Sunday, December 16, 2012

Duck tales...






























You may remember when our family went on a holiday to America earlier this year, our entire duck family were killed by foxes. Our beautiful drake, Freddie, tried to protect his girls and managed to survive for a few days, before dying of an infected wound..and a broken heart.


It was an awful day when we heard the news. Even though I knew that this is the cycle of life, it still hurt and we all cried to think of our ducks being scared and dying in this way.

Several months later we offered to take a friends' trio of ducks, the offspring of our original duck family, Freddie Jnr and his two girls. Just as the quince tree was blossoming the sister ducks began to lay and eventually were sitting on about twenty eggs between them.



It's always such a joyous site to see the first little duckie appear!



And they kept on appearing! In the end there were 19 ducklings..with one little one born sickly, which brought the number to 18.




Five little browny ducklings and fifteen yellow. Is there anything cuter than a duckling? So adorable.



And hungry! Boy do they eat A LOT! 


And they grow so quickly. Almost before our eyes.
After the first week I noticed one little one was dragging it's leg behind it. It struggled hard to keep up with the others, looked in pain, and was obviously not in good shape. At first I thought she would probably just quietly pass away as she grew weaker and weaker. I thought about euthanising her, it's always hard to know what to do in this type of situation.


Anyway, in the end I took her to our lovely vet who was SO kind and showed me that the duckling had broken her little leg. Together we put a mini splint on and taped it up. For the next two weeks she lived in an old guinea pig cage where she was clean and dry. No traipsing around our big back yard meant her leg would have a better chance to heal. And it did!


After week one I put two of her siblings in with her to keep her company and at the end of week two she had her splint taken off. I did a little duck physio to help her leg to bend properly again and very quickly she began to walk/run like the others! What an exciting moment.


Today was just the best. Here she is, standing in the front/middle, after being re united with her family.


Her mum's were thrilled to see her and she has joined the others as if she had never been away. I am so happy I took her to the vet that day, and that the care she received means she is likely to now have a good, happy and active life. I think we might have to keep this special girl. She has been so strong and brave.  And what a beautiful & caring vet we have, she treated Little Ducky free of charge and with such respect and love. Tomorrow I'm going to drop off some flowers and a photo of her little patient.

You can learn so much from others can't you? Bravery, perseverance, kindness and compassion. And even though the cycle of life continues on, with it's sadnesses, and challenges, it's good to look for things that inspire, like courageous little ducks and big hearted people x

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

If you had...



If you had a grown up daughter who lived in the city, I'm sure you would want to let her know the news from home. I bet you'd text her, call her, and email her often. 



 And I know you'd miss her too. Her funny ways, her beautiful smile, her company.



I know you'd want her to see how things are changing back at home.


How old things are becoming new again,



If she couldn't come home too often I'm sure you'd be showing her photo's of the changes in seasons, maybe the new little apples on your apple tree. Or the clucky chooks who spread their feathers over an ever growing nest of eggs. And she would probably laugh at your 'farmyard' and crazy collection of animals.




If you had a beautiful daughter who lived in the city I bet you'd want her to know that even though back at home things are changing, evolving, growing..






that some things will never change. You'd want her to  know that her home is always with you, that family life isn't the same without her, that she is missed & loved & talked about every day.

Do you have children that have moved out of home? Or family that live overseas? Do you keep in touch with your loved ones through the internet? Do you blog, Skype, FaceTime?
Do you see what they are up to on Face Book or Instagram?

All these things are great, I love the way we can connect with each other in so many ways. I love that I can share our news, and our thoughts, our photo's and words.
But if you had a grown up daughter who lived in the city I bet, just like me,
you would be over the moon to be seeing her in real life...
TOMORROW NIGHT!
Yay!

See you soon Char, and see you soon too lovely ones xo

Thursday, November 8, 2012

And the winner is..!




Our school fete! Don't you just love a fete? I do. We've just had ours and it was fantastic!







It's such a fun community event and we were so lucky to have such a sunshiny day too. I had fun with Tracey at the second hand clothes stall. It's a good feeling to be recycling lovely clothes and other bits while also raising money for our little school.

