more festive season

Not that we were really that more festive than usual,

though George and Matt brought Jansz for Christmas Day.  Normally I restrict my Jansz intake to Easter.

And we did have a surfeit of Christmas crackers - contemplating a bon bonfire.  There was no surfeit of home grown raspberries.

I grew raspberries and harvested the beetroots hoping to dazzle Georgia.  Raspberry plants obviously are not a companion plant to rhubarb.  I won't make that mistake again.  And Georgia so loves beetroot salad she came armed with baby beetroots fresh from Hobart's Farmers Market.  I won't make that mistake again either.  I'm a bit beetrooted out at the moment.

Georgia made and gave me this necklace and uplifting essential oil blend.  You put a cuppla drops of oil on the fabric and waft around in an uplifted cloud all day.  Highly recommended.  The other little necklace was a gift from the gym owner.  Everyone got one - including Sarah on her one visit.

My garden struggles on through the East Coast drought.

Once upon a time in Wentworth I worked with a great guy called Jamie.  I was his boss during school  hours and he was my boss in SES hours.  After he'd had some harrowing incident one weekend, he told me that he'd asked himself  "What would Maggie do?"  I was right chuffed because I would often ask myself "What would Jamie do?"  because he is so much more down to earth and practical than I am.  Now I ask myself "What would Georgia do?"  The girl is amazing:  pulling up floorboards, replacing them, sanding, painting the kitchen cupboards and front door, all while on holiday from Singapore.  Above you can just glimpse Kit - a rare moment when someone is actually standing still.

Georgia and I spent a few hours pulling up weeds in her back garden.  She is a little despairing because the uphill neighbour is an old lady who can't look after her garden anymore.  This was the view of the neighbour's garden from an upstairs window at Georgia's.  It is wild but you can see that it was one of those wonderful Australian Italian gardens that produces everything for the family.

Perhaps we spoke a little loudly because two days later she had a gardener in.  What a framework to garden in.  But I think George and Co. feel they have more than enough garden of their own.  Three boys at uni do not three gardeners make.