Garden Glory

We continue to have the most amazing winter weather (it bodes well for a mild UK winter) and Friday morning saw me down at Clontarf with Leanne, Alayne, Charlie and Isabelle. Friday's are definitely a highlight of my week - firstly I know that I have 3 work-free days stretching in front of me but more importantly I get to hang out with 2 of my favourite people, Leanne and Alayne. The photo above shows them both concentrating on their crocheting (they are both making blankets for their respective families) but their craft does not stop them from chatting and delivering words of wisdom as required. I was in need of those words of wisdom this week as I was battling with the thought of giving up work. It's a fairly regular battle that I go through and is driven entirely by mother-guilt (you know the type - have baby and end up with guilt around one's neck for the rest of your days!) but they very reasonably pointed out that my children (and in particular Tom) will need me more once he starts school so I don't need to worry about giving up work just yet - phew!

On Friday night we had a wine-tasting evening round at the Reids with other parents from Tess' class. Ken did an excellent job choosing 10 wines for us to taste all wrapped in brown paper bags and he provided a natty handout with tasting notes, advice on tasting and a place for our observations on each wine! I got caught out in the first round between 2 different champagnes. The first one which I preferred by far ended up being a $13 bottle of French champenoise whilst I turned up my nose at the $30 bottle of Chandon (Australian champagne developed by Moet & Chandon)!!

Safety practice sail on St Jude on Saturday for Jules. Warning to all bored by Jules' sailing stories - skip straight to next paragraph. Lots of off shore man over board practice (no not with a real person), safety walk throughs, fully harnessed up, standard operating procedures for everything from fire on board to having to send someone over the side to clear the prop. Sun was out, the wind was blowing 15 knots, sea very deep blue, dolphins on the bow and the sea state was kind. A fabulous day for tooling around off the heads practicing job peels, spinnaker peels, jib stay sails, spinnaker stay sails etc. Just managed to slot back into the marina berth where St Jude is kept when the forecast 25-30 knot hot westerly kicked in which just made that first beer taste all the better. The count down to the Sydney Hobart feels like it has really begun. St Jude has her safety audit this week - she has to carry everything but the kitchen sink to get her Category 1 safety certificate (all sailing races are categorised - for example, Sydney to Hobart is Cat 1, a daylight inshore race is Cat 7). Category One is defined as "Offshore races of long distance and well offshore, where boats must be self sufficient for extended periods of time, capable of withstanding heavy storms and prepared to meet serious emergencies without the expectation of outside assistance". Safety gear includes for example splints for broken limbs, half a hospital drug cabinet (we have a doctor sailing with us) including super strength anti sea sickness drugs which are administered where the sun doesn't shine by a fellow crew member who is either a close personal friend or someone who draws the short straw - either way a rubber glove is involved. Everyone on board has an EPIRB attached to their harness which if activated gives the coastguard a satellite gps position within 100 metres. All on board take the safety stuff very seriously - that way we can get on, have fun and race knowing that we can all back each other up properly. Next stop the start of the summer racing season - entries for the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart have opened and the clock is ticking!!

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for...........the unveiling of the garden. In each case I have tried to show a before and after shot to give you an idea of the difference.

We have been watering the garden like crazy trying to get the turf to take. We let the children play in it a bit this weekend and they had a wonderful time running through the sprinkler - on several occasions I heard Tom say to Tess "let's go and play in the garden" - so I really think it is going to make a big difference to them. The next job is to find a climbing frame/swing set which will go in that lovely flat bit right at the bottom.