Another birthday and the lovely bits of winter

Our littlest one turned 20 yesterday and I can't begin to reconcile where the time has gone since she came into this world.  Genevieve wanted a birthday meal at home so I made Indian food, lovely butter chicken, sweet potato and chickpea curry with rice.  This year was a bit different to previous years because my littlest now has a boyfriend, a very nice young man who enjoyed my food too.  :)  I made an orange cake for the birthday cake, a new recipe which unfortunately had a few problems holding together it was so lovely and moist.  It tasted good so that's all that matters, we're not too fussy in our house.

The dodgy cake.

20 candles, almost enough to start a fire.

 Every birthday, Fathers and Mothers Day and Christmas morning it is our tradition to have croissants and coffee, tea or hot chocolate, whatever is your preferred hot beverage mid morning.  Yesterday Genevieve had an exam at 9.30am which meant an early start for us both as I drove her to the complex where the exam was being sat.  So we had our croissants and hot drinks this morning.  I think this is a hot chocolate fit for the birthday girl.

 

So birthdays for our lovely girls are over for another year.  Winter however is not over with another two months to get through.  This morning it wasn't raining and we even had a little sunshine, the perfect opportunity to get out in the garden to do some weeding and pruning (me), raking leaves (hubby).  It was cold but I rugged up and spent a delightful couple of hours enjoying the fresh air and getting out into nature.

  I've always been one to struggle with winter although it doesn't seem quite so bad this year.  Perhaps by the end of August I'll be well and truly fed up.  That being said, I always find it so encouraging when I see the Hellebore's in bud and

 the Daphne about to flower.  I love bringing little sprigs of this divinely smelling shrub into the house.

I hope you are spending the weekend doing what you love.

Anne  xx

Queen's birthday holiday weekend

It's not often hubby and I go away but this past weekend was an exception.  We were asked by good friends to join them for an annual food and wine  festival which takes place in the King Valley.  The three hour drive from Melbourne took us through some beautiful countryside.

Early morning in the Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley

We caught up with our friends in Yarck to have a coffee break and then took alternate routes to the Milawa Cheese factory where we stopped and picked up some wonderful cheeses and breads for our dinner that night.

Strathbogie Ranges area

Strathbogie Ranges area

You can find out a little more about the Strathbogie Ranges here.  Here are some photos of scenery as we were driving down the valley.

Our first appointment in the lovely King Valley was at Politini Wines where we had the most wonderful Italian inspired lunch.  We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny although VERY cold.  We sat at tables outdoors and enjoyed food, wine and live entertainment.

Taken late afternoon.

 We headed towards our accommodation passing beautiful scenery.  We stopped at Gentle Annie
for a stroll along the road and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.

Our original accommodation fell through so in the 11th hour our friends found alternative accommodation in the only place left in the valley that had vacancies.  (The food and wine festival is extremely popular and accommodation is booked a year in advance.)  So hubby and I were in a dorm room with an ensuite and no insulation in the roof or walls.  We did have a small fan heater in the room and I had thought to take a hot water bottle.  Nevertheless we spent a very cold night.  The other two couples in our party were in a little cottage with no insulation but they did have a split system air conditioner so were perhaps a few degrees warmer than us.  Despite the cold night, we enjoyed ourselves hugely feasting on cheeses, breads and other delicacies all washed down with some good quality wines.  We played a board game which had us all in fits of laughter and helped take our mind off the chillyness of the evening.

This is me next morning rugged up in every possible layer of clothing I could find, multiple doonas and my trusty crochet blanket.  Hubby had very kindly offered to brave the cold and make me a steaming hot cup of tea for which I was extremely grateful.

After a late breakfast we headed off to the Mountain View Hotel in Whitfield for lunch.  The food was delicious and everyone was well fed.  Later we headed off to Pizzini Wines for some more wine tasting, coffee and to enjoy the ambiance and atmosphere of people having a wonderful time.  There were people of all ages enjoying themselves, lots of kids and babies too, a real family occasion.  We met with the owner of the winery Fred Pizzini who was absolutely charming and had met our friends on their previous visits the the region.

Fred Pizzini is on the left, an Italian with red hair, amazing.  His sister Carla has redder hair and freckles and I felt right at home.  :)

Old tobacco drying sheds at Pizzinis now converted for the purpose of wine making.

