carol singers

the carol singers came to Scenic Drive on Christmas Eve, of course those viewing this on ipad wont see it but you should see it if you are on a pc. Can you see it Heidi on your samsung?

Boxing Day

Also a good day weather wise, so four of us set off for a six km walk along an old railway track which started up near Heidi and finished over near Joan, where we were yesterday.

Christmas Day

We had the best weather or a few years.   The day dawned warm and the sun stayed out, what a change.   We had lunch with Joan and Las, in their lovely garden under a golden ash tree.   The food and the company were excellent.

All wrapped up and ready to go

Gingerbread time

Heidi and I made three Gingerbread Houses this year, seems such a long time since the Gingerbread frenzy we used to have, three was a comparative doddle.

And plaited up

it looks even better:

Purple Garlic

Whichever way you look at it

That way, or this

It's our best crop of garlic in the history of Newham Snr Garlic Growing!

Should keep us going for a while.

A visit to Government House

I finally got to do something I have wanted to do for several years!   With a friend I visited Government House in Hobart, and even got to see their Christmas tree, which is a wee bit bigger than ours!

The Dining Room

How lovely is this?   

and with a ceiling like this

Flowers

Everywhere you looked there were beautiful flower arrangements

I think

I could even tolerate Him and Her watching me while I enjoyed my meal!

Now this is how you SHOULD set the table!

Note the individual cruet sets for each place setting (no - "pass the salt" nonsense here!)

While the men sat round the table

sipping their Port and no doubt exchanging some less than clean 'funnies' the ladies retired to this beautiful little Ante Room:

And just gazed up at the beautiful ceiling

The Silver

Glad it's not my job, to clean the silver!!

Wish I had this little lot in my hall!

The cost of it all!

and why they could only afford such uncomfortable chairs!

But 'They' had the best seats:

The Great Hall

That is not what they call it but this is where the Shin Dig happens!

The Conservatory

The Conservatory was set up by the Chefs with displays of old equipment, fresh produce and lovely big pots of the freshest herbs, and of course, the obligatory Scarecrow!

This is how The Governor keeps the wallabies out of his vegie patch

Music to see us on our way!

We had a delightful couple of hours seeing where the Queen puts her feet up when she comes to Hobart and we had xylophones played by the students of Friends and bagpipes from the Tas Police Band to pipe us on our merry way

 

Mona, Museum of old and new Art!

Today Heidi and I finally went to Mona.

We had a good start, look who we parked next to!  Mind you, he could spend a bit more time taking care of his car, it was filthy!   As for his Mistress, obviously she is never home, so I applied for the job.   Am still waiting to hear!

and still they come!

The other "guests"

The Newhams Jnr are looking after four new residents, very friendly "pet" sheep who are too old to end up as lamb chops and too well loved to become mutton.

Talking of cabbages.....

And Heidi was, in her last comment, look at ours!    Our cabbage is looking splendid, it started off as one of triplets but one got eaten by wallabies and one gave up the ghost, but No 3 has certainly thrived.

We're going on a diet -tomorrow!

Had a nice Saturday drive out to The Sorell Fruit farm but didn't pick any strawberries, which was all that was on offer at this time of the year.

Bit of a glitch!

Don't know what happened on the 11th but my post did not go.   Anyway, I am still harvesting mushrooms, so that really was a good investment, $9 has given us a lot of very tasty mushrooms, thank you.