Two double lattes today, in fact. Most of the morning out and about, doing weekly grocery shopping and hoping to have our usual d-latte at Georgie's Cafe. Best coffee ever. A day of ups and downs, sad news and good news. Nice to be doing a bit of Christmas shopping and thinking about our friends in the UK. And sparing a thought for our little plots in Glencoe Wood. Someone we spoke to yesterday chortled at the size of our land in Scotland. Hey, it's better than none, and it's big enough to camp on, eh? I must say I think purchasing a square foot is a little extreme, even though I understand the concept of having many buyers of plots in this beautiful location. Worth a look at www.highlandtitles.com
But we want to be able to at least sit on ours - together. Scotland is too far away at the moment. We have friends who are grieving, loved ones who are unwell, and all life is very precious. We're thinking of all those who are touched by illness. Our highlight today was judging a local Christmas Tree Decoration/drawings competition and having the pleasure of looking at so many gorgeous works from kids all the way from kinder to grade 6. We love kids' sense of humour, and their imagination.
Harking back to the matter of having land in Scotland, in this country there is an opportunity for landowners to put a covenant on their land for all sorts of conservation reasons. I've just had a look at this site: http://www.scenicrim.qld.gov.au/environment/propertyconservation.shtml And here's a now familiar sign seen on properties all over Australia:
We did our relay stint this morning at 7am - there had been thunderstorms overnight so we took our gortex raincoats. It hadn't rained a lot in Ararat, but at one point the oval was cleared of walkers because of the lightning. Carrying an aluminium baton, mmm. After 6 laps of said oval, we observed the sky was getting rather black. Our last 4 laps were in heavy rain, so legs were very wet but top halves dry, and we still enjoyed it. The Cancer Council organisers, however, felt that it was too wet for people to continue, so we brought the baton home and shuffled inside to hear the thank-yous and awards. Over $13.500 was raised so that will help the Cancer Council employ more nurses on their helpline. It's a great cause. Most people know at least one person with cancer, so our walk was as much a vigil as anything. We're definitely in for next year, and will do the overnight walk, lit with candles and heralded in with a lone piper. Oh, gosh, that's reminded me of Scotland again (it's never far from our thoughts) and our wee blocks of land in Glencoe Wood. I think I've managed to grab another pic or two from www.highlandtitles.com or www.lairdoflochaber.com
Tonight the Cancer Council's Relay for Life starts, and in the morning (early) Laird Peter and I will join our Skene Street Specialist School team in Ararat. We are slotted in to walk from 7am until 8.30. There has been some turbulent weather today - quite hot (mid-30s) and thunderstorms - and some rain. Here's a bit of information about the Relay in Australia: Relay For Life began in Australia in 1999, when the Victorian community of Murrumbeena raised over $75,000 for Cancer Council. Relay For Life is now run in every state and territory and raises over $14 million each year for the cancer fight.
So, this is the first time we're involved with Relay for Life. So many people we know and love have been affected by cancer. Check them out at: www.relayforlife.org.au
This is the Relay for Life slogan: Celebrate Remember Fight Back!
The Honey and coconut cake with caramel icing went down very well this morning. Everyone enjoyed it and eventually we said our goodbyes to each other with a promise of staying in touch. Lovely students all. Three pieces were left, so I brought them home for Laird Peter. On our way to Ballarat this morning, we stopped off at a cute little coffee bar in Beaufort and grabbed a nice latte. And this afternoon, at work, in our staffroom, Rosie made me a cup of tea. Others had wanted me to go for a coffee earlier, but I was too too busy, so Rosie's offer was delightful.
Tomorrow is the last class I have with my writing students in Ballarat. Time for them to hand in assignments, receive results and say farewells. I promised a cake, so tonight I am waiting (impatiently) for my cake to cool so I can ice it. Mind you, said cake has to travel to Ballarat with me in the back of a car, so it will have to be sturdy (ever heard of a sturdy cake?). It is a Honey coconut cake with caramel icing - mmm - and now it's time to ice it so I'm going. I'll leave his Lairdship the washing-up. Or maybe Pandora will do it (not likely).
Mmm, the promise of rain is slight, and just to tempt us it rained while we were having dinner for all of 30 seconds. Bah humbug! Now I'm thinking a cup of Monk Pear tea (made by T2) would be lovely as I am reminded that Christmas is not that far away. Gosh. My big sister wants to meet for a coffee (not tea) tomorrow to discuss Christmas dinner. Gee! Over brunch/breakfast on Saturday various discussions led to the consumption of Haggis - Laird Peter's eyes widened at its mention - he is, of course a fan, and while others at the table made noises of distaste, my husband glowed with remembrance of his first Haggis in a lovely little place called Gargunnock, just out of Stirling. He loved it so much. He had his next Haggis in Edinburgh, at a fascinating little pub called The World's End. This pub is built onto the old city wall and is at the 'bottom' end of the Royal Mile. Laird Peter had his Haggis with neaps and tatties and a whisky sauce (yum) and I had smoked haddock fish cakes (haddock is just yummy) and all washed down with St Andrews ale. More about Haggis another day. Now, where's that cup of tea, Pandora?
Oh, a busy day at work, going slightly crazy at the number of assignments sitting on my desk, forgetting to have a cuppa. Wishing I was in Scotland, moseying through Glencoe Wood.
Here's a lovely picture. This is our garden, taken during last year's springtime, but it's bursting again now with colour.
It is pouring at the moment. We've had thunderstorms this evening and one almighty one yesterday at 2.15am. In the last downpour an hour ago we had 11mm in about ten minutes. The radar shows an incredible swathe moving across the state, so we're in for it! There are still rumblings about so I won't be blogging for long.
Today is glorious - not too hot, a gentle breeze and the lovely accompaniment of birds chittering in the garden. No dogs barking, no lawnmowers - oh, damn, one in the distance - and no screeching hoons driving about. I've been looking at pics of Glencoe Wood, and reading about the native fauna and flora again. It does look beautiful.
My Mum and Dad would have loved this. Both parents were artists, and Mum loved nothing more than a dappled pathway, disappearing through a forest (or wood) and there was always an expectation in her paintings of paths that there was something very special just up - around the corner. We are surrounded by my parents' artwork. More about them another day.
I'm not going to write what I was going to write. Ha! Too many serious things happening today, including news about the deaths of Australian servicemen in Afghanistan. Thoughts about Glencoe can wait. Ah, but what a beautiful place to go to, sometime soon...
