Monday 3 January 2011

Hello 2011!

Well hello to my lovely cyber friends! My best wishes to you and your families for Christmas and a happy and healthy 2011. My apologies for not getting them to you earlier! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, well away from internet connections.

The harvest of our lupin crop was completed on Christmas Eve. The yield was disappointing, with much of the crop unable to be harvested as it had been flattened by wind earlier in the season. We may just recoup our costs. 2011 will surely be better?!


Finishing harvest so late meant a 4.00 am start on Christmas Day to travel to the coast for Christmas. At least the traffic was quiet!


Christmas with our coastal cousins means lots of food, lots of noise, good coffee, bushwalking, beachwalking ...

... and even a bit of fishing:
A few days with family was followed by a visit with old friends further down the coast near Narooma.
It is so easy to take the beauty of the Australian coastline for granted. There is a stunning landscape at every turn!

There was time to enjoy some of our amazing birds & blooms. Some hastily snapped native orchids in the bush ...
... and some drop dead gorgeous birds, which come in to feed at our friends' back verandah: a stunning King Parrot ...
... and the inimitable Rainbow Lorikeet.
We visited the historic little village of Tilba, and had fish and chips on the beach at Bermagui. Unfortunately, this was closely followed by a violent, but thankfully short-lived bout of food poisoning for me, just to mix things up!

We then had a couple of days in Canberra across the New Year, catching a free NYE concert of The Whitlams, one of our favourite live bands.
I went to see the Ballet Russes exhibition at the National Gallery. It was very beautiful, and I loved seeing the textiles and construction techniques of these now 100 year old costumes. Someone had amazing foresight to have purchased these costumes for the Gallery way back in 1973. At that time, they were stuffed in a box, heavily soiled with makeup and sweat.
 
The conservation that many of the costumes has undergone is truly remarkable. This exquisite 'Costume for a Squid' was in confetti sized pieces before its conservation treatment. Quite remarkable.
Of course, there was a day of Canberra shopping for Miss 15, and the inevitable visit to Questacon for our excitable 12-year-old boy. Unsurprisingly, the free fall slide was the highlight for him:
Miss 9 was intrigued with the patterns she could make at the more artistic Recollections exhibit:
So after 10 busy days away, and 1800 kilometres in the car, we are now officially returned home for a rest!


Happy New Year everyone! Bloom x

          20 comments:

          1. Sounds like a great Christmas, it wasn't Tuross you were at was it, Mum & Dad lived there for years...?
            Lizzie
            xxx

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          2. what a lovely recap of your holidays - thanks for sharing! I enjoyed the read!

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          3. Wow, what an exciting vacation holiday!! Good for you! What do you do with your lupins after you harvest them? ~karen

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          4. Sounds like a great way to celebrate the new year with a fun filled family holiday. Hope that 2011 is a fun and creative year for you.

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          5. oh my, I am loving your pictures. Sound like a great holiday. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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          6. Hi Bloom, welome back, sorry you didn't get a great harvest this year, but I suppose at least you got one...not like all those caught in the massive flooding. Thanks for posting all those lovely pics of your holiday and the coastline...I do sometimes wish they had more roads closer to it so you could drive along and see more...1800 km's a long way to go!

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          7. Happy New Year Ros! Glad you got some crops harvested and you hadn't lost it all. Sounds like a fantastic family holiday you all had!! I miss those trips now our boys are older.

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          8. Thanks for sharing your holiday snaps! Looks like a great time was had by all! Home for a rest!!!

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          9. Happy New Year! Thank you for sharing your Holiday pictures, you sure live in a beautiful country!

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          10. The coast looks amazing!! As do the costumes. I'm glad you had a nice holiday, even though the harvest was disappointing.
            Happy New Year!

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          11. Ros
            Wonderful wishes for you and your family for 2011.
            Looking forward to more of your amazing designs.
            Much health and happiness

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          12. Sounds like a Great Time away...Happy New Year.The Free Fall photo looks Amazing.
            cheers

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          13. Looks like you had a wonderful holiday! Thank you for the photos from the Ballet Russes exhibition, I would love to see it.

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          14. Bad luck on the lupins, we've just finished our canola today, very much the same, but at least it isn't under water!!
            Great photo, I love the whitlams too, lucky you! Tracey

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          15. Happy New Year to you too! I am glad you weren't sick for long...and sounds like you had a wonderful holiday. The pictures of the birds and the coast are spectacular. Nothing like that here in Michigan, USA.

            Sorry your crop was a disappointment - hope 2011 is more prosperous.

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          16. what a lovely recap of your holidays.I like especially in the parrot.Its color is good and sooo beautiful.

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          17. Oh how I love reading your blog. It takes me back to a year spent working and travelling round your beautiful country, at the same time I am inspired by your wonderful crafting. Thankyou :)

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          18. What a lovely Christmas holiday you had! I really enjoyed seeing all your pictures. Happy New Year to you!

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          19. Such a beautiful photos! And your journey was great :)
            Happy New Year!

            Best wishes,
            Tatyana

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          20. Well, you really have a nice greetings in the year 2011. Hopefully, this coming summer would have a perfect and good weather condition so that everybody will enjoy the coming vacations.

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