On Sunday I went to Nyabing to meet some lovely ladies for afternon tea.
Thanks to Michelle for organising it. On my way there, enjoying the peace and quite (my kids I had left in Lake Grace with the in-laws…YES!) I got to take some pictures. I love the contrast of the bright yellow canola against the green of the crops. Its very Australian, the green and gold.
You couldn’t imagine a brighter yellow and to see it in such a mass is beautiful…except for the smell. LOL.
And salt lakes are something we have plenty of, but can also look amazing even though salt is a problem. Hope you enjoy the pictures…summer is on it way.
I went out to Burnside today (the Garard’s farm) as they were shearing. I needed a few pictures for the book trailer and for the website so people can see what I’m talking about when they read my next book. I found out today that there are three Burnside’s in WA (hence the PIN (for Pingaring) under the farm name on the bale). If your farm name is one of them, tell us where about in WA you are?
I was hoping to take photo’s of the hero of my book, a blond muscly 28 year old shearer…but alas…he was nowhere to be seen. (Maybe he was off sick!?!) Actually I think he’s left and gone to work on the mines!! Anywhoo I got plenty of other shots and was even in time for Di’s morning smoko! What a treat! Sitting on a bale with a cuppa made by my mate Dennis with a range of food fit for a king. It was nice to get out of the house (and away from the computer) and go visiting. I didn’t hang around as they had a spare drench gun and were looking for volunteers lol. This afternoon is set aside for book writing and setting up a few things for the website. Time to get cracking.
Winter – oh the joys of frosty mornings. On this particular morning I was on my way to my friends house to pick up my kids and the fog was really thick AND it was 10.30am!! Yes, the farmers would have been twiddling their fingers waiting for it to lift so they could go spraying. I know my dad was at home waiting…probably enjoying the warmth before he went out into the cold to play with water.
This picture is of my friends house from their driveway and you can just make out it out. The camera never seems to pick up just how thick it is.
I nearly ran over the shire crew on my way there. They had two graders parked up on the road. They appeared out of nowhere in the fog. I bet they thought twice about standing on the road to talk in a fog, especially with me behind the wheel!! As i left near lunch time i could still see areas of fog. Well at least it wasn’t a frost. I’m hoping they stay away. Its been a bad enough start to the year, no one needs their crops wiped out from the frost as well.
We meet family in Hopetoun over the weekend to celebrate our niece’s 1st birthday. We arrived friday night to a mess as the caravan park had huge amounts of rain a few days before and our anix showed just how much. Hmmm….a bit of cleaning was needed but thankfully we had it sorted quickly. We had rain most of the first day…wish I could have brought some home with us as we still have a few farmers who haven’t done any seeding yet. No hair pulling and screaming going on yet but the stress is still there…and the question about wether to seed or not! Come on mother nature…spare us a little bit!
But our last two days were great. This picture is where we fished one afternoon and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. No wind!! Amazing in Hopey. And salmon was caught for tea. *yes – my eating to walking ratio was blown out of the water but it was a weekend off…and it was too cold so I had to eat lots!*
Well we have booked our tickets, we are off to Melbourne and Sydney…mainly to visit family and so I can attend the RWA conference in Sydney. I’ve never been to one before andIi will finally get to meet Bronwyn Parry and Helene Young. Bronwyn is also up for a Romantic Book of the Year award and I’m glad I will be over there for all the excitement! Fleur McDonald is also up for the same award….so even more reasons to be excited. Congrats to them both along with all the other finallists!
As for my own news…at the meeting I got the thumbs up for my next book, offer will be on its way this week and then into the nitty gritty. Book cover, title, final edits and working on the book trailer also. I might even get back to work on book 3 if I have time.
But for now I have pumpkin scones that need cooking as I have a friend coming over this afternoon, I can’t wait!
