Summer days

Yesterday our family headed to Melbourne for a long overdue family gathering. We met our lovely extended family at a big park in Elsternwick and I finally met my cousin's new baby, Lily. Isn't she adorable? It was so good to see all my cousins and aunt's and uncles, and of course my brother & his family who are visiting from Hobart.

Back home it seems that summer has finally arrived!

 So today I spent lots of time in the garden, while the kids played, inside & out.

Rosie could be outside all day, she has so much energy. She watered the apple tree for me and jumped in the pool ten thousand times.

Our two apple trees are covered in fruit so I am keen to get nets over at least one of them before the birds discover them. The year before last we had so many apples that I took boxes to school for Fruit Munch.

At our school the kids break for fruit every day at 10 o'clock,  I love this idea, does your school do something similar?

Being outside today was very therapeutic, I love our garden. The recent heavy rain means my roses are looking lovely and my vegies are thriving.

Yay for hanging washing outside! Tragically this is one of my favourite things to do. It's so peaceful out there by the line, just me and the blue sky. 

 Until nutcase Freddie appears and chases Daisy round the garden! Actually it's quite funny and Daisy is not at all phased by being attacked continuously by a mad duck.

Speaking of Freddie I noticed today that he and his girls have finally found the bath I set up for them several months ago. Perhaps the hot weather was the clincher. Anyway, they seem to be enjoying themselves!

Are you on holidays too? I'm enjoying just mooching around, staying in bed late in the morning with a nice hot cup of tea and then seeing what the day will bring. I've been walking every day and that is making me feel good, good, good! I've decided to walk every day, even if it's just a small one, and so far I'm doing well. I walked down to Hepburn, along the fire track today, arriving hot and sweaty at my mum's, but feeling happy & satisfied. I hope I can keep up my walking in 2011, it really clears my head and helps me sleep. Do you have any things you plan to do in the new year?  Hope all is well with you dear friends, see you soon xo

Endings & beginnings

Did you celebrate Christmas? Are you having a relaxing time lately? I love the post Christmas period, the sleepy days where we all just mooch around & the pressure is off. I've been enjoying looking at photo's from the last couple of weeks too, here is Rosie on her last day at kinder/creche. She started in the Possum room as a one year old and moved her way through all the fantastic rooms, to become a big kinder girl. We will miss our local childcare centre where the staff have become friends and there is so much space for free play, adventures & fun. I had a few tears as we said goodbye, endings & beginnings can be hard can't they?

On Christmas Eve we went to an annual gathering up on Wombat Hill with some lovely locals. The kids played cricket, we ate and drank and had a ball.

If you are in the Daylesford area the Botanical Gardens are so worth a visit. Lots of beautiful heritage trees to enjoy and winding paths that lead you along, it's a kind of wonderland.

We have had fun this week, opening pressies and being together. The kids were so excited to all receive on of Jess's creatures on Christmas day!!

They have joined my two, Moby & Pearl, and we now have a whole family!! Billy's turtle, Larry, is a real superstar and I suspect he is the ring leader of the bunch. Aren't they fantastic? Thanks Jess, we love them so much.

Christmas Day was spent at Hepburn on Mum's deck, 

eating,

smiling,

hanging out together (here are my two favourite Bill's),

and generally being festive! We invited our neighbour, Fiona, and her sons and together

with our extended family we had a great day.

Lucy

The weather was perfect and the food was delicious.  I hope you are having a happy time lately, I wonder what the new year will bring? I'm looking forward to starting a fresh new year, I hope that it will be a great one for us all. With one daughter starting uni & one starting school there are sure to be lots of new things happening. I'm wondering where 2011 will take me too, perhaps it's the start of new things for me as well. Enjoy your last few days of 2010, see you soon lovely friends xo

Everyone's a winner baby...

Hi everyone! How are you? 

 Look who we saw up a tree today near our house today! Isn't she sweet? We don't see that many koala's around Daylesford so this was a special event!

It's all very Christmassy this week, the streets are quieter, and the general vibe is more relaxed, I think we are all starting to wind down. One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the Daylesford Brass Band who play carols for us every year, right outside our house! How fantastic. They travel in a bus all around the area, stopping randomly to spread some Christmas cheer.

Guess what? Today is the day to pick out some winners from my giveaway! Woo hoo!

I just loved reading about everyone's childhood toys, so many gorgeous stories about beloved friends.

Each time I thought I had a favourite then another would come along that stole my heart.

Giraffes, monkey's, teddies, dolls, a red donkey, doll houses, a camel,

so many beautiful memories of childhood. It was lovely to read too, that most people still had their toys. Boy would I love to see some photo's!

Moving right along....lets get ourselves some winners!  Thank you all so much for entering and sharing your stories with me, I wish I could give you all a bunny or a doll! First cab off the rank is the lovely Tea Pea, who told us about her doll, Sparkle Eyes. Tea Pea had won the red & blue bunny! Yay! Tea Pea honey you will have to contact me as I can't access your email. Then we have gorgeous Jennie from A Little Vintage who has won the grey bunny, congratulations Jennie! And lastly, I'm excited to say that Jenniejen will be receiving a Susannah doll, well done! I will email you all and send off your new friends asap.

