THE LYREBIRD IS BACK

The lyrebird turned up again on Sunday morning. He hadn't been around for a while but with the damp weather he returned to my back deck. I know it is a male because of its beautiful tail. The female has a far plainer tail.

Wednesday was Mum's birthday. She turned 82 but looks more like 72. I had the family around for dinner in the evening.They all have their various food likes and dislikes and my elder daughter J is vegan. I always try to cook a few new dishes and make sure there is plenty for J to eat.

Unfortunately I wasn't too well on Monday and Tuesday so didn't get the grocery shopping done or make the desserts on the day before.

I decided I was going to give you a running commentary on my day. It worked until 4 o'clock and then I just got so frantic that there was no time for photos. And I forgot to take a photo of the table once it was laden with food which was a bit disappointing, but here goes some of my day -


8.10
I popped down to Woolworths to pick up a few last minute groceries.

9:10.
The topside steak roast went into slow cooker on low. I added one 400 gram tin of diced tomatoes and a 300 gram jar of medium salsa. That gave it 10 hours to simmer away so it would be falling apart by the time it came to eat it.

10.00
 I put together the Easy Tiramasu, and put it in the fridge. I had never tried it before. It needed 6 hours of chilling. (It turned out well.)Time for a cup of coffee.

12.10
The vegan sticky date pudding went into the oven.

 

I made the sauce for the sticky date pudding.

12:40

 I poured half of the sauce over the top of the sponge after poking holes in the cooked sponge.

The rest of the sauce remained to be put on the table so people could add extra to their serve of sticky date pudding. The sticky date pudding was a bit dry and definitely needed the extra sauce.


1.15

I soaked the quinoa for the stuffed zucchinis for15 minutes before I put it on the stove to cook.

 Then I cleared the table of my sewing clutter.

 

3:00

The tuna bake was ready to be put in the oven at 6.00.

3:15

The potatoes went into the oven and I made the stuffed zucchinis.

 

4:00

I made the humous and the pita chips........

......and that was as far as I had time to write about. After that I made a red cabbage salad, a green salad and gnocchi with kale pesto, and wrapped the presents. Things just got hectic.

We had decided not to buy presents this year so I had made Mum some pretty felt lavender sachets which I meant to photograph also.

Anyway, we had a lovely evening. 

P:-) and  are off to Bendalong next week in out little caravan. P:-) has been busy putting in an extra shelf above the stove.

Bendalong is a small town situated on the South Coast of New South Wales. It is located in the region of Ulladulla, in the Shoalhaven. We are going to stay at the Rustic Caravan Park . 
It only has 2 powered sites so we are hoping it will be very quiet. 


Interesting sites
1.

 Grandmother's tiny house

Photo source

Not many people understood why Monica Smith began working on her 8×10 shed in the back yard… and then they laughed when they realized she was turning it into a tiny cabin. It seemed strange that she was putting so much effort into just a shed. But it wasn’t just a hobby. Her youngest daughter and 5 children lost their home. So, Monica decided to give them her own and move out to the back yard.  Click here to read more.
 
2.

Ocean Ecosystem Sustainability by 2050

Photo source

Humans are consuming the ocean’s resources at an alarming rate. Climate change and pollution have created massive dead zones. How do we sustain this vital ecosystem for generations to come? National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle outlines some of the ways to protect the health of the earth’s biggest ecosystem. Click here to read more.


3.

 Driftwood horses

Photo source

These majestic life-sized horses galloping by the sea were made from hundreds of pieces of driftwood salvaged from the shore by British-born artist James Doran-Webb. 
Click here  to read more.

GETTING ORGANISED FOR MERRY BEACH

They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol

As I write the aroma of onions and rosemary wafts over the house. It smells delicious. I am making a type of bolognaise for dinner and I am going to add some caramelized onions. Mmmm.........

 

Browning onions and rosemary.

 

 P:-) and I are off to Merry Beach tomorrow in our caravan, so this has meant getting organised.

 There was a problem with the caravan door and we needed a special part so we drove down to  Nowra to the Jayco caravan company.

The drive takes about an hour and is very pleasant. On the way we passed through the Kiama Bends and dairy properties. After all the rain it was very lush and green.

