Eating and Mending

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Fruit, vegetables and gut health

Looking online for some information I found an article suggesting we all need to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every week. Thirty, in fact! According to the experts this will contribute to the well being of our gut microbiome and good gut health. The bacteria in our gut is believed to have a huge impact on our well being.

Some articles go on to suggest seven serves a day, featuring a variety of fruits and vegetables. Apparently fresh or frozen spinach has the same benefit as a probiotic. Interestingly, frozen vegetables are promoted as they are picked and packed, frozen and transported almost immediately, whereas fresh can be days old before it arrives in the shops.

I kept count over seven days. I thought I was doing pretty well. Despite consciously expanding our fruit and vegetable intake and focusing on variety, I only got to twenty one! Not enough.

The experts suggest any fruits or vegetables which are purple in colour should feature in your daily diet. Deep purple produce is very high in antioxidants, which play a major role in preventing free radical damage to our cells.

There were a few suggestions about ways to increase your daily intake.of F&V. These include folding a sheet into six boxes and labeling the boxes red, orange, yellow, blue, purple and green and keeping a tally of your daily intake to ensure variety, plus blending masses of vegetables after steaming or boiling to make thick soups using the vegetable water as stock. Visiting local Farmers’ Market may be inspirational and alert you to what is seasonal. Good luck. I found it quite hard.

mending

So much of what we buy ends up in landfill, especially clothing. Only 20% is recycled through charities and second hand shops, the rest mostly becomes landfill. Mending would probably prolong the wear of some of those clothes.

Image Pexels

There are two types of mending, the very popular, clever and often colourful visible mending where no attempt to colour match or hide the mend is made and invisible mending, when the repair is not at all noticeable. These projects all involve invisible mending.

Today was mending day. I had three things to mend, although I only intended to repair two things but burnt the edging of an oven mitt taking loaves of bread out of the oven last night. Even then it hadn’t occurred to me that I could mend it, but when I went upstairs to get the white tape to reinforce a pillowcase needing repairs, there was a roll of back tape next to it, so another job was added to the list.

The pillowcase belongs to a set of bed linen which is at least 12 years old. It gets used every fortnight so has performed well so far. I really like these cotton sheets. The pillowcases and sheet feature embroidered bees in a wreath.

The fitted sheet, top sheet and other pillowcase are in good shape. One seam on one pillowcase was threadbare and tearing. I’d previously done a small repair using stitched on cotton tape but now needed a much bigger repair.

Mending the pillowcase involved pinning a strip of cotton tape along the disintegrating seam and machine stitching it in place. Then I turned the pillowcase to the right side and zigzagged over the threadbare areas. Checked the rest of the seam was strong then ironed it. It’s in use again.

Picked up the roll of black tape while I was upstairs and pinned that around the frayed oven mitt. I folded over the end and held it in place with a clip before zigzag sewing it in place. I’m not sure I would have bothered to mend this if I hadn’t seen the tape but I am pleased it did and it’s in use again. Originally bound with bias binding I chose a much sturdier tape for re-binding the oven mitt.

Pinned.

Stitched.

Back in use.

The third mending job was repairing the hem binding on a cashmere rug I bought in Beijing about 24 years ago. I throw it over the bed every night as it is warm but light. The rug has kept the three of us warm on the freezing ferry trip from Hong Kong to Guangzhou when the air-conditioning was set to arctic, been used as a privacy screen, kept my knees warm on long flights, even used to swaddle a fractious child. I always take it away with us on trip. I don’t want it to begin unraveling!

Mending was easy. I simply pinned the binding in place on the blanket and hand stitched it. Inspected the binding on both ends. No more repairs required. I used to have this cashmere blanket dry cleaned regularly but discovered during the pandemic I could swish it in warm water with dissolved soap flakes, rinse it several times then spread it over a drying rack in the sun to dry. It smelt fresh and clean, unlike a dry cleaned blanket, which can smell awful.

Hanging the repaired oven mitt on the oven door, I was about to put the other one in the wash when I discovered I had another repair job! Quickly hand sewed the binding back together and put it in the wash. Four mending jobs in one day!

Do you sew back buttons, repair torn pockets, re-stitch hems?

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How To Reuse Hotel Soaps and Refreshing The Outdoor Areas

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recycling hotel soaps

When we were away recently I had to move my husband’s toilet bag and was surprised at its weight. Took it out to the table, tipped out the contents and started sorting through the jumble. The toilet bag was a gift from me 39 years ago and it seems it’s only been added to, nothing has ever been discarded. He working life involved frequent traveling and he’d collected things from all over the world.

Sorted the sewing kits, the razors, shoe shine kits, the combs and folded hairbrushes, the nail kits, the ear plugs and the bars of soap. Most things went into the bin, but as I was scooping up the twenty plus bars of soap I suddenly wondered if I could reuse them.

