Helsie's Happenings

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - HOLLYWOOD VERSION

2012-01-28T03:23:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I am surprised that many of you have not read these books.

They have been so popular here and most of my friends have read the whole series.

Admittedly we tend to pass these books around among ourselves.

( Make sure you read them in the correct order. )

I strongly advise you to give them a go if you like a good murder / mystery / drama.

( I 'd like to add that I found the beginning of the first one a bit difficult to get into but please persevere, it is worth it. )

Well, we've done it.

A great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon - a visit to the movies before the Saturday night crowds and lovely Thai on the way home.

Verdict: Fabulous !

More detail than the Swedish version, more depth to the characters and their relationships and best of all only one small change to the storyline from the book.

I think the rape scene was more harrowing in the Swedish version and the sex scenes a little more graphic in the Hollywood version ( surprisingly ).

This time we had Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in the lead roles.

(the Hollywood Lisbeth - strange bleached eyebrows )

Both casts were excellent and I still can't decide which was best.

They certainly got the look right for Lisbeth.

( the Swedish one )

I highly recommend the Hollywood version as well as the Swedish version

but

read the books first !

Cheers.

MOVIE REVUE - Millenium Trilogy

2012-01-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

Like millions of people all over the world I've read and enjoyed the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larssons.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl who Played with Fire

and

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Recently we purchased DVD's of the Swedish version of all three books and set about watching them.

We never watch movies with subtitles and we soon learnt that we could not look away,

put the kettle on,

anything that would cause us to miss those printed words.

We thoroughly enjoyed them.

The two main parts

( Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist )

were very well done, especially the role of Lisabeth.

Isn't this just how you imagined her?

Next week we will go and see the new version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers.

GARDEN UPS AND DOWNS -FTF

2012-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

Round about this time last year I wrote a post about how disappointing your garden can be sometimes.

Have a quick look by clicking here so you can see the photos I took before you scroll down to see the photos I took yesterday.
"
"
"
"
"
no cheating now !
"
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"
"

What a difference !

We've had a few inches of rain too so the grass is turning green

but look at these flowers!

The path to the front door looks lovely too.

Not to be outdone the Golden Lyre Grevillea is putting on a show too.

You win some, you lose some.

That's gardening for you.

This time we've had a win !!!

I'm linking up for Favourite Things Friday again today 'cos these pretty pink flowers are my favourite thing this week.

Cheers.

2012-01-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

OFF TO A GOOD START

2012-01-24T05:04:00.000-08:00

One of the things on my "to do " list for this year ( number 8 in fact ) is to finish decorating my bedroom.
On my recent visits to my local shopping centre I've noticed lots of black and white photos of the Eifel Tower in the homeware stores and I really like them.

So off home I trotted to look at the photos we had taken on our visit to Paris, my favourite city in the world.

After a bit of fiddling using Picasa I have come up with these :

Black and white with a hint of blue.

We sent away to have them printed up as large as possible without being poster size - about 11inches by 14 inches.

The top two have come back and look terrific and I purchased one plain white frame to see how it would look.

I'm absolutely thrilled with it.

I'm going a little French Provincial-ish and I think three of these above my bed will be terrific.
So we're off tomorrow to buy some matching frames and have the next two printed up.

On the outside wall with the window I have a lovely little item that my talented friend Lynnie made for me at Christmas.

It's made of buttons covered with pieces of material from my quilt.

Isn't that a cute idea?

So here we are at the end of January and I'm actually achieving something.

I'm on the way with number 8 and have accomplished number 2 ( learning to take movies with my phone ) !

I'm really pleased !

Cheers.

A SUCCESSFUL BIRTHDAY BASH

2012-01-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

Yes, the food looked good.

The cook did well.....

and did a taste -test to make sure all was well. !!

The guests tucked in without complaint
and the guest of honour

blew out the candles with the help of his two great grandchildren.

Happy 90th Birthday Dad

PREPARATIONS

2012-01-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

I'm about to swing into frenzy mode.

The Oldies ( Mum and Dad ) are arriving today for the big birthday bash on Sunday.

This is when I start to panic about the amount of food I have worked out.

Will there be enough?

Is the cake big enough?

Will they drink much wine? beer ? champagne ?

Does anyone ( except young people ) drink much alcohol in the middle of the day??

The table centre decorations are done ... and quite pretty.

Blue and green are the colours of the serviettes I have purchased.

I'll feel better when I can start preparing the food.

Cheers.

START THE DAY RIGHT

2012-01-15T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today is my best buddy's 60th birthday so what better way than to start her busy birthday than with a breakfast together.

Now, I'm not one of those people who is an early riser .....

(Well, not since I gave up work anyway !!!)

and I hate the pressure of cooking when people are around

so I pulled out this recipe and it was just right.

Prepare most of it ahead of time,

pop into the oven when you are ready and in about 20 minutes it's done.

Tasty too, so I thought I would share it with you.

You'll need:

6 slices of bread crusts removed

3 bacon rashes , chopped

1 small onion chopped

6 cherry tomatoes

6 eggs

grated cheese

* Preheat oven to 180C. Grease or spay muffin tin with baking spray.

* Flatten bread slices with a rolling pin then press them into the muffin tin ( I spray them with the baking spray too and put the sprayed side down in the tin)

* Cook the chopped onion and chopped bacon in the microwave. Pour off any liquid then place a little of this in the base of each bread case. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half ( or use ordinary tomato slices ) and press into the bacon mixture.

* Break a whole egg into each bread case then sprinkle a little grated cheese over each one.

* Cook for about 20 minutes or until egg has set.

Looks yummy.

Tastes yummy.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm !

and no stress !

Cheers.

Edited to add:

I see many of you are having problems with comments on your blog.

To fix it --- Go to Dashboard, Click on Settings, Click on Comments and change to Popup Comments.

Hope that helps, it fixed mine.

A YEAR AGO

2012-01-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

All photos today from the Internet.

This time last year here in Brisbane, Queensland we were facing this.

In nearby Grantham and Toowoomba they were also in trouble.

When the water receded Brisbane's citizens rallied and the Mud Army appeared to help with the clean-up.

Buses were loaded with helpers and taken to where the devastation was worst.

On the surface things look as if they are back to almost normal in most places but there are still many families whose homes have not been repaired/ rebuilt mainly through lack of finances and squabbles with Insurance Companies and many small businesses have permanently closed their doors.

This memorial, called the Pillar of Courage, was unveiled this week in Ipswich.

.................

Edited to add this quote:

The 10 m high monument, named the Pillar of Courage, will be unveiled at a morning ceremony at Goodna's Alf Harris Park.

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale says the pillar features six coloured blocks to represent the half-dozen times the city has flooded in the past 100 years.
Each block is etched with a word that recognises the positives that emerged from the disaster, Cr Pisasale said.
"Twelve months on the key words are: resilience, community, strength, heroes, caring and unity," he said.
"This is about not only reflecting on the floods but paying tribute to the resilience of our community and all the people that got us to where we are."

Photos like these make you pause and count your blessings don't they?

Cheers.

BUGS AND STUFF

2012-01-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Well, Summer has finally arrived unfortunately.
36 to 38 degrees all week so far.
We are holed up inside with the aircon full blast so we are managing fine.
So glad I no longer have to try to work in this type of weather.

This is a very busy time of year for my family with anniversaries, birthdays and Australia Day at the end of the month.
So the only thing happening here at the moment is cleaning ( in the cool aircon ).

Poo !

You know how I like that !

My Dad is about to turn 90 and so we have a party coming up in a couple of weeks
and so the cleanup and the planning begins !

On one of my many trips out to the bins this morning I spotted this pretty little fellow on the ground.

Of course in true blogging fashion I rushed inside for my camera.

I've never seen one before so I have no idea what it is.

Just a bug -- but a pretty one !

Cheers.

LOOT

2012-01-09T02:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks Sweetie !

Cheers.

WAR HORSE - MOVIE REVIEW

2012-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

I was a little bit afraid when I went to seee this film.

