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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.