A Fresh Year

I have been reading lots of posts with recaps on the previous year and what people wish to achieve in 2018.

I too have been reflecting on last year and thinking about the year ahead.  Here is the post where I was looking forward to 2017 and I nominated a word for the year "Reconnect".  How did I go? I planned to review this every month.  Unfortunately, that seemed to peter out, as did my blogging in general.  Life does that sometimes. Let's have a look now...

READ MORE BOOKS - Fail.  I read a few, but not many.  We did cull the majority of our books to the Lifeline Book Fair.  We have since bought a few more, but we intend to just keep what fits on our bookshelves. Hopefully, I will read more this year.

EXPLORE - Yes, but not as much as we had wished.  We had a few days out around here, attempted to travel around Australia, only to have it aborted.  We did have a nice trip up the east coast.  We then had a nice week or so down into South Australia before Mum got sick and that was aborted too.  Our trip down the south coast of NSW in November was lovely.

CREATE - In 2017 I achieved very little in the sewing room.  I did, however, finish my drunkard's path quilt right at the end of the year.  At least that was something.  Of course I participated in the SSCS organised by Chookyblue.

ORGANISE - Fail.  I procrastinate too much on this, and then when Mum moved into residential aged care we ended up with most of her possessions here as well.  I just don't know where to start.

NURTURE - So so.  It did seem to be home improvement central around here at times and we have spend quite a bit of time in the garden.  Cooking and baking?  Not so much.  

NEW EXPERIENCES - Yes!  There were a few. 

Firstly, getting a new pushbike was a very unexpected thing.  I'm not using it as much as I should, but it does get ridden.  At least I'm not wobbly on it now. 

The second surprising and major new experience was me transitioning to working only three days a week.  This is fantastic.  Have I made good use of my time?  Mmmm, not really.  Do I feel better for it?  Definitely.  It still doesn't seem real.  I think as I get used to it I will be more productive. 

Finally, I've started to experience the aged care system.  Not an experience we were expecting, but once it was organised, it is all good.

ENJOY FRIENDS - Yes.  We have spent time with local friends and we really enjoyed catching up with friends and relatives on our trip north.

CARAVANNING - Yes.  We only expected to use it for weekends away at this stage, so our trips to South Australia and down the South Coast were bonuses.  They were only because of our aborted motorcycle trip around Oz, but were very enjoyable just the same.  We have decided we like this caravanning.

TAKE TIME - This was always a bit vague.  Now that I am only working three days a week, I can take time to spend with Mum without feeling guilty.  Mick is also trying to work less on Thursdays and Fridays, so we can spend time doing things, or not doing much at all.

So, what about 2018?

Last year I commented that I thought things may settle down in 2017.  Maybe that will happen in 2018?  We'll see.

I've been thinking of a word again.  I tossed around a few ideas, which all would have been relevant, but in the end this is what I have come up with.

FOCUS

Most of what I wanted last year remains the same.  However, to achieve my goals I need to focus......

Focus on what is most important to us.

Focus on spending quality time together.

Focus on making our home a pleasure to be in.

Focus on finishing a sewing project before starting another and reducing the number of UFOs I have.

Focus on organising one thing at a time.  Work on a small step and finish it.  Once organised, focus on maintaining it.

Focus on completing a "To Do" list, not just writing it.

Just generally not getting distracted and not procrastinating.

And finally, try not to bite off more than I can chew, as that will certainly lead to lack of focus.

We'll see in twelve months how I go.

Reconnecting in July, August and September

I seem to have slipped up on my monthly Reconnecting posts, so now is the time to get back on track.

As Kris from Tag Along Teddies would say, grab a cuppa, this is a bit of a long ramble.

It has been a bit of a roller coaster time over the last three months, what with one thing and another.

I didn't give a reason at the time for our unexpected return home from South Australia in early August.  Well, Mum, who is in her late eighties, got sick.  Nothing terribly serious, but certainly worrying at the time, which was only exacerbated by the fact that we were a few days away from home in another state. She is now much better.

