Projects... Number 1

Mr Incredible has been busy this year. The man has quite literally worked himself to the bone (he has lost over 25kg since we arrived from the city) out in the paddock. And I am sorry to say that even when he arrives home for some much-needed and deserved 'down time', he has been put into service around the house. I'm not sure what union is supposed to look after him, but whoever it is is doing a shocking job!

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So anyway, when he arrives all hot and sweaty and dusty and tired at the end of the day, he finds little 'hints' on my trusty whiteboard. Things like:

• BBQ shelter (construct)
• Vege garden (construct)
• Remove old pool slide
• Take down high tank
• Whipper snip around yard
• Tidy shed

Of course, I have check boxes instead of dots, because no list is complete without a proper check box (note to self: contact Blogger about including check boxes in formatting). There is little more satisfying in the world than ticking off a job-well-done. My life is that simple. Even if the job I am ticking off is done by someone else (say, my husband)... it's a good feeling. Try it. You will notice that this list includes NOTHING I can attempt on my own. Mr I has even decided he likes my shins the way they are, and the whipper snipper is off limits! And I have put the shed off limits. I can barely keep the house under control - the shed is just scary.

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So in the spirit of sharing my good fortune in marrying a man who is not only younger (heh), and very handsome (mmm), but also amazingly talented in the "handyman" department (no, I do not share!)... I give you Project Number 1.

The Pool BBQ shelter.

It had to fit into a landscape of things that have long been part of the Granite Glen vista. This is taken in the late afternoon light from the Love Shack end of the Pool. (heh! That sentence makes me smile. Simple. That's me!)

And here is a detailed explanation of almost everything in that very busy photo... not so simple!

There was an enormous amount of digging, tree felling, barking, snigging, and lifting-up-with-tractoring. Not to mention swearing when we realised we had a triangle sail and a rectangle sail instead of two triangles. Did I mention that Mr I designed this little set-up? He did engineering for about six months and is therefore qualified in all matters technical and design-like.

Here he is lighting the BBQ for Violet's birthday dinner - please ignore the horse yards in the background of this shot. And the furniture mover that doubled as a log relocator. And yes, the supports are supposed to be that angle. Something about forces and gravity. Ask Mr I.

Me? I just love that we have some shade in the middle of the day over the BBQ. So Mr I doesn't get too sunburnt cooking. I love him hot and sweaty, but not really magenta and peeling! I think it looks pretty groovy, and fits right into our bush setting. Here one of Mr I's brothers (leaning up against the fence, look hard!) is providing moral support in the barbecuing. It's what Aussie men do at parties. Or anywhere for that matter. But that's another story for another day...

I like this angle of the project... you knew I'd go for the visual appeal side of things there, didn't you? Silhouettes and sunsets. And weird nautical balls in the foreground. Sweet.

Ah, and ticking off that checkbox? Awesome!

Now... do you want to see my vege garden??

Silver stars, sterling in-laws, and our Christmas Miracle!

Well hello there!

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I have been a bit absent over the past week - apologies for those seeking regular Ree-like updates from the Bush. I have discovered that having 21 people in one's house over the Christmas period kinda distracts from any regular blogging efforts. In the most chaotic, and yet the nicest possible way!!

You may recall I was a bit like a rabbit caught in the headlights as we hurtled towards December 25 - concerned about the readiness of our home for the onslaught of my husband's family? Well, the house - this enormous rambling weatherboard home we have taken over from my parents - was kinda MADE for this degree of human habitation.
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Four bedrooms were maxed out, kids piled into the sunroom to sleep side-by-side and top-to-toe like excited little (and not-so-little) sardines. Three toilets managed to service the hordes (including the additional 20 people we hosted on Boxing Day! whew!), two bathrooms managed to keep them reasonably clean, one year-old kitchen held up to 8 cooks at once to feed the masses, and one humungous living room provided the dining and indoor entertainment facilities for one and all. We even put our old Quarters (aka The Love Shack!) into action... can't forget the pool and the tennis court (both constructed by my Dad in his younger years) for the cooling-off and wearing-out factors needed for such a gathering! I am ever grateful to those who lived here (and renovated here) before me for such an amazing spot to hostess at.

