Bushfire Recovery at Granny Annie's Place

This is the road to my mum (Granny Annie)'s place. As Mum is the closest person to me who was involved in the February 7th fires, this is the closest impression I get of how the bush is recovering since that day. I don't know what its like in other areas, and wouldn't want to pretend to - I only know about here.


The lunar landscape has (almost) gone. The ash has washed away, the bush has stood still for a while - a tad bewildered by what happened. But now Mother Nature is getting busy...

Trees that have looked like burnt match sticks for long enough are now prettying themselves up with fluffy new green foliage. There is a fresh green spray of grass covering parts of the ground. This grass almost seems greener than any of the grass that was here before - it is vivid.

And here I was, merrily snapping away with my camera the other day, the Hatchlings waiting patiently in the car. The Hatchlings know that Mummy does weird stuff when she has her camera in the car - they're used to it.

Hatchlings: "Why are we stopping Mum?"
Me:"Oooh! I just saw a thing and I want to take a photo of it!"
Hatchlings: "How many minutes will it take?"
Me: "Not many."
Hatchlings: "Can we listle to Wiggles?"
Me: "Yep"
Hatchlings: "Okay Mummy"

Then they bop along to Wiggly music and watch me curiously, until I leap back into the car and we take off again.


On this day though, I had no idea somebody else was watching me - until I spotted him through my lens:

A great big male kangaroo, casually mooching around nibbling on some tasty green shoots. He looked slightly amused by my antics and the fact that he had gone unnoticed. I could see him smirking - swear I could!

I have grown up around this place and have seen kangaroos a billion/squillion/cadjillion times. And every time I get a kick out of it! I think this guy's name might be Brian...


Something else the Hatchlings have become accustomed to is Mummy saying
"Quick! Go and stand on that ... (insert item here) and I'll take your picture!"
This time it was a digger that was resting on the road to Granny Annie's, in preparation for fixing the roadside drainage.


The rain that we've had since the fires has washed a LOT of soil/ash into the gutters, and consequently the roads are not holding up so well when it rains. Fortunately something is being done - just not while Hatchling No.1 insists on standing on the digger grinning from ear to ear!

Nope, I don't think he enjoyed posing for that shot at all.

To top off this adventure, there was some fuel reduction activity going on when we arrived at Granny Annie's place. Mr D loves a good bonfire, and this day was no exception.

The bushfires came from the other side of the property, so Mr D is balancing things up by burning off this side now. However you dress it up Mr D, we still know you just like a nice big bonny on a cold day!

You can't hide that smile - we saw it!


Oooh, this is something else that happened in the days following 7th February - a fire break was cut through Granny Annie's property. We've christened it Eastlink.

Eastlink provides the fire trucks with another method of access to this area, as well as an alternative escape route for local residents should they need it. After narrowly escaping the fires of Black Saturday, nobody is complaining about Eastlink. On a windy 40 degree day it looks beautiful!!

Jen xx

Happiness is a toy sale catalogue

Oh my, the things one's offspring inherit! Growing up in a rural location means that we never had our mail delivered. We used to collect our mail from the General Store instead. This wasn't such a bad thing - as a kid it meant an opportunity to try and negotiate either Mum or Dad a 20 cent bag of mixed lollies or an icypole. Yep, collecting the mail had its advantages!

I used to imagine what it would be like to have a mail box though. I saw people on t.v with letterboxes - it looked pretty cool. The absence of a letterbox also meant that we NEVER received junk mail. N.E.V.E.R. If we ever visited friends or relatives in the suburbs, we would scour their junk mail catalogues from cover to cover. They were special alrighty.

As a wee thing I didn't care what goods were featured in these catalogues - women's clothes, power tools, groceries. It was all good. But I always felt I'd hit the jackpot if there happened to be a Kmart or Treasureway catalogue with a page or two of toys. Who knew it was genetic?

Hatchling No.1 and his cousin Nickers spent at least an hour chatting over the Target and Big W toy sale catalogues the other day.

A whole catalogue dedicated to toys? Not in my day! "Er, yeah - I want that one, and that one, and that...".

Months of entertainment.

Jen x

Last week the world lost a very special person. My life, and the lives of many others in our local community will be all the poorer without him. Today we mourned his passing, we celebrated his life, and we said our goodbyes.

I should point out that I was not especially close to this lovely, lovely man. I didn't know his four amazingly articulate and talented children, who spoke with boundless love about their Dad this morning. I didn't know his wife, whose stories of adventure in a Volkswagon made me laugh and cry all at the same time. I only knew the man himself - or at least I felt I knew him. He had a way of letting people in that allowed me to feel this way.

