Bat mum

Two outta three aint bat...

A chilly treat for the ferals

Coffee and capes

A meeting with Costa

Playtime before brekky

Think my girl has a glitter fetish

Fun with glass textas

"Mieke - my little big girl"



"Jarvis - Destroyer of things"


"....because of you arms I have shelter
because of your heart I have warmth
because of you I am complete....

Me? Temper, you've got to be joking?????

Contemplating the next temper tantrum

Totally immersed in reading...well the book box anyway

Fishing with Dad in Queenscliff

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere

The very serious business of blowing bubbles

Jarvis having fun in the bath

Mousey having fun in the bath

Weighing & measuring all the ingredients for our Pizza Risotto

Super Chef in training

The Vegemite Kids

Baking biscuits with the girl

I have to admit that I am really struggling with being "Mum" at the moment. That will need a whole post of it's own. So in attempt to spend "better" time with my little big girl we decided to bake her favourite biscuits, Honey Jumbles. We found the recipe on Frills in the Hills and headed out on a baking adventure together......

All the dry ingredients

Golden syrup & butter, bubbling & smelling delicious

The stirrer - in more ways than one

Baked & smelling glorious

The finished product - pretty & delicious & disappearing quickly.

...and then she was gone....

just like that.....

It was so stange, it was a moment I had been anticipating & dreading all day. Waving goodbye to Jaffa. And yet to say it out loud, or write it down, it sounds so shallow to be so attached to a car. But in that moment that I saw the tail lights disappearing down the road I realised it was not so much to do with the actual car, but more about what the car represented & the memories it held for us.

and tonight has been a really strange & sad night. I cried when I heard the horn toot, I cried when I saw Jaffa disappearing down the street, i cried when Sammy walked through the door looking like he had just said goodbye to his best friend and then i just cried.

for us Jaffa was a new beginning. It was an idea for an ideal life. It was for hot summers camped by the beach. It was for cold winters snuggled up in the back watching the rain run down the windows. It was for us. But then that us became a family and although we tried to do all that stuff. Life kinda took over. The routine of work, the routine of a baby, the routine of life. And routine is not a bad thing, but it is routine. I certainly don't regret the decisions we have made and the paths we have chosen to follow. But i think part of me will always yearn for a nomadic lifestyle. I really find it hard to settle and stay in one place, it's difficult. I quite enjoy being "just us" in a town where no one else knows us. It's nice to be somewhere where no one else knows your history; your before.

So the sadness in saying goodbye to Jaffa wasn't mouring the loss of a car, but mouring that part of our lives that is over. That care-free, double income, no kids, we can have it all lifestyle; it's gone. headed off down the road on a bitter ballarat night, red tail lights glowing in the fog.....it's over........not that i regret it for a moment.

Farewell Jaffa, may you always be orange.

Farewell dear friend

We sold the kombi and it leaves today. Such a mix of emotions as we prepare to see it drive off down the road.

The kombi was our major purchase after our European 'sojourn'. We had big plans for it. Strip it back to bare metal, remove the rust, repair the dings, respray....plush up the inside...and then head off again on another journey. Right around Australia.....the savannah way.....darwin....broome... Then the Melbourne job offer came & we were loved the city lifestyle. So much fun. No cares, no real responsibilities. Lots of weekend drives in the Kombi, but no restorations. Then came the first baby a 1963 Porsche 356B that became Sammy's all encompassing love. He spent most weekends lovingly restoring it back to a thing of absolute beauty. The kombi became his shed. Then the real baby came. A tiny little black haired treasure...and she was truly all encompassing.....& from that day forward our lives would never be the same.

What little bit of space we had in our terrace in Richmond was filled with things for the girl child and more stuff got relegated to the kombi. It sat folornly on a Melbourne street covered in spider webs, autumn leaves & trinkets from passing birds. It featured, ever so briefly, in an episode of Underbelly!

Then we managed a tree change and we thought that we would finally get the chance to "polish up our gem", but life continued to happen.

A single income doesn't leave much play money. We had a holiday, we farewelled a real baby who couldn't be with us, we bought a house, we welcomed another child, we partied with my family as my youngest sister was married on a tropical island, we said goodbye to another baby and still our 'Jaffa' sat rusting in the driveway.

Now the next part of our lives is calling out. Extending our little shack & hopefully maybe one day (decision not finalised) welcoming some new babies home to it and something has to make way.

Dear Jaffa,

We have loved having you as part of our lives. You have provided so much fun & enjoyment (and at times frustration). You have been our pal, our bed, our shed, our hysterical Sunday afternoon's drive. You have been fun.

For the next part of your exciting adventure, we wish you well. We know Peter will treat you with the love & care you deserve & maybe one day our paths will cross again.
Safe travels always......

Us -xxxx-