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Of course, I did try to put my own touches to the event...
'cause Lord knows, nothing is safe when I have a can of silver spray paint in my hot little hands!

Here is a delightful "horse" that 'Salina made with Dash and Violet during her visit earlier in the holidays - ain't he dashin' in silver with black spots? He got to grace the entry garden area with his dappled presence...

And speaking of dappled, here is a little gumleaf and dried 'some other leaf' arrangement at our front door... with a splash of silver to sass things up a little!

And I couldn't forget the gumnuts I started this whole silver-obsession with...
Here they are, alongside some bark gathered by Dash, and spraypainted red.

Anyone seen Snugglepot and Cuddlepie lately?

(check here if you have no idea what I am talking about!)

Anyhoo, as is traditional with my hubby's family, the kids are in charge of tablesetting Christmas Day... here is Cousin T doing a sterling job with the tools at his disposal:

The theme was kinda starry... and surprisingly silver!

See those stars near the crackers? Paddlepop sticks, spraypainted silver, and inscribed in black Nikko with someone's name - our placecards in fact. Is there anything silver paint cannot do?

(Don't answer that!)

And here is the centrepiece mentioned earlier... our major Bush Christmas ornament!

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Of course, it wasn't ALL about the decor...

It was also about the FOOD! Here is my sister-in-law P, preparing the ham with a pineapple glaze...

Sister-in-law K is supervising!

(Actually she was very busy helping... and keeping spirits up in the kitchen with that fabulous smile!)

SIL P is busily reglazing the enormous ham in the BBQ (my oven wasn't big enough!)...
and if you haven't noticed her gorgeous top by now, then I cannot help you! She brings a certain city pizazz to any gathering...

And she can glaze a ham... how does this look?

Mmmmmmmmmm...

Here are my other miracle workers in the kitchen Christmas Day...

On the left looking glamorous in green is sister-in-law A (whom I am currently trying to talk into hosting her own cooking section of this blog - the woman is an artist!) and the Incredible Gwen (hubby's Dad's wife). The latter pulled off the major miracle of our Christmas Day...

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Can you guess what it was?

It wasn't that we managed to get the food on the table on time...

Or that there were enough chairs for all...

Or that we got almost all of the family into the lunchtime photo...

Or that a group of guys looking remarkably like The Wiggles joined our festivities...

Although each of these were minor triumphs.

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No, it has to do with my darling hubby and his famous dislike of sultanas.

He's quite pathological about them.

Fruitcake has never passed his lips.

Curries with sultanas are left untouched on his plate.

I have never ever seen him eat one.

It's the darndest thing.

But on December 25, 2008, at Granite Glen, my husband ate plum pudding!

In shock, I asked what possessed him to try it.
You know what he said?

"Oh, it looked good with the custard.

And I kinda forgot."

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What was your Christmas miracle?

(Other than making it to the end of this post!)

Moulin Rouge... birds of a feather

This is a response to a meme my sister threw my way recently...
with a minor twist (of course!)
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Apparently, one has to select the sixth image from the sixth folder in one's and tell the story behind it... of course my photo selection is possibly a little different to most people's...

It's filled with all kinds of strange things and even stranger creatures.

So I sat at the laptop, flicked up the explorer window and counted.

And here is what I found...

Three emus stalking through a paddock.

It was snapped (if I recall correctly) on the way home from town a couple of months ago as my daughter slept post-Kindy. They were stepping out, almost in unison, towards a mob of steers in a neighbours place. They caught my eye at the time, so I pulled up with the car still running and snapped them. I arrived home at Granite Glen, unloaded the groceries and my sleeping daughter, downloaded the images and they have been lost in the bowels of my laptop ever since.

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Of course, I never really go for the straight-up version of events.

(My imagination is quite bizarre! You may have noticed?)

