Something Else New

Now here is something else new - didn't have one of these on our property back in SA! 

Apparently, you turn on the tap and use it to water stuff, like plants and things.

Weird.

Linda.

Inspired by Little House

As we began the whole unpacking process, I came across my ‘Little House on the Prairie’ DVD collection, and my girls delightedly began watching the series once more.  My Aimee was particularly taken by one scene, where Pa Ingals plays the violin, and afterwards, little Carrie cries out, ‘More music, Papa!’

So imagine our girl’s delight when HER Pa pulls out his violin, and begins playing it for all of us to enjoy!  It had been years since he had fiddled  – so long in fact, that our Aimee didn’t even know he played!  How excited she was to discover that her ‘Pa’ could rattle off a tune just like Carrie’s!  

But not for long – we are lending out the violin to a friend, so once more it’ll be some time before his next rendition – which is fine, as far as Bill is concerned, he’s had his ‘shining moment’ with his daughter, and will no doubt be impressing her with some other new thing tomorrow.  And in the meantime, my girls will continue to watch the Little House DVDs, and enjoy all they have to offer.

Linda.

Music, Bands and Choirs

It seems that Grafton is certainly not short of musical activities!  The past week we have been busily checking out the various bands on offer at the conservatorium, plus begining music lessons and singing with the choir.

First, music lessons.  Both Helena and Lizzie began lessons at the conservatorium this week.  The teachers are brilliant, and the staff are wonderful.  The lessons went very well, and both my girls are looking forward to the last few weeks of term.  Daniel and I will begin lessons next year, and we, too, are most excited about the opportunities!  We did have a 'moment', when my Lizzie almost decided to put away her trumpet in favour of learning the Tuba (gasp - the TUBA!), but fortunately for me, she changed her mind, and will continue with trumpet lessons, at least for now.

As well as lessons, there are the various bands.  String Ensemble, Clarenza, Chamber Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Big Band are just some of what is on offer - we tried most of them out this week, and are now deciding which ones to become a part of.  Helena will be involved in several, meaning she will be attending the conservatorium several days per week.  I will be accompanying her and also become a part of some of them.  We are already booked in for a concert next weekend, so we have certainly been thrown in at the deep end!  Lots of time needed for practice this coming week, although it is at a level we can handle, so we'll be fine.

During the week, we also joined the local 'Sing Australia' choir.  We had been members of this Australia-wide choir back in SA, and were delighted to discover that Grafton had a local choir as well.  Man, those guys ROCK!   We had a SUCH a fun night, and the choir members are so funny!  They actually apologised for being a little 'crazy', but we soon put any fears to rest, and assured them that in that case, we'd fit right in!

I had such a funny conversation at choir – I was chatting to a man there, and he said, ‘Y’know, you sound just like a farmer who came to do some work for me recently.  His wife was about due to have a baby, and as he left, I asked what he was going to do for the rest of the day.  He said, ‘I’m going shopping’.  I thought he must have been going to buy a present for his wife, but he said, ‘No, I’m going to buy a train set!’.  At that, I asked if, therefore, he know they were going to have a boy.  But he didn’t know – and he responded with, ‘No, and if the baby is a girl, the train set is MINE!  I want a train set!’’

LOL!  Only been to choir once, and they already know me too well! 

Tonight, we attended a Youth Mass at our local Catholic Church.  Although we were a little too late to join in this time, we were invited back for next time to be a part of the band - we previously had joined in when we visited in September, and very much enjoyed it.  In fact, as everyone else was away or unable to make it, we WERE the band that time, and it took several days of work to purchase, print and transpose all the music, but we got there, and it all worked out well in the end.  Both Helena and I will be looking forward to next time, when we can play in church for the glory of God and get to know our new church family.

And all that in one week!  Who knows what next week will bring?

May God bless your day,

Linda.

It Seems That Size DOES Matter!

Since moving to Grafton, we seem to have made quite a few trips to our two new favourite stores:  Harvey Norman and Bunnings.

The other day, I went into Harvey Norman to see if I could find myself a little Ipod dock.  My plan was to have my music playing while unpacking, and I could take it around with me, depending on what room I was working in at the time.

Did I say little?

Oh, well!   It's certainly loud enough that I don't HAVE to lug it around with me!


