Clare weekend

We left Saturday morning around 9 am and the weather looked pretty gruesome. The Adelaide hills shrouded in fog and mist  although climbing the old Willunga hill road was quite clear. We always avoid going through Adelaide as on a Saturday the express way goes in the opposite way and you have to contend with lots of traffic lights to get through all the suburbs. So we go through the hills via Meadows, Hahndorf, Woodside , Birdwood , Williamstown and sidestep Gawler to some degree. The weather had improved a bit by the time we got that far,
You are then on the main North road and it never ceases to amaze me how the light has changed from the softness of the hills to the brilliance of the north. The cloudscapes are stunning on those undulating green, crop growing plains and the 180 degree views are awsome as the young say these days. The canola crops were just showing a hint of yellow but the purple of the salvation jane paddocks were certainly missing.Have they managed to eradicate it all? Poor bee keepers will be bereft if that is so but it would be  good for the farmer . Tarlee looks as down at heel as ever,  Rhynie a little better and Auburn of course can never loose with those stunning old buildings and cottages. Watervale always tugs at the heartstrings as we lived at the back in the Skilly hills for 15 years and our boys grew up there. Penworhtam is still the same but Sevenhills has a revamped pub and new bakery. We got to Clare and my niece's place around noon. Her family put on a great party for her 60th birthday and we caught up with lots of rellies and their news.We left around dusk and went to find our friend's new unit a few streets further on as she had kindly offered to have us stay for the weekend.She has had to leave her farm after two bad falls in which she injured a different arm each time and was unable to drive which would have left her isolated. So she moved into a very nice unit in Clare. She has adapted amazingly well as all her married life had been spent on the farm and living surrounded  by people takes a lot of getting used to.Old age has its drawbacks in that one is not as agile nor do we bounce as well as we did in our younger days when we fall. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.....
On Sunday we went and had a very nice lunch at the Sevenhill pub which has been re vamped since we last were there quite some years ago. The staff were very attentive and the food and wine excellent. We then drove on the back road past Skillogalee, where as a young woman I helped the Georges put in their irrigation system. Spen nearly set the district alight by lighting stringy bark trees which had been cleared to put the vineyard in!!! Being a towny he didn't know you don't light fires after September no matter how green it looks in the valleys. We drove past Turners place who used to run a dairy of beautiful Jerseys one of which I bought to hand milk when they had to sell out because dairy properties had to change from cans to stainless steel vats and that was expensive.They sold the farm as well. We got to Hughes Park and drove into the home paddock as the gate was open and we were able to see the changes made since we left there in 1975.The lovely top verandah has been removed and we couldn't see if anyone is living there now. The dairyman's cottage is certainly occupied with washing flapping on the line and a ute outside.The old blacksmith shop is still there where I used to hold the horses for the blacksmith to hot shoe them every 6 to 8 weeks depending on how much mustering we did in those steep hills. The stables seem to have gone though which is a shame. The house we lived in too has changed and been beautifully extended in the same stone.
We drove back to Clare via Leasingham.