Hard Labor

Today was a rest day. I mention this because the last couple of weeks have been unusually busy for a couple of supposedly semi-retired fogeys.

Here's what I've been feeling like:

Actually, that's Harpy, Lindsey's Staffordshire terrier. In this picture, she's trying to catch up to Sharloe, who has run on ahead. It's hard to keep up with Sharloe!

On our way home from visiting them in Queensland, we stayed overnight at pretty Kyogle in northern NSW.

Breakfast was at Gateway Fine Foods : La Entrada a comida fina. Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree...Someone is a Eurithmics fan.

 Daley's Nursery was our reason for being in this area. It did not disappoint.

We loaded up the back of the car with our future citrus orchard. And a few other things - a blueberry, a macadamia, some rainforest plants.

Cliff the stonemason had been working solidly the whole time we were away and was just finishing the last of the steps. The new rock walls look fantastic. This week, pool tiling will happen, we hope.

Yesterday, we broke bread ( made by David) with our friends David and Fay. The occasion was to commiserate with them, another pair of true believers, about the state of the nation following the election of Mr Rabbit. My Facebook feed is full of posts by friends and offspring despairing the result and deriding the voting decisions of their fellow Australians.

David and I did our bit for the leftish, pinko cause. We handed out How to Vote materials at our two local booths, from opening of the polls at 8am to closure at 6pm. Peter Alley, Broadband not Fraudband. Labor for schools and hospitals. Make your vote in the Senate count. It was nice to hear the PM thank us personally (  "All the volunteers at polling booths") during his concession speech. But, sadly our electorate Lyne has gone from marginal independent, attracting all sorts of funding under Rob Oakeshott, to become a safe Nationals seat, as a result of Oakshott's retirement. What were they thinking, all those LNP voters who waved us off as they herded in to the booths, like so many sheep with Rupert the kelpy controlling them. What about the eight or nine young blokes who all revved up together en masse, each in his own hotted up car, rushed in and then out again too fast to have even read the ballot papers. I could nearly see the donkey ears on them. Or the young woman who wanted to know "What's this all about? Who are we supposed to be voting for?" She was just there to avoid the fine, she explained, and she didn't know if she was on the "electrical roll" or not. I handed her the labor How to Vote. Just do what it says on this paper, I told her, you'll be right.

We went for a swim during a lull in the afternoon. The beach was just as beautiful. The water clear and cool. They can't take that away from us, no, no, they can't take that away. Well, better get used to it. Life under Mr Rabbit.