Today, with a forecast of 18 degrees (19.4 achieved!!) was the day when a great swathe was going to be cut in the garden. Wood was cut (heavy rain and 9 degrees forecast for tomorrow) and half a garden bed dug over and a large chunk of lawn was cut when I popped indoors for a refreshing glass of ginger beer or two. It seems ginger beer ferments if left long enough ... so I concluded that anything involving machinery was probably not a good idea and had a little lie down instead.
My confusion was compounded when I opened the card that arrived in the mail today (a very attractive Peter Dombrovskis photo) and discovered nothing inside - no writing, nothing. I suspect it is a thank you card from our unsuccessful greens candidate who was a bit ditzy to be frank.
This afternoon, after a little nap, and vast quantities of toast to soak it up, I went into town to do a bit of work in the Community Garden (clearing out and cleaning up the shed we want to use, measuring the walls to see if we could perhaps get the Men's Shed to make us some racks to hang tools off and so forth, and then the rain came along so we all gave up and went home.
Meanwhile the gasket on the pump that circulates water up into the evacuated tubes has failed, and was leaking into the electrics so had to be turning it on and off (while off, the heat dries it out and so it does not short circuit). Bought some gasket goo while in town to tide me over until the replacement gasket arrives from the manufacturers since I can't be running back and forth all day keeping things operating. I don't drink hot water so hopefully this will be OK. Will remove it and insert the proper gasket once it arrives.

Was pootling around on the computer and an email arrived to announce my friends were coming up this morning for lunch and to go to the Spring Fair. This is an annual event usually held on the first Sunday in October to raise funds for the Uniting Church. I thought it was a bit odd, since this is not the first sunday in October, but, what with Graeme dying, the pastor at the Uniting Church retiring and Bob being in charge of the hall, I concluded that things might have changed. So before my friends arrived I shot up there with some various plants i have struck over the last 12 months with the fair in mind. They were less than graciously received but when we finally all went over to the 'fair' it turned out to not be the Fair at all, but their occasional fourth sunday market for the Hall. It seemed ungracious to remove my donation so I left it there, asking if leftover unsold plants might be delivered back here. None were, so I assume they were sold.

Fortunately I have retained about half the struck plants, so will drop them up there next sunday when the real Spring Fair is on.

Meanwhile my day started by unhooking the pony from the fence again and noticing it had no water. I assumed someone would attend to that (optimistically as ever) but by 2pm the pony was still without water so I carried down a bucket for him which he gratefully drank from. Did not allow him to drink his full as I had no idea how long he had been without water, but he seemed happy, and has now been moved away from my boundary and so is no longer able to rely on me for succour ... He is an entire stallion as I had suspected - but has a lovely gentle nature, just a little nippy as stallions are wont to be.

My friends arrived at noon and we sat down to the remainder of the bunny I cooked last night - fabulous recipe, but it needs a little longer cooking than the two hours recommended if the bunny is particularly meaty as this one was (New Zealand White so huge!!). Then on to the disappointing fair, and then into Oatlands to admire the School Garden (an obligatory stop for visitors from here on in.

Warm, but windy today - still wondering if I should bother to light the fire - possible just another jumper I think.

Here are a few photos of the house we visited yesterday (finally worked out that 6meg photos were the problem, not the signal). It is presently for sale privately so if you are thinking of moving to Tassie, it might be worth enquiring (I can direct you to the owners, just message me). The kitchen/pantry arrangement is to die for - I am in lust.

 The present owners built all the drystone walling around the place. most is planted with ornamentals, but the odd vege has snuck into key positions.

 This is not a terraced bed. It is a watering system. That higher wall at the rear has a gravel infill and when it rains the water ponds there and irrigates the beds that flank it on either side.

 Here is the lust-worthy kitchen. The woman (one of the tour group)  is presently standing at the door of the walk-in pantry.

 And here is the pantry - hows that for salivating?

 Here is the approach to the house from the road. Another sweeping drystone wall (the last is still under construction as Stuart wants to leave it looking fabulous).

And the house itself. It lacks a certain appeal on the outside, from my perspective - insufficient articulation of the front elevation, but the inside is stunning - entry part way between the two levels, with a diversion off to the rumpus room (the bit with the odd roof form), then down to the lower level living room and kitchen/laundry. The roof of the rumpus room, from the front, looks like a normal pitched roof that would be on your average cottage around here. I'd load more photos but this lot took an hour ...

Today I popped into Eleanors to talk about our Open day activities for the garden (Urban Farming Tasmania is now coming too!!) and while I was there Stuart (owner of the above and teacher involved in the garden at present) called in. As he is the most elusive person known to humankind (was out yesterday) we grabbed him and had an impromptu meeting. We are now compiling a shopping list for the garden and planning a spending spree (hoses, organic fertiliser etc). That should be fun!!

Rained most of the night and this morning was downright chilly, with three degrees by 10am! Dinner tonight is a rabbit casserole with red wine and brandied prunes - should be tasty judging by the smells emerging from the oven.

