Today is, of course, Australia Day, and some
of our Aussie icons were prominent- quite a few Eastern Grey kangaroos feeding
on our front ‘lawn’ and hopping off in classic style when disturbed, and some
colourful green and gold plants in the garden.
It is, however, raining steadily now, and many Celebrations have been
washed out. It’s been as dry as chips
all month, and record hot temperatures, but now we have some very welcome rain.
My main celebratory feeling today is that,
with another month coming to a close, I have now ‘finished’ the work I set out
to do in this time. I have been working
really hard to establish the bushfire-safe clear zone around our cottage and am
very, very, pleased with the progress.
It is not yet finished, but will be by the end of March, which is our
deadline. Working towards the completion
of a defined task is satisfying in itself, however as I progress I am finding
some very attractive bushy areas which previously were unusable scrub, and
which ultimately will be part of our bushland garden. So the work has progressed way beyond merely
complying with a local-government regulation, to developing our place in ways
that we had always hoped for and envisaged.
Of course I am still itching to get more
involved in the ‘train’ side of Whistlestop, but with the end of this clearing
in sight I am getting very excited about focusing on all things ‘train’
again. I finished all the routine mowing
and maintenance of Whistlestop the other day, and it is looking really, really,
good, despite the dry conditions. As I
work around the property I see many small jobs which won’t take too long to do,
but will improve the look of the place immensely, which I’m looking forward to
tackling soon.
On the toy-train front, my O gauge F7 set
arrived the other day and is absolutely superb!! So now the F7 collection is complete and
ready to be displayed when space is available.
Here is a list of the different sizes and manufacturers:-
Z-
Micro Trains
TT- Rokal
N-
Kato
HO- Athearn Genesis
S-
Showcase Line/ S-Helper
O-
MTH Premier
1-
MTH Railking garden
G-
LGB
Another item on it’s way Downunder is
another Lionel Corporation landscaped plot accessory, which like most of my
Standard Gauge trains is a very authentic replica of the item that Lionel
produced in the 1930s. This one is a
#911 with a Red Villa. These look great
and will complement the trains very nicely, and help cover the acres of green
plywood!
Good enough reasons to celebrate!!
