Back on the bike....

Not literally.... though I should be doing something a bit more physical (it's just too damm hot!).

Today I broke out my Dear Jane quilt again - to date I have made 93 of the 169 blocks and about 4 of the 52 triangles. Today I finished 4 blocks - no photos 'cos the camera battery is flat and I have put the recharger in that "safe place".

I am aiming to get another 10 made these holidays...

Reducing the load

When we moved here to live beside the Gully 13 years ago, my sister jokingly said, "I am not sure what to get you for a house-warming gift. Maybe a canoe for the floods, a shovel for the snakes or a wetbag to use for fire fighting." Today, I'd take the wet bag.... the temperature is predicted to be 37C and there is a light wind blowing. After the shocking fires of Black Saturday last February we are a little gun-shy and have decided not to travel these holidays... just in case. instead, we have been cleaning up and reducing the fire load on our block.

Yesterday was spent raking up leaves and twigs and taking loads to the tip. A sobering reminder of the fires as the tip was almost circled by flames on that terrible evening.

I just have these piles to load into the trailer and I can then call the day my own.....

I think I''ll wait to have a shower until after I have finished!!

Views from my sewing room window

This is "my" end of the house. That door by the blue pot leads into my sewing room. I have been getting up early and propping in there since school broke up.

And this is what I see when I look out of my sewing room's windows... that's "Dead Dog Gully". We don't have a side fence for part of our very long block, it just drops off into the gully.

It's been a big day in the gully today. Early this morning I saw a kangaroo, then later, while my husband and I were having a coffee we saw a black-tailed wallaby. It was disturbed by a young family who came wandering down to play on the rocks. When they left, the young boy of the family left behind a large brand new shiny toy car which we rescued and put on the edge of the gully in a conspicuous spot. The boy and his Dad came back after lunch, and a very happy young man has just left clutching the car Santa gave him.

And we have also been amusing ourselves today by knocking down mud wasp nests off the side of the house.....one of the disadvantages of living beside the gully is some of the wildlife we attract. So far, no snakes this summer....yet!

It's been a year....

It's been a year since number one son's dog, Milton, went to his reward. 18 years young, and bringing in the paper almost 'til the end. I think my husband is getting ready for a new dog - after our son left home, Milton became his shadow. He has missed him terribly, but yesterday mentioned that "maybe" he would get another dog soon.

Christmas 2009

Both boys home - for the first time in six years! so, what did we do? Travelled, of course! Here are my two with their Grandma - she can't quite believe that she has two strapping , gorgeous young men ready to wait on her.

And here is the lovely Kathy, my second son's partner, playing with Dina, my Dad's Christmas puppy all decked out with her own Christmas bow.

This sums up Christmas for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q

and it has just started to rain!!!!!

Congratulations Dr Gemma

Congratulations to my neice, Gemma, who after six long years of study graduated as a doctor last weekend. After winning the Simpson Prize (an essay competition which meant she represented Australian youth at the dawn service at Gallipoli), and seeing living conditions in other countries she decided to become a doctor, with a view to working in third world countries. She studied in Townsville and Darwin, and did a placement in Namibia this year. Finally, it was all over, with a very proud family travelling from Victoria to Townsville for the graduation ceremony. Next year, she is doing her internship in Perth.

Well done, Dr Gemma Sinclair!

and this is a photos of "the twins" - Gemma and my son Brendan - born 4 days apart in 1985.

Survivor Samoa

I am not normally a big television viewer, but last night clicked onto "Survivor Samoa". I was reminded of our holiday there a couple of years ago. It is amazing how the show manages to make it look as though everything is so close together, in reality some of the landscapes they feature are the entire length of the country apart - and not even on the same island!

Sadly, the resort we stayed at was badly affected by the tsunmai this year, "our" fale was ok as it was on higher ground than others, but the beach side ones were wrecked as was the village next door where most of the staff lived. The owners of the resort (Sinalei Reef resort) were lovely people and we were saddened to hear that one lost her life in the tsunami.

