Spring Fashions

Dear Great Gran,

Ruth has been sporting some great new clobber lately. Last weekend Nana Sue delivered in person the great stripey jumper and hat she knitted - but I don't have a photo of it yet.

Here Ruth is wearing the jumper that Marg knitted for her. They are reading a book that used to terrify me when I was in primary school.
Another view of the Marg jumper below - Ruth is helping tidy up the dead hakea from the front yard. Today we planted a quince tree next to where the hakea was and it was certainly time to plant - as there are lots of plum and wattle blossoms out around the house. The daffodils also came up last week but they were promptly souvineered by our industrious garden assistant!
Finally, Ruth loves wearing the smocks that you made but - be warned! - the next photo is not for any one with delicate sensibilities. You can see the result of Julie letting Ruth feed herself two bowls of borsch and then Ruth deciding it was the right time to sing "Head & Shoulders" with all the actions!
much love
Brendan

Swarm at Towrang

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.

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.