Time Flies

(A Google image search for 'time flies' brings up some really cool clocks.)

Valentine's Day already? This year is going so quickly - it is a little scary, actually.

At the moment, my husband and I are living in a caravan in my parent's front yard. It isn't as bad as it sounds. We have been here a month already, and it is actually going really well. We take turns cooking (based on who is busy and who feels like cooking), and we all help out with things like the dishes and the laundry. 

I think it is sometimes a bit scary for Julian, living with his in-laws, as he keeps seeing them do all sorts of things that I do a lot. Mind you, he does things like this:

Hahahahaha! I love it!

Mind you, I don't think it compares with my 80's hair and make-up:

So yes... back to what I was talking about. 

This year is a bit weird. We have no house, we are not planning on looking for one, and we are fine with that. We think we will be in the caravan until approximately the start of May, by which time we will no doubt be very happy to leave as autumns are not particularly warm here in Tasmania.

Speaking of Tasmania, the other day I saw it referred to as a country of its own (it is, in reality a state of Australia) and it was spelt 'Tazmania'. It was pretty funny. And disturbing.

I am going to do some knitting and eat the chocolates my husband gave me. It seems he likes me 'cuddly'. At least I can rest in peace knowing millions of other women are also eating chocolate today - or are you strong enough to resist? ;)

Kill the Spam Monster

Ah my poor neglected blog! The spam monster has been chomping away at it, leaving a massive amount of wildly hilarious and off-topic comments. Unfortunately this means that I have needed to change my settings so that comments now have word verification. Boohoo. 

Below, a prime selection of some of my favourites (a mere handful selected from approximately 100 comments). Some are lovely and flattering. One, copied below, made me feel a little sad until I counted all the mistakes in the comment itself.

You can certainly see your skills within the article you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren't afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart. my website :: borkum riff 

Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the net the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks Here is my homepage ... amber leaf

This design is incredible! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost...HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool! Here is my blog - youtube.Com

And one which is totally ridiculous:

I think that everything posted made a great deal of sense. But, what about this? what if you wrote a catchier title? I ain't suggesting your content is not solid., however suppose you added a title that makes people want more? I mean "Spring Blossoms - Free Crochet Pattern!" is kinda plain. You ought to peek at Yahoo's front page and watch how they create news headlines to grab people to open the links. You might try adding a video or a picture or two to get readers interested about what you've got to say. In my opinion, it would make your posts a little bit more interesting. My site - Har Vokse Review on Spring Blossoms - Free Crochet Pattern!

In other news, sorry I have been so absent. I know some people who have left comments and I have not replied yet (I could not find them in among the jungle of spam).

My husband and I have been walking through a rather painful time, and I have not had the energy to keep up the blog. Also, for the last month we have been travelling around Tasmania in a hatchback car and a three person tent. Fun times!

Once we are in a real house again I am going to try to do some update-y posts and so on.

In case I am unable to get back here in the next few weeks, I hope you all have a wonderful and joyful Christmas and New Year!

 

Happy (Belated) New Year!

I'm a bit late to the party, I know, but I really must wish you all a happy and fulfilling 2012!

This year has already been busy, though also very relaxed. We were away camping with friends from the 31st of December to the 3rd of January, and I feel like I've only just settled back in at home (probably because I've been on an uncharacteristc cleaning and organising splurge!).

The beautiful Gunns Plains, where we camped.

Now, I didn't even think of making any resolutions until a couple of days ago, but (truth be told) I don't usually make them anyway, because I don't like setting myself up to fail. So instead of listing my resolutions, here's a list of some 2012 firsts!

Firsts for 2012 so far:

- First celebration: My 26th birthday!

- First sunburn: Julian, though his wasn't as bad as mine, which I got the next day

- First bug photographed: Dragonfly - it flew past and landed right by me!

- First alcoholic beverage: merlot/baileys in milk (I was sort of alternating between them)

- First cooked meal: Eggs and bacon for a camping breakfast

Bacon clothesline!

- First crochet project started: Tiny Whale, pattern courtesy of PlanetJune.

- Books: first finished = Princess Charming; first started = A Woman's Place

- First movie session: Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked, followed by Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (this was rather fantastic!) 

- First in-joke: POPPIES!!!

These are the opium kind - Tasmania is a huge exporter of these.

Records in 2012:

- I've worn a skirt everyday this year! My legs are looking a bit wonderful :D

- Rose early every morning while camping: 7am, 5am (!), 8am (this is later as we were exhausted from the early start the day before... air mattresses with leaks are NOT fun).

- Went as far along the north-west coast of Tasmania that I've ever been: Table Cape.

Table Cape Lighthouse

Stuff that has excited me so far:

- Swam in the same river my dad learnt to swim in (the Leven River, north Tasmania).

The Leven River, my husband, and two children who are not ours (though I boss them around heaps!)

- Visiting the Gunns Plains Caves (glow worms!)

"Bacon" - very cool cave fomation, the colours are from minerals.

