It's a Busy Time of Year

As the title says, it is a busy time of the year around here.  The weather is renowned for being a bit cooler and settled, so we always like to make to most of it.

Firstly, more of the garden.

Our Peace rose is finally blooming nicely.

The dahlia is continuing to have lovely blooms.

Quite often our wind flower doesn't flower until the frost come, so get ruined.  This year it is nice and early.

Mick has progressed with the new garden bed.  Lots of mixed daffodils have been planted and when the new stock comes into nurseries we will add a weeping cherry to the centre.

Trees in the area are starting to develop lovely colours in the leaves.

We had this stunning sky on Saturday evening.  There was lots of lightning and rumbly thunder.  When it did rain it hailed.  The hail stones were about the size of a marble, but jagged.  Fortunately, there wasn't too much damage and it didn't last too long.

We had ordered a tank for our new little garden area behind our big shed.  The tank was to be delivered early on Friday.  Unfortunately, two of their drivers called in sick.  It was very unfortunate, as we had good rain on Friday afternoon, a storm with hail on Saturday evening and then more good rain on Sunday evening through to Monday morning.  The tank was delivered on Monday morning, just before the rain stopped.  Not to worry, it is now all set up ready to go when it gets around to raining again.

Our raspberries are continuing to fruit prolifically.

Just look at those bunches of berries still to ripen.

We didn't pick for two days, and yesterday picked this great booty of berries.  We are starting to freeze some now.  Of course, as I didn't pick for a couple of days a couple of zucchinis grew a bit too big.  Zucchini fritters for dinner tonight.  The tomatoes are ripening, but there won't be enough for sauce of relish.  There is just a good amount for everyday use and I'll stew a few to freeze for later.  I also have some small silver beet doing well, so we are picking leaves while they are small.  Just a good amount of produce for us.

Each mid March there is a cycling weekend in Bathurst, featuring a criterion around the city centre and the main event "The B2B" race, which is a road race from Blayney to Bathurst.  The short course is 70kms, and the long course is 110kms.

A feature along the route of the race is a competition for hay bale sculptures.  We went for a drive around last year and really enjoyed seeing all the creations, so did the same this year.

These ones came third, being created by one of the Blayney Schools.  Enjoy having a peek at some of the others we saw.

They were a bit of fun.

A few weeks ago we heard of a concert taking place in the village hall out at the small village of Burraga, about an hour south of Bathurst, which was held on last Friday night.

This is the next village after the one where Mick grew up and he can tell some tales of his adventures at dances there when he was a boy. We asked some friends if they would like to join us for a fun, tongue in cheek evening out, and they said yes.  The evening started with a barbecue before our entertainer came on stage.

We were entertained by an Aussie living legend.  Yes, at 86 years of age, Chad Morgan is still out and about.   My knowledge of Chad is rather limited, except for his song "Shiek of Scrubby Creek" and that it is joked that he can eat an apple through a tennis racket.

We were pleasantly surprised by what a great performer he is.  He had everyone laughing with his cheeky little songs and ditties.  

It was a fund raiser for the local Agricultural Bureau for their Sheep and Wool show in August, so of course we bought some raffle tickets.  I even won a prize pack of three puzzle books. 

There was an intermission for us to have a delicious supper prepared by the local ladies. During that time Chad signed autographs and had his photo taken with lots of people. 

It was a really fun night.  We probably wouldn't have gone along if it was just in one of the local clubs, but being in a good sized crowd in a country hall was terrific. It turns out that he likes performing in country halls the best too.

On Saturday morning we were up and about again, heading into the Bathurst Farmers Market and Sustainable Living Expo.  The Farmers Markets are held each month, but this time there was a lot extra on offer.  Shoalhaven Zoo to You brought a nice collection of animals.

We bought some lovely fresh veges and I then spent the afternoon in the kitchen cooking and freezing meals for the next little while. I now have a nice little stock of soup for when it gets cold, which won't be far away.

Sunday had something on too.  A member of the motorcycle club we are in has motor neurone disease and the club held a dice roll run to assist him.

We took Snubby the silver side car out for a run.  I haven't been in Snubby since September!

There was a great roll up of bikes, ranging from the latest bikes to older ones.

Our first stop was at Black Springs, about an hour south of Bathurst.  As we pulled in, we noticed a rubbing sound on the back wheel.  On further investigation, a bearing in the drive shaft has collapsed.  This is in a similar place to the one that failed in Queensland, but not the same one.  How disappointing.  At least we were relatively close to home this time.  One of the club members drove Mick home to collect the ute and trailer.  Poor Snubby looked very lonely in the park after everyone else left.

I sat in the sun and the quiet for a couple of hours until he returned.  However, the quiet was not all that quiet.  There was a constant clicking of grasshoppers.  They are so well camouflaged, as you can see in the photo above.  Funnily enough, they only seem to be in the higher areas.  There aren't any closer to town.

Poor Snubby heading home on the trailer.

As we couldn't continue on the run we went into Oberon and bought some fish and chips for lunch to eat in the park. The Boston ivy on this pergola was looking beautiful.  Oberon is that bit cooler than Bathurst, so their foliage changes colour a bit earlier.

And that is about all we have been up to.  See, it really has been a busy time.

Well done if you made it to the end.