Here and Now

Share this post

Long time readers of the blog will remember I used to participate in a monthly link-up with the fabulous knitter and wool shop owner who writes ‘Say! Little Hen’ (https://www.saylittlehen.com/.) She’s no longer linking to other blogs but posted this week using the original headings and I’ve decided to use them for this blog, too.

Loving

Self imposed isolation has changed the busyness of our lives. I really enjoy so many things I do outside the house but now those activities are not possible, I am savouring the time I have to do other things. I have begun an online course on FutureLearn from the Institut Français de la Mode to learn about clothing sustainability. There are courses from many disciplines, this one covers aspects of fashion and history plus consumer behaviour.

Like many people in the neighbourhood we walk the dog at least twice a day. We read, especially online news, go on virtual tours of gardens, galleries and a zoo, I paint and cook and we were able to get a generous pile of books from the library before it closed. Looked at lots of online magazines. I love house and garden magazines but find the online format frustrating so I’ve given up on them!

Judging by the overflowing charity bins around here, everyone else has also taken the opportunity to sort their kitchen cupboards and their wardrobes, too. Very satisfying but now the bags are piling up in the garage.

This break from our usual routines gives us all time to appreciate our homes, to plan improvements in organisation, decoration, the very essence of homeliness that resonates with each of us can be refined at this time. Use all your precious things, sit out in the fresh air, sort and tidy, be surrounded by what is good for you and your family. Have time off social media and cook something special, ring someone you miss, dig in your garden or walk in a park or on the beach, if you can.

So, lots to enjoy about this unusual time. Hope it doesn’t last much longer, though!

Eating

As usual, I’ve made bread and immunity boosting soup. I usually make chicken stock soups whenever we have a chicken which seems to be once a week but now I add lots of turmeric, ginger and often garlic to the mix.

Today I made Shakshuka for lunch. This spicy, delicious dish is probably more commonly eaten at breakfast but we enjoyed it for lunch. There are many recipes online if you’d like to try it. Apparently Shakshuka means “all mixed up” in Hebrew. Interestingly, almost every European nationality claims this as a traditional food in their cuisine. Tastes good, anyway.

I cooked up onions and garlic then added fresh and tinned tomatoes and spinach from the garden and let it simmer. Added paprika and pinch of salt. When the spinach was wilted I made four holes in the sauce and broke an egg into each and left everything simmering until the yolks set. Grind of black pepper and it’s done. Serve with toast, pitta bread, Turkish bread, anything that comes to hand. Sprinkle parsley on top.

Drinking

I’d like to say I’m drinking some exotic flower based tea, but I’m not. I drink about 3lt of water everyday plus several double espressos. I make sure I stop drinking coffee way before bedtime after reading that it stays in your system for hours after you’ve drunk it!

clear glass of water selective focus photo

Feeling

Like everyone else, I feel worried about Covid-19, the economy and the long term impact of all of this on Australia and the rest of the world. I hope the longer term outcome for Australia is that we develop our own manufacturing base, so we aren’t so dependent on imports. I think we should have a trucking industry to service the farming, freight and resources sectors. Since Holden ceased manufacturing in Australia we have a ready made, skilled workforce available. We should manufacture our own medications, make all our own toilet paper. The list could go on and on. We should all look to see where things are made before we buy them and encourage a strong manufacturing base in Australia.

Making

I am renovating the back garden but the soil is still too hot to start planting. I’ve weeded, added Bentonite clay for water retention, then an organic fertilizer. Topped it all off with pea straw and watered it down making the area ready for planting. This bed is surrounded by a brick rendered fence and brick paving so it’s very hot for seven or eight months of the year.

We have had the hottest April day for years this Easter. I haven’t planted the tulips, yet, but hope it cools down soon. Then we can start re-planting areas cleared at the beginning of the garden renovation.

Thinking

black framed eyeglasses

Will schools re-open in Australia soon? Will some businesses be able to open? I’d like the regional border controls to relax soon as I haven’t been able to visit family. Also thinking of the friends and family members who have celebrated their birthdays in isolation .

Also thinking about obsolescence. We built this house 13 years ago. In recent years we’ve had to replace the oven and found the only model with the functions we wanted that fitted in the space was stainless steel. Looked funny in an all white kitchen. Now I’m used to it and don’t notice. Then the range hood stopped working. Almost impossible to replace it with the right size and we’d just renewed the cupboard doors so didn’t want a carpenter having to change things to fit. Getting the existing unit repaired cost more than a new one. Very annoying. Then last week the Bosch dishwasher, only eight years old, stopped working. The repairman arrived after the Easter break in his gloves and mask and quoted for the repair. It was almost the cost of a new dishwasher. So we decided to get a new one with an extended warranty. Delivered and installed the next day and the old one taken away. It is also stainless steel as that was all we could do without going into electrical shops. I suppose I’ll get used to it, too. I wonder about the lifespan of electrical goods. I also wonder about the cost to repair things. We are a small family with light usage of our white goods. Is having to replace things that are not very old common?

Dreaming

It is autumn and I am looking forward to planting the garden for next spring. Dreaming of fresh produce and glorious flowers.

Abraham Darby (pink) Pierre de Ronsard and Father’s Love Glamis Castle (white)

April 17th is National Haiku Poetry Day. This genre of poetry is usually three sentences long. The first and last sentences should have five syllables and the middle sentence should have seven syllables, if written in Japanese. Written English words are longer and can have 10 to 14 syllables. Haiku poems do not need to rhyme. So, if you’ve run out of things to do in isolation, try writing a Haiku poem!

Share this post

What Are You Reading, Watching and Doing?

Share this post

Apologies

I have been experiencing technical difficulties publishing the blog and it took a while to realise there was a problem and to rectify it. Well, I couldn’t rectify it but thanks to the techo-maestro in Kalgoorlie, our son, all is well again. I am sorry if this caused you any frustration and thank you for persisting.