I was worried that I would leave the theatre with mascara all over my face from crying!

But it wasn't like that at all.

( after all it is based on a children's book )

It showed the horrors of war without the graphic detail of Corporal Ryan

so that you could see the horrible, unimaginable conditions in the trenches of the Somme,

admire the bravery of very young men in a battle charge with fixed bayonettes

without confronting gory detail ...

( How glad am I that my son has not been involved in this type of horror.)

and woven into that is the story of a horse - and what a horse he is !

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

(and only cried a little bit !)

Here's the Trailer for you yo watch.

Cheers.

RUBIES GALORE

2012-01-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

40 years ago

these two young love-birds tied the knot.

It was a happy time......

and all the years in between have been a wonderful adventure.

So today we will celebrate and look forward to many more.

Cheers.

A GOOD RECIPE TO START THE YEAR OFF

2012-01-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

What better way to start the year than with a good recipe?

I made two batches of these to take with us to the New Year's Day brunch with our dear neighbour friends

You know, the kind of brunch that goes all day, friends sitting around chatting lazily after a nice late breakfast.

Then a bit later on when the need for another cup of tea came upon us, out came the Raspbery and White Chocolate Muffins.

Little chunks of white chocolate melting on your tongue along with the tang of raspberries.

YUM !

This is a very quick and easy muffin recipe. It produces light, cake-like muffins with chunks of sweet, creamy white chocolate and tangy berries.

Fresh or frozen berries can be used. If using frozen berries ( I did ), add them to the mixture while they are still frozen to help prevent them from colouring the batter.

2 teaspoons (10ml) lemon juice
250ml (1 cup) milk
125ml (1/2 cup) oil (any mild-flavoured oil could be used)
1 large egg (I use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
170g (1 cup) white chocolate chopped into small chunks
200g raspberries

* Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are using a conventional (not fan-forced) oven, place the oven rack in the centre of the oven. In a conventional oven, the position of the muffins in the oven affects how they brown. I like them to be close, but not too close, to the top element.

* Line 12 holes of a muffin pan (1/3 cup capacity holes) with patty/muffin cases. I used paper-lined foil cases that measure 5cm across the base and 8cm across the top.

* Whisk lemon juice, milk, oil and egg in a medium bowl until well combined.

* Place self-raising flour, caster sugar and white chocolate in a large bowl.

Stir to combine

Add berries ( a combination is OK too )

Gently stir to combine.

* Gently stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stop stirring once the ingredients are combined (do not over mix). The batter should be quite wet.

* Divide mixture evenly between muffin cases.

* Bake for about 22-27 minutes. To check whether the muffins are cooked, press lightly on the centre of a muffin; if it springs back, it's ready. A knife inserted into the centre of a muffin should come out without any batter attached.

Serve the muffins warm or at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar if desired. They are at their best on the day they are baked.

Store muffins in an airtight container. Muffins can be reheated in the microwave. Suitable to freeze.

.....

There you have it.

Believe me they are good.

Cheers.

THE NEXT DAY

2012-01-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

It's times like these,

when you lose a pet or a person you love,

that make you realise how blessed you are to have friends around you.

We are so grateful for your kind thoughts.

Today we are feeling good,

confident we did the best thing for Baker though we miss him very much.

Dash is an only dog now.

I'm sure she'll make the most of that !!

Cheer (ful ) again.

A SAD GOODBYE

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Our lovely 14 year old Border Collie is no longer with us.

We loved him and we will miss him but his time had come.

RIP Baker

NEW YEAR'S DAY TRADITION

2012-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

What a lovely way to start the year!
Every year, on New Year's Day, we meet up with a delightful group of old friends.
They're not only old friends, they're old neighbours.

We lived in adjoining properties for about 16 years - longer for some of us.

You can count yourself extremely lucky if you live amongst people like these.
A couple of us have moved away now but we still see eachother regularly and so we treasure this New Year tradition.

our hostess

and our host.
It would be very difficult to find any more hospitable people than these two.

Then there's the neighbours. They span several generations but the thing we all have in common is that we enjoy eachother's company.

And the food?

It starts with cereal and fruit

then bacon, eggs, sausages and toast

then a rest !!!

Then comes the sweet stuff like this

a delicious take on French toast - a sandwich with ricotta cheese and strawberry jam, soaked in eggy/cream then fried in butter ( and not at all fattening !!! - complete recipe later)

and raspberry and white chocolate muffins.

Then more tea and coffee,

more chatting and laughing

and finally, about 3'clock, a snack of mini BLTs and chocolates in case anyone is still hungry !!!!!

and so we spent another New Year's Day
in a tradition we all love.

We are truly blessed to have friends like these
and the opportunity to begin every year on such a lovely note.

Happy New Year to you all.

Cheers.

THINGS I WANT TO DO 2012

2011-12-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all my wonderful Blogland friends.

Let's hope it is much better than last year ( here in Queensland anyway! )

Here's my "To Do " list for 2012.
It sort of replaces a New Year Resolutions List - more like a plan of things I'd like to accomplish in 2012.
If I write them down here I might be reminded to do them all !!

1. LOSE WEIGHT
I know , I know, I say that every year but this may be the year when it happens.
2. LEARN HOW TO TAKE MOVIES ON MY PHONE
In this day and age you never know when you might need this function - in good or bad situations.
3. KEEP PLAYING MY LEARN TO SPEAK FRENCH TAPE
I 'm not much good but if I keep at it I will be better next time I'm in Paris - and I'm going back to Paris one day!
4. LEARN A BIT OF ITALIAN
For when I go to Italy. I don't know when that will be but I need to start preparing myself if I want to communicate a little.
5. MAKE A PRETTY APRON
Just for me ... and perhaps one for Sally too
6. MAKE A QUILT FOR SALLY
In time for her birthday
7. HELP SALLY FINISH OFF HER HOUSE
There isn't much to do. Let's finish painting those doors and get those blinds and curtains UP !
8. FINISH DECORATING MY BEDROOM
Get some stuff up on the walls and find the mirror that I've been wanting for ages. Perhaps do the ribbon embroidery I've bought all the equipment for ( if I can still remember how - perhaps I should put RE- LEARN RIBBON EMBROIDERY IN THIS LIST ?!!!)
9. RE-COVER THE CHAIRS IN THE GARDEN ROOM
Not a big job really and shouldn't be too difficult with a staple gun
10. CROCHET A RUG FOR BRETT
I actually have a request for this one.
11. START PLANNING A QUILT FOR THE SECOND BEDROOM
Perhaps that quilt-as-you-go one I've been looking at for ages?
12. LEARN QUILT-AS-YOU-GO
See 11. !!!
13. FRAME THE RIBBON EMBROIDERY I DID LAST YEAR
Just a sampler but something to put up on my bedroom walls
14. MAKE THIS CUSHION WITH YO-YOS

I scanned the picture from a magazine. Use the materials left over from my quilt.

15. FRAME THE LOVELY POSTCARDS I BOUGHT IN HONFLEUR

I meant to do this when we came home from our trip to France in 2010 . I have the frame ready to go.

Well that's a good start. Let's see how I go with these for a start.

Cheers

WORDLESS BOXING DAY !!!

2011-12-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

Over and out !!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-24T04:11:00.000-08:00

To all my Blogging Buddies

Tony and I wish you a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Cheers.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

2011-12-23T05:12:00.000-08:00

At this time of the year I'm usually here whinging about the weather.

How hot and steamy it is

and that I'd rather be somewhere else

..... preferably somewhere cold and snowy....

and because of the heat I usually don't enjoy Christmas.

Even with the aircon going it struggles with a house full of hot bodies ( usually around 20 ) who go in and out the door to the garden room and let the hot air in.

However this year the weather is just about perfect for me.

Warm but not hot, a little sun and a little rain that keeps the temperature down to around 28C in the day and down to cool nights of about 20C.

So on a lovely Summer night in the days before Christmas there is nothing nicer to do than go and look at Christmas lights ...

on houses .

In recent years more and more houses are being decorated with Christmas lights.