Using tiny bars of soap isn’t easy nor appealing, although the bars seemed to get bigger as the years went by. So after I’d amused myself identifying the country of origin from the packaging I put them into a bag and brought them home.

Searching online revealed lots of ways to use scraps of soap to make more soap. Put it off for a while as it seem a bit of a faff and soap is pretty cheap to buy. But I also put off throwing the soaps in the bin as it seemed very wasteful as we had so many! Eventually unwrapped them and settled into reusing or rebatching them.

Apparently, the soap needs to be grated, boiled, pressed into a mold. When I’d grated one tiny bar of soap and one fingernail I knew there had to be a quicker/better way. Chopped the bars roughly with a long blade, sharp knife then put them in the food processor. Most of the bars were powdery and ready to mix after being cut, so I sifted them and only processed the larger pieces.

Cooking the grated soap and water.

I could have added a sprinkle of dried lavender to the soap or some scented oil or colours, but the soap mix was really aromatic without any additions. Added water to the powder and left it for an hour or so, then cooked it on a low heat until it formed a ball. Pressed it into a silicone cake mold. Left it to harden over three days. Cut into bars.

Would I do this again? No. The resulting bars of soap are very highly scented, which we don’t like and it was a lot of work to save a few dollars. We haven’t traveled much during the past two years but I have noticed most accommodation now offer shower gel. (All those little plastic tubes!) I usually take our own soap, anyway. My husband dislikes gels and insists on soap.

By the way, the Hilton Hotel Group and it’s associated hotel chains collect all the used soaps from their rooms and send them to be sanitized and turned into bars of soap for the homeless and third world countries. Sensible.

preparing for spring

Really enjoyed wet, cold winter days, for a while, but the bulbs have germinated and I’m looking forward to spring. Still enjoying boots, jumpers and warm scarves but I’m preparing for more time outdoors.

So I’ve renovated some little chairs hanging on a wall which were showing signs of rust. I also resurfaced a terracotta pot which has a solar fountain floating in the middle. The idea of the pot was to provide water for the bees with a landing pad so they could be safe and rest for a while. Only ever seen a few bees at the water but see little birds perched there frequently.

Treated the rust on the chairs with rust retardant. The next day I set up a ‘spray box’ aka a big cardboard carton. I sprayed the back of the chairs, left them to dry, repeated over two days, spraying a different side each time. I used a spray designed to retard rust, too, but it isn’t perfect. Which is why they needed re-doing!

The next project was the terracotta bowl. I scraped off the existing paint then sanded the inner surface before applying two coats of terracotta sealer. The outer surface was still in good condition so I only sanded a few spots. When the sealer was dry, I spray painted the pot twice. Left it in the sun for a few days as the paint smell was very strong.

Ready to go but it is too overcast for the solar fountain to work!

super moon

Image Roger Purdy, Pixabay

Did you see the Super moon, the largest and brightest moon on the 13th of July?

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TV for Dogs, Great Vinaigrette, Jacarandas and Dyeing a Shirt

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Streaming channel for dogs

A television channel was launched in the UK last week for dogs. Yes, pay TV for dogs. This streaming service has been designed to alleviate stress, loneliness and anxiety for dogs during the day according to the research completed over three years. The researchers considered the physiological and psychological needs of dogs to determine what made them feel stimulated or relaxed. The dog channel features colours, audio frequency and music and camera alignment to suit dog senses.

white long coated small dog on floor

A vet interviewed about dogs watching television says ‘…only some dogs will sit and watch TV.’ Apparently dogs get bored very quickly and wander off. My dog barks at cats and other dogs on TV otherwise he ignores it. So, will your dog be watching The Dog Chef, Road Dogs, Paws For Love, The Adoption Show or Things We Woof About?

black and white border collie lying on black and white bed linen

vinaigrette

Salad season has arrived in Western Australia so I’m back making traditional vinaigrette. There’s so many salad dressings on the market but often the ingredients listed on the labels are off putting. Fresh, raw, just picked veggies need clean, home made dressings. This is the recipe for a plain dressing using ingredients you already have to hand. Varying the vinegar you use, such as balsamic, red wine or apple cider vinegar will change the colour and the flavour.

I’ve used plain white vinegar and the basic ingredients. Once you have mastered the ratios you can add shallots, garlic or lemon zest. You can replace some of the acid, the vinegar, with lemon or lime juice. I use virgin olive oil which has a very strong flavour. You may prefer to use a lighter olive oil.

This vinaigrette will last a week in the fridge and can be added to salads, drizzled over small boiled potatoes or any other vegetable. I mix it in an old jam jar and store it in the fridge in the same jar. I like things to be easy!