Today was our inaugural Spring Garden Tour, taking a group of people around four different vegetable gardens in the district - from the traditional bare earth approach, to raised beds surrounded by drystone walls and built up with composted horse poo, to a black-plastic coated beds of strawberries and on to a final garden which has not been planted this year due to the house being on the market. I will try to load some pics but the signal is a bit wonky tonight as we have a cold front coming up from down south (apparently).

Lunch was the last of these which has about four acres terraced with drystone walls and garden beds with central raised sections to capture water and release it into the planted areas and ... I am suffering from serious garden envy (if I was the jealous type I would be inclined to elevate the envy to jealousy).

If any of you are thinking of moving to tassie - this is a house to die for (with a price commensurate with that), but the views from the vege patch are just stunning.

Got home with a punnet of lettuce seedlings and a bag of compost (made locally) and all girded up to do some work tomorrow - weeding some of the hedgerow seems like a good place to start, and turning over the second rectangular bed will be equally productive, now that my muscles have stopped seizing up from digging the hole for the clothesline. If it is nice, I may even have another go at that as well. Or maybe not (now that I have checked the forecast ... 11 degrees and storms).

Seems the nine degrees they forecast was a tad on the optimistic side, but it has been nice to sit indoors hearing the rain on the roof with the fire going strong. At least the animals are certainly not complaining.
And since that was the weather for the day, not much at all has happened here. Lamb chop and colcannon for dinner tonight.

The day started with a bit of unexpected exercise for Shadow since he ran into one of the neighbour's dogs loitering at the back door when I opened it for his morning run. In this instance the 'run' was rather speedier than is his wont, but fortunately the other dog fled (being well accustomed to being run off other people's properties and threatened with guns). Shadow gave up after about 20 metres and went about his accustomed business without further fuss. It did take a little persuasion to get the cats out the door, but they went eventually and were also very timely in returning.

Today was a day of meetings - we had our presentation to Council (which was apparently in closed session so we were unable to witness it, but apparently it went down with good effect), and then I had to see Workskills, who seem fairly sanguine about my volunteering activities -they have even offered to do a work place assessment on the Garden to see if I need special equipment - might see if I can get a cloth sunhat out of them as my straw one tends to blow off in a strong breeze. Apparently they have not yet had any changes to their instructions (I asked - why not?) as yet.

Then onto a meeting of Our Tasmania to discuss strategies, budgets and other such mundane matters - all good and they like the sign design with only a minor tweak. So that's good.

The 12 degrees morphed into 14 degrees which is even better and the garden has shown its first signs of seedlings emerging - yay!!

we actually made it to 18 today!! Amazing stuff. I was all inspired and set out to dig a hole. This hole is one I have been putting off for around 3 years and is intended to provide a base for the clothesline - it would be nice to be able to take advantage of this glorious weather to dry the washing, don't you think? The reason it has been deferred for so long is complex. Where to put it? How deep to dig it? little things like that, with the added burden that where-ever it goes it will be digging through the rubble that is the upper portion of my yard. I found the location by driving a star picket into the ground to tie the dog up (remember my abortive attempt to provide him with a running leash?) which had to be driven further and further into the ground due to it falling over under pressure. Eventually it got so deep I concluded that there was no bedrock immediately below the surface and thought - ah yes, that would be a good place for a clothesline. But digging a hole in this ground requires wet soil, and it was the state of dampness that finally triggered activity. There are still another six or more inches to go before it will be deep enough to hold the piece of pipe that will go into it, and things are getting a bit awkward - not to mention muscles getting a bit sore - so digging has ceased for the day and the dog kennel has been moved to cover the hole to avoid people falling into it (not to mention me or the dog). Once it is sufficiently deep I will have to buy a bag of post hole mix to install the pipe Since the hole is now huge due to the need to gain access to its depths, I will be using a discarded chimney topper (cylinder on square base for holding the flue at the top). The idea is that if I have concrete dumped on the square base to provide a flange, and concrete in the middle of it, the pipe should have sufficient concrete to hold it in position, then ram stones and soil onto the base cement once it is dry. Any critical feedback on this proposal is welcome -you have a week to give it as I won't be buying the cement any time soon.

Dinner tonight is a lamb flap slow cooked in onions with a bay leaf - a fancy schmancy recipe that took my eye - Simon Hopkinson from the BBC published it. After three hours you take the lamb out and pop it in a baking dish to dry it out, meanwhile draining off the juices, skimming the fat, returning the and the onions to the casserole dish, minus the bay leaf, then add anchovies and red wine vinegar, simmering until the juices are reduce by half. Sounds nice.

Bit of wood cut too today as there is a bit of a dip in the weather coming tomorrow and the next day,  but trending ever upward otherwise.

Allegedly we were headed for 16 today, but if we got there it was only recently. The rest of the day was spent in cold and windy weather with a foggy start to top it off.