To cut a long story short, after many convoluted phone calls we were able to have Mum admitted into emergency respite at a local nursing home.  She should have been in hospital, but there were no beds available due to the severe flu outbreak.

After she returned home to her unit two weeks later (she has been living in a retirement village for the last twelve months) she found that she missed the reassurance of having someone on call when she needed assistance at any time of day or night.  As a result we applied for a room in the residential aged care centre next door to where her unit is. 

To our surprise she was allocated a room just two weeks after she applied and has now been a resident for just on a month.  The facility had a whole new wing added two years ago and she is in that new section.  The building is beautiful, the staff lovely and caring and the food is great. To our delight she is settling in very well.   She knows quite a few of the other residents, including two of her best friends.  We have taken over a few of her special pieces of furniture and china to make her room more personal.  It is looking rather lovely and homely. 

There are heaps of activities on offer and she is getting involved in whatever is going.  She isn't one to want to miss out on things.  I was somewhat gob smacked when I saw her reading a novel.  Mum has never really been a reader, but she has already read a few books from their library.  Of course, her knitting and crochet have gone with her and tomorrow she will attend their knitting group for the first time.  She will be right at home.

So, after that explanation, onto our wrap up:

READ BOOKS

I did read one book while we were in the caravan.  "The Waddi Tree" by Kerri McGinnis which I bought at the Molong Markets.    It was an enjoyable read.  When we were going through all our books I discovered I have two more of her books.  They seem to be autobiographical.  I've kept them aside to read.  I hope they are good.

Other than that, I have started to read "The Orchard Thieves" by Elzabeth Jolly in my lunches, but haven't had much  time as yet.  It was another book from our many boxes.  I can't say that I'm really enjoying it, but I'll keep plugging away and see how it ends ups.  Fortunately, it is a fairly slim volume.

EXPLORE

Well, we nailed that!  Just to recap, we headed off on our motorcycle ride around Australia, only to have to return home due to the bike breaking down.  We had a great trip up the east coast and even travelled 80kms further inland from Charters Towers than we have been before!

We then hooked up the caravan behind the ute and headed to western New South Wales and South Australia, which was a real exploration.  Gosh, we enjoyed it.  We were just getting into the laid back way of travelling when we were so rudely interrupted (just joking). 

CREATE

Not much at all.  I made some zippy pouches and an ipad sleeve before our trip, but that is about all.  

I had high hopes of having a finish for One Project a Month for September, but it didn't happen. Back in August 2014 I pieced a Drunkard's Path Quilt at a retreat at Nundle (can't rush things now) .  I machined the binding on at Chooky's in June this year. There is just under 10 metres of binding to hand sew down.  I've got half way, so there may be a finish by the end of this month.  We'll see how we go.

ORGANISE

Yes!

The Ikea display cabinets were built and boxes unpacked.  More organising, as such, is still required.

We got rid of all those boxes of books.  I'm sure a few went that shouldn't have, but I can live with that.  I look at what I kept and some I wonder at, but that gives me scope to fine tune things in the future, keeping in mind that we want to contain our collection to the shelves in our little sitting area.  

We now have a spare room with a double bed.  I still have to go shopping for linen and sort out the wardrobe, but it is a massive improvement on where we were.  Other things just happened to interrupt us lately.

Mum!  Now that took some organising.  We had to organise her health and care, the nursing home, and now we have had to organise to empty her unit.  This was a little easier than it could be in that her house was sold at the end of last year and a major clear out occurred then.  However, it is harden in some ways, as what was left was more important.  It is difficult getting rid of so many things that you have grown up with.  We threw out heaps, things that have served her well over the 55 years since she married, but have now reached their use by date.  I can't fit my car in our garage at present as it is full of Mum's possessions.  We will have a garage sale soon to reduce a lot of it.  I do need to sit and go through things properly and assess what to keep, what to donate and what to chuck.  There are so many family items, so I also need to create an archive of some sort for family.  It is just a matter of determining what to keep and what to let go of.  Wish me luck.

