Catching up....

Outside the Dargo town hall

Hello!

I have a bit of catching up to do today, this week has been busy, busy, busy!  

Firstly, thank you for the lovely response to my colourful washcloths, so many kind comments! I will get onto a spotty pattern post very soon! 

It has been holidays all round at our place this week, the boys are home from school and Gary has been on holidays too, so normal routines have flown out the window!  We decided to take a day trip up to the hills to visit an old abandoned gold mining town called Grant, where Gary's ancestors originally settled when they came to Australia.  It was a very, very long drive and we happened to choose the day when the weather went mental, storms, winds at gale force and a real cold snap.  

We found the boys great-great-great-grandfather's grave in the cemetery which was quite an historic moment!  The bush has certainly reclaimed this place, the graves were the only real sign of civilisation left.  It is hard to imagine that a little over 120 years ago there were around 2000 people living up here working the gold mines and creating a community.  The town was abandoned when the gold ran out and all the people left for fairer pastures.  I don't blame them, it was certainly a very remote place to get to and I felt very isolated.  

 We did a bit of fossicking around and I added the little bits of broken crockery that I found to a collection that other people had left on a rock.  It was very cold up there, we even had snow for about ten minutes! It melted very quickly, but I can imagine in the middle of winter it would have been freezing!  I can't help but think that the people of earlier generations must have been tough, this place was hours from the nearest big town, built on the side of a mountain, very limited access and must have been very isolated, and yet they established lives, families and businesses here in the bush. Pretty amazing!  The lure of gold must have been very strong! Apparently our ancestor owned the general store and kept the records of births, deaths and marriages for the area.   His store was moved from the town of Grant (the abandoned town) to Dargo in the 1920's, we tried to pick it out when we drove back, but we weren't sure which house it was ( all the buildings in Dargo seemed very old!).

All in all, it was a good day for family bonding and Gary was pleased to show the boys a bit of their heritage.  It was a scary drive home though, lots of tree branches across the roads, and the wind pushing the car around a bit, I was happy to get home! 

I did manage to get a lot of crochet time on the drive I was trying to distract myself from the crazy conditions outside!  I did get a bit cranky though, the crochet hook kept slipping down the side of the seats and I'd be looking for it for ages, getting more and more frustrated!!

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......Look what was waiting for me when I got home, my new postcards for my yarn shop!  I am really happy with how they turned out, nice and bright and colourful, now I can send my customers a colourful little message with their order.  I used Moo printing online for these cards and I found it an easy process, I would recommend them, even if they are on the other side of the world!  I guess we really are a global village these days. :)

.....And look, my poppies are out! I had to pick a bunch when I heard it was going to be windy, it's a shame for them to be blown to pieces. 

.....Earlier in the week we had family lunch with my parents and sisters and their families, it was a very pleasant day, nice and warm and we could sit outside and have couple of bevvies!  The kids had fun with their cousins, and my city nephew really enjoyed playing with the chooks!

......And I had to pop a picture of the cat, he loves to relax amongst my crochet, and likes having his photo taken!

I think that is enough for today, well done if you stuck with me to the end! 

Are you on school holidays too?

Are you doing anything fun for the weekend?

Talk soon, have a lovely day!