Joshua's Project...

Snake wire on top and chichen wire on the bottom for access...

Josh pointing to the egg laying area...

At school the older children are making their preferred models of chicken coops for when they actually build them... Joshua got started on his straight away and loved getting into it.

Now all he has to do is cover the egg laying area and finish sowing up the netting... The pipes on the sides are actually made of rolled up pages of paper that are glued together to give it strength. Then the ends are hole punched and screwed together... That last part was hard work he says but has been so worth it.

He said this morning he hopes to have it done by Wednesday but at the latest on Friday. Can't wait to see the end result. :)

Cheers Damaris

Weekend escape...

View at Montville from the Cafe :)

Lovely coffee and shared gluten free Blueberry Cheesecake :)

Seafood platter for two anyone?

Uncle Phil and Aunty Lis watching over my babies...

Phil even named them...

This last weekend I was able to go and visit with my baby sister and her hubby... We had a wonderful time on Friday night. Lis and I went and saw our other sister first in hospital. There I taught Tina to knit... So glad I found out about it as she was going to have a night nurse show her how. I don't think so... Was lovely to see her knit as last time any of us could remember her knitting was in Austria... before 1983...

Friday night there were a few Black Russians had and went to bed about 4am on Saturday morning... Saturday we also had a morning tea visit from my mum. Was lovely to catch up with her and spend a couple of hours with her. My BIL then went off camping by himself as he was doing night fishing on Bribie... Lis and I ended up having another nap as we didn't have much sleep the night before and then went up to Montville for some cake and coffee as well as a look around some of the quaint little shops that are up there. The view was so wonderful and it was lovely and cool up there.

That night we watched a bit of TV. I don't have it here at home so took the opportunity to was some CSI shows. :) We were supposed to watch Ya Ya Sisterhood but ended up leaving it as the three of us sisters weren't there and it just didn't feel right without Tina there.

Sunday Lis and I went to the Caboolture Markets for Brekkie. I ended up buying some really cheap indoor plants. Love plants. Love it more when they are huge and only $2 each :) The benefit of coming in at the end of the day. I also bought three little ducklings. They would be about 1.5wks old I would say if I were to compare them to the ones that we have here... They are currently a Prep Class Project for Lis' class that she teaches. I will bring them home here when she is done with them in about a month :) The kids are going to love them and can't wait to hear tonight how their first day all together went. :)

Before going home I ended up having another snooze and got home 5:30pm just as Russell was dishing up dinner. :) The house was lovely and tidy just as I had left it and even the washing had been hung out. :)

At dinner, Timothy proceeded to tell me that it was OK with him if I wanted to go away for the weekend every two weeks... Apparently they all had a great time together, just the three boys...

Was wonderful to get away for two nights, I must say... Today Russell is back at work in Brisbane for the week and we are back into our routine... Can't wait for my next little mini holiday :)

Cheers Damaris

Wednesday Chill out Days...

Dogs are snoozing, boys are reading. :)

Love Low Electricity Wednesdays... Just love them...

Boys go outside more and when the mozzies start to come out they crash in my room on the bed with the dogs. They always have to join us off course. :)

Love it :) Don't even want to stop doing it :)

Cheers Damaris

Yummmmmy :)

Yummmmy :)

Marshmallow Slice :)

Russell felt like doing a bit of stuff in the kitchen last weekend and this is what he came up with. Went nicely with my coffee... On top of that the boys enjoyed two pieces each afternoon after school as well. After making it though he totally forgot to take a container with him to Brisbane for work... Luckily we kept him some hehe

Cheers Damaris

Vanessa Amorosi

Joshua and Nova dancing...

If there is one thing that Joshua likes to do it is to sing and dance... He especially loves John Farnham, Dion, INXS, Vanessa Amorosi, Hillsong and Katy Perry...

So off course Nova was roped in to help him bop along :)

Cheers Damaris

Happy 90th Birthday Ellen

Trish and Ellen...

Ellen and I

Ellen, Marlene and Lil

Esther, Pat, Trish, Ellen and Naomi

Ellen, Naomi, Michelle and Jean...

One of our lovely locals is celebrating her 90th tomorrow. She is having a huge party down in Brisbane with family and friends. It will be huge. I am sure poor Ellen will be exhausted by the end of it all... But of what fun. You only turn 90 once... :)

Our local craft group thought we would get in early and had a lovely morning tea for her this last Tuesday... Even The Warwick Daily News came out for an interview... :) There was lots of cake to be had and Ellen just about needed a trailer to get her presents home...