So, now, despite having done some organising, it is a case of one step forward, two steps back.  We'll get there.

NURTURE

Not a lot here really.  With all that has been happening, we have just been taking life as it comes.

I did, however, do lots of cooking before we went on our caravan trip.  Biscuits and slice for morning teas, as well as soups and casseroles for dinners.  It worked really well, and is something we will have to try to do each trip.  It makes life easy, not having to find supermarkets or somewhere to eat all the time and of course saves quite a lot of money.  

NEW EXPERIENCES

Continuing on from previous months, I haven't been on my bike at all.  They went to South Australia with us, but the weather wasn't really conducive to cycling.

My three days a week at work has now kicked in properly.  The extra days off have been a blessing, allowing time to run around getting Mum settled.  I'm looking forward to when life achieves a new normal and there will be some time for home things on those days off.  Our time will come.

The major new experience this time was navigating the Aged Care system - My Aged Care, which is the main port of call for many things, DVA, Aged Care Facilities, setting things up to allow me to assist Mum with more day to day dealings, obtaining a disabilty parking permit, etc.  There is a whole new language to learn and so many acronyms to get my head around.  It certainly has been a steep learning curve, but one that many have been through and understand, I'm sure.

ENJOYING FRIENDS

Our trip up the east coast on the bike was made so enjoyable by being able to spend time with friends that we don't see often and to also meet Jenny in Townsville for the first time was a bonus.  Friends really are wonderful.

CARAVANNING

Our trip to South Australia was a nice little taster of caravanning in the slow lane and we can see that it is be something we can really take to, although we were pretty confident about that anyway.  Hopefully we will have a bit more time in the van before too long.

TAKE TIME

It was nice to wind down on our holiday.  It takes a few days for us to stop racing around, but by the time we were in South Australia we were definitely in holiday mode.

Also, it has been so good having the extra days and time to spend with Mum.  To be able to attend appointments and not be feeling that you need to rush off to do something else, or get back to work makes such a difference.  I think we will get to spend more quality time together from now on.

There you go!  If you have made it to the end, well done.  It has been an interesting three months.   Hopefully the next three will be a little less dramatic.

Reconnecting in May and June

I just realised that I haven't done a wrap up of Reconnecting in May, so I'll just combine the two months of May and June.  Here goes. No photos, sorry.

READ BOOKS

Um, nope!  Not one!  Zilch!  Do blogs count?  I don't think so.  Let's see if I can get back on track.

EXPLORE

Yes, nailed it.

We travelled out to Trundle for the Abba Festival at the beginning of May and had a lovely look around the town.

We travelled to Coonamble on the June Long Weekend and had a great wander around, then visiting Ponto Falls for the first time.

Locally, we had a good wander around the area on our Winter Solstice Run and then riding on the newly sealed Dog Rocks Road on our test ride with the new side car set up.

CREATE

Not much - like nothing in May.

In June I started to add the binding to my drunkards path quilt and created a tiny pincushion.  I still have to fill the pincushion......but firstly I have to find my walnut shells......I know I have 2 bags....somewhere.  They will turn up.

I then made a quick coaster for the lolly jar and mat for my keyboard.

Not much, but better than nothing.

ORGANISE

Not a lot in this area either.  A few drawers have been sorted, winter and summer clothes changed over in the wardrobe, but no major projects at the moment.

NURTURE

May continued to see work in the garden, with peas and broad beans planted.  I thought I may have been too late, but they have come up and are doing fine.  Hopefully we will have a nice little crop in spring.

We have had some really severe frosts - one getting down to -9.5 degrees C!! The garden suffered.

Some winter cooking has happened.  There is nothing better than comfort food at this time of the year.

