Maybe the last beach trip for a while

I went down to the beach on the weekend - cleaned out the fridge, went through the food cupboard, turned everything off at the wall ... it might be a while before we go down again. We are not in lockdown yet, but they say to act as if you have the virus so I brought all my food from Canberra, didn't stop on the way down, didn't meet up with anyone down there or go into any shops or public places. I had a chat with the neighbour through the fence and a few long walks on the beach and that was that! And some sewing of course, and book-reading, and other good things.

It was not a problem keeping your social distances on the beach. A few people were out and about but not many. The road was incredibly quiet - I have done that road in every sort of traffic you can imagine but nothing so post-apocalyptic quiet. It made for great driving of course ... even though I took every precaution I felt a bit guilty when we are meant to be staying home, but I also don't want to come down in four months to a really manky kitchen. And it was wonderful for my sanity! There might be some risk assessment undertaken to see future trips are possible, assuming that it doesn't become illegal soon.



Here is a photo of the creek for Dad - back to green and clear after the brown from the rains a couple of weeks ago. I didn't swim though, the water temperature was OK but the weather was cloudy and grey.

On we go, with curls

Honestly, my life hasn't changed, or not so you'd notice. Work is quiet, with not many people around, but it often is. The boys are at home all day, but that's pretty common. I don't go to the shops much generally, or out to dinner, or to bars, so I haven't noticed their absence. I haven't caught up with friends recently but we often go weeks without doing that. I'm washing my hands more (when I remember) but that's about it.

I am also continuing to curl my hair - did I say I got some heated rollers for Christmas? I thought I would be sick of rolling them up every morning well before now, but the fun is still real! This is what comes of a lifetime of dead straight hair. It tends to drop out by the end of the day because I don't spray it with hairspray (makes me sneeze). I am probably doing terrible damage to my follicles by all the hot rolling but when I get sick of it I can get it all chopped off and we are back to where we were ... it might be the boys doing the chopping with the aid of a youtube video but that should work? Surely?

And the kitchen is nearly finished so fingers crossed. The tradies were super focussed at getting it done - I think they are trying to get as much work done as possible before the inevitable lockdown/shutdown - and we are really pleased. Questioning a couple of decisions of course but it is so nice and bright and clean! I will be reluctant to use it .... on a number of levels.

And yes Pam, the kangaroos do poo everywhere, but it's not so bad. They have a round hard poo like  sheep, not at all like cows. I don't like standing on it but it's not a disaster like dog poo.

Nature is reclaiming Canberra

We've only been secluded for a few days and I swear nature is getting bolshier. I'm working from home most days this week and school has closed (well, not closed, just 'pupil-free' which I'm thinking is the same thing, but maybe not) - the streets are quieter and the suburbs are snoozing. Not helped by a lovely late burst of summer; hot during the day with a bit of a chill in the mornings and evenings. Beautiful.



I went for a walk round the golf course later yesterday afternoon. A few players, maintaining their social distance from each other, but not many. The kangaroos usually bound away well before I get this close! Do they sense a weakness? Has their time come to rule the earth? I don't think so,  kangaroos aren't very bright. Jumping cows really.



And then the gang gangs came in a large flock to hector us for food. They were loud! And sweet, they have a very endearing rusty door call. There are males, females and juveniles in the tree and they were all very pleased to see my husband. Was it a welcome, or was it so long and thanks for all the birdseed?

Pitter Patter

As a warm up into quilting last year I did a scrappy trip around the world - always a favourite when I'm not sure what to make but the strip bags are bulging. It's not very exciting so sat at the bottom of the quilting queue for a while ... but I did it and finished it and now it's done.

It's called Pitter Patter because of my four season Letterkenny binge. Soooooo funny and I'm sure a 100% completely accurate rendition of Canadian life. I quilted with a swirl going vertical for four squares and horizontal for four squares. It's about as boring as it sounds.

My husband is holding it up a couple of weeks ago when we still had a family room floor! We are spending the evenings this week repainting the skirting and wall behind the fridge, so when the new floor goes in (hopefully tomorrow) we can put the fridge back where it belongs. Although I notice the power point isn't installed yet so we will still have to wait on the electrician. The plasterer put in a new cornice and fixed the ugly screws in the ceiling that we have been staring hopelessly at for at least ten years. Which was very good of him seeing it wasn't in the scope of the work but it only took  him ten minutes and now we have a lovely smooth ceiling ready for painting.



Dad got home fine to NZ on an almost empty plane and through empty airports and is now sitting quietly at home, possibly doing some gardening. Number two son's school has brought forward the end of term exam week so it is his last day of classes today, with exams next week and nothing until Term 2 at the end of April. And who knows what will be going on then? We still only have a couple of shelves of food but with no cupboards there's no point in buying any more and I assume we'll be fine. Frankly we could do with a few weeks on reduced rations...

