time with friends

some friends from brissie have been here for a brief visit & we had such FUN together! the girls & peta haven’t been out on a property before & really enjoyed exploring. they really made the most of the experience & their enthusiasm was infectious! spending time with them is always such a pleasure! lots of laughter, good memories, good food, good times … we didn’t have time to organise a bubble bath under a windmill (mcleods daughters style) but i managed to capture a photo of them in front of a windmill before they left. it was before 8am & the light was already a bit harsh - but i still like it!

we also organised to get the rams shorn so they could see a shearer in action

ribbon portal & stamps

ribbons are the theme this week at Blue Bazaar. i scrapped some special photos of when we visited gran in melbourne & used lots of goodies from we r memory keepers plus weathered wood distress ink. lately, telling the story has become more important to me. i so admire people who write beautifully - people like ali, cathy & my MIL. its a skill i’m keen to develop. so i’ve been writing in a journal (trying to make it a daily habit) & learning to love my handwriting too (heidi would be pleased! LOL!)

PS. don’t forget that saturday is that last day to pre-order the BBDT’s limited edition stamps:

check them out at Blue Bazaar

action in the garden

michael’s mum used to have a lovely garden when she lived here. but the drought & bore water destroyed it during the 90’s. & because neither of us have green thumbs, anything to do with the garden has been hard, largely unsuccessful work. but we’re trying again! michael dug a pond back in august & we decided to plant durantas near it. we bought the plants on election day (sept 9) & this week found time to get some creek silt & tyres to build up beds for them. the kids have been so excited about the project & were eager to help put the plants in! let’s hope they survive the summer!

his control shirt

i adore this boy! my boy! bear is quite a character! in the past couple of months, he’s become more opinionated about what he wears - its all about pocket shirts (like dad’s). although he can be swayed by "one pocket is better than no pockets" reasoning, he prefers shirts with 2 pockets & the pockets need to be big enough to put things in - you know, important stuff like rocks, keys, bullet casings, huge screws etc. his current favourite is one he calls his control shirt (cause he says he can fly in it!). he’s retrieved it from the laundry pile the last two mornings so its now in desperate need of a wash … & it’ll get one if he doesn’t beat me to it again in the morning! LOL!

pancakes on saturday

… pancakes are usually a sunday tradition, but michael has jobs on early tomorrow - so we did it today instead. everyone gets involved - brewing fresh coffee, laying the table etc. the kids particularly enjoy mixing, flipping & quality control! LOL!

i’ve spent the afternoon processing photos from the past couple of days - so you’ll find another power-blogging catch-up soon … ***done***

thanks for stopping by!

the ring crisis

… the kids found my engagement & both our wedding rings & apparently were doing water experiments with them. the 1st i knew about it was when i discovered the ring holder upside down in a glass of water. NOT happy jan!! fortunately, bear produced my engagement ring pretty quickly (it was in the pocket of his control shirt) & michael’s ring has turned up - but my wedding band is still missing. my heart felt like lead today … the whole thing was terribly upsetting.

cultural camp

… a 2 day event at madi’s school where the kids were did a range of arty activities - bookmaking, leatherwork, sculpture, puppetry, cake decorating (check out madi’s creation!) …

…. & of course scrapbooking. i was invited to teach classes for P-3 & for parents & home tutors - which meant 2 full-on days, which were exhausting but lots of fun! i designed BTP projects for both groups - something they could take home & use/enjoy. the littlies made their own door hangers:

& the parents/HT, made an accordian album that fits inside a cute little band-aid tin. this project was inspired by an idea in stacy julian’s "big picture scrapbooking" - the project is in her book & online. i printed out questions & scored the cardstock so it was easy to put together.

 

materials: making memories paper (simply fabulous & kids), mm ribbon paint, sml alpha stamps, bumble bee flowers, heidi swapp tape & stamps, sandpaper, xryon.

fixing the bore

i’m happy to report that the bore is fixed & pumping again (without any squashed fingers this time! yes! this is where michael’s accident happened back in january) his fingers have healed remarkably well & we’re so thankful! anyhoo … i took my camera when we put the bore down & it feels good to be capturing things like this again. after all - fixing bores is part of life for us.

i used the poster edges filter on this image - the effect is subtle, but i like it!

love how you get a sense of scale from this image (the windmill has a 24ft head). the kids are so good at entertaining themselves - they tied an intricate rope pattern on the back of the tojo, pretended a broken trough was a boat, found some mud to paint olden day rocks etc.

these are the rods that go down the bore - this one takes 14 lengths & is our deepest bore.

another scale shot

thanks for stopping by!

new banner

i love playing with images in PSE! to make the new banner, i used a photo taken a few days ago & simply played with the colour & added the poster edges filter. poster edges & rough pastels are two of my favourite artistic filters - i love how they transform a photo, giving it a painted look.

what are your favourite filters?

one of those weeks

… when there are 1001 things that need to be done before wednesday & a bore breaks!! no doubt you’re wondering what a bore is … its where water for the stock is pumped from. there is only one watering point in channel paddock - so when the bore stops pumping, getting it fixed & quickly is critical. there’s a windmill over the bore with a huge 24foot head. in the past, i’ve had the job climbing the windmill & holding onto the head while michael clamps the rods. not fun! especially when by some cruel twist of fate, the days you need to fix bores are usually windy ones! thankfully, i’ve graduated past that job - michael did it today - and it was predictably windy! the morning was not successful so michael had to re-rig the mill & we went back this afternoon. everything went like clockwork this time. tomorrow we have to go back to put new rods down & if everything goes well, we should be back by lunchtime. i meant to take the camera this afternoon - but forgot it. so instead i’ll share this photo - it was captured while we were pulling another bore when madi was little (back in 2001). thanks for stopping by!