Autumn in the mountains

Dear Everyone,

I'm having a wonderful time here in the mountains with Tricia.  It's been cold and raining the past two days and although I'm cold, I'm really enjoying it. I have gloves on while typing.  I have a few photos to show you where we've been.

All photos can be enlarged by double clicking on them.

This first place is Brown's Siding Store and Cafe. It's owned by a friend of Tricia's, Kerry, who used to work for Martha Stewart.  We had lunch there, the food was delicious - I had a Ruben sandwich and hot chocolate, Tricia had the smoked salmon and potato cakes.  Apparently the cafe is packed to the rafters on the weekends - we arrived late for lunch so there weren't so many other diners there. Afterwards I had a look around and found wonderful stock like German scrubbing brushes, goats hair dusting brushes, pure soap, liquid soap, jams, tea, packs of trail mix, cake and brownie mix and many beautiful bags, cups and odds and ends.  The goods for sale are beautifully presented and excellent quality. If you're in the mountains, this place is in Medlow Bath, right next to the railway station and just off the highway.  It's well worth a visit, especially for the hot chocolate. : - )

One of the delights of being here over Easter was that I was able to spend time with two of my four nephews - David and Daniel. Danny came up a couple of times to help Tricia with various jobs around the house and David arrived Easter Sunday armed with Easter eggs and chocolates for everyone. David stayed that night after he and Danny erected a small shed for Tricia to store her garden tools and mower in. We had lunch at David's home on Easter Saturday where he cooked us a lamb roast and Tricia and I made cabbage rolls and up-side-down plum cake. Daniel is back again today to fix an original 1919 Singer treadle sewing machine he bought for Tricia recently.  He brought fresh croissants with him!

Yesterday, Tricia and I went to the Megalong Valley Tearooms which is about 10km from Tricia's home at Blackheath. What a wonderful place that is! The tea room has been run by grandma, mother, and now, daughter since the 1930s.  It used to serve tea with scones, blackberry jam and cream from the dairy cows out there, now they serve breakfasts, tea and coffee all day and lunch. Blackberries grow wild there and blackberry jam and cream scones are still on the menu - naturally we had some.  The tea is still made using the old cast iron urn grandma set up way back then.

 When we left the tearoom, we came across a heritage centre with many interesting carts and old wagons.

Further along, we stopped to let a trail ride pass by. It was quite a sight to see all the people, single file on their trained horses, wandering along through the bush.

The photo below shows the drive back to Tricia's. It was cold and bleak and definately the perfect time for knitting and the heater.

When we got back home again, the oil heater was on, I got out my knitting, Tricia was hand stitching her quilt and we watched Kirsty's Handmade Home. I had never seen that program before and enjoyed it very much.  It was the perfect end to a brisk Autumn day in the mountains.  I promise you that we are doing a lot of things that don't involve eating. LOL It seems that's all I've been writing about.  I have been working on my book almost every day and will keep at it because the typesetter's deadline is looming. Tricia is pottering around her home fixing this and that and making patchwork cushion for her rattan sofa on the back verandah.  The gas man is coming to connect the stove tomorrow, we're going for a drive through the highlands on Thursday and on Friday, the chimney sweep arrives.  I doubt I'll move an inch when there is a fire glowing brightly here.  Never fear, I have plenty of Vivian's beautiful eco yarns with me which I think make the perfect partnership the warming fire.

BTW, Sharon will post an update about the swap.  It's closed now and soon your swapping buddy list will show who you will be swapping with.  I hope you're enjoying your knitting.