Month: July 2011

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An emotional female

There’s one thing I love about my cat Kiera
She certainly knows how to make her feelings known
The past week I’ve been gathering up things to take away with us.
so theres a pile of bits and pieces out on the back deck
Things like foldable chairs, the Esky,
two large plastic boxes that fit in the boot of the car
rubber thongs/flip flops that have just had a scrub
a large raffia sunhat
plus other paraphenalia
Sitting amongst all this stuff is her carry box
So – somehow or another
she is aware
that she’s also going in the car
Not with us on the 4 day, 4500 kms drive
to the warmth of Far North Tropical Queensland
but up the road to the boarding cattery
Hence this attitude – worthy of a five year old
Here’s a replay of a conversation that happened the other day
I’m sure she was giving me the cold shoulder
Just like she did a few months ago
What do mean – whats the matter?
No, I’m not in a mood
I’m just sitting here minding my own business
on my own little mat in front of the fire
Its freezing outside and its so lovely and warm here
and I might just settle down for a snooze
This is bliss
So much better than Sheila’s place.
(Holly Lodge Boarding Cattery)
I know she’s lovely and will look after me
But I’m not the only one there
I don’t have her undivided attention
Can’t you see how comfy I am
Yes, she does give me a heating pad
and I do get one of the indoor-outdoor pens
so I can sit in the sunshine and watch the birds
But it’s not the same as lying here in front of the fire
In my own house
With you around to feed me and talk to me
She’s not listening to a word I’m saying
looks like I’ll just have to curl up in my bed for a while
Can’t be that long till a meal arrives
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Garden plots and fenced gardens

A break in the weather early last week – yes it did stop raining for a while – meant I could get outside and do a bit more tidying up.   We are tootling off ‘up north’ in a few days so I don’t want to come home to a jungle – even tho from past experience I know thats what I’ll find when we do get back:( 

One of the jobs I did was to dismantle my failed veggie garden.  We have a spot down near the back of the garden that I thought would be good for veggies – out of the way but still visible – visible usually meaning I won’t forget to water lol 

I used a piece of grass that is between two ‘garden beds’ and really is ‘just there’, a means of getting from one part ot the other and by leaving a space at each side I figured wouldn’t be missed.   So I did all the right things, got Dh to make a boundary edge like a fence and layered all sorts of things to make a lasagne (no dig) bed, waited a little while for it to settle and then planted.
There were no warm sunny days and it rained and rained also I’d forgotten that even tho’ that spot gets loads of sunshine in the Autumn and Winter (like now) its quite shady in Spring and Summer.  

Nothing prospered so I gave up on it.   

That area used to make a wonderful spot for the grand boys to set up some cricket stumps – when they  were little and grandma wasn’t so protective of the plants nearby lol
I’m sure with all the rain we are having it won’t take long for this to grass over again.

I’m going to turn the old compost heap over when we get back and have another go in that area. Its sort of visible, behind the washing line and right beside the tank, so I won’t be able to complain about carting water from one end of the garden to the other.
Talking of gardens look at these roadside ones we saw on the north west coast of Newfoundland.  So much of the land is rocky with no usuable soil so the people are able to take over bits of the roadside (crown land) that are soft and diggable – fenced to keep out stray Moose and other animals that may come by.
Ingenious and trusting eh?
But then there are so few living in that area
if you did pinch some of the produce
you’d be stealing from your neighbour
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Views from the laundry window Todays flowers

I  planted this line of Camellias along this side wall many years ago. 
I was sick of looking at the bare wall and saw some very little, almost minute, tube stock in the nursery one year and it was a snap decision to plant them 
Actually I’m suprised they have lasted so long as they are in fairly deep shade under the eaves and apart from any rain that blows in never get watered
That window you can see there is in the laundry, which being on the south side of the house lets in minimal light at the best of times and is worse still when I forget to cut these down to a reasonable height 
But look at the fabulous display of flowers this year 
much better than I’ve ever seen for a long time
The labels went walkabout years ago so I have no idea what their ‘names’ are
but aren’t they just delightful

