Are you all ready for Christmas?

Are you all ready for Christmas?

What the heck were we thinking, doing all this a week before Christmas!

Frog pond Farm is now on the market. 

View from the back looking to the Macedon Ranges.

We’ve decluttered and cleaned over the last few days, as though our lives depended on it.  A pre arranged visit from the estate agent and photographer forced us in to taking action thinking that we’d get all that out of the way and wait a few weeks or so before going “live”. But the whole prospect of doing it all again for prospective buyers was overwhelming, so we decided to just get on with it now.

I know. 

It’s Christmas.

People will be consumed by other things at the moment.

It’s holiday time and people DO go away.

It’s going to be a long, hot, dry summer.

The grass will turn yellow.

But sometimes we just do things on the spur of the moment…..very unlike me by the way. The biggest ponderer of all time. Our move to Metung was always going to happen. However, we didn’t think we’d get around to getting the ball rolling so soon.

Most of you will have moved house before I have no doubt, so you already know what’s involved. We have moved too I might add, eight times I think, however in our past lives, when Bill worked in the bank, the removalists came in and packed everything FOR us. 

We didn’t have to do a thing.

 They’d also unpack at the other end. We certainly didn’t have to get a property ready for inspection and selling. This is all new to us.

No wonder it’s on the list of Stressful Events in your Life.

Anyway, here we are in the midst of a selling and decluttering frenzy. 

Do you have any idea how much one can gather in 30 years?

Seriously. 

If anyone ends up with a Christmas present or a Christmas card this year, it’ll be a bonus.

It’s not that I’ve forgotten you, it’s just that I wouldn’t have a clue where they are in the house right now. I started a list of What Did We Do With That but that seems to have disappeared now too.

Some photos from the last couple of weeks. We spent a week at Metung helping Amy and Helen remove 18 trailer loads of green stuff from around their house.

At the farmhouse in Metung……

Here at Frog pond farm…..before we started panicking.

Some of our beautiful flowers.

A visit to Lavendula.

And another peek at the little cottage that’s about to become home as you follow the brick path from the farmhouse.

Some initial ponderings about how we might be able to get just a bit more space.

For those of you playing at home, note the size of those bedrooms. 

All suggestions most welcome.

Merry Christmas everyone.

 Thank you for being the readers of my recorded thoughts and photos. Hope you all come back here next year to follow our new venture in East Gippsland in spite of the fact that the updates are never very frequent. I want to get better at that. 

Yep. That’ll be me. 

And on that farm there was a …….Cottage

Here she is in all her glory.

Photo from real estate website.

Bill and I have gone head first into buying a 3.6 acre farmlet at Metung in East Gippsland  with Amy and Helen.

Settlement Day was August 31and we’ve all ( or just me ) been dreaming about it ever since.

A gorgeous old farmhouse and a detached cottage. 

Let me show you.

Front gate and turning circle with the Fairy Garden in the background.

The main entrance to the farmhouse.

Prior to moving in, the girls talked about how the farmhouse might be reconfigured ( we all love a bit of DIY) but after just a couple of days living in it as it is, they’ve chosen to go with this….

We think the farmhouse is about 80 years old and has had some interesting add-ons in its lifetime.

The girls will make it very cosy and comfortable with all their lovely bits nd pieces.

In fact , it already is.

We’d love to know the history of the cottage.

It has been used as a BnB for a number of months and the previous owner left it as it was, all fully furnished. It proved to be such a bonus for Bill and I whilst helping them with the move ( just 8 minutes drive from their previous home).

Mmmm, small’s right. Simple’s right. But we love it.

The pretty, winding path from the farmhouse to the cottage. The arbour is draped in jasmine, currently in flower.

Eventually, Bill and I will move down there too.

The space, the paddocks, the tress, the gardens, the sheds and structures, the views, the proximity to Lakes Entrance, Metung Village and Bairnsdale, the closeness to water in all its different forms…….and of course there’s Jack.

Our new little grandson who has captured our hearts.

Just four minutes to our own child friendly paddling beach.

Bill took on some farm duties helping Helen to refashion one of the sheds( of which there are many in all shapes and sizes ) into a chook house for their little chickens.

A picnic on the grass after construction.

Pearl.

Bill and Amy clipped some chicken wire to the bottom half of the wire fence perimeter to keep Pearl contained. Mmmm, that sounds easy enough.

500 metres of it!!!! 

The property is a paradise for children ( quote from Helen’s Dad)….and Pearl.

It’s a paradise for someone who loves native flowers too.

I was in seventh heaven.

This bunch was made up from a quick pick before we left on Tuesday.

Banksia flowers also from the farm at Metung. 

The orchard has a plethora of fruit trees starting to blossom now, so we’ll find out what they are as they fruit.

Oranges, lemons, mandarines ( tiny ones but oh so sweet), a passion fruit vine, a hot house, garden shed and veggie beds lol set up.

Helen picked these yesterday.

We celebrated Sam’s birthday in The Cottage on moving day.

And the following morning in the little courtyard area of the cottage with Jeremy who loaned us his big trailer and provided Bill, Sam and Helen with some most welcome lifting power.

I’ve tried to capture as many moments as I could have life on the farm from the very first day….

There’s an enormous tree at the back of the property. It stops you in your tracks.

We’re not sure what it is but we’re definitely going to do our best to find out.

May be this….

There’s been a marching into battle with the yuccas. Amy had the chainsaw out yesterday.

Beautiful vista of borrowed landscape versus yuccas. Mmmmm….?

I know which one I’d choose too.

We’re back home now and gathering our thoughts. Although my thoughts haven’t stopped gathering for weeks to be perfectly honest.

Flowers in the flower cart at Frog pond farm at the moment.

 One of my projects is to make a slip cover for the arm chairs in the cottage. We brought one home with us so that I could have a go. I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

 Oh by the way, the painting of the front of the house here at Frog pond farm is NEVER going to happen now for those of you who might be wondering.

Way too much other stuff going on.

My reading pile for the next few weeks when I’m not thinking.

This is me right now.

Hope I can get better at doing these blogs more often, especially with a whole lot of new things to share.

Have a lovely week everyone.