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I have been reading some reviews of the movie Australia. Not the 'professional' ones, the ones 'real people' have been sharing, in blogworld. I have yet to see it, but I adored Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! so quite expect to enjoy his take on this little epic. And as I loaded this photo (for this meme) I remembered Wrensong Farm had shared a couple of amazing photos of her emus in the snow (yup, it's crazy!) ... and it made me think!
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Don't these feathered girls (not sure of gender but they sure have such sweet bouncy skirts) appear as if they are mid-dance? And with those long legs and thigh-hugging flounces... I think I can detect a little French bohemian leg-flinging nuance?

Anyone with me?

Hello?

C'mon... squint a little...

I wonder which one is Satine?

Merry Christmas to all...

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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It is late afternoon here at Granite Glen... the rest of the party are in the pool as a storm threatens and the sun starts to sink in the west. We have had a wonderful day almost all as predicted in my last post - and more. I have cooked and eaten and talked and laughed beyond all expectation... 21 people in one house for a few days can create a lot of noise and washing up! And fun...

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Thanks to my fabulous readers and commenters who have been so sweet throughout 2008. A whole new world has opened to me through this lil' ol' blog... thanks for sharing my love of my part of the world, and my joy in being a parent and a wife.

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May 2009 bring you health, happiness and a reasonable bank balance!

Now, of you will excuse me, I have to collapse for a week or so...

Cheers

BB

Anticipation: Granite Glen Christmas gathering

It is about to be Christmas Eve Down Under.

And while I would never claim to be "all things Aussie", I reckon our brand of festive celebrations for Christmas will be echoed in some way or other in many households across this great land...

Here's is how I expect ours to go down:

We will wake Christmas day early, with children baying to be let at the gleaming be-ribonned parcels stacked around the tree - a pile which has taunted them as it has grown in into a small mountain over the past few of days. Santa sacks will be torn open and loot examined loudly as parents blearily seek coffee (having wrapped and gossiped til the wee hours).

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We will hold the youngsters off the more serious gifts (from family) until breakfast has been had - ham, poached eggs and cooked tomatoes. Adults will finally succumb to escalating nagging around 8am, and the gifts will be sought, identified, torn open, examined and added to the pile in a growing crescendo of noise and shiny paper drifts.

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Once sated by this orgy of (gift) opening, those younger than 18 will head off to various corners of the house or garden to investigate their new treasures. Adults will check on the animals that need attention. GG's current checklist includes two frisky foals...

and one little poddy calf (which is needing some human help to feed) ...

before falling into a pool or collapsing onto a squatters chair on the patio. We will rouse and regather for a coffee and the menfolk will possibly raise the energy for a drive, to check on waters in various paddocks (an excuse to show off the latest work and calves to our once-a-year visitors).

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The women will spend the next few hours happily kitchen-bound, glazing the ham, roasting the leg of pork, whipping up custard for the plum pud (already lovingly made by the allocated pud chef of the crowd) and running crowd control on the ankle-biters. Much discussion of the year's events and the antics of menfolk will accompany this activity.

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Kids will be commandeered from loot piles to set the tables - cobbled together from various un-matched dining and kitchen sets, laid with almost-matching tablecloths, decorated with spray-painted gumnuts and matching silver stars (cleverly constructed from paddlepop sticks) which will double as place settings with hand-inscribed names. We will all finally saddle up to a feast about an hour later than anticipated, thanking the Lord for the fare and hosts for the air-conditioning as the heat shimmers past the doors outside.

Fruit platters with cherries and grapes and nectarines will vie for attention with chocolate delights to finish off the smorgasboard, as chardonnays, beers, iced waters and strong coffees wash them down.

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Adults will at this point beg for a nap, but the kids will hound us until a grown-up agrees to provide the mandatory lifeguard duty, and watch them poolside.

When they are completely waterlogged (and have inhaled big wedges of pink watermelon to lift sugar levels) ...

... the tennis court will beckon.

The pool adult will pass the baton to a revived counterpart, and head for the mattress to recuperate.

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Eating, swimming, eating, drinking, feeding, napping and checking animals, oh, and maybe a little more eating.

We will all be utterly exhausted by about 8pm.

