September at Home

September seemed to be a busy month, being out and about, now that the weather is starting to warm up and the days get a little longer.  However, there has been some happenings at home as well.

Firstly, it was time to decorate the little shelf in the kitchen with a spring theme.

After the tidy up in one garden bed, I potted up some small plants for the church fete next month.  I have since potted up some more, so there will be quite a collection of small cottage plants to add to their stall. They have been settling in nicely in the potting shed.

The garden is waking up nicely, with our wattle starting to flower.  It is now well past its prime and due for a hair cut.

The flowering cherry looked lovely.  However, our daffodils have not performed well at all this year.

I’m in awe of how large our street trees are.  I forget that we have been here for nearly ten years, so they are expected to grow somewhat during that time.  

Anyway, they are getting their first tinge of green and will be in full leaf before we know it.

The crab apple is putting on its usual show.

It is currently being visited by lots of bees.

Our cow in the vege garden is looking nice and colourful.

The ranunculus are just starting to put on their colourful show. 

This was our wisteria a few days ago.  Look at all those buds.  They are just starting to lengthen and colour up now, so in a week or so it should be looking spectacular.

Meanwhile, over the road in the horse paddock, the kangaroo population continues to grow.  Mick counted 45 the other day and yesterday we counted five joeys that we could see.  I’m sure there are more.  It is all well and good while the season is good, but once things dry out it will be interesting to see what happens.  Currently, they very rarely venture onto the road, but they may then start looking for green pick on people’s lawns.  I hope they don’t become a problem.  As it is, it is the equivalent of running a small mob of sheep, so not the best for the landholder once things dry out.

Back inside, I managed to read one book.  I really enjoyed it.

There were a couple of other things that happened out and about.

Firstly, I assisted with the set up of the fund raiser morning tea for the Radiation Bus.  This a service run by our local community transport group that takes cancer patients to Orange for their treatment.  They receive no government funding, and thanks to fund raisers like this they are able to offer the service free of charge.  They capped the numbers at 100 this year and tickets sold out very quickly.  There was also a giant raffle, with one of the prizes being a quilt made by our patchwork group.  It was a very successful event.

Secondly, I enjoyed a delicious lunch in the relatively new cafe located by the river.  It has just reopened after their winter break, as most of it is outdoors.  The weather was glorious, the food good and our table had a nice outlook over the river.

So, a good month, and one that went by very quickly.  

We Had a Day Out

For once, we had nothing in the calendar today, other than the groceries and a few other bits and bobs around town.  So, what to do for the rest of the day?  Why not go for a drive.  But where to?  Why not head to Lithgow and visit my friend at her farmer’s markets stall.  That sounded like a good plan.

It was nearly 11 o’clock before we were on our way and decided to take the scenic route, via Portland. We only ever seem to get there on the weekend or in the late afternoon for the bonfire night.

The weather was lovely and sunny here for the first part of the morning,  but was gradually clouding over from the east.  That didn’t bode well for where we were headed.  By the time we reached Yetholme the wipers were on and it was looking rather miserable.  Yetholme is about 15kms east of Bathurst and where the easterly weather seems to usually finish.  Not to worry, we would still have a good day out.

To our surprise, and somewhat relief, the drizzle stopped and the sun even tried, in vain, to shine when we reached Portland.  We just went for a wander up and down the street, enjoying the murals that are painted on the shops.  There are a few nice old buildings.  

We popped into Vinnies, where I found a little Quilt Journal that may be handy.

There are a group of people that visit most years and add more reproduction old advertising art to the buildings.

From there, we headed into Lithgow to discover the farmer’s markets weren’t on today, despite all the advertising saying the first and third Thursday.  This month it was changed to the second and fourth.  Not to worry, there will be another time.  

Fortunately, the rain was still holding off. It was only 7 degrees C, but no wind, so not too bad, as we were rugged up. 