On one of his visits to our house he was admiring Hatchling No.1, who was only a few weeks old at the time. And its the conversation we had that day that will stay with me forever. He told me of his absolute love for his kids, and how they had enriched his life in a way he never knew was possible. He gave me some words of advice that day. I am ashamed to think that I haven't embraced his advice as much as I could have so far, but perhaps that will change.

He told me simply to do EVERYTHING with your kids - grab every opportunity with both hands. Take them out to dinner, go on holidays, have adventures - just be with them. He told me of the joy he had experienced in doing these things with his wife and kids over the years. He spoke from the heart and with so much love that day that it stopped me in my tracks. It took my breath away. If I close my eyes I can still see him standing on my driveway - so animated he was when he spoke.

We last caught up only about a month ago, and shared a few tales of more recent times. It never occurred to me that it might be the last time we spoke. If I'd known I would liked to have said so much more. And I guess I wish he'd said more too.

My sincerest sympathies go out to his family and friends. For me, on the fringe of his world I feel a great sense of loss - I can only imagine how it must feel for those who were the centre of his world.

Stylish Individuals

I wouldn't consider myself 'stylish' most of the time. Okay, there is the odd occasion when the planets align and I get it right. I manage to put together an outfit that looks quite good - and even I notice the difference compared to normal days. These 'planets aligned stylish days' do not happen very often, but its nice to know that they do from time to time.

However, regardless of what sort of day I might be having, NOTHING can compete with this:

Surely this look will catch on. I can see Paris whipping out an oversized pair of dark sunnies that feature only one lens - can't you? You saw it here first - just remember that people!

Not to be outdone - Hatchling No.1 sports some rather classy footwear on a regular basis too:

If Union Jack had ihis way, Hatchling No.1 might be forced to wear St Kilda footy socks every day of the week...

Yep, I'd look worried if I were you too - with parents like Union Jack and I, is there really any hope????

Jen x

Floral tribute

When I was a young whipper snapper I had an often snakey and always scarey big sister, Selma. She was pretty good at coming out with snappy one liners (especially to her parents and teachers, I think). But before she inflicted a smart remark on one of the grown ups, she seemed to enjoy trying them out on me. Many of them went straight over my head because I was just too young, but there are some that I have retained over the years.

And who knew that one of Selma's retorts could become an annual mantra???

Yes, way back then Selma unwittingly gave me some very good advice:

"Take a photo - it will last longer!" she'd suggest if I looked her way for longer than 1 second. Well, yesterday that was exactly what I did.

These flowers wont last long once the weather heats up.

And right now they are so new, just waking up on these first few spring-like days.

Yes, they are yawning, blinking slowly and taking a look around.

Some for the very first time. These lovelies came from Lois' garden only a few short months ago as cuttings.

Not like these little rays of sunshine - they make an appearance every year. A bit like Ringo Star at the Chelsea Flower Show...

The beautiful people never hang around long.

And yet, others come back and bring 10 of their mates along too.

This lemon blossom smells like, um - well, it smells like lemon blossom. But I like that smell... Lots.

There's no flowers here, but more nice smells. Sniff sniff, mmmmmmm.

I plan to refer back to this post in February when my garden looks a tad less hydrated. It will give me something to cling to when everything is wilted.

Thanks for the advice about taking photos Selma! Can you tell I'm not scared of her any more?

Then again, after this maybe I should be!!

Jen x

What's fun about the beach?

It was July.

It was windy.

It was showery.

It was very cold.

It was our weekend at the beach!

Union Jack wasn't invigorated by the fresh air at all.

Hatchling No.1 could have taken or left it.

Hatchling No.2 couldn't have thought of anything worse than trying out his legs on an open, sandy beach.

And walking out to see the fishermen at the end of the pier? Peering into their buckets to see what they've caught?

Nope, we couldn't see what all the fuss was about really...

I can't wait until the next time we spend a weekend at the beach!

Jen x

Life through a (little) lens

Give a three and a half year old boy a camera for 20 minutes at Grandpa's house and this is what can happen...

His little brother featured heavily in the shots I found on my camera after this 'session'.

I like that through these photos I get to see things from a different angle - from about 1 metre high, in fact.

I am so proud - doesn't this picture draw the eye beautifully, and take you on a journey?

Perhaps I should put together this collection and exhibit it at some high fallootin' art gallery. Hatchling No.1 might earn his fortune before he turns four!

Aaah, the dreaded 'blurry gene' rears its head...

That is one very 'knowing' eye from my baby boy. Mischief is most certainly his middle name.

Grandpa's car - little boys lurve utes!

End of Hatchling No.1's first photographic exhibition.

There is more where that came from though, he loves taking close ups of flowers, grass, dirt etc. Perhaps he will put together another collection for us soon.

Jen x