In real life they looked equally good from inside
but the the pictures are a bit fuzzy when taken
through the screen and a dirty window lol
But look at this and laugh
I’d taken this before I realised what the date on the calender was
So heres one with the correct month on it
I can assure you I had done some laundry between April and July!!
The flash didn’t seem to enhance them at all
only made the window look even more grubby
so it looks like I’ll have to do some window washing when this rain finally stops 
and some pruning when the flowers are finished
 Click here
to see more Flowers for today
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Morning has broken

This is what we woke to on Friday the First day of July 2011
A beautiful red sunrise
Such a change in just one minute
so much more colour
Since then the morning skies of the past two weeks
have been cloudy and miserable 
No colour whatsoever
In fact this morning we couldn’t see any further than our noses!
Click here
to see spectacular skies from around the world
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Winter visitor for Winter Wednesday

Even tho’ we are near the hills the area is still suburban meaning there are lots of houses and even more going up where owners are subdividing so a lot of the parrots give us a wide berth, We do get flighty Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas as well as the funny little Rainbow Lorikeets who love the berries on the Lilly Pilly tree

Now the only deciduous tree I have growing nearby is next doors oak – yes,  the one of falling leaves fame , and the great thing about this tree being leafless in the winter is that I can see any birds who do sit in the branches.  Plus any pesky possums lol

So this is where I need a little help here from some of those with more knowledge of birds than I have .  This beautiful parrot with an orange head and chest arrived there this morning and played around on the branches for a short while – luckily just long enough for me to race inside and get the camera.

I don’t recall seeing one before – google suggests a King Parrot, would that be right?

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Little boxes – coloured ones at that

There is a long history associated with bathing boxes or beach huts as they are know in some parts of the world and a few weekends ago two of those lovely bathing boxes that sit on the foreshore at Brighton beach south of the Melbourne CBD were sold.  For something that is quite small and can only be owned by a ratepayer of that council they fetched an enormous amount of money  

Looking at pictures of the coloured boxes lined up along the sea front reminds me of the ‘painted houses’ we saw last year – those that line the older streets of St John’s in Newfoundland.  Most of the houses in the coastal ‘outports’ were painted like this but it was fun to see so many in long lines like these. 

I’d been told they were known as ‘jellybean houses’ painted the same bright colour as the owner’s fishing boat so they’d recognise them when they got back into port. Never did get that verified tho lol

All photos will enlarge with a click
The dock area is at the bottom of this street – thats the bow (the front) of the cruise ship you can see there. 
What I did find intriguing was this ‘double storm door’ I saw on a house – the front entry door was set at a right angle to the street inside a little porch with another door on the face of the house to protect it.
 But look at this space saving, ingenious and inventive idea – the window is set into the corner of this house.  You can tell it doesn’t take much to impress or amuse me lol
Have you been anywhere recently that impressed you?
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These grey skies are going to clear up?

Aren’t they?
Do any of you remember this song
Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Wipe of the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face
From the musical Bye Bye Birdie
music by Charles Strouse – lyrics by Lee Adams
Its been like this all day
and I tried really hard with the happy face routine
but it didn’t seem to work
Like I said
 It’s been like this all day
Cold wet and windy!
It would have been nice if those lovely clear sunny days 
the ones I wrote about a couple of days ago had reappeared
These ones here 
With a bit of luck if I put the happy face on again tomorrow
Those skies will clear up
They will – won’t they?
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You never know what you’ll find

‘Till you start looking.

My husband is a reader – every spare minute he gets he’s reading something.   Thinking about it he’s always been a reader, he even took a book to read on our honeymoon.  Not sure how much he read of it tho’ lol

With the rotten weather we’ve had this week I’ve done some more delving into his family history and discovered something that he’s quite tickled pink over.

One branch of his family originated in Fordington a small place in Dorset which is a county in the South West of England  In 1857 his Great Grandmother’s sister Anne married a man by the name of Frederick Hardy.

Yes, from THE Hardy family – Frederick was Thomas Hardy’s cousin.  Yes THE Thomas Hardy Dorset’s most literary figure.

So, he’s not a blood relation but Dh is suitably impressed.

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Winter Wednesday

For the past week or so Winter has taken a back seat here where I live – we’ve had some glorious dry and sunny but rather chilly days – days when I snapped out of my miseries and realised moping around being miserable wouldn’t get me anywhere.

