Ho Ho Ho!

Christmas 2014 in the Blue Mountains; the only white out we get is from the mist.

We are lucky to have enjoyed another year full of adventure catching up with family and all our friends throughout Australia, HK and UK for dinners/lunch/walks/golf/culture. 


Here are some of the standouts:

Camping and cycle touring in Feb and April : To Capertee Valley in search of the source of many Warwick Fuller paintings; to Mudgee for wine tasting  (cut short by torrential rain storms);

To Dubbo Zoo (for luxury glamping/roar and snore) and wine tasting in Orange (Ross Hill and Canobolas Smith standout) with Marti and Robbie

Golf Jan-May & Dec:

Sarah getting even more competitive and better at/hooked on golf now off 26. The assessment of a good round has changed from counting golf balls found in HK at Kai Sau Chau to if she has beaten Jo and whether she has broken even (prizes vs entry fee); Gleneagles golf match vs Sarah and overnight in the hotel (Sarah insists on a rematch in 2015 as it is the only match play Jo won v Sarah all year)

Road Cycling:
After much deliberation, splashing out on 2 Roubaix Specialised road bikes for Aussie cycle training. They are a dream to ride!

Meeting the northern 2013 LEJOG contingent (CVO, Snap, Phil, the Don) for a cycle in torrential rain in the Dales in May (which - of course involved a coffee stop to dry out and warm up).

Cycling in the maratona in the Dolomites on 6 July 2014.

Checkout shots at http://www.maratona.it/en/courses2015 

This is a wonderful area for a visit. 

We will be back in 2015 as part of a Lake Como to Palermo in Sicily cycling tour (5 weeks in the saddle)

Germany and Austria holiday - June

Travelling across Germany with bikes: staying in Schloss Lemburg; Berlin for concerts and for catching up with Wee Devi in her Schloss retreat.


A spot of bike cleaning after Sarah, navigating with her Garmin, took us cross country through a boggy forest track in torrential rain. Much un-buddhist like swearing was heard. A welcome cup of tea and a wash was provided!




Baden Baden cycle tour, cycling around Lake Constance,  Visiting the Disney castles at Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangenau.

Cycling along the Danube, via Vineyards for a spot of wine tasting.












Getting out the posh frocks in Austria for The Ring cycle in Vienna

Italy - July-Oct

Another 4 months of peace in our house in Italy where the vegetable garden again excelled in the volume produced. In common with the rest of Italy a nasty little insect demolished the whole olive crop. But at least we had no plague of "cimici" this year.

We redesigned the living area this year by opening it up to more light and air, replacing 2 doors with more windows and mossie screens.











More fabulous walks in the Sibillini although Sarah did manage to lose her walking poles by trying to lead us off a cliff just above Lago Di Pilato.

cycling around Cortona and Montecatini Termi, Lucca and to the beach for chips; Rossini festival in Pesaro; Jo’s parents visiting  (Dad even made his own pizza topping )

Scotland May/Nov

Starting the garden design at Grace’s Barn – thanks to Annie Mason our friendly horticultural teacher (we provide the manual effort to execute her plans)

A gorgeous walk up Beinn Allign; on a clear day you can see for miles








and a fabulous kayak on Loch Torridon for 32km from Arrina to Torridon and back.

The sky was blue, the loch was like glass as there was no breeze (unheard of in Scotland and certainly something we have never ever experienced before)

There were of course some things we did not enjoy so much, such as

Resuming a competition that neither of us want to compete in or win; 

food poisoning (once again out of date pasta) eliminating Jo from the NYE/NY day celebrations in Sydney.

Jo stayed home eating dried biscuits; Sarah (iron gut) got the harbour walk, seafood, champagne and 2 sets of fireworks with Deb & Pete at 69 Milson Rd.

We decided that it was silly to carry recipe books around the world so began a blog to store our favourite recipes that work (4 per month)  http://www.tattyandneepworkoutrecipes.blogspot.com.au

Courses: Sarah has an impulse every year to attend a course on something or other and drags me along. Last year chair making, this year we schlepped to Lismore for a week to attend a wood turning course. After losing all fingernails and some of our fingertips, chiselling and sand papering, 2 bowls were produced. I dread to think what she will dream up in 2015.

Work: It is a lot of fun working for your own company but much more on demand and less predictable than a regular office job. SPQRLTD is ticking along but we are surprised just how difficult it seems for people to get on with writing their will. They all know they need to do it, but doing it seems challenging.

Going Grey Jo is 50 and Sarah 55 in 2015 (how did we get to this age so fast?)  We are both getting grey. Our major question is when to reach for the hair dye? Sarah (ably assisted by our Kiwi friends Marty & Robbie) tried her first DIY hair dye in 2014 and ended up ginger; Not satisfied the first time she again selected honey (dark blonde) hair dye. We think the label should have read "honey dew melon" not just honey as it was bright orange! Third time lucky for Vidal Neep and Ginger Pearson?

Finally, the weather. Can't complain and we get summer and autumn all year. Hopefully we have avoided the worst of the Aussie bush fires this year; here on Cliff Drive, life returns.

We will be off for a long walk and then cooking turkey with bitter orange and prunes (recipe from Maggie Beer) on Christmas Day. Whatever you are doing, and wherever you are, we hope that you have a great holiday and all the best for 2015. We hope you will find time to visit us, or we will come and visit you!

Love

Jo & Sarah

xxx