And so that was Christmas

Christmas Day morning began with bagels with avocado, tomato, goat cheese and salmon (for me) or prosciutto (for Him Outdoors)

Christmas Day breakfast

The weather has turned pretty grim, but we went for a Christmas Day walk up Mt Painter anyway.

A friend called in on Christmas Day and we shared dinner with them, but there are no photos of it, so here is the evening supper cheese-board instead.

Cross section of the goat-cheese strawberries

Keeping a watchful eye on the cheese board

I really enjoy the family zoom call as we all get a chance to share festive greetings from wherever we are across the globe and several time zones. 

The Boxing Day meal is left over roast pork loin with a fresh green potato salad and a peach and doughnut trifle with spiced berry syrup.

A friend of ours loves trifle but no one else in their family does, so I made them a mini one and we dropped it round so they could still enjoy the sweet treat. I managed to pop out for a post-prandial perambulation between the (very heavy) rain showers. 

Another friend wanted a red filing cabinet. We had a spare that one that we didn't need, but it was green so we bought some spray paint and made it into the preferred colour. 

The Belconnen Fresh Food Markets, where I used to work, has undergone a face-lift, so we went down to have a look. I think it is generally an improvement (although the queueing system at my favourite bakery is bonkers), and I like this particular alteration, which feels like a European covered food market.

It seems it is agapantha season in the front garden.

Getting in a couple of trigs before the end of the year, we snuck in a drive to Namadgi National Park and bagged Boboyan Trig and Shanahan's Mountain.

Clear evidence of the fires that came through here

Boboyan Trig

The fires cleared the undergrowth, and the recent rain has created thriving growth opportunities for a plethora of wildflowers.

I promise we got to the top, but we couldn't find the trig or an obvious marker, so we just took a random sh*te selfie

And then we observed a mob of swamp wallabies.

Later that evening we were back down at To All My Friends with Original Gravity - well, they say routine is useful. 

Rounded out the year with a final trig point, walking up Mt Ainslie with Design Diva, followed by breakfast at Poppy's. 

For New Year's Eve we had some friends around to eat, drink, play silly games and be merry.

Calamity Sue is not keen to share

And it's Happy New Year and Goodnight from Him Outdoors, Melantho and Penelope.