Here is book two. Still unnamed, but I’ve been calling it Clean Cut for want of a better name. I have just finished putting all these changes onto the computer! Easier said than done. But it’s a huge weight off my mind now its done. I then had a house cleaning frenzy…believe me it was well overdue!!
I went off to Lake Grace on Friday to do a talk for the Volunteers at the Visitors Centre. Beautiful spot there, if you’re ever in Lake Grace you must drop in and have a look around! Next week I will be off to Newdegate to catch up with the local bookclubs at the library for a chat. Not looking forward to the night time driving along the back gravel roads, will have to take the ute and watch for roo’s.
Next on my list of things to do is collect pictures on shearing for the website and start making the book trailer! (Hopefully we will pick a name for the book soon lol)
Monday was such a glorious day and I had finished the second draft on the book so it was time to spend some quality time with my family. My hubby and I packed a picnic and headed up the rock with the kids. We lay back like lizards soaking up the warm sun whilst the kids climbed all over the rock and through the holes. We ate our lunch in the cave, which was nice and cool.
You can see the town of Pingaring, with the three white bins and our number three and seven fairways of the golf club. We couldn’t have asked for a better day to enjoy together, and the kids wore themselves out – bonus! We also threw some nets in for a feed of gilgies but they were all too small.
Not that the kids cared, they were too busy running through the bush following all the little track the sheep had made.
A perfect day.
Meet Polly the little lamb. We are babysitting Polly for three days for my friend Renae. It’s amazing that Polly is still alive especially when you hear her story. Polly was born whilst her mum was still trying to give birth to Polly’s twin, a fox had decided to nibble away on her. When Renae had found her the fox had chewed off some of her ear and left a huge hole around her jaw. Apparently it was really bad, seeing bone etc…I wont go into yuckie details.
As her twin and mum had both died they took her home and didn’t think she’d last the night out. But she did – against all odds. She got an infection and struggled to walk and they kept thinking she wouldn’t make it but each morning there she was, battling on. To look at Polly now you’d never know.
Her face has healed well and also her ear…minus a chunk at the back of it.
But she’s the cutest lamb, and the kids love feeding her.
We keep her in the fruit tree enclosure to protect her from the nearby main road. But when we let her out she comes straight to me like I’m her mum and follows me. She also loves the dogs, as she’s grown up with them. Although this freaks out our dog! Gidget keeps backing away with a panicked look, while Polly keeps trying to snuggle close. Sadly she will be going home on Sunday (I’m sure the novelty would have worn off by then for the kids).
As I went to feed my chooks, something strong brushed me and I looked up to see this beauty (and then cringed, stepped away quickly and then felt like I had spiders crawling all over me!) Their webs are so thick it’s like walking into strong cotton. When we play golf there are heaps in the bush (if you’re like me and are forever looking for your ball) and we are constantly having to watch we don’t walk smack bang into them. Imagine one of them on your face…eeww. You may not be able to tell its size from the pic, but believe me when i say it was HUGE. The size of my palm, huge. Yuck.
I found these details on them…I wouldn’t want to be a male orb spider, I think it must be one just at the top of the pic, his legs are just showing. Very small in comparison.
The Golden Orb spider gets her name from the beautiful golden, orb-shaped web that she makes. This web is the largest and strongest in the world.
The tiny males live on the edge of her web feeding on small insects. They are so small that they can sneak in for a quickie without the female noticing. But if they are caught they may get eaten.
For those of you wondering what the ‘tree’ looks like, that I talk about or wrote about in The Family Farm, here is a picture.
I did this up for a special friend leaving the district and I wanted her to take something of Pingaring with her. Everything in this photo frame came from the ‘tree’, the bark; bottle tops, stubby holder, gumleaves and even the dirt and rocks, and a picture of her send off night. It mightn’t look like much but it’s still a magical place.
Got this pic of the storm over the A type bin across the road from our house. Wish I was at the top of the bin, I could have got some great pictures (along with getting fried mind you!).