People often start with a few and add to them every year.

The fact that you can buy LED lights that are solar powered means that huge electricity need not be the result either.

Last night Tony and I set off after tea with the addresses of all the houses in this year's Christmas Lights Competition.

Brisbane is a large sprawling city spread out over a huge area so there was no possibility of looking at many. We decided to drive to a neighbouring suburb where we once lived and look at a few in that neighbourhood.

I have to tell you that they were outstanding.

The owners must have been working for weeks/ months to get these displays ready.

Lots of families were out looking too and the City Council provides buses to take people to see the lights so at times there were traffic jams while these buses were trying to wind their way through narrow suburban streets choked with families out to enjoy the spectacle.

Christmas carols were playing and the mobile ice-cream vans were doing a roaring trade while wide eyed littlies in prams and on foot decked out in Santa hats were enjoying the balmy night air way past their bedtimes.

Our final stop was at an amazing house where the lights and music were synchronised in an absolutely breath taking display.

The house was on a corner and opposite there was a wide section of grassed footpath where chairs had been set out so that older viewers could sit and watch the display.

The music played from a portable tape recorder set on a stool by a neighbour's fence and went for about half an hour before repeating itself.

Tony filmed it but try as I might I cannot load it to Blogger, so I found this on YouTube so you can get the idea.

I'll leave yo tonight with another Aussie Christmas card.

Cheers.

CHRISTMAS FUN (from JibJab)

2011-12-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Always ready to make fools of ourselves !

Click here for our Christmas performance.

Yesterday I broke down and made a Christmas cake.
I haven't made one for years as I am the one who ends up eating it and I don't need the calories.

Only a boiled fruit cake with a tin of crushed pineapple added to make it tasty and moist.

I'll feed most of it to Tony.

He can fill out those loooong legs a bit !

There's a new card taking up pride of place on the sideboard.

It's winged its way from my blogging friend Kate, who lives in a lovely cottage on a hillside overlooking Glastonbury.

She took the photo from her house.

My dream is to one day have a white Christmas in a place like this.

Many thanks for sending me something to dream on Kath.

Have to win the lottery first as that will mean bringing the family too - Christmas is all about family isn't it?

Cheers.

CHRISTMAS NUMBER ONE

2011-12-19T05:12:00.000-08:00

My first celebration of Christmas 2011 is now completed.
Under my belt you could say - in more ways than one !!!

Sally and I made the trip to Hervey Bay for Christmas with the family up there while Tony stayed here to look after Baker and Dash.

Dad was very happy to spend some time with his beloved grand daughter...

a little quality one-on-one time before the rowdy group made hearing difficult for him.

Tall stories and reminiscences.

while Grand-ma was busy ( as usual ) in the kitchen doing last minute preparations for dinner for nine people ( she's 89and a half !!)

Preparing custard for the Christmas pudding.
It's nice to see them happy and enjoying life in their lovely Retirement Village.

............................

After two nights we set off for home once again and after about one and a half hours we were in Gympie and ready for a break from driving.

We found this cute Tea / Coffee Shop.

The coffee was good......

in pretty cups

and the tempting cakes and biscuits were too good to refuse !

It's not looking good on the diet front !!!

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

2011-12-15T02:12:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago we moved from a relatively inner suburb to a semi- rural outer suburb where we had 13 acres.

Horses, dogs and lots of space.

That's when I first discovered Storm Lillies.

Imagine my delight when I spied a paddock of these beauties a couple of days after a Summer downpour.

Growing wild in the paddock they had multiplied and every time we had a decent downpour ( only during Summer ) up would pop these delicate pink flowers by the hundreds.

Armed with my little spade, I snuck into the paddock and dug up a few bulbs then took them home and planted them.

In the garden, in the paddock, under trees, along the fenceline, just a bulb here and there.

Over the years we were there they multiplied and I dug some up and placed them in a pot on the verandah so we could see them up close.

The only time they bloomed was after rain. Watering the pot had no effect at all.

When we moved after 16 years I brought my pot of Storm Lillies along and planted them in my garden here.......

and with the recent summer rain they are doing what they do best.

When I noticed them blooming away today I thought I'd take a drive out to photograph the paddock with its pretty pink lillies for you.

Imagine my disappointment when I found nothing growing there where they had been in their hundreds.

All gone , the result of progress!

Earthworks in the paddock had put an end to the dear little pink beauties.

Gone without a trace.

At least I have this little pocket of them growing still in my garden here.

I'll have to give them lots of encouragement to grow, thrive and multiply so they are not lost from the area altogether.

These little beauties are my favourite thing to day.

........................

I'm a bit early with my FTF post but Sally and I are off to Hervey Bay for an early Christmas with Mum and Dad and my brother. Tony is staying home to babysit the geriatric dogs

Cheers.

BE STILL MY HEART !!

2011-12-14T00:47:00.000-08:00

Oh my!

I found this lovely book of cakes.

Luscious, delectable, scrumptious cakes !

Savory cakes too.

My friend M cooked this one recently.

Indonesian Nutmeg Cake.

Spicy and delicious.

And here's today's Aussie Christmas card.

Cheers.

ps. Hope your preparations are coming along well

AUSSIE CHRISTMAS

2011-12-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Another image of an Aussie Christmas.

No snow and sleigh bells for us!

Cheers.

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

2011-12-11T05:03:00.000-08:00

The very hot, muggy day has passed.
We've had two good storms this afternoon to cool the air a bit.
Now, what to make for Sunday night tea?

Pizza !

Quick and easy.

Tropical ham, pineapple, tomato and cheese.

Vegetarian - mushroom, caramelized onion, pumpkin, tomato, capsicum, feta and mozzarella.

Into the hot oven and 10 minutes later ....

Perfect!
Just what the doctor ordered !

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

2011-12-09T03:17:00.000-08:00

It's the final day of the school year today and all the State
Primary School kids have now joined the High School and Private school kids on their loooong Summer holidays( 6-8 weeks ).

With the thought of hordes of kids in the shopping malls from Saturday on, I set out to try to finish the Christmas gift shopping today.

( Remind me next time I set out for this type of day to wear my flat, comfy sandals NOT my glamorous peep-toe wedges !!! )

Anyhow, off I sailed fearful that there would not be any parking spaces and I would have to drive round and round stalking people returning to their cars before I found a spot.

But that was not the case and I parked my car easily in the usual spot and set off with my list grasped very firmly in my hand.

( Yesterday, when I quickly ran down to the local shops to get a few last minute items for the dinner I was preparing for friends, as I was hurrying towards the shops a gust of wind whipped my list out of my grasp and blew it underneath a car where it was completely beyound reach !! ....But I digress )

Following some advice from a fellow Brisbane blogger I'm happy to report that I have had some success on the Aussie card front today.

They are all humorous ones depicting the way Aussies spend Christmas..

like this Christmas BBQ !

They are drawn by Richard Galbraith as are the other ones I have shown you in the past.

I'll be trotting out some more of them as we move towards Christmas.

On the home front a little decorating has been done

The entrance now delivers a Christmas message ...

and these old favourites ( they're about 28 years old ) are back in place for another year.

I made these sequined balls about 25 years ago and they are beginning to lose their vibrant colours now but they are here to stay.

After all that work I love them.

The Christmas tree is up with its fibreoptic lights merrily blinking and changing colour

and most of the presents are wrapped and under the tree !!!

So there you are.

I'm almost organised ... already !

Thunderous round of applause for me !

So being organised is my favourite thing today.

Cheers.

DECEMBER ALREADY

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

I know, I know !

We're well into December and I'm lagging behind on the Christmas front.

Thought I'd better get a move along and since the temperature has dropped considerably ( lowest December temperature for 100 years today - 19C !!!) I'm feeling much more in the mood.

So a new Christmas header that shows what Christmas is like in Queensland is now in place.

I know many of you think it looks like fun in the warm sun

and when you are young and love to frolic on the beach in the sun I guess it is.

But I'm hankering for a Christmas like this!