It would be lovely to know what you are reading, watching and the jobs you are doing, so please comment. We’ve done home maintenance, gardening, read books and online watched “Unorthodox” and “Traitor” on Netflix. Both beautifully filmed and thought provoking. Also watched some very funny old Rowan Atkinson performances and the Mr Bean series. Our favourite serial now is “La Forêt”, “The Forest”, in French with subtitles. If you loved “Broadchurch” you’ll love this thriller, too.

Coco Chanel Photographs

Just before we pulled up the drawbridge and lowered the portcullis we really enjoyed this exhibition of Coco Chanel photographs taken over a period of three weeks in July 1962 by Douglas Kirkland. Now 85, Kirkland is famous for photographing famous people. He was sent to Paris to interview Coco Chanel after Jacqueline Kennedy appeared wearing Chanel suits in the White house.

Kirkland was 27, Chanel was 79. They developed a wonderful relationship, the respect and mutual admiration apparent in these photographs. Chanel was not known for being easy to work with, but these two gifted people obviously enjoyed working together and this exhibition displayed the resulting photographs from his book.

The very stylish Coco Chanel learnt to sew in an orphanage, before a short career in cabaret performance and training as a milliner. As a designer she modernised women’s clothing, using simple shapes, low heels and focusing on comfort and style. She championed trousers for women, swimsuits and bobbed hair. No more corsets and feathers.

Chanel also popularised “junk” jewellery and wore lots of it, layered with real gems. She is probably best known for the first couture perfume, Chanel No.5 which is the most popular perfume ever made.

These photographs reveal a different side of Coco Chanel. She is beautifully captured by Douglas Kirkland, surrounded by her designs and models. Fabulous exhibition.

And Also Sculptures By The Sea

Already being careful and mindful of social distancing, we wandered around this annual exhibition of sculptures, arranged on the beach and grasslands above the beach at Cottesloe.

My apologies to the creators of these interesting works, but crowding, including masses of school groups, prevented me from safely reading or photographing the titles of theses sculptures or their creators. Looking forward to next years’ exhibition being back to normal.

A New Sphere For The Renovated Garden

I like spheres as decoration in the garden. This is a buoy, washed up years ago on the coast near our farm. I had already painted it pink about ten years ago, but wanted something more vibrant for this area under the clothesline.

Buoys are designed to float on water or just below, to mark a location. Traditionally made from iron they are now made of polyethylene.

The existing base was pale pink. It was bleached yellow when it was found. I drizzled it, a la Jackson Pollock, with four colours, using recycled chopsticks and paint sample pots. I placed it in a pot on an old tablecloth, my painting protective sheet and covered it all over by painting an area, letting it dry and then rotating it.

The colours remind me of my parents’ old atlas, which I poured over as a child. I’d love to sit on their bed, looking at the map of the world and then particular countries, many which I have now visited.

It adds a bit of colour to this reduced collection.

Random Jobs

Across the bottom of our steep drive there is a stormwater drain covered by a grate. It was full of compacted leaf litter. This meant rain coming down the drive was not running into the drain and going off to the soak well but actually going into the garage at the bottom of the drive. Not anymore! The grating was removed, the leaf litter dug out, the drain washed and the grating put back in place. Now we need rain to soak our sandy soil and start the seasonal growth cycle again.

My husband likes white bread so I decided to try making this French Loaf after reading about it on a blog. It was so easy to mix in the Kitchenaid and I could have done the second knead in the machine, too, but I wanted to feel the elasticity of the mix so I’d know when it was ready. This recipe made two lovely loaves of bread.

Always have chicken stock, now called bone broth, so made more immunity boosting chicken, vegetable, ginger and turmeric soup. This one has a lot of chicken in it, too, as I’d bought a big one and after three meals still had some meat, so added it to the soup.

Following the success of white bread made in the Kichenaid I mixed my normal 100% rye bread mix in it, too. I added some plain white flour to increase the gluten and expected it to rise more. It was a bigger loaf than my usual rye sourdough. Still quite dense but tastes very good, so I’ll continue using this method.

Always trying to avoid waste, so used leftover bread (bought, not bread I’d made!) for Bread and Butter pudding. Very nice.

Apples lost their crunch? Don’t throw them away! Use a core remover to de-core the apples, cut them in half then put them cut side down on the cutting board and lightly cut them closely but not all the way through. Place them cut flesh side down in a lightly oiled baking dish. Microwave 60gm brown sugar or caster sugar, 60gm butter and 1 tspn cinnamon for 25 seconds, mix, pour over the apples. Bake in a 200 degree C oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with icecream, yoghurt or just as they are and enjoy.

Pruned the hydrangeas and planted cuttings to propagate and then bulk up the existing bed. These are semi-sun tolerant hydrangeas and they also bloom for an extended period.

Set up my paints on the table and really enjoyed painting these flowers. Top one finished, lower one a work in progress.

Alternate Entertainments

As our lives change completely and movement outside the house becomes difficult each of us misses different aspects of our previous lives. For some it is eating out or visiting their favourite cafe, for others it is going to work, theatres, cinemas and beaches. Some people are missing shopping. I miss being able to visit my mother and seeing friends. I continue to paint at home and have found a yoga session on YouTube which leaves me feeling stretched and well. I am so impressed by the many online entertainments people have posted or watched! I hope you are comfortable and well in isolation.

Enjoy Easter whatever you have planned. It will be very different for many people this year. HAPPY EASTER!

Share this post

10 Distractions in Self Imposed Quarantine

Share this post

We are in self imposed quarantine. We have reasonable food supplies and any medication we might need. We are being cautious. Schools are still functioning although parents are being told to keep their children home if they are worried but school will finish this week in Western Australia, a week earlier than expected. We are being told to keep our distance from each other: two arms length apart.

Small businesses are closing and unemployment will be a major challenge for Australians. We’re shopping online and focusing on small local businesses where possible, but we are not big consumers, either. I can’t help but think about the towns decimated recently by bush fires and now being commercially effected by CV-19.

