Finis

I laughed when I came back to Pretty Essential recently and saw that it looked like we were still "Stuck in Albany". We did get on our way eventually and continued our little caravan adventure, enjoying our time in Western Australia very much.  

But so much has happened, and actually was happening while we were travelling. And, I really haven't been able to write about it before now.

Just before we set off, my Mother was given a diagnosis of cancer. The worst possible category of cancer, with primary and metastatic locations. It was a devastating time for her and all of us. Treatment was started immediately to try to prolong the amount of time she would have left. But truly, it was hard for all of us to take in. At just 58, and a very healthy, non drinking, non smoking person, to say we didn't understand would be an understatement.

My parents were married very young, at just 17 and 20. So, for my Father it was simply impossible to come to terms with the reality of the situation. The fact that my Mother was also the main carer for her 92 year old Mother at the time was another difficulty to face.  We also had to say goodbye to the house that has been the family home for six generations, the one my Grandmother was born in and her Father and Grandfather built.

My mother passed away on August 18th 2010.

She would have been 60 at the beginning of October this year. I don't feel like I'm at the point of acceptance or understanding yet, but I am beginning to feel less sad about it a little bit more each day. Mum was such a 'doer', she never sat around much, and always had projects, activities and events on the go. I am trying to keep that in mind.  

At this point, I feel the need to close my Pretty Essential blog that was focused mainly of craft and family.  I have enjoyed the time spent recording the bits and pieces of my daily life and interacting with such lovely people in 'blogland'. To all those who have stopped by and left me comments, I want to say a huge Thank You!  Really, it has meant a lot to me.

To honour Mum - the person who taught me so much - I have started a new blog called Hat Hill Farm.  It feels like the right thing to do.  Mum loved blogs.  She found them immensely inspiring and loved to see so many people creating and sharing. 

Hat Hill Farm will document the new home that we are making for ourselves.  It will be like a gardening diary and will detail the steps we take each day.  Keith and I will work on it together.

Two landmarks in one weekend

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On Saturday, Keira played in a piano graduation concert at the Opera House in Sydney. The children learn the piano following the Suzuki method and each year they are invited to play in concerts at the Opera House if they have passed their level during the year.


This was the third time that Keira has played in one of these concerts and I think it's the first time I have ever seen her anxious about it. The concerts are great in that they are meant to be a celebration of the hard work the students have done. They need to be dressed very smartly (lot's of boys in mini tuxes!) and they play on a grand piano in the Utzon Room which has a large wall of glass that makes you feel as though you are right in the harbour.



But, the standard is very high and Keira was worried that she would make a mistake (which many kids do and it isn't a big deal but Keira is quite tough on herself). Of course when her turn came she played beautifully and I could see that she felt good about herself afterwards.


After the concert we made a very quick dash back up the Mountains, because Keith and I had a school function at the very beautiful and historic Collits' Inn to get to.


This used to be run as a restaurant/b&b, but a family from the school bought it recently and now it is their home. They opened it up to us on Saturday night for dinner and I can't tell you how wonderful it was. We all arrived in the late afternoon when it was still light and could have a good look around. The Inn was built in 1823 and has been lovingly restored right down to the original room that the Governor would stay in when they were moving convicts through the area. In fact the previous owners who had done a huge amount of work in building up a library of the history of the place, left everything intact on the property when they left.


We had a guided walk around the cemetery before dinner, where there are 62 people buried from the area including the poet Henry Lawson's father. Apparently one of Lawson's poems is about the murder of one of the Collits' daughters (some sort of love triangle back in the 1800's!).


Then it was on to dinner which was served in the original barn and afterwards the owner and another father from school played their guitars and sang until late into the night. By then everyone was in very good form and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Sunday saw me a little tired and weary, but the weather was fantastic so I sat in the sun and watched Cal and his friend learn how to put up a tent for their first overnight camping expedition with the school this week. Listening to the patience in Keith's voice as he gave instructions from the side was a little amusing as well!

(Photos of Collits Inn from the National Trust, I of course forgot to take my camera . . .)

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Surprise mail

Not long ago I decided to put on my sidebar a book recommendation from both Keira and Caley. Keira was raving about a book that she had just finished so I thought I'd include some of their favourites along with mine.  I asked Cal for the name of a book that he had read recently and liked, and he said Samurai Kids, White Crane.

Then out of the blue we received an email from the author, Sandy Fussell.  I have to say we were very excited by this! For the kids, who read and read and read, it was wonderful to have an author directly contact us like this.

