Upon Reflection...

October, be gone with you!

It's been a month of extreme highs and lows.

We started the month of with a party and catered for a beloved aunt's 90th birthday. A wonderful celebration shared with seventy family and friends. Craig closely guards his salt & pepper squid recipe but I swear NEVER again for that size crowd. I think I said that last time we did it. It's a real crowd pleaser and often asked for but if anyone asks ever again, I'm handing them the recipe and they can do that one themselves!

A measure of our love for you dear Mae/Miss Mamie/Nin xxx

We did get a couple strides forward in the garden...

And in the house...

I got to work with some amazing ladies to bring together a High Tea for 100 people with Fashion Parade as a fund raiser for Kidney Health Australia. Not only did we raise funds but the guest speaker from "Donate Life" educated our guests about organ donation and we boosted the profiles of four local small businesses. I would like to thank Wysteria Lane of Longford, Miss Nicola, Blue Illusion and Gazman of Launceston for providing a top notch parade and givig so much of their time and prize donations too. I would also like to thank the models from Sue Rees Modelling who also gave up so much of their time for a good cause.

My heart swells thinking of so much generosity and support.

I don't wish to dwell on the down side but their is a lesson here to be learnt though.

Many of us pooled our resources and loaned fine china and silverware to enhance the high tea experience. Unfortunately some of the precious china went "missing". A set of 6 to be exact. I don'y want to talk about karma because that feels so hollow. Let's just say lesson learnt while we try to swallow down the disappointment.

As I left for the Kidney fundraiser that morning, the waters were once again rising after a significant rainfall over night. I phoned the shearer when the event was over bar the shouting to learn things were not good at home. I abandoned the washing up and made haste towards home....

until the engine light came on.

I pulled over and checked the oil of my tired old engine and debated whether to spend precious minutes turning the car out of the wind in order to fill it. Another lesson learned. I gambled and tried to shield the oil stream from gusting winds with my body.

Snort! I'm wide but not that effective as a wind shield. The oil spilled onto the engine and you can guess...

it caught alight.

I carry a pair of pyjama bottoms for a rag so I must have looked a right sight flailing these trying to smother the flames between the radiator and engine. Anyway, long story short, the shearer came to rescue me but it was a sorry sight back at home. 

While it didn't make it all the way into the house, the out buildings were all flooded as the water rose very quickly. Luckily our daughter and SIL were up for the weekend and able to take quick action.

Our losses could have been much greater than our three oldest ladies. Poor girls, the cold water rose so swiftly that by the time they realised the danger and it was up to their belly feathers they weren't able to jump into the trees for shelter. 

Huge thanks also to our neighbours who came swiftly to our aid and got a lot of things to dry land and housed our ride on mower in their garage. Big love.

So October, you've been great, tumultuous and trying, exciting and busy but I'm glad to be moving into November. 

Whispers From The Other Side

This is our last major room to remediate and our project for winter. It has been "affectionately" dubbed, "The Pissoire". Although we have already scrubbed walls and floors several times with an enzyme destroying solution, the smell remains quite strong and I suspect we will have to remove the render from the alcoves either side of the fireplace.

BUT, a strange thing happened....

Yesterday I walked in here and I swear I could smell bread baking.

I didn't move from my spot, I just stood, and took a moment to enjoy being in this room for the very first time. The sun was streaming in the window and the smell of fresh bread wafted. So certain was I that I could even pinpoint it wasn't quite baked and had about 20 minutes to go. Do you know what I mean?

In the next room is a bread oven. This house, when it was first built, must have supplied baked bread to quite a few in the district this side of the river. and almost certainly to the original hospital across the road (and that's another story...). The oven is of significant size and so is the cooking fireplace. I suspect in it's very original form and intent, this house fed many more than just the inhabitants. 

It lasted no more than a minute, as I turned my head and smiled, looking into all the corners, the smell receded.....Was it a trick of the light? Did I momentarily pick up a time thread? Whatever or however you explain it, I'm taking it as a sign of positive encouragement.