Last Train to Mitchelton

Today we caught the last steam train from Mitchelton to Ferny Grove. It was a fully restored 1910 steam train with full carriages. It was great. Now Im not the budding train spotter - we did see some of those. But this was a great piece of history - except for the full restored energy saving lightglobes in the lights. Check out the details, the fan, the high gloss paint, the signage, great fun, and sadly the last time it will happen - the guide/conductor said that they were pulling up the cross frames which I assumed meant the train couldnt turn around or fit on the tracks. it was great to be a little part of history to a time where a train trip meant a real journey, where things were slower and people were more mindful of the little things.

on the train gang

a trip into the city on the train - Lachlan and Sebastian are in their meeting clothes

the samford show

a few weeks ago we went to the regional show the one before the Ekka. It was fun we saw some wood choppers, ate lots of popcorn, Derek took his life into his own hands and had a dagwood dog and Sebastian and Lachlan chose this ride to go on. Note the bouncy slide in the background - which I tried to convince them would be more fun but oh no they wanted to go on the "super jet" rollercoaster. Ok we said, and off they went. Unfortunately you cant see the look of sheer terror on their faces nor hear the crying that ensued. the lady stopped the ride after two goes around, they got off bawling their eyes out. "Mummy that was not fun!" I was laughing too hard to be much help in consolation!

on the street where you live

Now - I know that people think that Brisbane is a bit of a hick town in comparison to Sydney and yes this picture could be on a farm in any given location throughout Australia. BUT. its not - its at the end of our street - we have this urban anomaly a big paddock with about a dozen cows living in it - right in the middle of urban sprawl and industrial area. From what I can tell they are mostly bulls - not dairy cows, which really begs the question what are they doing there? Regardless we love our trips down to see the cows

Village Church

Our church is planting a new one, next week infact, here, its exciting, we went and checked out the local produce market on saturday morning and got some free range eggs, Derek will be proud, he does not like my attitude to battery hens and their debt to society. Maybe this will become a habit, a nice habit to have - a saturday morning stroll through the market a coffee, a pastry, some woodfired bread, some locals, becoming a local and sharing jesus?
Derek went to a pub there today and chatted to the owner. It all starts up on sunday, a village ripe for the picking, God willing

a fine day 2

Photo 1 - kitchen window

photo 2 dining room

photo 3 toilet - nice sink

Photo 4 deck

please note no photos of bedroom - they are a disaster

a fine day

One fine warm day when I was enjoying our house I thought Id take some pictures to show you who have not yet visited.

photo1 the dining room from the kitchen

Photo 2 front door

Photo 3 lounge room

Photo 4 lounge room other way

Photo 5 kitchen

A little Culture

We went to the new exhibitions at the GoMA at Southbank. Philippa and I could have stayed in the kids section for hours making paper bats and cicadas. Sebastian throughly painted the rocks and we all enjoyed the chinese modern art - well worth a visit.

Sebastian and mummy see the sights

We have had a lovely visit from our friend Philippa. So she took some pictures of me which rarely happens. Here we are paddling at Shorncliff pier on Easter day after some fish and chips and The other pic is from Mt Coo-tha with Brisvegas in the background.

A Bloody big snake

Where you might say... well not in these photos as such but this was the tree that the big snake was in. Once I had gathered myself and googled it to see what kind of snake it was I went back to the tree and stuck the camera out the window and snapped away - The snake had gone by this stage of course to eat the possums who live in our roof but that doesnt make such a good story.
I have never encountered such wildlife than living here in Brisbane. Our homes have been a regular haven for creatures great and small. But a 6ft diamond python in the tree outside the toilet really takes the cake (NB not literally - the chocolate cakes from a few posts before had been well and truly consumed by us and Robert the tiler). Sebastian has now learnt that if he ever sees a snake in the yard he is not to touch it but run away and scream like a big girl ( read here Mummy) "mummy theres a snake! - Heavens knows what I will then do about it, probably scream like a big girl too. I have been ever vigilant since this incident and have even put Sebastians wooden pretend snake away, just so I dont scare myself.