I got the tape measure out and  had a look at suitable spots for the chook shed and associated yards - and yes, there is a good spot, set 1 metre off the boundary so that with privacy screening the chooks, the bees and I could go about our business with the minimal aggravation. Basically the idea is to build the central run (which has a ramp-accessed roosting box and externally accessible nesting boxes), and attach three runs, each 3 metres by 3 metres, so that say five hens can live in peace and harmony and have access to fresh feed on rotation - with the additional bonus of being able to pile garden waste into unoccupied runs for the chooks to scratch over when they move on to that enclosure. The scratched over waste can then be raked into a heap to accelerate decomposition when they have moved on once more. One metre square frames with wire over them will protect a  planted fodder crop and the drip irrigator for each run, and be moved into the next one as required. The chooks can therefore not scratch under the fencing and so escape. There will be room to position the beehives against the mesh of one of the runs so that they are flying up and out in their most concentrated flight pattern over said run - which removes the risks associated with trying to mow around the hives. A drop-down mesh cover can protect me if I am working in that particular run. Similarly, the hebel blocks I have stockpiled can create a firm, level and weed-free base for the hives. So that should work well, if the guys come good with their promise.

One of the locals has offered me the pickings of his stockpile of hardwood 4x2s so materials should not be a problem. And I have lots of mesh lying around to enclose the pen and runs. I will see if I can scrounge some shadecloth to cover the runs to a) provide shade, b) protect from neighbouring birds of prey and c) make it absolutely impossible for the little darlings to fly out. The food can be kept in the main run which would be enclosed with bird wire rather than chicken wire, to avoid starling and sparrow population explosions. - so that's all good.

Also liaising with the school head master about Art in the Garden. We hope to have a local artist doing a workshop on our open day in November - kids making clay garden monsters like these:

But she would also like to do a scarecrow sculpture with the school kids which would be a great exercise and invite them into the garden as a fun activity.

I am also plotting to take over a small central raised bed to be a picking garden so the local teachers can make their own lunch from it (lettuce, soft herbs, baby carrots, radishes etc) which would hopefully draw them into the garden also.

And get the Men's Shed to prepare some boards with pegs in them so tools can be hung from them... and ... All good fun.

As forecast, today came over all grey and misty and mizzly with showers of light rain coming across the sky at intervals. In between showers I got out and got stuck into the much-deferred pruning, hoping the article in the Mercury was more reliable than most of their published work. So the prune plum is now half its size and has fewer crossed over branches and internal clutter, and the same can be said for several other trees, including the almond. The apricot has not been tackled as it lost most of its blossom to the frost, and i don't want to lose all the fruit altogether.

A small bit of wood was cut - just enough to have a slow fire this evening - it has only just been lit. No point having a blazing fire as it is quite tolerably warmish indoors - but the wet weather does make some effort at a fire necessary.

This afternoon I went into the Community Garden to see progress that was made yesterday - it is actually looking like a small allotment now. Some beds have been claimed already and are planted up with seeds, some have the odd seedling in them, and others have rows of sawdust to mark the location of carrot seeds - not sure what the principle is behind those. And the polytunnel has some crops in it already so that is all quite exciting. Apparently there were baby potatoes in the polytunnel but that hard frost apparently struck through and killed them - oh well. The green house has not yet been moved in, but its original location has been found and cleared, so it can happily sit on the concrete plinth that is already in position. So its all going well.

Pootled into town this morning for some bread and milk (no point having cold corned beef if you can't make sandwiches). While en route got the garbage run done and took the dog for our favourite walk across the lake. It was a little abbreviated today as a gaggle of swans had taken up residence at the far end of the bund and since this is a bird sanctuary, I felt we probably should turn back before we frightened them. Then called in to Diana's for a brief chat about the garden and home.

Mowed a swathe since it was quite sunny earlier (clouding over now and threatening damply) and weeded the asparagus bed (which had disappeared under a mound of oats and barley). Discovered some asparagus shoots that had been frost damaged so cut them, and a few of their juicier companions and had them with poached eggs on toast for lunch - very sweet and tender - mmmmmmmmmmm.

Planted some cabbages and broad beans and parsnips around the perimeter of that tank, so that the asparagus as it matures, will be surrounded by more produce (I hope). Then retreated indoors, with occasional sallies to do various odds and sods. Did not bother cutting wood which may be a decision I live to regret as tomorrow is supposed to be only 11 degrees, but hopefully I can get some cut between showers.

Ran into the President of the recreation ground at the shop - they are having their AGM soon (bit after that for the Parattah Hall) and he asked me to stand for President (just how many committees can a girl stand?!). I agreed to come to their next meeting which is before the AGM and see how they operate. They are still apparently keen to build me a shed to replace the Container I gave them, but it occurred to me later I would need building permits for that - not to mention materials. So I may recruit them to build the chook run instead (heh heh). Since once that is built and tenanted I can set the bees up once more (with the chook run between them and the neighbour so I can manage them without interference.

Mind you they have been promising to rebuild my bottom fence for the last four years so it may take some time, regardless... We live in hope.