But that wasn't all.  Sandy very generously  offered to send Cal a copy of her latest book, Polar Boy.  As she put it - "its about an Inuit brother and sister - lots of whales, polar bears and Vikings".  Which of course sounds just right for Cal!  

The package arrived in the mail today, along with a special note from Sandy and some posters from Samurai Kids for Cal's bedroom.

Cal is a great reader, but I have had to work quite hard to get him interested in fiction.  He loves his facts, on nature, history or science.  He's always loved listening to the stories that I've read to them but hadn't been drawn to them for himself.  So I looked for books that I thought he'd like if he gave them a chance and got far enough into them.  We've built up a little library for him with books of his own in his bedroom (as opposed to reading 'Keira's' books) and over time I'm noticing that he's reading more fiction that non-fiction these days.  

Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong with reading non-fiction, and I'm sure Cal's knowledge of reptiles, the Elizabethans and Tudors, and Elvis Presley would rival most 8 year olds!  It's just that I know how much pleasure reading fiction can bring and I really feel that the earlier that you 'get' it the better.

Of course, now the kids are expecting great things from my blog, and Keira keeps asking me if I've heard from the author of her book . . .

(a very big thank you Sandy!)

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This time last year

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I was walking to -

Base Camp, Mt Everest

Staying here -

Gorek Shep, last stop before Mt Everest
(we stayed in the tea house on the far right,
the upmarket end of town!)

and looking at -

Mt Everest, Nepal.

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Mapped Out

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We tackled this job in Cal's room while the kids are away. I was a little nervous, never having done any wallpapering before. There are 8 panels that you put up in the order you prefer, we chose the Asia/Australia focus. It's big - 264cm x 396cm (8ft 8in x 13ft) and covers an entire wall in his bedroom.

It started out well, the first sheet went up without any problems but the second was a little tricky... I don't recommend having a door in the wall for your first wallpapering attempt! We kept going, hoping it would all turn out okay in the end.

I'm really pleased with it, yes there are a few creases and air bubbles but the overall effect is fantastic. I can't wait for Cal to get home tomorrow and see his reaction.

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Living with nature

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I had a little break from posting last week, our first week of school holidays and focused on spending lovely sunny days with the kids. It was relaxing and good to be outside together.


Yesterday my family came up from Sydney for lunch and we got to show them our new house and property. They've heard so much about it (including occasional moaning on my part...) and it was fun to be able to show them around.

The weather was a bit cold but we still managed to eat outside. It's interesting times for all of us at the moment and it was really great to eat, drink and talk things over together. (I haven't quite got the hang of the blogging way of taking photos of everything as it's happening! So no photos, must get into the habit of taking more photos)


Keira and Cal left with my parents to spend this week at their place. They love doing this. It's a break from the usual routine of being at home and there's always lots going on.

I miss them already but am also relishing the quiet. Apparently Keith has a list of jobs he wants us to get done while they're away - argh! I am insisting on one day of sewing though!


Before the kids left, they worked on this nature table. It's a little school like, but they had fun collecting things for it and we plan to keep it as a changing display.



Also spotted hanging out at our place recently, was this beautiful blue kingfisher. Mary, you need to come and get a good photo of him!

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Colorstrology - huh?

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I've just discovered that my personal colour is Pantone's Amberlight.  (I got here in a very round about way, via How About Orange).

Apparently it means that I am dramatic, creative and sensitive. Okay, what else?  

"You are enormously creative and inspiring to watch and be around.  You have your own way of thinking and doing things.  You come across as self-assured and powerful.  You tend to have a strong point of view, so it is important to cultivate flexibility and ease when dealing with others.  Your personal colour blends greatness with humility."

Keith got pretty vocal when I read out the bit about having strong views and needing to be flexible, don't know why . . . any family members out there reading this might agree, I guess . . .

You can go to Colorstrology and find your birthday's colour, if like me, you are putting off cleaning up after breakfast, doing some laundry, stripping beds, painting ceilings, etc. etc.

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Quite a surprise

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Well, it was quite a weekend.  After months and months of keeping a secret it was finally time to party!  

Despite it not being a complete surprise at the end, I'm sure Mary was pretty blown away by the crowd of friends and family who were waiting for her at the lovely Paragon Cafe in Katoomba on Saturday night.

Of course I also got a surprise when Mary introduced me to two of my favourite bloggers - M and Fairlie.  This was the first time that I have met any blog friends and it was quite strange that we knew so much about each others lives despite having not met in 'real' life before.  Fairlie's recent post about the weekend really describes this colliding of two worlds beautifully.

