It was obviously school holiday time as my friend and her 3 grandchildren arrived. "how did you get such a cool house?" was the first question. Then, "can we pick some olives?" and finally," can we collect some macadamias?" Can you ever, I thought. And before the end of the day we had four tall jars filled with olives and a basin full of macadamias being shelled even attempted by 4 and 5 year olds. Then it was walk time again and we discovered (my dog and I weren't new to it) the pebble strewn forshore edge of the Avon river. Lessons in skimming the stones across the water kept us all occupied for hours. Then the challenge was to follow the miniature train track to the "mystery" end which was of course the amazing playground beside the B/B/Q and picninc area aligning the Avon river.
Before I could say no, no way, you are far too young and it is far too dangerous, the 4yr old and 5yrold, had climbed to the top of the climbing ropes built and meant for much, much older kids. There they were high in the air happily waving and calling for our attention. Then we noticed the swings would support a middle aged kiddo and before I knew it the children's Nanna was reaching the heights and recalling her love of childhood swinging.
Wonderful day would you say? We thought so. The rain stayed away and the sun was so plentiful that we actually had to wear a hat each. But by the time we reached home following the bush track this time not the railway line the sun had set and the urgency it seemed was to light the bonfire, let it burn down, so that the marshmellows could be toasted on sticks. The cold wind had set in and any steps away from the fire and we could have mistaken Toodyay for Canada.... it was freezing....even if we were all rugged up in our sweaters, scarves and windjackets.
Tears and arguments amongst the three children began....was it the tiredness? We rushed in to light the woodburner inside to warm up the little house. But to no avail. No matter what we did the little French oven wouldn't do the right thing by us. Never mind, we would all sit around the table in our sleeping bags playing cards...Fish....Go Fish! Great, until a sudden blackness overcame the room. What no power? That's right.... a power failure? But this never happens when we are here....not on a weekend!
The hunt for the candles was on....at least we could light the gas with matches to give us a low light but not enough to continue our cards. The only thing we could do was to go to bed."But I want the candle on till I fall asleep" was the plaintiff cry by the two youngest. No not tonight....the candle was about to go out anyway.
And this was the good news....I was exhausted...only three small children for one day...and I wondered why mothers do this to themselves...they deserve a medal. Then again my muscles ached from the day before...I recalled us picking 100kilos of olives in about 4 hrs. And this was only from 2 trees.....what about the 120 trees left in the top paddock? UGH!
My mobile rang....ring 101...there is a message. "Just heard you had a blackout...we're off to a restaurant in Fremantle for dinner." I tried to ring back "The number you are ringing is not available." No surprise I thought!
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