Here are a few photos of our trip - not the obligatory palm trees and beaches (though we saw those as well)

These turtles are in a sanctuary, the village ladies rescue them and nurse them back to health and then release them. Visitors can snorkle with them for a small fee. We did, and even though it was a lovely experience, I felt the turtles were just waiting for the day when they would be released back out to sea.

Dress codes are slightly different in Apia!

"Our fale" - set amongst a beautifully landscaped jungle garden. We will return to Sinalei one day.

And, of course, DH went diving.

This area was the most severly affected by the tsunmai - the beach I spent the day on while he went out in the boat was totally destroyed with many lives lost.

My sewing room

I am very fortunate to have a dedicated sewing room - bigger than a double carport. It used to be the rumpus room when our boys lived at home, but now they have left the nest so I have claimed it as my own. It has heaps of natural light, it's own external door and air conditioning. I love being able to go down there whenever I like and just get on with it - nothing to pack up afterwards and I can leave my things right where I left them.
I like to make quilts (fabric is cheaper than a psychiatrist,and you will find me sewing when I am trying to work out something complicated relating to school - needless to say, with the stress and feverish pace of the of the last few weeks of the school year I have been doing a lot of sewing. It is nice to just concentrate on sewing a seam and choicing which two fabrics to sew together).
This photo is of my fabric storage system - fabric is stored in old photocopy paper boxes, with old calendar photos stuck on the outside to disguise them. I think it looks pretty cute!

First (proper) day of the holidays, and yes. more photos

I don't ever feel the holidays start until Monday - even though I will be going back to finish off a few things later today I am beginning to feel that I am "ON HOLIDAYS!!" Hooray!!!!

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me, or left a comment - I always had a diary when I was a child (I remember writing a note to Santa when I was very young asking for a "dairy", and he answered that "the cows wouldn't fit into my stocking, would a diary do?"), so I am kind of reliving those days through this blog.

Some photos from a trip in Oct 2008. A dream come true.

The sign says it all, really.



The lull before the storm.





Halloween - how cute are they?

More photos later, I have a car full of Christmas hampers to deliver before I do anything else today. Thanks to the Salvos - the work they do is amazing.

More photos...

Last year's travels...
April was Hawaii - a "second honeymoon" for a significant wedding anniversary

Pearl Harbour - (that's not us)

A whale off Maui - when they said "Look from your balcony and watch the whales frolicing." they weren't exagerating - this one, however, is taken from a boat.

And, of course, a perfect sunset.

Would I go back??? Like a shot - the dollar was at 93c so we treated ourselves to whatever we wanted - a highlight was a helicopter flight around Maui.

I have succumbed

After years of reading, and gaining a lot of pleasure, from other people's blogs I have decided to have my own. I am not promising to post every week, or anything rash like that, but I will try to pop in every now and then. And yes, I do live at "Dead Dog Gully", hence the name of my blog.


2009 has been a big year, with heaps of travel, so I will begin blogging by sharing some of those travels.

The first trip was to Singapore for a conference, but I managed to sneak in a bit of shopping and sightseeing....

The beautiful orchids at the Botantical Gardens made the whole trip worth while!!!

The next trip was to the Solomon Islands, my husband likes to scuba dive and I needed a rest, so we decided to visit our neice who was working over there. We were quite surprised to find a lot of great restaurants, and as we were with our neice and her work collegaues we were able to travel safely at night to them. One of the highlights was a visit to a volcanic island and a half day trek up the side of the volcano - stepping over boiling hot waterfalls was a bit of a challenge!

As proof that we had been there, and made it up and down the mountain, our guide, John, made us a crown of special grass which is only found on that island. Look at his muscles - sometimes he does that climb four times in a day!

And the latest trip was to Arizona, for work, but again we managed some sight seeing - we drove from LA to the Grand Canyon, then down through Flagstaff and Sedona to Phoenix. Saw some cowboys and lots of cacti and a whole lot of desert!!!!!!

I am a school teacher, so have spent the first day of the holidays sewing - I bought a gorgous quilt kit in Sedona so have been working on that today.