NEW EXPERIENCES

Cycling has taken a back seat as it has been cold, the days short and we have been busy with other things.  Poor excuses, but it is what it is.  Once the weather warms up and the days lengthen we will be out and about again.

I have been transitioning to my three days a week at work, starting out with four days.  It seems really weird not going to work for five days a week.  It will take a little while to get used to.  My job share partner has picked up the role well and is a delight to work with, which makes me feel very comfortable with the future.

ENJOY FRIENDS

Yes, we have spent time with good friends - doing fun things with different friends.  We are so lucky to have such a great network, both locally and in other areas.

CARAVANNING

Our trips to Trundle and Coonamble were both thoroughly enjoyable.  We are learning all the time and have enjoyed being able to free camp.  It has certainly reinforced that the decision to join the caravanning brigade was a good one.

TAKING TIME

This is always a rather fluid category.  We took time to go away and join in on fun things.  We took time to have weekends just pottering around at home. The most important thing it to not feel stressed with life, so I think we have had a success here.

So there you have it...... not doing all that well this time, but that's life.  There is still another six months of the year, so we will see how we go.  It has certainly been an interested exercise to reflect on each month.

Reconnecting in April

Seeing it is just about the end of May I'd better finish off with what we were up to in April.  How did I go at Reconnecting?

READING

I found this book "For the Love of Old" at the local library and enjoyed reading of the author's love of old, not pristine furniture.  It was published in 2006, but only bought by our library this year.  I think styles have moved on quite a bit since then......from cluttered to minimalist.

I did finish "Wind in the Willows" and really enjoyed it.

My third book was one lurking in a box here -  "Nighthawk Mops Up".  How can you pass up a paperback with such a graphic cover.  It was written in 1944 and set in England.  The good guys were trying to mop up some Nazi supporters.  The writing style was quite different to how I would imagine the story would be written in modern times.

EXPLORE

Our visit to Burraga Dam and the Canowindra Balloon Glow would come under this category.

CREATE

Not a single finish!

I did progress with my Nundle Sewing Basket project over the Easter weekend, but still a little more to go.

ORGANISE

Our office makeover certainly would come under this category.  It is a pleasure to be in there now, rather than a big hot mess.

NURTURE

April is probably about the best month of the year weather wise.  The sting has gone out of the sun, with cool, crisp morning.  Therefore, the garden perks up and it is nice to think of warming food.  

No photos, but I made a couple of batches of soup for the freezer and tried a couple of new recipes for dinner.

In the garden, the summer season is coming to an end, so the veges are removed for the season. 

 

Summer annuals are removed and some winter colour planted.  These mauve pansies should look lovely through the winter.

Our garden planted in November was doing well.

We bought a wind flower when we established the garden.  Finally it flowered.

Our dahlia finally flowered.

Then, we had our first little frost.

The dahlia leaves suffered.

The autumn leaves this year have been stunning.  These are our street trees.

It didn't take long for the leaves to fall.

And soon the trees were bare.  However, there is still some autumn colour in the district, which is a bit later than  usual.

Dewy mornings are lovely to show up spider's webs.

NEW EXPERIENCES

We continued to ride our bikes when we could, but there didn't seem to be too much time.

On the work front, a lady was employed to job share with me, although she hadn't started at that date.

ENJOY FRIENDS

April was certainly a social month.  Outings, going out to dinner, friends staying over.  It was lovely.

We had our Mums over for lunch on Easter Sunday and Mick's mum brought over these lovely roses from her garden.

CARAVANNING

We didn't go anywhere with the van, but we did go to the Caravan and Camping Show in Sydney.  This year we were a little more restrained.  We just bought a water filter, rather than a caravan.

TAKING TIME

Although it was a busy month, being out and about, there was also nice times at home.  

Mick had his knee surgery at the beginning of the month, so was off work for the whole month.  He took things very gently when we were out and about.

As you can gather, he isn't one to sit around idly, although he did do lots of reading, like about a book a day.