To make VINAIGRETTE you need

1/2 cup olive oil

4 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Put all the ingredients in the jar or a bowl and whisk. Sometimes I just shake the jar vigorously with the lid screwed on tightly. Drizzle on your salad leaves and enjoy.

jacarandas

Jacaranda trees are a sub tropical tree native to central South America. Jacarandas thrive in Western Australia and other states of Australia. It has been cultivated in almost every country in the world where there is no risk of frost.

Jacarandas are considered an invasive species in Queensland and parts of South America. The blue flowers appear in spring and summer and can last up to two months. During this time the spent flowers will create a beautiful carpet under the tree as they fall.

Tricky to see on an overcast day but the purple haze continues down the street. Beautiful.

I love jacaranda trees! At this time every year we go across the river to an area where my mother grew up to see the jacarandas. They were planted as street trees on Arbor Day when she was at primary school. They have mostly continued to flourish and bloom. They are celebrated each year during the Jacaranda Festival.

dyeing a shirt

Last summer I bought a linen shirt online and was rather surprised when it arrived; what I thought was a pink shirt was actually a very orange, slightly pink shirt. Wore it once and put it back in the robe, never to be worn again. The colour made me look sick! And it was a bit big.

Shirt, 500gm salt (mordent to set the dye) and the packet of black dye.

Suddenly it is quite warm in Western Australia so I gathered all my summer shirts, washed them and ironed them and hung them ready for summer. That’s when I discovered the hidden orange/pink shirt. Wore it yesterday, still really dislike it! Inspiration struck. I could dye it and take the side seams in a little bit without altering the style of the shirt, but improving the fit.

Set off for a packet of dye. Thought I’d get grey but the shop only had black. Bought it. Dyed the shirt in the washing machine and then hung it in the shade to dry, as directed on the packet. I now have a NAVY blue shirt, which I really like. I have pinned the sides to make it fit better and will sew it tomorrow. Strangely, the thread used to sew the shirt didn’t take the dye and is still an odd colour but looks fine on the navy linen. Pleased with the outcome and know I will wear it now.

Looks grey in the photo, which I like but it’s actually navy blue, which I also like, so now I will wear it!

Did you know Wednesday was make Your Own Bread Day? You can bake some homemade bread to meet your “kneads”. I began making sourdough bread about four years ago but now I make rye sourdough. Rye flour has very little gluten so I add some strong white flour to help it rise. There’s so much information online, especially since the pandemic, if you’d like to try making your own bread.

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Last Week of July

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MORE MENDING

While Mum was recuperating with us following melanoma surgery, I spent more time than usual upstairs. That’s how I discovered one of the timber plaster veneer frames on the stairs was chipped ( previous blog) and also how I found the tiller on one of the model yachts was broken. Another repair job! So wipe, glue and wait for the glue to cure. Usually I rely on clothes pegs to hold small things together while they cure, but the tiller was too small.

It’s back upstairs where it belongs.

SOME COOKING

Lots of visitors while my Mother recuperated, so lots of cooking. This has been the coldest, wettest winter in years, so I’ve been turning out curries, warming stews and some lemon flavoured shortbread. I have added a thick bolster off a sofa along the door into the garage as I can feel a cold draft when I walk past, we have sand bags at the ready following flooding in neighbour’s houses and we’ve used the reverse cycle heating often, which is rare for us! Our house was designed for the searing heat of West Australian summers with tiled floors which stay cool and sun blocking window coverings.

RED LIPSTICK

I’ve noticed lots of red lips lately. Then my husband read me this from a book he’s reading about when the main protagonist is preparing herself to greet difficult guests, ‘My favourite red Chanel lipstick is a great morale boost.’ He wanted to know if I felt that way about lipstick, but I had to admit I’d never given it much thought.

This morning I was reading the paper and there was an article about buying red lipstick. It was interesting with references to lots of famous women and their favourite red lipsticks. Read the advice and noted the shade of red recommended for my skin tone and added ‘red lipstick’ to the already long shopping list.

After we’d done the usual shopping and extras for hosting my husband’s bookclub meeting tomorrow night, I set off to investigate red lipsticks. There were a few which looked like the colour recommended for me, so I chose the type of lipstick I know well. That is a two part process; firstly, apply the colour, let it dry, then coat it with the clear, waxy sealer. For at least the last 20 years these two part lip colours have been my preferred lipstick because they can last all day if you don’t eat! And they don’t leave marks on cups. Perfect for work.

Then the trial run at home surprised me. I will take a while to adjust to Classic Red, instead of Rich Berry, but I do like it. Next purchase will probably be a traditional wind up tube of Chanel Rouge Allure Luminous Intense Lip Colour in Rouge Rebelle. In the meanwhile I’ve added red nails to the overhaul. And no, I’m not dying my hair red, too.

By the way, today is National Lipstick Day in America.