Winter made a reappearance today – it was a freezing cold day when gales were howling, rain was pouring and Melbourne (my suburb included) had a 4.4 magnitude earthquake,  but I wasn’t upset in any way. 

Not sure why, maybe its ‘cose I know we will be off in a couple of weeks to the Sunshine State or because we are over the hump in the seasons and Spring will be along sometime soon.

Hazel at Hazel Dene has a little thing going called ‘Winter Wednesday’ where she wants to know some of the things you like about Winter. 

Truthfully some years there is little I like about Winter but one thing I have enjoyed these past couple of weeks was being able to get outside and take a walk

Some days it was in the local park
with its green grassy slopes and windy paths 
Other days I walked along local unmade paths
gouged out like a river bed by all the heavy rain we’ve had
(hopefully the local council will repair them soon)
I’ve enjoyed seeing paths covered in petals from a Camelia
Blown off by the high winds 
Strewn on the ground like confetti
I walked along paths covered with leaves 
wanting dearly to scuff them with my feet 
(but afraid of what the others may think lol)
This Liquid Amber aways drops its leaves late in the season
Not sure what leaves these were on another unmade path
but they made me feel good on this part of my walk
Gave it a sort of ‘country’ look
You wouldn’t think a main road ran alongside this path
So thats what I’ve enjoyed this Winter
Why don’t you pop over to Hazel’s and see what others have enjoyed
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The Blonde Cowboy

This just arrived in our Inbox
The Blonde Cowboy

A Sheriff in a small town in Texas walks out in the street and sees a blond haired cowboy coming toward him with nothing on but his cowboy hat, his gun and his boots.
He arrests him for indecent exposure.

As he is locking him up, he asks ‘Why in the world are you walking around like this?’

The cowboy says, ‘Well it’s like this Sheriff…. 
  I was in this bar down the road and this pretty little red head asks me to go out to her motor home with her…..
So I did.
We go inside and she pulls off her top and asks me to pull off my shirt …..
So I did
Then she pulls off her skirt and asks me to pull off my pants….
So I did.

Then she pulls off her panties and asks me to pull off my shorts….
So I did.

Then she gets on the bed and looks at me kind of sexy and says,
Now go to town cowboy


‘And here I am.’

Son of a Gun. Blonde Men do exist!
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Food for thought

Dh’s mother was a diabetic, we are getting older and thats the time when Type 2 Diabetes (previously called mature-age diabetes) can rear its head also both he and I have this problem with homesick kilos – for a while they go away and then they come back again.

So every now and again when I look at the food we are eating I check the Glycemic Index – whats that you ask – well its to do with carbohydrates and the effect they have on the blood sugar.  
Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs – the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels – is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.
Info from here

Nicole Senior  an award winning dietician writes for a monthly ezine called GI News  published by the website of the Glycemic Index and GI Database.  I really like her articles, they are readable and often ‘tell it as it is’ 

This month she is talking about ‘Being Healthy on the Inside’ – its not the number on the scale that counts but whats going on inside and using a bit of humour she likens our bodies to cars. 

There are lots of lovely tips like these:-

Power up with protein – Lean red meat, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, eggs and legumes (beans, lentils and chickpeas)

Refuel with carbs (look for the low GI ones) – Grain foods such as low GI grainy breads and breakfast cereals, pasta, noodles, low GI rice like basmati or Doongara Clever Rice and starchy vegetables like lower GI potatoes (Carisma or Nicola), orange-fleshed sweet potato, corn, carrots, butternut pumpkin and parsnips.

Rust-proof with fruit and veg – Tomatoes, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, lettuce, capsicum, celery, zucchini (courgettes), peas, cabbage, beans and beetroot etc. Fruit and berries such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes, kiwifruit, plums, nectarines, rockmelon, papaya (paw paw), mango and strawberries etc.

Reinforce your frame with good dairy foods – Reduced fat milk, yoghurt, cheese and custard.

Grease the machine with the right oils – Sunflower, olive and canola oils; spreads like margarine or peanut butter; nuts and seeds, and avocado.

Prevent overheating with fluids – Water, juice, cordial, tea and weak coffee

http://ginews.blogspot.com/2011/07/food-for-thought.html
 
This is one site I think worth a visit – each month there is oodles of information in the newsletter – its free as well lol 
http://ginews.blogspot.com/

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