Today was pretty busy - we had the showing of Mary Meets Mohammed - must-see viewing whatever your views on refugees might be - and afternoon tea and lots of hobnobbing around the town to do as well. So not much got done at home and my dinner tonight will be left-over cupcakes and savoury biscuits with cheese (I forewent the fruit cheese, but the chive-flavoured one will possibly be edible). The leftover savouries (vast quantities of pastry with dribbles of pizza or quiche filling) were delivered to a friend's place for their chooks.
Speaking of chooks I have a glut of eggs at present despite being chook-free still. Jean dropped off a dozen for me this morning, then Eleanor's cousin had half a dozen she could not give away so they came home with me too - looks like there may be quite a few omelettes for lunch in my immediate future.
We had a call from the Minister's office today so now they are coming up to visit us (we pointed out we had local commitments so could not go to their office) and so they will be doing just that, lol. We obviously have them concerned, and so they should be. Pity they are not concerned for the right reasons.
Eleanor had a great idea which she will be pressing with the local headmaster - they take me on as a Teacher Aide in charge of the school garden. How's that for the perfect job? Not terribly good pay but I could basically run their garden for them and coordinate linkages with the community and so forth. I might even be able to take Shadow to work with me - great idea I say. I will leave it in her capable hands - she seems to have a knack for getting things done in the community having been here so much longer than me.

Another day of rainy and drizzle though remarkably warm - it goes down to 4 tonight so I plan to have the fire lit soon. A large lump of corned beef on the stove at present - hot with mash and parsley sauce (possibly minus the parsley as it failed to survive the winter, but I suspect I may have some in the freezer ...).
The day was a quiet one as I avoided going into town and have settled for accepting quotes for signs, getting artwork done up and having a little argy bargy with our mainland 'helpers' who are trying to train us up in the way we should grow (i.e dictating sign content but not offering to pay for it). Last night's curry was superb - so if you happen to own Madhur Jaffrey's book on Indian curries - it is the Country Chicken Curry on page 24 (if you do own the book can you please scan page 25 as I seem to have missed the last part of the instructions ...). A really tasty and hearty meal with a pile of rice on the side. The rest of this and the lamb curry are portioned off into the freezer for those days when cooking is too much to bear.

Only 7 mm last night which was surprising but a couple of heavy showers today (have yet to check the gauge), so the tank should be full despite all the washing I have been doing And the warmer weather means most of it is dry now, or will be by bedtime.

Tomorrow we have a film afternoon - Mary Meets Mohammed - a film about a regular rough Tasmanian woman who volunteered at the Detention Centre and changed her outlook. Mary will be present also, so it will be a good opportunity for Q&A from those who choose to demonise our refugees.

Will be nice to lie in bed tonight listening to the rain (did you notice I have got my paragraphs back!! Well done Blogspot!) which is marginally heavier than last night's with did not sound at all.

well I certainly picked an interesting time to take up the cudgels for the environment .... All that destruction to make an obscenely rich woman even richer. and for an antiquated fuel that will destroy our air and our climate. Nice one Adolph.
This will be a very long three years ...........

Forgot to mention the dog and I did a spin across the lake again yesterday - it is a nice walk. Pity it started to rain before I got back to the car, but them's the breaks.

Today was another run to Hobart - this time to get cat food (the prescription diet is a pest at times like this) and I picked up a large bag of dog food as well. A kilo of diced shoulder of lamb (and it really is lamb, quite pale pink) and a pack of garbage bags and all is well. Told the vet about the bear-baiting issue with the prescription diet and hopefully they will look into it. Actually, they googled it while I was there ... no idea if they will act - it is a pity as Hills is almost as bad in terms of social conscience, despite giving shadow a nice sleepy blanky.

Home a bit after lunch and into a bit more backing and forthing over sign design. We want a sign about US, Lock the Gate wants to feature prominently on it, including their web address, not ours. Trouble is they can get them printed far more cheaply there than we can here (though we should probably shop around a bit more here before we go with their person). That only leaves us with the problem of where to find the $2000 required to pay for them...

Fine misty drizzle all day - vast improvement on the thunderstorms they are having up north. Gotta hope the gas fields in the Darling Downs and Northern Rivers have good bunds around their evaporation ponds ...

Not planning on spending much time on line tonight - I have a lamb curry to cook for dinner!

All this gallivanting around has left me exhausted so it was a very late 7 am before I staggered out of bed this morning. The day bid fair, but let itself down badly by lunchtime when it clouded over and drizzle has been the main feature of the afternoon. A wind is picking up and the fire is, once again, blazing. Progress on stuff slowed today but I have managed a first draft of our grant application and created a Facebook page for the Community Garden. It is not ready to be launched yet as the bank has yet to successfully send me any details of our new account. The last two tries have been tracked down to the school, clearly addressed to the school, despite the bank's assurances they were addressed to me. I will be taking them back with me when I go in to collect the right documentation. Once that is done I can create a paypal account, and from there launch the FB page. A sneak preview can be found at Oatlands School and Community Garden, Tasmania if you are dying to be first to Like us.
The need for the paypal account is that we need to be able to sell copies of plans for the polytunnel to raise funds - and doing it on-line saves having to print them out, so a double win for us.
So a little firewood cut, lunch eaten and that was about the full extent of the day (oh, and a quick run into Oatlands to deliver the minutes to allow the next bank account to be established (with the Commonwealth this time as they know where we live) for the OUR TASMANIA group. We have discovered our preferred domain name has already been snaffled but will be launching into getting our website up and running as soon as possible. FB can be a two-edged sword, as we lack control over what others post there, and deleting irrelevant or scaremongering type sources could reduce support - so we need to edit it with great care. The Website, on the other hand, will allow us to control content much more effectively.