RED ONION SALAMI FLAN

This week my husband hosted his bookclub evening at our house. I made two grazing platters, plus heated some sausage rolls and little pies. It was a very wet, stormy night and the hot sausage rolls and little pies were very popular.

I had leftover cold meats. I realised I had a bag of red onions I needed to use, too, plus leftover salami, so instead of a classic onion and anchovy flan I made a red onion and salami flan. Avoiding food wastage is important.

These onions needed some work before I could cook them but cleaned up they yielded 1kg of sliced onion.

Peeled and sliced the onions. This resulted in 1 kilo of sliced red onions. They are sweeter than the brown onion used in the classic French Onion Tart. I caramelised the onions in a very heavy pan with a generous amount of olive oil.

I’d like to say I made a luscious butter, flour mixed with lukewarm water pastry, but I didn’t! While the onions were cooking I dug out a packet of frozen pastry which also needed using and rolled out a long piece for the flan tin. Heated the oven to F/F 160°C.

Put the flan base to cook and when it was ready, pressed the caramelised onions firmly into the base. Then sliced the leftover salami into strips and crisscrossed the strips over the onion. Cooked in the oven for about 40 minutes.

This flan was lovely served hot for lunch but even better cold for dinner! It was based on the traditional French Onion Tart or Pissaladière. To make a traditional Onion Tart brown about 1kg of onions with about half a dozen anchovies. The anchovies dissolve and boost the flavour. The mixture is then pressed into the flan tin. Crisscrossed with some extra some anchovies on the top and scattered with some olives. Delicious.

Did you know foam plastic cups take at least 50 years to decompose? Better to always have a keep cup on hand.

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Mid Winter Week

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COLOGNE

A few weeks ago I wrote about buying 4711 Acqua Colonia Blood Orange and Basil because my Grandfather used 4711 and I really liked the scent. As a cologne it didn’t last long or overpower but every now and then I’d get a whiff of the fresh citrusy scent. Then I read about a project the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam called ‘In Search Of Lost Scents’. Perfumers were asked to create scents to match works from the Rijksmuseum collection.

The Battle of Waterloo

Jan Willem Pieneman ‘The Battle of Waterloo’, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

One of the scents was created by perfumer Birgit Sijbrands, inspired by Jan Willem Pieneman’s 1824 painting ‘ The Battle of Waterloo’. The scents she selected were intended to reflect Napoleon’s anxiety fleeing the battlefield, plus thousands of horses and the leather of saddles, bridles and boots. Another layer represented the muddy earth as it had been raining for days, and sweat and gunpowder.

www. Pixabay

There was also a surprising layer to the created scent; fresh citrus. The former Emperor and many of the soldiers were fans of 4711 Eau de Cologne, then called ‘Aqua Mirabilis’, miracle water. It was considered a medicine plus a fragrance. 4711 claims to be the oldest cologne still being made in the world. It is produced in Cologne, famous for its colognes, hence the word ‘cologne’. Made by Mäurer & Witz, it is a secret combination of lemon, orange, bergamot, lavender, rosemary, neroli, petitgrain*, roses and sandalwood oil. It still smells wonderful.

Pixabay

*Petitgrain is derived from the bitter orange tree. I’d never heard of it before but apparently is commonly used in medicinal oils.

A NEW LAPTOP

My laptop had been dropped once too often and not always by me! After a discussion with my son, Techno Help, a new one was ordered. Years ago I had a glossy red laptop which was attractive and easy to find in a pile of others things on the table. Now my choices were graphite, graphite or graphite. Bit like slowly replacing all the lovely white electrical appliances in the kitchen with stainless steel. So, I ordered sticker which was a picture of roses. It arrived quickly, was easy to apply and I love it.

What’s in the large envelope? A sticker for my new laptop.

BALD AS A BADGER

Pixabay

My Mother used the expression “As bald as a badger”. We couldn’t visualise a bald badger! Turns out, the expression was “As bald as a badger’s bum”. Badgers were trapped and the coarse, thick hairs from their rear ends were plucked to make shaving brushes. After plucking the bristles the badgers were released. Eventually the hair grew back but it was common to see badgers with bald backsides!Pixabay

There’s a common Australian expression “As blind as a bandicoot” probably because they live underground. There’s a long history of expressions making comparisons with animals, such a ‘ as blind as a bat’, ‘as slow as a snail’ and ‘ slippery as a snake.”

Pixabay

PLASTIC FREE JULY

I was interested to read that pressure from the children of CEOs is resulting in change around the over use of plastics. Many brands admit they are changing their polices and practices due to pressure from their own children.

Unfortunately, birds starving because their stomachs are full of plastics is becoming more common, according to recent research in the UK. WWF also claims we each consume a credit card size amount of plastic every week. Also in the UK The Rivers Trust (www.theriverstrust.org/stop-flushing-wipes) tells us that 93% of sewer blockages are caused by flushing wipes down the toilet. Probably similar statistics in Australia. Let’s focus on cleaner water.

