIP DOWN followed Sam and Di's 50th wedding anniversary the night before,

 a great gathering of friends from all over, terrific food and i met some lovely new people

I HAD THE CHANCE to just relax and catch up on the days between the picnic, christmas day and drinks at Jen and Rob's.  Having annie's lovely house to stay in meant the whole week was easy and really enjoyable, different birds as company :0)

CHRISTMAS AT SUSAN'S was lovely, small and no fuss, just a great place to be and lovely food and company.  just the way it should be :0)

fabulous pav jenny :0)

JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS we had a lovely day with jenny and freddie, susan and sean and luke, sunny and etta, who came down for the day.  etta was a vision in the beautiful dress susan bought her when she was born, we've waited 18 months for it to fit.   

we had a picnic in eastern gardens in perfect weather and then headed down to eastern beach which looks glorious, the fountain in the little pool is operating and the restoration of that place has been done perfectly. etta loved the water, she hasn't had many opportunities to be at the beach or pool with all the lockdowns so it's great to see she has no hesitancy about going right in.

CAN'T RESIST some pics of the wonderful country christmas decos on the drive home via Don's in the grampians

    always great to be back in the land of the big white cloud

   THE FIRST SILO on the trip home is always a thrill, 

  i love them. They link the towns and chart my 

  journey home.

NEARLY CHRISTMAS

A WEEK OF HOUSESITTING coming up.   a friend in geelong has asked me to mind her house, garden and chooks over christmas.  How perfect - i'll drive down on tuesday, the first time in 7 months.  The car is filling up with things to take down, mostly presents for Etta, i got a bit carried away!

DID A BIT OF BAKING the other day, shortbreads to try out my new embossing rolling pins.  A bot disappointing, they rose a bit so the patterns pretty much disappeared. i'll have to try again with a different recipe

this young black faced cuckoo shrike made maximum used of the sprinklers yesterday, hanging from the branch and spreading its wings every time the spray came around :0)

D