This morning was spent bouncing around Facebook, Twitter, email accounts and finalising articles for the local newspaper, choosing images, working out how to compress them once in the document and so forth. So it was a good thing that this afternoon was spent at Ballochmyle.
Ballochmyle is out the back of Tunbridge along a dirt road which floods with monotonous regularity and which as a dam alongsides whose water level is higher than the foundations of the outbuildings - small wonder they all have rising damp. They are a very picturesque group (sorry, no long views) using an unusual checkerboard brick work in some of the buildings. One had a pigeon cote in the end gable and the peacocks make their home there (and everywhere else!)

The main house is a Palladian style with two wings both of which originally had blind windows on the facade (windows were around the side). The wing on the left has been knocked through to create a large open-plan kitchen-dining room with a bank of windows along the back wall. Not done well, sadly so the back wall is in danger of collapsing one of these days and the floor is rather uneven. It would originally have been two internal rooms with a servants space, or store room at the rear.

 Since access to the house from these rear rooms was via the open courtyard two walls of windows have been installed to create a passage, and it looks rather nice. Not in this photo sadly which looks the other way (showing the original door arrangement)

 The door on the left above is into the original kitchen and servants quarters (now in the process of becoming a visitors space, with the bathroom and laundry downstairs and living sleeping above)

The building was constructed by a Mr Bell who was a scottish stonemason with a drinking habit. The stone work is nevertheless astounding with beautifully formed corbels supporting the window sills, the main body of the house exquisitely detailed and the quoins around the windows left with a smooth surface - and as for the stairs down from the portico ...

And the glazing bars are a bit of all right too!
Interior decor is quirky, but the place is so cluttered with antiques you can barely move.

And the peacocks truly are EVERYWHERE!!

Well the meeting was a grand success - we have about 95 people there - not too many of them repeats from the last meeting - some from elsewhere in the State and a large number of them farmers. The speakers took us through the state of the energy supply in Australia, the process associated with shale gas extraction, the economic impacts of the mining boom on other sectors (seriously worrying - mining up, everything else down due to inflated value of the dollar) and so on. Then Brett gave us a beginners guide to what a megalitre is (quite a lot of those large stainless steel milk tankers you see on semitrailer around the country) and how many of these will be filled with contaminated water from just one well (around 375 on a conservative estimate), how many of them full of chemicals goes into each hole (around 4 of them) and so forth. Which rather makes the 'we only add 0.5% chemicals to the water' seem rather more worrying then they would have us believe. The media were out in force with the Mercury, ABC News, 7:30 Report and the Rural Hour there interviewing various people throughout the evening. You can catch me on the rural hour on Monday I think. I refused television as I seize up in front of a camera and I was wearing horizontal stripes (strobe fatty). Home around 11:00 by which time the frost had settled and straight to bed but no sleep until around 3. Then up at 6 (the dog wanted to go out) and so into the day. Drafted an article for the local newsletter, press release finalised, photos loaded onto Facebook Album and so into town to collect our speakers and drive them to the airport. Home via Barb's place for a cuppa and a chat (we have not seen each other for ages) and so am now settling in for the evening (having had KFC en route to stave of fainting from hunger and exhaustion). A great conversation on the way down to town - nice to have some academics to pique the brain and get it working. This is a group of local farmers looking at the map of the exploration lease area. and a few of the crowd ... a good night and numerous signups for membership.

The pressure is on for tonight's meeting to be a success - we have ABC Country Hour doing a report, and also the 7:30 report doing a live cross over to the meeting - so it would be good if people come - we have a room that can be divided in two so it can look crowded even with a few people or can look packed with a lot, so we should be OK. I have at least four confirmed attendees and I suspect Brett has mobilised the farmers en masse - as well as articles in Tas Country, Weekly Times etc which may attract additional people. I ran over to Tin Pot Marsh Road to collect our sign this morning and it does need a few design tweaks before we do a print run, but is looking pretty good. And this afternoon I met with the speakers and we got down enough about their talks for the draft press release so now all I have to do (having put on a face and some reasonably smart 'country' clothes) is try to breathe deeply before heading back into town to help set things up and organise how we will collect money and sell signs (pre-selling like they do with fancy apartments in Double Bay). So, it should be a good night - fingers crossed. At least it will not be quite so cold as last night which reached down to minus 6! Tonight we are going for a rather milder minus 1. Will be chief photographer as well tonight so hopefully will have some action shots of the speakers... if the camera works.

Last night the temp went down to Minus one as forecast, but did not stop there - minus 5 to be precise. So a bit chilly here this morning with most of the world frozen solid. Fortunately I got to the shower pipes just as they were poised to freeze and kept it going - the kitchen, not so much... And despite extensive sunshine the temp did not make it over 5 degrees - brrr. And the neighbour's dogs have been yapping all day and the poor pony they have tethered in their yard has its tether caught around its hind leg (hopefully the owners will be here for their daily check soon and can sort that one out - it will need one to hold the head and another to work on the hind leg. I think it is an entire stallion, so not a one-person job. Wood cut and fire burning all day. A call from Jean this morning promised longer knitting needles, but when I got there they were not only the same size, but also the wrong diameter, but it was nice to catch up and sit in the sun eating her savoury scones while partaking of a cuppa. The oxtail stew should be good for another couple of meals, so nothing to do but sit back and eat it in front of the fire!!

