Monday

I love Autumn. The cool nights and sunny days are just my cup of tea. Daylesford really turns it on at this time of year, Wombat Hill is awash with red, orange & gold. Actually when I first saw our house it was April 2004 and I can remember thinking how beautiful it all seemed, golden leaves in the garden, green grass and blue sky above.

I liked the house too of course, but the garden really won me over. The empty, old chook pen was tempting too, I couldn't wait to fill it with fresh hay and some happy chickens.



Did you have a good weekend? We spent lots of time outside - although Billy & Lucy were pretty exhausted after their school camp.

I had a nice little visit to the local Raglan Hotel, checked out their latest exhibition & chatted with Jo, the owner, about their plans for this fabulous building. I also popped next door to have a peek in the new shop, Dot & Herby which has gorgeous women's clothes, all designed & made in Melbourne.

Later in the day Sunday & I went for a bush walk, this time down to Hepburn where there are so many great walking tracks. We found an old fallen down house surrounded by fruit trees and old stone walls. I find these little scenes so poignant, almost spiritual, you can feel the sense of pioneering, of family, of daily lives. The shadows of the people who once lived here seemed to be there still, darting in and out of the sunlight.

Life would have been so different then, no internet, supermarkets, technology, electricity. Who knows what hardships this family faced? What joys, what happinesses.



I think it's important for children of today to know about the past, to learn about another time. I wonder what it would have been like waking to the beautiful bush, birds in the trees, giant gums and the sound of the bubbling creek below.

The rest of our weekend was all about cubby houses, playing shops, roller blades, picking tomatoes, tree houses, hanging with the ace kids from next door and lots of cooking for me!

Good old lamingtons, yum. You should make some soon, they are so delicious. If you would like a recipe send me an email.

And talking of delicious we also roasted baby garlic, oh my goodness does it taste amazing, so velvety & buttery..mmm!

What did you get up to? I feel like I haven't caught up with everyone lately. It's hard to keep up with so many lovely blogs. Hopefully I will be around soon for a visit. I'd love to sit down with you over a cuppa and have a chat & hear your news. See you soon sweeties xo

ps: look who was in The Age today!!

Lavender & lamingtons

Yesterday Rosie and I and two special friends went to the beautful lavender farm, Lavandula, out at Shepherds Flat. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the little girls ran and ran and ran.

We sat and had a picnic surrounded by daffodils and marvelled at the weather - after a long, long winter it was good to feel that sunshine and smell the spring air. Do you like Rosie's new pink shoes?

Michelle snuck in a cat nap while we went in search of donkeys. Hee haw...

What a lovely place to visit, it always makes you feel good. I don't know alot about its history except that it was once a working farm owned by local Swiss Italians. I'd like to learn a bit more about Lavandula and hope to visit it a bit more often.

The other reason I was there was to purchase some of their lavender. I needed it to fill the little Sleepy Hearts that are my current sewing project. I'll post some photo's soon, I'm quite happy with how they are looking.

I'll be bringing some to the pre Christmas Daylesford Makers Market which is coming up in November, as well as the usual Blanket Bunnies & other Dandelion items. I hope to see lots of bloggy friends there at my Dandelion stall, it's such a lovely way to catch up in 'real life'. Do pop by the DMM blog and have a look, & if you are interested in helping out with the market you can find details on there as well. It should be another amazing market, I'm really looking forward to it.

Besides lavender experiences this week has been choc a block full of things. Raffles at school, PerformingArts night catering, book club, classroom helper, chooks, footy tips & prizes, basketball, art class, ballet, lunches, dinners, washing, sewing, dreaming, screaming (nah..just joking...hang on, maybe there was some screaming... ) and the usual mayhem that is family life. Phew!

Anyway, there has also been Laminton making!! Yep, you heard me, lamingtons. The great Australian cake. Never having been a big fan of these coconut covered delights I am now officially hooked.

Rosie enjoyed the whole process, especially cracking the eggs (No shell in the mix!)

Can you hurry up so I can lick that bowl....?

And here are the little beauties themselves...they didn't last long of course. (If anyone would like the recipe just send me an email. They are easy to make and it's fun dipping the cake in chocolate syrup and rolling them in coconut...mmmm)

So there you have it, another fun packed few days have flown by. I can't believe it's Friday ...hope you all have a great weekend xox