Home Sweet Home { Mum's House }

Well, a days worth of flying. It finds me on the opposite end of our very vast country. And in an entirely different world. Mild weather. Lush green. Flowers. Civilisation. Home.

Nothing quite compares to your family home. Regardless of where you move to. Nothing changes. You return to the same bed that you always slept in. This time with a sleeping toddler in a portacot beside you. And a second daughter in your sisters room next door. Not much different at all really.

My daughters, are experiencing a bout of sickness. Norovirus. There has been plenty of vomiting going on here. Mum has caught the bug, and is also unwell. I'm still waiting for it to catch me. I think it's only a matter of time. I've been quite in the thick of things.

In the meantime, while my daughters sleep off all of their exhaustion. A chance to take a quick walk through Mum's garden. A house, and a garden, that is truly worthy of it's own blog. Inside and out. Certainly more than my company home that is our current residence.

Not just our family home. But our family house. Built by my Great Great Grandparents when they first arrived to Tasmania from Australia. It is a home, special to us in many ways. One we are privileged to still be able to call our own. Even if it is, as all federation homes can be, bigger than you need them to be, with more garden than you necessarily have time to care for, in need of constant maintenance, and impossible to keep warm inside. 

But the charm, and history of this house still outweighs everything for now. I love coming home to here. It is a slice of our family history that we are lucky to have back in the family. That I was privileged to have grown up in. I love looking at trees, and bushes, and knowing that my ancestors first planted that. This place holds so many memories, not just for myself and my siblings. But also for my Grandfather, who spent his childhood here, visiting his Grandparents. Not many people, get the chance to revisit whenever they please, pieces of their past like that.

So a tour of Mum's garden. It is the kind of garden, full of all sorts of different nooks and crannies. Where visiting grand-daughters, and their imaginations, can quite easily turn it into a fairy garden in their own little minds.

Mum asked me to not take photos of the weeds, but in a garden like this, weeds are aplenty. Even if you're in the garden most weekends. So excuse the weeds please!!

The arbour where my husband and I were married. 

My Great Great Grandmother standing in front of the house circa 1925.

The house was built in 1908.

Where Do You Write? { My Best Stuff Happens in Bed, and After Midnight Apparently}

Where can I find you right now?

Poised at a desk?
Slouched on the couch?
At your dining table?
In one of those cute, pinterest worthy little nooks or office spaces?

Where do I write? I'm the couch person. Or the dining table person. Who am I kidding? I'm really, mostly just the couch person.

But where do I do my best writing? I do my best work in bed, and after midnight it seems. My three most popular posts that I've written since starting my blog ( The Best Friend, A Mummy Vacation, A Red Adventure ), all written on my iPhone, while I'm tucked in bed, unable to sleep, my husband snoring soundly, children are sleeping, and my mind is unravelling.

Go figure!

Where do you do your best writing?

Wanna Munna and Aboriginal Rock Carvings

We are lucky to be surrounded by so many beautiful sites around town. Wanna Munna, has to be one of my favourites. With so much rain lately, the small waterhole was just stunning. With fresh, clear water, and even a small waterfall. It was the perfect picnic spot to our day.

There are hundreds of rock carvings in and around this waterhole. It was a beautiful art site. A reminder of the ancient culture, that once prospered in this area. And the traditions that were once such a prominent part of Aboriginal lifestyle.

Despite living here. And being surrounded by a lot of Aboriginal folk in town. It can be easy at times to forget this beautiful part of their history. And the realities. That this is really their land. They know it better. Explored it's ways deeper. And resonate with it spiritually more than many other Australians ever will.

Now that the girls are starting to get a little older, coming to waterholes like this is getting simpler. We arrive with less stuff then we used to. We can leave home almost on a whim to close by waterholes like this. And while the water is still an obvious hazard (I do watch the girls like a hawk), I feel a little more relaxed about it all. My eldest, less likely to run off unannounced. Our youngest, in a clingy, likes to be nearby phase. Both stay close by, and aren't at an age where they are inclined to wander (a big touchwood after that statement).

Either way, spots like this we can all really enjoy now. Especially the cool water on hot days like we're having now.

The Rains are 'Ere

The hot weather has really arrived now. But so has the wet season. And with it, marvellous storms and downpours. Despite the stifling heat, I am actually (surprisingly), enjoying this time of the year. The contrast in the weather on stormy days is truly beautiful. Worthy of a cup of tea, and a sit down, to watch and enjoy.

