January’s Finishes

This year I have once again joined Peg and Kris in One Project A Month.  It is the best thing to keep me stitching.

My January finishes have been my projects for Chooky’s Stitch-a-Long.

I shared my first thread catcher previously, but had to make a second.  The light weight pelon is definitely better for the size shown on the pattern.  When I saw these fabrics I thought they would work well together.  I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I was happy that the shoe bag was on the project list.  I made two of these as Christmas gifts in 2011 and shared here and here.  At the time I stated that I should also make one for me, but it hadn’t happened.  Now I have one of my own.  On all of them I cheated by just putting a single fabric around the top, instead of the patchwork strip.

So, here is my little collection. 

I’ve made a small start on February’s project.  As you can see, I’ve decided to use blue for the colour.  It will be fun making the bag from fabrics in my stash.

A Nice Little Interlude

For one reason and another we didn’t get around to having lunch today, so mid afternoon we popped down to our lovely little local “O’Connell Avenue Cafe” for a late lunch come afternoon tea.  It is a tiny little cafe that is only open from Friday to Sunday.  I have shared it with you before here and here.

After a tasty frittata we treated ourselves to French Bread Pudding with White Chocolate and Raspberries.  Scrumdidiliumptions!  The coffee is great too, as it is roasted just next door.

To top it all off, on a Sunday afternoon there is live music.  We settled in for a while.

Rather a lovely way to spend some time.  We should try to do it more often.

Australia Day

We always like to venture out to a community event on Australia Day.  This year the Historic Car Club travelled to the old gold mining village of Carcoar, just west of Blayney, for their Street Fair. We went there last year too.

We took Olga the old girl for a day out.  She hasn’t left the shed for a while, so it was nice to use her.  This decision was made despite the fact that storms were forecast for the afternoon.  We figured that it wouldn’t be cold rain and that we would dry off once it stopped raining.

We were the first of our club to arrive at Carcoar (no, we weren’t fast, we just left early), so found a nice shady spot by the river and set up our flag.

There were lots of interesting stalls, many looking rather patriotic.

We were entertained by some local singers.  Not bad either.  

The stage coach did a roaring trade taking people for a ride.

The horses appreciated a bit of a cool down.

There was lots of fun, with thong throwing, gumboot throwing and Cooee calling.

Carcoar is one of those lovely historic places to visit, but it varies as to whether there is much there in the way of shops. 

To our delight there were a couple of newbies which were rather tasty.  One had lots of vintage and retro items, including some more contemporary uses of old pieces.  Just a pity that I don’t need anything.

As the day progressed we noticed that everyone seemed to be more relaxed.  They’d looked at all the stalls and were just happy to sit around and enjoy picnic lunches and many took advantage of the pretty little river running through the park.

After lunch we decided to head towards home, via another little village, Newbridge.

As we left Carcoar we noticed some very ominous grey clouds to the west and were sure we’d get rained on.  We travelled past the picturesque Carcoar Dam and were amazed at the number of people camped there and the number of boats on the water, although there are none in this photo.  That nasty grey cloud was still there in the background.

We travelled past the wind farm.

More storm clouds.  Bound to get wet before getting home.

We made it to Newbridge without being rained on and stopped off at the local pub, where there were a few Australia Day activities taking place.

We didn’t stay too long, before heading for home.  No we didn’t get rained on.  When we looked at the radar the line of storms were travelling in a south easterly directions, but just to the west of us.  We were lucky enough to miss all the storms, but receive 38mm of soaking rain in the early hours of the morning.  Blessed.  It was the perfect way to finish off a great day.

Random

I’ve been a rather slack blogger for the last month or so.  Yes, I’ve made a few posts, but I haven’t been commenting and worst of all, I haven’t been replying to comments.  I apologise, and should be able to get into the swing of things again, now that life seems to have settled back to a bit of normality after lots going on in the background over the last couple of weeks.

The other night we went out onto the verandah to be greeted by this little gathering.  They just sat and watched Mick while I went and got the camera to take their photo.  Eventually they casually hopped off  and with a big jump scaled the fence.

When I went around to the other side of the house there were two more near the vege garden, one with a small joey in it's pouch.

You can tell that we don’t have a dog any more.

A couple of weeks ago one of our poor, neglected cacti put out a gorgeous flower.

Just for one day…….and we were here to see it.

I’ve finished my January projects for the Stitch-a-Long and will share pics soon.

The weather is cool and overcast here this morning, but I think it will heat up again this afternoon, the same as yesterday.  We did have a short reprieve over the weekend, but only had a tiny sprinkle of rain.  Not enough to measure.

I suppose it won’t be long until I’m whinging about the cold.  I just like the in between weather.  Not fussy am I?

Last Weekend – A Road Trip – Part 2

When we woke up on Saturday morning we were surprised and delighted to see that the weather was overcast and quite  cool.  It was going to be a much more pleasant day for getting out and about.

We started off with a delicious breakfast at the little “Whitty Cafe”.  You will start to think that this trip is all about eating.

From here on we only had a very vague plan of where we were heading.  Looking at the map, there was an interesting road leading from Whitfield to Lake Buffalo, however it had about 30kms of dirt.  That doesn’t bother us, so off we went.  It was a a lovely drive and we didn’t see another car while on the unsealed section.  It was nice to roll the windows down, as the bush smelt so fresh.  It is not often that you can really smell the gum trees.

With all the bushfires at the time and the bad weather conditions we cringed when we saw where some people have built their homes.  We’d be a nervous wreck.

Eventually, we were on sealed roads again and the countryside opened up a little.

