The Countdown to Christmas

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas one and all.

Here we are into the second week of December already. My how the time had flown in the last 12 months. This time last year we were getting ready to settle our sale of the Cowra house and go to Lismore. Now 12 months later we have been living in Ebor for just over 10 months in our own little cottage in one of the most beautiful parts of the New England ranges of NSW. Life is good.

This Christmas my Dad is coming to stay for a week and will arrive on 21st. I just know he will love it here with the lovely fresh air and the animals next door plus the walk out to the falls and a trip into Dorrigo for a Chinese lunch.

Another surprise is that Matt's sister Loretta (with whom we were intending to share her farm space in Lismore last year) is in the process of selling the farm and looking for another place to live. Co-incidentally, today she will arrive to inspect a property in Ebor. It looks great on the web site and if she buys it, she will have a sizeable chunk of cash left over from her sale. Noice. It will be nice to have her close again.

I am planning our Christmas menu and have already started buying supplies. Ham, turkey etc. Salads and yummy desserts. Must also stock up on the plonk as Dad likes a tipple or 3, just like me.

More soon

I went back to school

Yesterday I taught a craft class at the Ebor School. It was a combined small schools day with kids from Chandler, Hernani, Dundurrabin and Ebor primary schools. About 46 kids altogether from kindy to year 6.

It was a great experience for me as it has been decades since I was able to see how the school system works. I have the utmost admiration for all teachers now. The energy level was palpable as was the noise level when the kids were released into the play ground. Amazing.

Anyway, I had 2 groups of budding artists to keep amused and it was great to see what they created. During the preceeding week, I made each child a zip bag with 2 Christmas Cards, 2 Gift Tags, some stickers, patterned papers and ribbon then they all set about creating cards and tags. I have come to realise that almost without exception, they all love to do craft.

The end results varied from spectacular to ordinary but they were all made with love. I am now the volunteer craft teacher at Ebor. How about that?

Hellooooo...... did ya miss me?

As usual I have been slack at updating this blog of mine. I have a good excuse though. I went to stay with Dad for a week at the beginning of the month. I also had the opportunity of catching up with Sonja, Sue and Felicity from school. We had a nice coffee and chat at Emu Plains and it was good to see these ladies that I have known since 2nd class in 1960. I got new tyres on the car at Gordon Leven's Tyres and More at Emu Plains (free plug), another old school mate but unfortunately Gordon was away on the day I turned up so I missed out on saying hello.

I also met up with my online scrapbook friends Dawn, Sharon and Shaz at Penrith Panthers for lunch. So nice to see y'all again girls.

My week with Dad was pretty good. We took the train into Sydney one day and then the ferry over to Watson's Bay and had fish and chips on the wharf. Delicious tempura whiting fillets. Something Dad had been wanting to do for some time so I thought why not make a day of it while I was visiting. We then caught the ferry back and then a bus to Paddington for coffee. I was born there and Dad worked there in the 1940s and 50s. I also lived there between 1979 and 1990. The place has changed a lot. It was a great day and cheered Dad up immensely.

Happy days.........

Making greeting cards

I have decided to make and sell my own greeting cards and here is a small sample. At present I am selling them through the local post office along with my bookmarks. I also had a craft stall at Fusspots Cafe over the long weekend and made a tidy $46.50. Not bad for my first go. I have been invited to return by the cafe owners any time so I plan to have a few more stalls between now and Christmas. I have started making Christmas cards as well and am hopeful that I can make a few bucks to fund my hobby.

I have also met the principal from the Ebor school who asked me to teach a craft class in November. I have decided to get the kids to make a couple of Christmas cards for their families along with a tree ornament made from an old CD. Here is one I made a couple of years ago. We sent one each to our parents.

So, with Matt's woodwork talents and my scrapbooking efforts, we just might be able to have an outlet for our products next year. I can just see it now.... Appletree Cottage Woodwork and Crafts with a stall out the front of our house. I will have to make a big colourful sign to attract the tourists.

Cheers

Matthew's woodwork creations

Mornin' all

My very talented husband has taken up woodwork for a hobby since he retired. In fact he has taken up archery as well but at the moment woodwork is his passion. He has made a model stage coach with all working parts. He even made the wheels from scratch and it looks great. Here he has photographed himself, printed it out and put himself into the coach. I love it.

He has a model cabin cruiser under construction and his current project is an acoustic bass guitar. He has also made some cedar coasters and a wagon to hold them plus some pots with lids - I don't know how to describe them except that they look like they would have belonged in the Lord of the Rings as Gandalf's tobacco jars.

He is rather talented in my opinion and I am happy for him to spend most of every day in his shed.

At least it keeps him out of trouble.

Matthew, I love you.

xxxx

This is the upper Ebor Falls on the Sunday of the long weekend. There was so much water flowing that the river broke its banks and we could hear the thunder of the falls from the house. The bonus is that our water tank is now full again. The downside is that I have had to run the clothes dryer and hang some things by the fire to dry. I am not anticipating a low electricity bill.

I still love living here though.

Waterfalls

This is a photo of the top part of the upper Ebor Falls. There is a paved walking track that starts about 300 metres from our front gate and winds all the way out to the lower falls. Such a lovely walk and the scenery is definitely worth going for.

Spring has delivered some wonderful blossoms and in particular, the wattle is looking magnificent.

Can't wait until the warmer weather which will be a lot more bearable than in previous years as we are now 1300 metres above sea level.

Lovely.