We will use this home time to do jobs around the house and in the garden when it is cool enough. Talking to friends it seems lots of us have long TO DO lists for the house and garden. My first job involves the plastics cupboard. About five years ago my sister-in-law was staying here and she sorted and rearranged all the plastic things in this cupboard and I was able to maintain that for ages, but not any more! Big job ahead.

These are a few of the things I have already done during the first few days of quarantine.

1. Before/After in the Plastics Cupboard.

Or, when I suddenly realised it was not only a mess but I have no need for so many containers now we’re not going to work and there are just two of us here.

BEFORE

AFTER Accessible with frequently used small containers at the front.

2. At Home Dry Cleaning

My husband’s tie had a mark on it after a recent outing so I said I would wash it. Read the label. It said “Dry Clean Only”, but we are in self imposed quarantine, so no trips to the dry cleaner planned. I consulted Google and found several items describing safe ways to launder a silk tie.

Following the advice on Google, I gently rubbed dish detergent on the mark, then swished the entire tie in lukewarm water before rinsing it three times in clean, lukewarm water. Placed it on a towel outside. When it was dry the mark was gone, so I ironed it with an ironing cloth on top and it is perfect!

3. Marbled Paper

I needed to marble new sheets for the inside covers of my journals. My mother gave me this tissue like paper but it had tears and marks on it so I cut sheets to fit the inside covers of my journals. Then I ironed out the fold marks.

I use Japanese inks to marble paper. Usually I do enough for the inside front cover and inside back cover for five or six journals. Wearing gloves, I mix the inks using the dispersing drops from the ink pots or a chopstick but you can also blow on the inks with a straw. I then print the sheets in the laundry trough by gently floating the paper on the mixed inks. The sheet of paper is then carefully peeled off the surface and placed outside on the brick paving to dry. They dry very quickly and are then ready to glue in place.

The tissue thin papers I cut were too fragile, so I used printer paper which is what I usually print on. The colours are pale and pretty and more like traditional marbling colours.

These prints are on the tissue paper I cut. The inks gripped well and resulted in strong colours, but the paper was too fragile and tore when it was wet. I was able to rescue a few sheets but not many.

Marble papers inside, trimmed, glued in. Three new journals ready to go! They’ll keep me going a long time if we are in isolation for months.

4. Easter Tablescape.

Easter feels really flat this year. Normally I do a lot of cooking but we wont be entertaining or going south to visit my Mother. All the usual decorations don’t sit well in this time of concern and closed churches. So, just a little arrangement on the table and an online order of chocolate!

5. Squared up Pictures and Mirrors

Love this clever little spirit level. Had it for years and love it. Wandered round the house after dusting and straightened the pictures and mirrors. Everything looks straight.

6. Immune Boosting Soup

Always have chicken stock in the freezer so made a thick, immunity boosting soup for our lunch. Borlotti beans, chicken stock and lots of vegetables cooked up with ginger and turmeric. Delicious but not ideal when the temperature is 37 degrees celsius (98.6 F) at lunch time.

7. Pretty Touches

Now we are housebound I’ve added more flowers. There’s very little left blooming in the garden except roses. The swathe of very pretty Mexican rose creeper flowers don’t last well when cut but I really like the colour.

This is where we keep photos of our fathers and our previous, much missed dog, Toby. I did the painting in the background when he was quite young. He and Louis, our dog now look very alike but are very different personalities. Both wonderful!

8.Yum Cha For Sunday Lunch

Our son was down from Kalgoorlie for the weekend. He left in February when it was very hot and now the mornings are much cooler and he needed warmer clothes. He also wanted some of his kitchen equipment and spices.

As a family we used to enjoy going out on the weekends for yum cha. That is no longer possible. We had some frozen so were able to sit down to our favourite family Sunday lunch. We had Prawn Hargow, Szechuan Pork, vegetable dumplings, Thai Chicken and broccoli in garlic and chili. Plus some dipping sauces and pickled ginger.

Prawn Hargow with broccoli and pickled ginger.

9. Garden Jobs

Went through my tin of seed packets. Planted some hollyhocks and yellow nasturtium seeds, plus some fresh perpetual spinach as the existing plants are getting a bit tough. Also planted some little gem lettuce as the seeds were close to their expiry date. Found coriander seeds which were past their expiry date so planted them in little pots and if they germinate I’ll snip them off when they’re small and we’ll eat them as micro nutrients scattered on our dinner.

Also did masses of weeding. There’s still a lot more to do but today we have had very welcome rain. Such a change but it is autumn now.

10.Cupboard Cooking

Suddenly cooler so thought I’d make a chickpea curry for lunch. Unfortunately, we have no fresh ginger or garlic and I’ve run out of onions. Discovered I can make a very good curry using only bits and pieces from the cupboard.

Mixed 2 tspn onion powder, 2 tspn garlic powder, 1 tspn ginger powder with 1/2 tspn each of cumin, turmeric and cayenne plus 1 tspn ground coriander in a medium sized pot and heated it up. Added a tin of drained chickpeas and a tin of diced tomatoes, plus 1/2 tin of hot water I’d used to swish out the tomato tin and let it all simmer for about 15 minutes. Stirred to prevent sticking. Then I added some frozen broccoli and cauliflower and simmered another 10 minutes.

Very nice straight away for lunch and even better the next day as leftovers for lunch. Next time I might add a couple of potatoes to the mix or spinach. Cool enough now for hearty meals.

I always have onion and garlic powder as I make our own taco mix. There’s lots of online recipes if you want to try it. A jar lasts a very long time.

Picked the last of the spinach and the basil which is going to seed. Added to a squid dinner. Fresh and lovely.

Hope you are managing with the limitations and risks of CV-19. Love the way people are sharing online museum and art gallery visits, book lists, great things to watch on TV and online/text communications. Found some new blogs I’m really enjoying, too. Think frequently about the hard working farmers who grow the fresh food we eat, the staff still working in food shops and the many front line health professionals. I thank them all. Keep safe, keep well and make sure you’ve had your fluvax!