More knitting done and a meeting at the school to organise the setup of the hall for our Meeting on Friday. And a catch up with Monika about a chance to talk to the speakers so I can get the press release as advanced as possible before the night. And signs to organise and tables to set up for taking money off people on the night (if they want to order a sign - we are not getting any printed as we have no money, so need to pre-sell them on the night and then place the order). Also for membership signups as well. Oxtail stew slowly seething in the oven and snow underfoot (not much, and most of it fell while I was in town so was a nice surprise when I got home, but probably more tonight if we are lucky). Most of the snow fell in Hobart and on the Southern Outlet so driving home will be tricky for many commuters (they always seem to forget to drive to conditions on that road). The phone rang in the middle of sorting out lunch and it was the nice man from the gas company wanting to chat. I suggested he call back at a previously organised time so I could talk to him without having to bend over to catch a signal. Drove into town and parked up to take the call and had just started chatting when the police arrived - apparently we have a no-standing zone in Oatlands and I was on it... who knew?!). So the phone call restarted again and we chatted for half an hour but got nowhere. Not my idea of mediation processes but he said that MRT will step in if they feel it is appropriate (still not my idea of mediation as the staff there have already made up their minds that anyone opposed is by definition a deep-green greenie incapable of rational thought). So now to wait for the oxtail to fall off the bone and be ready to eat with the boiled potato I have just started cooking, and hopefully an early night.

Today, while finishing off the band on the knitting I realised that I would actually quite like to do a fairisle. The pattern I am using is actually for a fair isle jumper as it was the only one I had that made for a nice bulky jumper. So I went into Oatlands and chose a nice grey and a nice brown to go with the wool I am using and brought it home. Only to discover it was acrylic (eeek - horrors). So back I went and returned it to the shop and came back home to rummage. The result was a decision to use the cream aran wool I have for an aran jumper that has been going nowhere for several years now, and a tweedy brown homespun that I had lurking in anticipation of turning said Aran into a fair isle on a cream base. I had cut some firewood before leaving home, but en route into town I caught the weather forecast (snow to 200 metres tomorrow) and so on my return I cut quite a bit more. This is all stockpiled indoors now so I should be able to sit it out even if I am snowed in. Wood cut, I then turned back to knitting and this is the result:

I hope you can recognise the main colour from my abysmal description yesterday. The brown seems to go quite well as it is the same sort of toning as the browner bits of the main colour, and the white does rather stick out like a sore thumb, but should be OK when it is balanced at the other end of the jumper. I have relinguished all my steel needles as I find they are too rigid for my hands these days (old age), but the plastic ones are fine. I used to be able to throw together a fair isle jumper in about a week (using 12 ply) but this one may take a little longer despite not being at work during the day. Not sure what dinner will be tonight having polished off the lamb shanks last night, but perhaps it will just be some of that yummy sweet potato and cauliflower curry I popped in the freezer the other day. The oxtail is still defrosting but will be ready to pop on tomorrow while I watch the snow settling the back yard (I hope).

I had a grey day today - wind, cold, rain, sog and general decrepitude. Still, it was snug inside and I got out my knitting and started on the waistband of a new jumper. I just re-read the instructions and discovered I am using a size or three too big needles, but tough luck I am sorry to say - it will just have a nice loose waistband. It will be nice and long like the one I have worn to death since I bought it in NZ 8 years ago and which is falling to pieces now. The inspiration actually came while looking for a dark wool to darn the holes in said jumper - so it is now darned (well, I knitted bits to sew onto the holes actually) and the new jumper is started. It is cleckheaton - one of those multicoloured yarns that normally I hate but this one is in darkest blue,soft brown, silver blue and midblue (that sounds horrible, but trust me it works into a nice dark fabric). The signs for our meeting are almost ready to send to the printer - we had a hiccup as our loose cannon decided to skip the design part and go straight for the printing (of someone else's design we had already rejected after lengthy discussion at a prior meeting), so we discovered a week later we were no further forward. Helpers like that we can do without. So today has been a series of tantrums once more and we are all getting to feel we need a drink. Pity as I have none in the house... So back to the fire and knitting for me, so I can avoid the latest tantrum on facebook...

The less said about the election results the better ... So I will indulge you as I indulged myself today. I had an errand on the East Coast - it was a lovely day, there was a dog show in the recreation grounds resulting in the neighbour's dogs maintaining a continual commentary all day and Shadow was feeling stressed. So we went for a Sunday Drive. . Orford is a small fishing village (or it was last time I was there, it now has a brick venereal suburb attached) on the East Coast. A favourite holiday destination for generations of Hobartians. As you can see the summery weather has the place heaving with activity and so it was hard to find a spot on the beach where Shadow could enjoy his visit ...

Maria Island is across the Bay and looks as if it is floating on a transparent sea:

The beach is littered with the lazy scrawl of the tide, shells in a myriad of designs, dead crabs and fine litter of plants adrift from the sea.

