A job for the heat.

I don't know about you, but exreme constant heat is not my thing.( Though my MIL doesn't take her jumper off until it hits 40!) I have noticed that you start to get used to it and what would have had you lying under the air con on Day 1 doesn't stop you as quickly a week or two later. I also think you alter your ways, you are not quite so hurried and work an energy saving manner. I have witnessed this more laconic style among people who live all the time in Northern, tropical Australia and I can see the advantages.

We have been fortunate here, compared to some of the other Southern, normally milder states. we have dropped to mid 30's this week, while others still swelter in the 40's. Tomorrow is to be 40's again here, with some hope of a shower of rain.

But back to the idea of continuing to work in the heat. My Dh has a theory that you don't notice it as much if you are actually working and I must say that when I am in the sewing room working on a quilt I barely notice it at all.

There is another job I could nearly handle in these temps as well.....

Last week, while on holiday, we got up early one morning and stumbled the 100 or so metres that would allow us to watch this....

...and no, I am not talking shirtless rowing.. (though, now you mention it!!))

The district race horses are in training and, in the heat especially, an early morning swim keeps them fresh.

I am not an incredibly horsey girl, violent asthma from as much as a stray horse hair entering our home until I grew out of it in my early teens meant I missed the bonding window, but I still like the look of them...and would happily drape quilts on their backs for photos if I had one!

But, if I weren't a very happy farmer, wife and mother, swimming these around (and rowing them around if I was allowed the odd dip) the ocean would be high on my list of jobs I could cope with in the heat, how about you?

Oh, before I go-the shirtless rower reminded me that I have a question. I watched the Superbowl on Monday as Australia's Ben Graham was a punter.. and I want to know how come our AFL footballers put shorts over their bike pants and the US guys just wear the bikepants??? Is there some kind of petition we Aussie girls could start......

I also want to know what the rules are...but that's a whole different post!!!

(I can say, the half time entertainment i understood...Yay Springsteen!!)

Aussies, stay cool; Northern girls , stay warm!

Queensland holiday

I am freezing!! We arrived home from a week in Queensland at midnight last night and I am having alot of trouble getting used to the zero temp. I woke up to this morning.

We went to the Gold Coast, it takes about 2 hours to fly up there from Avalon airport ( 2 hours drive from here). Visited Dreamworld and Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Did a lot of beaching and lounging around the pool as well. My sister and her family also came . We left on fairly short notice to suit her husband's holidays, my husband's farm schedule and my daughter's tummy pain schedule!

I just downloaded all my photos so the kids had some for show and tell, there were 635!! I wont bore you with them all, I promise!!

We loved Dreamworld, great rides-my sister and husband have been to Disneyland and think it is on par. The lines were beautiful and short at this time of year so there weren't any I missed. Must admit the tummy had had just about enough fast paced rides by the finish!

The animal side of it was great as well, loved the tiger show, and thought you may like some of the wildlife.(These are red kangaroos.)

There were some fairly big swells happening off shore,-it is winter!- so the currents were strong and the tide was up but the kids still thought the beach was great. I love the beach to really make you feel you are on holiday.

But the pool at the resort was great as well, 5 different pool set ups, all with spas. We were flat out getting the kids out to sleep.

On our last day we visited the Crocodile Hunter's zoo. Very sad that he isn't there anymore, but a very impressively set out zoo.

The crocs were great, don't think my boy is too keen on training as a keeper though! He loved the snakes. He has taken a picture I wanted to school, I will have to scan it in for you next post!

There were koalas everywhere, I caught this one having a snack.

And, as I was on holiday as well, I did manage to sneak in a few hours of retail therapy. I went to The Patchwork Pantry, they were having buses all day as part of the Christmas in July shop hop. I could have quite happily jumped on the bus with them, it was right up my alley. I was quite restrained...I knew I had to find a spot in the bags for anything I bought.....but this had to have a spot-even if clothes had to make way.....

It's Noah's ark fabric by Jim Shore. It just couldn't stay there! There are 2 repeats on the fabric but blogger wont upload the second today.

I also finally found a teflon foot. Apparently this is the only way to work with plastic coating for bags, I will be interested to see.

Hope your week has been good, when i finally get through a mountain of washing, an answering machine full of calls and 2 email accounts full of mail I will call around for a visit! tracey

First day for 9 weeks without children...Take Two!