The whole weekend really made me think about blogging and what my blog means to me.  I think of my blog as a journal of my family's day to day activities and try to have a craft/creating focus. But of course it is so much more than that when you start connecting with the large, lovely community out there!

This is particularly highlighted every time you read a post that describes struggle, loss, frustration, love, etc. and see the response the blog world has.  It blows you away the connections forged around the world over shared responses, how we all relate to each other. These connections and emotional responses are real.  They have a real impact on people's lives.

But the main thing that I keep coming back to is how often I smile and laugh when reading other blogs.  Often I can't believe how much time has passed by, as I travel from one blog to the next following some thread.  Often I think it's sucking up too much of my time, but I've never failed to be inspired and energised from these journeys.  

So thank you blog friends, it's great to be a part of this world.


(Walking around the house today I suddenly noticed waratahs in various stages of flowering everywhere.)


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Working on

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A mural for a wall in the school playground.

(Need a clearer, larger photo . . . will update later when I add colour to the layout)

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How happy does she look?

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Where we live is a pretty small town. It doesn't seem to take too long to meet people around the place. (So far this has been a good thing!)

We've noticed a woman walking two miniature horses along the street we live on a few times since we moved here and every time we passed these tiny horses, Keira would come up with elaborate schemes for how she could get to meet them. I'd have to drive very slowly pass them so she could have a good look, the poor woman probably thought she was being stalked!

Then one day a man came to work on the house, got talking to Keith, and sure enough it's his wife who owns the horses. So of course they said Keira could come and meet them and walk them back to their house where they sleep each night.

Keira is a typical 9 year old girl who is keen on horses. A close friend of hers has a pony that she keeps nearby and the two of them hang out on the weekends there, riding and looking after 'Dexter'. This arrangement suits us fine as the last thing we want right now is the responsibility of a horse to look after!

I love these photos. Keira just looks so happy! The last one is obviously way too dark, but I included it because I like the feel of it. It's gone dusk, and they're headed home for the night . . .

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Playing too

My answers turned up this combination . . .


A bit of fun.

As seen at Pea Soup.

Just lovely

It was a lovely weekend.

Lunch with close friends on Saturday, where we sat in the sun, ate, drank and talked and talked and talked. So relaxed with each other, our children playing together happily all day. Just what was needed.

Sunday started with hugs in bed and cups of tea. Everyone wanted to make me a cup and bring it into bed (I needed all of them to wake up!). Then there was the unwrapping of the school-organised pressies. Very cute - everything so special - Caley kept pointing out all the details and how everything was made. Keira explained how on Friday morning when she was still in bed, not feeling very well and I had decided that she could stay home for the day, she suddenly remembered that if she didn't go in then she wouldn't have the present for me on Sunday. This explains why she clambered out of bed at the last minute adamant she wanted to go to school after all. I couldn't work it out on Friday but it all made beautiful sense on Sunday!

Then we headed to Sydney to have lunch at my parents. We were able to catch up with lots of family during the afternoon. It's quite a group when we get together, with 4 generations going from 90 to 1!

We also took Honey, our newest member of the family, who had a great day. She even managed to not look too shocked when she discovered the fish pond - the hard (& v.wet) way!

Hoping everyone enjoyed the weekend and they're own special Mother's Day!

Hint, hint

Very subtle, eh?!

Too close for comfort

After all the rain, it was wonderful to have the sun back for the weekend. All of us we're keen to sit and bask in it as much as possible. We also went on many walks around our new back yard.

There's quite a bit to explore, with 20 acres of bushland that's only slightly been cleared. Of course that means we're living quite closely with the wildlife! So far that's consisted of grey kangaroos and a little mouse-like marsupial called the Yellow-footed Antechinus. All quite cute and easy to live with, especially now that we've stopped the antechinus from coming inside the house!

But this morning we met another resident, a rather large Brown snake. Keith, Keira and Honey were walking along, when Honey ventured off the path and started madly barking at something. Keith and Keira kept walking and then Keira waited for Honey to follow. When she wouldn't come, Keira went back to see what was going on. Only to get the shock of her life!



Honey, apparently was very close to the snake which as Keira put it (through much wailing) "was moving towards me". She couldn't get Honey to follow her, so raced ahead to catch up with Keith and he ran back and picked Honey up and brought her back to the house.

Honey was extremely excited and we were all very worried that she might have been bitten. But she's shown no sign of it and I think she's been very lucky to get off so lightly from such a close call!

So now I'm wondering who else is out there for us to meet!

Introducing . . .

. . . the newest member of our family, Honey.

This gorgeous girl joined our family seven weeks ago (although no one believed me when I just mentioned this to the family - it feels like she's always been with us).