Share this post

How to Clean A Chop/Stamp, Painting, Birthdays and Growing Ivy

Share this post

CHOP CLEANING

This has got nothing to do with meaty chops! Chops, in this case, are a Chinese stamp or signature. I have three. They are a remnant of living in China and now I use one of them to stamp my paintings and prints. The chop is pressed into the pot of ink and then stamped on paper.

The ink is also known as seal paste and is long lasting. It is usually handmade from natural materials; Artemisia Argyu, known as silvery woodworm plus castor oil and white clay. The vivid red colour is most common and often called “cinnabar” red as it is red with a tint of orange, like cinnabar. The paste or ink is best kept in a ceramic pot.

Over time the carved out characters on my stamps have become embedded with the red ink. I couldn’t find any online instructions on how to remove the sticky, thick red ink, so I experimented. I was hoping I’d regain the crisp clarity of a new stamp.

I began by wiping off what I could on paper towel. Then I scrubbed the area with diluted pure soap and hot water. Partial success, but not enough. Then I tried spraying on a little Isopropyl Alcohol and scrubbing again with a clean toothbrush. Success! Rinse, dry and ready to use.

PAINTING

My water colour class started on Monday and runs for eight weeks. I have been using this palette for nine years and was reluctant to clean it as I relied on the same colours time and time again. I bought some new tubes of paint and decided to start again, not with a clean slate, but with a clean palette! Here is the palette soaking in the trough in the laundry.

Three hours later, a lot of scrubbing and then a lot of cleaning in and around the trough and I have a clean palette. My painting bag is packed, ready to go.

BIRTHDAY

It is our son’s birthday this week. He is 33. He was 55cm long at birth and now he’s 194cm. I cannot believe how fast 33 years have gone! Usually we celebrate birthdays with yum cha, but considering the risk of corona virus, we decided to celebrate at home.

Our son wanted fettucine with a meat sauce. He made the dough but we all helped with the rest of the process.

We’re not sure how nonna would have done this by herself but it is worth the effort as this pasta is luscious!

While the fettucine was drying I made an Apple Ginger Birthday cake which is cooling next to the drying rack of fettucine. It is busy in the kitchen!

Dry and ready to cook.

Meanwhile I have made a rich meat sauce to serve with the fettucine. This sauce starts with onions and garlic then the mince and finally passata and tomatoes and chopped up vegetables. During the cooking process I add dried basil, a little sprinkle of cumin, some thyme and salt and pepper. I remove the two bay leaves before serving.

The Apple Ginger Birthday cake. When it was cool I iced it and decorated it with diagonally cut Ginger Thins finished off with a little circle of finely chopped crystallized ginger in the centre of the cake. It was very good.

GROWING IVY

I was a bit surprised to see pots of ivy for sale at the shopping centre. I have never considered buying ivy as I thought you just broke a piece off a plant you already had or asked someone else with a plant for a piece and got it growing. Apparently not.

The verge out the front is currently a bit of a mess but that’s because we have a verge collection next week, or a “bring our your dead”. This involves putting anything non vegetative that you no longer want on the verge and then the council truck picks it up. In the meantime, people cruise around looking at your discarded things and take what they want. Great recycling but why do they make such a mess? Carefully stacked and safely arranged things are in total disarray within hours.

Anyway, when the rejected goods have gone it will be time to replace some dead patches in the ivy under our street tree. The tree is obviously an attractive place to park in the heat of summer but the ivy doesn’t do so well being parked on, so it is time to replant.

To grow ivy cut off a tip piece (top of image above), strip the lower two or three leaves (second part of image above), place it in water (below).

Refresh the water once a week until you see little white roots shooting from the bottom of the stem, plant out and keep moist for a few days, then water every two days until the weather cools down. Voila! Free plants.

February 14th is Valentines Day, but unless you avoid shopping centres, don’t watch television or read the brochures in the letterbox, you already knew that! We don’t really celebrate the day although I’ve made a card and will make a cake in a heart shaped tin, because I always do and we’ll go out to dinner with friends because we arranged it a while ago.

Some water colour paper, folded, a cut up pink envelope to make the banner, a neoprene heart and some letters written using a Sharpie. Plus glue.

Plus a recycled envelope.

Completed with a gold sticker.

How do you celebrate Valentines Day?

Share this post

Bushfires, Reading and Summer Fruit

Share this post

Bush Fires in Australia

Raging, out of control bush fires have been incinerating parts of Australia for some weeks now. The consequence is loss of lives, loss of animals both wild and domesticated, loss of food crops and loss of homes and businesses.

According to Bjorn Lomborg, in The Weekend Australian, February 1-2, 2020 p1 “Australia is the world’s most fire prone continent. In 1900, 11 percent of its surface burned annually. These days, 5 percent of the country burns every year.” We need to review our fire management strategies.

Little comfort for those whose lives are in upheaval due to bush fires. Many charitable institutions immediately began collecting money to assist those effected. I am always a bit wary of these big charities as those at the top earn enormous incomes in this country, but was able to donate in a direct and immediate way, elsewhere.

Local farmers from Harvey, near where I grew up, were driving eleven truck loads of donated hay, plus clothes, blankets and nappies thousands of kilometres across the Nullabor to feed surviving stock. The co-ordinator, Ms Belinda Hall, speaking on ABC WA Country Hour 18/02/2020, said , “Some of the most generous donations came from farmers and communities devastated by the 2016 Waroona-Yarloop bush fires (in Western Australia) that destroyed 160 homes and killed two people.”

This was a long journey across Australia. The cost for diesel to fill up these trucks at every service station stop was $10 000. I was able to donate to a crowd funding site to help pay for the diesel and every cent went to this cause.

