Potted colour

Thanks to Donna, Nic, Brodie & Taylor I have repotted my colorful cacti. As from tomorrow I will start using the calendar from Jade, Chris & Shannen, thank you all so much.

Monday morning Lagoon

8.30am and warming up, the lagoon will be very busy today as the temp reaches 32+.
May have to go for a swim when the sun goes down.

Hot weather & bread

Not too much mess to clear up, swimming lessons for the kids going on. Two people were fishing from the reef into the lagoon, had a go at them but they didn’t stop. So many fish hooks have been found in the water that it won’t be long before someone really gets badly hurt. Weather warming up, 39º on 1.1.09. That’s hot!!

I made some bread today, recipe adapted from ‘rosemary damper’ as I added fresh tomato juice instead of water. Taste is excellent (could do with more rosemary & maybe add garlic) but it is more like a cake or scone. Lot of washing up - juicer (5 bits), grinder, bowl, sieve, measuring spoon & baking tin. All worth it. Hot bread & butter mmmmmmmm.

Sunday afternoon at the Lagoon.

3pm Car park and rubbish bins full. May have to clean up beach tomorrow morning.
Hope there is not too much plastic! Seems to be a regular job for Mondays.

View from a bed

4.30 pm - sun shine through crystals reflected on to the bedroom wall.

English Country Garden in Oz

The back veranda of the garden I have been watering.

All quiet on the Western front

8.30 am Air temp 18 deg Water temp 21deg very windy.
Just me & my shadow + a few seagulls.

Have a great day!

Another roast supper

And the makings of great salad.

Dry grass & bamboo

New 'summer' look for front of house.

Poor wee thing

Found this monster (all of 1 inch long!) caught in some matting outside.

Roasted veg

And then, because the weather was cooler, last night I had the vegetables roasted in olive oil with cracked black pepper (forgot to put the garlic in!). Steamed the tops of the beetroot, added to the plate & enjoyed. Jamie would be proud.

Supper last night

Carrots, onions, beetroot & tomatoes courtesy Bill & Brendas garden. Parsley & chives about all I have in my garden at the moment. Store bought lettuce (can't you tell!).

Swimming buddies

Low tide at Yanchep Lagoon, 8.30 14th December - water COLD.

Just come across another very good author, Brenda Walker. ‘The Wing of Night’ a powerful novel of love & war, written in 2005.

“Perth based writer Brenda Walker recently released her fourth novel, The Wing Of Night. She draws on years of research about WW1, and her own family history in a novel about the impact of war at home”. From Life matters ABC

The novel is mainly set in the farming communities of the south west of Western Australia where women were left to run farms. They formed strong bonds with their neighbours which transcended class divisions.

The book also explores what it was like for the men who survived the war and returned home.

11.30 today

The flower is not my favourite colour but it seems it crops up often in my digital art, 'Labyrinth 1' so here is another shot taken this morning.

Two big kookaburras sitting on a wall, one with a chip & one with ****** all.

11 am this morning & getting bigger.
Arrived today an email from Mr T. about

'The way to inner peace at Christmas..."

I am passing this because it definitely worked for me today, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives.

Some doctor on the radio this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and before leaving the house this morning...

1. I finished off a bottle of Merlot,

2. I finished a bottle of shhhardonay,

3. a bodle of Baileys Irish something,

4. a butle of vocka,

5. the res of the Chesescke

6. an a box a chocolets.

Yu haf no idr how gud I fel.

Peas sen dis orn to dem yu fee ar in ned ov inr pece.

Suprise

Suddenly the globe artichokes burst into flower just when I thought they would look really good dried. (See 1^st pic on Nov 26^th).

I am reading a Rosie Thomas book ‘Iris & Ruby’. Another excellent one. Quote: “Memory is not a recipe or a shopping list. Memory is the scent of clear water at an oasis, the brush of lips on naked skin, a plangent chord”.

First dip

Went to see Sue at Indian Ocean Gifts in Yanchep yesterday. So many items that were tempting, in the end I bought this cute little box to put my washing in. There were other things which I will show after Christmas.

This morning I had my first dip in the lagoon, many people were there as it is Abalone season. Where do they all come from? Most of them left just before 9o/c and it was back to a few locals, no doubt later today it will be packed again.

Collection

Textile art, rubber stamps & my collection of pins.