So there you go, another giveaway done & dusted and another year almost gone. I'm looking forward to 2011, I'm sure there will be many new adventures for us all. For me it will mark the start of a new life as Rosie begins school, just as Charlotte finishes. I'm not sure what I will be doing yet but I'm happy to take the summer to think about what direction my life will take. Thank you to everyone for all their comments over this year, I really love to read every one, to me you are all winners. Whether you are celebrating Christmas or not I hope you get to enjoy some happy times with your loved ones, because really that is what it is all about. Much love to you all, see you soon xo

rainy days

It's been a funny old weekend. I got up super early on Saturday morning to drive up to Callawadda to harvest our garlic crop. Michelle & I arrived to find a pretty depressing sight,  a lot of the garlic had rotted and about a third hadn't formed into individual cloves yet. Not enough sun and too much rain meant that this year has been a real dud. We did salvage some garlic, and some shallots though. We ended up leaving the silver skin in the ground (you can see if above, behind the shallots) & we'll go back in a few weeks to see if it has divided. Fingers crossed.

Although it was disappointing for us we are lucky that it isn't our main occupation. I really feel for all the farmers who have had a terrible year, whose crops have failed, who have been affected by the torrential rain and lack of sun. What a tough life it is.

So all of a sudden we had finished pulling out garlic and it was only 11.30! We hung out for a while with Terry, who was crutching sheep,

checked out the new sheep dogs, 

 and William's new buggy.

Back home it's been raining all day and I'm well & truly sick of it.

I'm hanging out for some sunny days and blue skies.

Have you had a look in my shop lately? There are some lovely bunnies

looking for good homes so do have a peek.

And don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

It's not too late,

bye for now lovely friends, I hope all is well in your world,

see you soon xo

Angels & other creatures

It's been an eventful day today! We had a lovely visit with Santa this morning, he was in fine form and so friendly. He gave the girls paper angel wings and chatted with them for ages. But someone was missing...

oh there he is! Bill wandered off looking for books but we found him and convinced him to have a photo. Char stayed home, she had her fair share of Santa photo's when she was little!  The visit to Santa was so much fun and a nice distraction from a rather scary event this morning. I was out the back checking on the chickens, and having a cry about Henrietta, who didn't survive the night. Her injuries were too severe and she didn't make it. Poor chookie. I'm glad at least that she was back home and died quietly in the night, curled up in the straw in the chook pen. Anyway, I then found myself looking at my tomatoes and as I kneeled down to have a closer look this is what I saw...

...a snake caught up in the netting I had put over the vegies. Ahhh!!! I guess it hadn't been dead long and although I felt sorry for it I was also glad I hadn't come out a bit earlier, who knows what might have happened. This was a timely reminder that we live in the country and that we are entering snake season.

The kids all had a look and we went through what to do if they find a snake. Lets hope we don't see any more. I don't have anything against snakes but I'd rather they didn't visit our garden!

Guess what? There are four new bunnies in the shop!!

Do pop over and have a look, Freya is waiting to say hi!

And so is Angel, above.

By the way I am LOVING the stories about your childhood toys, it's so much fun hearing all the different dolls, teddies & other play things. It would make a fascinating book, wouldn't it? Each story is so unique but all have a similar theme of love & comfort & fun & childhood. Thanks so much for sharing your memories with me. My giveaway is on until next week so do enter if you haven't, or feel free to mention it on your blog.

Hope you are having a happy week, see you soon xo

Lucy & Chloe

Hey, hey, hey, it's a Dandelion Giveaway!

Hi lovely friends! How is your week going? I have been SO tired but am feeling a bit better today. The girls helped me with some bunny business this morning, there are two new bunnies in the shop and I will be putting more in the shop this week so keep an eye out!

There is this little sweetie pie

and this pirate fella, both can be sent asap, ready for Christmas! I will be adding more bunnies every day, a lovely purple girl, and a sweet pink one too. Oh and the baby blue one...& lots of others!

And as I'm feeling so happy and festive today,

and also as a thank you to all my lovely friends out there, I have decided to have a giveaway! Woo hoo!

I also noticed this morning that I am almost up to 300 posts, and have almost 300 followers! That's pretty exciting too.

So here's the thing, all you have to do is tell me a little about your favourite toy from when you were a child.  Do you still have it? What was it's name? I loved my toys and still do. Helen Holiday, Floppy, Knitted Horsey & Looby Lou were some of my faves. If you are a follower you get an extra entry of course. The giveaway will be drawn next week so you have plenty of time to enter.

You might win one of three things! This green bunny that my helpful assistant is snuggling with,

            .... or this dear bunny above, or one of my Susannah dolls, pictured below with Sunday!

Thanks for all your comments & thoughts this year, I always love to hear from you. I love the support, humour, kindness, generosity & love that is out there in blog land, what a wonderful community it is.

Good luck & see you soon! xo