For an historical overview of fires in Australia, the impact on Australia and other countries and other information, visit this informative site https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043

READING

As usual, I have been enjoying some library books. Unable to do many jobs in the garden due to the heat, I’ve focussed on garden design and gardens as seen by other people. I’ve already ordered this year’s tulip bulbs to remind me the weather will come and it will get cooler, ………….eventually.

The first of these books is “Gardens of Awe and Folly” by Viviane Swift, a whimsical and gorgeous record of gardens she knows well on several continents. She visits nine of her favourite gardens around the world and walks us through each, sharing the history, intention, management and individual charms of each. Her watercolour paintings highlighting the unique aspects of each garden created the most wonderful travel journal. Her depth of knowledge and passion for these gardens worldwide, was very inspiring. Loved this book!

The second book I’ve dipped into for ideas while I’m thinking about rejuvenating the garden was Adam Frost’s “How To Create Your Garden”. Suitable for smaller suburban gardens, his ideas and plans are easy to follow and to incorporate in your own space. There are three sections in the book, focusing firstly on designing, then building and finally enjoying the finished garden. Although this book is written by an English author, much of the information, especially in the design and build sections, could apply to gardens almost anywhere.

Also re-reading Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American” our bookclub book this month. First published in 1955 this novel is about the breakdown of French colonialism and the American involvement in the Vietnam War. This espionage thriller has all the elements of a ripping yarn; love and war, honesty and deception, betrayal and loyalty. I am really enjoying it and I enjoyed the film, featuring Michael Caine, too. We both like visiting Vietnam and a few years ago we stayed at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi where some of the scenes where filmed.

I had trouble photographing this book as the cover is totally unremarkable. I always consider the covers of books when I select them but this cover has nothing to recommend it!

My husband belongs to an all male bookclub. When the convener of this bookclub was interviewed on the ABC radio yesterday, the female presenter made much of the “men only” aspect of the bookclub. This made me think about the four bookclubs I have belonged to in the past 35 years which have been “all female” but this aspect was never an issue. I don’t think it was ever mentioned . Although we often met in houses, husbands were never present. The focus on “men only” felt like a double standard on the “oh so politically correct” ABC but I think the announcer was trying to be controversial.

The Children Act By Ian McEwan

Last year our bookclub read “The Children Act” and last night we watched the film. Released in 2018 and staring Emma Thompson, we watched it on Netflix and thought it was a good representation of the book. Confronting moral and humanist issues played out around the lives of the judge making these decisions and her husband. Great book and film.

SUMMER FRUIT

Plums, beautiful summer stone fruit, delicious fresh and plain. To easily pop out the seed, pierce at the top, where the stem was, with a sharp knife, slice around the circumference, twist each half in opposite directions and the stone is revealed and easy to remove. Works for other stone fruit, too.

Thinking about food, did you know 9th February is Pizza Day? Traditionally an Italian dish, immigration and the returning servicemen after WW2 saw an explosion in popularity America and to a lesser degree, worldwide. It’s a very easy day to celebrate!

Share this post

How To Make Vegetable Dyes and Summer Occupations

Share this post

Making Simple Vegetable Dyes

Two of my favourite vegetable dyes at the moment are onion skin and red cabbage. Onion skins create a lovely orange tint and the red cabbage water can be diluted to create a pale lilac tint or left as a concentrate to make darker purple.

I have experimented with cotton fabric as the dye can easily grip the fibres. I keep old cotton sheets, select the areas that are not worn and then wash the fabric, sometimes adding one cup of vinegar. I add this if the end product might be washed regularly but if I know it wont be washed, such as a lavender bag, I don’t add the vinegar.

Oni0n skin, diluted red cabbage and concentrated red cabbage dyes on white cotton fabric. The orange sample looks beige in this photo but is actually quite a bright orange.

Recently I’ve used onion skins, rosemary, avocado skins and pips (here) and now, red cabbage to make dyes. These natural dyes are paler than a shop bought dye. The list of ingredients used in commercial dyes is very off-putting.

To make the dye, simmer one part chopped plant to about five parts water for an hour. I simmered the cabbage for less time as the colour was so strong. Strain, then add the fabric to the liquid in the pot. Some long term makers of vegetable dyes recommend you keep an aluminum pot for simmering the dyes as the aluminum acts as fixative. Leave the fabric in the dye until you like the intensity of the colour, then rinse in cold water and hang out to dry.

If you know your fabrics will be washed regularly add a mordant, a colour fixative, such as vinegar or common table salt to the simmering liquid. I use about half a cup of either. Salt is usually recommended for dyes derived from berries and vinegar for plant dyes, but I have used both successfully on dyes from either source.

Note: I now drape these dyed fabrics over plants to dry after the pegs I’d used to peg them on the clothesline bleached colour from the area where they touched the fabric. The dye soaked into the wooden pegs.

I will make lavender bags from these dyed fabrics soon.

SUMMER OCCUPATIONS

Once the sea breeze, AKA The Fremantle Doctor, comes in it is cool enough to take Louis to the dog park. He checks all the trees and runs around with his mates. When he is hot and panting he stands close to us and wants to go home.

Louis is a groodle, a Golden Retriever/Poodle cross and has a thick, woolly coat. He is ideal for me as I am usually allergic to dogs but not to his wool. Once the temperatures are in the 30s (86 F ) he gets very hot so he has been to the groomer for a trim. He is now cooler and feels like he’s covered in velvet. He doesn’t like having his photo taken!

Plate of peaches and nectarines for breakfast. I sometimes cut up mango and spoon over sheeps’ yoghurt, too. Summer fruit is wonderful!

After breakfast our son put an eight hour slow cooker beef ragout to cook. Smelled very good all day!

Then later he began making the tagliatelle to eat with the ragout.

Luscious ribbons of gold goodness ready to dry. He chose this thickness so the sauce would adhere well to the strands and it did, too.

The pasta drying rack.

Delicious dinner with eight hour slow cooked beef ragout and freshly made tagliatelle plus a sprinkling of romano pecorino.