These are the types of Christmas cards that I've grown up with even though they have no relevance to our Aussie Christmas.

Yesterday I walked the shops till my feet were throbbing looking for Aussie style cards to no avail.

I found these on the Internet.

Does this make you feel like Christmas ??? ( I don't think so !)

This one is much better.

I'm not giving up.

There must be some nice Aussie style cards out there somewhere.

I'd better hurry up or it will be too late to post them.

I'll keep you posted !

( Sorry I couldn't help myself !)

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

2011-12-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Yay! It's Favourite Things Friday again.

I'm linking up with Shay once again.

Why not join in the fun?

Today this is my favourite thing........

....

.....

.......

bare feet !

Yep, as soon as I'm in the door off come the shoes and I'm comfy.

Now that Summer's here you'll never find me with shoes on in the house.

I love to paddle round the house on the cool tiles in my bare feet.

Shoes are for going out in,

dressing up,

prancing around.....

but

bare feet

are

heaven !!!

NOVEMBER SCAVENGER HUNT

2011-11-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

Amazingly we are at the end of another month - November !

I can't believe how fast this month has gone.
This morning ( 30th ) I sat down and searched through my photos to see what I could cobble together for this month's Scavenger Hunt.
I like to do it this way. Just see what I can hunt out before I take any special photos.
This month I only had to take one - the lucky charm!

So here it is -
November's Scavenger Hunt.

1. a poppy ( sorry poppies !)

Out shopping on 11/11/11

2. something purple

You can't go past a Jacaranda tree if you are looking for something purple at this time of year.

3. a silhouette

Looking out the window onto the beach at Mooloolaba.

4. comfort food

Only a memory now, it's salad time here!

5. memorial

WWII Battle of Britain bunker at Uxbridge kept as it was at the end of WWII as a memorial to the many airmen who saved Britain in those terrible days.

6. a staircase

Myers store in Sydney at Christmas a few years ago.

7. something that lights up

The ceiling of the Melbourne Crown Casino

8. something I've made

Food of course !!! Yummy!

9. polkadots

In my fabric stash for a future quilt.

10. a lucky charm

An Inukshuk - a souvenir from Canada. A symbol of friendship from the Inuit and their fellow Canadians.
You find versions of this scattered almost anywhere in Canada where there are rocks and travellers.
I like to think they watch over and care for travellers.
I'm one of those - a traveller I mean !

He stands in the entrance of our home.

11. warmth

Plenty of that here at the moment !!!

12. a self portrait

Showing off my Christmas table runner.
.......

That's it for another month.
If you'd like to see some other Scavenger Hunts click here.

Cheers.

BADGERS

2011-11-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

A recent comment from Yorkshire Pudding sent me off to investigate the photos we took on our holiday in England earlier in the year.

He wanted a blog post about badgers.

Now , as an Aussie, I don't know much about badgers.

I do know I was anxious to see one in the wild when we were in the UK

and believe me I looked

but , unfortunately, the only badger I managed to see was a dead one on the side of the road near Ludlow,

lying there like it was asleep

it's pretty black and white stripey nose stretched out in front

and its thick cream fur unblemished ( luckily !).

(The two above photos from the internet)

However,

when we went walking through the fields above our cottage in Martinstown, Dorset

along those wonderful public footpaths that you find everywhere in the country, edged all the way by cow parsley in glorious bloom,

we climbed to the top of the hill and came out

to this beautiful view over the surrounding countryside.

A little further on we came upon a small section of large trees

and in amongst the trees we found

this !

(click to enlarge )

a large mounded area.

Could this be a badger sett?

It covered a very large area and was riddled with entrances.

At the time we had no idea.

Thought perhaps it was the home of lots of rabbits

but since then I've come to believe it was

perhaps the home of many badgers?

I eagerly await your verdict.

Cheers.

"People come - they stay for a while, they flourish, they build - and they go.

It is their way

But we remain

There were badgers here, I've been told, long before that same city ever came to be,

And now ther are badgers here again.

We are an enduring lot, and we may move out for a time but we wait, and are patient, and back we come.

And so it will ever be."

~ Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Chapter 4.

HOORAY FOR RAIN

2011-11-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

After 23 days without rain we are very pleased to wake up to this.

(you can see the brown lawn in the background)

Not much rain but it has brought the temperature down a bit though the humidity is high.

A bit of sewing is being attempted here and on my design wall ( spare bed !) a new quilt is taking shape.

The materials are coming together quite nicely.

I think it is looking pretty but there is quite a way to go as I need 110 squares for the main part of the quilt and 24 more for the pillow cases.

Better get back to it,

Oh wait, there's a documentary on TV about badgers right now so I'll settle down there to watch as I pin.

Cheers.

PS. Have you noticed that your photos no longer enlarge when you click on them? They are now displayed in a Lightbox line but don't enlarge. If you would like to hgo back to the old way here's a message from Jan at Wibbo's words :

" If your blog is hosted by Blogger, it's easy enough to switch Lightbox off and revert to Blogger's previous way of displaying images. From the Blogger dashboard, click on the Settings tab. From the Settings page, click on Formatting then cursor down to Show images with Lightbox, change the box alongside to read No. Click on Save Settings at the bottom of the page and you're done."

Thanks Jan, I've just changed mine back

MORNING GLORY

2011-11-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

If you mention Morning Glory Vine to most Aussies they'll wrinkle up their nose in disdain.
In many places Australian bushland and rainforest is fast disappearing under a dense blanket of this vine.

It quickly spreads by way of long creeping stems, twining around and over other plants and gradually smothering them completely by denying them the ability to photosynthesise.

Morning Glory's rampant growth can successfully form a curtain of stems, which is capable of destroying intact rainforest canopy.

as you can witness here.

The species of Morning Glory commonly occurring in Brisbane and around Brisbane’s rainforest remnants are Blue Morning Glory (Ipomoea indica) and Common Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea), both of which originated from America.

Blue Morning Glory has large dark blue-purple funnel shaped flowers and Common Morning Glory has white or pink/purple flowers which usually unravel into full bloom in the early morning.

Now all of that background information is to prepare you for a surprise sighting I made recently as I travelled to an appointment at 9:00am along a fairly busy road in a bushy area between suburbs in the outer area of Brisbane where I live .
It was so amazing that Tony and I returned to take some photos to show you.

This required us to park the car and walk back along the road behind a safety barrier.

The safety barrier is there because there is a steep drop off the side of the road to a gulley and lots of yukky, rough bush.

but if you keep walking round the bend you come to a more open area

and this !

The gulley has been taken over by Morning Glory.

and in the morning sunlight it was truely a glorious sight.

A sea of blue, blue flowers covers the ground and the trees.

Now that it has such a hold here it will be very hard to eradicate before it kills all the other vegetation including the trees.

However, it puts on lovely show doesn't it?

Cheers.

PS. Tony and I took all these photos in that one small area. Isn't it amazing that you can find these little gems just around the corner if you just keep your eyes open ?

AN AUSSIE AT THE PALACE

2011-11-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

All photos today are from the internet.

Recently Australia's highest decorated serving soldier was received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. It was not the first time Australian Army Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith has met the Queen.

As you can see from the picture Corporal Roberts-Smith is very tall.

Corporal Roberts-Smith received a Victoria Cross for his extreme bravery during an intense gun battle in Afghanistan's Shah Wali Kot region in October. He charged the enemy under heavy machine gun fire after realising his fellow soldiers were in danger.

Read the whole story here.

He is pictured here at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra where his Victoria Cross is on display with other VCs - would you look at those muscles !!!

We are all very proud of this fine soldier.

PS. He is great on the battlefield. I wonder how he copes at home with his twin girls !!!

Cheers.

SALLY'S TURN

2011-11-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

There's a new project on the horizon.

I 've lined the fabrics up and checked the colour combinations.

A quilt for Sally is the plan.

The cutting out starts TODAY !

Cheers.

11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 2011

2011-11-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

This morning I was at a nearby, busy shopping mall.

