So much to tell you

Living on T.I. is a lot like living anywhere else - it never rains, it pours. Since Friday Rob and I haven't stopped. There's been fetes, drinkies, races, catching up with friends and just overall being very busy.

If you remember I was looking after the cake stall for the church fete. Now even though I am a bit of a veteran when it comes to fete stalls, I was a tad nervous about this one as I was following in the footsteps of one Mrs Pat Jones. Pat has been here for ever and doing the cake stall for as long, so - this was going to be a tough act for me to follow.

I had been hearing how she was able to muster up so much support that the cake stall was always the money maker on fete night. As it turns out my fears were groundless. I'd momentarily forgotten that I was living in a small community and that everybody rallies around and pitches in. Hadn't I met people in the street and asked them to bake for me? - well they did - and with a vengeance!!

Whether it was one cake, two cakes or trays and trays; whether it was bags of cookies, trays of donuts, fudge, jars of chutneys, damper from Hammond Island cooked in banana leaves and  ..... the mainstay of all fetes around Australia - toffees - the good people of T.I. supported the cake stall as they had done in years gone by.

At this stage we still have rough figures but in one and a half hours we took over $2000 - that's just for the cakes :-) The entire fete made over $22,000 in 3 hours. Not bad hey? But then we Catholics always did know how to raise money.

The next day saw Rob and I frock up - well I did, Rob went semi-formal, as you can see from the pics - for the annual T.I. Derby Day.

Rob and I in the pilot house kitchen. One of us is overdressed .....

The event was held at the boat club - spectacular views, icy cold champagne, delicious BBQ lunch and lots of fun betting on distant races. We had our own derby later in the afternoon - I was a jockey, but the dice rolls were not friendly to me and so my punters lost money :-(

Why would you want to be anywhere else?

Palm trees at Derby Day

Sunday saw me feeling very sorry for myself and laying low - you can draw your own conclusions :-) But then what better way to come back to life than a spot of gardening. Here is a pic of the donger as it it now - no longer bare, but warm and inviting.

A few pot plants to soften the look, a table and chairs to share our meals, a cane chair to relax in while talking on the phone to loved ones, a garden bed to define our space.  Yes, life on T.I. ..... is good :-)