BLESSED SPEEDY

 Oh how nice it would be to tell you that we had been up all last night partying and generally having fun.  Well the first part is true, but not the second. Yes we were up all night - raking, baling and carting hay but no partying. Finished up around 5 am and this photo was taken not that much later. The sunrise was gorgeous - all lovely pinks etc. Helped Gary milked (and yes I managed to get through a WHOLE MILKING!!!) Even managed to hose out the yard and help the vet with two sick cows, so fairly proud of myself. And what was it all for....this (or this below - 119 bales of vetch silage, which I might add the cows had a sampling of tonight and virtually liked the ground clean. As for me - Im off to bed!

This year I have been part of loddon murray community leadership program   Its been a great year taking me to places and meeting people I never thought I would.  From dining in the members dining room at Parliament House to meeting every day people doing amazing things in their communities.  I have also made some great friends along the way.  Last weekend we had our final retreat at Echuca, with a lovely dinner cruise on the Pride of the Murray which is a paddle steamer.  All that is left to do now is our graduation evening which is in a week or two.  I've learnt lots about communities and also about myself - its been great.  If you feel this would be a good thing to do, I highly encourage you to - maybe not necessarily this program but there are many around. Have a go - you never know where it might lead you 

Well its almost the end of an era for me - yesterday was Megans "muck up" day at school - the last official school day for year 12 students before they tackle exams and are finished with high school.  Once that happens I will no longer have any kids at school (except for uni but that doesnt count does it?)  So it was a happy/proud but sad and poignant moment for me -and doesnt Megan look so cute dressed as a giraffe - a great costume which we bought on ebay from China for the princely sum of $20!  

Musings from me today - What has happened to the number of hours in a day - I thought it was 24 but I must be mistaken It certainly doesnt seem like that to us. On the farm we are trying to do the following (all at once I might add) - milk twice a day - feed calves - lead feed calving cows and check the same calving cows for any problems - feed out hay when required to all of the above - irrigate paddocks - mow other paddocks for hay - make hay from abovementioned paddocks etc etc etc How do other farmers cope?

How good does this look? It's the poisy mobius that I started a couple of days ago (for in the chair knitting!)  the colours are just gorgeous - it's very warm around my neck though so I dont know if I will be wearing it anytime soon as we are heading into the warmer weather - but Ill see

 What a lovely weekend - my two gorgeous grandchildren here to visit - what more could I ask for, and I dont think many words as required!

I've been making good use of my new chair.  Its in the outdoor area, near our back door and with a wooden box we have as a "coffee table" I'm all set up - todays effort is posie-moebius  (ravelry link) which I am knitting due to a group I'm in on ravelry.  You put up some yarn that you have that you dont quite know what to knit with it and suggestions are made for you - and then its on to the one whose choice you went with to choose next (hope that makes sense!). As you can see ipad and cuppa are also nice and handy, so I can listen to an audio book (currently Eye of the World by Robert Jordan) and sip, relax and knit away!

Its my birthday and its a special one - 50 - goodness Im half way to a hundred. This oh so comfy air chair is what my lovely husband bought me for me birthday - he says its so I will sit and rest! My girls gave me a beautiful pandora necklace and earrings and I was spoilt with lots of other stuff too!

Hooray! I'm finally starting to feel like I might be able to do some stuff around the farm. Yesterday morning while Gary was chasing irrigation water, I got the cows up ready for milking - and managed to be able to put one run (18 cows) of cups on at milking time. Tonight I did half the milking with Gary -and I just loved it! No Im still not "well" but I do feel some improvement, but I do wish it would be quicker!

I've finished the first three blocks of the scandinavian rose quilt I am making - Im getting it as a BOM (block of the month) so that helps me keep on track - I've got block number 4 here to do (and its a huge one bigger than any I've done yet) and two more are ready to come in the mail, so it certainly keeps you on track. While I am stitching I love listening to audio books - its sort of like doing two things at once.  I've just finished listening to the first four books of song of fire and ice series  (audible link) and have just loved it, well over 100 hours of listening but a good saga. I've now just started the first book in the wheel of time  (audible link) series by Robert Jordan and it seems pretty good so far.  I'm not 100% sold on the narrator but Im getting used to it.  A good narrator can make or break an audio book.

Spent the day in Bendigo yesterday at a meeting, having more test and most importantly catchin up with Aimee and Sarah as I wont see them for their birthdays on Wednesday and of course to see Mia and Maddison.  Hard to believe how much Maddison is growing - and she is trying to crawl ! And of course she loves her big sister Mia very much

 Currently these are the three main things I am working on at the moment.  Firstly this quilt made of squares of Christmas fabric that I received in a swap I took part in in 2007 - refound them while I was cleaning up and having been putting it all together, it might even be ready for Christmas 2012. This knitting is what I've been working on in the evenings while watching tv - the pattern is water and stone (ravelry link)  - I started this in July and was kicking myself as its such a lot of knitting to do.  I'm using lovely madelintosh sport yarn which is a pleasure to knit with and I'm actually suprised how quickly it is going now that I have been applying myself.  And finally this stitchery block is block number two of a block of the month pattern I'm working on called Scandinavian Rose by Rosalie Quinlan.  I've finished block 1 and as you can see almost done block 2.  Using lovely cosmo threads which are a...

How lovely is this? and its growing in my garden! I had to move my rose bushes 6 months or so ago as Gary was threatening to get rid of them, so instead of having them all together I've spread them out throughout the garden and hoping that he wont notice them (he hates roses btw and I love them). Im not sure of the name of this one but its just starting to bloom and do so beautifully.

Thanks to the lovely Linda  I now have a quilt made from scraps, batting used was scraps joined together and even the backing was a piece I had just sitting waiting to be used. As mentioned earlier, Linda has mentioned on her blog that she was making these great granny blocks, and as I was just home from hospital I was inspired.  Not able to scrounge around in my fabric tubs, I found that I could delve in my scrap tub - and this is the result. Lovely and bright and sort of free!

No photos today - the place (well my crafting area) is in a mess being tidied.  I've just stopped for a break.  But lots has been achieved and got rid of. I've been fairly ruthless - stuff I dont think Ill ever get around to using or doing has gone into one of four (yes four!!!) garbage bags and I've taken them into the local trash and treasure for them to sell and make money from. Yes I could have tried to sell them on ebay or one of the online groups that I am on, but I wanted to get rid of the "stuff" NOW and not wait and not change my mind.  And the profits from the trash and treasure goes to a good cause. I've now got a fairly largish pile of stuff I want to finish off - at least 8 things I think in the "immediate pile" so I will see how I go. P.S. I dont even know how some of the stuff got here - cos some of it I dont even remember buying!

When my father died - the local secondary college, of which I have been school council president for the last 4 years, gave me a beautiful plant - a magnolia. I wasnt sure where to put it in the garden, but finally have settled, and Gary has agreed on the area outside our kitchen window.  So put it in the ground today - hopefully I can build up a little garden bed around it with maybe agapanthus or something similar - watch this space!