Oh beautiful rose

 

oh and one last thing.....

...the people who stayed in the cottage last night.....were TOTALLY WARM! heh.

How's this for cute??

and we have 3 more just like it :-)

My Mum the Cook

Who would have thought?? C & D are totally surprised (having had the experience of nourishment from Mum for a few weeks), but she has come up with an absolute blinder of a recipe. We even taste tested it today - but I didn't have any leeks or sun dried tomatoes, so it turned into a Smoked Salmon, Fetta & Spanish Onion tart instead. Was still scrumptious and enjoyed by everyone for lunch. We had it with a salad of baby Mesculin & spinach, with a Verjus dressing (and the balsamic on top of course!).

Good one Mother :-)

Nabs

Snow in Hobart

It snowed overnight and I am unable to get up to Mt. Nelson for work today, so have been working from home. The mountain looks superb.

More Birthdays

It was Janine's birthday last week and Anna, Maggie, Sue and I went to Say Cheese for breakfast Saturday morning. The weather was beautiful when we arrived so we optimistically decided to sit outside, not so great when the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Breakfast was good but I didn't wander around Salamanca after, just didn't feel like it. Just thought hey, this is no good by myself so I went home.

Sunday was beautiful weather so I spent a bit of time in the garden. Marie and I were going to go for a walk but she wasn't feeling well. After trying to get into the doctor and not succeeding she found out today that she has shingles.

Sunny Sunday

Just thought I'd pop in to see if there was any activity. I thought with the terrible weather in Tas there would be squillions of new posts. Their fingers must be frozen. Weekend weather here was perfect - and everyone else must have thought so too, lots of people out and about. Had to keep closing the door to the shop storeroom so no-one would see the dead mouse.........

Oh yes, and I CAN edit my own posts. Heh.

I'm taking over!

Hee! My (most beautiful darling and incredibly [im]modest) Mother (whom I love very much because she is so gorgeous and showers me with lots of expensive presents) invited me to join this blog - she wasn't quite sure what it meant. Little did she knw I can now fill her blog with all kinds of useless twitter.

But not right now - I'm going out for dinner!

Bye

Busy, Busy

Phil and Cate came down from Launceston and stayed on Friday night. They arrived at about 8PM so late tea. It was good to see them, Phil was so great to work with and he used to stay here often when he worked with us at eMagine, seems a million years ago - how life changes. They were down to see the doctor and are off to Sydney soon for one last try. We went to Jam Packed on Saturday for breakfast, Phil's son C joined us. He is now living in town and is a draughtsman with an architect firm.

Saturday night Dave and Marie came up and we had tea together, Marie brought it all even though she shouldn't have as she had been at L's birthday party all day and looked quite exhausted.

Sunday afternoon Wendy, Rodney, Dianne and Paul came round for drinks. Dianne and Paul are off to UK at the end of the month and they are taking my xdrive so showed them how to use it and they are going to practice before they go.

Flex Day or Winter in Tasmania

We had a really white frost on Saturday morning, I took a photo of the back lawn and of a beautiful patch of daffodils flowering through it all.

Yesterday I had a flex day, just needed a bit of a break. I had a guy coming to look at renovations in the sunroom. Boy was that a stressful procedure, by the time he left I was in tears, luckily after he left. Mike offered me a hug and Nabs phoned and calmed me. Hopefully everything will be OK, I am so looking forward to having the work done. Once that is finished I can get the floor done, curtains made although maybe I need to have the wall plastered first. So much needs to be done!

Marie and Dave called in on their way home to pick up their mail. It was good to see them, they looked so relaxed. The holiday has done them so much good. Great to have them back again, I have missed seeing Marie even though we chatted most weekends. Must try and persuade her to come walking with me, I am getting so unfit.