The other stalls were fantastic, I loved the plants and books, the fairy floss and of course the cake stall. Yum! It's such a busy time of year isn't' it? Fetes, festivals, concerts..wow. What are you busy with lately?

Talking of winners, thanks so much to everyone who entered my Instacanvas giveaway..I'm thrilled to announce that Carol of Perennial is the winner! If you are an Instagrammer you should pop by and say hi,  I know you'll love getting a glimpse into Carol's world. Congratulations Carol! Send me your email and I'll give you the details on how to receive  your very own Instagram photo, beautifully printed and framed by Instacanvas.

I'm off now to water in my new little seedlings..it's been a huge day in the garden. Are you planting too? Have fun lovelies, see you soon xo


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Little House


When we first saw our house in Daylesford, almost nine years ago, we loved it for it's charm and sense of history. It's beautiful garden was also hugely appealing and of course we loved the town. We still love all those things and I guess as the years have gone by we have become a part of it all too. Our own family history is now woven into this beautiful place that we live in. Our own kids will have memories of the little town where they grew up and the yellow house where we live. I hope they remember the sunny afternoons in our garden, running under the hose and having dinner under the apple trees.


Talking of little houses..this little timber building was originally an outhouse of sorts, sometimes an extra bedroom, a bungalow and maybe even a laundry. It would have been built around the same time as the main house, about the turn of the century or a little later.


As we are starting some renovations soon we had to decide what to do with Little House as it was in the wrong spot and stopping us from opening up the back of the house. It would have been simple and easy to demolish it but that wasn't high on my list of options. I really love it and wanted to keep it if possible. So we talked to Col who said he could move it with his crane, woo hoo!

You can see above where it stood and the new stumps/supports that it would be moved on to.



This is Col :)


This is Col's crane! Oh how I wish I had been at home the day it was moved..but I had to go to work which I wasn't at all happy about. Luckily Tom took some ace shots of the house being craned into position.




And getting kind of stuck on the top of the garage....








My neighbour, Alison, came home and walked out her back door to see the little house flying through the sky.


Twisting, turning..spinning!


And as she pointed out later, all the while a jar of paint brushes stood happily in the little window sill!            You can just see it if you look hard.


Careful!



Col and the guys did a great job. Wow. I can't believe it really happened. Little House is now happily sitting in it's new spot in the garden, nestled up against the garage.  Today Tom took the front off it to fix some of the bits that were broken in the move, and to make a new, longer window. Then we will be able to see through it from our new kitchen, and out the other window into the garden. The kids are keen to make it a club house but we'll see. I'm just happy that it's still part of the picture, and that it will continue to be treasured and loved.


I wonder what the Steinhauser's would think about what we have done? They were the family who built our main house and it's little sister house. They owned a cordial factory around the corner from where we live. The very first week we moved here a group of  Stteinhauser descendants came by for a visit. One of them told me that he used to sleep in Little House, in a double bed. It took up most of the room so he would have had to practically jump through the door and onto it!
Funny. I wish I could remember all the amazing stories they told us, there were so many and it was a long time ago now.


Do you know the history of your house? I am so fascinated with the stories of our town, and this area. There are endless interesting tales to be told and so many interesting people.  As I always say, everyone has a story.

Which reminds me, in a  roundabout way, this weekend is a special one. The Daylesford/Hepburn region are celebrating our Swiss Italian culture and heritage with the wonderful Swiss Italia Festa! There are lots of great things on to see and do, you should check out their site here. Also our own school fete is happening on Sunday 4th November, and it's going to be so fantastic!! If you have kids and you live locally you really should come along, there will be lots of kid friendly activities, yummy cakes, the spinning wheel and heaps more. Books, clothes, craft, food..fun! It's on at St Michaels School, Smith St, Daylesford from 9 - 3. I'll be helping to run the second hand clothes stall, come and say hi :)


It's such a busy time of year isn't it? Have you got lots of things on too? 
Hope you are getting some sunshine wherever you are,
see you soon lovelies xo


ps: if you haven't entered my giveaway it's not too late! Click here for details xo