Paradise Un-Lost AGAIN !

Well, what a Christmas ! We went to Dutton Bay and spent time with The Man's sisters family and drank lots, ate well and generally had fun at the shack. Boxing Day ended up being a special surprise for The Girl as she got to ride a horse ! The lady on the other side of the road (the brother in laws, brother and wife) offered to take The Girl out for a ride. Well, after waiting all of Christmas night and most of the next morning, she finally had her wish come true. As you can see by the look on her face, she was stoked ! See more pictures on www.ringo.com (you need to be updated to see all pictures, so do yourself a favour !!!!).

As you can see by the title of this blog, I am referring to the one written in January 2005 because we went to the same place and while some people bag it for not being the flashest beach it has a certain Aura about it that I like. No chance of ever getting a shack here a). TOO MUCH MONEY for seaside shacks nowadays, b) not a lot of land here for sale anyway (good because it keeps it small and more family orientated). Still, one can dream. If you re-read that blog, it will say virtually the same thing that I would write here. We went for a tour in the tinny today and cruised around the bay to see the other shacks and then discoverd no less than 6 dolphins. One performed a little for us by jumping out of the water, they flapped their tails on the water and swam at the front of the boat, The Girl and her Auntie were sitting on the front of the boat (is that called the bow ?) and Auntie touched a dolphin with her foot. We also stopped off at another beach to wet our toes and explore the beach. Upon our return, we spotted a rather LARGE emu sniffing around the front of the shack. The 2 dogs that were there wanted to have a go at it but it wasn't a shy one. It lost a bit of gumption (and the dogs then gained some) and chased it away.

Then it was time to come home (oooohhhhh), but we will return, maybe we will take our visitors there (arriving tomorrow, 27th). We'll see.

New Year soon, get ready to make some New Years Resolutions, or NOT !

Santa Claus is coming to Gumrise

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, we hung pictures we've collected over the past 10 months to adorn the walls of the Taj Mahal. It makes a huge difference to have a few piccies up on the wall and it was nice to rediscover some treasures that were stored away ! The Girl is just itching for Santa to arrive and it is currently 4.00pm and she cannot sit still and is wishing it to get dark quickly so Santa can come. I never get real excited until I have completed all my Christmas Shopping then I can relax and be comforted that I have achieved in getting what I want for the people I love.

The Man has completed all his reaping and has carried all but 4 tonne of grain to the silos. I think he likes his new header but the fact that the airconditioner in it failed to operate since a week or so ago has taken a little gloss off the experience. I even did a couple of laps in it on Thursday night, woo hoo, real farm girl now !!!!

We are having a very low key Christmas this year. Apart from the present opening ceremony, I will thaw out the frozen prepared turkey breast (stuffed with cranberry and apple), and roast some veggies for the traditional lunch, lay the table with crackers and put on my party hat but that is the extent of it. In the afternoon, we will be going to Dutton Bay to spend the night with The Man's sister and her family, where we shall dine on prawns and crayfish from our wonderful Port Lincoln fishmongers, (I don't like crayfish, but it sounds posh ay !). Her in-laws have a shack on the beach and we will just sit around, eat and drink until we are merry and have a nice gathering with family. It's not the prettiest beach but I love going there. The atmosphere is brilliant and there is a beautiful place not far from there called Bulldog Beach and I hope that we have some sort of boat to get around there, then that will top it off magnificently ! I believe that Christmas should be spent with people whether they are family or friends, not on your own. So that wish has been granted. I've informed some of the family that Christmas will be at our house next year so we have 12 months to get the landscaping done !

Hope you have/had a Wonderful Christmas and great New Year.

Christmas Greetings

Greetings all

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, take care over the festive season.

We are settled into our new home and have begun reaping our crops, although it is raining today, maintenance is on the schedule for Bullet. One more week of school, one more week of work and I have 3 weeks off to properly clean the van out and go shopping to buy a few things to house paperwork and Tori's toys, etc. It's getting a bit messy as we don't have all we need yet for sorting out stuff like that. I have set up our keyboard in one of the rooms with a stand and a stool and a little cupboard for the books and music is slowly creeping back into our lives. Tori, when she is not on the computer, pops on the "learn to play piano for kids" CD and merrily practices away, that's a good thing. I have been looking for a piano for myself to replace the one we lost but I think I am going to have to settle for a digital piano (sounds like a real one) because the old style pianos are RATHER EXPENSIVE and we still have to get it to our place and regular tuning so the digital might be the go. Will look at that in the new year. Bullet wants to get another guitar so we will have to do something about that too !

I have successfully negotiated with my boss here to work shorter hours (9.00am to 3.30pm) and that will mean that a) we can get up later in the morning, b) I can take Tori to school and read with her in the morning and c) pick her up after school. So the money I lose is the money I gain in not having to pay for her to be looked after in the morning and OSHC after school. I hope to encourage her to take up an interest like gymnastics or dancing or netball or music lessons or whatever she wants to do as I will now be able to go along with her and watch her. I think she'd like that. She is moving into the Primary School next year as is looking forward to it. They had a graduation (moving from the Junior Primary to the Primary, getting a little bit Americanised I think !), and sang a couple of songs at the assembly.

I went to a School Jazz band presentation a couple of weeks ago and boy am I impressed with the standard of these kids. The junior class were brilliant for their age and the seniors, well, what can I say, they blew me away. There's not so much of a stigma attached to being a muso anymore, when I went to school (although not a music student) they were all considered nerds. With this extra time on my hands, I hope to go to piano lessons myself and also tune up the voice with a singing teacher. That might lead into a band of some description and then my life will be complete.

It's nice having Bullet home, but of adult conversation and a little less pressure on me being a "single mum". Although this daylight saving is driving me crazy as I judge everything by the sky and sometimes I find us having tea really late even thought it's still light. I like daylight saving but not as a working parent.

My Mum is coming over after Christmas and we will be hitting the sewing machine to make some curtains for the house. The main bedroom and the lounge room are the ones most in need of window dressings as the sun pops it's head in really early and not letting me sleep in. It's nice having lots of windows (and no neighbours), it keeps the place light and airy. Must do something about the immediate outside soon, possibly in these 3 weeks off as the dust is coming in. Luckily we have a lot of tiles and it's easy to clean. There are still a few things that the builders need to do, house the microwave (he made it to a "standard" but the microwave I have is deeper) and the dishwasher needs to be fitted properly (a base needs to be made) it's funny, I did give him the model numbers and he was going to get the dimensions off the net ?!?!?!?

Half of you have probably got to the end of this, half of you would have quit ages ago, but whatever the case, I hope that you are all well and enjoying life.

Take care and I miss each and every one of you.