It was so lovely to see her smiling face. It always is anyway but especially that day as it is such a special occasion.

I feel honoured to have been able to share it. :)

Congratulations again Ellen for turning 90 :)

Cheers Damaris

Sleeping Beauty...

Our precious Nova...

Nova loves sleeping in the crook of my arm... And I love taking photos of her while she does it... :)

Cheers Damaris

Drawing Adventure...

Naomi out the front bringing us her lesson for the week :)

Just wanted to share a photo of where I do my drawing classes this and next month :) Ever Thursday I go there and have a wonderful time learning... Have had two classes now and am trying really hard to compare my drawing to myself and not anyone else's... Everyone else is soooo far ahead of me so this is important to me...

I am learning each time I go and making sure that during the week I practice what I am taught. :)

My adventure continues...

Cheers Damaris

Babies update...

Wet keets just into the brooder last Sunday...

One duckling out and another to come, Tuesday afternoon.

Two ducklings ready for the brooder, Wednesday.

All getting along well. :) This morning...

Last Saturday we had five keets born... Baby Guinea Fowl that is... Then on Tuesday we had two ducklings born late in the afternoon...

At first I was wondering if there would be a problem with the two sets being in the one brooder but so far there has not been any problems. Last night one of the keets did die though which is very sad... First time that once we have had something hatch that it has died... It looked always so sleepy and wasn't feeding properly either... In the end you can get them to the food and water but you can't make them consume it... Sad either way...

One thing that I noticed when Joshua took photos this morning of the babies is that his favourite duckling has a fish sign on the back of it... How unusual...

They are all soooo cute and so quiet, which I appreciate seeing they are in the bathroom next to my bedroom :)

Cheers Damaris

A Dust surprise...

A red 'Vienna' candle is inside :)

Just beautiful :)

The Oil Lamp that had to be returned...

For Valentine's Day this year, Russell got me a beautiful Oil Lamp. It was filled with Rose Oil and smelt so beautiful. Such an unusual design that I had not ever seen before... Unfortunately whenever the wick was burning the clasp holding the wick was too tight so no oil could travel up the wick. This meant that it would always go out...

Russell sadly returned it to the Dusk Store that he got it from and came home with two other presents instead... The red candle in the little canister is called Vienna... how appropriate as that is where I come from, well Linz but Vienna is Austria's capital city. Very thoughtful of him. :) The other candle is actually also able to be used as a room deodorizer.

Will see how Timothy goes with that one as he is really sensitive to smells. Hope it doesn't play up with Joshua's nose either.

Have always loved Dusk candles and anything to do with their shop... Was such a lovely surprise as anyone that knows me knows how much I love candles of any sort. :)

Cheers Damaris

Flood/Cyclone Fundraiser...

Last Sunday we spent a chunk of the afternoon at the local Maryvale School of Arts Hall... Two locals, Kath and Joyce organised a fundraiser for Queensland Flood and Cyclone victims...

We had a great turnout and it went off with a bang... Lots of food, great company and raffles to be won. I didn't walk away with any of them this time. :( Would have loved the prize of Lunch and Wine at Spicers' Gap though... Or the overnight stay at Coachman's Inn with Breakfast the next morning... Never mind... Always next time. lol

What I really liked was that there were a whole heap of kids there too. Was so nice to see the community getting together and sharing a meal while helping out others...

Thanks Kath and Joyce for the great job you did organising it all :)

Cheers Damaris

Anyone know what this is???

I found this white bubbly stuff on one of my geraniums yesterday afternoon... Very strange looking. Looks allot like spit actually... Have seen in it once before but have no clue what it might be... Any ideas???

Cheers Damaris

What the???

Everyone is in on the action. Bruce is watching from the outside...

Chooks having a feast on soaked Dog bikkies... They can't bet enough of them... :)

More eggies please chookies. :)

Cheers Damaris

Party Time :)

Party Time at Mandala...

People camped for the night as well...

Last Saturday, friends of ours from Mandala had their 10th Wedding Anniversary. They have moved to Brisbane for the last two years now but still have their place out here in the country so had a party to celebrate. Joshua and I went and had a great time catching up with people we had not seen for a while... My short hair was a shock to a couple of them :)

This was also a great opportunity for Joshua to catch up with one of his best friends, Ari. He loves that kid to bits and next time they come up again he is booked for another sleep over. :)

Again, Congratulations Theo and Justine. :)

Cheers Damaris

First time Sketching...

My first ever Gum tree...

Naomi helped a little with this, but mainly my work.

