Charlie...

This is him. The reason I now call the bush my home. CP... my very own version of The Marlborough Man. 

I think the picture above is my favourite picture of him. Even looking at it makes me happy. It just reminds me of all the physical things I love about him. And it says nothing about all the things that  irritate me about him! 

Warning: this is only going to be a shallow look at a man with a lot of depth.

Physically he embodies everything I never thought I would ever end up with. Except for the dark skin... mmmm lovely, dark skin. He is a real cowboy. Right down to the big hat and Wrangler jeans. And somewhere in the recesses of his wardrobe is a pair of calf high cowboy boots just itching to make an appearance. He comes complete with a farmers tan (which I had never even heard of until I moved out here), 5 o'clock shadow and rolled up sleeves. He drove a ute when we first met, listened to country music and spoke with that unmistakable western Queensland twang. Australia's answer to the USA's southern drawl. 

When I first moved out west to teach, friends and family joked that I would meet a farmer and get married. It will NEVER happen, I thought. And then I met him... straight out of rugby training. It wasn't the brooding, dark eyes, the thick head of dark hair, the chiseled jaw, or the arm muscles that rolled deliciously under his shirt. It was the talk of his travelling that really attracted me to him. Seriously! 

CP is a hard worker. He is never idle. As much as that pains me at times. 

He is a handy man, and I can honestly say that nothing attracts me more than a guy who can fix things for me. This goes back to when I was a teenager. I wasn't a kid who had boyfriends, but I'm sure even my mother would remember my 'gas man' fixation. Nothing was nicer than watching the guy who would come and change our gas bottles over. Ahhhhh. A handy man. But CP can fix a car, tractor, bike, piece of electrical equipment. You name it, he'll have a go at it. Sweet.

Even on a day when I am cranky with him for abandoning me during the witching hour with the kids, I still get excited when I hear the motorbike pull up in the shed, and the gate squeal open, and his heavy boots plodding across the verandah.

Oh, and I also love all of the pictures of him on our wedding day. He is just so dang cute! He scrubs up so well in a suit! *Sigh* Still smiling... 

There are so many things about him I love. I'm sure I could write one hell of a blog about CP that was of more substance, but I'll save that for when I'm a little older, and a little crustier. Today, is just my appreciation of some of his more, ummm, physical attributes.