Breakfast included in the package

Having owned chooks in one of our previous properties, we have some of an understanding of what good animal care is all about.  They taught us well.  On a cold frosty morning in Tasmanian's winter (and summer sometimes) I would take out a bowl of warmed oats for the team which was greatly appreciated on the icy ground.  Our chooks were pets and we had the more colourful varieties of bantams, whyandotte etc.  They were good at providing us enough eggs and keeping the grasshoppers from our veggie patch which came in plague proportions one year to their delight.  They were also dynamite on huntsman spiders - another great reward!!  Our neighbour's standard Isa Brown's known for their egg production eventually evolved into a more colourful variety complete with bouffant head feathers thanks to our free ranging and very neighborly tribe.  Sorry about that guys!  I was reminded of these days at Saturday's visit to Bungendore's southern harvest farmers m...

Autumn, still very much with us as the crunch underfoot of curled and browned leaves is the soundtrack to my walks at the moment.  I headed into the city on this sunny day for a meander around the shops.  No real intention for any great purchase of significance but a coffee and some eggs somehow made it onto the day's agenda.  Sitting outside in the morning sun at Via Dolce with the orchestrated sounds of Bolero floating over the gelato bar was as good a start to the day as any.  Such an Italian feel to this little corner wedged in amongst the noodle bars and burger joints.  Reminded me of a bygone era of Lygon Street in Melbourne's outer suburb of Carlton.  A recent trip there to indulge in some happy memories amongst the Deli counters left me saddenedd to see that time had moved on without me and the family owned Trattorias under the old Victorian verandahs are all but almost gone.  The replacement Korean Gelato bar just didn't quite have the same vi...

One of my favourite places for a long weekend would have to be Murramarang Caravan Park.  Located in a national park with a beach thrown in for good measure,  is certainly a winner for me.  We generally book a cabin of sorts as the idea of camping doesn't appeal to one of us in this marriage - that one being me.  What's wrong with walls and a proper bed I say?  Whenever travelling and staying in self catering accommodation I try to pack all the essentials.  Food mostly.  And enough to cater for most of the park including the kangaroos.  Although the signs about not feeding the wild animals is valid, it doesn't get much compliance as they've been known to steal the odd pizza slice and can go a hot chip on any day.  Bad! I try to prepare my own food to avoid costs of eating out too much.  Pizza and hot chips aren't good for kangaroos, and not fantastic for us either.  I usually bake a cake, cook a casserole and bring fruit, yoghurt, b...

If you are someone who has moved house recently, you'll know that the older you get, the harder it is.  Far from a time of throwing a mattress on the roof of the car and heading off into the unknown, the known feeling of exhaustion hitting after only booking the removalist is enough to make anyone nail their bed to the floor.  We've done it a few times.  The moving bit.  We've loaded containers, sent them across the Bass Strait and back again six years later.  The cat's been on a ferry and an airplane, and now has high levels of anxiety triggered by the sight of cardboard boxes.  Over the years we've made several attempts to downsize but generally just bought smaller houses with a bigger garage.  We've moved states and changed address so many times my lost mail is not so much in a dead letter office as more a, she can't make up her mind where to live office.  But now we're here.  In the leafy south of Canberra.  Family and a beautiful gr...