Well I am hooked... I will use this to relax and have already, when driving, found myself thinking of how to put that particular scene on paper... I have taken a step that I have been afraid to do for many, many years... To learn how to draw...

Locally we have a renowned artist Naomi that gives painting lessons each Thursday down at our local Hall. She has done that for a long time. I have been tempted many times to go myself but have been too afraid. I would always end up comparing myself to my sisters who draw and paint so beautifully... I just couldn't compete. That was until I realised that I don't have to compete. I have a different style and actually prefer to draw trees, especially gums and the scenery around where we live. I can't wait to get going with it all...

This month Naomi is running Drawing Workshops and I have joined in. We got her to run these through RADF funding and the lesson for three hours only costs me $8. How cheap is that??? She has so much knowledge and is currently teaching us about shading and shadows etc. I went to town yesterday so got myself a smaller sketch book that I can take with me. I have also bought some good quality pencils... I am on my way.

Guess what I am doing this weekend... Getting out a chair this arvo and sitting out the front of my house and doing some drawing... I think I actually prefer to do it in lead pencil as well and not colour... Will see where this adventure takes me :)

Cheers Damaris

She's on Fire :)

Go Mum :)

Joshua challenged Russell's Mum Erica to a couple of games of pool the other morning... Low Electricity Wednesday can bring out all sorts of game playing in him... He thought he would have an easy time with her...

Well he was in for a shock and she nearly flogged him both times... She sunk those balls... You should have seen her. She was Amazing :)

Go Mum :)

Cheers Damaris

Birthday Boy Timothy...

Timothy making a wish...

Joshua, Russell, Timothy and Erica...

Yesterday my boy turned 14... I still can't quite believe it but there it is :) He loved being woken up in the morning by his family and Grandma who is here at the moment for 1 1/2 weeks. We sang Happy Birthday and then he got into his cards and presents. He was very happy with what he got.

For dinner we had Roast Chicken with veggies and Pavlova for his Birthday Cake. All in all a very good day for him. He was smiling about his day as he went to bed. :)

Cheers Damaris

Sleeping babies...

Everybody is sleeping...

Nova with the long eyelashes... ;)

My baby Bailey... taken this afternoon...

Love having a nap when I can get a chance and this week got that a couple of times... Here Bailey and Nova joined me on the bed as we all slept under the fan... :)

Cheers Damaris

Heart attack material...

Last night's visitor...

So there we were last night all settled down for the night. Boys were in bed and then Timothy needs to go to the toilet one last time...

He goes to turn the light on and shut the window (as he always does) and there a head moves on the outside of the windowsill... What the???

He found a possum sitting on the ledge. It gave him the hugest fright as it was not expected to be there... Now we have no trees, no fruit trees and only a couple of rose bushes that have mature rose hips on them... So what on earth was it doing at our place???

When we went out to check it out there it was larger than life and just staring at us. It didn't move at all... Timothy got his iPod and quickly did a video on the animal and Russell dutifully took pictures for my blog here :)

It was gone this morning but it left a calling card all the same... Still stumped as to why it was at our place... Guess we will never know...

Cheers Damaris

Baptism...

 Josh and his friend

Dad and son

The whole family :) Love them dearly...

Yesterday Joshua and I had the privilege to attend a friend of his' baptism... We appreciated being invited and loved showing our support for him by attending. Congratulations :)

Cheers Damaris

After the Rains...

Russell doing down the shed side...

Parts of the cow yard done :)

As allot of these parts of Queensland we have had allot of rain from before Christmas. Of and on for any weeks now... Today was our day of trying to cull some of the huge amount of growth that has happened as a result of all that rain.

There were many parts around the shed, chook house and yard as well as around and inside the cow yard that needed doing really badly. So this morning we got out there as a family and did as much as we could before the heat sent us inside for showers and a rest :)

Cheers Damaris

My little Mowers...

Joshua doing a fantastic job on the backyard...

Timothy doing the front...

Last weekend Russell showed the boys how to mow... One does the front and side and the other does the back. Fair in time, energy and space wise or there would be arguments...

Yesterday I caught them in action doing it. Considering they have only done it twice they are doing an excellent job... I have always done the mowing in our family... Can count on one hand the number of times Russell has done it but that is always the way I have wanted it. I love mowing... He is better and more stable on the tractor so he can do that.

Must admit though that having the boys do it now and me just sitting back and watching is also rather nice. :) At the moment they are still having a ball doing it. Wonder how long that will last???

Cheers Damaris