TAWNY FROGMOUTH

 

Today I managed to catch sight of a Tawny Frogmouth perched high up in the casuarina in my front garden. This bird is often mistaken for an owl. 

 These birds have tremendous camouflage. I  saw him up in the branches and then when I went for my camera I lost sight of him. When I returned I thought I must have made a mistake because he seemed to have disappeared, but I then managed to spot him again, sitting completely still.

Tawny Frogmouths are nocturnal and spend the day perched very still in the branches of a tree.

After all the hot weather and rain lately my front garden is quite overgrown. I have begun some really harsh pruning. I have trees that have popped up that I want to keep small. So I used my trusty little chain saw and sawed the tops off a couple of trees that were getting too big. 


So this little tree went from this..........

  To this.

 And this one went from this...........

 

 To this.

If I let these trees go they would be very big trees. I didn't plant them. Both of them just popped up. I keep them small and bushy and I am hoping that if I cut them now they will be nice little round bushes in a few months.


 My basil has been growing really well and I decided that I would harvest it and make some pesto to freeze. 

The whole exercise was quite disappointing. I harvested about 3 cups of basil leaves.......

.....processed them with some oil; and put them in some ice cube trays to freeze. I only ended up with 5 very small cubes. 

I had hoped for a container full of frozen basil cubes. Now I understand why pesto is so expensive.

Every couple of weeks my daughter J, my mother and myself, visit the Eurostore in Wollongong. This is a shop full of interesting European foods of all descriptions.

One of the things I have discovered here is Ajvar. It is a type of sauce made from capsicums. I make pizzas using Lebanese bread as a base and I use Ajvar in place of pizza sauce. It is delicious.

I bought the hot version once. It was the hottest pizza I have ever tasted! Now I stick with medium or mild. Half a jar makes 2 pizzas and I freeze the rest in the jar.



When I popped into Woolworths today there was a lady standing right near the entrance trying to sell Anzac biscuits done up in plastic bags. She was standing there - just holding the bags in  her hands - no box or basket. I'm sure that Woolworth's management didn't know she was there. She said she had cooked them herself.

I didn't ask how much they were. I just smiled and said, 'No thanks.'

Who knew what was in them or what conditions they were cooked under.

She looked a bit down on her luck so I had to admire her for having a go.


I also lt very sorry for her. I'm sure no one would have bought her biscuits.

I often give the busker who is there occasionally some money and later, when I thought about it, I wished I had bought some biscuits from the lady. I didn't have to eat them. I could have thrown them away later.

Or would that have been the wrong thing to encourage her? Would I have given her false hope?



Interesting sites

1.

Photo source

 This is the beautiful town of Manarola in Italy. The town of Burano is similar and house owners must get permission from the government to paint their house certain colours. Click here to read all about it.

2. 

Photo source

This tent lets you sleep high above the ground. It accommodates 3 to 4 people and needs only 2 posts. Click here if you would like to read more and see more pictures.

3.

Photo source

  Watch a city-sized glacier collapse. Click here to watch a short 4 minute video of the largest ice calving ever witnessed by humans. This is really spectacular.