 

On the Kiama Bends

We traveled on to the small seaside town of Gerringong then onto Geroa and Seven Mile Beach.

 

Gerringiong

 

 

Seven Mile Beach

From Seven Mile Beach we turned inland to follow the Shoalhaven River through more farmland before reaching the town of  Nowra.

Old silos by the Shoalhaven River

 Unfortunately the caravan part we needed was not available. Our caravan is over 30 years old and the newer versions are very different.  Anyway clever  P:-)  managed to improvise and repair the door which was broken. Thank goodness. I had visions of all types of wildlife coming in if it wasn't fixed.

 

Our caravan in the driveway

We bought our caravan a couple of years ago on Ebay. It is a little rough around the edges. P:-) has done a lot of work on it, adding extra lights and strengthening parts of the interior. One day we will get the canvas renewed.

 

Camping menu

 I do hate having to go grocery shopping when I am camping so I try and buy everything we will need before we go.

 

We plan to go for 6 nights and I have planned the following evening meals:

 

Monday             : Lean steak with fried onions, baked potatoes and salad

Tuesday            : Low fat pork sausages with ginger and shallots and salad.  

Wednesday       : Beef ravioli with spicy tomato sauce and green salad.

Thursday          : Tuna and stir through tomato pasta sauce and green salad.

Friday               : Chunky beef and vegetable soup

Saturday          : Toasted tuna and cheese sandwiches.

 

P:-) and I are watching our cholesterol so everything is low fat including the cheese and the soup.

 

We have a very small fridge in our caravan, and we can't fit enough food for a week in it, so as the days go by, the meals are made from ingredients which don't need to be refrigerated.

Breakfast will consist of Weetbix and tinned apricot halves. 

 

I have bought the groceries well before so I can freeze the meat, and give myself a day or 2 to get anything I have forgotten.  I always leave the fruit and vegetables for the last day so they stay fresh.

 

I used to go camping with no electricity with my children from the time they were 3 months of age.  That certainly did take some organisation.

 

And how did dinner turn out?  Great!

 

 

 

I added some low fat mince to the onions and browned it with some field mushrooms broken into pieces. I added a punnet of cherry tomatoes just because I had them and then some ready made spicy pepper bolognaise sauce. Served with pasta and topped off with some basil it was just delicious.

  And there's enough left for another meal when we come home in a week's time.

 

Interesting sites  

 

1.

 

Photo source

 Click here to read about this Tiny House, tree house in a beech tree.

 

2.

 

Photo source

Click here to read about 7 essentials for a sustainable attitude.  

 

3. 

 

Photo source

 This expandable caravan looks great. Click here to see more about it. Be sure to watch the short video 

DOWN TO NOWRA

 

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation.
W.H. Sheldon

 

I am planning to sell my house. Not immediately but within a year. I have a backroom that is unfinished and tends to be a dumping ground for everything that doesn't have a home, or that I don't have time to sort. In order to finish this room I need to clear it of furniture and boxes.

 So I have begun with my desk area. 

This was my desk pre-tidying. 

Untidy desk.

My desk was covered in things that needed filing. So I got stuck in and voila! A tidy desk.

 

 

This was probably the easiest part to organise. The rest of the room is bags and boxes. A lot of it is filled with school stuff but I will have to cull and cull because when I move it will be somewhere smaller.

On Sunday P:-) and I drove down the coast about an hour to Nowra. P:-) was looking for a new car and we just decided to take a drive.

 

It was a beautiful Spring day. We drove through the hills past Kiama.

 

Kiama hills

 On to the small coastal town of Gerringong,

 

 And then Geroa and Seven Mile Beach National Park.

Geroa and Seven Mile beach.

 From there it is through the dairy farms along the Shoalhaven River.

 

Along the Shoalhaven River

Old silos and shed.

 

 In the end P:-) bought a new van back at Albion Park He takes delivery of it tomorrow. He had a smaller van, a Townace, but we have bought the caravan since then and he wanted something a bit more powerful to pull it.

 

 

Interesting sites

1.

Photo source

 Click here to see an interesting article on container houses.

2.

Photo source

Johnson and Johnson are to remove all 'chemicals of concern' from its products by 2015. Click here to read more.

3.

Photo source

 The world's largest roof top wind farm has been unveiled in Oklahoma. Click here to read more.