Two Days of Christmas at the Farm

Den and Raylene hosted our 2020 Britten family Christmas at their gorgeous old farmhouse in Dimboola.

Mum was picked up at 12 noon from Allambi and finally returned at 9pm even though she said she had her overnight bag packed and was happy to sleep on the floor!

Such a thrill for her to see everyone together again.....as it was for us.

 


It was a feast for the eyes.




The "pink-plastic-frog-in-the-glass" trick provided some friendly round the table competition. If you didn't get one in your Christmas bonbons this year, you most certainly will at some stage.

Mum had her turn.....

But it was Amy who took the prize.

She worked out the knack pretty quickly.

We shared gifts....

......and some of us even did a bit of exercise.




Tatelyn helped Ben bring the horses back to their home paddock.....

......and did a fabulous job helping Uncle Den with the dishes and being on door duty. 

But mostly we just sat around and enjoyed each other's company.


Ethan was the prize winner for the best helper on the day. 

The littlies all had boundless energy and kept us entertained.



We did our best to get an updated version of our much loved " Under the Mulberry Tree" photo of the cousins.

From this.......

To this......

Thirty years in between.

And now we have two more to add to this much loved group of cousins under the mulberry tree...

The family photo didn't get taken until Boxing Day so we're missing a few, but nevertheless here it is.

The usual getting into position and sorting out who goes where....

Amy telling Nana where she's supposed to be looking....




And finally, the best we could do. 

Mum with her sunburnt cheeks from Christmas Day!

The kind and thoughtful staff at Allambi included a folder for Mum to show us.

It was a joy to be all together again.

A true country Christmas in every way.

The sunset over the paddocks at the farm.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas break and health and happiness in 2021.  

Here come the roses

Just in time for Melbourne Cup Day.

Yellow roses are always associated with Cup Day. Pink roses on Oaks Day and red roses for Stakes Day.

Of all the roses we grow here, only one is yellow and it was here when we arrived. We think it's the Peace rose but that has never been verified. 

My research tells me that 16,000 roses are laboriously tended at Flemington. 

I can't even begin to get my head around that!

Plenty of yellow in other flowers we grow though.

A smattering of blooms from our roadside flower cart.......

Our first trip out of lockdown was to see Mum. 

It had been over seven months since we had seen her.

She is keeping well and was very happy to see us.

Then finally, a couple of weeks ago, a trip to Nungurner to see Amy and Helen. Once again it had been over seven months since we had seen them.

Gumnut Cottage was even better than we imagined in real life.

And of course there was fishing....

They came here for the long weekend and went home with a garden haul.

Mind you, you would never know that any plants were gone.

We visited the Garden of St Erth near Blackwood and came home with more plants. 

It was so nice having them here again. Sam and Helen have obviously overdosed on Pepsi!

Amy built a bird nesting box to give Bill for Father's Day. Bill loves the little pardalotes that visit here every now and again and this box is especially designed for their breed.

They are the tiniest of birds, measuring only ten centimetres long, but they have a big voice. They will frequently use man-made objects to nest in. They are native to Australia. 

This photo is from Bill's book of birds that he has photographed at Frogpond Farm.

Sam has also been building stuff. Another special order birdhouse.

And the bride wore pink.....

Leesa and Andy got married!

They surprised us with the news on a family zoom time.

Originally, they had planned an engagement party that we were all invited to and sadly, because of Covid restrictions that just didn't happen. So they decided to go ahead with their secret wedding business anyway. 

We might need to do a re-enactment at Christmas.

We are all very happy for them.

We had snow!

And a cute little visitor that wandered up the driveway and checked out our woodpile at the front door.

A huge eucalypt was blown over on one of our recent windy days. It required some serious chain sawing and removal. More wood for our open fire.

Sometimes it's just about the name.

Can't wait to see what it looks like in real life. I poked about ten seeds in at random places in the rose garden. I had meant to mark them with wooden skewers but forgot, so now I wouldn't have a clue where they are. I'll probably think they're a weed and pull them out. Planting the seed straight into the garden is not my strong point! 

Amy has been in Spring racing mode this week with her Fashions on Zoom for work.

I suspect she can't actually see anything out of those glasses but I'm loving them anyway.....and that pink lipstick!

Have a great week everyone.