I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud…….

Let me tell you about some daffodils in our garden.

These ones are rather special to us, as they have a story behind them. We have family friends that used to live near Rydal, where the Daffodil Festival is held.  They lived in a historic sandstone cottage, one of several in the area.  When they were first married, in the 1950s, there was another nearby that was in ruins and usually had stock grazing around it.  One year there were no stock and loads of these daffodils came up.  They, and another couple, filled 44 gallon drums with bulbs and then planted large drifts under their old oak trees and along the side of the road.  If Mick and I visited during flowering time we were given big bunches of them.  One year they gave us half a dozen bulbs.  We transplanted those bulbs and took them with us when we moved out of town and also when we moved back into town. 

Our friends were instrumental in establishing the Daffodils at Rydal event, which is a beautiful weekend.  Rydal is the perfect spot for a Daffodil Festival, Rydal being the home of William Wordsworth in the Lakes District of England, the area where my grandmother grew up.  I have her book of his poetry that she was awarded in Sunday School in the early 1900s.  I digress….. This is where I posted about our visit in 2011.   Aren’t the daffodils under the trees lovely.  We have been in subsequent years, but I don’t seem to have any decent photos.  Although our friends are no longer with us, the garden at their old cottage is still open during Daffodils at Rydal in September.  We hope to pop down this year.  

In recent years ours weren’t blooming much and really needed to be divided.  In 2024, once the leaves had died off, Mick lifted them and we replanted some and gave quite a lot away.  There were still lots of little bulbs in a plastic tub, so Mick popped them in all over the place.  Literally, all over the place. Last year, come spring time, there were heaps of plants emerging but no flowers.  Not even one.  The ones we gave away had the same result.  You can imagine how  disappointed we were.

We were so happy this year when we returned from our recent trip away to see some buds forming.

To have a few already flowering in July is very early.  Later in August we are going to have so many of these heritage frilly daffodils flowering and the ones we gave away are doing well too.  We are so happy and relieved to see them bloom again.

The Rest of July

​It is about time that I shared what else we got up to during the month of July.

Remember that I attended the California Fashions exhibition just before we went on holidays and found the vintage magazines with information in them.  Well, after we came home I had lunch with one of the organisers and gave her the extra magazines.  She then asked what I was doing on the following Tuesday, as some of the former employees were going to have a morning tea and the museum ladies were going to interview them.  Would I be able to come along and help?  You bet I could.  It was a wonderful and interesting time with about a dozen former employees attending.  I learned so much more.  I even ended up with my photo in the local paper. There is going to be a book written, so that all the research that has been carried out and information gathered from the former employees won’t be lost.

A big event each year since 2015 has been the Bathurst Winter Festival.

Last year the local council stopped hosting it so another organisation took it on.  Their venue was not idea, so this year the Showground Trust, together with many local sponsors, took it over.  It ran for the two weeks of the school holidays and was quite successful, so fingers crossed it will continue into the future.  

We went down on the first Saturday night.

Another afternoon out that I had was to attend a Sashiko Workshop put on by the local Embroiderers Guild. There were only two of us in the class.  We mainly learned how to mark out the patterns for stitching. I have to admit that I haven’t progressed the project at all since that day.  I will eventually make four panels and hopefully make a rice bag with them.

One of my informal wishes each month is to try a new recipe.  Sometimes it happens, often not.  Well, I’m not quite sure what happened in July, but I made seven new recipes.  Yes, seven.  All winter comfort food type meals.  I had a little pile of the free magazines that you get at Coles and I went through them and pulled out the recipes I liked the look of.  It ended up being a rather European centric selection.  I have just taken the photos from the magazine, as they are presented much nicer than mine.  From the top left, there was Cassoulet, seafood marinara, a Greek style lemon chicken, Spanish red wine chicken casserole, beef stroganoff and Curtis Stone’s Best Bolognaise.  The Bolognaise took much longer and was more detailed that the one I normally use that came from a Margaret Fulton Leggos Tomato Paste ad in a magazine in the early 80s and I’ve only ever made beef stroganoff from a packet before.  I also made a seafood chowder that was very tasty.  The seafood marinara was not all that great as it was too tomatoey, but the others were all good.  I did let Mick know that this experimenting won’t last and to expect just the normal old meals.