You know when you are on the East Coast because they have such picturesque names there. There was a move some years ago to get rid of some of them (this one in particular) as they offended the niceties of life - I am glad they did not succeed. So now you go past Black Charlies Opening, to Bust Me Gall Hill and on to Breakneck hill, all very evocative of the difficulties of bullock-wagon trail along these steep and winding (though not so winding nowadays) roads.

We went down via Buckland, but came back via Levendale, so had a change of scenery on our way home. You can tell it is spring by the celebration of flowers on the sides of the road, from the wee creeping native heaths to the flamboyant wattles stretching across the delphinium sky - it was a lovely day...

... and today was supposed to be sunny, which it was, as well as being sleety, windy and jolly chilly. The fire is therefore lit seriously (with intent) and there are two lamb shanks slowly braising in the oven along with some shallots, carrots, garlic, red wine, thyme - shall I go on? One of them will be served with colcannon for dinner tonight and the other reserved to feed myself tomorrow night. Standing on Oatlands High Street handing out how-to-votes for the Greens was an interesting experience, but the Labor supporter who was doing the same for them turned out to work for Derwent Valley Council so she now has my card and will be in touch about any work that comes along. The Liberal person was the farmer I visited yesterday. It was all very civilised. The Labor and Liberal candidates called in for a howdy doo de with their voters so I gave them each a flyer for Friday's meeting (with a big smile so they could not refuse, lol) and so it went. A lazy wind off the recently fallen snow made life difficult so we retired gracefully after two hours having handed out about 20 how-to-votes in that time. The farmer, by the way, confided he had had enough of a look at the information I directed him to online that he will not be letting the frackers on his farm - so a job well done there! I bought a really nice jumper at the Bargain Centre which is in my favourite colours (deep olive green ground with tan, rust and cream fair isle patterns) which will make a very nice 'good' winter jumper (my other two are rather shapeless and well-loved) so a bargain there. And lunch at the Companion Bakery was excellent. Now for a night of fine food and nervous watching to see how things turn out ...

today was supposed to be rainy but not so far. A bit of wind, but other than that is has been quite pleasant. Had to pop into town this morning so we could workshop a 'statement of purpose' for the group - fortunately only three of us there, so it was fairly straight-forward. The wording has now been circulated to others for their feedback by dinner time on Sunday (since I will be out most of Sunday it seemed unreasonable to apply pressure to them). I am also working out my route on Sunday - call into Angie's, drop off flyers in another location, then work my back via Levendale for a change of scenery... A scenic drive - might take the dog. Tomorrow will be electioneering but it will start pleasantly with lunch with Eleanor and Barry from 11:15am, then to the polling booths to hand out literature and get abused for the afternoon. Called in to one of the local farmers this afternoon and dropped off a flyer and had a chat. He started out a bit defensive, but once I assured him I had felt the same way at the outset and done my own research before forming a view he came around (he knows me so hopefully will appreciate that I am not rampantly deep green. As a result of our chat he will be at the meeting and will encourage others to attend, so that's all good. Home again and I have popped Smidgen into the ceiling to deal with the nesting starlings. Last time i did this it was deeply traumatic for all concerned as the babies had fledged. This time they are still eggs, so it is mum and dad being deterred rather than the Fathers Day Massacre. Hopefully the eggs will be far enough along that they parents decide not to breed again this season. Failed to cook my lambshanks, but will pop them on for eating tomorrow and serve some broccoli and blue cheese quiche for dinner instead. The fire was lit earlier, but now it seems to be warming up a bit so I will let it go out without further fuel - I will save that for next week when it snows.

Today was the seniors day out - a trip to Launceston which was fun as I have not been there for ages. First stop was the Queen Vic to see some images of the Tasmanian wilderness (dombrovskis, beattie, king, that sort of thing)- some gorgeous images and some historical images of mining on the west coast (now OHS then by the looks of things).

As you see, the queen vic is wrapped up for winter in her granny rugs - very colourful!! After this I peeled off to walk through the town centre so I could call into Fullers and see Clive, stopping at a shop where i bought a baby rattle for the tenants - it is the shape of a rattle but is made of fine terry towelling (like those little gro-suits) and is softly stuffed with a bell buried in the stuffing at the top - so hopefully safe, and chewable as well. It would be a fairly lucrative small business once you got the hang of sewing that type of fabric. On to the Inveresk Rail Yards to meet the others. I have never fully explored them before and I suspect I missed quite a few bits, but we had fun playing with the interactive displays and the blacksmith's shop is a marvel - I hope they don't clean it up too much as the grunge is part of the character of the place. And so to lunch at Blue. Well all had the same as it looked so scrummy, so a crispy duck salad it was. I'd show you a picture, but it is a long time before it would upload and I am knackered - these country women are exhausting when they go out in a pack!! On the way back we called into the Campbell Town Butcher and i collected four lamb shanks and, since he was about to throw it in the bin, scored a lamb flap (for the dog, ostensibly) for free, which is now in the freezer. The dog go the second one he threw in when he found out how big the dog is ...