Mount Buffalo made a stunning backdrop as we drove along.

We were really glad we came this was at the scenery was stunning.

Finally, we reached the Lake Buffalo dam wall.

 

From here we met a string of cars towing boats, all headed to the Lake.  There was lovely farmland and vineyards.

There was also the occasional oast house from when the area mainly grew hops.

Before long we were in Myrtleford,  where we had a walk up and down the street.  I found a little green glass shot glass in an op shop. So much more pleasant walking around in the cooler weather.

We have explored the area from here on, around the old goldmining towns, quite a few times, as we used to attend the “Butterball Classic Bike Rally” in the 1990s.  The rally took us on some great little roads and to so many interesting attractions.  We really enjoyed revisiting the area after all this time.

From Myrtleford it was on to Beechworth for lunch and a wander. Of course we had to have a pie and bee sting from the Beechworth Bakery.  We worked it out that it is just over 20 years ago that some friends from the Butterball Rally introduced us to the bakery and bee stings.  This was before there were branches of the bakery all over the place.

While we were having lunch it even started to rain a little bit.  No one was rushing for umbrellas.  Everyone was enjoying it.

After lunch we meandered to Chiltern, another town with lots of character…and lots of characters as well.

It was fun looking in all the little antique shops.  We didn’t buy anything.

Next stop was Rutherglen.  By now many shops had closed, but we did stumble upon one rather tasty antique shop.  There was lots of green glass, but I was strong.  I did however, buy 3 slate pencils.  Don’t ask me why, they were just something that you don’t normally see.  Mick found a piece of Shelley china that my Mum would love, but it was way, way out of our price bracket and had a bit of damage, so it stayed where it was.

By now the afternoon was getting on and we were ready to call it a day, so decided to stay at Corowa, on the New South Wales side of the Murray.  We don’t think we have been there before, or if we have, we can’t remember it.  The town is quite a lot bigger than we expected.  We were warned that there was a rowing regatta on and that accommodation may be a bit thin on the ground.  However, there are lots of motels and we had no trouble getting a room.

We wandered down the street to get dinner.  I loved the old “Rex” cinema sign.  No, the building is no longer used as a cinema.

We had not idea where to eat, but when we saw the wonderful Art Deco “Hotel Australia” we decided to try there.  Apparently the pub was built in 1893 and was remodelled in the 1930’s in the Art Deco style.

Beautiful tiles.

Lots of leadlight windows, which from the inside were green and yellow.  It just doesn’t show in this photo.

And yes, the meal was good.  They do a great steak.

On Sunday we really just had to drive home by the most direct route, being the Olympic Way.  We decided not to have a Maccas breakfast in Corowa, but to get something along the way…………….Two and a half hours later we drove into Wagga and had some breakfast.  There was no where anywhere inn between where you could even get a coffee.  Yes, there were places, but they were all shut on a Sunday morning.

Not to worry, we had a lovely breakfast when we got it.  Worth the wait.

We arrived home late on Sunday afternoon, having had a rather pleasant few days away.  Sometimes a short break is as good as a longer holiday.

We travelled nearly 1,800 kms. 

The canopy on the ute is dust proof.

We only saw a couple of places where there had been bushfires.  Near Tarcutta on the Hume you could see where there’d been a fire earlier in the week and at Woodstock, near Cowra they were mopping up after a fire on Saturday night.

After being cool down south, it was stinking hot on Sunday afternoon at home.

We ate well.

We will have to plan another getaway before too long.

Last Weekend – A Road Trip – Part 1

Last weekend – yes, a week ago – Mick and I had a quick trip down to Victoria.

We left after lunch on Thursday and drove straight down the Hume as far as Benalla.  We did have time to stop for a nice pub tea at Wangaratta on the way.  To accompany my meal,  I partook of a glass of “Dirty Granny” cider – not a bad drop either.  However, that isn’t why I’m telling you.  As we were about to leave I noticed a poster for it and just had to take a photo.  I think they thought I was a bit barmy.

How appropriate is that.  A granny rug advertising “Dirty Granny”.

We got away fairly early on Friday and headed towards Melbourne, followed the GPS as we skirted around the top and then down to an industrial estate at Dandenong.  We were there for half an hour and then headed north again.  The reason for our trip was to pick up a canopy for Mick’s work ute.

Now that our “job” was done we were free to have a leisurely couple of days to get home. Unfortunately, Friday was not the best weather to be playing the tourist.  It was stinking hot, windy and there was a total fire ban.

Our first stop was at Healesville for a yummy lunch.  I loved the bike racks in the street.

From here we followed a route we have previously travelled by motorcycle.  The Black Spur road is a very popular motorcycling route.  Lovely smooth surface and lots of bends.  It was lovely going through a lush, green area on such a hot day, but it wasn’t lovely and cool like it normally is.

I must say that it is easier taking photos on the bike as we ride along than in the car.  Most either had glare from the windscreen reflections or splattered bugs.  This one was OK, though.

We then drove over another range with a narrow, windy road, but not as lush.  We ended up at Powers Lookout overlooking the King Valley wine region.

At the foot of the hill is the little village of Whitfield.  We have camped in the caravan park here some years ago.  This time we were lucky enough to fluke a room at the hotel.  Not a run down old hotel room.  Oh, no.  A lovely motel room aimed at the weekend getaway to the wineries.

In the evening it started to cool down just a little, so we had our dinner in the leafy beer garden.

And a rather tasty dinner it was too.  Confit of Duck for Mick.

Black Mussels with chilli for me.  Yummo.

A nice way to end the day.