Head in the Clouds – Feet in the Dirt – Page 110 – Traipsing through life in NW Tasmania

Sales & Barter

Hello!
Well… I have finally made a contribution towards the savings towards our next trip! I sold 6 pairs of cosy-cuffs to the local tourist information shop!!
They were actually after scarves and beanies, so I took my friend Maureen down with her stash of beanies and she sold them a good bunch as well. I’ll get Margie on board to make a few things for if they sell… they will want more and I am not super speedy at knitting. (Well – not fast enough if I want to finish making the 4 shawls I am in the middle of and a few other things on the go!)

And in a superb moment of bartering, I got a bag of delicious looking lamb chops!

I have handed over 4 bottles of my BBQ sauce in return and owe another 6 (Yes, apart from knitting & crocheting and photo processing I need to make some more sauce!!)
Anyway – very much looking forward to tomorrow nights dinner!!!

The photo challenge is up to day three.
Day two was ‘Candid’ and my shot came from the wedding where the brides sister accidentally caught the bouquet! Moments before she was under strict instructions from her father NOT to catch it!!

Day three’s subject is ‘Paper’ and I spent a short time on google re- remembering how to fold origami cranes

On a slightly different note:

If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables & photography, check out this link to my friends blog.
Grant and Kate live on Prince Edward Island – recently moved to live a similar lifestyle to us (just more snow) (a LOT more snow) but gardening and being part of a country community.
Grant is a photographer and Kate a florist.
Grant recently did a stunning Anne of Green Gables styled wedding shoot for a couple celebrating their anniversary.
Its very much worth a peek!

Pip is totally enjoying the lounge-room-in-front-of-fire-camping recently. He is clearly ready for bed!
Best I go too!

Cheers!

Again

Hello!
Sorry – being rather boring these days!
So many mundane tasks that I have mostly been doing, then to get out of the house my activity of choice is a lap around Anniversary Bay!!
I will try to do something different soon…although if the current rain keeps up I think I will be doing more indoor stuff tomorrow!

I took my friend Marsha with me today! She is NOT going to be pleased with me tomorrow when she gets out of bed! I bet her legs will be telling her all about it! haha

The sun made an appearance a few times, but the wind was icy cold…

Anyway, a few more snaps to follow of the colours/textures of my current favourite beach.
Cheers

I love seeing what artwork the beach holds for me each time I go down there!

More Photos to Take

Because I don’t have quite enough to do at the moment I somehow thought running another photo challenge was a good idea.
I actually had thrown the group together just before I left for Texas with the ambitious thought that
A. I would get the photos in the USA
B. I would have plenty of time to get whatever photos I didn’t get in the USA in the two weeks between arriving home and challenge start date.

I got one photo (and a possible second one) in Texas.
Now I am running about like a mad thing dragging my long suffering husband into my photographic ideas!

The first subject was ‘Coloursplosion’. Pretty much meaning a colourful photo. Jeff was NOT keen about going outside at night in the Tasmanian winter to wave glow sticks about so we tried a few things upstairs in a makeshift photo ‘studio’ and then I ended up splattering a jar with the contents of the glow sticks.

Job done.

Lets not talk about the slightly glowing carpet…

Cheers!

Jeff’s Mud Bath

Jeff took off today up Oldina Rd to get some real life riding in while it wasn’t hailing. Plenty of mud and tracks to keep him amused and he came home with quite the grin on his face!

Me?? Worked through more photos, then I stocked up on firewood and finally got around to getting through some more of that kindling

Pretty slow paced around here – still nice and chilly – although not getting the minus 9C (15F) or other ridiculously cold mornings I have been reading where various friends live! Right now we are at 3C (37.4F) and its not forecast for below 2C – so thats ok!
Still going to sleep on our camp beds in front of the fire tonight again!

Keep warm for those in winter… and stay cool for those who are not!

Cheers!

Brisk Afternoon Walk

Hello! Good news!! Clearly the yogurt is starting to work!!! Egg production DOUBLED since yesterday.
I still feel we have a long way to go…

Anyway, I did pretty much nothing with the rather nice sunny day and now I am feeling somewhat guilty about it.

I did manage to drag Jeff out later this afternoon for a walk by the river to its entrance by the sea… was lovely out in the fresh air

The late afternoon sun was nice, but it was still pretty chilly!

I am enjoying reflections lately

We started out by the car park where we put the kayaks in to paddle then walked towards the pier at Wynyard

So calm out there! The water was like a mill pond!

Even the waves hardly broke the surface!

We like checking out the old homes and landmarks about Wynyard when we walk about. This fabulous front ‘fence’ was actually made of the ships ballast from many years ago.

At the end of our stroll, the sky had darkened and a hint of a sunset coloured the sky

Reflections again – the smudges on the water surface is actually oil from the trees!