By now it was lunch time and we knew just the place to go on a cold and bleak day for a nice meal.  The Tin Shed.  

We weren’t disappointed.  The food was delicious and the wood fired heater was keeping the place nice and toasty warm.

After lunch, we just wandered up and down Main Street.  That always brings back many memories for me, as we used to go shopping there when visiting Grandma.  

The businesses are very different now, but most of the buildings are still there and I remember the old shops and what we bought there over the years.  The newspaper building is now an op shop.

There are two old picture theatres in Lithgow.  One has been empty for some time, but the Union Theatre is still functioning with a keen little movie club.  The building is rather lovely and I have never noticed the details on the top of the facade before.  I wonder what they mean?

We popped into a few op shops.  The ones in Lithgow are on the whole pretty good and the prices reasonable.

Yes, a few treasures came home with me.  Mainly vintage linens.  The Queensland souvenir tablecloth will come with us in the caravan when we head to Queensland next time.

I noticed this cute little rabbit, made from a recycled woollen blanket and didn’t initially buy it, but when walking back past the shop on the way to the car I had a change of heart and brought her home.  She is so sweet, and I’m sure someone would have originally paid way more than the $5 I paid.  I now have to think of a name for her and decide where she will live.

Mick is on the hunt for one particular novel to complete a series he is reading.  He could, of course, buy it on line, but it is much more fun to look for it on our travels.  There are two second hand book stores in Lithgow, but neither had it.  However,  the second one had one of the Elm Creek series that I was looking for, so I was rather happy with that.

Once we left Lithgow, we took another detour on the way home, this time via Oberon.  We didn’t even take the most usual route, but took a more minor road, which we haven’t traveled on for many years.  Looking east to the Blue Mountains, the weather was still looking rather murky.  I tried to take a photo looking down a valley, but missed and ended up with this photo of some gates.  I rather like it, although it was by accident.

At Oberon, we popped into another op shop, but it had nothing of interest and was rather expensive.  We did however, pop into one of the two butcher shops that has a good reputation.  What to buy?  Ooh!  Look at that….kidneys.  You don’t see them very often these days.  

Therefore, we bought some stewing steak and kidneys and had a delicious steak and kidney potato pie for tea.  (We took the lazy option, rather than waiting for the meat to cool and topping it with pastry.)  I don’t know how long it is since I last made it, I’m guessing about 25 years or so.

So that topped off a lovely, random day out.  We should do it more often.

Winter in Bathurst

For the last ten years Bathurst has hosted the “Bathurst Winter Festival”. It first came into being as a part of the city’s bicentenary celebrations in 2015.  Like so many others, our local council is struggling financially and sadly, the Winter Festival was one thing to get cut from the budget.

Fortunately, the Bathurst Community Club, where Mick’s bowling club play out of, decided that they would hold a substitute event over the two weeks of the July school holidays.  

The main draw card each year is the ice skating rink.  This was able to be placed on one of the bowling greens that is no longer suitable to play bowls on.

On the first and the last weekends of the event, there was the Brew and Bite evening that has become synonymous with the festival.  We popped down briefly on the first night.

Quite a few local businesses came on board with sponsorship to help run the event.  There were special days for kids and a fully accessible day.  The dodgem cars and carousel were also popular.

The future of the event is currently uncertain.  Council may run it again next year, or maybe the whole thing needs a rethink, as since Bathurst started their Winter Festival, many other locations have started up something similar, so it is not the draw card that it originally was.  A case of watch this space.

Now for some wintery photos.

To start with, we had a sunrise that absolutely glowed one morning.  I’m so please that I caught it before it faded.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so bright.

Then, on another morning, when we were out and about in the car, the frost was right up in the trees.  So pretty……and so very cold.  We were please to be snug in the car.

The last week or so has been cold, damp and bleak.  Real winter weather.  It is forecast to continue for a few more days, after which we hope to have a bit warmer weather, as we approach the start of spring, which will be here before we know it.