Lord I'm a slacker! I keep meaning to update this but haven't gotten around to it since I went to Ireland for my exhibition (6 whole months ago!!)

One of the nicest things was to fly out of a stinking hot Aussie February into Dublin and see snow covering the Wicklow hills. Being cold was a luxury!

The exhibition experience and visiting the Gaelscoileanna was just great. Kids have such great questions and make really neat comments!

Since then so much has happened - new CD recording finished with the lads, couple of festivals and concerts and a couple of stints of working in Melbourne where I waslucky enough to catch a couple fo the Collingwood games, before they crashed spectacularly out of the running last week! And the whole thing topped off by little Rory's arrival a couple of weeks ago... another little Ox in the family.

We've had the dust storm from hell followed by more rain (= red mud everywhere!) and the indications are for a hot December - I really do need to get a shade-cloth frame happening for the vege garden! Spring was lovely - blossoms everywhere which I hope will translate into fruit!

Plans are afoot now to extend the back verandah into a sunroom/dining room and then I think I'll rest on my laurels for a while.

Photos to come!

House stuff in 08

..and now for the house...

This year saw the additiono f the $2 woodshed...


which followed as a natural consequence of the replacement of the old verandah, and constructed by Blake & Chris.

(Thanks guys!)




The new verandah went up in September, replacing the old - very leaky - one that had been there since the 1880s.







Since then, there's been a load of filling gaps followed by the final paint job, so we've gone from this....

...to this! Phew!!

Chubby & Frisbee

The Doggy Sisters...

Chelsea & Phoebe

God - was that 12 months ago????

Loads to catch up on!

Sad news - we lost little Timmy in May. Two dogs jumped the fence and mauled him and in spite of theneighbours best efforts in taking him to the vet, he didn't survive. He was buried with his little toy dog, and now has his own little corner of the garden.
He badly missed.

There are two new dogs aboard - a legacy from a workmate who's gone to live in Austria.

They are cross Maltese/King Charles Cavalier and are sisters - Chelsea and Phoebe, thought more often called Chubby and Frisbee, since one can jump and the other is too fat to manage anything more than the couch. They were hyperactive, but have (thankfully) calmed down a lot since they arrived in August.

Meet Shaw St's newest new resident....

... Presenting ... Stewie the Rabbit,
friend and source of constant interest to Timothy Fuzzbutt - Tim pogos up and down half the day trying to see what Stew is doing - much more fun than his stuffed toy - this one moves by himself!!

(Source of absolutely no bit of blind interest at all - whatsover - to Hopalong Cattidy or Snoopy Viduka - they couldn't care less - unless of course he managed to get out of his hutch...)

Thinking of becoming a grapologist....

.... that's gotta beat working!

Darcy's christening

Couple of shots from the Big D's big day.....

Another garden surprise!

Update: It's an echinacea - either 'Green Envy' or 'Sunrise'. I have to wait until the the green petals unfold al ittle to find out which . Still fascinating!

First red currants...

Redcurrant are one of my favourites - just because of the colours!

Solar fairy lights

...and the lights went on in Yass on 24 Nov. These are the new solar powered fairy lights in the pergola. I think Mr BFP likes them - he jumps on the roof each evening to check out our grape crop, I think. Hmmmm.....

Some 'Before' and "After' shots

The kitchen & lounge - before & after...

Since these pictures were taken, I added the little old stove (no more does the dinner stay on hold during a black-out!) and corner shelves have been added over the benchtop.
The lounge also now has tall timber bookshelves either side of the fireplace, which also hold the stereo & TV (and all my crafty bits!)
The lounge room ceiling light comes from my great-grandmother, Mattie Snowdon's house which used to stand in Mittagong (but, sadly, no longer does).

...oh, and I almost forgot!

The new-look Palais des Poules

The new pergola

Ta-dahhh!!
At last the grape vine has a home and - hopefully - Mr B.F.* Possum won't wind up with most of the harvest!


(* stands for "B@$%@^*!-face")
PS: This is the 'before' shot!

Springtime in Yass

Paterson's Curse runs rampant at Cooma Cottage, Yass







Yes, I know it's a curse - but you have to admit it's a pretty striking one!


You know what they say - life ain't all roses. There's daisies and geraniums and daffodils

and irises



oh, ... and orchids














(and Paterson's Curse!)

Maldon Festival

The result of a bit of photo fun at the Porcupine Creek pioneer village, Maldon.

(Subtitled: How Triantán won the revolution and went on to found the BLF....)



Session in the street outside the Grand Hotel, Maldon Vic.

(And the gaffer speaks Gaelic!)

Timothy Fuzzbutt

... aaaah! It's a dog's life!

My new friend ....

Meet Timothy Fuzzbutt, late of Sutherland Animal Shelter and Shaw St's newest resident

At last! The all-new Palais des Poules....

... and a couple more

Nice to see the rain clouds around!

Winter in Yass

Finished the bit of brick paving at the back of the house - thankfully before the frost and the rain!