When he got bored, he went up to the shed and found a project.  Let me tell you a story.

We bought 2 little folding chairs at a garage sale in I'm guessing 1986.  

 I found a photo with them in the background in 1987. They were cute, but one was canary yellow and the other lime green and they had disgusting seats. I wish I had a proper before photo. I did get a photo of the seats before they were thrown in the bin, to give you an idea.

These chairs have been carted around and sat in the back of various sheds for 30 years. Each time we got rid of stuff these seemed to stay to be done up "one day".  Well that day came. 

One day while I was at work Mick cleaned up the metal and painted them.  I asked what colour?  The answer was "Red".  "Why red?" "I didn't want black, white, green, yellow or blue, so red it is."  It turned out he had spray painted them, so colours were limited.  I can certainly live with our cheerful little red chairs with nice new seats.  Quite an improvement on their "before" condition.  We have had the table for about the same length of time.  It was a "tip find" that Mick did up several years ago, after it had been a work table in the shed for years.  We used it nearly every day on our verandah when we lived out of town.  They all go nicely together.

On another day he was wondering what to do.  We had bought some passionfruit, so I suggested he make a slice.  He has never made a cake.  I got out the ingredients and the recipe book and left him to it.  Progress photos kept arriving on my phone at work.  He did a great job.

It was rather nice having him at home. We had lunch together most days, which was a nice change.

For a busy month, we still seem to have been mindful of "Reconnecting", which is the aim of the year.

And, just to finish off, Mick put a woollen rug on the floor and Joey is loving it.  This spot is a nice sun trap in the morning, so he now has a sunny spot with a warm butt.  We have three of these rugs.  Mum made them many years ago and when we were cleaning out her house we found them stashed under a spare bed, so brought them home,  They are from woollen dressmaking scraps.  This one is a little worse for wear, so I'll have to kick Joey off at some stage and give it a few stitches.

Reconnecting in March

It is time once again to reflect on my word "Reconnect" for the last month.  I'm quite enjoying actually thinking about what is happening and breaking it down into categories.  Anyway, enough guff, this is how I went for March.

READ MORE BOOKS

I still haven't finished "Wind in the Willows", but I will.

One book has been completed, though.  I took a couple of books to Nundle, but they didn't see the light of day.  However, when we were at the little antique shop in Nemingha the lady was going to have to find $1 change.  It was easier to find a $1 book.  This old copy of an Agatha Christie classic fit the bill.  Yes, I've read it before, probably in my teens, but I couldn't remember the outcome, so it was good entertainment. Don't you love the 50s dust jacket.

EXPLORE

Yes, I think our trip to Nundle fitted this category nicely.  We are so pleased we had the time to have a good look around, seeing as it turned out to be the last Girls Day in the Country.

CREATE

I really am not having much to show for this since the beginning of the year.  My efforts for March were my little swap project and my project that I worked on at Girls Day in the Country.  Better than nothing I suppose.

ORGANISE

There have been two good finishes in this area.

Firstly, my office at work has got somewhat out of control.  There never seems to be time to finish filing etc.  Anyway, I spent a weekend in there, in the quiet, and had a big sort out and tidy up. It is so much nicer to be in now. There is an ulterior motive for this, but more on that later.

Secondly, we attacked the garage.  The plan is to have the car, a couple of bikes, stuff for the swap meet and a bit of other stuff stored here.  Well, there were two dressing tables and a treadle sewing machine taking up a lot of space and boxes of "stuff" from Mum's had just been dumped wherever it would fit.  What a mess!

We took everything out and started again.  One dressing table was moved to a bedroom and the other taken to the charity shop.  When we could get to the cupboards around the walls, most of them were empty or didn't have much in them.  Mick had a set of shelves not being used in his shed so they were put together and it turned out they fitted perfectly over the top of the sewing machine.  The machine will get moved inside eventually.  Things were put away in cupboards, chucked out or some moved elsewhere.  We ended up with a sidecar and a bike fitting in and being able to move and get to things.  A great result.

