Sunday stuff

When blogger locked me out and I had to use my phone I had a thought that maybe I could post photos from there. And I can (OK - blindingly obvious to some!)

In the past I have had to share to something I could see on my PC and copy and paste. I would never do a written post from my phone but it's great being able to post photos.

Last night's dinner was delicious. Way too much but oh so yummy. 

This morning when I took the dogs down I took some photos of the plants in the back garden.

White daphne peeping through the railings on the steps.

My jasmine heavy with bud. It will smell spectacular when it blossoms.

This is the old, traditional daphne that came with the house. It is intertwined with the fishbone fern but seems happy so I leave it.

One of the first pink camellias. This bush will be full of them soon. It's a shame they drop their petals so quickly.

This afternoon we went and had a look at the old Caribbean Gardens. This used to be a fun park with rides and the like. Then it became known as a food market before turning into a cheap market full of Chinese crap imports. It was then sold off, I believe, and they now have stalls one can hire and place your wares and if someone wants to purchase they take the item to the front and pay for it and each item has a tag with the number of the stall so the stall holder can get paid. I guess it's a good idea in theory as it means you don't have to be there all the time. But there was an incredible amount of absolute junk and the stalls were around $175 a month (from memory).

Every weekend they have special days. Today was records but we didn't check them out. A couple of weeks ago there was a hot-rod show. They do craft days which the girls and I are going to look into as the stalls are very cheap to hire and it would be a fun day out with maybe a sale or two to make it even better.

A bit of a busy week coming up. I plan to go to a new knitting group with Angela on Wednesday and then J and C and I are going to Little Woolies on Thursday for a yarn fix. I may or may not go to the Friday group. It depends on how I feel after 2 days out. I only have to get Sally on Wednesday this week which will be a bit of a break.

Saturday bits and bobs

We took the dogs to the local park. It was a quagmire. In parts there was no grass at all, just puddles of sticky mud. And where does a long-haired shepherd like to play? You guessed it.

So when we came home we let him dry off a bit on the deck and then Himself decided that, like it or not, Murphy was getting a sponge bath. Ever since we bathed him in the bath when he was 4 months old he has hated getting any sort of bath. He won't even step foot in the bathroom.

With treats and subterfuge the process began. 

Murphy realising that something was afoot and he wasn't happy

A run for the back door with Himself in pursuit. Mum was on the other side taking photos and pissing herself laughing.

Oh the indignity of having your hairy nether regions cleaned

Finally rub down and it was all over.

Apologies for the state of the deck and the windows but winter and dirty dogs. The buckets near the door are what Himself uses when he cleans the fireplace out.

My daffodils are just starting to flower. There should be at least double the amount but I am grateful for what survived a very humid summer and autumn.

Dinner. We will rub these lovingly with olive oil and salt and wrap them in foil. They will be baked til the skins are crispy and the insides are soft and fluffy. They will be eaten with coleslaw, sour cream, spring onions, cheese and pieces of crispy bacon. 

Pigs DO fly, apparently.

 

I'm tired

I went to craft. R wasn't there and hasn't been since our conversation. 

I picked Sally up from school

We went grocery shopping for One and his lot because they have Covid.

We dropped the shopping off at their front door.

I drove to Amy's work in the rain and even the detour was detoured - bloody roadworks.

I had to drive home in the rain and deepening dusk and got lost and had to turn right onto a busy road with no traffic lights across a lot of traffic - bloody roadworks.

I gave C the scarf I made for her to give to her friend and she loves it. I forgot to take a photo but will ask her to take one for me.

Takeaway pizza for dinner even though I had a hankering for baked spuds after Andrew's post this morning. Maybe spuds tomorrow.

Friends

I remember when you had a group of friends and maybe 2 or 3 really close friends. You had acquaintances and people you had never met of heard of and didn't give a hoot about

Nowadays everyone seems to be friends with everyone even if they've no idea who they are.

I am fortunate to only be on Facebook and cull that list regularly. I don't understand the obsession with anti-social media and the opinions of total strangers. The anguish and stress it causes is beyond belief but oh, so real. I would hate to be a new mum today. Whatever they do someone will tear them down. I limit my commenting to unknown people to blogs and only after I have read them for a while and never intend to cause offence.