ROSES

My roses are finally recovering from the plague, AKA chili thrip. Healthy green leaves and buds are appearing just in time for pruning. I am hoping they recover fully and return to their vigorous state of well being next season. Meanwhile we took my Mother home this week and her roses are still blooming happily. As a result, I have two vases of beautiful roses, which makes me very happy.

RESTORING

Running up and down the stairs many times a day recently, I saw the frame of one of the mirrors hanging there was chipped. The frames are classic timber with plaster decorative finishes. I’ve repaired chips in the frames before, so set about restoring this one.

I removed the mirror from the wall and dusted and wiped it clean, before mixing a paste of Polyfilla.

Mixed the Polyfilla using an old knife. I’m sure there’s purpose made palette knives for this job but I like the long blade on this old one for applying and smoothing the plaster.

2. Smeared the Polyfilla carefully into the cracked ornate plaster veneer, over filling it slightly.

BEFORE

AFTER

3. After it had cured for two days I used sandpaper to smooth the surface to look like the rest of the frame.

4. Using a small paintbrush, I stippled gold and copper paint onto the repair to imitate the existing old gold until it looked like the original finish. Added some black water colour paint to mimic the frame’s faint black stripe when the gold was dry then re-hung the mirror. Pleased with the repair.

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, has just won the rights to host the 2032 Olympic Games. By then we should be CV-19 free!

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Is This Built In Obsolescence? And a new FITBIT.

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We built this house in 2005 and moved in at the beginning of 2006. Fifteen years later we have replaced just about every electrical appliance in the kitchen. The first thing to go was the double oven. It was white, like all the other appliances. It may have just died from exhaustion because I cooked and cooked in both those ovens. The challenge was finding a replacement oven to fit the existing cavity. The replacement was stainless steel, no choice. I didn’t want any changes to the carpentry as we’d just had new cupboard doors put in the kitchen. For the same reason we had the exhaust fan repaired when it stopped working rather than replacing it. Nothing new fitted exactly and I felt it was a good idea to repair rather than replace. It cost more to repair than buying a new one. Not so good.

This oven has been a great success despite my concerns about it being stainless steel.

Next to go, at the beginning of CV-19, was the dishwasher. The technician arrived masked and gloved, announced the dishwasher wasn’t repairable and recommended to us a new dishwasher from his company, delivered and installed the next day . We didn’t have to go to any shops and it would fit the existing cavity. We took the easy option. So now, a stainless steel oven and a stainless steel dishwasher. Not really happy. Took me a while to adjust, but these were strange times. I designed and really liked the all white cupboards and electrical appliances with black speckled granite work tops.

The super shiny stainless steel dishwasher which doesn’t mark or need constant wiping.

Within months, while we were still avoiding shopping whenever possible, the fridge stopped working. It couldn’t be repaired, either. There was a lot of food in the freezer. A kind neighbour took it in! The pressure was on to replace the fridge/freezer. Couldn’t get a replacement one with the same configuration as the cavity dictated the size we could accommodate. Settled on one that fitted the cavity, and yes, it’s stainless steel. They were available in white but delivery would take at least ten weeks. Took me a while to get used to the stainless steel because it’s quite big.

Then the self ingnitor stopped working on the hotplate. The repairman thought he could repair it. A few weeks later he arrived with the replacement part to fix it but it wasn’t the right part! Weeks later he rang to say the proper replacement was no longer available. Our hotplate was too old. So we lit the hotplate with matches. That was fine until one day the flame flared and suddenly it seemed a bad idea. Again, the existing cavity dictated the replacement. Tracked down one to fit, luckily, as most didn’t and bought it. It looks similar to the original so sits well.

My much loved work horse on the way out.

New hotplate fits perfectly.

So, everything has been replaced except the microwave and every now and then it makes a funny noise. Again, its replacement will be dictated by its size. It will have to fit in the cavity. And it will probably be stainless steel.

All this makes me a bit cross. My Mother has two fridges. The one in her kitchen is about 25 years old. It looks modern but has to be manually defrosted it every now and then. Still in good working order despite it’s age. ( So is she!) The other one in her garage is about 40 years old and rarely used now as she doesn’t entertain a lot, but it still works well.

So why do our appliances break down? Although technically more advanced, my fridge, for instance, keeps some things frozen and other things chilled, just like my Mother’s 25 year old fridge. The only differences are mine beeps if the door is open for too long, it doesn’t need defrosting and has plastic instead of metal ice cube trays. Her microwave, replaced last year, was more than 40 years old before it stopped working. Ours is about twelve years old, so fingers crossed.

FITBIT

I got my first Fitbit in 2013. I have used a tracker every day of my life since. I started walking the usual 10 000 steps a day but slowly, over the years, have increased my daily count. I monitor my progress via my phone.