It also proved timely has we had a huge storm which blew rain in under the roller doors.  I had boxes on the floor in that area and the contents would have been ruined.  Phew!

NURTURE

I suppose the garden has been the main feature here.

We planted eight climbing bean plants in spring, only to have black birds destroy all but two of them.  They grew well and flowered profusely during the hot weather, but no beans.  Finally, in March, once the weather calmed down, we started to get beans......loads of them.  Thank goodness we only had the two plants.

This is only a small portion of them.

We planted sweet peas, both perennial (in the garden by the shed) and annual (on the other side of the arch to the beans).

The little garden out the front is thriving, especially now the sting has gone out of the sun.  Lots of pansies have been planted to provide winter colour.

Mick didn't want any roses in the garden, not wanting to get scratched while mowing.  I wanted at least one rose.  We compromised.  One standard rose in a garden not near a lawn.  But what variety?  We chose "Peace" in the end. Mum had one in our garden when I was little and Mick and I had one in our first garden.  It has taken a while to get established, but it is really doing well now.  Lots of growth still coming, but the cold weather will put paid to that before long.

This red rose is a miniature.  There were two straggly specimens in the front garden when we arrived and they were unceremoniously pulled out.  Well, we obviously missed a bit of root as this little rose has come up.  It has the sweetest little blooms.  The colour here isn't a good indication.  They are a much deeper red, not pink at all.  Anyway, we will keep it pruned to a nice shape and enjoy it.

I did bake some Anzac biscuits one day as well.

NEW EXPERIENCES

This year has turned up some surprises.

Firstly, a recap on my bicycle,  We have been using them a lot and really enjoying it.  Mick has put a rack on the back of the van and we took them to Nundle.  They travelled well and it was a great way to explore another town.  They will certainly come away with us on a regular basis.  We are having a little break at the moment, as Mick has had knee surgery, but when he feels strong enough we will be out there again.  It will probably be mainly on weekends now, as the days are closing in.

Now, for the biggy...Da Da Daaaaa!

After Mick and I had a little chat about Mum needing a bit more help and me ducking out of work to go to appointments etc, I've approached work to see if I can work three days a week and make my job a job share role.  To my delight they have agreed and they are in the process of recruiting someone.  I will be working Monday to Wednesday, which will leave time to spend with Mum, give us the opportunity to go away for long weekends and maybe even enjoy some stitching time, or horror of horrors, get the housework done.

I'm quite excited and nervous about it all.  Hopefully, the new person will be trained up by the end of June and I will be able to go to the shorter hours then.

ENJOY FRIENDS

Well, Nundle features here as well.  We've also spent time with friends at home too.  An unexpected lunch with someone you haven't seen for some time is always a nice treat.

CARAVANNING

Nundle again.  Fancy that.

TAKE TIME

And once again, Nundle.  It was a lovely few days spent together.  One thing about going away with the van is that you have to take time.  We travel relatively slowly, so you get to really enjoy the scenery, rather than just have it whizz by.  We just have to factor in extra time to reach our destination, but that is just fine.

Now we just have to see what April brings.  I can't wait.

Reconnecting in February

Here we go again, checking up on how I went with "Reconnecting" this month.  You can see how I went in January here, and my original vision here.

February this year will be memorable for the weather.  We have had a maximum of 41.5 degrees C.  That is a full degree higher than any previous recorded temperature.  On the other hand, we have had a minimum of 4.3 degrees C.  That is quite a contrast. There have also been quite a few windy days.  No wonder the poor garden is suffering.   Therefore, we have spent quite a considerable amount of time watering.  The tanks off the shed are now empty, waiting for some decent rain.  I think it has nearly forgotten how to rain here.  We have only had about 13mm for the year so far.  There was a short sharp storm in town this afternoon, but we (being a whole 2kms away) had 0.3mm.