On the dot of eleven over the loud speaker system the sound of the "Last Post" rang out.

Immediately all movement ceased and there was complete silence.

The sound of the bugle echoed through the centre and was followed by a sober rendition of the "Lest We Forget " poem.

It was fantastic to see they way EVERYONE respectfully observed this tradition.

We will remember them.

GRANNY'S DONE

2011-11-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Finally finished.

All the ends sewn in - and there were thousands of them !

Looks good from a distance.

A few issues with the joining up.

I must try the join as you go method and see if that is better next time but for now it's far too hot to even think of it.

What's next ????

Cheers.

A DAY'S EATING - Wednesday's menu in our houshold

2011-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

I'm going to add to this throughout the day.

Don't know what will be for lunch or dinner yet - the time is 9:18am.

I need to get on with my day's activities ( ironing I'm afraid !)

Today's breakfast - Bowen Mango from the Northern Territory and end of season strawberries.

(Tony prefers cereal)

Lunch : A bit of substance after a light breakfast - ham, tomato and low fat cheese toasted sandwich

A couple of dates for a sweet treat ( to keep me away from more fattening stuff )

(Tony at work )

and a cup of coffee in my souvenir mug from Canada

Happy Hour: The time of day when I get the "gnaws" and could eat anything in sight ! - around 4:30pm

and yes, it's only a diet soft drink !!!!

Dinner: It's been hot today so it's a BBQ

Honey Soy chicken skewers for me

the rest for Tony ! ( Well he's a big fellow !)

Healthy and yummy salad

and white sweet potato.

Dessert: a cuppa in my Scotland cup ( 'cos it's a BIG cup ) - love Twinings Lemon Tea after dinner

and a little sweet treat.

Yes, dates again!

Now the big test is to make sure there is no more nibbling before bed!

Cheers.

RUNNER TA- DAH

2011-11-06T21:13:00.000-08:00

Way back here I told you about a quilty Christmas project that I had started.

As you know, nothing happens very quickly around here.

There's lots of faffing around,

fiddling,

procrastinating.

Particularly if the project is a little difficult.

After I got the main part together then came the border

and putting together the "sandwich".

I used about 100 safety pins to hold it all together and then I started quilting "in the ditch"

with very limited success !

After a lot of unpicking I finally came to the conclusion that if I wasn't going to destroy all that hard work I should stop at quilting the vertical lines.

I decided it needed more to give it some depth, so I set about to try hand quilting the rest.

I was truely sick of the whole thing by then so I plunged right in.

No hoop as I see I should have done .....

( like Kath at Hillside Cottage )

No ruled lines.

Just get it done !!

So here's the final effort.

Ta Dah !

I'm rather pleased with it.

Quite a learning project.

A character building exercise !!

I'm sending it off to Mum.

She'll love it

( 'cos she loves me !!!)

Cheers.

TWO THINGS

2011-11-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Thing 1.

S p i d e r A l e r t !

Last night when I finished cleaning my teeth I turned and reached for my towel ....

and was greeted my this monster!

Last week I killed its mate...

of similar size

discovered in a similar spot.

I mean, my extremely brave, he-man husband put an end to the monster.

I was off , running for my life with horror.

I knew there'd be two of them...

lurking somewhere there in the bathroom.

So this time I was brave and returned with camera to show you one of the delights of Springtime

- the return of the spiders that have been hiding away in some dark place during the colder months.

OMG, is that his eye catching the light of the flash ????

Ugh !!!!!!!

( Tony dispatched this one too. In this house the only good spider is a dead spider !)

Thing 2.

Once a fortnight Tony and I make a trip to the Fresh Food Markets at Rocklea to buy our supply of fruit and vegies for the fortnight.

We're rather fond of fresh fruit and vegies in this house, none of that frozen stuff for us !

Inevitably when I go to pack it all away there are leftovers from the previous fortnight that need to be dealt with.

Usually, in Winter, they become Refrigerator Soup - soup you make with whatever is left in the fridge - but the weather is not really soup weather any more so today's leftovers became a Vegie Bake.

A large potato and an equal amount of pumpkin cooked in the microwave and roughly mashed
roughly chop whatever else you have - a large onion, a carrot, cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli, beans - and cook them lightly in the microwave
raid the pantry and add a can of corn kernels, a tin of baby peas
beat about 6 eggs and add a 375mL tin of evaporated milk
about a teaspoon of chicken stock powder, a teaspoon of parmesan cheese, a half cup of grated tasty cheese
I found 1 and a half bacon rashes floating around in the freezer so I chopped and cooked them in the microwave first - Completely optional, I don't usually add this.

Mix it all together and pour it into a greased oven dish.

I used two dishes today so I could freeze one for later.

Sprinkle the top with a little more cheese ...

and into the oven (180C) for about half an hour.

Test to see if it is cooked.

A great accompaniment to any grilled ( or BBQ-ed ) meat ..

or eaten on its own with a salad for lunch.

Tasty,

Full of vegies,

Healthy

Home cooked goodness.

We'll have several meals from this - all made with last week's leftover vegies.

Cheers.

MELBOURNE CUP DAY

2011-10-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Melbourne Cup is known as "the race that stops a nation" because, although today is not a holiday for most parts of Australia, there are few places where work doesn't stop while everybody watches the race.

For stay-at-home women it is an occasion marked by fantastic lunches - either attended at various glamorous venues or in the home of a hostess with the mostest.

So today a group of my friends and I dressed up a tiny bit, donned our race day hats and gathered at the home of one of those hostesses-with-the-mostest!

Ultimate glamour but oh the pain

Did the size of my hat fool you???

It was tiny ...but oh so glam !!!

Not everyone wore hats .....

... but as you can see we had lots of laughs!

Anyone know which horse won the race ?????????????

Cheers. ( hic !)

OCTOBER SCAVENGER HUNT

2011-10-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

OK, I wasn't going to do this month's Scavenger Hunt.
Not inspired. Especially as there was so much there that was difficult for an Aussie who isn't into Halloween.

Then this morning I saw some of the ones already up and was inspired to give it a go.
As usual I trawled through my photos to see what I already had to fit the bill. That's the fun and challenge for me.
I only had a couple to take specially.
So here goes

October Scavenger Hunt

1. crackly leaves

Well I don't know if they are crackly- probably not ! Just dead, limp and decaying.

2. sunset

A recent, very spectacular one from my backyard.

3. a river

The Brisbane River at night

4. golden

Golden wattle fits the bill.

5. something eerie

The bush after a bushfire. Very quiet without all the birds too.

6. graffiti / street art

Sound barriers along Queensland highways.

7. mist

Taken while on holidays in beautiful Canada - Maligne Lake.

8. a black cat

Julie, belonging to my SIL.
A feral cat, taken in as a wild, spitting orphan kitten and sort of tamed.

9. candle lit

and a delightful dessert in Paris.
Need I say more?
I want to go back !!

10. heritage

Captain Cook's cottage.
Removed from the UK and re-assembled brick by brick in Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne. A tribute to a fantastic navigator and the man who is responsible for the decision to make a penal settlement in Australia and therefore our British roots

11. pumpkin

Just about my favourite vegetable. Yummmm !

12. a witch's hat

The only one I could find in our photos.

Taken at the time of the floods in January when there were roads closed for the floods.

That's it for October.

I'm glad I had a go 'cos I enjoyed finding something to fit each category in the albums in my collection.

The only new photo was the pumpkin !!!

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - PICNICS

2011-10-28T02:56:00.000-07:00

As usual I'm linking up with Shay for Favourite Things Friday.

Why don't you click on the link on my sidebar and see what others are writing about their favourite things.

PICNICs

There was a time when our children were small that we would pack up the car and toodle off for a picnic most weekends.

All we needed was a grassy spot in the shade of a tree somewhere in the country

or by the sea

where we could set the table with our special cloth,

put out plates and cups, thermos and soft drink, bread rolls and BBQ chicken

and

r. e . l . a . x . x. x . . . . . .