Uncertain times

Well, here we all are, safe and healthy, but it is hard to be calm and relaxed when you read the news. Maybe I should stop reading the news? Probably not helpful. It's Dad's last day in Australia today - he thought about shifting his flights earlier when the news of the NZ compulsory self-isolation came in, but he decided to stick with the original flights and just do the 14 days at home. It was the stamp show after all, and you wouldn't want to cut that short! Particularly because he was originally going to go straight to the Auckland show, which is now a mere shadow of its former self because none of the international dealers are going ... so he may as well enjoy the Canberra one, skip the Auckland one,  head on home and spend the next two weeks putting the stamps in albums and going for long solitary walks.



We spent the weekend in a mostly solitary fashion re-varnishing the window frames. Our kitchen has been ripped out, floors jackhammered up and concrete slab ground, new cabinets put in and appliances delivered. They've measured for the benchtops so that should happen next week, the floors go down on Friday and then fingers crossed all the plumbing and electric happens smoothly (we suspect not, we think serious re-wiring is needed) and we will have a kitchen again in three weeks or so. We've moved the dining table into the lounge room and set up a temporary kitchen in the dining room - it's working reasonably well although washing up in the laundry tub is getting pretty old pretty quickly. Especially for our spoilt boys ... although I shouldn't be mean they are coping with very good humour. They just can't quite believe how often dishes need to be done! After every meal!



Refinishing the window frames was very satisfying - they were really grotty and now they're really nice and it wasn't too much work. One set down, eighteen to go. I've taken the day off work to hang with Dad - we will go into town and buy some coffee and try to find toilet paper. After refusing to join any panic buying we are now looking a little light on essentials - of course we've been running the pantry down for the past two months, so no food, and we had PANTRY MOTHS which are disgusting little beasts so most of it had to be thrown out anyway.

My husband was meant to go to Vietnam on Friday but didn't, thank heavens; my sister and brother-in-law made it back from Spain just in time; my niece who is still in Spain is in total lockdown; my brother got an earlier flight back to NZ from Sydney to beat the isolation rules but it didn't matter because the cricket he came to see was cancelled anyway; my husband's niece made it back from Hawaii OK ... so if Dad makes it back without any problems tomorrow I think that's the family in their own homes, or close to. And we wait!! So far they haven't cancelled Parliament but I think some sort of retrenchment will be inevitable - perhaps just get rid of the staff? A little working from home?

Weekend at the beach

It was a long weekend here so I took Tuesday off as well and took Dad down the beach for a four day holiday. It was absolutely beautiful, slightly autumnal in the morning and evenings, sunny and clear, with a big swell. I swam, and sewed and we strolled on the beach and ate very well ... and avoided other people which is always my preferred method of operation, but is now supported by health advice.



The bushfire damage is still gobsmacking, but the recent rains has meant the grass is vibrantly green. It is quite strange seeing a green floor underneath the black trees. In some areas most of the trees are shooting again - and that's bright green too - fluff all over the big trees. Because of the rain the creek was a deep deep brown. It coloured half the beach, including a strange coffee-icing foam caused by so much organic matter from the fires. But nothing stopped me swimming! Cold but great.




The annual New Year's Eve sandcastle competition had to be postponed, so was held this weekend instead. In keeping with tradition, the weather crapped out for that afternoon and was windy and cold! The sandcastle competition is unstoppable in creating bad weather. You can see the sea foam behind this one.



Dad and I (well, mostly Dad) took down the dead vine off the back verandah and chopped it up. In other gardening news, Dad killed a rat by mowing it to death (with a hand mower because the petrol mower was broken, which didn't kill it, so he had to finish it off with a BRICK, traumatic all round, although mostly for the rat).

Tuesday was so delightful - sunny with a sparkling sea - that I was left questioning all my life choices that have resulted in an office job in a landlocked city. But not much I can do about it now....

Weekend of errands

A boring but satisfying weekend all round. We chased up some cardboard boxes to pack our kitchen into (demolition next weekend! scary); bought some packing paper and tape; tidied up various shelves including my little weaving nest and contemplated life cooking out of the electric frypan and microwave. Although my husband has promised to clean the bbq so that sounds more appealing.



I went for a walk which was unexpectedly hot (and I am very unfit, I haven't done any proper exercise since before Christmas). The scrubby bush and red dirt looked like it normally does. Unprepossessing.



Husband, Dad and number two son went to the Canberra Show on Friday night where number two son did hair raising rides, Dad was shocked at how much it reminded him of the ag shows when he was a boy back in the late mesozoic, and husband won Overall Grand Champion of All the Models in the Show!!!!! he was very chuffed, but it was well deserved - that is a very well planned, researched, detailed and executed little green plane thing.



He had to go back to the show to do desk duty on Saturday, Dad went to a stamp show on Sunday, we had friends round for dinner Sunday night, number one son went to a birthday at a swimming pool, I did some dyeing and finally cut my tub of too-small-to-be-yardage-too-big-to-be-scraps into strips of regulation sizes to be used in scrap quilts. It was very satisfying.