About four years ago Fitbit replaced my device as it wasn’t holding a charge for more than 24 hours. I was impressed with their service and the speed at which the replacement arrived.

My constant companion is no more.

So when my current Fitbit needing almost daily charging I rang Fitbit. This time I dealt with a service centre. The device was out of warranty but Fitbit would offer me a discount. I wanted a device I could clip on, not wear on my wrist. My husband gave me my watch 38 years ago and I love it and wanted to keep wearing it! The man at the service centre recommended a Fitbit which can be worn as a watch or clipped on. I bought it from another retailer for less than the discount offered by Fitbit. I had to order the clip separately. I am wearing the Fitbit on my wrist until the clip arrives.

The new Fitbit tells me the time, steps taken, monitors my heart beat, tells me how long I’ve slept and other things I didn’t know I wanted to know. Already, 24 hours after putting it on, I am checking my heart rate, how long I slept and calories burnt as well as the step count. Unfortunately, some of these things can only be monitored by wearing it on my wrist, not clipped on clothing. My sentimentally significant watch might be carefully put away very soon. A dilemma.

On June 24th in 1901 Pablo Picasso had his first exhibition in Paris.

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Some Sewing, Watching, ZOOM Painting and Chilli Thrip

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SEWING

Are you a home sewer? I had my sewing machine serviced this week. It was the first time in 34 years, so I thought it was due. Actually, I’d tried to mend my husband’s pyjamas and the machine made it clear things had to change. Off to the repair shop. Now it hums along happily. Mostly I mend and modify things, so nothing fancy, just practical.

Home sewing is experiencing a huge boom! Last year the UK recorded a 300% increase in sewing machines sales. Thought to be influenced by a program on television called “Great British Sewing Bee” and CV-19 resulting in more time at home, there’s also a move towards greater sustainability in clothing and a continuing reluctance to shop.

Not only has there been an explosion in the popularity of home sewing, but also knitting and crocheting are wildly popular, too. The UK Craft and Hobby Trade Association estimates over one million people have begun sewing for themselves in the past 3 years.

Sewing machine sales in Sweden have also increased more than 10 fold in the past year. A spokesman for Swiss sewing machine manufacturer, Bernina, says sales figures have literally exploded. (The West Australian newspaper 10/05/2021) Sales of knitting and crocheting materials have increased by eightfold. Availability of Australian grown and manufactured wool has increased enormously and can be found online or in craft suppliers. Good. In the past we sent most of it overseas.

So, is overt consumerism declining? Environmental concerns, a focus on individuality and the pleasure of creating all contribute to the increase in sewing, knitting and crocheting. Interestingly, many bloggers comment on the cost of these activities.

Once seen as thrifty, sewing machines and fabrics are quite expensive and mostly imported into Australia. Others suggest that having invested so much time, energy and money into making clothing or household pieces, they will take more care of them and keep them for much longer. It will be interesting to see if sewing clothes at home will continue.

WATCHING

I hate to admit it, but Jeremy Clarkson's farming show is really good TV | Television & radio | The Guardian The Guardian.UK

I enjoyed “Our Yorkshire Farm” and “Escape To The Farm With Katie Humble” but it all became a bit repetitive. Neither of these programs prepared me for ” Clarkson’s Farm”. Jeremy Clarkson has 1 000 acres in Oxfordshire. Fairly clueless, but with great enthusiasm and elan, he farms his 1000 acres. He employs a variety of advisors, farm hands and general contractors in typical Clarkson style.

Of course he buys a huge Lamborghini tractor which doesn’t fit in his shed and really requires an interpreter to keep it working. The pressures of getting jobs done in between rain results in him inventing his own, unsuccessful, methods. Very funny. Especially when his efforts are inspected by 21 year old contractor Kaleb who doesn’t hold back when he critiques Clarkson’s cultivating. The sometimes pointless but remnant EU rules baffle and annoy him, as did six weeks of non-stop rain. More rain than the UK had seen in a century. His farm becomes a quagmire.

So very funny and interesting, peppered with typical Clarkson observations and antics. All accompanied on a cool Saturday morning with a mug of Fridge Soup. In other words, all the vegetables that needed to be used up in the fridge, plus some meaty stock I had and curry paste. Bamixed, pasta added, left to cook some more, then ladled out and enjoyed. There we were, cuddled up with Louis the dog, comfortable and cosy on a cold morning, cackling at Clarkson. (Amazon Prime)

PAINTING

I really enjoy Amy Stewart’s painting tutorials on ZOOM. She delivers one each month. I’d signed up for a session painting monarch butterflies, so a few days before the lesson I found some images, studied the characteristics and painted one on my rose painting.