Now there's just the two of us ( Darby and Joan !!)

we don't do it often enough but recently,

on the spur of the moment,

we grabbed all the necessary and sped off for a short visit to Bribie Island about an hour and a half 's drive from home.

It was mid-week and not a brilliant day but the sun came out

and so did the camera.

The wild life was co-operative

and it was oh so peaceful.

Ahhhhhhh..... we should do this more often.

Cheers.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

2011-10-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh made a fleeting visit to Brisbane today as part of their present visit to Australia.

From the aeroplane they boarded a catamaran to cruise down the Brisbane River to a reception at Southbank Parklands where they met with many victims of the horrendous floods earlier this year.

The weather was perfect - fine and sunny and 27C.

Huge crowds lined the river all the way to catch a glimpse of them as they passed

and once at Southbank the Queen continually halted her passage through the crowds to accept bouquets from the many little children who lined the route.

Looks like there won't be any more talk of a republic while she's on the throne.

Cheers.

All photos today from here.

JACARANDA TIME IN QUEENSLAND

2011-10-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again in my part of the world.

Jacaranda time !!

Looking back I see that I seem to post about these lovely trees every year

but they are so spectacularly beautiful I just can't let a year pass

without showing you some new photos of them.

Yesterday's weather was cloudy and did not do them justice.

They are dotted around the whole perimeter of this green park in central Ipswich.

The lovely St Mary's church is there in the background.

Part of their charm is the lovely purple carpet of bells spread on the ground beneath the trees.

Cheers.

BRISBANE CRAFT & QUILT SHOW- Part 3

2011-10-21T02:04:00.000-07:00

Today is my final instalment in the Quilt show saga.

Today's quilts were all in a section under the category called "Essence of Australia".

So here we go:

Something familiar to begin with - a gum tree.

A close -up shows you the detail of the work.

Iconic animal - so cute with those little bright, beady eyes!

The machine stitch embellishing is fantastic.

An Outback scene

(Sorry this one is a bit blurry)

Aussie flowers

Well, this one could be anywhere but it is still very clever.

drumroll ..........

And the final one.

An absolute masterpiece, I thought.

Spectacular !!

Hope you've enjoyed them all.

I did !

Cheers.

QUILT SHOW - Part 2

2011-10-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

There was so much to see at the quilt show I'm afraid I'm going to continue to tell you about it in two more episodes so if it is not your cup of tea zoom off for a cuppa but please come back another day.

From the quilty quilts we moved on to the fabric pictures - don't know the technical name but I'm sure you get my drift.

The people who make these are artists and extremely talented ones at that.

This is a prize winning specimen - Rainforest

and this one was in a special section titled "Seven Deadly Sins".
If you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see each cake labelled with a sin.
I especially love the humour of the sin of sloth !

Then I came upon the entries in this challenge.

I'm so sorry I didn't take more photos of the entries in this as it was soooo interesting but I'll explain just one set to you.

This is the beginning photo that only the first quilter saw.

...and this is the group.

The first one was an almost perfect replica of the photo - amazing ( sorry I did not get much of it in the photo)

Below are the quilter's words to explain their quilt progression:

Quilt 2

Quilt 3

Quilt 4

Quilt 5

I'm so sorry I didn't take better photos of this as it was really interesting. Put it down to the fact that it was late in the day and I was on sensory overload from all the wonderful work by then .

The next photo is a quilt from another progression from the original bike which veered towards France and the Tour de France.

It was stunningly clever as these close-ups will show you..

OK that's your bit for today.

Tomorrow's final installment is called "Essence of Australia" and deserves a post all to itself.

Cheers.

BRISBANE CRAFT AND QUILT SHOW 2011

2011-10-19T04:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of my all time favourite days out.
A group of lovely ladies and I set off this morning for a delightful day at the Quilt Show.

Yes, lovely quilty stuff was everywhere.
We wandered for hours, looking, touching, planning, dreaming till we were ready to drop, so off we went for some sustenance.
When we returned from lunch we entered the Quilt Competition section.

Oh my !

Rows and rows of beautiful quilts.

These ones in the colours of International Women's Day
green, purple and white

green being for growth;
violet for dignity
and white for purity of purpose.

Right by the door was this prize winning beauty.

There were so many lovely quilts so I will show you a few that I thought were outstanding.

These modern designs were pretty spectacular.

Then there were those which were more traditional.

Thought you might like a closer look at this design.
I think it is called a Dresden quilt.

Of course there were the traditional hexi quilts....

.....but look at this lovely modern take on the traditional hexi quilt.

I took some close-ups so you could see the detail better.

Beautiful!
Vibrant !
Delicious!

I've saved some really interesting ones for tomorrow !

Cheers.

A NEW SKILL

2011-10-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

My journey to learn how to patchwork has led me along a path I vowed I would not take.

I vowed I would never attempt to work with triangles.

Too hard !

But as usual I was tempted by a lovely item.

This is it - a lovely tablerunner.

To say that I didn't know what I was taking on is a HUGE understatement.

Not only did it involve

Half Square Triangles

but

Quarter Square Triangles

too !!

I decided to make it a Christmas table runner and with guidance from some super talented patchworkers with enormous amounts of patience I began.

The cutting out left me with lots of triangles in three different materials which had to be sewn together in different combinations then recut to size ( and that's another story !!!).

Once all the bits were resized to 3 and a half inches the puzzle had to be put together

but that's not all !!

The bits had to line up !!!

The points had to match !!!

Intricate , multi-coloured bits ....

... slowly came together into this ..

masterpiece of perfection.....,

... this triumph of sewing mastery !

How good is that ?

Of course along the way there was quite a bit of unpicking,

a fair bit of complaining

and just a little colourful language.

but
I'm thrilled with it so far.

I'll be back to show you the finished object.
I'll expect lots of praise as I absolutely amaze you with how clever I am.

Cheers.

PS. Huge thanks to my patient instructors

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY ( or Saturday ? )

2011-10-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

Oops!

I know I'm late for Favourite Things Friday.

Surely it's still Friday somewhere in the world?

Click here for one of my favourite things.

It is an Australian Magpie doing what they do best.

It's a sound that you can hear anywhere in Australia wherever there are trees and birds.

Now that nesting season is finally over in our neck of the woods the male birds have stopped attacking all who venture into their territory as I explained in this post previously.

They have gone back to minding their own business and filling the air with their lovely carolling.

I bet that sound will make Aussies living overseas just a little bit homesick!

Cheers.

PS. 1. The noise in the background of the Youtube clip is mainly Lorikeets screeching.
2. All the photos today are from the Internet

A GREAT READ

2011-10-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

The range of fantastic Children's/ Young Adult Literature that is available these days really amazes me.

Today I finished reading a fabulous book, The Book Thief written by Australian author Markus Zusak.

It is a book that has been marketed as an older children's book in some countries and as an adult novel in others and can be appreciated by either.

I loved it.

Set in Nazi Germany, it describes how a young girl's mother delivers her into the care of foster parents around the start of WWII. Her brother is not so lucky as he dies on the way. The girl never hears from her mother again and spends the rest of the war with these rather unlikely, generous souls who also shelter a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement for a time.

The Book Thief is written in a most unusual style, narrated throughout by Death. It was published in 2005 and has won numerous awards. It has also been listed on the New York Times' Children's Bestseller List for over 190 weeks.

If you're like me and you haven't read this one already, I thoroughly recommend it.

Cheers.

WHAT'S IN A NAME - HELSIE'S HAPPENINGS

2011-10-08T00:47:00.000-07:00

I'm joining a linky party over on Dawn's blog As Sweet as Cinnamon
The task is to explain how you came up with your blog name.

My explanation is very simple.....

When I discovered this wonderful world of blogging I was enthralled.
I couldn't stop cruising all these wonderful windows into people's lives.

I spent hours and hours at the computer ( and it was a pretty slow computer in those days ) and one day I was telling a friend about them, how interesting it was to peep into the daily lives of people all over the world, making new friends as you go.

She said, " Why don't you do it too? Other people might think it is interesting to see what your life is like here in Australia."

