2012

I have plans for 2012.

In 2012 I will pay off my bank loan!  This is special since once that's out of the way, I'll be able to start saving.  I have so many things I want to do, and to be financially free is the beginning.

In 2012, I'm travelling.  A seaside holiday in March, a trip to Kakadu in July.  It's been nearly 20 years since I was last in Darwin, and I'm excited to see how much I remember, and how much it's changed since I was 8.

In 2012, I will keep gardening.  In the three months since we've moved to a new house, we have done so much work on it, and it's only the beginning!  Right now we've only got lettuces, but soon the broccoli will be ready to harvest, and the tomatoes, and the beans, and pumpkins and zucchinis.  !!!

In 2012, I am going to see some music.  PJ Harvey this month at MONA FOMA, and Justin Townes Earle in Melbourne in April.  I hope there'll be more shows, and I hope I discover some new bands, too!

In 2012, I will spend time with my family and my friends.  My mama and her sister are visiting in couple of weeks, and I can't wait to see them.  I'll make time for coffee dates, and for long phone/Skype conversations with friends further afield.  I'll also take the time to remember and honour friends and family who are no longer here.

In 2012, I will cook and eat delicious food, in delicious company.

In 2012, I will keep driving and working towards getting my license.

In 2012, I will be kind and generous, thoughtful and considered, peaceful and joyful.


New Years Rulin's by Woody Guthrie, shared with me by my mother-in-law.

Things are happening here.  New house, new seasons, birthdays.  I feel restless and carefree, and I love how the warm breeze feels on my bare skin.

This is the view from my new bedroom window.  I can't see the water anymore but the sun setting over the hills is just as pretty.

Ma & Pa

This afternoon I was poking around on the internet and came across some photos of my parents that I'd never seen before.

They were taken before they married, when they were at university together.  It's always weird to think of my parents having lives before my brothers and I came along, so it was wonderful to catch a glimpse of their former selves.  My mother looks so cute with her perm, and I love the way she's looking back at the photographer.  The man next to my father with the fantastic handlebar moustache would be best man at my parents' wedding a couple of years later, and he and my parents are still close friends today.

I'm going to print these pictures and stick them up, I reckon!

Mt Field.

Today we went up to Mt Field National Park.  We had intended to drive to Lake Dobson and walk to the Tarn Shelf, but it was snowing heavily and the road was slushy and boggy.  Oliver was worried his little car wouldn't make it, so in the end we parked by the side of the road and walked.  

It was wonderful!  Though cold and snowy, we were rugged up, and tt was quiet and peaceful, with only the wind blowing through the treetops and the occasional car.  We didn't make it to Lake Dobson, but we have plans to go back soon with a 4WD - and a boogie board for sledding!

(Can you believe this is my first post in nearly 6 months?  I wonder if I have any readers left!)

Ouch.

Today I set out to make apricot jam and got five stitches and a tetanus shot instead.  Be careful with knives, everybody!

This photo accurately sums up my current mood.  I am lonely and my thumb hurts.  But my own woes pale in comparison to the other events of the day.  Thinking of you, Christchurch and Libya.

J.

It's no secret that I'm missing my sweetheart like crazy at the moment.  For those of you who've just tuned in, my boyfriend is currently in the middle of the Bass Strait, on a yacht that has spent the past two weeks sailing down the east coast from Sydney.

I hope to have him home safely by the weekend, but for now I've been amusing myself with the (very many) photos I have of him making stupid faces.  I hope you'll let me indulge my loneliness for a minute or two by sharing them with you?

And, lastly, a nice one, to prove to you (and reassure my parents that their grandchildren will not be terrifyingly ugly) that he really is as handsome as I say he is..

Anniversary.

We walked down the cliff to Anniversary Bay.

We went swimming.

We didn't wear swimsuits.

This was the most blissful part of my summer holidays - floating in the water on my back without a care in the world.  I need to do that more often!  This year I am going to make an effort to slow my life down a bit and try to find more of those carefree moments.

Christmas.

Christmas in the north-west with Jem's family.  

Bounty from Sally and Tony's garden.  They grow pretty much everything they eat, including chickens.  We took a big basket of produce home with us, including blackberries, peas, lemons, herbs, rhubarb, eggs, and one tiny zucchini. 

Jeremy and Sally in the kitchen, the centre of the house.

Me, by Jeremy, in the back yard.

Boxing Day at Boat Harbour, and the alpacas we saw on the way.

Christmas in Australia is in summer, but you'd never know it from these pictures.  Cradle Mountain, the day after Boxing Day.

Poor Allison was underdressed for the occasion.

You can just see the Cradle in the background, under all that cloud.

Some old shots.

Some pictures from a roll I've just had developed recently.  They're from my last trip to Melbourne, back in..?  Sometime last year, anyway.

Castaway.

My beloved Jeremy is absent at the moment, sailing down the mainland east coast.  He's been gone a week and has only made it as far from Sydney as Ulladulla - apparently the winds are blowing in the wrong direction - so he probably won't be home for a couple of weeks.  He is having a great time, and is enjoying not having to wash.

His beard has grown out of control, and he looks like a real castaway!  This is what it looked like 2 weeks ago when we were on holiday; I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks in two or three weeks time!

If you're interested, you can follow his adventures here.