We pruned: this lemon tree is now but a shadow of its former self…. But there’s another great big lemon tree to compensate, and this one’s now all beautiful Meyer lemon (was a graft and the normal lemon was hogging all the nutrients).
When I was a kid, I remember peeling the sap from trees & holding it up to the light & looking through the amber colour & wondering where they got real amber from, and just enjoying the golden sappiness. We probably didn't help the poor tree which must have been afflicted by something in the first place to make it leak sap all over the place. Still, there's some pleasant childhood memory feelings associated with this sappy tree here. (Note: I did not touch the sap on this here tree).
Path that begins some long adventurous journey....
My favourite window seat, yet again. Perfect for crocheting, reading or just resting, especially with a cup of tea :)
From the outside, too!
Girl and Dog
I would have gone op-shopping, but the car battery was flat (I assume that was the problem) when I went to leave, and that was the last day. Next time!
On the way home:
Flowers I bought for myself at Southern Cross station - Jonquils and (stock?).
Mmmm lamingtons Dad made himself from work to eat on way home
Very threatening looking rain cloud we are approaching, but I’m nice & snug in the train….
My seating arrangements, all my crocheting & other paraphernalia surrounding me!
Note the mostly-invisible magazines on the right, against the seat- they are a gorgeous Country Style and a puzzle one that I only bought because I didn’t have enough for the eftpos, otherwise :{
Yet again I’ve just got back from visiting my dad in Gippsland. His partner is currently working over WA for the mines & he’s a bit lonely all by himself! (not counting muffy dog, of course).
The night before I left, I started on some additional medication & I not only slept solidly through all my alarms that day, but I woke up with only one hour to get dressed, made up & ready, & finish packing instead of 3 1/2 hours. It was nothing short of miraculous that I made the bus at all :D.
For the first three or so days, my new meds made me so doped up that when I later thought about the first full day there, I wasn’t quite sure if I’d dreamt it or not. It’s sort of funny because my dad and I were both sort of similarly medicated & not always functioning quite right, although at least my dad wasn’t having dizzy spells J I found our dysfunction, (both physically and mentally) amusing, anyway. (Dad, if you read this, no offence is intended ;) ).
I spent a bit of time trying to organise our family history, dad got all the information together for me & I tried to organise it enough so we could at least give it out to the rest of the rellies. One branch we’ve got going back to the 1700s, which is really cool J. (Here I again point out how much significance I place on family & roots J).
Here are some holiday highlights: Thanks to Dad’s employer, I spent a lot of time
eating the pastries, etc. he’d brought home. Not to mention all the chocolate, icecream, biscuits and home-grown fruit & vegies I ate :). Let’s just say I didn’t come home skinnier…..
mmmm, berries, icecream & more!!
There was an abundance of silverbeet in the garden & I made this bee-yootiful delicious pasta sauce with mushrooms & cream. We both loved that one! The recipe, roughly was:
Chop1 Big bunch of silverbeet, microwave, covered, for 7-12 minutes, until almost soggy.
Dice two garlic cloves & 2 medium onions, fry in LOTS of olive oil (1/2 cup full at least! Hey, it’s olive oil, your arteries won’t mind so much!)in a really big fry pan or a large pot, until softened.
Add 500g mushrooms, cook until mushrooms are softened & coated in oil mixture.
Add silverbeet to pan/pot, add more crushed garlic (used jar stuff this time), ½ tsp ground pepper, 2tsp ground coriander, 2tsp ground cumin, cook, stirring, for few minutes until mixed well. Reduce heat to low, add 200 - 300ml cream & cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until cream has partly evaporated, mixture is not so runny & silverbeet is nicely cooked. Mix in 1/2 cup or more grated cheese before serving.
Serve with little pasta tubes (the ones like fat, short macaroni or half penne noodles!!).
Finishing burning off one of the patches of scrub down by the dam. It didn’t take off like it did when he’d started it, before I came. At least then I didn’t worry too much about the possibility of having to drag dad out from the burning blackberry bushes.
We had those gale-force winds when I was there & as dad was on night shift, muffy followed me around for hours, scared of all the noise, wanting to be picked up every time I stood still. When we went out on the verandah to get wood for the fire, I wouldn’t have been surprised if muffy had blown away, like Toto. I thought the roof was going to come off at one stage, it was so gusty. Dad later reassured me that that house had some special design feature involving beams and the foundation slabs that meant it was more secure than most houses, roof-wind-wise.
Nice bush trip
& evidence of winds
Muffy the dog kept me company when dad was working (nightshift) & I woke almost every morning to a muffy-face leaning over me, very happy to see me awake. I have my suspicions that face-licking was involved to make this happen. She spent (snoring) every night but one in my bed as well.
Hammock time (I did fall on my head the first time I tried to get in. Haven’t actually been that klutzy before!!).
Big breath, I'll finish these adventures later: to be continued!
Easter this year, went and visited Dad again, sort of near Bairnsdale. Drove around a few places, the tip as usual, sprayed weeds, chopped wood, sorted out some old family photos, visited people, went & saw the koalas on Raymond Island, every morning went to check on the wombat trap (the wombat wife had already been relocated, now the man had to be stopped from digging up the dam wall) but no luck, so no photo, and the womble is still wombling free... (I had that song in my head every day I was there. Anyone else remember The Wombles, I wonder?).
An easter surprise waiting in 'my' bedroom when I arrived / Nice to open up curtains in morning and lie in bed looking at Gippsland Lakes in the distance
A favourite corner to read a book in / Regular visitors- King Parrots, Rosellas, lots of other very cheeky birds
Sleeping / Itching / Curious Koalas on Raymond Island
Everybody checking things out / Shazza & Marlene / Some kind of honeyeater
Ferry back over to mainland / Muffy the faithful furry one
Live in a country town with a beautiful hubby that I found next door, two cats, two dogs, a duck and a galah. Last but not least, a baby girl and two angel babies. If I had one food left on earth it would be potatoes and my favourite smell in the whole world is a tomato plant. I love crocheting, my garden and my pets. I also have an obsession with scented geraniums.