I used to have a friend (used to as in no longer with us rather than no longer a friend) who would get into massive on-line arguments with strangers over all sorts of things. I could never see the point. If I disagree with a stranger I'll move on. If I disagree with someone I know and feel it's important enough to me to discuss it, I will. Otherwise let it go.

Funnily enough, all my friends (apart from two very old ones from a long time ago) I have made through the internet one way or another. One day I will go down that memory lane. 

Nature is a wonderful thing. As we feel that winter is going to go on forever the wattle starts to bloom and we are rewarded with stunning yellow blossom. Today I saw the first pink flowers on a nature strip tree (I think it's a flowering cherry). Bulbs are coming up - even some of my daffodils have made the effort. Soon we will see a blush of green (can you have green blush?) on the deciduous trees. 

The days are getting longer (actually they're not - there are still 24 hours in a day but you know what I mean) and it won't be long before we see and hear baby birds. 

I don't go down into the back garden often but when I did I found my daphnes in glorious sweet scented bloom and the violets I nicked from my mother in law's place when she moved into care are showing their pretty purple faces. The camellia is heavy with bud and will soon be covered in pink and the jasmine is starting to flower and will smell heavenly. 

Life is good.

Whoops

I think I have just sent Sally home on the back of a sugar crash! I don't think I will be very popular.

In my defense I did promise to bake with her today. She wanted to bake cupcakes (using my super quick super easy cream recipe). As you know, I don't use a lot of sugar in my baking but she did manage to eat rather a lot of raw batter as we were filling the cupcake holders. She then got to scrape the bowl and lick the beater. I was going to use whipped cream but she wanted icing and I had run out of sprinkles so we decided on chocolate icing with which she liberally coated the cupcakes and then proceeded to lick THAT bowl as well. And eat two cupcakes liberally doused with chocolate icing. Himself and I had a couple each and the rest have gone home with her. She has gone home with a sore tummy and is very pale which is classic symptoms of a Sally sugar crash.

I blame the Tim Tam.

Wind

After the great winds of 2021 we are heading for another bout of damaging winds overnight. I hope people lock things down and avoid trees and other dangerous things.

There is nothing quite like the smell from a windy dog. Silent but deadly as we used to say as kids. I swear I can see the miasma that emanates from their nether regions. It's a sort of purple green with a metallic sheen. At least that's what it smells like. 

I need this ...

The dogs will say this is closer to the truth.

It was a quiet day. I nearly didn't answer the phone when a friend called. I'm glad I did. We are catching up on Thursday when they come up from Phillip Island to give blood. It will be good to see her. They used to live around the corner from us (moved here just after we did) and I miss her. 

august already

 

A friend shared this today. I can relate!!

Himself went and had a look at a project car today. It is something he has been whingeing about discussing for a long time now. He once bought an old BMW from a neighbour and it sat in the garage until he sold it as he found the whole thing overwhelming and then it became constant reminder of his perceived failure. This is a potential rust bucket but it's inexpensive and will give him an idea if it's what he really wants to do without having the guilt of spending big biccies. If he decided it's not what he wants he can sell it. Makes sense to me. Unfortunately he is overthinking things as usual so probably won't get it and then I will have to listen to him wishing he had. I am being very supportive and trying hard not to nag. He really needs something like this and he might even join a group and make friends with similar interests.

I am enjoying working on Sally's scarf and listening to Forgotten Australia podcasts. Some are quite amusing and some are downright harrowing. As the name suggests these are glimpses into our past that have been forgotten or at the very least are no longer talked about. Today I learned that Australia has been part of the horrific practice of blackbirding which went on right into the early 20th century. South Sea Islanders were kidnapped and sold to work in our plantations. Townsville is named after a very unpleasant bloke called Robert Towns who made a lot of his money this way using people from all over the region. And I mean using. Just awful. 

Slavery still exists today and it can be argued blackbirding does, too. That deserves more and I will do some research for a later post.

Bacon sangas for dinner tonight. We will use commercially baked rolls.