The hippiastra are flourishing in the heat with repeat flowers.

The petunias in the new umbrella stand are very pretty. The new stand has been a great success, holding the umbrella firmly in place, despite some strong winds

Had to re-pot these box topiary trees as they were bursting out of their pots. They enjoy the heat more than I do, in fact, they thrive.

These lisianthus were a very welcome gift this week. Not really suitable for as indoor plants, I have planted them in a pot outdoors.

I have spent part of the Australia Day long weekend reading. I continue to get my books mostly from the library, although this sometimes results in me buying the book as I want to refer to it again and again. My favourite library book this week has been Jenny Rose-Innes’ Australian Designers At Home. Any book or magazine about gardening, architecture and decor attracts me. The Australian designers and their houses featured in this book talk about their mentors and inspirations, what they hope their homes achieve in terms of comfort and their motivation for what they have included or excluded. Letting people view your home and treasures is probably a difficult decision. Luckily we get to see so many different styles and read about what motivates these choices. I loved this book!

My least favourite is from an author whose books I have really enjoyed in the past. I began Helen Garner’s Yellow Notebook Diaries Volume 1 1976-1987 at the beginning, flicked to about halfway through, went to the end and all I can say is,”Why? ” She admits the diaries, like many notes written about life, are a “stream of fragments”. Being a writer is a precarious form of work and probably doesn’t pay very well, either, but these notes should have remained as her personal memory trove.

Did you know 30th of January is CROISSANT DAY? Oui! The buttery pastry has always been associated with the French but they probably originated in Austria in the 13th century. Intended to celebrate the Austrian victory over the Ottoman Turks, the moon shaped croissant is thought to be derived from the symbol on the Ottoman flag.

Share this post

Making Pickles, Celebrating, Rye Sourdough, Repairs and Buying Leggings

Share this post

PICKLING CUCUMBER and RADISHES

Summer means salads, but I get tired of the same things day in and day out. Most years I end up pickling some salad vegetables to add variety. The process of fermentation or pickling helps support a healthy gut, too..

I have pickled both the cucumber and the radishes using this pickling liquour ( here) Both are very fresh and readily available at the moment, so we are eating them raw and pickled. I added some very thinly sliced pickled ginger, also known as sushi ginger to the radishes.

The bunch of radishes was so pretty I did a quick painting before preparing them for pickling.

The slight pink tinge of pink is Himalayan salt and red from the radishes. Still tasted very good.

CELEBRATING

Our family had great news to celebrate this week. We enjoyed an evening with champagne and the next day we did what we nearly always do when we’re celebrating; that is, eat yum cha. We have a favourite Chinese restaurant where the little treats are always delicious. It is very popular and we often have to line up outside, waiting for a table. It is worth it!

Sometimes we have to queue to get into the yum cha restaurant but it’s worth the wait.

MAKING RYE SOURDOUGH

I’ve been experimenting and making sourdough using rye flour. For some years I have made sourdough using white flour. Recently I’ve tried rye sourdough. I followed some recipes online but did wonder if I could use the recipe I’ve always used for white flour sourdough to make rye sourdough. It is a straight forward process, probably because I’ve done it so often! I had already made a rye mother/starter

Rye flour, old recipe, delicious bread.

This is the loaf made from the recipe I have used for some time here. It is less dense and a bigger, lighter loaf compared to the special rye recipes but still very filling. I slice it into very thin slices and freeze most of it as we only eat a few pieces a day. This 100% rye flour sourdough has no sugar or molasses and this blend of sourdough and rye flavours tastes very good. It is a sticky dough so I used extra flour to knead it and generally handle it and then I lined the baking dish with baking paper. The loaf came out cleanly. We all like this bread and I will continue making this recipe.

REPAIRING PEBBLE INFILL

Used a little bit of the concrete I’d mixed to make an umbrella stand to repair the pebbles joining these two areas of brick paving. Some of the pebbles had come loose or disappeared so time to repair the infilled area.

I had to dig out the existing concrete and pebbles. Then I made a clean end to the channel using a piece of stiff cardboard. Not very high tech but it worked well.

Filled the channel with concrete, pushed in new pebbles, cleaned up any smudges and left it to dry. Also replaced individual pebbles in a few other places. I thought I’d collected the original pebbles as they became loose, but I didn’t have enough and had to use some new ones. They are very white but will blend in with time.

IRREGULAR SIZING IN WOMEN’S CLOTHES

Set off to buy new leggings. I wear these most days when I walk. I needed to replace my current leggings because constant wear and washing resulted in them getting baggy and they were beginning to look like trousers, not close fitting leggings. Not good.

The difference in length is surprising. The grey pair and the black pair under them are the same brand and size.

The waist size, leg length and overall sizing was so different.

I bought two pairs in one shop and one pair in another shop. All three are the same size and all three fit well. Strangely, when I laid them on top of one another they were three quite different sizes! One black pair and the grey pair are the same brand so I thought they would be very similar sizes.

So this is a problem for consumers. The clothing I’m comparing was stretchy, made from cotton and lycra and can easy accommodate the person wearing them. Fitted or tailored clothing cannot. All three pairs were made in the same country. It can be particularly difficult if clothes are ordered online. Why aren’t sizes universal? Am I the only person who finds this a problem?

January 15th was Hat Day. Hats come in all shapes, colours and sizes and are essential for protecting you from the sun. They also keep your head warm, safe (helmets) and can make a style statement.

Apparently, more heat is lost through your head than anywhere else on your body.

Living in the land of skin cancers, hats are essential. Many schools in Australia have a, ‘NO HAT, NO PLAY’ rule. So, get your hat on and be warm, safe, sun smart or stylish.

Share this post

How To Make An Outdoor Umbrella Stand

Share this post

MAKING AN UMBRELLA STAND

Have you ever tried to secure an umbrella in gusty winds ? An umbrella is ideal for a small courtyard as it can be put down and packed away in winter when the morning sun reaches into the house and warms the tiles, which retain the warmth throughout the day. Not ideal when cyclonic winds arrive from the north west. The cyclone season in the north west is from about December to March, the months when I need to protect some plants from the burning sun.

