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We had a wonderful Easter break, I hope you did too.

I feel truly relaxed and so very enthusiastic about having another break, and soon, down in this part of the Mornington Peninsula.

We stayed in St Andrews, which is well away from the rush, very quiet and true beach town sleepy. I liked it so much I've come back and seen what's for sale down there. Although there are many old style holidays houses, they're not the ones for sale! We'll continue to rent I'm afraid.

Working from top to bottom. Nan, Pa and the girls on Rye back beach wetting their toes; Geoff and I one self timer after hiking down to Bushrangers Bay which was so gorgeous; the view on the hike down; Ella and Leila clowing around on St Andrew's beach; a young goat at Main Ridge Dairy; transporter ride back down from Point Nepean; a view at the beach in Point Nepean NP on the hike up.

Geoff and I also managed dinner at The Long Table, which was great fun. There was a lunch at Foxey's Hangout - but my golly gee, the crowds were a little offputting. Beer at the Red Hill Brewery, ummmm, is that enough?? No, there's plenty left for the next visit!

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Geoff had said a few times that he thought I'd enjoy this book and he was right.

The language is quite minimal and apparently Cormac McCarthy is not known for his love of punctuation. It's one of the most evocative reads with the least amount of description in any book I've ever read.

A father and son (whose names we're never told) are surviving in what we assume is a post apocolyptic world. We don't hear what happened or how or why, we only see the after affects and hear of how those who are left are trying to survive.

It's terrifying and is the only book I can remember that I held my breath while reading. Nothing bad happens to this pair, but horror is all around and it plays with your mind, gets you thinking down certain paths - what would I do, what choice would I make.

It was a quick read and I was sorry when it ended.

We'll now see the movie. Vigo Mortensen plays the father and I think he's great, so I'm keen to see if it translates well.

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I've been listing the books I'm reading for a while now, but I though I would start commenting on how I found each book as I finish it. It won't be a review as such, that's nowhere near a strength of mine, it will be purely my opinion. If you're like me, take it with a pinch of salt, for we all know that each one of us finds the exact same taste, place, experience, view and read completely different.

I had not heard of this book before buying it. I wandered into Dymocks one lunchtime and wandered through the shelves. The title pulled me in and I wanted to know if it was in fact about a hedgehog. The blurb read "Renee is the concierge of a Grand Parisian building on the Left Bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated - an ideal concierge. But Renee has a secret. Beneath this conventional facade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her self-important employers.

Down in her lodge, Renee is resigned to living a lie; meanwhile several floors up, twelve year old Panoma Josee is determined to avoid a predictably bourgeouis future, and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.

But the death of one of their priviledged neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7, Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever."

Now I confess that this didn't draw me in all that much, until I reached the reference to 7, Rue de Grenelle. When Geoff and I were married, we honeymooned in Europe for 6 months before settling in London. One of our first stops was Paris, where we stayed with a dear friend I'd met years earlier in the US. That is a wonderful story in itself, but the connection was in the fact that at that time Christelle lived at 23 Rue de Grenelle, which is in fact in the area of Paris were many of the embasssies are located, so indeed, quite lovely. I bought the book on this connection alone.

It is quite esoteric to begin with, in its subject matter. There are many philosophical references and the main character is discussing her impressions about phemonology, about which I know nothing and therefore found the discourse a little dull. The book is written in two voices, of Renelle and Paolma, and really got me in as it progressed. Neither is an average person, although who is us is?

It was a book full of passages I felt compelled top frustrate Geoff with by reading aloud, there were real connections in many of the thoughts characters discussed. General philosophical ramblings on love, life, ageing, friendship, many of which I've underlined in pencil. There were discussions in this book that have stayed with me for days, provoked much thought and thoughtfulness.

I'd recommend this one and I'll be searching out other works by Muriel Barbery.

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Happy birthday our darling love.

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We had more visitors from overseas last week. In town for the wedding of another friend, as a bridesmaid, Kate and her family were only with us for a day. She didn't look different, not really, still just the same, the boys bigger, Darren strangely more tanned than me ....?! It was nice to share family time and Darren's birthday together with us.

At the end of the night (why do we always leave it until the end) it was time for photos. Now I can take a good photo, it just doesn't happen very often. My dear husband took so many shots and he kept shaking his head and saying to me "what are you doing? Kate looks exactly the same in every shot, you're the problem"! So, it is with great embarassment that I share the best of a bad bunch, of me. I would defend myself saying I looked nice when the day started, but Kate now believes me (post a swimming session) that my hair does indeed go curly and crazy when left to its own devices!

Travel safe guys.

PS Kate, be sure that this is an indication of how much you mean to me that I would share a photo like this with the world!

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For years I've stuck to my tried and true hot cross buns recipe, but this year decided I'd give something new a try. Apple and cinnamon buns from the current Gourmet Traveller. They are good. The recipe though, is stingy on fruit and spices, to my taste at least. I think if you cut into a hot cross bun and only find two sultanas, it's not enough. The addition of apple was particularly yummy in the glaze, which tasted like the apple jelly my mum made years ago. Next time I would put in more apple, cooked a little less so it didn't just disappear into the mix. Also, the recipe ran wet, so add your liquids gradually.

Excuse the photos, but I started late in the day so it was about 8pm when I took them from the oven. I do love them all baked together like that, so festive.

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Hip, hip, horray - connected to the world again.

We love scones in this house, but hadn't had them in a while, so reading Molly's post we decided to veer from our standard plain scones to nan's recipe and tried hers. We used some sultanas as well in the mix, which is quite wet and I found needed a little less liquid, but quite, quite delicious - for a snack, afternoon tea and breakfast too!