Summer holidays - end of part one.

The first leg of my holiday finishes tomorrow.  I arrived at my brother's house five days before Christmas and have had a lovely time.  In between Christmas and family visits, I've been working for my brother catching up on his accounts, cooking, knitting, reading, enjoying having animals around the house.  I have also been to see a couple of movies in Tamworth since Boxing Day.

Family portrait - mother and foal.
Some of my brother's patients.
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Tomorrow I head over to spend a week with my folks before I head off to music camp.  The house is empty except for me and three cats. The other humans have gone out with my brother for a day of veterinary work.  The chickens are wandering around (I just thanked them for the two eggs they had layed). I occasionally hear the horses talk to each other.  I've put my ipod on shuffle and have just put a large quantity of oven baked bolognese sauce in the oven.  It will be turned into lasagne for this evening's dinner (good for when you're not sure what time everyone will be home for dinner).  It smells divine!  (Wish I could link to a smell for you...)

I'm in a very pretty spot here and the only other sounds are the drone of tractors cutting the lucerne for hay.

On the film front, I went and saw "Les Miserables" by myself a couple of days after Christmas.  I had been so looking forward to it, but I was a little underwhelmed.  I love Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe and thought they were excellent choices to play Jean Valjean and Javert respectively, but something was wrong.  Hugh's singing was a bit overblown and nasal at times and I know he can do better.  Russell did a fair job of Javert.  His singing was better than I expected.  It was tuneful but a bit wooden and plodding.  Still, I cried my eyes out several times!

The two stand outs for me were Eddie Redmayne playing Marius and Samantha Barks playing Eponine.  Eddie is my favourite actor of the moment.  I loved his work in "My week with Marilyn" and also in "Pillars of the Earth" which was screened recently on ABC television here in Australia.  (Shhh, don't tell me the end! I haven't seen the last two episodes.)

The other film I saw was "The Hobbit".  My brother and his wife chose this when I offered to shout them tickets as a thank you for having me to stay.  I had enjoyed The Lord of the Rings films so was happy to go along.  It's spectacular in parts, but is a fairly endless journey that the dwarves, Gandalf the wizard and hobbit Bilbo Baggins are on.  I was a little bored by the whole thing and was annoyed to discover we're only a third of the way there at the end of the movie!  I felt the same way about the book.  (I was supposed to study it for a speech and drama exam.  I couldn't get past the first chapter and still received an Honours grade!)

Yesterday I went to the creek with my brother and found two yabbies in the yabby trap.  They are now living in one of the horse troughs for the time being.

Up close and personal with a yabby
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Watch those claws! Love the spectacular shade of blue.
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The oysters we had on Christmas Day were also very good - even if they weren't plucked
from the water immediately before eating.
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When I took my four year old nephew to collect eggs during his visit, he was so excited to find two waiting for him, he clapped his hands together when he was holding them!  I noticed quickly and swooped before too much damage was done.  He looked a bit surprised and disappointed that they had cracked.

When I said goodbye to the same four year old I asked him who his favourite Aunty is.  Usually I'm on a winner, but today the answer was "No" as he pointed at my sister-in-law.  I'm okay with that.

The full moon rising over the hills was spectacular the other night.  Trying to photograph it with my iphone reminded me why taking possession of a proper camera again is on my list for 2013.

See that speck? It's the full moon peering over the hill.
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Sunset.
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The first email I received in 2013 was about how to insert a zip into a knitted article.
The first text message which wasn't about wishing me all the best for 2013 was from Metro Trains telling me that the 4:32pm Williamstown train from Southern Cross Station is cancelled.  Looks like some things won't change in 2013.