The monarch butterflies we painted were based on very quick, directed drawings. The focus was on impressions of butterflies, not so much on accuracy. After we’d drawn the shapes we applied a lot of water to each shape and then dropped paint into it. Unpredictable but colourful results. When the paint was dry we used felt and paint pens to add definition and detail. Very different from how I usually paint, but a wonderful opportunity to try other techniques.

Influenced by Amy Stewart’s use of felt pen to add definition and clarity, I completed this poppy painting by adding some pen drawing, too.

CHILLI THRIP

Continuing the war against chilli thrip. Some roses have responded well, others still look dire.

Some of the roses in the back garden have responded well to bi-weekly sprays, plant oil and Seasol. I have been picking the last flush of roses and there’s no sign of chilli thrip. At the end of July all the roses will be pruned right back. I hope they will be healthy next year! I will replace the top layer of soil where the thrip apparently breed with a fresh mix.

Roses out the front have not recovered at all. They had the same treatment as those in the back garden. Less sunlight?

The lime tree, on the other hand, next to the roses out the front, is covered in healthy, delicious fruit!

It’s International Men’s Health week focusing on the well being of all men. For more information www.menshealthweek.org.au/

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On Being Frugal and Making Stem Ginger in Syrup

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ON BEING FRUGAL

I think being frugal is making the best use of available resources. It’s about preserving a box of gifted apples, mending clothing and extending its life and borrowing books from the library and only buying a copy if you don’t want to give the book back!

Being frugal is not about being mean. It’s not really about money, it’s about resources. It’s about being thoughtful about consuming. Spend less money on things which will be thrown out, enjoy beautiful things in your home, cook most of what you eat from the best ingredients and don’t waste food!

Most days of the week I walk with my 89 year old neighbour. We both grew up on farms where water was a much valued resource and yesterday, after heavy rain, noticed a neighbour’s reticulation was still running. Wasted water!

Using the least water possible was a way of life on the farm where I grew up. It was a precious resource. I have mixed memories about going away to school but one of them was discovering I could fill the bath up to my chin. I could tilt the plug with my toe to let some cooled water out and top the bath up again with hot. Bliss! Then the luxury of letting the water drain out of the bath. We weren’t expected to bucket it out into the garden to water the plants.

I wish I’d spent more time with my Father in his shed. A treasure trove of bits and pieces carefully stored in labeled boxes on shelves, it seemed he could make or repair anything. Jobs he couldn’t do were done by specialists. The saddlier came and took saddles away for repairs, the plumbing for a new bathroom was installed by a plumber and vehicles were sometimes repaired by mechanics but most jobs were done by him. Now I rely on YouTube, online posts and guesswork.

I really like the idea of things lasting for a long time. The blogs showing how people recycle a pair of jeans into storage pockets, aprons, bracelets, shorts and patches for other pairs of jeans are really interesting. I enjoy reading blogs demonstrating ways of getting the most out of what we have or intend buying.

Many years ago my husband gave me a designer hand bag. I adore it! I used it most days a week when I was working. It’s a thoughtful design so perfect for traveling. I still use it. About once a year I treat it with saddle dressing and it still looks new. It is 21 years old, so per use, it has been a really frugal buy. It would have been more frugal if I’d stopped at one but actually I have several much loved and frequently used bags from the same brand. As an aside, I asked two friends if they still have and use 21 year old handbags. Neither do and both said they donate their expensive leather bags to charity shops after two or three years.

Why does using less matter? The only free energy we have is the sun, so conserving energy is a worldwide consideration. Energy production results in pollution, either chemical or heat. Thoughtful use of energy is necessary because some popular energy saving methods actually cause more pollution, such as factory farming resulting in added food miles. Buy food locally produced and trucked to the shop.

Adding to landfill is an enormous problem. Many things disintegrate very slowly and can pollute the surrounding soil, waterways and the air. We should all try to create less landfill by discarding fewer clothes, food and general household waste. Many large Australian supermarkets are committed to reducing wasted food, directing it to gifted meals or compost, plus using less plastics. One of our major supermarket chains has already swapped the traditional polystyrene trays used for meat, fruit and vegetables, replacing them with a plant based product which is compostable.

MAKING STEM GINGER

We found a delicious sounding recipe for pear, ginger and rye cake. Couldn’t find any stem ginger in syrup. The recipe called for both the preserved ginger and some syrup. I found a way to make stem ginger in syrup online. Luckily I had a knob of fresh ginger. It wasn’t the weight recommended in the recipe but that was easily adjusted .

The recipe advised scraping the skin off the ginger using a spoon. Made an awful mess, went back to my usual tool, a potato peeler. Chopped the peeled ginger and boiled it for two and a half hours, just covered in water. Kept an eye on it and topped up the water when necessary.

Made the syrup by boiling equal amounts of water and sugar.