 My other informal wish to read a book didn’t happen.  Not to worry.

I finally got around to donating a couple of quilts that I finished earlier in the year.  They have gone to the nursing home where Mum used to live.  They will be given to residents that have come in with very little and therefore their rooms look rather plain.  I think that is a wonderful outcome.

And that about sums up the month.

Carnarvon Gorge

Back to our travels again.

I left you when we had just arrived at the camp ground at Carnarvon Gorge.  This camp ground is only open during the tourist season.  It is on the rim of the gorge on private property.  The site is surprisingly flat and has wonderful views, as opposed to being down in the gorge caravan park.  Both beautiful, but vastly different.  The facilities consist of an office, a communal fire pit, portaloos dotted around the camp and a dump point.  Other than that, you have to be totally self sufficient.

The sites are humongous.  Most people park their van side on to take advantage of the best of the views.  Each site has a fire pit.  A great idea, as it prevents lots of little ash piles around the place.

When we were there the weather was perfect.  We are so pleased that we delayed our visit until travelling home.  The nights were clear with no moon, so the canopy of stars were spectacular.  You could join a group to view the night sky, but as we had recently done that in the Warrumbungles we didn’t bother.  We just enjoyed the view.

Once we had set up in the early afternoon it was time to go for an explore.  First stop was the information centre to get a map.

Last time we visited we went on a walk with a park ranger to the end of the main walking track.  This time we did things differently.  The main reason was that in recent times I have been having trouble with my feet and have been struggling to walk very far.  Fortunately, just before we left home I was able to see the podiatrist and get some orthotics.  I’m happy to report that they are working a treat.

Our first walk was a short one on the way into the gorge and was one we had not done on our last visit.  Don’t you love the name.  Mick’s very own walk.

It was a lovely walk through diverse vegetation.  Beautiful palm trees.

Huge eucalyptus trees. 

You have to give ones like this a hug.  

I always like finding little ferns.

These cycads are toxic.  However, the aboriginal people developed a way to treat them to be edible.  Sadly, that knowledge has been lost.

Overall, it was a lovely introduction to our visit to the area.

After our walk it was nice to have a sit in the sun and knit and read.

Late in the afternoon we wandered up to the communal fire pit where the hosts told us a bit about the area.  

We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

The next morning we packed our lunch and set off for a longer walk.  Although not the full length of the gorge, it was going to be up a side branch path that we had not been on before.  It is called the “Moss Garden”.

A feature of the park is the beautiful stepping stones to cross the creeks.

There are also lovely stone stairs in various places.

More lovely trees.

Cliffs.

Ferns and elk horns.

The end of the path we took was at a beautiful pool with a little waterfall and as the name suggested, lots of moss.  For most of the time we were there we were the only ones present.  A lovely peaceful spot.

Our walk was 7.5km.  Now, I know that isn’t very far, but after the way my feet had been playing up for the last few months, that was monumental, especially as much was on uneven ground.  I was so pleased that I was able to do it.  (By the way, my feet are even much better now.)

We enjoyed our lunch in the picnic area back near the car park.  

We spent the afternoon back at the camp ground.

We saw some of the pretty faced wallabies that inhabit the area.

As well as some of the cattle that tend to wander through the camp ground at times.

Later, Mick lit our little camp fire and we once again enjoyed watching the sun go down.  

What a beautiful place to be.

The next morning, I got up early to catch the sunrise, as you do have the 360 degree views that are advertised.

It was time to get back on the road and continue our explorations.

Our first stop was at a memorial for a plane that crashed during WWII.  It went down during a violent electrical storm while flying from Darwin to Brisbane.  All 19 on board, being both American and Australian, were killed.

Before long we were back out on the highway and heading south.  More soon.