Once upon a time, many years ago, I travelled around the world with a backpack and very little money. After two years I came home, completely broke and utterly delighted with the places I'd seen and the people I had met. I had seen enough of Europe to know I needed to go back; I had been a bar maid in London long enough to see the UK on a shoestring; and I had worked for two summers at Indian Head Camp, a beautiful spot in Pennsylvania, as a camp counsellor and group leader (amongst other things!) Several of the friends I made while working at summer camp are, to this day, among my dearest friends.
I met Caroline (or Calorine, as my children call her now) when she was one of the camp receptionists during our first year at IHC. She came back in the second year to be a camp counsellor with me, which was just a hoot from start to finish. Caz was so fun, and so fabulous with the girls we cared for. When I think about my time at camp with Caroline, Lauren, Cat, Beans, Piper and Weisy, the nostalgia is almost deafening - they were such gorgeous mates, and we had the most amazing fun. Would I do it all again? In a heartbeat. Even the night when I stood on a frog in the dark and slid on it's guts. Even the time when there was a skunk under our cabin and it was the start of Olympics, and they got a fire engine and set the siren off outside our bunk and the skunk got a fright and sprayed under the floorboards. Even when I missed curfew and had to face the wrath of Shelley the morning after....ok, maybe not that. But you get the picture!!
I spent Millenium New Year with Caz in her hometown of York, watching the fireworks over York Minster and having a little tipple at a local pub with her friends (yes, a little tipple. Followed by a bigger tipple...and then another, larger tipple...) And after many fabulous times in America and the UK, I finally convinced Caroline to visit Australia. So she arrived just in time for me to move into my very first own house, and we spent a few months living together while I taught and she worked at a local restaurant. And we had a ball.
Of course, as she had planned all along, after a while Caz went off to see the rest of Australia, and then home to England. And while we were apart, she got married over in the UK (to a lovely boy whom she had met while living with me - so her mum completely blames me for taking her far, far away!! Sorry Anne xxx), moved back to Australia, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and is now a dairy farmer's wife in the country! Which brings us to today - which I'm sure my children would call "A Day At The Best Farm In The World".
Being Aunty Calorine's birthday today, we had been invited to a barbie on the farm in Gippsland. And oh, did Team O'Toole have a wonderful day! There were doggies to play with, piggies to oink at, day-old baby calves to pat, moo-cows to moo at, and sodidges in bread for lunch. I do declare, Jack and Phoebe would have upped and stayed with Aunty Calorine (or Farmer Girl, as Jack called her until we put a stop to it!) forever had we allowed them! And oh, the clean, fresh air, and the view!! Such a magnificent vista from Caz's back yard - I could have stood in the milking yard and looked at the hills for hours. It was enough for Christian and I to start talking about chucking a holiday shack on a bush block one day...
It made my heart glad to see Caroline so happy. She has a wonderful hubby (thanks for the dairy tour, Matt! We'll be back for our baby calf tomorrow...), a divine bubby (who will not escape from Aunty Sal's cuddles next time), and a beautiful farm in the most picturesque spot imaginable. I hope she had a happy birthday. I was very grateful to spend it with her - because seeing Caroline today melted all the years away, and took me back to being a 23 year old chick, hanging out with one of the best friends I've ever had. And I don't think it will be very long before we return to the farm. My children apparently had such a wonderful day they have decided the best thing to do is bug me about visiting Aunty Calorine again, until I capitulate. They don't need to bug me. Happy birthday Farmer Girl!!
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