Easter long weekend

Well the Easter break is the only 4-day weekend of the year; provided you don't work bank holidays. And here almost everyone (especially retail) do! This is a cultural thing for us I guess, but many businesses make the most of the LONG weekend and close right through. No sale of alcohol on Good Friday and the fish markets are over run in the run up. Just not really traditions we are used too. I think Easter is almost as big a deal here as Christmas, or in some cases more so.

But after a few years, we were expecting this, so it gave us plenty of time to get on with a few jobs around the smallholding.

A bit of Autumn cleaning? Well we definitely gave the living areas, fans, vents etc a good clean. This is something I associate with the clocks changing (in the UK). Which was this Sunday- guess this is from my Nan... or my Dad. But then it would be 'Spring cleaning', but as the seasons are reversed here, I guess it would be Autumn cleaning... either way the house needed it, following the long, humid, damp wet season...so now it looks a lot fresher.

It's a little strange, as I guess we prepare for the winter here as we did the summer in the UK. As we actually use the outside more, and are relieved to be free, after weeks/months cooped up from the weather.

The garden had a bit of an Autumn clean up too. The patio and furniture was jet washed, the lawn is low and strimmed; though we desperately need a new stimmer/ whipper snipper- one of the things we could not get this weekend.

Most of the beds in the veg patch are weeded and mulched. I even put up a shade over the one garden bed and fenced almost all of it off- to stop the free ranging chooks from eating all my seedlings! Having the garden beds fenced off, should mean they are safe from the dogs too- so hopefully I can finally plant those Rhubarb seeds; Rhubarb leaves are highly poisonous, to humans and most animals. So I haven't been game to plant them... just in case- not sure I would forgive myself.

We put up the temporary fencing along the back garden. So the birds now have more room in the day, but cannot get to the rest of the back garden... in a hope that the lawn will grow back. It hasn't really recovered following the tank moving last year and it's already looking better. Now the birds are not eating the shoots as soon as they make it through the soil!

Sunday we headed out in the boat. As it was smooth and the winds were supposed to be good; Ideal conditions for a small vessel like ours in open water, so we set off... Every man and his dog, must have had the same idea, and no one appeared to be catching, just moving from spot to spot. So we cut our losses and headed back and take our chances in the creek instead.

This paid off- Some mighty muddies!