she's a good sort...

I like good sorts. It's such an old fashioned saying, isn't it.
Kirsty's a good sort. Apart from being the queen of the all mighty granny, she also has a great taste in cakes. Like this fine lemony specimen below.

We had friends visit for lunch yesterday & one must finish with cake & tea in the country, so I whipped this up in the morning. It was just delicious & went down a treat. There was even some left for afternoon tea today.
Pop over here for the recipe.

quilts, country drives & camelias...

Life's pretty quiet on the farm at the moment. The temperature is dropping & many days are spent pottering about the house, enjoying the warmth of the fire. The little man is growing so much & every day we're amazed by the changes. To be completely honest... we're absolutely besotted. My favourite spot to be, is lying on the couch with him asleep on my chest. I love to smell his sweet head & feel the rise & fall of his breath.
There's a bit of crochet happening whilst on the couch. I'm trying to keep a few heads warm this winter, so I'm churning out the beanies.
I've pieced together half a small quilt top for our friend's little bubba. I first grouped these four fabrics together a few years back, saving them for when I had a little girl. Now I've decided to pass them on in a quilt. I don't know how I'm going to part with the finished product, I do love them terribly.

I haven't really left the house much lately, so today we took ourselves for a drive through the hills. We love whooshing along in Petula (my '78 jag). She does drink a fair bit, but she is just so lovely. Soon she'll be on gas, so I can whoosh about as much as I like!
Many dirt roads were taken, to see the unseen. We call ourselves the "B-Road Bandits", for highways are way too boring. Who says you can't take ungraded hilly roads in an old jag?

I'm also happy beacause the first camelias have opened. I love this time of year for the flowers, if not the cold. It's so nice to have them in the house.
I like to go jonquil picking along side country roads, it's just such a romantic notion. Last winter we met Anne, a crazy old lady doing the exact same thing as us. She was slightly more prepared, I must admit. She had wellies on & two buckets that she had filled to the brim. Her hot tip was to climb over the bank to get the ones with more heads. They sure were beautiful... but no way was I scaling the bank in my lovely boots & coat! This year perhaps I'll do it. She told us all about the area back in the day & her Aunt Katie, who used to take her on the train & buy her lollies. It's interesting what you can learn from a stranger, when you give them the time.

That's all for now. I hope you're having a delightful weekend where you are.

one month...

Our little Huckle is one month old today. How time has flown, it certainly feels as if we've known each other forever.
He's been packing on the pounds too, currently weighing in at the five & a half kilo mark! My goodness he's getting so big so fast. Soon I won't be able to lift him.
Here he is with his cute little bear, made by the wonderful bear maker herself Jess. I think she should have the title of "Royal Bear Maker", they're just that good.
Life at the moment is all about him & any crafting or baking I can squeeze in, is an absolute gift. I give myself a gold star everytime I get dinner on the table... or have a nice long shower (we're on tank water, with tanks overflowing... I tell myself it's ok to have a long shower).
Writing blog posts is such a luxury. To start with, I must find some time & secondly I can barely string a sentence together! Words & thoughts are all over the shop, please tell me they'll return to normal soon. Or am I completely deluded? I'm figuring it's the latter there.
Must go, I'm trying to fit in a bit of sewing before he wakes up.
Have a lovely wintery week.

back baking & other country calamities...

I'm beginning to function again. Huckle is being a darling most days & while he naps, I bake. For one must eat & one must eat delicious things. Here on the farm, we've been eating lovely homemade breads & scones & loaves of all sorts.

You just can't get a decent loaf of bread down our way, so making our own is the only way to go. I make a wholemeal loaf most days of the week & today there was some wholemeal date scones too.

I've also been experimenting & tried my skills at a raisin bread, using my usual dough as a base. To my surprise, it was a success! I just added raisins (of course), cinnamon & a touch of sugar. The husband says it is the best ever. I can always rely on him to think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Ha ha, sorry about that. I just couldn't help my daggy ol' self.
In other news, our hairy cows have decided it's quite alot of fun to escape the paddock first thing of a morning. This is usually discovered by a phone call from a nearby farmer or some random stranger knocking on our door at an ungodly hour. So out of bed we get, to run about yelling with a piece of polypipe in hand to herd them back in. We then have to find the loose fencing , after which Samuel then spends the morning tensioning the wires. Oh my, so much fun... NOT!!! Those bloody cows!
I've told Samuel, next year I'll be happy with a box of chocolates for my birthday.
Thank you all so much for your kind words on my last post. It was a hard thing to write about, but I felt I had to acknowledge it here in this space. Our friends really are beautiful souls & are a big part of our life down here in the country.

17 days...

Wow. Every time I've sat down to write a post, something else has needed doing. This evening when I sat down, the power went out. So now I start again & with any luck, you'll be reading these here words.
The past few weeks with our little man have been just amazing. Exhausting, but amazing. We've now developed an understanding of each other, the different cries are more easily deciphered & life is becoming just that little bit smoother. Huckle has put on 900gms since leaving the hospital, so I'm quite confident I've got the feeding thing down pat.
Yesterday was such a lovely autumn day, so we went for a walk to the top of the hill to show him the magnificent view. Like most babies, he's quite content to be pushed around or driven in the car.
Craftiness has definitely taken a back seat at the moment. Hopefully soon when we have a bit more of a routine, I'll be back to my usual tricks. I'm slowly trying to piece a quilt together for a friends new baby. She might not receive it until she's one though.
There's a little bit of a somber tone around our place, amongst all of our joy. Good friends of ours live two hills over & were due the same day as Huckle. Their little boy passed away 4 hours after he was born. His name was Indra. He had a cardiac arrest. He was born 4 days before Huckle & the dear souls didn't tell us the news until after I'd given birth.
I've been very sad. Trying to understand the unfairness of it all. Almost feeling guilty for my perfect boy. There were plans of our boys growing up together & being mates. We've talked to them about it & after listening to their words, hearing their strength & the beautiful story of their little Indra's short life; we know that good can come from this. The lesson is to cherish our little ones, hold them close & be eternally grateful for their beauty & the lessons they teach us as parents. I feel incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a healthy boy.