A day out / a day at home

A day out.................

Yesterday we took daisydads Aunt and Uncle from England out and about. They are going up to reef next week but we wanted to show them something of the diversity of our country.

We headed off to Caboonbah Homestead the gorgeous 130 year old home of Henry Plantagenet Somerset (Somerset Dam is named for him) and his wife Katharine.

This shot is of the Stanley River (which flows into the Brisbane River) from the front porch of the homestead. It was here in 1893, as Katahrine lay labouring to give birth to one of their eight children, that a great wall of water - the torrent from days of cyclonic rain - roared down the river and hit the cliff face just below where this photo was taken. It shook the house, and tumbled children from their beds. Henry sent one of his men to ride into Brisbane to warn everyone a great flood was on its way - they didn't believe him.

From the Homestead we went into Esk and had some lunch and wandered around I bought a lovely lidded enamel pudding basin from the local second hand dealer for $8 - haven't seen them that cheap in ages. When renovating old houses was all the rage in 80s here in Brisbane things like that sold for $25 or more.

Then we came home across the wall of Wivenhoe Dam and up the Parkway to Mt Glorious.

This photo is of the Caboonbah UNDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH (I kid you not UN not NON) - designed by Katharine Somerset it is where she and Henry are buried and from their grave you can see their home in the distance.

Quite a distance mind you I wonder why they didn't build the church a bit closer to the house - with 7 kids and by buggy it would have taken a good 45 minutes to get to church and back again even by car then it would have been no quick trip.

A day at home......

We have a fence - photos tomorrow!!! And the fencer didn't even destroy my rosellas that I planted on Sunday putting the wire up. It looked like they were tramping all over them when we left yesterday but they missed all the plants thank goodness. So now I have to move the branches they cut down to the fire pile.

Today I have a formal dress to alter and some pants to repair and a pair of suit pants to take in.

Then there are those seeds to get in, some weeding to do, ironing, washing, changing sheets and cleaning. And hopefully a start on some sewing things of my own.

With one day a weekend taken up with my part time job, more to do in vegetable garden and a few days out there has been no time to sew at all and I am falling way behind with the present list. Mind you all this time in the car has given me three new dishcloths!!!

A quick word on finances:

I noticed today that one of the news headlines was that borrowing was down by 7% in August the 7th straight month - bad??? - well a little but when you read the whole report that that sound bite came from it breaks down to personal lending is 4% home lending is 2% and commercial lending 1% (roughly) but people hear that and think there has been a 7% downturn in home lending only. And bear in mind personal debt(personal lending) is the thing the economy needs to slow down.

Be mindful when you hear bits and pieces of reports - they are all there on the internet to read

so if they panic you - read them fully you may not understand it all but you will see the figures are usually a combination of things not just one area.

Don't make hasty judgements or decisions based on what you hear on commercial news reports, or in some of the papers - they are selling product like everyone else so if they grab your attention with a headline you will more likely see what their advertisers are selling. They don't care what irresponsbile journalism does to the public's confidence.

Don't listen to Real Estate agents, mortgage brokers or so called experts who are based in one town they will give you a slanted view and not the whole picture of what the National situation is. Bear in mind most morning tabloid tv shows are made in Sydney.

So in your quest for simplicity take the time to read about things before you panic, be better informed by searching out the real experts. And remember it took 2 years for the markets to get to this point it may take that long for them to get back to where they were or longer. The bounce we have seen is great but there will be people out there who will take this as a sign that it is a good time to sell while the prices are up so expect another slump - the market will be a bumpy ride for some time to come. So the only ones really affected are the people who buy and sell regularly for income so they buy low sell high these guys will have some uncertainty. But for most, shares are always a long term investment they will come back, just be patient.

daisymum

Monday Monday

Hi Everyone

Just a quick post we are off to Caboonbah Homestead today to show some visitors from England, a bit more of Australia than the Barrier Reef. Promise I will post some photos for those of you who haven't been there yet.


Couldn't take photos at the Gees Bend quilt expo which was such a shame as it was FABULOUS. The Gees bend Quilts were amazing but the Japanese ones were simply awe inspiring.

The above shot (I really must learn to put my glasses on when I am taking photos) is of my first ever success with growing something from seed - LUFFAS!!!!!! This is very exciting for me. I have some others ready to plant out tomorrow (yes the ones I have been promising to do all week).

Yesterday after we got back from a 40th birthday in Toowoomba we planted out another Mulberry tree, and a new bed of Rosellas for next season - I relented and put it in a sunny open space in the orchard paddock - no sooner were they in the ground and mulched than Lloyd and GubGub (the Roosters) got in and scratched around so I added some wooden stakes near the plants, not sure if they will survive but we can hope. If things get really bad we can put up a little fence around them.

The boys spend most of the day in the house yard anyway near Daisyboy4 and I while we garden, have morning tea, or sit outside my sewing room window and watch me. daisyboy4 hand raised them from chicks he got from preschool they are not aggressive and have gorgeous personalities.

This one is GUB GUB he has a dodgy leg where he got it caught in the pen as a young chick and we think it broke but it mended itself and he is a handsome boy nevertheless.

THE WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS:

All this talk of the world markets and problems with job security and house prices must be making loads of people a bit nervous. We have a long way to go with the kids we still have to educate, our mortgage etc. but every cent that can be placed back into the deposit banks in the from of savings makes our banking sector even stronger. There are about 30 AAA rated banks in the world and our big four are in the top six.

And already overseas investors are seeing this with almost a 20% increase in overseas investment over the last few weeks. Which makes our banking sector even stronger. Add to that the smart ones, who heeded the warnings 12 months ago and cashed out of the stockmarket, have their money sitting in the deposit banks as well - and you have a ready made source of cash that will flow into the property market sometime over the next few months. With interest rates coming down the deposit funds aren't so attractive as a cheaper bricks and mortar market.

Sure the housing market is going through an adjustment at the moment and if you have to sell to move for work then it isn't the best time but then again everywhere is the same so prices everywhere are coming back. And maybe going a bit smaller or a bit further out aren't such bad options you may be able to afford a bit more land, or move smaller and be closer to public transport pro and con lists are a great idea include things like transport costs, food growing space, water tanks, solar power, close to schools, close to shops. If you have a home with a mortgage put what you can into it,save where you can and ride it out.

We are very very lucky in Australia to have one of the strongest economies in the world and whilst we will be affected by the world financial crisis if we are all smart and don't panic then we will ride this out better than most.

daisymum