2-20-13

Martin: Next morning, we let the boys sleep in. Ruth and I drove around some of the minor roads and visited a farm Norma had given us directions to so that we could buy some free range eggs. Back to our farm and four attempts later, the boys were finally out of bed. After breakfast, we headed over for a look at Maryborough, ten kms north. The place was seemingly deserted. First off was a visit to the railway station. It was built during the gold rush and has the longest platform in Victoria, apart from Melbourne, and now only has a few train movements a day. Mark Twain came here in the 1890’s and observed that it was “A railway station with a town attached”. It certainly is a beautiful building.

Maryborough Station.

Me: A cold and rainy day.
So cold that parts of Phoenix and the surrounding mountains got snow! I didn't personally see the snow but many friends posted pictures on Facebook. Here are two:

Scottsdale. Spring training baseball stadium. Photo via ABC15

 Desert mountains with snow. Wild. Photo via Beth Utley.

2-19-13

Martin: We had a dog to keep us company at the cottage. Her name is Suzy and her first birthday is coming up in March.

Me: Harley cracks me up! So I peeked in the craft room the other day to find her sitting on the bench. She was posed with her head tilted just like the painting I did of her a while back. Funny girl. 

2-18-13

Martin: Finding the farm was harder than I thought and by the time we had reached the centre of Majorca, I realized that we had already passed the farm. Back we went and within two kilometres, we found our accommodation for the next two nights. The owners, Norma and Ivan, came out to greet us. They ran a small herd of cattle and an organic vegetable garden. Softly spoken, the couple were in their seventies and had owned the property for thirty years after they moved from Melbourne to get away from the crowds. That they certainly did! We had our own air conditioned self-contained cottage.

Me: Excited that we have started up the remodeling projects again. This is a biggie. We are moving out the exterior wall to create a little more space inside, eliminate that weird corner in the living room and open up our north doors to have more view!

2-17-13

Martin: Our vacation trek continued...

We passed through the city of Ballarat for the second time on our trip, again not stopping to look around as we would be returning in days to come. By around 4pm, we were nearing our farm stay in the ghost town of Majorca and spotted our first signs of a smoke plume on the horizon from a bushfire burning some distance off to the east. Majorca is not 'on the way' to anywhere, so there is only the local farm community traffic - a few cars an hour. Majorca sprang up as a large town when gold was discovered in the creek back in the 1860's. Within a few years, 250 shops, hotels and pubs lined the main street to support 8,000 locals as mining went underground. The majority of the gold was taken before the turn of the century and the town died. Today, it doesn't even have a single shop and the closest town is Maryborough, 10km away. It too sprang up in the gold rush days but the town survived successfully as it was located on the rail line.

Photo above: The last store in town closed down some time ago.

Me: For the 3 days Bob was home he got in 3 bike rides! We both enjoyed the grass that is sprouting all over South Mountain. Love that we've had enough rain to bring some green to the desert. And that means wild flowers soon! :-)

2-16-13

 Martin: Another photo from our drive along The Great Ocean Road.

 Bob is back!

We went biking yesterday....

today...

and planning to tomorrow.

2-15-13

Martin: Views from our 50km drive along the Princes Highway.

We got a bite to eat in the town of Port Fairy. Lucky we had our own drinks. They were asking $4.50 a can for Coke!

Tasmania is that away. :-)

Me: With my new shoes on, I'm running today!

First I went running with Harley in the desert and now I'm running (figuratively) to the airport to pick up Bob. Woo hoo! Happy Friday!

2-14-13

Martin: On our family vacation a few weeks back, we passed through the city of Warrnambool, taking the turn-off onto the B100. This city marks the approximate start (or end) of the ‘Great Ocean Road’. Constructed over a fourteen year period by returned soldiers from WWI, it stretches about 250km, hugging the coast for much of the way and possesses some great and varied scenery. First stop was the ‘Bay of Islands’, the start of a region of flat plains farmland that meets the ocean abruptly in cliffs of varying heights.

Me: Happy Valentine's Day!

My Valentine's Day is not complete without chocolate (surprising, I know). And since I had already eaten the chocolate Bob gave me on Monday when he left for Dallas, I had to visit See's today. I came away with some winners: dark chocolate raspberry, milk chocolate cream with walnuts, and peanut butter filled hearts. I'll let you wonder if I ate them all.

Hope you all had a wonderful day of LOVE! 

xoxoxo

Glad my sweetie returns tomorrow!