Month: July 2017

It’s not what you have but how they do the job!

Words of wisdom from my father about kitchen gadgets and appliances.

Take potato peelers for example- he didn’t believe in them.  Wash the potatoes, scrub them if need be, then cook.  He believed a lot of the goodness was in the skins.  For any other vegetables that did need peeling he had his trusty knife.  It wasn’t anything special, just an old kitchen knife he regularly sharpened on a concrete step.  Very sharp – mum wouldn’t go near it – even as adults we weren’t allowed to touch it!

It’s funny to think of it now but there were ‘words’ in the house on the subject of peeling potatoes resulting in Mum buying one of these.  Hook it up to the cold tap and away you go. Mum loved it!

Each time I saw it in action it made enough noise to wake the dead so as I’d married an Englishman (one who had always been used to peeled potatoes) not an Irishman like dad 😊 I used a knife and have memories of various thicknesses of peelings and from what I remember Lumpy Potatoes.   No way could I master the art of thin peelings and smooth potatoes with rounded edges lol.

Fast forward to arriving in Australia, children now old enough for real kitchen duties so after a few nicks in fingers and ‘losing’ several knives in the peelings (courtesy of children learning to peel spuds) I decided we needed to try a peeler.  Posh ones aren’t cheap are they!  After a couple went walkabout we discovered these.

Nothing special about them.  Some friends call it cheap and nasty.  Cheap maybe – nasty never.  It’s simple design is perfect.  Available in those $2 shops, in supermarkets, even on the web.  They do the job – peel like a dream – for more years than I can remember now I have had smooth round potatoes 😊

Mind you they ‘have’ been known to hide in peelings so that’s why mine is white.  I can see it at a glance amongst those brown peelings.  ‘White tatties’ from the supermarket are clean washed ones so I don’t need to peel them 😊😊

BTW The Golfer uses a little knife – just like his Mum 😊

Frost on the ground and the cars some mornings

Tingling fingers, toes and noses some mornings

Dry sunny bright afternoons – but where’s the rain

Oh yes,  it poured during the week

Heavy wet skies, strong winds, freezing cold rain

 Gosh I’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to go to work

That would mean having to go out in it 😒😒

 

Regular readers will remember when we first met Doug #2 he was all in pieces.  His new life had been laid out on the table and he just sitting there waiting for the right time for it to begin!

He sat there sulking for so long I had to take him in hand one afternoon and start looking at those lovely pins – his lovely legs that is 😊

Now, he was forever complaining about his thoughts not being recognised.  He had wanted me to begin at the top – with his head.  It’s a bit big and a little complicated I said, so for me the legs were the way to go.  That all very well,  he said, I really don’t have a leg to stand on as far as you’re concerned.

 

Of course you do – it is really lovely and soft and furry and look it has such a great colour coordinated foot pad that took quite a bit of fiddling to get right.

But that’s the problem, he retorted, I’ve no idea if it’s my left or my right one – AND – it’s so big.

That’s because one day soon (well sometime in the future) you are going to be a big boy – If you stand still you won’t keep falling over!

It’s over two weeks since I last saw Doug – he was so pleased when I told him he could now stand on his own two feet.

Oh they are lovely and soft and fluffy and – BIG.

Oops there he goes again.  Maybe I did make him two left feet after all 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

How do you feel about shopping?  Not the everyday type like grocery which is bad enough but clothes shopping and the dreaded gift shopping.  It’s funny but at one time I could spend all day in the big shopping centres browsing, popping in and out of different places, trying on, coffee drinking or just walking the different levels window shopping.  That’s a thing of the past – these days if I don’t have something in mind I have to psych myself up just to walk out to the car.

As a bye the bye I use all sorts of things as bookmarks and on finding a little envelope stuck in the pages of an old book the other day was instantly reminded of a very different shopping experience I had a couple a couple of years ago.

Doing the usual wandering past some of the more upmarket shops in a nearby centre that had almost tripled in size I stopped and looked in the window of this one wondering if they had anything I could get for the birthday gift I was looking for.  Wondering but thinking – no, it would be well out of my price range.  Anyway in I go, just for a look I tell myself.

A very young looking (almost child like) well dressed assistant approached asking if I was looking for anything special or would I just like to browse.  I pottered about looking at handbags and wallets and scarves and all sorts of things when she asked in a roundabout way who I was shopping for. I said a 21yr old granddaughter to which she replied, ‘Oh I might have just the thing’. Oops thinks I, after having seen the prices on other goods, how am I going to get out of this.