READ MORE BOOKS

I have read nothing further of the Tim Winton book.  Not a word.  It is sitting beside my desk at work waiting patiently for me to have a free lunch break.

As I suggested last time, I picked up something a bit more exciting, a Dick Francis book that was sitting on the shelf. A quick, light read and now the book will be moved on.

We have boxes and boxes of books (okay nearly a room full of boxes) that need going through and then we will be getting rid of the majority of them. In among them are quite a few classics that have sat on the shelf for years, but I have never read.  Dad was not in favour of reading any fiction, so I missed quite a few of the basics, like "The Wind in the Willows".  For such a book worm, I've never read it.  We have had this copy for over 30 years.  When we first got together, one day we were at the tip and there were boxes and boxes of books being thrown away.  It was nearly the entire library of a local boarding school and this well used volume was amongst them.  We were selective to start with and then just loaded boxes into our car. Anyway, I digress.  I'm half way through the book and it is good to finally read it, as there are so many classic quotes and characters, although you could not exactly call it high brow (but then neither am I).

EXPLORE

Not so well this month.  OK, we had two quick trips to Windsor, but they weren't really explorations.

CREATE

Not so well, once again.  Just a couple of more butterflies.  I'm going to use the same weak excuse as last month.  We are spending so much time outside....watering, watering, watering.

ORGANISE

The only thing this time was the Bathurst Swap Meet at the beginning of the month.  We only had a little stall, but we got rid of a bit more stuff.  Yes, there was even a little bit of fabric.  Every little bit helps.

I sold my old pushbike "Flash", who doesn't look so flash any more.  I was happy that she was bought by a man who restores bikes.  He is going to hang her on the wall of his shed. (Instead of her hanging in the roof of ours.)  I was sad to see her go, but it is definitely for the best.  I'll tell you all about her one day.  She was special.

I just remembered I also tidied a couple of kitchen cupboards, to fit in more preserves.

Oh, and I sorted a lot of paperwork in the office......but lots more to do....it was a start.

NURTURE

Being summer, we have had our usual onslaught of tomatoes, so we have made  "Grandma's Tomato Sauce".  Well, not quite her sauce this time, as I made it on the spur of the moment and thought I had all the ingredients, but actually didn't.  There was only a splash of malt vinegar left, so it was made up with white.  Oops, not much brown sugar left and no reserve packet, so white had to make up the difference. I only had red apples, not grannies and only red onions.  Oh, and I accidentally picked up the Cinnamon instead of the Cayenne, so it has both in it.  I suppose the end product was still influenced by Grandma's recipe.  Anyway, it tastes just fine.

Now that we are in town I no longer have a plum tree and it seems wrong not having home made plum jam in the cupboard, so when I saw some nice dark plums in the supermarket we had a jam making episode.  It turned out rather well too.

We ended up with 11 bottles of sauce and 10 jars of jam.  Yum.  That should see us through for a couple of years.

There were still more tomatoes, so there is quite a sizable batch of pasta sauce in the freezer as well.  All of this was achieved in one week.  Not too bad.

Unfortunately, the extreme heat has knocked the tomatoes about, so we are waiting for a further flush to come through.

NEW EXPERIENCES

Yes! 

This was a big surprise to me.  

You see, Mick has a dicky knee and cannot walk very far at the moment.  However, he has been able to ride his pushbike without pain and apparently it is good for knees.  We got chatting and then went shopping.....

Meet Olivia.  

I never thought I would have another push bike.  I would have liked a pretty girls bike, but Olivia has many more gears and wonderful suspension in the front forks.  Oh, how bikes have changed in the last 36 years since I bought a bike.  She is a nice compromise.

I thought she was black in the shop, but when she is in the sun she is actually a really deep metallic purple.

Boy, am I out of practice!!!  We went for a ride of about 3kms on the first morning.  What looked flat, was actually a very gradual rise...all the way home.  

