Some photos of the farm

This photo is taken from the studio, can you see the waterfall?

Franjpanis is bloom, I knew I would miss my roses, but it was such a delight to smell my first franjpani.

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Boys getting a bow staff lesson off their Dad

Flynn carrying the bananas back to the house:)

Garden view

Quiet moment with Joseph.

Muma & daughter beret's

I'm glad that even though Thora is sub-tropical, it still gets cold in winter, not freezing like Ballarat, but cold enough for the jumpers and beanies to come out.  I don't think I have ever not knitted.

Apparently when your four you have to jump when your photo is taken.

I knitted Alice's beret from a 1950's pattern book, and mine came from drops design, they have a amazing range of patterns and they are free:) The pattern is here

The wool is cashmere and superfine merino, and it is so so soft, I had knnitted lot's of hat's and cardigan's for my babies with this wool, it is super snugly.
I used to think, if ever you were having a bad day with the kids, just dress them in this wool and you'll want to smooch them all day long.

Alice took the photo's of me, not bad for a four year old!

One dog, one cat and three chooks

Alice giving big roosty a drink. I know you can buy chooks anywhere but our beloved Roosty has been part of our family for 5years. He has survived various chook attacks(dogs and foxes and eagles). When we were living in Guildford, we would only see him on the weekends, he was struggling, and even once I hugged him and told the kids to say goodbye to him, as I thought it would be his last day. But he hung on, and improved when we moved back to Ballarat.

The chooks travelled in the trailer, we stopped every 2 hours, got them out of their boxes, made an human(child) fence and gave them water and food.
They survived their 15 hour ordeal:)
Scruffy our dog layed at our feet and puss puss took turns sleeping in all the children's laps.

Finally we arrived in Thora.

The long trip

The first stop was to say farewell to Ron, Sarah, Brodie and Luey. Ron had made us a  beautiful Didgeridoo, made from Mallee timber from his country, Ron had engraved six turtles, to represent each of us. Ron is from the Wamba Wamba tribe, he is the best at storytelling.

We miss them already.

It's a 15 hour  trip to Thora, Alice and Jim filling in time.

Can you see the rainbow:)

Dan driving the first leg.

We left at 4am from Corowa, to get some hours under our belt before the children wake. Unfortunately  two b-doubles collided with a ute, near Yass, the fog  was bad, and this part of the Pacific is notorious for accidents. So we waited for four hours, and the kids had breakfast along the freeway edge.
The car behind knew a short cut around so we followed him. The road was closed for most of the day.

The line up. The accident happened only 300meters in front of us. Lordy.

good friends

Jim and his best friend Sven. I think the hardest thing to come to terms with when leaving are friends. I know we can skype, write letters and call. But for my children, they connect through playing, not talking.

The children's friends, my friends, people whom we have shared most of our lives with.

For a while (too long) I couldn't tell my friends or children that we were leaving, I didn't want to see that look of shock on their faces, I felt in some way that I was rejecting our friends, moving on.

Why to people live where they live? is it because of the climate?, community? family? work?
There are a hundred and one reasons to stay in Ballarat.



Good friends had a farewell for us, it's was a beautiful warm Autumn day.

If I'm honest, i would rather leave without goodbyes, it's the flight or fight reflex, I choose flight every time:).  But I've learn't that for the people left behind, goodbyes are necessary.
Teary, hard and confronting though.....

The first step taken

So, my children were happy, loving being home, loving being back out at the school, with their friends. I was happy back in my home, enjoying the quiet,

But Dan, Dan wasn't, the seed was sown back in September, of another life, a life that he/we only had dreamed of, and once you step on that different path, it's hard to step off.

Dan went to work for his father age the age of 15, only 3 years older than my Jim, He did his apprenticeship, as a printer, like his Dad, and took over the family business 'Kings the printer"when his father retired, 16 years later.

When I was engaged to Dan I knew our life would be in Ballarat, He loved his work and it was his family's business. Of all the places I dreamed to live, Ballarat was never one of them. But I was in love, and so it never matters then.

We built a home on family land, whilst dreaming of having children, and made some dear friends, and so life continues, in this place I never though I would ever live, getting on with life.

And I was happy.

For Dan, the pace of print had changed, and he decided to step out and look up, after 33years, all his working life in one place. It's time for Dan to find his own way, without the security of the family business, and so we put our beloved house up for sale and I started to pack for Thora.

Part three

If I keep posting at this random rate, you guys will be "in the loop" by Christmas:)

Well, whilst I was thinking about what to do, do I stay in Castlemaine and commit to buying a property, or do I make a huge move to Thora?

A friend of a friend wanted to know if I was interested in selling my home in Guildford, which means I had to really think hard. It's so hard selling houses this depressed market, was this a sign?. In the end, Dan and I both decided that it's not ideal living in two houses, back and forth, and if we committed to Castlemaine, well this house we were in was more of a weekender, not really big enough for permanent living for a family of six. So we said yes, and it was so easy.... no open days, no big clean up, know real estate carry on, just sold.

So we packed up everything and headed back to Ballarat for the 6 week holidays, to get some perspective. I'll admit, that packing up and setting up houses is exhausting. I wondered how I could do it all again in a month. Just crazy.

And then I enjoyed the rest of my holiday's to see what unfolds.

The time away from Castlemaine, made me see that wasn't our future. I so love the engaging community there, but I could see clearly that the school, wasn't suited to my children, And the scrubby thirsty ground makes me shudder. Joseph was doing so much better, happy, engaged, singing again. I couldn't send him back. Castlemaine was out, I was enjoying being back home, and wanted to stay.

So I enrolled the children back in the Ballarat Steiner school. The children were grinning from ear to ear to be back at their school, I do feel at home there, part of the walls.