Our umbrella needed a strong and secure base to keep it steady. The umbrella protects the gardenias and spinach from the burning sun. It is inconvenient to have to put it up and take it down frequently.

This jumble of sand bags has been stabilizing our outdoor umbrella for three years. Unattractive and slowly allowing the umbrella to lean precariously, it was time to make a more permanent and efficient umbrella stand.

Investigated online and hardware shop options. There’s a number of permanent options to insert into the ground in a cement sleeve, or water filled “tanks” to place on the base but I needed to be able to move the umbrella to protect different areas of the garden at various times of the day.

A large ceramic garden pot in a blue shade which blends well with all the other pots was the answer. It is heavy with a wide, stable base. The top part of the umbrella stem slips out of the lower section so the lower section can be secured in the pot, then surrounded by concrete. This is left to cure then sealed with grout. When this has also cured potting mix can be put on top and seedlings planted in the soil. The advantage of this system is that the umbrella can be moved to suit the direction of the sun.

We removed the lower section of the umbrella stem and then unscrewed the “leg” section, a cross shape. Looking at umbrellas in our major hardware shop yesterday I realized most of them don’t have any sort of base now, you have to buy that separately. I investigated the options and none were what we need for our courtyard.

I glued the lower end of the stem to the base of the pot and sealed around it with waterproof silicone. I had marked and measured the centre of the pot as it wasn’t exactly where the drainage hole was, although it was close enough to allow any rain to drain out from around the pole. Left it to dry overnight.

Prepared the concrete. I had to work quickly as it was a very hot day.

I’d put an old plastic tablecloth under the pot which is sitting on the brick paving.

Poured in the concrete, stopping occasionally to press it down and smooth it. I was wearing latex gloves. Filled it to about a third of the pot size.

I left the concrete to dry overnight, then sealed it with a layer of grout to prevent the lime leaching into the potting mix, which was put in next. Then I planted petunia seedlings in the soil, watered and stood back to admire.

Some of the surrounding plants look burnt because they are! We had several very hot days and parts of the garden show the effects of the unrelenting heat. The brick paving and surrounding brick fence retain the heat, too.

The new umbrella base fits in well with the other pots in the courtyard and has withstood very gusty winds.

A good solution to keep the umbrella stable, but hard to photograph well in a small area.

Tomorrow is Learn to Write Your Name in Morse Code Day. Morse Code, a series of unique dots and dashes, is in danger of disappearing as modern technology has replaced it as a form of communication.

There’s plenty of online information if you do want to learn to write your name or just look at the charts showing the combination of dots and dashes for each letter in Morse Code.

Share this post

Can Dogs Eat Apples, Making Christmas Cakes and Re-usable Giftbags

Share this post

CAN DOGS EAT APPLES AND CARROTS?

Our dog, Louis, has just had his teeth cleaned. He is six years old and despite having a dental stick every night, he had plaque build up. The dental sticks claim to promote daily oral care. Maybe not but he loves them! I was reluctant for him to have a General Anaesthetic, an essential part of the cleaning process, but the vet emphasized the risk of losing teeth to decay.

So, if the dental stick has been ineffectual, will apples or carrots help? The good news is that both apples and carrots are great for your dog’s health and in particular, their teeth. It’s important you don’t give your dog apple cores, especially the seeds, as these contain cyanide, which is poisonous for dogs. Carrots are best cut into small pieces as some dogs choke trying to swallow large pieces. Apples and carrots are rich in fibre, vitamins and good for cleaning teeth and easily included in your dog’s diet.

Keeping your dog’s teeth healthy is obviously important. Our vet recommended tooth brushing, dental friendly diets additives to their water and some low or no calorie chews. I think Louis is too old to be introduced to tooth brushing. He’s had one of the chews the vet recommended in his toy basket for ages and never plays with it. The water additive recommended to us claims to reduce plaque accumulation by 88% and is probably the path we will follow. There is also a powder which is sprinkled on their food once a day .

These products are approved by the VOHC, the Veterinary Oral Health Council. Both are expensive, but if you thought a visit to the dentist for your checkup, scale and polish was dear, brace yourself for the cost of your dog having the same work done. Our vet recommends regular dental checkups for cats and dogs, which will become part of his annual visit to the clinic for his vaccinations.

MAKING CHRISTMAS CAKES

We have been soaking the dried fruit for the cakes since early October. The fruit has been soaking in brandy and every morning my husband inverts the jars. Now the time has come to make the cakes.

I begin by lining the cake tins. Next I get all the ingredients out, ready to add to the batter. Finally, I weight and sift, chop and add until all the ingredients are amalgamated. I use a recipe from my Aunt, which I’ve used for the past 35 years.

Remarkably useful laundry pegs hold the brown paper and baking paper in place until the batter is poured in. The paper slows down the cooking and ensures an evenly cooked, moist, richly flavoured cake.

When everything is mixed we all stir the batter and make a wish. The batter is then gently poured into the prepared baking tins. I bang the tins on the bench top to level the batter and knock out any trapped air. Finally, I decorate the tops of the cakes with blanched almonds and cherries. I used to cover the cooked cakes with marzipan and then add icing, but now we just enjoy the simple decoration of cherries and almonds.

The cakes cook for about five hours. Then they’re left to cool before being wrapped in foil and stored in tins. Every few days we drizzle more brandy over the cakes. They are very, very good.

RE-USABLE FABRIC GIFTBAGS

In the past I have printed Christmas wishes on fabric by glueing the fabric to a piece of A4 photocopying paper and then copying the image onto the carefully glued together paper/fabric. It has worked well. Not today! The new printer wasn’t having any of that and promptly clogged up and flashed unfriendly messages. I had to scan a code onto my phone to read the manual to work out how to open the printer and remove the offending paper/fabric.