Yesterday, we were working in the car port, and we realised we'd need a spirit level for the roller doors we are installing.  So yep, off to Bunnings -again.

I did have a spirit level that I'd brought with us, but I couldn't seem to find it.  Bill assured me it didn't matter, mine was a fairly small one, so he would go and buy a larger one, meaning we'd then have the two different sizes.  How a laughed when I saw him emerge from the store with this in hand:

So yes, I guess size does matter!  Well, it's a whole lot more impressive, anyway!

Linda.

Friday's Encouraging Expressions

In your time Lord, and not in mine; I place my trust in You.


Have a wonderful Friday!


Linda.

Our New Home

As I go to write my ‘first’ post about our new lives, I hardly know where to start!  We’ve only been here a few days, but the activity has been just amazing! 

Well, I guess we’ll begin with our new home – it’s situated right on the Clarence River, and Bill and I have been enjoying daily breakfast out under the patio, as we chat and watch the ferry merrily chugging back and forth across the river. 

I just LOVE the house!  Yes, it’s smaller than what we are used to, but it’s still four bedroom, and we will soon enclose the car port to give us a ‘games room’ – a place to put the pool table, my exercise equipment, the dart board, and maybe even a tv and a couch.  Currently, we only have the one living area, and while we are coping, I can see a few issues, given that the house we came from had two large living areas at opposite ends of the house, as well as a separate dining room and kitchen.  The patio certainly helps, though, and being just outside the back door, gives the feel of extra room, even though it is outside.

Taken from our back yard!

The Ferry - Again, Taken from our Back Yard

The Patio

So many people have come to welcome us!  We’ve met new people as well as being greeted by old friends.  The neighbours are beautiful people, and are more than happy for us to use their ramp to get down to the river, have popped over to help us move cupboards, and have even put Bill to work already when their lawn mower broke down – yep, Mr Fix-It was at it again!

We were greeted on our first day by some friends who dropped by and delivered this very special welcome gift – a cake that said, ‘Welcome Mahers’ – what a delightful surprise it was, and such a beautiful cake!  

We were also given the gift of a tomato plant to put in our garden by a new friend – here’s hoping I don’t kill it – gardens and me have never really gotten along, so time will tell on that one! 

Of course, all my ‘old’ friends have also kept in close contact, whether by email or through Facebook, and I’ve been merrily updating them all on our progress.  I do tend to go through ‘moments’ with FB, and even deleted my account all together a while back, but I’m ‘back’ now, and happily kept my Facebook friends updated all along the trip from SA to NSW.   It was wonderful to receive the storm warnings – thankyou! We did pass through one storm on the way, and needed to pull over for little while, but we were soon back on the road, and made it safely 'home' with no dramas.

We went for a walk around Ulmarra today – that’s the town where we now live, just 13kms out of Grafton.  It’s small, but that suits me just fine.  With such a short drive into Grafton, it makes things very easy – although it will take a while before I’m confident enough to tackle the highway – driving lessons, coming right up!

So many things are an absolutely novelty – I’m like a big kid, jumping up and down with excitement whenever the mail is delivered (new experience for me – no mail delivery where were used to live) – and we even had one parcel dropped off via courier!  So no more trying to figure out where to have those parcels sent – just straight to our door, thank you very much! :)

And,  I just received a delivery of my FIRST EVER automatic washing machine!  Due to the lack of water at our last address (rain water only) we needed to use twin tubs to save water – but now, we’re on town water, so an automatic it is!  (another episode of Mum going crazy with excitement!)  

As well, we have BUSES!  The bus to Grafton goes straight by our door, meaning that my conservatorium students can catch the bus until I feel confident enough to tackle that highway.  We didn’t even know about the buses until just before we got here – so that’s an added bonus. 

Well, there’s so much more I could write, but the post is long enough!   No doubt I’ll be adding more to the blog soon.   For now though, it’s back to unpacking and sorting!

May God bless your day,

Linda.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!

We have journeyed north, moving from South Australia to NSW - and have moved 2000kms from my lifelong home, to begin a new life in a new state.

With our move comes a whole new blog - we say farewell to our old property, 'Pine Villa', affectionally known as 'Pillars of Pine', and begin our new life on the Clarence River, with 'All The Rivers Run'.

May God bless your day.

Linda.