Sunshine electricity!

As you can see, the panels are on the roof and the system ticking away. We have had hours of sunshine over the last 2 months so are certainly getting good results from the new system.
The media reckons that having 'green credentials' doesn't really help the country's carbon credits, but we feel it makes our footsteps more 'gentle' on the earth. Also it helps to offset our trips to family overseas.

January Sky.

Recently we have had some magnificent sunsets.
Here are some pictures taken one evening.


There aren't many trees close to us so we see so much sky! To the north we see 50 miles or do to the Bunyas which is due north. So because we have lots of sunshine from that direction (being the the southern hemisphere!) we are having solar power installed and it will be done next week. I feel really excited about it as it has been a dream of mine for years. With having our own water from the mill and rain tanks and now the solar powered electricity, I feel we are making fewer demands of the works resources - well some of them anyway.

Happy New Year; 2009

It only seems a minute since everyone was welcoming in 2000. Millennium celebrations and a ring of beacon fires around the world. Here I am in a hot and humid Australia, wouldn't have believed it 9 years ago. Our new year gets under way well before those in Europe.

It is hot and humid and the air is full of the noisy cicadas which rise and fall as an endless chorus all day and well into the evening. After a while you don't notice them until, suddenly you may realise that there is an endless silence and they have all stopped!
There has been lots of rain in this area, a wonderful relief from the 5 years of drought. The land is verdant and green, the trees growing higher and higher and the shrubs in our garden (mostly bottlebrush, callistamin types) are endlessly flowering. The trouble is that you can almost see the grass growing and it could do with cutting everyother day. The weeds are knee high to an elephant too, and there is one called "Cobbler's Pegs." The leaves are similar to a smooth stinging nettle, the flowers tiny yellow ones. These each mature into a head of small needles, each about 1/2 inch long and they stick into EVERYTHING! Socks, trousers, dogs, etc and spread everywhere. With the rain, they seem to be growing thicker and higher than ever. I wish someone could discover a use for them and we could harvest it generously. They can't even be put in the compost if they are seeding. Horrid stuff.
Any way - a VERY happy, healthy and fulfilling 2009 to all reading this.

Happy Christmas!

I grew a Christmas Tree - yes, one of those magical crystal ones.
Very scientific, it grew in half a day as the humidity was high. It's the nearest to a Norwegian Pine we'll get around here.
I also made a Christmas cake, threw in extra spices as it was Christmas time, then realised one was ground cumin and not cinnamon - whoops. So added even more of mixed spice to drown the flavour. Guess it will taste really good.
Hope you all have a magical Christmas and the the Spirit of Light and Hope will be with you through out the next year.

The New Library, Pittsworth.

I have been meaning to add these photos for a while now.

The library moved to its new abode over 2 months ago and had it's "Grand Opening" at the beginning of November. The Toowoomba District Mayor came and library 'Big-Wigs' from around Queensland gathered to reveal the engraved plaque. All good things were said and lots of new books were made available and mountains of delicious food lunch put on. Quite a DO!!

There is masses of space and display areas and since opening many new readers have joined. It is a pleasure to work in.

One of the best books I have read recently and enjoyed immensely, is the newest by Kate Morton - "The Forgotten Garden." It is like a hall of mirrors, a fairy story, in a fairy story which is reflected in another. Ranging from Brisbane to a Cornish port and back; stretching through three generations; it follows the story of little "princesses' who loose something that is precious to themselves. Seeking unconsciously and consciously to resolve their life's dilemmas.