some picture of September

Most of these were taken while I was at work. I have the best job ever.

One from the first day of school. 3rd grade already!
 

and one from 8 years ago. Time flies

I really love the fall

We had a few days of really intense humidity, but that is all behind us now (I hope) and the fall weather can commence. I've been really lucky lately and my friends and co-workers have gifted me with zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, jalapeños, potatoes, and more! Today I canned three things:

Dill pickle relish, my very first time. I never knew turmeric was magic, but now that I've made this, I know it for a fact. Fantastic! I followed the recipe exactly, but left out the sugar.

 
Pickled jalapeños, a necessity for me. I was true to the recipe, but canned them for 10 minutes instead of 5. It just seemed prudent.

 
Lastly (for today), was almost-Branson's pickle. Dave and I have been missing it on our cheese sandwiches. Doesn't look overly appetizing, but it does taste delicious.

 
Next on the agenda is zucchini relish for my Grandma (I hate the stuff, but she will love it for Christmas). And then more dill pickle relish for my sisters. I also bought 1/2 a bushell of apples and one of pears, so I can make pear mincemeat and applesauce. The fall is for canning!!

The girls also started 3rd grade, they are enjoying it!

  

  

Along the water

The autumn weather has been lovely. Rori finally spotted what I've been waiting to see.....kangaroos.

We went on a walk along a neighboring lake. There is a nice trail that leads from our lake to this one.

They are humoring me, but really they want me to get out of the way so they can watch the roos. 

A Walk To Town

It takes between 15-20 minutes to walk into town from our house. I do it frequently, as the lake is in town, and I love to look at the water. This morning I had a mission, I had to take this:

Here:

And mail them to Jess in quarantine down in Melbourne. We collect Jess in early May, and I wanted her to have something nice to get her through her not-very-fun-time.  If you are thinking I am crazy for sending my dog a care package, I think you are crazy for thinking that.

As I walked toward and through town I thought about how pretty a place it is. How the small, quirky things make me like it here even more.  Here is a bit of what I saw along the way.

These are Galahs, and my favorite bird thus far. Hence the most pictures of them.

Now from real birds to fake ones...........

There are several of these mosaics in the walkway along the water front. This one is my favorite:

And that is just a tiny glimpse into the area in which we now live. Bright, happy, a wee bit of kilter.

The Long Weekend

With four (yes four!!) days off work we headed up to Sydney. It was a great time, and we just missed the rain!

We stopped here for lunch, it was lovely

See, we DO get fall colors here.

We didn't see any platypus, but we had our own.

The biggest ship I've ever seen.....

Look what was hiding behind the ship!!

So we took a walk over to the Opera House, and took a few more pictures.

A visit to the Observatory (fun for the family, no line)

Followed up by me dragging everyone to through the markets. We didn't have enough time, so another visit is in order!