Have glue gun will work!

We are going to a ball here on Saturday night, lots of excitement in preparing our costumes,  as you see the theme is "Havana Nights".

It's the 88th Waratah Ball to be held in Avoca,  one of the small villages here which have the old fashioned community hall and are always in desperate need of funds for the upkeep of these country institutions.  Indeed we have our own  Glenquarry Peace Memorial Hall which will be celebrating its centenary in 2020.  They are a real centre for our very small communities where we don't have any pubs or cafes to congregate at but are always available for events such as  weddings, parties, anything!

I have spent a little bit of time on pinterest getting the vibe for the Cuban dress sense and I think I've got a handle on it now. Got the dress, (you'll have to come back another day to see it) and then this evening I have put my glue gun to work and made my headpiece.

I started with a stretchy headband, some fabric flowers from Ikea and some plastic fruit from the Toy department of Target.

Add the glue gun, some artistic licence and ......

Viola! here is the finished product

 and here I am with my work of art!

I'll take some more pics when I'm fully frocked up on Saturday night, so please come back to visit me on Sunday for the post ball blog!

ciao

GG.

Home is where the heart is

For those who do not know we have been living in Sydney for the past 18 months for work, and last June moved back to the Southern Highlands and are currently living in Bowral in a townhouse. Don't worry, the Goddess abode is still there waiting for us we are just taking some time to do some renovations to an investment I bought a few years ago.

It's a lovely location, we're located onto a reserve called the Cherry Tree Walk

You can get a bit of the vibe of the area from the video, we really enjoy walking the puppies there each day and its only a 5 minute walk from the centre of town so we are really enjoying the Bowral "inner city lifestyle"!

It's a 3 storey townhouse with the garage on the bottom, the living rooms and kitchen on the middle floor and the 3 bedrooms upstairs, so all we see from all the windows is the top of trees and we are constantly serenaded by the birds.

I'm so excited to be back blogging now that I have more time again and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and adventures with you again.

ciao

playing in my own backyard... part 2

 Sunday was another beautiful sunny day here so we decided to go for a drive.  Do you remember Sunday drives as a kid?  Remember when there was nothing open on Sundays and so Mum and Dad would load the kids in the car, pack a picnic and the thermos and go for a "drive"?  Well apart from the fact that now we can get coffee almost anywhere and don't need the thermos, we went for an old fashioned Sunday drive.

It was actually on the same way I went the day before to the truffle farm, but it was eons since we had gone down that way, so to me it was a no brainer to go and investigate what had changed over the years.

We drove through Kangaloon into Robertson and stopped at a local cafe for coffee. Last time I was at this cafe it was quite different to how it is now.

It has had a change of owner and now is Rockabellas roadside diner. It was a lovely warm haven on a Sunday morning with the slow combustion fire going and good coffee to be had.

It is decorated in a kind of funky retro decor and they also have vintage wares for sale, that is so up my alley! I just love this antique bar, it came from a flat in London, and it looks even better in the flesh!

vintage kitchen wares for sale

I can recommend the coffee

More funky retro decor

Then we went driving to an  area called Belmore Falls, it is part of Morton National Park.  When I lived here as a teenager it was the obligitory place we took visitors to show them the sights.  And of course in the arrogance of youth I didn't see what the fuss was all about. BUT now with more mature eyes I can see how spectacular and wonderful the countryside and scenery is. Please have a wander in my backyard.....

View from Hindmarsh's Lookout

looking down from Hindmarsh's Lookout into Kangaroo Valley

View of Upper Kangaroo Valley with cows

Kangaroo Valley

That's Kangaroo Valley township in the distance

Belmore Falls 

looking across the valley to Wildes Meadow, that place has a view to die for!

I love the sandstone escarpment

I didn't expect to see much water going over the falls as we have had no rain here for months, but there was still a waterfall.

One thing that was really noticeable to me  was that when I lived here as a teenager all the farms were working potato farms with very modest homes. My,  how times have changed! Not a modest farm house or potato farm to be seen.

All fancy-ancy designer "properties" and mostly cattle and horses, and most I suspect are weekenders for the well heeled. We locals joke that Bowral is the southernmost eastern suburb of Sydney. You can get the Eastern Suburbs Wentworth Courier newspaper at our local newsagents and another giveaway  called Latte Life which is also from the Eastern Suburbs.

I guess you can take some people out of the Eastern Suburbs but you can't take the Eastern Suburbs out of the people!

For my overseas readers, here is a quick geography lesson about Sydney.....

Playing in your own backyard...

I had a great weekend, how about you?

I spent the weekend with 2 of my lovely daughters playing in my backyard that is the NSW Southern Highlands.

Let me explain.....

When we moved here we joined the local slow food group in an effort to meet like minded people and enjoy good food and conversation. Unfortunately our local group disbanded due to no-one wanting to take over the running of the group ( I expect people are too busy or too scared!)  but the couple who were the leading lights went on to start their own business...

food path, so this weekend we spent Saturday taking on 2 of their tours.

The first one was at a local truffle farm that now has the honour of growing the largest truffle ever found in Australia  Yelverton Truffles. Which is just down the road from Glenquarry Goddess.  And I might just put it down here , that a trufferie is on the cards here to!  You just might have to wait a few year for us to be productive.

Favorite youngest  daughter  with "Jet" the wonder dog

here we are a the entrance to the Trufferie 

A side note here, my husband's Irish Ancestors family pile is called Yelverton, so isn't that a bit of serendipity?

Then we went on to Bousaada winery vineyard and mead makers, check out the beautiful building, designed for sustainability and the climate, I can highly recommend Alistair and Michele,  the hosts for a very welcoming, relaxing and informative experience.

Bousaada Winery front entrance

Our final stop was at Eling Forest winery and cafe I can recommend the winery tour and our guide was Mark,one of  4 full time wine makers they have here. It is a great tour with lots of tastings, if you get my drift.... :-)

and tomorrow I'll let you know what we did today!

so come back to play in my backyard tomorrow,,,,,,, please???