The assistant returned with a box which did contain ‘just the right thing’  A very modern looking circular pendant and chain that could be worn in a couple of ways.  As I waited for it to be ‘wrapped’ another assistant asked if I’d like to sit down and maybe have a glass of water.  Well, this is a first I think and make myself comfortable on the small couch.   There was no need for me to get up to go to the register because a mobile register came to me – Yes a hand held eftpos machine took care of my credit card right there on the couch 🙂

The girls left for a while and then presented me with a very posh looking ‘shop’ bag containing the very smartly gift wrapped package and this glossy little envelope like packet.

I walked out of the shop feeling quite refreshed, pleased I had actually secured the gift that had stressed me out so much.  Driving home I mentally asked myself why I’d bought it there.  Was it the ‘special treatment’ I’d received, or was it the fact I’d allowed a certain figure for my gift and with the sale on that day it came to less than $5 more than that figure??   Oh that every shop/store had such good personal service and treated their customers that way – the way they used to do many years ago.

I’d been assured the receipt was in the bag, yet when I was looking for the till roll all I could find was that little envelope (which I had thought was just for advertising puposes, a bit like a business card). Guess what was tucked inside – a very neatly folded till roll receipt.

How good was that – how discreet was that 😊

When I went to see B the other week I took along a few (very few) flowers from the garden.  B had ‘donated’ some tiny narcissi bulbs to my garden last year before she moved (her house was going to be razed and the block cleared by the new owner and he had given her carte blanche to take what she wanted) so I had been waiting to see if they’d take after being transplanted.

They were showing buds – but it was too early to pick them at that time – so imagine the surprise I had the other day when I noticed the little yellow blooms just ‘popping out’ of their paper like cases.

Another look yesterday had that first ‘spray’ in flower and in another bed the first of the little ‘paper white’ jonquils were out.  Even though it’s fun at the time of the year to wander the garden and see if anything new is showing up I like my creature comforts (warmth being one of them) so often bring these early blooms into the house to be appreciated inside.  That’s where my kitchen window sill comes in handy –  most of the time it’s usually fairly cool there so the blooms will last longer than if they were in the heated living room. There was just one flower in the clump of winter Iris (Iris unguicularis – The Algerian Iris) also donated by B from her enormous garden.  So that came in to join the others on the window sill 🙂  

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Window Dressing post –  These are my first picks of the season – some winter wonders to brighten up the house.  Hopefully as the season progresses there be more lovely flowers to pick and bring indoors. Enjoy 🙂

    https://cranethie.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/window-dressing-6/

You’ll find more of these posts if you use the search box/gadget up above

 It’s Monday morning, there’s another pile of books on a table and you’d think I had nothing of importance to do because I’m sitting here, cup of coffee in hand, deep in thought, musing over which I should begin to read first 🙂

I’ve mentioned a couple of times how I’m trying to work my way alphabetically through titles and authors.  So far so good – after a look around for suggestions I drafted a couple of lists of sorts on Goodreads which worked well for a while until I got sidetracked by thinking about state based books.  You know, read a couple from each Australian state and territory over the 12 months and how about have them written by Australian authors.  So another look around the net for inspiration and another list was born. 🙂 🙂

Of course there is a catch to all this – I don’t buy books these days so they have to be available at the library or happen to come into my hands some other way for Free!

Even with all that I’d probably have been finished if we hadn’t been away all of April – on a cruise ship.  I had lots on my iPad- none of which were on my lists :(. There was also what the cruise line calls a paperback exchange but which I call a drop and swap cupboard, You read the book/s you brought along but don’t want to take home with you, You drop it off for someone else to read, You swap it for another book in the cupboard. And you leave that behind as well.  I’ll admit to making some adjustments to my lists when I got home- swapped some authors names and titles to fit.  Not cheating – i did actually read the books, just not the ones I’d had in mind at the beginning of the year 🙂

So how am I doing with this little challenge I’ve set myself?

Well, if I stick to my lists I have 4 titles and 9 authors whose books I have planned to read – oh and 6 state based ones as well. Of those 19 left to read 4 are on the table in front of me and my big decision of the day is :-

Which one do I pick first?

 

It’s a Saturday afternoon in July, grey skies and too cool temps to sit outside so I’m wasting time flitting round the net from one place to another and this little scene catches my eye.

Gosh that looks familiar, I say to myself.  Doesn’t that look good.

Sun Sand Surf and a Book.

Where oh where have I seen something like it before?

Oh yes, I know.

Think back 12 months, to mornings spent at Rose Bay in Bowen.

Our annual 6 weeks of Winter away from home 🙂

And why aren’t we up there in Far North Queensland  again this year?

‘Cose we were away in April and there’s another trip coming up in November and I can’t have everything!

Dare I say it – Roll on next Winter lol

It’s been exceedingly cold here over the past few nights.

We even had frosts which only happen occasionally.

This song has Musical Monday written all over the title

The Doors – Light My Fire 🙂