 After an enjoyable afternoon and a few wine purchases we went back to the Mountain View hotel for dinner and had the most amazing pizza.  Fred Pizzini's son runs the hotel so good Italian style food and Pizzini wines were in abundance.

Our second night was cold but we bundled ourselves up in even more layers, cocooned ourselves in as many doonas as we could find and slept a little better.  After packing up and taking a few more photos, we headed off and had brunch at a cafe.

Our accommodation was the central building with the verandah.

 We then went to see an art show that was being held at another winery.  I fell quite in love with this espalier on the wall outside.

After viewing the artwork we parted ways with our friends and drove back to Melbourne.  Before heading out to a more main road we had to stop for a herd of dairy cows on the way to being milked.  Some decided the grass up the road was greener and the farmer had to round them up.  They were quite content to stand in front of our car and not let us through.

Our drive home took us through Mansfield a place I've always wanted to visit.  We didn't have much time to look around but I saw enough to want me to come back and visit.

Two quick photos of the Mansfield area taken out of the front window of the car.

So that was our weekend.  I'm sorry this is such a long post, thank you for taking the time to get to the end.

Anne  xx

Birthday celebrations

Our baby turned 23 yesterday.  Our family of four enjoyed a lovely meal out yesterday evening at a local restaurant.  These special family occasions are becoming increasingly rare and made much more precious as family members start to spread their wings spending less time at home.  

Happy birthday to our beautiful Charlotte, we are so proud of you.

Fine Merino wool

Most of you who follow my blog know that I come from a farming backgroud of which I am very proud.  My parents farmed wheat and sheep in the central wheatbelt district of Western Australia and the tradition continues today with my brother and nephew.

In recent years the weather has played havoc with wheat yields as the rainfall has either fallen at the wrong time (summer) with very little falling in winter, the planting and growing season for grain in that part of the world.  Despite the difficulties and challenges my brother continues to face, he is constantly looking for better ways to farm.

One of the areas in which he has excelled is with the quality of the sheep he is breeding.  There have been hard years of work to improve the the skin of the sheep from wrinkled (typical of the Merino breed) to smooth.  This is helpful on a number of levels.  They are much easier to shear and the chance of a sheep becoming fly blown is dramatically decreased.  With pressure from animal warefare groups about the practice of mulsing sheep (which is done to help prevent sheep from being fly blown, a hideous condition), my brother has endeavoured with the breeding programme to eradicate the need for this with the smooth skinned sheep now only needing to be crutched.   Another benefit of the breeding programme has been the increase in fertility with a ewe more likely giving birth to twins and sometimes triplets.  

So where does the part about the fine Merino wool come into all this.  A week or so ago my brother received a letter advising him that wool from his sheep sold was chosen by Qantas to contribute to the making of their new flight attendant uniforms.  Isn't that the most AWESOME news?!!  The wool they chose was of a very high quality and deemed perfect for the job.  The quality of wool is measured in microns, the link has an explanation far better than I can give. For my brother who has worked so very hard to improve his sheep on so many levels including wool quality, this is HUGE  and he deserves the recognition of people in the wool industry.  GO BIG BROTHER!!

Here is a peek at the new Qantas uniform which I believe will make it's entrance early next year.

All photos Google images.

Here is a small sample of the type of wool that will be used for the Qantas uniforms.

CONGRATULATIONS big brother on your achievement.  You ROCK cob!!

Anne  xx

My tree

One of the last things I did before leaving Western Australia to come back to Melbourne was visit my tree.  It was late afternoon, the light beautiful as it always is that time of the day.  The walk took me down the track I use to walk to the school bus many years ago and along the creek bed.  I came around the bend and there it was.

My standing up when falling down tree.  Every time I see it I marvel at how this tree was dying and then grew up again.

I couldn't resist taking more photos of salmon gums.

 
I love the colours in this foliage.

 So I'm back on the other side of the country now where the trees look like this.  The Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans)

Photo - comebirdwatching.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/sherbrooke-forest-day-in-wet-forest-of.html

No wide open spaces to be seen here.

Today was catch up time at home  A big grocery shop, laundry, baking and a quick coffee with a girlfriend.  Hoping to have something to blog about soon.

Anne  xx