I got up early today because I wanted to make hot cross buns. I found a recipe that I was given when I was about 20 years old! I used to make them every Easter when our children were young, but the recipe got lost and the tradition forgotten. It was fun to mix the dough, I mixed two batches; one with regular flour for Laurie and Kayden and one with gluten-free flour for me. The recipe is a tad complex requiring several stages. I did the first, left the mixture to rise and headed out to see to the animals.

Yesterday, we were above the clouds, today we were below them! The peaks on the Radiant and Glasgow Ranges were shrouded in misty cloud. It was easy to see that it was already drizzly up there and that the rain was on its way to the lowlands. By the time the dogs and I had walked down one side of our hill to the road it was very lightly drizzling. The drizzle got a bit heavier as we walked up the hill, but it wasn’t too bad and quite warm. When I got back home and had put the dogs away and the goats out to graze I checked on Holly. She had got herself in a bit of a state and was running around with her tail in the air and calling out. I caught her and put her into the goat paddock. and that seemed to settle her.

I started the second phase of the hot cross buns and Laurie and I settled down to watch an online church service for Easter Sunday. Kayden helped me put the crosses onto the buns and I put them in the oven to cook. While our buns were cooking we had a couple of games of Snakes and Ladders. We had the Easter buns warm for lunch. They were delicious! After lunch we had an Easter egg hunt, taking turns to hide the eggs and then the others had to come and find them. It was a lot of fun, especially for the youngest member of our bubble!

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The rain stopped for a spell and the afternoon cleared so I went for a ride on Holly. I’ve been super keen to ride her around our top loop track. It has always been a dream of mine to have my own horse and ride it on our own property. Now to have a choice of rides, trails and tracks to ride on is very special to me. Holly is a lovely mare and although she is still fairly new in our animal family I am starting to realize that I have bought a true gem. As she gains confidence in her new life-style she is becoming quite an enjoyable ride.

The rain came in this evening, and as I write it’s pretty stormy outside. The goats are warm and dry in their shelter after eating their hay. Holly is covered and has also had hay. (I just checked on her before and she is well sheltered from the wind and seemed okay.) The chickens are shut in their coop with nice dry straw and the dogs are fed and curled up in their kennels for the night. We’ve secured anything that might blow around in the wind and put tools and equipment away.

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As I was cooking dinner tonight I looked out of the kitchen window. It was raining steadily and the wind was beginning to pick up. The chooks were out scratching and pecking around quite close to the house. As I looked I realized there was an impostor in their midst. Can you spot him / her? 🙂

We’ll see how the animals have fared in the morning … in the meantime, Laurie and Kayden are watching a movie, ‘The BFG’, I think I’ll go and join them. I’ll leave the final “goodnight” to Moon, she was very interested in my camera!