It's been a slow day today - slow downloads, slow signal (well, wildly erratic signal actually) and lots of frustration as a result. I have downloaded and printed out documents for the incorporation process and delivered them, picked up some blue cheese for myself (decadent, yes) and planted some seeds. At present it is carrots, sugar snap peas, butter beans and beetroot. On closer inspection the butter beans advise I wait until the last frost, but I guess I can always cover them when the next one comes along. Also cut some wood as the warm spell is fading into the distance (overcast and warm today, but it will be cooler tonight and no stored heat, so the fire will get lit at some stage). Also changed the bedding over - cotton sheets and a lighter weight doona (supplemented by a blanket to allow for flexibility), and between -seasons sleepwear. So the place is back to looking like a chinese laundry with washing festooned everywhere.

The dog was feeling distinctly stressed by his new neighbours so today we went for another walk at the Lake. This time i took a camera with us. As you can see it was one out of the box - sunshine, no wind, top of 18 and just glorious all round. Before we left I had done a load of washing which I hung out over the airer, but the shirts I put on coathangers and took out the old clothes rail that was superceded by the present, longer, sturdier one. So now the shirts smell of sunshine - bliss!! While we were in town the dog and I wandered down the high street and raided the hole in the wall before descending once more on the fruit shop - they are ordering in some fresh kaffir lime leaves for me to bung into the freezer and I picked up a stem of lemongrass while I was there (along with some camembert to make up the broccoli with (as a change from Blue cheese), and a pot of coconut cream for future curries (I used it all with the second last curry, so needed some more). So that was a good day's shopping. Then home and I cleaned the bath (which, since it does not get used and is usually occupied by the airer was looking distinctly manky) and then ventured into the garden. The cabbage patch was looking distinctly tired and there was a very enthusiastic 'weed' which on closer inspection turned out to be re-growth on the stem of a cabbage I cut after the neighbour's sheep at it.

Tonight's dinner is the hearts of the remaining three cabbages - which when all motheaten, tough, mouldy and other such leaves were removed, looked like this (the smallest one is the size of a cricket ball, for scale).

So the le creuset is coming up to the boil now, and once there I will turn it off and hope the stored heat will be sufficient unto the task (failing that i will give it another burl. To top the day off and make it clear summer is on the way, we had a sea breeze!! Didn't get any of those last year - it was beautiful. And the neighbours' dogs seem to have settled down to a dull road and Shadow is less excited by their proximity now. He came out with me while I gardened and while he was not his usual sprawled state of relaxation, he was at least lying down facing them, rather than running along the fence trying to reach them (phew). A few more days and he will have worked out that they are off-limits and to be ignored. He's pretty good like that. Here he is at the lake. Dogs are not permitted to go swimming (there are nesting birds there) so he doesn't...

I may have to borrow a shotgun. My 'numerous' neighbours have just decided to move their dogs over to my boundary fence, with the result that Shadow can not put his nose outdoors without setting off a chorus of barks that continue long after he disappears. One of them has already got off the chain and tried to come through the fence and take a piece out of Shadow, so god help the cats when they go out for their morning run. This is the third time they have tried this - twice while I was living in the caravan and now - I have made it plain they will be reported if they do not control the dogs' barking and yapping. I presume their neighbours on the other side (the loathesome one from quilting) have told them they will shoot the dogs if they don't control them, and they do in fact own a gun. They shot their own dog for misbehaving so I imagine it is not an empty threat. So I am afraid council's dog control officer will be on speed dial within the next 24 hours if nothing is done to control the barking and the dogs movements.

This is one of the pix I promised you yesterday - the download speed will be slow until Thursday so this will inhibit my activities somewhat. Fortunately on Thursday I am heading up to Inveresk on a 'seniors' tour - you know you are getting old when this happens. It will give me a chance to gallop over to Fullers and call in to see Clive about our little project - so that, together with all the museums, the park and so forth should make it an exhausting, but fun day. Mowed another chunk of lawn while Shadow enjoyed lazing in the sunshine (another thing he will be unable to do while those rotten dogs are so close) and did some more writing, drafting, browsing (in slow motion). Oh, and called in to see a couple of friends for chats and catchups since it is two weeks since I made it to quilting.

I was planning to post some photos of the haul from the Market today but the signal is so slow that it is not possible to do so - strong winds, passing trains and a slow download speed are conspiring against me. Still, the first stop was at the new vege shop where I found an irresistable head of broccoli and another of cauliflower. The cauli, together with some sweet potato, peas and various curry ingredients is currently slowly simmering on the stove for dinner. At the market I added a couple of large heads of garlic a bag of shallots (all for two dollars!!) the lamp I found there last month (which I had completely forgotten about but the stall holder hadn't, and sat down with a slice of pork pie, a chunk of cheese and pickles and had my lunch while catching up on the local gossip, talking to people about our meeting and generally having a good time So good I did not leave until after noon which had not been planned. By then the wind had picked up and become quite intolerable so I gave up on the next slice of lawn and stayed indoors. Here I have kept myself busy tracking down a former forum member so I could tell him about the box of fly-tying stuff I found which I think he will be interested in, and updating my Facebook page with the promised (but not delivered) pix you are missing out on. Sorry ...