As your are by now well aware, planning is not always my best option; remember in October when I started blogging because I had my new sewing room and the quilts were going to flow thick and fast...and that's about when DD started her tummy problems and I have been generally stuck in the house drinking coffee, eating choc and feeling sorry for myself ever since (with short periods of sewing freedom in the middle of the night!) Then remember that great day a few months ago, had the whole house clean by 8.30 am, just boiling the pot of coffee to take to the sewing room for the day when i got the phone call that DS hadn't even made it to school, had injured himself on the bus, straight to emergency room... and then when I told you all the quilts that were to be made after the school fete...and I had to work for 2 weeks instead.

Well, you know how yesterday was my first day with the kids gone, well DS on Monday night took exception to his sister bossing him around while cleaning the loungeroom and punched her in the back of the neck. Now, he is sorry, "I am ashamed of myself Mum, now stop giving me THAT look and lets just forget about it". "THAT" look spoke volumes...how could you hit her and make her sick when I was SOOO Close to free!!!

She was dizzy, headachey and sick in the stomach, watched her for an hour or two, put her to bed and woke no better. So she missed going on the bus but I managed to get her to school by 10.30 am, thought I was right, just got over to the sewing room about 1.15, managed to cut up a few shirts into strips for a play, then School rang..... Needless to say , back to town, straight to the chiropractor who fixed her straight up and back to where we all started-

Today, I have no children, my house is tidy and what has the universe told me this morning....my sewing machine is making an apalling noise and DH says if it was a tractor he would say it's done a bearing!!! I'm going to see if MIL will lend me hers, but am also going to accept the signs...tidy the sewing room and do that officework that is weighing upon my shoulders...that exciting and oh so tempting box of shirts isn't going anywhere! And hopefully neither am I !

Oh, sharing the zoo component of the holiday with you today, love these girls, fantastic new enclosure, set out like an extended rainforest.

And no , I don't just like them because the make me feel thin...
And all on grass and hay,

Keeper checking for chocolate, your hips can't get that big without it, surely!
Nah, just hay.

The entrance to the underwater seal view looked very "quilty" to me.

Love this chimp's hand, he was playing peek aboo with us behind the hessian.

And these two are doing what they do best.

Last but not least, Sweet P has challenged me to "Pay it Forward". The first 3 whose comment/email tells me they are "in" will receive a gift from me (in the near future). The catch is that you must be prepared to continue the random acts of kindness to your own 3 bloggers, she also has a stitchery swap happening if you want in. have a great day, Tracey

Country meets city

Now here is a standard day in our life; sheep, sheep and more sheep....

(spot the little black one)

Then a little change of pace, a few photos from our recent city holiday.

This is the banner at the Australian Rules Football game we went to, between my team, Essendon and the rest of my family's team, Geelong.

James Hird has been my football playing hero since the early 90's, this was his 250th game in his swansong year so i was very excited.

Running through the banner (told you I was excited....)

..warming up earlier on the ground... (did I mention i am a little partial to him? there are about 20 more of these on the camera!)... I then have another picture I am not sharing, that is of him sitting on the sidelines from the 2nd quarter, having badly injured his calf muscle-I was no longer excited, especially as that was about the time the geelong team began to get dominant and the crowd sitting around us started to feel sorry for the lone Essendon supporter in the family!

My girl with her blue and white painted face, very pleased with the result.

Walking back across the Yarra to our hotel at Southbank.

Had to cut through the casino food court to get to our Hotel.... I just took a pic for you, can you see the middle right cake with the toffee on it?Yummo! There were at least triple this many but Dh said if you are going to keep ogling the cakes and taking pictures like a tourist, then for goodness sake eat one! So I put the camera away like a good wife.

The next morning saw us off to the aquarium, DD had to take her baby as well......

same bridge.

It's a fabulous aquarium, you can even swim with sharks, never actually opted for that, but DD tried to kiss a fish that would look even better in a pan!


As would these crabs! Yum, love crab.

Watched the shark feeding, would rather the divers than me! The stingrays were the most annoying, sitting on the divers heads.

I have had a very hard day today, kids are back at school tomorrow so we had a PJ marathon of Gilligan's Island, MacGyver and The Three Amigos. I am starting to get excited, the coast is looking good for some schooling time for both kids, 18 hours from now I may have my first childfree day since the 6th of May! But who is counting, prepare for major patchwork happenings! (that's if I am game to make a plan!)Cheers, Tracey