And the house will grow still and quiet and content.

And we will all look a little like this...

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What are your Christmas traditions?

Tis the season... panic or paint?

We are gearing up for Christmas here at Granite Glen... our very first Christmas hosting my husband's family since arriving back in the bush. I am excited and tired and terrified all at the same time. Not that Mr Incredible's family are really scary - just, well, incredible in their own way.

Each and every one of my sisters-in-law have hosted their enormous family gatherings (at both city and bush locations) for Christmas celebrations since we have been married. And each and every one of these girls has outdone themselves. (The photo above is from two years ago, at SIL A's house not too far from here.) They offer immaculate houses and enormous mouth-watering spreads, day after day. I'm talking laying it on bigtime.

Hostesses with the mostest's, if you get my meaning.

(I should also point out that they are all really nice too... can you believe it?)

Last year (my family's 'turn') my brother's wife put on an immaculate display of gourmet hostessing. In her immaculate house.

*sigh*

It was wonderful.

Now it's my turn.

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The first carloads of my hubby's family begin arriving tomorrow. Beginning with my father-in-law and his delightful wife, Gwen. (She has offered to help me get ready. She knows me well. I love her so!).

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And with all this about to take place, am I close to being organised? Is the house spick and span? Are the beds made? Are the goodies I had planned all baked and safely in their tupperware containers? No. Not a bit.

And "why", you ask?

Well, I have been concentrating on the decorations. (And if this doesn't tell you something about my personality, nothing does!). I have been inspired by my own mother - who (at least) one year took some spray paint to some native sprigs of gumnuts and pine cones for her festive decorations. Deciding to play on our Bush Christmas theme (read: trying to take the heat off myself in the less-than-immaculate organisation department) I tracked down some old dried native flowers and some gumnuts from a tree beside the pool. And sprayed silver till my eyebrows went frosty.

What do you think?

Will it make up for a couple of messy bathrooms?

Perhaps if I just do posters of the photos of the gumnuts?

And plaster them over the mess?

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Has the panic set in, or are you relaxed and ready?

And if so, would you like to pop over here with a mop?

But wait... there's more!

The heat has been oppressive here lately...

Steamy, sticky, icky 40+ degrees (C) heat...

Each afternoon the storm clouds build up promisingly...

And proceed to rain somewhere else... leaving us hot and sticky and heading for the pool!
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And it's not only the humans who have had a tough time dealing with the weather (OK, I have some airconditioning here, but I have been outside occasionally!). The waters (troughs for cattle and horses) have been under a lot of pressure, keeping the boys busy making sure we have enough pumped and ready for the thirsty mouths.

I decided to go for a drive yesterday to check out how our brand-new addition to Granite Glen was coping:

You remember Admiral's son?

The as-yet-unnamed colt born just two days ago...

Hello little darlin'...

I see you are right for liquid refreshments there, then?

Good-oh!

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I wonder how the other expectant mare is faring?

Oh, there she is...

Hang on... what's that, there in the grass??

How are your "mustering eyes"?

Can you see what I see??
Should I creep a little closer?

Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious. Me.

What have we here?

Will Mama let me closer?

Her ears tell me she is worried about me...

I might grab some hay from the ute...

Hey there Mama... it's OK.

I'm not here to hurt this one...

This little...

Chestnut filly...
OK.

My heart has officially stopped.

Is she moving?

Yes, she is panting, very fast!

And she looks for all the world like she's sucking her knee...
Mama has settled down now, and is happily chewing some lucerne hay.

All over her panting baby girl!

Nice manners, dear...

She seems OK.
Not responding to my touch very much, but not too distressed either...

She is sooooooo soft...
(and I sooooo need a manicure... and fingernails. I left them in the city!)

How is this for a brand new 'fingernail'?

A tiny white hoof the size of Dash's fist...

Hey little girl...

I'll leave you and Mama to eat and nap.

And check on you both again tomorrow...

Little Chestnut filly and your day-older Bay Colt half-brother.

Sweet dreams...

Son and Daughter of Admiral.