It was soft after two and a half hours, so I strained the liquid off the ginger. I had 130gm of ginger so added 130gm sugar and 130ml of drained off cooking water, brought it all to the boil and let it simmer for five minutes. Left it to cool a little, then packed the ginger into a sterilised jar and covered it with the syrup.

This made very strong ginger and delicious strong syrup. There was leftover syrup when I measured it, so we added some soda and enjoyed a very good sparkling ginger drink.

Sparkling ginger drink. Delicious preserved stem ginger.

Did you know recent research revealed Australian households annually throw out 2.5 million tonnes of edible food every year? The average household sends about 4.5kg of food to landfill each week.

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Emily in Paris and Mending

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EMILY IN PARIS

Have you been watching Emily In Paris? It had been recommended to us but the description didn’t really appeal until I read a blog written by an American woman living in the south of France. Her thoughtful comments on sophistication and cultural differences apparent in the series interested me. Time to find out what was causing the furore.

Emily, played by Lily Collins, is a social media marketing guru. She’s unexpectedly sent from Chicago to Paris when the company she works for buys a small French PR company, Savoir. Non-French speaking Emily is on a mission to get the French company using social media for their luxury branding company, the American way, of course! Energetic, determined and totally culturally unaware, she finds herself in every clichéd situation imaginable.

Sometimes funny, sometimes painful and often unbelievable, this fairy tale takes you on a great journey through Paris. Written by Darren Star who also wrote Sex In The City, there’s beautiful people, gorgeous clothes and all the famous Parisian sites plus glittering events.

I think we kept watching because we’ve been in a similar position. We moved to a country where few people spoke English. We’d been there quite a few times before and had worked hard on being culturally aware. We knew some local staff members. My husband had a driver and interpreter but I needed to find an apartment, organise schooling, sort out shopping for food (mostly from the local market down the road) plus furniture and everything else we needed to live there for some years. I didn’t have an interpreter most of the time. I learnt what I call “market” language. Room for many misunderstandings! We had to live in a compound with other expat families who luckily also spoke English, which was helpful.

bike leaning against handrail in front of concrete building at daytime

Emily is extremely confident, creating some obvious opportunities for cultural awkwardness. She slowly becomes more attuned to the nuances of French behaviour. Sometimes funny, always fast moving, very glamorous this is an entertaining series. There’s a second series scheduled for this year. Cleverly, the announcement was issued under the letterhead of Savoir, the luxury promotions company Emily works for in the series. It includes her bosses comment; “We hope that by extending her time in Paris Emily will…delve deeper into our culture and perhaps pick up a few words of basic French.” We’ll be watching.

MENDING

MENDing 1

One of the planters on this narrow ledge was disintegrating. This is the top of a retaining wall and gets good sunlight during the day. I have two planters both planted with blueberry bushes. I couldn’t find a replacement planter of the right size. I would have to replace two, as well, as they sit side by side and something different would look strange. I went hunting for a way to repair the one falling apart. The planters are made of fibreglass.

Lots of online research led me to Builders Filler, a two part filler intended for repairing metal, wood, concrete and fibreglass. Following the directions I thoroughly cleaned the surface to be repaired and then read and re-read the instructions.

Preparation involved mixing the filler and the hardener and then using it immediately. The job was done with the blueberry and soil remaining in the planter as it was too hard to do it any other way.

The filler dried very quickly. It is as hard as the fibreglass and filled the hole well.

Left to cure for several hours then sanded the patched area.

Used a damp cloth to remove the dust created by sanding the planter box and then painted over the mend. It’s not perfect but looks a lot better.

mending 2

This shabby chic/rustic bird house came from an open garden day on a farm down south. The farmer had used leftover scraps of timber to make a few bird houses. They were pretty rough but that was part of the appeal. I’ve had this one for at least five years and bits were beginning to fall off the front.

Quick clean then I used Liquid Nails to glue the pieces back on. All pretty rough. My usual clamps are pegs but the wood was too thick, so I used masking tape. Left it over night to cure. I realise this piece does not have a long life expectancy but it’s fine for now!

MENDING 3

This mohair rug is thrown over our doona most nights. We have used it for about 20 years. During that time I have repaired it a few times as it is quite loosely woven. The latest problem occurred when the dog jumped onto the bed and his claws got caught in the fringing.

Spread it out on the table to assess the damage. Hard to see what a tangled mess it’s in but I’ve repaired this rug before and got to work. The pulled threads were a mess. I used a long, blunt needle to gently push the weft threads back up. Then I had to thread the two lengths pulled out of place and stitch them back where they belonged.

All good….until next time!

Now it has become a chair throw instead of a bed throw. It was really fiddly mending this rug. It took more than two hours to repair and is so loosely woven it could easily become damaged again. Much safer on the chair.

Did you know modelling predicts it will take 550 years for a disposable nappy to decompose entirely?

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