So there it is. What is happening in my world. Helsie is my family nickname.

and here's the photo from my first header.

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - ALL ABOUT BARK

2011-10-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Edit: I've just realised that it's FTF and since this post was a waffle about a favourite thing I thought I'd make this my FTF post too.

....................................................

After reading this post and this one too I have been taking more notice of the trees around me

or their bark in particular.

I've mentioned many times my love of trees and most of the time that is mainly because of their leafiness,

or their pretty flowers,

or the wonderful shade they give ........
but , when I thought about it, some of them I love because of their bark.

So I've been taking more notice of bark as I move around in my day to day doings and I've found lots of very interesting examples to show you.

Some type of palm/cycad tree

Iron bark

Paper bark

Spotty bark

Smooth bark

Stringy bark

Scribbly bark

("The scribbly gum tree is a eucalyptus tree with a very smooth, pale trunk. The distinctive brownish 'scribbles' are made by the larvae of the tiny scribbly moth.")

Colourful bark -Snow Gum

and even bark that looks like a grumpy face !

Cheers.

PS. The last four photos are examples of the bark of Australian trees that I found on the internet.

MY DAY

2011-10-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've just been reading this post about a day in the life of Sue from The Quince Tree and I thought I would have a go at documenting my day.

So here it is. How I spent Monday.

Dragged myself out of bed around 7:15.
I make a habit of never getting up before 7 o'clock now that I'm retired unless I really have to. I like to stay up late ( midnight-ish) so I get my necessary sleep that way ! Make the bed straight away, get dressed.

Rush out to garage to let dogs outside to go to the toilet ( Have to lock them in as the old Border Collie has slight dementia and likes to sleep under my bedroom window in all weather and I think it's too cold for him to be doing that at the moment ( He gets all wet with dew !!)

Feed dogs.

Turn on breakfast TV and make myself breakfast ( toast with ham and tomato, kiwi fruit and strawberries, BIG cup of tea ). Tony has cereal.

Give dogs arthritis medication - both old .

Eat breakfast while reading blogs ( drop crumbs on my desk and the floor) keeping my cup of tea on the far corner of my desk ( don't want to spill it on my computer- done that before - not good for computer !!!)
Still there at 9:00 when Tony comes out dressed to work in the garden (mowing lawns which are beginning to go brown through lack of rain ).

Put a load of washing on.

Begin my job for the day which is cleaning the house.
Kitchen comes first. I love cleaning kitchens because they look terrific when they're clean ( and it's pretty easy work !)
Move on to dusting the lounge, dining and TV rooms - Lick and a promise!
Bathrooms next - we have two but only guests use one so it is easy. Try out new cleaner on the clear glass shower screen - great success, it comes up sparkling with not too much effort.
(Tony finishes mowing and goes off to part-time work )
Now the floors - mainly tiles with carpet in the bedrooms. This is the bit I dislike most.
Vacuum...............
then wash floors - including bathrooms and toilet - lots of area . This is another bit I dislike !!!

11:30 All done and house looks spic and clean. Cup of tea.

Hang washing on the line

Lunch - Toasted muffin with ham, tomato and cheese, cup of coffee.

Change out of cleaning clothes into something mildly presentable.

Bring washing in as rain is threatening. All dry.

2:00 Doorbell rings. Two friends ( retired teachers like me ) arrive to help me judge children's competitions for CWA. (Raindrops begin to sprinkle)
Chart about East Timor for 8 and 9 year olds
Computer generated booklet about East Timor for 11 and 12 year olds.

Takes us a while to debate and compare and mark Criteria Sheets. Glad I'm not doing this any more. Once a year is enough !!

Judge adult competition - Greeting card. Pretty quick and simple.

Good company, lots of laughs ( thunder grumbles outside )

Cup of tea and biscuit reward for all that hard work. More chat. Plan another get together and check upcoming social activities.

4:45pm Friends leave. More thunder

5ish Downpour begins with more thunder and lightning, then a sprinkle of small hail.
Great rain (15mL). Just what the garden and lawn needs.

6:00 Change of plan for tea - was going to be a BBQ but suddenly cold ( from hail I expect ) and too wet anyway. Tony watches his favourite program (Bargain Hunt !!!) while I prepare tea. Chicken ( grilled like on BBQ ) and lots of stirfried vegies, pumpkin and potatoes in their jackets. Yoghurt for dessert.
Eat at 7:00. All cleared away by 8:00 ( watching kid's Masterchef but a bit too hard to stomach - everything perfect and precocious kids -yuk!!)
Nothing worth watching on TV. Tony fools around with his Android phone, I fool around with my laptop reading blogs, Facebook, researching holidays in France ( dreaming !!) . Show Tony some photos of Merton in France to get him enthused - both sitting in our recliner chairs.
Dogs asleep on their beds.
11-ish Bedtime . Read for a while.( very good book The Book Thief )

Midnight-ish ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ( loud I'm told !!)

I wonder if anyone else would like to share their day?

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - Migaloo

2011-09-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when I wrote this post about the pure white humpback whale Migaloo?

He is one of the many humpback whales that travel up the east Australian coast every year from Antarctica on their way to warmer waters for the Winter.
It is there that their babies are born and when they return to Antarctica in the Spring they often stop off for a little R&R in the warm, protected waters of Hervey Bay, Queensland.

Making the news today is the sighting of a new, pure white baby whale.

If you would like to read more about it just follow this link:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/rare-baby-white-whale-surfaces-in-queensland-to-rival-the-famous-migaloo/story-e6frg6nf-1226151997041

or this one

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/10370932/rare-white-whale-calf-spotted-off-australia/

Humpback whales are one of my favouritest favourite things !!

Cheers.

SEPTEMBER PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT

2011-09-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

As usual I've left it till the last moment to try to find photos to fulfil the requirements of this month's Scavenger Hunt.

I like to see if I can find photos that will suit in my files, so after I scoured my files I came up with these:

1. a view from above

Where else but from the Eifel Tower in 2010.

2. Relaxation

You-know-who in his favourite chair watching a documentary about .... The UK of course !!

3. a telephone box

Modern style but lacking the character of the old fashioned ones.
Not easy to find in this modern day of mobile phones.

4. back to school

Not if I can help it!!!
Two classes and two teachers teaching co-operatively.
Retirement is GREAT !

5. Harvest

A bumper harvest of strawberries in France 2010.

6. the football season

7. What's in the bag ?

He's holding the bag !!!!

( goes with photo above )

Yummmmmmmmmm !
From that market in France 2010.
Lunch !

8. something bigger than you

Most things are bigger than me !( taller anyway !)
Spectacular Tintern Abbey, Wales. 2011

9. a pile of something

My granny squares.

10. a road sign

Coming down the mountain from Toowoomba.

11. your desk

12. apples

Scrapbooking layout from the family album.

I must get back to working on it, I'm only up to 1982 !!!!

Well, that's it for another month.

Cheers.

Thanks to Kathy for organising the Scavenger Hunt as usual. If you'd like to see more or join in post your name on the linky to be found here.

GOING BANANAS

2011-09-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Queensland is known for its bananas.

In fact people from other states of Australia call Queenslanders "Banana Benders ".

However ever since cyclone Yasi paid us a devastating visit earlier in the year wiping out most of the banana farms in North Queensland, there have been very few Queensland bananas available to buy in the shops.

For once our government has protected the banana industry by not allowing the import of foreign bananas so as a result the price of the humble banana has soared.

$12 a kilo is more than most families can afford for what was often the standby for children of all ages ( and some adults! ).

But things are about to change.

The first bananas from the recovering farms of North Queensland are about to hit the shops.

Yippee!!

By Christmas we'll all be able to afford them once again.

Cheers.

All images today from the internet

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

2011-09-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

Crocheted Granny Squares !

That's my favourite thing for today.

I've been busy using up all the bits of leftover wool from my charity group and making them into Granny squares.

It's just the thing to keep my hands busy while I'm watching TV.

Not too hot now that the warm weather has arrived with a blast.

