A slow and steady start to 2017.......

After the excitement of our busy December we were looking forward to some quiet time as the January days stretched before us.  The weather was still playing tricks with us and unlike 2016's heat we had a mix of hot, cold and wet days.  Great for the garden but not so great for Bill who had to keep mowing the lawn.  It's so nice to see everything green and growing though.

The tomatoes and herbs we planted before Christmas are looking amazing and we can't wait to harvest and taste them.

Our first visitors of the year were Shelley, Darren and Kyan who drove over from Mansfield and we had a lovely time catching up over lunch at The Weekend Local.  

Our first outing of the year was to Violet Town to visit the Jan market.  A bit quieter than usual as many stall holders were still away.  From here we drove up through the ranges to Strathbogie to check out a new cafe 'Under the Sun'.  

We found a lovely rustic old building which in previous lives has been a Masonic Hall and a Mechanics Workshop.  The new owner has converted it to a relaxed restaurant/cafe and it looks very nice.  The coffee and cake were good and we will come back and try the meals another time.

The following week Bill decided it was time to get the camera out and find some birdies so we drove to Winton Wetlands and spent some time there.  We didn't see many birds other than dozens of White Cockatoos and also found lots of noisy Cicadas on the trees as we drank our coffee.

Now completed, this was the largest wetlands restoration project in the Southern Hemisphere.  The wetlands reserve is 8,750 hectare of which 3800 hectares are wetlands surrounded by woodlands and grazing land.

In 1971 the area, which was being farmed by many families, was resumed and flooded for irrigation and Lake Mokoan, which soon became a popular recreational lake, was born.

After years of suffering from toxic algal blooms and extensive water loss through evaporation the decision was made to decommission the lake and return the water to the Broken, Goulburn, Snowy and Murray Rivers.  

These wetlands have been returned to their natural state and once again Winton and Greens Swamp are home to a huge variety of flora and fauna including over 180 species of birds.  This has been a very controversial move and one that still divides many groups of people.  We enjoyed a few hours here and I love the coloured cows in the barge at one of the entrances.  These cows in the barge represent the very early days of farming in the area.

For the last couple of weeks we had been picking tomatoes from our garden but now they were coming off the bush faster than we could eat them.  I got the cookbooks out and found a recipe for a tomato relish and very soon had made my first ever batch of home made relish.  Delicious, even if I do say so myself.

The next day when another bowlful came in I made a tomato and capsicum chutney and a few days later tomato sauce.  I'm going to need another cupboard at this rate.

We enjoyed a wander round the Euroa markets the following Saturday.  Needless to say tomatoes were off the shopping list!

Bill's sister Maree came to stay with us for a few days over the Australia Day weekend.  Taking a break from tomatoes we took a drive up to Ruffy where we had a lovely relaxing afternoon at The Odd Jug.  Pam & Ed collect jugs of all sorts and with lots of old household appliances there is lots to look at before finishing off with a Devonshire Tea in their delightful garden.

We really enjoyed our few days with Maree and we waved farewell to her on Sunday morning knowing we would see her again soon.

Monday saw me back at the stove making Tomato and Peach chutney and the next day tomato and passionfruit jam. 

I had another reprieve from the kitchen when Astrid and Hans came to stay for a couple days.  Hans was helping Bill with a couple of jobs around the house and Astrid and I had a lovely time checking out some neighborhood gardens, walking around the creek and just talking.  And like Maree I was able to send some tomatoes home with them.  

While we were being overwhelmed with our lovely little tomatoes, next door Wilma and Gordon were experiencing the same success with their zucchini and many of them were making their way over the fence and into my kitchen.  I had just about exhausted my repertoire of zucchini recipes and so being in chutney mode I found a recipe for zucchini pickles and once again spent an afternoon at the stove, with great success I must say.

The next weekend we were joined by Cheryl and Shane who came to stay for a couple of days.  The weather was in heatwave mode and so we spent a lot of time in the lounge with the air conditioning on.  We did venture out on Friday night to eat at the local Chinese Restaurant.  The food was lovely but with no aircon there it was not a good choice.

The next morning we drove to Violet Town for the markets and were not surprised to see it much quieter than usual.  The heat kept away both traders and shoppers.

We drove up to Strathbogie and enjoyed a lovely lunch at Under The Sun before heading back home for an afternoon in the cool.  It was still very warm when Bill barbecued dinner that night.

Cheryl and Shane left the next day and apart from the heat it was wonderful to see them again and we look forward to getting together again soon.

A few quiet days at home gave us a moment to catch up with the housework and gardening and then we were on our way to Melbourne to see Anne who was visiting from Perth.  We met her at the shops and then joined her at Faye's place for a relaxing afternoon on the patio.  From here we went to Maree's place where we were joined by Mum and Jarrod.  Fish and Chips made for an easy dinner and we had a great night.  It was good to see everyone again.  We stayed the night with Maree and after a morning at The South Melbourne Markets we left the big smoke to head for home.

The next weekend we had a lovely surprise with a visit from our nephew Rhett, his wife Justine and their two beautiful boys, Harry and Charlie.  They live in North West WA and at the moment are taking time out to travel Australia in a caravan.  I'm sure they too have seen plenty of these cheeky cockatoos as they go.

We really enjoyed seeing them and catching up on all their news.  It has been a long time since we last saw Rhett and we hope the next visit won't take so long.

By now 2017 was well into February and what we thought was a slow start was really just life in general.  It's time to get this posted and see what happens next.

until next time........