Hello there! It’s been a busy week here, so I’m just going to share some photos today of what we’ve been up to (minus the boring unpacking boxes part). We’ve been out shopping for food. We still haven’t decided if we’ll do it weekly or fortnightly. The great thing about this town is that we have an IGA supermarket here, so if we forget to buy something, there’s always there to pick up some odds and ends. We made a trip to Tumut for a bigger grocery shop. Missy 4 loves that this town has a Macca’s. I’m not as thrilled about it, but until we work out the nice cafes to have lunch and whatnot, this was handy. Can you believe how much she’s grown up?
My favourite part of shopping for food this week has been stopping off for freshly grown fruit and honey at a local orchard. This was the only one open when we were looking. I think being between seasons makes things a little quiet on this front. Being a dog lover, I was wrapt with our welcoming committee:
These dogs were incredibly friendly and couldn’t get enough pats out of us.
It was a very simple place, and no one was there to man the store, so it was self-serve again. Do you have a view like this when you go to buy your apples? We were chuffed. Loving this time of year, too. It’s technically Spring here, but still very wintery. This means there’s blossoms coming out on the trees but still so cold! I keep hoping it snows while these trees are still in blossom. I can imagine it’d look amazing.
We bought lots of apples and lemons, very fresh and very cheaply. This is the life.
I had a birthday at some point in the week. My lovely man bought me this handmade blanket I’d been eyeing off in the bakery for a few weeks. Locals make handcrafts, and the bakery sells them for them. My man is now on me to make something to sell. Why not give it a go? Now, just to decide on what I will make..
We also finally visited the Tumut Broom Factory which is not far from us at all, and picked up a natural, handmade millet broom. An outdoor one. I’ll be going back soon to get a tiny indoor one for the tiny kitchen and tiny bathroom. They are very cute.
Also, for my birthday, I chose some curly leaf parsley at the local nursery and a pot to plant it in. I’ve still been too slack to pot it, argh!
I was a bit stroppy at our animals too. When we first stopped at Gundagai all those months ago, I’d bought this cute handmade sausage dog draft blocker to celebrate the deposit we’d made on this house. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate our four animals (two cats and two dogs) all turning to their new friend for snuggles and playtime. Poor little sausage dog has been getting loved a little too hard! Oh well, I can see in Daffy’s eyes here how much comfort it brings her, so I guess it’s time to admit defeat and let the animals adopt it.
I’ve been baking so much since we moved here. I missed having an oven and a decent stove at the last house, so you can see how much I’ve been milking it here..
I found a book for sale at the library called the Country Show cookbook. I had to grab it! It’s got loads and loads of winning recipes from all the NSW country shows. The photo above is of a carrot cake I made from it today. I love flipping through the pages and exclaiming, ‘ooh! That one’s from Kiama! (where my partner and I grew up)’ and ‘there’s one from here!’ When I choose a recipe, I feel all smug that it’s an award winning recipe with all the secret tips and tricks. That’s kinda pathetic, isn’t it? I’m going to get one for my mother as well. She can’t cook anymore (she had a stroke) but she loves to read cookbooks and talk about cooking still.
She also likes to ‘direct’ Dad as he attempts to make her jams and pickles she used to enjoy making and giving out to friends and family. Maybe she can give him some jobs from this book?
The other great news is that my partner and I have lost a ton of weight since moving here. It takes me about one minute to walk to the local supermarket (downhill) and ten minutes (uphill) to walk back! Or at least, that’s how it feels. My babe playfully hit me on the bottom today with a packing box, and it hurt like hell because I’m slowly but surely getting buns of steel. It’s getting to a point where I don’t recognise my man from a distance, because he’s a shadow of his former self.
I’m thrilled with this development. Having grown up in hilly Kiama, I used to walk absolutely everywhere and had no problem keeping fit. In Sydney, same story. When we lived in Stockinbingal though (our last town) it was as flat as a tack, and we had to drive to go to the supermarket, so before long I was as fat as mud. I honestly feel at home here. The people are very friendly, it’s a beautiful town to live in and I get to live the way I want to live once again. So glad to be here.
How is your weekend? Up to anything exciting? And Sydney people, please stay safe during the bushfires. Thinking of you and remembering what that’s like. With shudders.