And, Oh! I've decided to list my (very general) resolutions for this year after all:

1. Work hard but don't strive;

2. Be restful and peaceful but not lazy; and, most importantly,

3. Do everything with diligence and a happy heart (give, work, serve, create and play with joy!)

What are some of your firsts for 2012? What are some of your resolutions?

Summer is Here! Hence the Rain!

In typical Tasmanian fashion the first day of December - and of summer - was cold and drizzly. Not that I'm complaining, becuase I LoVe this sort of weather! But it would be nice to have warm toes!

The "Christmas Month" has started off slowly. Today I did the dishes and some present making, and that's pretty much it. The yarn for one of my husband's presents (a beanie) arrived today, which is a relief - I was starting to get concerned I'd run out of time to make it.

I've been thinking about trying to post every day in the lead up to Christmas, but I'm not going to be too strict on myself. I will try to post every other day though. Be forewarned: it will mostly be crochet and food and house rearranging and decorating. 

And because I don't want a pictureless post, here are some snapshots of a sunshower we had just the other week: 

I love how the rays of sunlight are visible, there's something so magical about it.

See you back here soon!!

This is Winter

Finally, we have snow!

My poor herbs are feeling a bit cold:

Our neighbours bbq and chiminea are looking a bit cold too:

This is what I looked like when I went out to take the recycling up to the bins:

Poppies and Orchids

So yes, yesterday was all about the Japanese Gardens, and today is about poppies and orchids.

Inside the conservatory... I had some friends get married here in 2008 (I think). They just had their first baby, a little girl. 

Back out the other side of the conservatory, I want to have a feature like this in my future garden.

Lovely tulips, with the Derwent River in the background.

Tomorrow, at the risk of totally alienating all my readers, there'll be four more photos from the Botanical Garden visit, which are being used as part of the 100 Snapshots Challenge. 

And then I'll be talking about something else, I promise!!!

 

The Japanese Gardens

On Thursday it was a public holiday (as well as my mum's birthday) and Julian totally shocked me by suggesting that we have a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. 

We arrived at 1:30, aka peak hour, and had to wait for a car to pull out in order to get a car park.

We sat in a most delicious smelling location, right next to a fence draped with wisteria. When we have our own home, we are definitely having wisteria planted in at least half a dozen places, and hanging from the deck rails.

For lunch, we munched on salad rolls and brie cheese, with grapes and chocolate for dessert. 

Julian had a snooze (predictably), and I snuck off to the Japanese garden (just on the other side of the fence we were next to) and had fun taking photos. Here are some of my favourites.

Tomorrow, poppies and orchids. Yay!

On Holidays and Healthy?

I was expecting to be sick today. I usually am when the semester ends.

I am, however, alive and well, though still tired and a bit muddled in the brain department.

I have plenty of plans for the holidays, and am actually wondering if my brain/body is so focused on them that it hasn't realised it's actually sick/rest/eat icecream and read children's novels time. 

But enough about my unsick body... holidays! Today I'm doing housework, writing lists, getting organised. Preparing for holidays, you might say.

The rest of this week I'll be finishing a knitted scarf and crocheted pigs for an order, and going over a sweet little crochet flower pattern that I'll publish on here, hopefully on Friday.

Sorry for one of the most boring posts ever... I'm off to clean the cat litter... hopefully I survive.

Oh yes! The photos were taken between Margate and Kingston as we were driving home. The second one is of Mt Wellington. The first one is of gorgeousness.
 

A Sunrise with no Sun

Okay, so there was technically a sun, it was just hidden behind clouds.

Thursday and Friday have blurred into one big day for me, as I did an allnighter to finish an assignment. One of the benifits was that I saw the sunrise, which is incredible. I see the sunrise one to six times a year. I think this was the first time for this year, but I'm not exactly sure.

I love the light, nice and rosy (but hard to capture with the camera), and all the colours pop - especially pinks. The streetlights are still on! It's easy to see this if the picture is bigger. It's also the reason behind the bright green spot in the top right hand corner.

The offical sunrise time for Friday the 15th of October was 6:20am. This site is awesome: it tells you the official sunset, sunrise, day length and solar noon statistics. Daylight savings means that Tasmania's solar noon is at 1pm instead of 12pm. The site also has our distance from the sun!

This was taken at 6:20am. The lump of land in the distance is the Tasman Peninsular, where Port Arthur and Shipstern Bluff (world famous surfing location) are located.

After this photo I switched the camera to the sunset setting, and things became a bit more intense.

Finally, I reached to lookout on Mt Nelson. I love this view. I could look at it everyday.

If I was happy to cheat just a little I could cross number 52 (Watch the sunrise from Mt Nelson lookout) off my 101 in 1001 list, but I wasn't actually at the lookout at the official sunrise time, and it was a slightly boring sunrise anyway. So it's still on the list to do.

The clouds were adorable. For some reason as I'm typing this I want to say that they were like little baby duckings. I don't know why I want to say that.

Now the only descriptions I can think of for the clouds are totally cliched, like "fluffs of cotton wool". If you have a better description for them, please share.

One last photo before heading home again. 

I tried to get home again before the alarm clock went off at 7am to wake my husband up, but didn't quite make it.

Sorry for freaking you out, honey!