I loved seeing everyone again, the new teachers brought such a new 'Steiner' energy with them.

It was so wonderful to see Flynn so happy to be at school, His teacher Stuart is wonderful, more Grandfatherly, with a wonderful knowledge that the children will unfold in their own time. Joseph had Gareth, which is just what he needed, Gareth swung Joseph over his shoulder on the first day, Joseph needed fun in his day, and Gareth is always smiling and telling jokes. Jim had Svantje, a young teacher, she has just come back from teaching five years in Ireland. She was perfect for Jim. Svantje 'got' Jim, saw his gifts. Jim was singing again and playing the recorder everywhere! He was bursting with life. This had always being Jim, but over the last two years it had stopped. Jim was happy enough to go to school, so I thought that maybe he had outgrow this phase and was in the pre teen phase. Jim couldn't express himself at the Castlemaine school, and Svantje was able to bring these qualities out again, I had my boy back.

p.s . there is a part four.....

Australia Day

It made me smile when I heard they were serving vegemite sandwiches and lamingtons in the commentry box at the cricket today.

I like my pavalova crunchy on the outside and meringue in the centre, this one is not too sweet.
Recipe: 6 egg whites at room temp.
pinch cream of tartar
1&3/4 cup of caster sugar
1 teas vanilla
2 teas white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon cornflour
Beat the egg white and cream of tartar till soft peaks, add caster sugar one tablespoon at a time it will be thick and glossy, and take about 10mins. Add vanilla, vinegar and cornflour, till just mixed. spoon out on to round baking tray lined with baking paper. about 30cm in diameter. Bake in slow oven 125-150c for a hour, turn off oven and leave door ajar for another 2 hours. Spead whipped cream over when cold, and decorate with whatever ever fruit you like, my kiddo's love passionfruit, strawberrys, mango, and raspberries.

Yum.

This song always makes a lump in the throat, I guess we all know someone which the song is singing about:

christmas day with the willett's

Miss alice, trying out her new scooter.



We alternate Christmas lunch each year between my family and Dan's, because of the distance. This year it was back home with my family.

Dan used to comment on how loud, overbearing, criticise and bring you back to earth,( like only your sisters can). But I think he has gotten used to it after 18years.

It can drive me crazy how polite, well mannered, only talk about the weather or footy, Dan's family can be. I usually throw a thought provoking sentence out there or talk about the latest conspiracy in the world, and watch them crawl under the table...



This is my mum, Shirley, I used to cringe at the thought of looking like my mum, but let's face it, we all start to look like our mum sooner or later.

And that's okay by me.

Young Joseph coming in for a quick ((hug)).

the last of summer

Long three day weekend, called for a beach break down at lorne, we were so lucky with the weather, I can count on one hand how many sunny weekends we have had this summer.

But, really, I would prefer rain over searing heat and bushfires.



This one, loving catching those waves.



Happy for a speed ride.




the last of summer.

The Easter Hunt

All children love a good hunt don't they?

Our hunt is in our forest.

Hope that you got to spend the holiday doing what you love.

New Clothes

The fabric for the shirt is from Fabritopia, and even though it's quilting weight, it's lovely and soft. I didn't cut the fabric on the bias, it's the pattern in the fabic. The pattern is out of Ottobre.

The shorts fabric is from tip, tapp, stoff, lovely lightweight, reversible fabric, the front pockets are a welt pocket, which just means you have to think about them for a bit.

All the boys are of late, quite interested in where their clothes come from, I guess global warming is on everyones mind. I made a conscious desicion not to buy from china a few years ago.. For many reasons, child labour, support local, quality, the fact that nearly everything comes out of China does not sit well with me. So of course they are very chuffed if their clothes come from Australia, or better still out of the sewing room.

I'm so loving the company of these two little ones, since school went back. My four year old Flynn who thinks he's eight, and always running with the big kids, is back in my arms on the couch, singing together, cooking together.....


In this photo we were heading down the road to get the mail, eating the first of the blood plums from our tree.

Today, our little Flynn gave my husband such a fright, flynn was helping Dad over at the treehouse and he got excited seeing Granpa walking over and started telling Granpa the best way up. Well he stepped back onto nothing but air and fell, I think Dan's torn a muscle in his shoulder from lungeing forward hoping to grab Flynn, but Flynn was already falling, falling down 3 metres. Luckily Dan keeps a tidy work area, all the saws, nail guns, drills are kept under the fooring, so he fell onto dirt, narrowly missing the stacked timber. Well Flynn screamed, which is alway's a good sign, he landed well, as little kids do, and is asleep now on the couch. No broken bones, just some swelling on one side of his face.

Dan on the other hand looks in shock, white as a ghost and a little teary, I guess he knows just how bad it could have been.

We will be thanking Flynn's guardian angels in our prayers tonight.

Advent

This year I decided that I would make an German Advent calender for each child, everyday they would receive a little gift, to mark the day.

I should have known that it is nearly impossible for me to make the same thing twice, let alone fours times.

So one between four. they are very good a sharing. They have to be!

It sounded like a good idea until I did the maths, um, 28 pressies x four, gulp, oh my, wayyyyy to much brain power for this little treat.

So the list of little pressies included:
beautiful stones
out for tea
Lyra crayons and pencils
out for tea
matchbox cars
stamps
out for tea
chocolate
I think you get the picture.

Our nativety table, For the first week of advent, the mineral kingdom is honoured, beautiful stones placed around the stable.

The second week, the plant kingdom, fresh roses from the garden are gathered.

The third week, the animal kingdom, the fences are made and straw is brought in.

The fourth week, Mary, Joseph and the donkey, make their way to the stable, their journey starts at the top of our stairs, and the angel, so beautifully made by Cadi, slowly drops down day by day to the stable bringing baby Jesus.