it's been a busy year

Regular readers of this blog (if I still have any left) will notice that this is my first post in over three months.

I'm not really sure where to take this blog now. In 2011 I achieved my goal of blogging my 365 Project every day, and earlier this year I managed to post semi-regularly, which dropped down to almost never.

As the year went on I felt like I didn't need to blog like I did last year. It wasn't as important, and there was no real incentive to do it. So I didn't.

Part of me says maybe it's time to get rid of it. I don't really see myself as a "blogger",  I don't interact with a lot of people's blogs (and those that I do are mostly people I know personally), and I'm not really into the blogging "scene".

On the other hand, I like having this space. I can post things when I want to get something out there, or share stuff with my family, friends and readers (and any random strangers who happen to pass by . . .)

The upshot is I'm not sure. If I do keep it, I want to try and post more regularly than I have this year.

So while I'm thinking about it, here are some of the things I might have posted about this year if I'd been blogging more often.

First up, we moved house in October, so from the time we made the offer on the new house in July to now, when things are almost as we need them to be in the new house, my life has been mostly packing, decluttering, getting a house ready to sell, more packing, moving, unpacking, moving stuff around, more unpacking, more decluttering. And that has resulted in me being six months behind in my Project Life album for 2012, among other things.

Just some of the packing that had to take place

 Following in Slabs' footsteps, both Juniordwarf and I started our own radio shows on the local community radio station.

We opened the bottle of Millennium Ale that we'd had sitting around since, well 1999.

I had a hair cut after about nine months of not being bothered to pick up the phone and make a hair appointment. Goodbye long hair (again).

 We chased a rainbow up the river.

 Juniordwarf turned six.

 We made the occasional visit to the Two Metre Tall Farm Bar, and Juniordwarf enjoyed the puddles.

I participated in the Walk To Work Day photo competition and my photo collage made the Top 20. I also participated in a 10,000 Steps pedometer challenge and (just) met my goal of 1 million steps in ten weeks.

My boy picked me some flowers

Juniordwarf continue to improve his swimming.

We had a weekend in Launceston to celebrate our wedding anniversary

Re-enacting our wedding. What?

Family snapshot

We saw a baby monkey at City Park

The Chairlift at Cataract Gorge

Stopover at Holm Oak Wines . . .

. . . and Moores Hill

Willow Court Open Day. This is the Barracks.

I got to know Mrs Spider (with seven legs), who resided on my kitchen window, until I had to move her so that we could fit the window screens, and sadly she never came back.

We got some chickens. Say goodbye to the vege garden.

A new local market was set up in December and I was the lucky winner of their first email prize. It's a great idea and I'm looking forward to seeing the market grow in the new year.

Merry Xmas from Juniordwarf!

Yes, it really is Xmas.

And that's the past six months in a nutshell.  As to where I go from here, well I'm still thinking.

Happy New Year everyone :)

P365 - Day 364 - the Taste (and year in review 11/12) (30/12/2011)

Today we went to the Taste Festival in Hobart.

Juniordwarf enjoyed the cups & saucers ride

More cups and saucers

Entry to the Taste

Inside the main hall

Outside the Brasserie. Nice & shady.

Ice cream

Enjoying an ale

Two Metre Tall Ale in a plastic cup?  What a crime against Ale!

Wheelie Bin Orchestra performing "We Will Rock You"
These guys were great!

Juniordwarf enjoyed the Wheelie Bins

The Winery

Year in Review (11/12)

Since my Project 365 is rapidly coming to an end, I’m going post a link to my favourite post from each month this year over the last 12 days of the year.

November: eleven

My contribution to the 11eleven Project.

P365 - Day 357 - Derwent Estate (23/12/2011) and year in review 4/12

So you’re driving home from work on December 23 and you see Derwent Estate Wines is open.

Do you:

(a) keep driving?

(b) call in and get some wine for the festive season?

Year in Review (month 4/12)

Since my Project 365 is rapidly coming to an end, I’m going post a link to my favourite post from each month this year over the last 12 days of the year.

April: 10 Murray Street

I thought it was fitting to feature this post again, as earlier this month the Resource Management Planning and Appeals Tribunal dismissed an appeal against the proposed demolition of this building.

The demolition was a central part of the Parliament Square project.

