About Me

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Brisbane, Australia
I came to Brisbane in January 2009 to be near my family. From teaching art to secondary school students I moved in to working with people with special needs, and now am making little friends for children - surprise, surprise! I have always loved creating things with my hands - pictures, clothes, jewellery, gardens, food, and now toys. We have recently sold our house in Victoria so are now seriously relocating = furniture sorting and disposing, deciding what's imperative to bring and what's not, then doing it. You don't need much and it's a relief to simplify, once again. As my mother says, "There aren't any pockets in a shroud." Cheers Penny May 2010

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

still offline but going places

Have finally got my laptop back but all the applications have to be reloaded and...they are stored in a box in a shed at Claudia's, aren't they? And she is in W.A. so I just have to use other people's computers in the meantime. God knows how many emails will be backed up by the time we can access it again. We came down to Gillian's yesterday, having left here only a week ago, and are here with mum for christmas, then home for a few days before another 5 days in Sydney. After that we should be at the farm most of the time. I will be going back to Brisbane towards the end of Feb when Helen goes back to uni, and Charles, sometime in March, depending on the fire season.
Our big news is that, after long deliberation, we have decided to make our move to Brisbane permanent, and will be selling up both house and share. So if you know anyone who would like to live in the beautiful Lima East Valley, let them know.
By the end of next year, at the latest, we Bristol siblings will all be living within an hour and a half of each other, with Gillian in the process of putting her house on the market and also moving to Brisbane.
I still have many people to catch up with, so will making many pilgrimages up the drive to the only spot we can get reception at the farm, between 7 and 8 pm (our free hour on the mobile). If I ever get email back, I will email (as long as I haven't lost all the addresses).
That's it from the windy south coast. We are off in to Warrnambool to buy some food.
Hope you all have a great break over christmas, and get to the new year refreshed.
Love for now, Penny

Sunday, December 6, 2009

breaking the long silence

In response to complaints that I have not updated my blog recently, it is because my laptop has been at the laptop hospital for some time with a mysterious and undiagnosed illness, and is awaiting a new heart from Toshiba. Fortunately all the data was retrievable, but if you have not had answers to emails, this is the reason.
We have been flat out since we arrived home, pulling logs and branches out from the gully behind the house, burning huge piles and getting rid of flammable old grevilleas and so on close to the house. As well, Charles has spent many many days on the slasher, and we have both spent lots of time on the ride on.
In between all this activity, Bec, Helen and Remi spent a blissful week here, during the heatwave, so we spent lots of time in the 'dam'. I will post some photos as soon as I get my laptop back. Remi had the best time... horses to be fed and patted, eggs to collect, animals to spy on (including a snake), dogs to play with, a trampoline to jump on, oranges to pick and make into juice, and lots of water to swim in. Needless to say, we are all missing each other.
Getting back to my last post, we took Jeff & Mat to Kylie Kwong's restaurant on the last night in Sydney...what a truly magnificent meal (and those of you who know how particular I am about restaurant meals will know that this is very high praise). I recommend it to anyone going to Sydney - Billy Kwong's in Surry Hills. For those of you who saw her on Master Chef, yes, we had THAT duck dish, amongst other heavenly dishes. And it was very reasonably priced.
We had a week of rain recently, with over 3 inches which has turned the farm green again. We are hoping desperately for a good follow up before Christmas. We had 3 weeks in Shaun and Nobuko's house whilst they were in Cambodia and Vietnam and are now back at John's. Until I am back in line, the only way to contact us is via Charles' mobile. We have found a place on the farm where we can get reception, and as we have a 'free' hour from 7pm to 8pm, we have an evening stroll to the other side of the farm to get messages and ring, so leave us a message if you want to.
I am at Tim and Janet's. It has been great catching up with them, and everyone else of course. This is it for the moment. Cheers from the sunny south.