Kids Dish

We had another good old Aussie barbecue yesterday, to introduce some new people to the Pendlerook Designs family. It also served as a rehearsal for Aurelia Day, the big Australia Day party we hold for our girl’s birthday each year.

Sausages were dutifully charred, my perfect vegie burgers did the rounds again, and my health-conscious mother proved that she knows her way around a mayonnaise bottle by making a perfect potato salad.

We also had pesto, camembert, Red Lancaster, three kinds of cracker and piles of grapes and strawberries. And beer. Gotta have beer at a barbecue. Also, white bread and tomato sauce.

We ate up at the picnic table which is at the back of the garden, under a wooden roof beside the shed. I haven’t spent much time out there this summer, and was quite guilty to see Raeli running around making a complete hooligan of herself and having a ball, so excited to be out on the grass!

(I don’t hate outside, but I hate hot weather and sunshine, so until we get some trees in our garden, I’m going to avoid it like the plague.)

It occurred to me that maybe we should plant some trees. A bit of greenery and shade out there (the shade roof is over a dirt floor - fine for sitting at the table, but not exactly good for lying on a picnic cloth) would make the world of difference.

The Man of the House started musing about building a vegetable garden - I don’t know how serious he is, but I would love that. Well, I would love it if it was his project. I long for fresh homegrown vegies and herbs, but I don’t want to do it myself. I loathe gardening with a fiery vengeance. But I like the results… sigh.

All of these garden musings are happening because my mother’s moving house again - to Cygnet this time, a lovely little arty village 20 minutes or so south of us, rather than being clear across the city and then some. She’s positioning herself for retirement, but also for our business, which is deeply rooted in the region south of Hobart - many of our artists and woodturners live in the Cygnet region, and it’s close to the tourist trail.

The good news is that this isn’t another renovation project - the cottage is beautifully renovated already in a style she loves. The garden is already full with established trees and plants of the kind she loves. On the one hand, she’s a little melancholy about not having a big patch to start from scratch, but on the other… well, she can add her usual little touches to the place and then get on with her other projects, particularly her art, which has taken a back seat to hard yards gardening and house renovation for years now. And, you know, it’s a cottage in Cygnet. That’s kind of a Tassie artist’s dream.

She’ll be looking out for a spare paddock or bush block to exercise her green thumb upon - part of me is hoping she’ll eye off our bare backyard and go, hmm.

In any case, it will be great for Little Miss to have her Glammer closer by. What I need is for Glammer’s taste in mud, roses and trees to rub off on her granddaughter, so I can have an inhouse gardener in a few years, and finally have my own fresh ingredients close to hand (and a few comfy nooks of lawn to read a book upon). The girl does seem to like digging in dirt…