So, this year I have settled on another system. I cut the fabric (from an old cotton sheet) into double A4 sized pieces so I could fold the finished work in half and then just sew one side and the bottom to make the bag. I placed the photocopied Christmas piece between the folded fabric so it was in the middle and used a bullet nib Sharpie to trace the image.

After I’d ironed the fabric I stitched quite a wide channel across the top as I hadn’t decided if I was going to thread a drawstring through it or just tie the top with a length of ribbon. Then I sewed the side and bottom, ironed it again and sat an thought about the drawstring or tie!

Finally decided on the drawstring! Slit two little holes either side of the side seam and sealed them with clear nailpolish, threaded the tartan ribbon, put in the gifts and tied a bow.

NOTE Giftwrap often ends up in the bin. When you buy wrap, scrunch it in your hand to make sure it doesn’t have plastic in it, like foil wraps. If it stays scrunched it’s paper and bio-degradable, if it resists and unscrunches (is that a word?), it has plastic in it and wont degrade. It’s a pollutant.

Friday the 13th! It’s WORLD VIOLIN DAY and HOT COCOA DAY which will probably be ignored in Western Australia as it is not yet 12pm and the temperature is 39C, with 40C forecast.

Share this post

How To Make Grazing Platters, Little Felt Covers and What I’m Reading.

Share this post

How To Make Grazing Platters

Christmas entertaining needs to be easy and relaxing for everyone, so I like to make Grazing Platters, also known as Grazing Plates, with a variety of tidbits to appeal to all tastes. Sometimes I use a wooden board but recently I have been using platters, which are smaller and allow me to place them at regular intervals along the table, so everyone can reach easily.

I select at least three cheeses, a blue vein, a Camembert and a sharp cheddar plus a selection of crackers. Then some cold meats, such as ham off the bone, salami, spicy sausage and pastrami. I roll up or fold the meats into quarters. Next, some grapes cut into small bunches and strawberries, a separate bowl of mixed olives, plates of dips with carrots, celery and crackers and a few bowls of cherry tomatoes, cashews and pretzels or potato chips. I put bread sticks in tall mugs to add some height, along with glasses and sometimes flowers. You can add artichoke hearts which taste lovely but make the platter messy! This feast was for my husband’s bookclub and they needed room for books and their notes so I set the platters down the middle of the table on woven placemats with matching coasters.

Set the table with dinner plates, napkins and forks, as everything should be bite sized, easy to pick up and easy to eat. Put out serving tongs and spoons. Add salt and pepper, plus a jug or two of cold water, then water and wine glasses and you can sit down and enjoy the company, too.

FELT CASES

I like my handbag to be organized with things in pockets, slots or zippered compartments. The mirror did have a little fabric cover but it is long gone and the emery boards were in a fold of cardboard and annoyingly, kept sliding out. I needed replacement covers.

I made the length of felt some time ago. I embedded the silk threads into it to add interest. It was intended to be a scarf but as pretty as it was, it was too hot for me!

So I cut a folded rectangle just longer than the emery boards and another rectangle, just bigger than my closed mirror case. I pinned each piece together and using embroidery floss, blanket stitched the pieces to make two covers.

Using pink card I cut a narrower, folded rectangle to make a pull out lining for the emery board cover. I cut out a thumb pull, slid the folded pink card into the cover and it was done! I lined the emery board cover with card to stop them from catching or tearing the felt. Just pull the pink card up a little and the boards come out smoothly.

So now these two covers are in a side pocket in my handbag. I am glad they have the silk threads in bright colours as the inside of my bag is black and gloomy, but I can see and easily find these in their pockets.

Quick, easy and effective.

READING

The Long Call

The latest Ann Cleeves thriller introduces a new character, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn, in a series called Two Rivers. This book, published in 2019, is set in North Devon where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea. This is a typical Ann Cleeves murder story with complex twists and turns.

If you enjoyed the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, you’ll enjoy this new book, too. Apparently, the film rights have already been secured for this story. It was a good read and I finished it in two long sessions.

Incidental Inventions By Elena Ferrante

Are you an Elena Ferrante fan? Her books were very popular in recent years and I’ve read them all. They have been made into a HBO series, too. This book is different. Ferrante, a pseudonym, was approached by The Guardian to write a weekly column for their paper. This book is the collection of her columns from January 2018 until January 2019, arranged in chronological order.

I loved the Neopolitan Novels, for which she is most famous and eagerly began this collection. Her description of how she approached writing the 52 columns was interesting, but her nervy, anxious state of mind and resulting edgy, uncomfortable writing eventually exhausted me and I gave up at the last week of April. Her internal tension is reflected in her books but amplified in her columns. And the final comment is about Andrea Ucini’s whimsical illustrations at the beginning of each column. They are delightful.

India Hicks: A Slice of England: The Story of Four Houses by India Hicks | Hardcover | 2018 | 30 Day Money Back Guarantee | Best Price Guarantee

If you like peeking into lavishly decorated English houses ( the author’s father is David Hicks, the famous decorator) rambling around fabulous gardens and visiting very old houses through to the newly built, you’ll enjoy the very stylish India Hick’s “A Slice of England”. Related to the Royal family and grand daughter of Louis, Earl Mountbatten of India, she has access to amazing homes, beautiful furniture and century old crockery and cutlery and masses of decorator items.

She also details how she and her partner designed, built and decorated their new home. This is a gorgeous book, and I enjoyed the tidbits of history and fabulous houses with their treasures, although none of it really relates to my life in suburban Perth!

December the 4th is the birthdate of St Barbara, the patron saint of miners. December the 6th is MINERS DAY, recognizing the men and women who spend their days working, often underground, to provide the coal, steel and copper among other metals we demand to sustain our way of life.

So take a look around you and acknowledge the products dependent on mining, from your phone to your transport, your pots and pans and devices. All require products dug from the Earth.

Share this post