NEARLY 2016

CHRISTMAS IN CANBERRA.

We arrived home Monday evening after a long day of driving and it's taken me till today to catch up with a post of my own.
Our son and partner spoilt us with lovely food.

Lunchtime ham.

Teatime dessert.

Christmas afternoon was spent playing  trivia games and watching a DVD called Oddball, which I'd given to them.  Although they had actually seen it before (I hadn't), we all enjoyed.
Saturday afternoon, during a thunderstorm and downpour, we sat and watched a series of Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit which was showing on one of our local channels.
Sunday was spent down by the Cotter River having a picnic and playing in the water, but not hubby or I as we didn't want to walk on the stones in bare feet, so I played "with" the stones and took lots of photos along the river.  Some I can't show as they are of the grandchildren.

Just a few pics around the river.

I played with stones, whilst B1 and Little E splashed in the water.

My miniature cairn.

Pretty heart shaped stone.

A cicada shell I found.  I find this sort of stuff fascinating, and so did the kids.

As we drove back to J & D's we decided to stop for afternoon tea.  We stopped at Mount Stromlo, where there is an observatory complex along side part of the university.  I remember going here as a child.  The 2003 bushfires which hit Canberra, burnt through this site too.  A few photos below.

Back of this building had housed a cafe, which is now closed, so we had to go to the Arboretum for coffee, which I've blogged about before.

The view from the mountain.

Remains of one building after the fires.

The Original Directors House.

This house was built in 1929 and suffered bad damage in the fires, but they have stabilised it and if you click on the photo above you can see the pics on the mantel showing original, fire damage and now.  I could write more, but will leave it at that.  There is a lot more here than just these bits and we'll explore more next time we are in Canberra.

HOME AGAIN.

Monday was a very long day, quite warm and via a very winding back road.  Won't be doing that again.
Tuesday was loads of washing and shopping.  Tuesday evening I finally opened my parcel containing my 12 Days of Christmas Swap.  Oh, what a lovely surprise I had opening my first four little parcels.

My packages on the floor.

What I've opened so far (actually today will be 7, but I'll do 4 at a time).  The gorgeous tree decoration is Merry Christmas in Welsh.  Jo lives in Wales.  Along side this is a notebook with owl and cute pencil.  Then, oh my, Tunnocks teacakes and Yorkshire tea, which we drink when on special.  Jo knitted the 2 little face cloths and the pretty ball contains nail cream.  Who's a lucky lady?

Wednesday I made use of the cool of the morning and made some, you guessed, 'blueberry muffins' and a rather crumbly chocolate fruit slice.  I don't have a good time with this oven.  It doesn't even take a full size biscuit tray and I swear and curse having to cook 6 biscuits at a time, instead of at least a dozen.  Never mind.

Well it is now New Years Eve and our weather station tells me it is 40.3deg outside, but we have our cooler on and although there is no outlet in the study, it is a "LOT" cooler in the house than out there.
Sorry this is top heavy with photos, but I've 2 more to show.

Sorry about the quality here, but he kept moving.  We spotted this little lizard on some paving up at Mount Stromlo.  He's about 8" long and was so cute.

My Eryngium which I brought over from Ballarat as 2 little plantlets from one I had growing.  The other is just throwing up a flower spike.  Isn't it  a beautiful colour.

I'm sure everyone is now tired of my ramblings.  I had thought about doing a review of the year and realised Id set myself some challenges, which haven't really happened.  Maybe over the weekend I'll sort through some things and see what I did manage to finish.  I know one thing I've not shown, which is nearly a finish.
I do hope you all have a great start to the New Year.  Hopefully the rain and storms will ease up in the UK and our weather won't be quite as warm.  Wishes eh!
Take care all.
Susan.