We heard this week that the group “Save 10 Murray”  which opposes the demolition, has appealed against that decision, among other reasons, on the grounds that the building’s application for heritage listing was never assessed.

So the saga continues.

P365 - Day 309 - Oatlands (05/11/2011)

A while ago, on a trip back home from somewhere, we stopped in Oatlands for lunch. We didn’t have time to have a good look at the town, but saw there were a few interesting little places that we thought might be fun to explore.

So we decided to go back and stay for a night, and we thought a wedding anniversary weekend would be a good excuse to have a night away. It was even better that Juniordwarf’s grandmother agreed to have a houseguest, so we could have a night away by ourselves.

I think it’s actually the first night we’ve ever had away from home sans child, which was VERY exciting.

Oatlands is about 80 km from Hobart, just off the Midland Highway and, according to the official tourist guide, it has the largest collection of sandstone Georgian buildings in Australia. There certainly are a lot of them, and the town has a really historic feel to it. Most of them have been well maintained, and the self-guided street tour booklet that we picked up when we arrived provides a bit of the history behind many of the old buildings.

126-130 High Street

The original Oatlands Hotel

There are some very cool topiary plants throughout the town

Oatlands Town Hall

52 miles to Hobart

Side of a building

The major attraction for us was the Callington Mill,  which is a working 19^th century windmill that produces organic and chemical-free flours. The mill is open for tours, so after lunch we presented ourselves for a tour.

Mill Lane - great street sign design

Callington Mill

We met Tony, our cheerful tour guide, who explained that because it is a working mill there are certain requirements for visitors. Firstly we were required to wear a very attractive hair net – which is actually called a snood, so there you go; I learned something – and a hard hat. Looking pretty glamorous we were. 

As well as this, we weren’t allowed to take in bags, mobile phones or cameras for safety reasons. 

Once everyone had divested themselves of their encumbrances, we headed over to the mill. I commented  to Slabs that it was smaller than I'd expected. He replied that it was a mill, not a tower - which of course it isn't. I think I'd been expecting something like the Shot Tower! This is a five level mill. Much smaller.

Once we’d climbed the four ladders to the top of the mill, Tony gave us a brief history of the mill: it was built in 1837, and closed down in 1892. A blacksmith set up a forge on the ground level and in 1913 the entire interior was burnt out, due to an explosion caused by sparks from the forge igniting flour dust that was still lingering in the mill (yes! flour dust is explosive).

In the 1970s the first attempts were made by the community to restore the mill, some Government funding was received in 1988 so that more work would be done, and finally in 2010 the work finished, completing the restoration of the mill to working order. The final stage of the work was overseen by a mill builder from the UK.

Tony then explained how the mill worked, from the smutting process at the top (a process to remove soot or dirt smut from the wheat – which isn’t actually done because the mill insists on clean grain) to husking the grain, grinding and packing it at the bottom. (I’ve probably forgotten a few steps, but you get the idea.)

The cap on top of the mill weighs 11 tonnes and isn’t actually fixed to the mill – its massive weight keeps it in place. The four sails weight a tonne each, and can be opened up or closed down depending on how much wind there is, and how much power is needed to run the mill. At night they are fully opened so they don’t turn.

Shut down for the night

It was a really interesting place to visit. I love the fact we can now buy Tasmanian milled flour that is either certified organic or chemical-free.

That was one of the highlights of our weekend. Another was our accommodation, Blossoms Cottage, which we loved.  It’s a self-contained one bedroom cottage, very quiet and peaceful and just perfect for the two of us.

Blossoms Cottage

The inside

The view outside the kitchen window

After our mill tour and checking into the cottage, we decided to visit both of the local drinking venues – the Midlands Hotel and the RSL/Bowls club. The RSL was great because when we got there we were the only people in the place, so we were able to have a good chat to the barman and play pool without shaming ourselves in front of a pub crowd.

At least one of us knew what they were doing

After dinner, we went back to our little cottage and opened a very treasured bottle of wine – a 2003 Bream Creek Cabernet Sauvignon that we’d bought on a wedding anniversary weekend away six years ago.

Brilliant!

It tasted glorious, and was a wonderful way to end a great day. 

In this case, neither of us knew what we were doing!

This is for Juniordwarf