Should I stay or should I go?

A few days ago I needed to find a recipe that I hadn't used in ages, so I thought the quickest way to do it would be to check here.

I did.

Then I realised that over the years I've written this I regularly check back to see what we did when, look at how best a certain veggie grew, find an old recipe. All sorts of things!  I'd been happy enough to keep it like an old diary, an archive of a life gone, gathering dust on a shelf! But today I realised I missed it. I missed writing. I missed being able to look back and check what we were doing last month. I think Facebook has taken over as a snapshot in time, but I'd like to start writing this again and see where it takes us.  I'm guessing dogs, Lloyd, baking, food, water stuff, sewing and life!

So here I am.

A quick catch up!
An awful lot has happened in the last 2 years.
We are completely settled over on the coast and loving every second of it. The farm is a distant, but happy memory. We don't miss the incredibly hard work it was, we miss the animals, but not the enormous responsibility that came with them. I miss my chickens and often think about getting more, but one of the reasons for selling the farm was to simplify life and so far I've resisted temptation.

I think the dogs probably miss the space more than we do, but they're getting on a bit now. Bob is 15 1/2, Lulah is 10 and going grey. Sadly and completely unexpectedly we lost Wee Brodie just before Christmas. He had cancer. Thankfully for him he was in no pain until the last 2 weeks, which meant that we were unaware that there was even anything wrong. Two of the most anal dog parents, who rush our animals to the vet for a splinter, and there was just nothing to show what was going on inside of our wee man. It's been almost three months now, and we haven't got over it, we still cry, we're still heart broken.

Last year was a toughie - I also lost my Dad in January. I don't think there is anything that prepares you for the actuality of losing a parent. I have friends who's dad or mum has died and I've been terribly sympathetic, but I had absolutely no idea what it was like until it happened to me. I had the best dad and for this I feel lucky, but I miss him. We're still going through a lot of firsts - first Christmas, first dad's birthday...

So it would be fair to say that even though lots of lovely things happened last year - I'm sure they did - It was a year I was happy to say goodbye to.

Coastal living suits us extremely well.

It's warmer over here than it was at the farm and also drier and sunnier. We wake up every morning and look out at the view and even now, still pinch ourselves that this amazing, beautiful place is where we live.

So, some stuff we've been up to...

Lloyd acted in a play and had one of the main parts, we went to Bali and had to come home early because a volcano was about to erupt ( which was after the holiday had been delayed by a day because our plane was struck by lightning and we had to go back to Auckland!), I had a close encounter with dolphins, lots of sewing has been completed in my wee sewing room, we went to Brisbane, I played roller derby, we celebrated birthdays, Banana cat is still going strong, we did a lot of boating, I went to Scotland, Lloyd went to the Uk, mum came over twice, once for 2 months, Lloyd and Bob were almost on TV, fires were lit, movies were watched, cakes were baked, time has been spent with friends, concerts have been attended, plays have been seen, time's been spent with family.... so, a quick catch up and 2 years in photos!

Sleep tight wee one.