Friday 4th September 2026

I woke up at twenty past three this morning and lay there not wanting to get out into the chilly new morning! I had both Ken and Raafie snuggled in bed with me and it was toasty warm compared to the air outside our bed! So, I lay there enjoying the warmth until four o’clock before I persuaded my body to get up and out.

Yikes! Shock-horror it was a little cooler than I thought it would be, so I dragged the heater out of the bedroom and set it up, but then Paddy came through a little later and he helped me get the fire going which always warms the room nicely.

I had my Quiet Time leaving Raafie still snuggled in bed with Ken. He really is happy to see us but I noticed that he checks to see what and where Paddy is all the time, which is good as it makes me happy to think that Raafie loves Paddy too.

The moment Paddy walks off anywhere Raafie is after him like greased lightning! He is terrified he will miss out on any action. Shame, and when Paddy left the farm late this afternoon, Raafie sat outside watching for him for ages.

This morning I had a shower quickly before the electricity was switch ed off – apparently, it was due to go off at nine o’clock, but … hey, we were in luck, it did NOT go off! Wonderful!

I was so looking forward to going to school today to meet up with the headmistress, teachers and children again. It feels like forever since I saw them.  Well, it is a while – I think I saw them last at the end of March 2026 – so that is five months ago. Almost half a year.

I went for a stroll around the top shed area this morning and picked up handfuls of “Old Man’s Beard” to take back home with us. I also began to collect the odd guinea fowl feathers lying around and will display them in a glass bottle as a reminder of the arm days.

One of the two trees that have lots of Old Man’s Beard hanging in them

                                                               Close up of the Old Man’s Beard

This morning Paddy has been busy hanging out his washing, feeding the birds, sorting out the troughs for the cattle later. In fact, when I was up at four o’clock Paddy came through then too, as Pumpkin, his cat, woke him up demanding to be fed!

Then Ken and Paddy went off on the quad bikes to herd the cattle at the back of the farm to bring them closer to us. They will be put into the Large River Camp, in case we have some of the young heifers calving whilst we are here on the farm.

Paddy was busy with all sorts of things before he left and so I made him some lunch and then I set sail for the Long Flat Primary school. What a lovely welcome I received on arriving there, but unfortunately a lot of the children were off sick but at least I got to see some of them. Two of the “naughty” boys were so happy to see me – the one little guy’s face would have split in half if his ears had not held his face together! The other little guy just ran up to me and gave me a humongous hug and did not care about anyone else - precious moments in my life! They all came and chatted before whizzing off to play before the next two classes.

It was good to see the teachers and staff that were there too and I will definitely make the effort to see them all when we come up to the farm again. They all said that they miss me – bless their little hearts. Just gives you the warm fuzzies and a feeling of being loved.

Paddy left the farm at about half past four, and it will be a slow drive for him as he is driving down in the ute’ – I stupid am I, I should have offered Paddy my car to drive down in instead, but it did not enter my head, silly woman!

I checked with the Bago Tavern that booking I made the other day was in order – and thankfully I did that as they had no record of it! Rats!  I soon got that sorted out, so, we will be meeting our ex-South African friends there tomorrow for lunch. I am looking forward to that.

I am also hoping to see a friend of mine – Karen Haskew who lives in Ellenborough, not far from us – while we are here on the farm, if and when it suits her.

Then on Sunday we will meet up with our other friends at church – so a really social time for us!

For our supper tonight I baked lamb chops in the air fryer and served it with a large, tossed salad. Ken decided not to eat tonight as he had some yoghurt very late in the afternoon - so it was just me, closely watched by Raafie! But ... when Ken saw the chops he was tempted and chomped one anyway!

I think an early bed tonight sounds like a wonderful idea to me!I have just downloaded my latest audio book so can start that while all tucked up in bed and toasty warm. Yeah, sounds good!

What lesson did I learn today? To take time to appreciate this farm – it really is lovely.

What am I grateful for today? That I was able to see some of the children at school today, Very special to me.

My saying for today is …