That afternoon we went out again.  Just up the road we found some blackberries.  So home we rode and returned with buckets for picking.  

A lot of them were rather dry, but we were able to get enough to have on ice cream for a couple of nights. Anyway, after that my legs ached something terrible and I was just a tad (OK very) saddle sore. Hopefully, it will get easier the more I do.  It is rather embarrassing how unfit I am.  Oh well, baby steps.

Mick is now planning a bike carrier to put on the caravan.  It should be nice to take the bikes away.

ENJOY THE COMPANY OF GOOD FRIENDS

Yes, we have spent time with good friends.  It is always nice.

CARAVANNING

At the beginning of the month we took our van down to Windsor to have a little bit of work done on it.  The weather was cool and damp.  So very different to home at the time.

We made a nice day out of our trip, enjoying a late breakfast at our favourite cafe.

We returned last weekend to collect the van. 

Once again the weather was cool and damp.  It drizzled over the mountains both ways......and of course stopped as soon as you got west of Lithgow.

TAKE TIME

I suppose, making an enjoyable time of our trips to Windsor fit into this category, but February hasn't been as relaxed as January was.  We both have been busy at work and the weather has been rather taxing.  That is just the way it goes.  Each month is different.

IN SUMMARY

It is interesting having a theme for the year.  Yes, I do think about it and hopefully will continue to do something in each catergory each month.

Reconnecting in January

This is my first year of having a word for the year "Reconnect".  To keep me honest I will try to look back at the end of each month and see how I went.  So for January, here goes......

READ MORE BOOKS

Not so well.  I started a book with the plan that I would read during my lunch breaks at work. The book I chose was Tim Winton's latest book "The Boy Behind the Curtain".  I have failed for two reasons, firstly it is not riveting.  It is his autobiography and an enjoyable read, but not a book that I can't put down.  Also, I don't seem to have had many lunch breaks with time to read.  I will keep reading it, but may start another more exciting book as well.

EXPLORE

Nailed it!  We explored:

Hartley

Oberon 

and Lithgow.  Not bad for one month and all being within about an hour from home.

CREATE

Well, I made some butterfly magnets and  did a tiny bit of stitching sitting beside the Oberon Dam.  I suppose that is something??!!  My excuse is that being summer time we are spending more time outside.  The evenings are light and the garden needs watering.  Besides, we don't seem to have been home long enough to do anything.

ORGANISE

I tidied my sewing room.  It was an absolute mess.  Apart from all my excessive amount of "Stuff", I had brought home some of Mum's and it had just been dumped.  You can now move around, but I haven't decluttered any.

We have gone through some boxes of "Stuff" that we brought with us from our old home and prepared it put for sale on swap meets.  Not a big lot, but a start.  I definitely have to keep working on this one.

NURTURE

I bought the February edition of Better Homes and Gardens one Friday at the supermarket and liked the look of a dessert "Ricotta Honey Tart with Ginger Coconut Crust", so let's strike while the iron is hot. 

I bought the ingredients, invited some friends over for a casual Saturday night barbecue and experimented on them.

Success.  I'll definitely be making that one again.

We have also spent quite a bit of time in the garden, but I will share that in a separate post later.

NEW EXPERIENCES

Nothing there.  Then again, it is only the start of the year and this will a surprise if and when it does happen.

ENJOY THE COMPANY OF GOOD FRIENDS

We have seen friends and of course, there was the casual tart dinner and our day out down the mountains.  We also had the pleasure of having Chookyblue and Fairy Girl visit, which was lovely.

CARAVANNING

Nope.  But we didn't expect to.

TAKE TIME

I think this ties in with this month's explore category.  We made the time to have special days out together and they really were lovely days.  Ones we will look back on.  "Remember that day when we...." type days.

IN SUMMARY

I don't think I did too badly. What is obvious is that the time of year will affect how I perform in different areas.  Once it cools down and the days get shorter there will be more indoor and homely things going on. It will be interesting to see how the year progresses.