Very Looooooong update!

Hello again dear friends,

I trust everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year.

I really cant believe how time has slipped away from me since my last post back in November. 

Life happened J

Thank you to everyone who inquired after my well being. 

 I have been fine, just busy...

 Finally I have reached 500 posts.  It has taken a while to reach this milestone and I have made and continue to make many great friends along the way. I have even been extremely privileged enough to meet some of you in real life. 

Joolz@Simply Joolz, Annabel@The Bluebirds are Nesting, Wendy@My Abundant Life and Cath@Debt Free, Cashed up and Laughing.   I also met Sandra from A Life Slowing Down but she no longer blogs.

 It all started in late 2007 when my daughter suggested I start a blog and she helped me set it up. It seems like such a long time ago.  Recently I went back over some of my older posts to see how things have changed in eight years.  Blogs are wonderful for looking back on your life. Back then my favourite all time blog had just started too. Rhonda@Down to Earth first inspired me to the pleasures of living a simple life.

So here I am in 2016 and still going, even if it is at a slower pace.  I did lose my mojo for a couple of years and found it hard to get back, but with encouragement from some new bloggers I have kept plugging away. Sometimes it is hard to know what would be of interest to the reader.

I really would like to thank all my followers for sticking with me through this journey.  And to all those that leave comments, they are very much appreciated and I love hearing from you. Without you all, this blog wouldn't be worth writing.

This particular post is a mixture of things that have been happening since November...

We have a new dryer rack holder.  

Hubby made this up out of an old futon bed/lounge frame thingamajig.

Hasn't he done a great job?

 Another project...

Making one good lawnmower from three. 

And this. Can you guess what it is?

Hopefully a jam pourer.  

We have yet to try it. 

Hubby is hoping for less mess when it comes to jam making.

Getting ready for some more dryers.

I found one of these.

 It is just the right size to go into the caravan.

It was still in its original box.

In November we were in Adelaide and had just finished a bit of shopping in a big shopping complex.  We parked the car quite a distance away from the entrance and upon returning we ran into one of these.

Now, I have only seen a koala in the distance at the zoo, so this was definitely a strange encounter for me. 

We don't get koalas where we live.

This fellow came down out of the tree just as we got there.

We were worried that he would want to cross the busy road to get to the other side.  Hubby stood on the road to keep him on the footpath and eventually helped him cross at a nearby crossing.  The people in the cars were very helpful by slowing down.

I took a couple of short videos if you would like to watch.

We went to see ACDC!

It was a great concert but way too loud for this old girl.  

We had earplugs in and it was still too loud!

The Christmas toy run went passed our place in early December.

Our tree.

We have had a BIG cleanout!

Pickings from the garden...

Hubby volunteered to decorate the pavlova for Christmas day. 

This one was a practice run J

The nuts and bolts mix I made for the blokes this Christmas.

 Our Grandson's Scout group held their 

Christmas breakup at the front beach. This was the view from where I was sitting.

Vegan chocolate cake, YUM!

A feed of blue swimmer crabs...

Drying breadcrumbs in the sun.

And apricots.

Soak in lemon or pineapple juice and they keep their colour well.

We had an abundance of apricots this year.  

We have dried some, stewed some and made a lot into jam.

Forty eight jars!

The poor little granny apples fell from the tree in the extreme heatwave we had the week before Christmas.  We were the hottest place in the world on one of those days!!

Broke the record we did!

That is 117F for my American friends J

I fell in love with,and bought this chopping board. It is so lovely and bright, and it adds some prettiness to my kitchen.

This is hubby's Christmas present from my dad. 

 A manual chainsaw!

Hehehe, good one Dad!

Some magpies have befriended us.

I have been picking heaps of tomatoes.

They struggled with the heat, but I have got them through so far. 

I think these are ox hearts.

The hoist is in the shed and been put to use already.

A new recipe I am going to try. Thanks Sarah J

We spent last weekend at my parents place.

Here is hubby with some of the friendliest chickens I have seen.  

These were hatched out by our daughter and given to mum and dad. They are so very quiet. 

Hubby is sharing his salt and vinegar chips with them!

We picked up some wheat to take home for our chooks.

A bag of organic wheat from my Dad. 

 I am hoping to make "proper" flour and grow some wheat grass J

And a gift from my dad for hubby to add to his collection.

That feeling of being watched...

Thirsty lizard.

Hungry lizard.

He was so enjoying this apricot.  

I watched him for ages...

A new grand baby is due any day now.

Hot sunsets...

This year our Christmas was hosted by our eldest daughter and her partner. They live in the nearby small town of Quorn.

They set up tables in two rooms of their quaint little cottage.

It was all very cosy.

Two families gathered together as one and had the loveliest meal and catch up.

There was a bit of chaos happening in the kitchen, and of course the temperature had to be 41C! (105.8F)

A nice hot lunch was lovingly prepared and enjoyed by all.

Then outside we went for the yearly family photos. We have a new family member and that is our son's girlfriend.  She joined us for the first time this year. Also in the photo is my nephew and his wife who traveled down from Alice Springs to surprise my parents.  

And what a surprise it was. 

Mum had tears. 

I had tears.

The best Christmas present ever!

 Dad and mum with my nephew and his wife, and the grand dog.

The beautiful hosts.

They did a great job!

Our children. 

You can see the new grand baby bulging in this pic.

With hubby's mum...

And lastly 

a peek into the veggie patch.

I have had to cover it well this year...

A Greek cucumber.

These are huge!

It is going to be another hot week with temperatures in the 40's.  Hopefully we get some rain soon as it is really dry.

Until next time,

Take care.