Orphans

It happened. They're Orphans. Peppie didn't make it. Her final resting place is at the foot of the tall single bottle tree at the top of the farm. She can watch over us forever now. Here Lies Pepper. A Goat Who Was Loved.

A Place to Stay

I booked us in for the night in a great little boutique hotel in Spring Hill. I think I've found a gem! I'll be back.

The foyer.

The front desk/reception.

The wallpaper in the rooms!

21 Pics

Just pics, no words. Well, maybe a few. My beautiful family.

Drew and James.

Drew, James and Chrissie.

Drew and Adrian.

Drew and Geordie.

We went out for dinner to Kingsley's.

Reminiscing

We sat on the balcony and talked and laughed in the winter sunshine. The wind blew in off the river as we reminisced and told stories. I captured these moments as we recalled how a mothers' imagination can run rampant and end up with her frantic with worry over one of her babies....all for no reason as it turns out. It's just Mother Love!

Celebrating 21

We celebrated Drew's 21st on the balcony at the riverside unit where he lives and cooks and studies. We had a grazing kind of meal with platters of olives, sun dried toms, cheeses, dips, salami, pickled onions and cucumbers, crackers, dried apple and apricots, pistachios and chicken wings and thai chicken mince balls (cooked by Meg). There was wine and kraken. There were macarons (macadamia white choc). And there was a cake. Macs by Meg and now Cakes by Meg!!! She did an awesome job of making sure everything was just perfect.

The View. 

Baby News

Overnight Friday, Peppie finally had her kids - 3 of them - a tan boy and two smaller black girls, each with a white blaze on their foreheads. Mother Nature decided that the first little one wasn't strong enough to hold on and she died early Saturday morning. The two remaining kids are funny and, of course, very cute.

However, in the last 36 hours there has been a disastrous turn of events. As I sit and write, Pepper is up in the compound, wrapped in a blanket and barely clinging to life. It appears she developed a combination of toxaemia and milk fever while we were away and she's not in very good shape. We've treated her as much as we can; the rest is up to the God of Goats. We can only hope that she pulls through; Meg is absolutely devastated that her beloved Pepper is in such a bad way.

The two little ones have moved down to the garage and are sleeping pretty on a sheepskin rug and drinking from a bottle. They may well be orphans by sunrise.

Twenty Years From Now....

This Mark Twain quote in this birthday message has become a bit of a mantra for my children; even though it's sad for me to see them go, it's what I wish for them. Life is short. Do what you can, while you can.

Drew is 21

Our baby turned 21 today; my how the years fly by! His big day is sandwiched between two exam days. Bummer. He opted to forego a party and took the money instead to put towards his travels at the end of the year. We'll go to Bris on Saturday and catch up with him. He's booked us into a restaurant on Eagle St Pier which should be lovely. Wasn't he a beautiful baby?!

Our baby Drew!

Fit to Burst

Poor Peppie. Every day we think she's going to give birth. Every day she doesn't. Surely, soon. How many do you think?

First Load

We've cut our first load of wood for the winter (to date, we've been using up last year's leftovers). With yesterday being the shortest day of the year we can now look forward as the days gradually get longer. There's still a bit of cold weather to come no doubt; however, today was a brilliant warm winter's day. Driving through town we saw a man in singlet, shorts and thongs!

We went to Peter's and made a very slight dint in his wood pile. G would dearly love to throw a match in it but there's a fair bit of wildlife that lives in and relies on the wood pile for protection - echidnas, little wrens, wood spiders, lizards etc - and no doubt the odd snake (or two).

You can see why the local fauna like living in it. You can see why G might want to throw a match in. It would be a bonfire and a half.