Back home to the fire and dinner… we actually have done some hasty rearranging tonight so we can camp in our lounge room in front of the fire. It really is icy out there and the best place in the house is right here –

Pip is thrilled. He is already fast asleep in my sleeping bag!!

Oh – and the BEST thing about today??
My friend Marsha turned up and gave me chicken socks!

Life is fabulous!
Cheers!

Randoms

I was quite happy slothing about at home today working on photos in front of the fire when my cousin Fiona rang up and said that she and one of her sons, Ruben were going out for a walk… interested?
Sure!
Anyway – it was great to get out in the fresh air and it didn’t even rain on us!
Following are just some photos from today and yesterday.
Hope Wednesday is great! All downhill to the weekend!

Cheers!

My lovely protea has a good number of blooms happening

The snippet of pig-face that I liberated from down at the Bluff has gone mad! Hoping I will see it bloom when the season is right!

I keep seeing on social media the wonders of feeding yoghurt to chooks for increased egg production. At the point where it can’t hurt but to try.

Chooks scruffing up my garden. They love the yoghurt. Egg production today went from one egg to none. Sigh.

Slow Process

Hiya!
I am dying to do a few proper posts on my travels in the USA – but its taking me an eon to get the processing done in between other essential jobs and sleeping.

I was trying to get the Painted Desert NP photos all done and dusted – but I am not even halfway!!
Of course I make sure I am working on the wedding photos as a priority, but its nice to have a break and work on a different subject!

Today was a little dreary outside. I did get outside and stock up on the fire wood – then did a bit of tidying in the herb garden because I keep walking past it and it looks so woebegone!

Enjoy what is left of Tuesday!

Cheers!

Super Budgeting Ahead!

Monday! Blue skies & Sunshine!
Seems one day on – one day off weather wise!

I picked some carrots and herbs from the garden and put a slow cooked beef soup/stew in the oven for dinner

Been thinking upon the next four months – which is the amount of time we have before taking my parents to Japan and travelling about there! (So excited!)
We already live a naturally pretty frugal lifestyle, so the challenge is where to cut corners and budget further and earn a few extra $ in the pocket to take with us.

Tomato mix made earlier in the season – digging in the freezer

We have a good lot of food – meat and vegetables – in the freezers and its a matter of being strict and not whim shopping for something else when we have plenty at home

Slow cooking the cheap cuts. It was fall-apart tender by the time I was done!

We rarely eat out or get take-aways (take outs) so not much to be changed in that area.

Its been an unusual year for us ‘extravagance’ wise. We live on one part time wage (Thank-you Jeff) – and generally very happily and comfortably.
Its just when you throw in a major hiking adventure, a ‘new’ car and two overseas trips all in one year, the budget creaks a little – but I like the challenge!
(You only live once, after all!)

So – Apart from living out of the freezer for most things and scraping whats left out of the garden… I need to be proactive about selling off the rest of the garage sale stuff (eg books to book dealer and going online to try to sell the better quality items)
I have a outlet for some of my jams/sauces – now that I am home I need to get cooking ASAP
Not the right season to be getting produce sales like I did for my Texas trip – but maybe look in other areas like selling bottles of my kelp juice (which is essentially free to make) and of course, Ruby always has some garden work for me to do when the weather isn’t dreadful!

I have also been toying with the idea of diving into the Air B&B arena as well as actively seeking photography work.
The latter scares me! LOL

Anyway – its enough to keep me thoroughly amused over winter this year! (Along with the never-ending photo processing!!)

Life is fabulous!

Cheers!

Chicken Dust Baths

It was a photo processing day today – lots of rain and cold weather!
Thought I would share the photos I took yesterday of the chickens having a bath! We let them out into the main yard because the weather was so nice.

They made a bee-line for the macrocarpas where there is no grass and proceeded to dig themselves into their holes and cover themselves with dust. They are so funny to watch and they were clearly thoroughly enjoying themselves

The reason Jeff is not so keen to have them out in the yard so much is because they dig these potholes that he runs into while mowing the lawns

They practically turn themselves inside out in the process

They can play dead too…

The earth moving can get quite vigorous at times –

Chooks! Free entertainment and a side order of eggs!

Cheers!

Garlic, Beetroot & a Walk

Hello and welcome to the weekend!
Its been a pretty good Saturday – great weather and lots done!

I started with beetroot.

I didn’t want that lot I picked the other day sitting around much longer, so I got to it – chopped them up and put them on the stove to cook/pickle

While that was simmering away I got my box of garlic out of the pantry and went upstairs to the warmest room in the house to sort which cloves to plant

Jeff was also using that room getting in some km’s on the stationary trainer, while Pip looked on in mild concern…

Eventually I finished sorting and enticed Jeff down to the garden to help me get the garlic in the ground – my theory was if it was done quicker we could go for a short hike!