Richard's birthday

Another busy weekend. I went to breakfast at Jam Packed in the old IXL building in Hunter Street with Cecily and John (over from Melbourne) Anna and Maggie and Maggie brought H along as she rushed in straight after H's hockey match. It was good to catch up with Cec again, she looked so different partly because she has dyed her hair blonde (used to be very black) but so much more relaxed now that she is running her own business.

Today is Richard's birthday, he is 61! Can't quite believe it, are we really getting that old. I rang him and had a chat this morning, he was having lunch with the family.

I pruned the roses today, Nabs doesn't really like roses but look at this beautiful one from my garden! Don't really know how to but just kept hacking away, hopefully I have done the right thing. They needed a good prune as I didn't really do them last year - too busy gadding around the world! Scary to think it has been one whole year since my long service leave!

What a strange world....

Two nights ago I was on my way home from work and happened to glance up at the sky. It was dark and the sky had taken on that dark blue hue it gets around dusk and there were stars twinkling. I thought what a beautiful world, my breath was taken away. Then last night while watching TV the dreadful news of the London bombings came on, totally unbelievable. I can't understand how anyone could do this to their fellow man.

Breakfast and other things

The weekend flew but I managed to accomplish quite a bit. Usual housework and washing on Saturday, yuk, then on Sunday I spent the morning having breakfast with the bros and Sandie and Felicity. We went down to Sorell to the Sweet Chilli Pepper Café and spent two pleasant hours having breakfast, talking and drinking coffee.

We went around to Rob and Sandie's place afterwards to have a look at the new deck, very impressive. Rob has done a good job even though he considers he is not 'handy'. E and S were there, S was off to footy but missed his ride so Rob had to run him down. We all sat and had a coffee together.

When I arrived home I went out into the garden. First I mixed up some concrete and then I put a row of books along the edge of the pavers to stop the earth from the garden washing down, hopefully it will be successful.

Finished off with some weeding and spread some pea straw over the garden in the hope of stopping weeds ocming up.

Weeds, weeds, weeds!

Well I didn't work very hard this weekend but feel I accomplished a lot. Pottered all Saturday doing the housework and feel heaps better about the house, it was starting to get out of control.

Today I broke up the last two bales of pea straw and spread them on the garden in an attempt to stop the weeds. I will have to make a decision on mulch as I can't keep up the weeding. Pity really because I do like the look of tilled soil.

I have had a sore leg but seems to have fixed itself, took the opportunity to get antibiotics from the doctor for my tooth, might actually have to do something about it soon.

Hectic Week

This week has been very hectic. Monday was a holiday and I did a bit of gardening, then back to a very full week at work

Where has this beautiful garden gone? 


Hopefully I will be able to get it back to this again. I am working hard on it but the weeds sometimes defeat me.

Georgian Water Gardens

The morning found us travelling through the Yorkshire Moors, first we climbed up through some beautiful farming country, green fields bordered by the stone walls that are everywhere in England. Then to the moors, I was beginning to think there weren't any when suddenly they were laid out in front of us.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens are spectacular. The abbey ruins are the largest monastic ruins in the country. The river Skell runs under the abbey and we walked up the side of it through the gardens.

Night stop over near Sherwood forest in a 16th Century cottage (Brecks Cottage).

Millbank Terrace, Stationtown

Left Broom House (once again a lovely stay - went to a local pub for tea last night, thought we were in the middle of nowhere!) and stopped at Appleby in Westmoreland to buy a new plug adapter, left it at Gowbarrow Lodge although they denied it. The lovely people at Broom House rang through for me as it wasn't all that far away and we could have returned for it.

Lovely town, lots of signs for me to photograph, also a lovely walk along the river (phone call from Australia!). Found a little place to buy the plug and it was surprisingly cheap.

Travelled on past Raby Castle, not open unfortunately but the deer in the grounds looked so good we did a uturn to take a photo. Pulled up beside a van and of course I was so excited about taking photos that I jumped out and started clicking away. Marie later informed me the driver of the van was busy relieving himself. What a giggle.