Postcrossing news:

How amazing is this! I sent an official card to Giovanni in Italy, he was kind enough to make me a card covered with used stamps. Great! Yesterday I needed to send more official cards & there was one to Eliana in Italy asking for the card to be sent to her brother Giovanni ….. Yes one and the same…. Out of 74,584 members!!!!

Also this week I was asked to download a card sent to me in 2006 ID 1394. When I found it I put it on my postcrossing wall, it was a scene of ‘Girgaum Chowpatty (MUMBIA – INDIA). That evening I watched as Mumbia was attacked. Still waiting to hear if our fellow postcrosser is OK.

Great place to swim!

At this point I shall add this great recipe for

WATERMELON, FETA AND BLACK OLIVE SALAD (I hope this is OK to copy from Nigella)

INGREDIENTS

1 small red onion

2–4 limes, depending on juiciness

1.5 kg sweet, ripe watermelon

250g feta cheese

bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

bunch fresh mint, chopped

3–4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

100g pitted black olives

black pepper

Serving Size : Serves 8

1.	Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half-moons and put in a small bowl to steep with the lime juice, to bring out the transparent pinkness in the onions and diminish their rasp. Two limes’ worth should do it, but you can find the fruits disappointingly dried up and barren when you cut them in half, in which case add more.
2.	Remove the rind and pips from the watermelon, and cut into approximately 4cm triangular chunks, if that makes sense (maths is not my strong point). Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the chopped mint.
3.	Tip the now glowingly puce onions, along with their pink juices over the salad in the bowl, add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don’t lose their shape. Add a good grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime. Hava Negila! The taste of Tel Aviv sunshine!

To Let

A bird (box) in the hand. Now vacant.

Just another still life

Tiny toms

The first of the tomatoes.... very small but very sweet! Have to do better than this with the next lot.

To wear or not to wear?

Have to get shoes laces - rainbow ones?

Mmmmmmm............

Mmmmmm …. Think I’ll just sit here with my paws crossed & contemplate those two youngsters mucking about in & out of boxes (see Sams blog).

Still Life with Beads

Interupted catnap

3.30 in the aftenoon, I'm on my bed reading the excellent 'WHITE' by Rosie Thomas. Ebony on the widowsill. We both catnapped 10 mins later.

Entwinement

I was lucky to be given bunches of beetroot, spring onions, parsnips and carrots yesterday. So salad tonight and roast on Sunday. Just couldn’t part these two though!

Two for the collection

An envelope with four great stamps on, arrived today from Paul in the Netherlands, inside were two cards covered with stamps. Some people are so good to take the trouble to help my project. I still have a long way to go to get stamp cards from every country. So thank you Paul also Trishka from Estonia (don’t you just love the ‘bat’ stamp?).

Yum!!

Recipe for an unusual cake: I added chopped ginger and next time will cut down on the sugar. From The Food Pharmacy cookbook by Jean Carper. I' ve also started making bread.

Books, History & Creepy thing

Have been busy and lazy for the last few weeks. Finished reading ‘The House of Storms’ by Ian MacLoud – very strange but compelling book to get through 457 pages. Now onto another Rosie Thomas, this one ‘Bad Girls, Good Women’ goes back to 1955 and is 826 pages (3inches thick!). That’s in between making more stamp postcards, tracing the Beck family back in time (5 books out from the library on family history and hours on the computer) and general stuff in and around the house. Found the many legged thing in the bathroom sink when I went to clean my teeth.

3 postcards

Three amazing shoe postcards from Paulina in Finland.

Stamp card from Vilmante in Lithuania.

Check it out

My latest favorite blog
http://little-people.blogspot.com/

Kookaburra

This Kooaburra is sitting in the old gum tree in the back garden. One of pair just hanging around laughing.

Postcards covered with stamps

I am looking to get handmade cards covered with used stamps from every country, if anyone has time I would love one. I will swap.so far I have USA, France & Norfolk Island.

Ebony relaxing

Sitting in the sun - what a life. Bliss.

Gordon sulking

This is Gordon who has a house and at least one slave in New Zealand.

And one for the smokers

Watch your step when using the loo!

OK so it's been a long time!! Anyone want to paint the bathroom floor.........

And one to go...

Waiting to be sent - 1st come 1st served. More in the pipeline.