Stormy weather comes on so quickly. It floods our yard, almost immediately. Rivers go from dry to flowing overnight. Only to disappear again just as quickly with the heat. The road trip down Fortescue River, that we did only recently, wouldn't be quite possible anymore. You certainly would not want to find yourself, camped on the river, if a storm came on suddenly.

Flowing water is a novelty up here. People head to the river, to see if it's full, flowing. And make random trips to find their own little spot to swim and relax by the water. Sometimes it doesn't always go so quite to plan!

Not quite the beachy blue sea we have been used to, but beautiful in it's own way!

The Garden Share Collective { January }

Joining up with Lizzie from The Strayed Table for our monthly Garden Share Collective.

Well, what a month my vegetable garden has had.

We returned to civilisation (Perth) for a brief holiday. And came home to a vegetable garden in disrepair. Windswept and totally dried out. In fact completely and utterly sun kissed. The plants had obviously missed my twice daily watering by hand. And red back spiders had created lots of little webs in and underneath a lot of our outdoor belongings. A complete and total manic working bee was required. To tidy the garden and rid the yard of red backs. Insects like these, that can potentially be very dangerous, always make me worry with our two daughters running around.

And then we welcomed in the New Year with a cyclone. The cyclone changed course before reaching our small town, but we still received a lot of rain and heavy winds. Which again played complete havoc with my garden. Whiplashing my already struggling sweetcorn and sunflowers. And my tomatoes too. And the heavy rains, washing away the new seeds I'd planted the week before.

Between the excessive heat, overbearing sun, and all that rain and wind, well my garden is looking a little worse for wear. In need of some TLC. The corn is looking a little unhealthy, the sunflowers died, and the tomatoes and cucumbers all had to be tended too, tidied and broken stems removed.

But there are some positives. We've had an abundance of tomatoes, some chillies and our purple runner beans are close to ready. Spring onion, pumpkin, zucchini and sunflower seeds have been replanted. And no more red back spiders have been sighted.

And I received a new gardening set from Mum for Christmas. Which I love. Thanks Mum!

All's well again with the vegetable garden. Aside from my corn. Any ideas what is wrong with it? Is it just sun bleached? Entirely possible with our weather at the moment.

Big Boys and Their Toys

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you would know that since we've been living here, that we try to get outdoors as much as we can, to enjoy and appreciate all the beauty that is our Pilbara surroundings. And my husband bought himself a new toy, the bumpy car so that it was possible for us to venture out of town on the red dirt roads around us.

Before we moved to these parts, let me tell you, that in no way was I an outdoorsy, camping, 4WD kind of girl. And I'm still not. But I do try to make an effort. And at least look like I'm enjoying myself while paddling in red water, sweating up a storm, swatting too many flies away from my face, and getting red dirt between my toes, and who knows where else.

But then sometimes, it's just all too much. Too friggin' hot. Way too many flies hanging around. The water is as warm as a bath to swim in. The red sand is so hot it almost burns your feet. And your drink turns warm almost as soon as you've grasped it in your hand.

There was absolutely nothing refreshing about today's drive down the river. Zero. Zip. The girls and I asked to go to the town pool for a swim (the blue rock pool as called by my daughter). But my husband suggested we go here. Really not the same kind of thing. Not a cool, clear, blue water pool in sight.

The worst possible day for a drive in the bumpy car. A hot 42 degrees, and in the middle of the day too. But he just had to take the bumpy car out and explore a little. Maybe I could attribute that to his morning spent sitting on the couch watching cricket. Either way, the photo above clearly sums up what the three of us girls all thought about that. Get us into a cool pool or some air conditioned comfort now. Please. 

Which he did, straight after this photo. Well, that is after taking 15 minutes to fold down the canopy and then eventually having to remove the nuisance rod that wouldn't collapse down. Finally giving up, and jamming it into the car, with a third of the pole hanging out of the window so that we could leave already.

Boys and their toys!

Jumping in Muddy Puddles

This week has brought with it, our first cyclone warning, tropical cyclone Christine. Something to bring in the New Year with. While not in the direct path of the cyclone, we had all the accompanying wind and rain that went with it.

Mother nature can be an exhilarating thing in these parts. While we are extremely grateful that nobody was injured, and no property was damaged, we are also extremely excited for other things. The chance to jump in muddy puddles (yes, just like Peppa Pig). To wear our rain coats. Our gumboots (Miss A's feet seem to have grown again, time to go shopping). And to do a little rain dance. All a novelty to us now.

Hope you enjoyed a relaxing first day of 2014!