This is a photo taken at the end of our street of the fire that started in Sailors Falls and threatened Daylesford and other towns nearby.

As I left to pick up the kids from school yesterday afternoon I noticed a small spiral of smoke over near my friend, Michelle's house, to the right of the photo. By the time we got home the smoke was bigger and spreading. The next few hours and into the night the whole town of Daylesford and surrounding towns monitored it's progress. It was very stressful as we worried about friends nearer the fire and took care of some young teenagers who were stranded. We watched from Wombat Hill as the fires burned close by. We also watched as some of our neighbours packed and left.

Around midnight I went to the townhall to take bedding and to find out if there was any more information. It was a very draining night and Mark & I didn't get much sleep. For the kids it must have been hard too. After seeing footage of the recent fires on Black Saturday and hearing stories of loss it was hard for everyone yesterday. Thank god everyone was safe.

Out the front of our house.

This is the reality of living in the country I guess...it's something I haven't ever experienced and it was pretty overwhelming. Thank you to everyone who has been in touch, thankyou for caring.

We are lucky that it wasn't worse and if anything I feel even more for the people who suffered in Black Saturday.

Today we are tired and I'm not really thinking too clearly. We are worried about Friday when it will be hot and windy. Lets hope the fires will be out by then. Better go now, need sleep! x

Hanging with the girls...

Oh my goodness..I have just had such a fun weekend away in Melbourne!! Six of us friends hopped on a train and left family life behind to celebrate Phillipa's birthday. What a bonus to have our good friend Mandy as the conductor on the train!

We stayed right in the heart of town in a cute hotel that has been welcoming people from the country and interstate for many years. Very handy, comfy & full of atmosphere.

Who would have thought Patti Newton would have featured in our mini holiday? We happened across a free concert to raise money for people affected by the bushfire and watched Patti strut her stuff on stage. She was pretty amazing actually, and hilarious. At one point she whipped out Bert's hair piece and tried it on some of the musicians..very funny.

We managed to pack a fair bit into a short time...shopping,

winding our way through laneways and arcades,

drinks at the Gin Palace ...

and a yummy dinner at Cookie.

It's a good thing it was noisy in there as the table conversation was, well...a bit saucy... silly... frank... funny... slurred... wacky... revealing... fascinating? Possibly all of the above. A bunch of women out on the town should not be underestimated. Good clean fun...well fun anyway.


Anyway, the next day there were a few sore heads and after dosing up on Hairy Lemon we went to the gorgeous European for breaky. Delicious.





After a bit more perusing around wonderful Melbourne we hopped back on the train - a good way to ease back into life in the country. What a great weekend, it did me the world of good. What did you do? x

Things that make me smile...

It's been a hell of a week & like many other people I haven't felt much like blogging. This week I am trying to get back on track & I'm really enjoying, and am grateful for, simple things and things that make me smile. One of those is my brother's teddy, above. When my brother was a little boy he loved his teddy so much - you can see from the picture that this is one much loved bear. Ben had a way of sucking his thumb and sort of twiddling Teddy at the same time (technical term 'foofing). Such a lot of foofing went on that in the end mum had to amputate Teddy's foot. I'm not sure how I ended up with this lovely bear but he sits on my shelf and makes me smile.



While we're on beloved toys here is a group of my favourites. Big Ted was found in a op shop and begged me to take him home. How could I resist? On his lap is Little Ted who belonged to a lovely boyfriend of mine who died at nineteen. He is very special. Next is Helen Holiday who was given to me by my nan when I was seven. She was simply the best present ever. Nan made a wardrobe of gorgeous outfits, underwear, nightie, a ski suit and a beautiful fur lined cape with a hood -all in a little suitcase. I can still remember my excitement. As you can see she has lost her clothes along the way... I really should find something for her to wear! Sitting next to her is Charlotte (I've always liked the name!) who I have had forever. This little group sit and take in the world out my window, they do make me smile.



During the week I lashed out a bought a few books. One is this gorgeous book, Material Obsession. Will I ever make a quilt? Hmmmm....I can dream.

On Valentine's Day I set off with Sunday to go to the Kyneton Farmer's market. We had booked a chook, well actually two, and went to pick them up. While we were there we fell in love with two little budgies who were canoodling and smooching. We decided we would buy them as a family present, oh how cute they are. Of course they have been named Romeo & Juliet - lets hope they have a brighter future than their namesakes!

Speaking of smooching...(apologies for the blurry photo but the photographer was overcome by emotion!) Hope you all enjoyed some love on the weekend too. x

Bush fires...

What a terrible, devastating weekend - the bushfires that have destroyed lives & homes have shocked us all. Thank god for the fire fighters who work tirelessly to help save people and properties. My heart goes out to all who are suffering, animals too. It was so sad to watch the news last night with the images of blackened towns and shattered faces imprinted in my mind as I went off to bed. I am so thankful for my family, our home, our lovely garden, our lucky lives.

It's hard to know how to go about things today - I am trying to be calm and understand that such alot of life is out of our control. Again I think of how lucky I am to have my beautiful family and friends, my lovely home in a fantastic community - it just makes me more determined to make the most of my life and to give to others where I can.

Speaking of giving - the Red Cross are organising donations for people affected by the bush fires

http://www.redcross.org.au/ so if you can please help.

How will the towns that have burnt rebuild, recover? Small communities have an amazing capacity to keep going & support each other. I was sad to see that Brian Naylor & his wife were killed, does anyone remember that catchy, and sometimes annoying, song "Brian told me so..!"? It was used to advertise the news in the 70's or 80"s(?) His friendly face would be familiar to many people who grew up with Brian reading the news.

Phew...what a weekend. I'm going to quietly go about my day now - more decluttering and sorting, spending time with my little Rosabella, feeding the chooks & all the little things that make up a day. And of course I am also sending out lots of good wishes and love to all those affected by the fires. x

The holidays are over...

....yes they are! After a week of extreme heat where life seemed to be on hold it's back to school, work & creche for my little brood. Numero Uno is back at school in the city which is always hard - I really miss her when she leaves. Beautiful Sunday is starting prep this year and went off to school looking like such a big school girl.

Billy & Lucy started in their new classes & it was nice to see all the people from school. I love our little school, it's such a friendly place.

So where does this leave me? I'm trying to get my head around it all and find some order in the chaos of mess left from the holidays, changing rooms and fixing up the bathroom. I'm really keen to get into some sewing but need to put all my sewing stuff into it's new space. Ideas are popping around my mind so I can't wait to be settled with everything in it's place and get stuck into some new bunnies and other bits. It feels quite odd not having any work on the go but I'm really enjoying looking at other people's work on all the lovely blogs I visit. It's so inspiring to see and aren't we lucky to be able to access all this creativity from the comfort of our own space. (Re comfort..computer is in our lounge room which at present has toast crusts on the floor, bits of random paper lurking over every surface, dvd's without cases, texta lids near my feet etc. Comfy? hmmm...)

Speaking of creativity it was lovely to bump into lilipili today at creche drop off. It's funny to suddenly see your fellow blogger in 'real life'. (What gorgeous children you have lilipili. Lets catch up sometime for a cuppa and a chat.) If you haven't already visited her blog then pop on over and have a look at all the beautiful things she makes.

Well it's time to get out of the house into some fresh country air (what a relief after last week!) & pick up my preppie. Thanks everyone for your lovely comments on my last post. Have a great day x