After stopping to find where Mum lived all those years ago we went on to Rievaulx Terrace (Yorkshire). Walked along the elevated grass terrace with stunning vistas over the Ryedale Valley and Rievaulx Abbey. Also wandered through the Georgian temple at the end. Just beautiful.

We were lucky enough to stay in the old chapel at Rosedale. Had the place to ourselves for the night. Walked around Rosedale after we had settled in, very small picturesque valley in the heart of the North York Moors national park.

Peter Rabbit

Stayed overnight in the Lakes District at Gowbarrow Lodge, strange place, but I guess when you travel as we are you have to put up with the rough...

Such a beautiful district, Ullswater was so beautiful. We went for a walk up to the waterfall at Aira Force, probably the most famous of the Lake District waterfalls, the main force falls 70 feet from below a stone footbridge. Loved the footbridge, such workmanship, reminded me a bit of the spikey bridge back home in Tasmania.

So many exciting things to see today. We went to High Top. the delightful small 17th-century farmhouse where Beatrix Potter wrote many of her famous children's stories. There were so many evocative sights here. Mr. McGregor's garden looked exactly as it did when that naughty Peter Rabbit decided to disobey his mother and squeezed under the gate, hey the gate was there as well!

The Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead, previously the office of her husband, William Heelis.

Windermere Lake, Derwentwater Lake, Keswick - what can I say! Loved it.

Scottish heros and the wall to keep them out

Melrose Abbey is superb, I took so many photos. It is believed that Robert the Bruce's heart is buried here, brought back from the Crusades after he died abroad. On his death-bed Bruce charged that his heart be taken to the Holy Sepulchre by a knight on crusade so it was embalmed and off they set. His body was buried in Dunfermline.

Also walked through Harmony Garden, a peaceful garden with herbaceous and mixed borders, lawns, vegetable and fruit areas, fantastic walled garden.

Our next stop was Abbottsford House on the Tweed River, which was Sir Walter Scott's home with a huge collection of historic relics, weapons and armour, and over 9,000 rare books.

We visited the chapel, which was added onto the house in 1855 by Sir Walter Scott's granddaughter Charlotte, and her husband, James Hope-Scott. They added it on as Hope-Scott was a Catholic, while Sir Walter had been a Presbyterian. The Chapel was built at the time of the Catholic Revival. The inscription over the stone mantel At spes non fracta - But my hope is not Broken - is the Hope family motto.

The garden walk was a must and the path led us along the Tweed River, fantastic stuff. The formal gardens were brilliant but I must admit I enjoyed the ramble along the river.

We stopped at the cafe at the entrance of the house and shared our meal with the birds!

Visited Chesters, the best visible remains of a cavalry fort in Britain. We travelled along a narrow road following Hadrians wall but were unable to stop and explore. The wall crossed the River Tyne at Chesters. there is an extremely well-preserved steam rooms and bathing areas of the garrison’s bath house at Chesters and the museum was very interesting. More millstones - must say I think my favourite photo is the millstones in the Cotswolds. Don't know what I like about them but they interest me.

Edinburgh

We left our overnighter at Pinewood Country Home - must admit we have been so lucky in all our accomodation. I can certainly recommend a stay here. Of course had to take the obligatory photos of St Andrews for Rob.


Parked out of Edinburgh and took the bus in and walked through the streets.... ......straight up to Edinburgh Castle. We could have spent hours here...oh that's right we did! There are magnificent panoramas from almost every side. Wouldn't it be fabulous to see a Tattoo here.






Oh well not for us but our next stop absolutely thrilled us. We had never heard of it before but Melrose was the most delightful little place.

Overnighted here as we arrived late and nothing was open. Went for a stroll past the YHA, looked good but we decided to stay at a B&B. The walk was so beautiful, called the Nut Walk but boy were there a lot of what I would call onion weed. Looks lovely but smell.....