The Oven Is On Fire

And it was, but it all turned out OK (Mum hadn't used her grill in a very long time). Big flames. The fritatta had bits of ash in it. Smoke billowed. Tom ran around yelling 'the oven's on fire, the oven's on fire', much to the alarm of the blokes at the BBQ. In all that, I don't believe the smoke detector actually went off. I think they might need to check their batteries?

All part of the fun & games at Theo & Neville's birthday brunch. It was a brunch because it was Grand Final Day (AFL) and people were off to parties (not me).

Here we have two Collingwood supporter sisters:

Much food included pancakes (with lemon, sugar, cheese, maple syrup, warm berries in syrup, cream, strawberries and there would have been melted chocolate but someone forgot to get it out of the microwave), bacon, toast, crumpets (nobody got around to eating them), hash browns, little Italian spicy sausages, fritatta (with ash), and probably more things but I forgot already. Oh, cake, of course.

The cake was a 'Torta di Ciocolatta Angela' from my 'The Commonsense Italian Cookery Book', which didn't turn out quite how I thought it would, but still very rich & chocolatey & everyone loved. There was only one cake so the gentlemen involved thought they'd pose as a married couple and cut the cake. Quite ridiculous.

And here's Bobby. Just because.

Babies of all descriptions

New seeds to grow into little baby herbs (note the cat prints all over them- they are now covered with bird (cat?) mesh).

Baby rhubarbs that something else has incidentally been eating

Family gathers in Ballarat to see the new nephew/grandson

 

 And it's goodbye to the old girl... 

And hello to the new baby :)

Domesticated animals, gratuitous machinery & a birthday

It's Theo's birthday & he loves cake.

He did also get roast beef, vegies & yorkshire pudding.

And due to his fascination with engines of all descriptions, he got a hot air engine.

On our recent Ballarat road trip, we saw & therefore couldn't pass by another old dredge/other giant machinery.

And everyone is interested in the new duckling. The chooks want to eat its food. Daisy runs around outside her cage at full speed pecking at everything, including the other animals, & makes the chooks freak out.

The dogs think she's a mouse and so can't be left alone with her. They also just try to sit on me all the time because they can never get enough attention.

And then there were three of them trying to sit on me, because we were dogsitting Hayley's dog, Roomie.

And the chooks enjoy the sunshine :). And dirt. (Note the lemons which I have not turned into lemonade. Um).

So I sit down. The cat sits down. The chooks peck me, the dogs sit on me, the duck pecks everything, the chooks run away, the rabbit watches on & the other cat hides in the shed. I'm surrounded by crazy animals & it makes me very happy ;)

Eldorado...

I am sitting here with a duckling on my shoulder. Just thought I'd mention that ;) She does have something to poo on so she doesn't do it on me lol. 

Theo's got a week off work this week, just to have a bit of a break & Col was going down to Eldorado this week, and Theo's been saying he'll take me there, pretty much since I've known him ;) so we just went down for a night. Left on Tuesday morning, came back yesterday afternoon. Col camped & we had our meals with him but we didn't bother packing the tent for just a night so we just stayed at the caravan park, which was really nice & the people were extra friendly :) 

We went gemstoning in the river on Tuesday afternoon & yesterday before we went home, we spent a couple of hours looking over the old dredge, which as Theo described it to me "it's sort of a cross between a giant piece of machinery & a big floating shed". 

So I was quite intrigued but I didn't realise what 'climbing and looking all over it' actually meant, so ended up being quite scared when we got on the thing (I am really not very good with heights ;)) but I did it & climbed all over the thing & got lots of photos to show for it. Actually, some of them Theo took because I was literally too scared to let go of the ladder/rail/ whatever I was gripping at the time. I actually climbed up and down one ladder with my eyes closed LOL:D. 

It doesn't look half as scary in the photos :D

We Love Dirt; Floods & the New Family Member

The camera had a hissy fit & deleted the photos I took of our five metres of topsoil we had delivered last Saturday. I thought the rain might wash it away, but we wheelbarrow-ed it everywhere & have new & improved garden beds to show for it. Here's the pile of dirt, much reduced. 

We needed some outdoor activity the other night when Theo got home from work, so we went to check out the flooding river at Murchison.

And today we drove to Waranga Basin for similar activities, where every man and his dog and child seemed to be also driving up, checking it out and driving off again. Decided to have a swing while we were there. 

The man of many talents made me a very complicated dinner last night & I was most impressed. 

Last but not least, here's the latest addition to the family. Col came to visit & brought me a present. 

I think I'll call her Daisy.

Steam Engines & Travels

Theo got some time off work but I was too sick to go camping, so we just went to Beechworth for a night. I'm not sure if I've actually been there before ;). It was on our list of things to do anyway, but that particular weekend was their annual Ned Kelly festival, so we got to see the suits of armour all on display and smile goofily across the street at Sigrid Thornton standing there with a cup of coffee. And John Jarratt rode past on a horse. Entertainment. I also got to sit down in a dark corner because all the multitudes of tourists and children almost made me throw up (well, remember I was sick anyway...), and we waited til 15 minutes before closing to see the suits of armour because that line had all day been very long.

You may not know how much Theo loves his steam engines. They had this little display set up in this park area there, and here's some vintage and model (wooden, even!) ones :) 

While we're on the topic, here's Theo's ones he made years ago, he finally set up to show me them going: 

On the way back from Beechworth, we meandered around & found one place we might go camping one day: 

And I'd like to say we like crossing the state border so much that we did it twice, but the truth is we were looking for something and couldn't find it... :D 

We do like our road trips.

Family, feathered & otherwise

I don't think I knew how sociable chooks could be. With people, anyway. Lacy has been following us everywhere. Even helping us garden. 

 Lately she doesn't follow us around so much because she has two followers of her own. Gertie we picked up at the Violet Town Market, and Dorothy was appropriated from next door because they gained eleven and said well why don't we keep one. Actually, we fostered all the half-grown ones for a night, while the big ones slept in a dog kennel, until they built the pen :). I somehow seem to have neglected taking any photos of Gertie :). 

And, just to show we treat all animals as equal (flies and centipedes don't count as an animal), Theo felt sorry for Billy being scared of the lawnmower, so he finished it off like this: 

And here are three misfits just getting along fine. 

Theo's parents have taken off on their long trek north for what's left of not-quite-winter, and we visited for dinner and Jenga. Nobody broke any bones and we all survived. Although I did tip my cup of tea on myself, which is also what I did the last time I visited there. At least this time I didn't require a change of clothes, and feel like I wet my pants...

Here's a gift my little sister brought me because I was sick for two months & she thought she'd cheer me up. Effective :)