( around 30C every day this week !!! )

They're beginning to stack up.

Ive made quite a few.... 26 in fact!

Nearly enough to make into a blanket.

That will be a new skill for me to learn.

There are more Favourite Things over on

Quilting in My Pyjamas.

Why not go over and take a look?

Cheers.

IT'S A KEEPER

2011-09-21T02:39:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who like to read new recipes in magazines, tear them out and keep them till you have time to try them out ?

I am.

Consequently my recipe books have lots of these pieces of paper tucked inside them waiting to see the light of day.

Today I had some old teaching pals coming to lunch so instead of trotting out the same old standards I decided it was a great opportunity to try something new.

Into the recipe books I plunged and as I opened the book a page fluttered out.

When I looked it was a page from the Australian Woman's Weekly from October 1985 !!

Chicken and Ham Cheesecake.

That sounded good.

So up on the fridge door went the recipe and I set about gathering the ingredients.

It's always a bit of a gamble trying out something new when you have guests but they were all old friends and there is never a shortage of food ( and conversation !!) on these occasions.

We could always resort to bread and vegemite if necessary.

Well, I'm happy to say the recipe was a great success.

It looked pretty good coming out of the oven .....

and onto the plate.

It tasted delicious.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a try.

Crust

125g packaged plain savoury biscuits, crushed

90g butter, melted

¼ teasp dried mixed herbs

Filling

1½ cups cooked chicken, diced

60g ham, chopped

1 onion finely chopped

2 tabsp Plain Flour

1 cup chicken stock

¾ cup of grated tasty cheese

1 teasp dry mustard

250g cream cheese, softened

3 eggs, separated

⅓ cup cream

Crust

Combine biscuits, butter and herbs, press over base of a greased 20cm springform tin. Refrigerate

Filling

1. Melt butter in a pan, add onion and cook till softened. Stir in flour, cook 1 minute, stirring.

2. Add stock, stir over heat till mixture boils and thickens.

3. Add cheese and mustard

4. In a bowl beat cream cheese and egg yolks till smooth.

5. Stir in cream, cheese sauce, ham and chicken

6. Beat egg whites till firm peaks then fold lightly into chicken mixture

7. Pour into springform pan and bake in a moderate oven ( 180C) 1¼ hours or till set

It's definitely a keeper.

Cheers.

PS. Blogger is doing funny things with the Font size today.

I've given up and I'm letting him have his head !! :)

SUNNY SEPTEMBER SATURDAY

2011-09-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

WOW, the weather certainly has warmed up quickly here!

Saturday's forecast promised 30+C but with low humidity that means comfortable heat so we decided to do one of our favourite walks along the river into the city starting out at the university.

I've taken you on this walk before here and here so I won't bore you with any more waffle about it along the way.

As you can see from the photos we couldn't have had a bluer sky

as we walked past the new Gallery of Modern Art

and over to the Kurilpa pedestrian bridge.

The reward was brunch - a much needed cup of tea, hot chocolate for Tony

and this scrumptious looking breakfast.

On the way home on the CityCat ferry we encountered this chap...

Don't know what that was about !!!!!!!!!!

and to finish off the day Saturday's sunset was quite spectacular

Hope your weekend's been fun.

Cheers.

TOOWOOMBA

2011-09-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had to drive to Toowoomba a large country town about an hour and a half 's drive from Brisbane.
It is situated about 2000+feet above sea level at the top of a fairly steep climb.
To get there we drove through the Lockyer Valley, parts of which were scenes of heartbreak and devastation during the floods earlier in the year.

Once we had finished our business in the town we drove to Picnic Point, a lookout back over the valley towards Brisbane.

It was a beautiful day with lovely views through the trees over the valley way below us.

( click to enlarge )

By now it was quite late in the day - about 5 o'clock. It's amazing the temperature difference being at this height makes and Toowoomba is quite famous for being a cold place.

The cafe at the kiosk was closing so no chance of a coffee there

and the temperature was falling quite rapidly so we had a quick look around the gardens.

We spied a Kangaroo Paw in full flower

and this interesting plant now called a Grass Tree
( once called a Black Boy in less politically correct times )

They are extremely slow growing, almost impossible to transplant from the wild and produce a single brown, spear -like "flower" spike that sticks straight up in the air.

Toowoomba is famous for its flowers and its famous Carnival of Flowers begins next weekend so the gardens in all the public areas are just beginning to come into bloom.

This striking plant was covered with large blue flowers spikes

and the big beds were full of colour.

I love this one.
We call it May but it is not a Hawthorne which I think they call that May in the UK.

This is the flower close up.

Don't you love these decorative Kales? (I think !)
It seems that Spring is a little late here this year and the tulips are just beginning to poke through above the Kale....

except for one lonely yellow one which will be on time for the carnival.

Huge clumps of Cliveas were everywhere in two distinct colours

dark

and light.

and you know my weakness for the blue / yellow combination which formed a border of many of the colourful beds of flowers.

Next we headed home down the steep mountainside.

This is a major transport linking highway , travelled by huge road transports

and the warning signs and emergency escapes filled with gravel to slow down out of control trucks,

make it an interesting descent.

I'm always glad when we are able to get clear of the trucks and arrive at the bottom unscathed.

Home just on dark.

Cheers.

ps. We will try to revisit Toowoomba for a better look at the flowers in a week or so when the crowds have diminished a little.

ALL SORTS OF TRIANGLES

2011-09-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

There's a new project on the go in this house - a steep learning curve methinks.

Although I swore I'd never do any patchwork involving triangles this project has lots of them.

If .... it works out , it will be a Christmas Table Runner.

I've already unpicked a section because the points didn't match...

and thrown out and resewed a bit that contained:

2 Eighth Square Triangles,

1 Quarter Square Triangle

and 1 Half Square Triangle

because after I had sewn it all together I recut it wrongly !!!

Phew, this could take a while, I have to psyche myself up to get back into it !!!

Cheers.

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - BRISBANE'S RIVERFIRE FESTIVAL

2011-09-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

While I was up in Hervey Bay on Saturday our city's Spring festival called Riverfire was swinging into action.
Tony decided to go in as there was to be a flypast by some Hornets and he is a bit of an aeroplane ~~freak~~
enthusiast and he took these photos for me.
As parking costs enough to warrant taking out a special bank loan these days, he caught a bus- a novelty in itself - and was delivered into the centre of town.

These Leopard trees that line the whole street are such a nice splash of green amongst the new towering buildings.

There was quite a lively festive air throughout the city

with bands playing and families out enjoying the warmer temperatures.

The flowers in the Mall were very pretty too.

He walked over to Southbank where all the action was to be later in the night with a fantastic fireworks display.

Crowds were beginning to gather along the river bank in anticipation of the airshow.

The Performing Arts Complex's bright facade made a lovely splash of colour but the trees in front seem to be dead, perhaps they are a casualty of the floods earlier in the year.

Before long the Hornets made their appearance flying low over the city ,

making several passes, some of them upside down

until they made a spectacular fiery exit.

He decided it was getting too crowded for him and there was a long wait till the fireworks ( and he was all alone and lonesome !!) so he toddled off home.

Last night we went back into the city to see the Laser Light Show over the river.

It was a lovely night and the lights looked very pretty on the water.

Tony was experimenting with his new camera and tripod so he set it all up on the river bank

while I found a comfy spot on the grass and we waited for the show to start.

And what a show it was !

It was all set to music played over a loudspeaker system.

With the help of two tugboats spouting huge cascades of water from their hoses, lovely coloured lights danced through the air above the water.

They made all sorts of shapes that snaked this way and that.

Absolutely delightful on a balmy Spring night.

When it was all over we walked to the busy restaurant precinct nearby

where we joined lots of others getting a bite of dinner ....

before it was off to the bus stop and home.

We may go back for another look before the festival finishes on the 24th.

Cheers.

PS. As you can see most of these photos are Tony's (Bravohorse !!!) but I managed to get a few with my trusty little camera in the difficult night time conditions