Dear Gran,
Ruth and I were expelled from the house today by Brendan, who wanted some time to work on his thesis. Luckily there was an Anderson family swarm happening up the road for us to go to. Marg, Jan, Paul, Sean, and Sandra were at the farm--- not to mention Sam, Jack and Preston, much to Ruth's delight.
We had a lovely time--- Ruth saw cows, caterpillars, an alpaca, and a sheep, and also helped Jan and Marg load their car up with firewood (we will blame her twig if their suspension breaks on the trip back). Sandra made sausage rolls for lunch and there was leftover plum pudding, made to Hugh's recipe.
Much love,
Julie.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Binalong
Dear Gran,
We have some outings to catch up on: a fortnight ago we cycled to a nearby town, Binalong, to stay the night. This time we were accompanied by our friends Dan and Allison (with their kids Vida and Oscar), Ian and Bec (with baby Pippa), and David.
We stayed in the old pub, which has been reopened as a guesthouse.
Actually, when I say "we cycled", only David and I set off from Canberra. We had a brilliant morning's ride--- it was a fine cold day with a little tailwind, and we felt like we would be in Broken Hill for lunch. We found a back road to take us to Yass, past sheep and large old homesteads.
After lunch, we were joined by Bec and Dan as we cycled along an old stock route.
Then I got two punctures, and my second spare tube had a hole in it already. Of course I only realised this once I'd put it on my bike! Fortunately this was within five kilometers of Binalong, and Allison happened to be driving past, so she picked me up for the last little bit. Brendan and Ruth drove there too. At 100km each way, with some of it on narrow highway and some of it on the Hume, weren't sure that the trailer would be such a good idea. Ruth was very pleased that the guesthouse had chickens and ducks as part of a permaculture garden.
Here you can see her and Vida looking at the pond.
The guesthouse was excellent--- the proprieters made us a three course dinner and hearty breakfast.
Here is a picture from the return journey.
We didn't get started as early the next morning, so by dusk on Sunday we were still on the road.
This is the back country near Canberra, looking towards the Brindabellas and the Murrumbidgee. In fact at this point we weren't sure whether we were lost or not--- our map didn't extend to this part of the road and we didn't know whether the road would meet up with the main road again. It wasn't until after sunset that we met the highway, and cycled the last 20 or so kilometers in the dark. It was getting colder and colder but it was somehow an exhilarating finish.
All photos except the first were taken by David, who is an excellent photographer. He has a website with more photos here .
Much love,
Julie.
We have some outings to catch up on: a fortnight ago we cycled to a nearby town, Binalong, to stay the night. This time we were accompanied by our friends Dan and Allison (with their kids Vida and Oscar), Ian and Bec (with baby Pippa), and David.
We stayed in the old pub, which has been reopened as a guesthouse.
Actually, when I say "we cycled", only David and I set off from Canberra. We had a brilliant morning's ride--- it was a fine cold day with a little tailwind, and we felt like we would be in Broken Hill for lunch. We found a back road to take us to Yass, past sheep and large old homesteads.
After lunch, we were joined by Bec and Dan as we cycled along an old stock route.
Then I got two punctures, and my second spare tube had a hole in it already. Of course I only realised this once I'd put it on my bike! Fortunately this was within five kilometers of Binalong, and Allison happened to be driving past, so she picked me up for the last little bit. Brendan and Ruth drove there too. At 100km each way, with some of it on narrow highway and some of it on the Hume, weren't sure that the trailer would be such a good idea. Ruth was very pleased that the guesthouse had chickens and ducks as part of a permaculture garden.
Here you can see her and Vida looking at the pond.
The guesthouse was excellent--- the proprieters made us a three course dinner and hearty breakfast.
Here is a picture from the return journey.
We didn't get started as early the next morning, so by dusk on Sunday we were still on the road.
This is the back country near Canberra, looking towards the Brindabellas and the Murrumbidgee. In fact at this point we weren't sure whether we were lost or not--- our map didn't extend to this part of the road and we didn't know whether the road would meet up with the main road again. It wasn't until after sunset that we met the highway, and cycled the last 20 or so kilometers in the dark. It was getting colder and colder but it was somehow an exhilarating finish.
All photos except the first were taken by David, who is an excellent photographer. He has a website with more photos here .
Much love,
Julie.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Winter Escapades
Dear Great Gran,
Julie has a new toy - a bike luggage trailer that was given to us by a friend who built it himself several years ago. I suspect the friend has become a bit embarrassed to own the trailer now that he makes and sells much flasher trailers and bikes for a living. Julie has been using the trailer to getting some hay and manure for the veggie garden (seen under construction in the background.)
Ruth has enjoyed "hay rides" around the backyard on the trailer. I think she poses just like the chariot drivers from Ben Hur.
Saturday, three weeks ago found us dining al fresco, as they say in France, with Ian, Heather, Grumpa, Nana, mussels, bread and wine. It has generally been much too cold since to attempt such sedentary outdoor activities!
Ruth has recently taken to grabbing Julie's scarves and declaring them to be "Ruthies" before running around the house with them over her head (pictured below). Other times she runs around with the scarves over her face until she crashes into something hard and cries. I mention this last point to counter any rumours that you may have heard about Ruth showing early signs of great intellect.
Drawing has recently been added to Ruth's list of favourite activities (obsessions), along with books, fridge magnets, piano playing, playing with water, birds and dogs. She has been drawing with pencils inside and with chalk outside.
I hasten to add that some of the above drawings are not entirely by Ruth's own hand. They were however executed by her studio assistants under her close direction and supervision i.e. directions like "Bird, here!", "Doggie, here!" and "Toddler, here!". And she makes many of the finishing touches herself.
much love
Brendan
Julie has a new toy - a bike luggage trailer that was given to us by a friend who built it himself several years ago. I suspect the friend has become a bit embarrassed to own the trailer now that he makes and sells much flasher trailers and bikes for a living. Julie has been using the trailer to getting some hay and manure for the veggie garden (seen under construction in the background.)
Ruth has enjoyed "hay rides" around the backyard on the trailer. I think she poses just like the chariot drivers from Ben Hur.
Saturday, three weeks ago found us dining al fresco, as they say in France, with Ian, Heather, Grumpa, Nana, mussels, bread and wine. It has generally been much too cold since to attempt such sedentary outdoor activities!
Ruth has recently taken to grabbing Julie's scarves and declaring them to be "Ruthies" before running around the house with them over her head (pictured below). Other times she runs around with the scarves over her face until she crashes into something hard and cries. I mention this last point to counter any rumours that you may have heard about Ruth showing early signs of great intellect.
Drawing has recently been added to Ruth's list of favourite activities (obsessions), along with books, fridge magnets, piano playing, playing with water, birds and dogs. She has been drawing with pencils inside and with chalk outside.
I hasten to add that some of the above drawings are not entirely by Ruth's own hand. They were however executed by her studio assistants under her close direction and supervision i.e. directions like "Bird, here!", "Doggie, here!" and "Toddler, here!". And she makes many of the finishing touches herself.much love
Brendan
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