The End of an Era.

So......The Era of Dulcie is over.We have spent our last night at Celtis St and are once more returned to Frogknot. In the last few days we have cleared out the kitchen and packed what we want to keep and took some unwanted stuff to St Vinnie's charity shop.We finally sold the leather sofa and reclining chairs yesterday. A young family drove down from Inglewood, which is very close to Stanthorpe where we are now, to collect it. They have been looking for something for ages and were delighted with them. They have two young children and a third on the way and were sick and tried of hosing down their old suite and wanted something that they could wipe! Hmmmm, I think the poor leather suite is going to get hammered but Dulcie loved children so here's hoping she would approve.It was very sad to finally carry her favourite chair out of the house.We cut the grass yesterday and tidied up. A Willy Wagtail danced about me on the lawn as I pushed the mower backwards and forwards. Dulcie loved them and would often look out from the kitchen sink and say 'There's my Willy Wagtail.'...but for the last half year of her life we never saw one and she would often say 'I don't know where my Willy Wagtail has gone.'It was back yesterday and very daring to come so close to me and in some way I think it was Dulcie saying a last goodbye.We packed up Roxy to the gunnels this morning and had a quick clean of the house to leave it shipshape for prospective buyers.Adrian the Estate Agent arrived to take photos but we were not ready so he said he would come back tomorrow.We couldn't quite fit in all we wanted but will collect that at a later date.

We said our 'goodbyes' to Joanne and Bill next door...but we will be in touch with them and it is not as if we are disappearing off the face of the Earth like a number of celebrities recently.We closed up the house and left it behind.Will rode Jaxy up to Stanthorpe and I drove Roxy back. Our friend Toni who now lives in Germany is over visiting and she joined Roxy and I on the trip up.Will caught us up at Aratula at the foot of the Great Dividing Range and we had a sausage roll brunch before heading up to Cunningham's Gap. At the top I noticed Roxy was overheating so pulled in and switched the engine off. Will caught us up again.He reckoned it had just been the strain of the uphill climb and suggested we just carry on but I tried to start her and she wouldn't start....it was all very worrying but eventually Will got her started again and Toni and I carried on but without the air conditioning on.Roxy nearly over heated again on a hill climb up to the Granite Belt but after that we were fine and she went like a dream.Toni hasn't been back to this area for years and so we drove through Stanthorpe so she could see if it had changed. On our way out at the other end we were pulled over by the police who were doing random breath tests.'Oh, please don't ask me to switch the engine off!' I thought."We are doing breath tests' said the Occifer, "Have you had anything to drink with your lunch?""No," I said, and nearly added, 'just a sausage roll.' but didn't."Could you blow into this white tube please?" said the Occifer."Ooh, I have never done one of these before,"I said excitedly."What? Never?" said the Occifer incredulously. "How long have you been driving in Queensland?""About two years," I said."Well, you are very lucky or you just spend a lot of time watching TV."Was he calling me a couch potato? I huffed into the tube."Ok, that's fine. Off you go."Roxy made it up the drive to the house with a few squeals of the all-wheel drive.We finally have two weeks of uninterrupted Frogknot time to settle in before Josh and Helena arrive for their flying visit.The Era of Frogknot has begun.