She's a local girl that I heard about through a friend of a friend, and then a certain friend helped me decide that we really should take a drive a check out the litter of puppies and the mother.  Of course when we got out of the car and eight little puppies came running through the grass towards us, our husbands really were quite lucky that we only came home with one!

Honey is a recent graduate of Puppy Preschool and I plan to start taking her to the local Dog Training mornings each week.  This is a bit of a new world to me, not sure if I'm turning into one of those dog obsessed people (no offence meant of course!).  

I'm finding it quite fun teaching her, luckily she's a fast learner and is very good company on our many walks around the new property.  Also, as a Blue Heeler I think training is a must and will make our life together much more enjoyable for all.

Another pleasing part of having Honey come to live with us, is seeing my daughter Keira grow in confidence around dogs. She had a nasty incident with a dog when she was about 18 months old and I can't tell you how terrified she has been of any dog ever since.  

We have worked hard for many years to help her overcome this and my mothers dog has been fantastic in helping Keira to relax.  But now, seeing the difference in Keira's demeanour from when Honey first came to now is amazing and very beautiful.

Welcome, Honey.

A new home

Well, that little break I planned to have from posting on this blog has really blown out!  I needed to get so much done over Christmas and New Year that I just had to let it go.  But it's interesting that I really feel like getting back to making regular posts, I think blogging gets under your skin after a while.  It's also something only other bloggers 'get', I think.

Anyway, we have a new home! Yeh!! We moved in early in January, to a not-quite-ready house and have been living in a building site ever since.  It's not too bad really, I shouldn't complain, I mean we've got walls and windows, a roof, a small bathroom, mmm, oh and our kitchen has just been installed!

The plan is to live in one end of the house (approx. 1/3 of the house) while the rest is being finished.  I just couldn't face moving into a rental house and then having to pack it all up to move again, and this way more seems to be happening with us here to keep things going. 

It's a beautiful spot that we're all really enjoying, especially at the moment with the children on school holidays.  We're having a break from schedules, early starts, homework, etc and just taking it easy.

Back soon, hopefully!

Online again, at last

Last Friday afternoon, while happily snatching a few minutes to quickly look at a couple of lovely blogs - kapow - went something in our computer room. My screen sort of flashed out towards me and then that was it. A fuse had blown, we still had lights but all appliances were off. Out into the rain I went to the box and flicked the switch and everything was back on. Back in the computer room, however, was a very strong burning smell!

Yes, it was another afternoon storm and I should of turned everything off, but these storms are happening so often it's driving me crazy. Our power routinely goes off and on throughout the afternoons.

So anyway, today I'm finally back online, yay! I'm going to take a quick look at what everyone's been up to and then the kids and I are off to buy various bathroom fittings - not very Christmassy but v.important I assure you.

Things I like

All from Cox & Cox.

Very proud

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Yesterday morning we headed down the mountain to Sydney for a very special event. After completing their next level in piano this year, both Keira and Caley were invited to play in the graduation concert at the Opera House.

Making the decision for the children to learn a musical instrument was quite easy, the benefits are pretty clear I think, but the dedication and discipline to keep practicing isn't always as easy. Piano practice is something that is very repetitive and often tedious. Our teacher has to keep me inspired as much as the children, so that I can keep the practicing at home fun and not too boring.

I quite like this aspect of it, actually. We play games, have lucky dips, at christmas make decorations like chains, all tied in to doing our practice. But of course in real life, when your busy it takes an extra effort sometimes and then sometimes we simply just run out of time.

The children have learnt that sometimes you have to do things you don't always feel like doing and that in the end it is worth it. They both enjoy being able to play different pieces of music and I think, take some pride in their achievement. We've all learnt that it's not really about ability at all, but in fact it's the practicing that makes a difference and of course keeping it fun!



For Caley, this was his first time performing in this sort of concert and I think he was feeling quite proud that he had made it, but also a little nervous having to stand up in front of so many people. He was very sure that he wanted to wear his suit that had been bought earlier in the year for the Ball we attended. To see how happy he was after the concert made it all worth it for me.

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Never to late to be organised

All year I've been using this Planner from Miriam Bereson to jot down the family's busy schedule. I like the way the whole year is on display and the fun layout and colours. But the only problem was that it wouldn't stay on the wall. No matter what sticky type device I tried, we would eventually find it slumped on the floor. Very annoying.

So this week I took it into the local framers and asked them to make up a simple frame that I can reuse each year (without glass, of course!). I'm really pleased with the result and will be happy to find the right spot to hang it my new kitchen in January. Next years planner is in green and looks great, you can see it here.