ALFRED COMES TO STAY

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”  

 Winston Churchill

I love quotes and save them for my blog as I come across them. I like to think about them and write a little bit on each one. I was a bit stumped with this one as it just seemed self evident.

But then I thought about how it applied to me and how important it is to remember that what we have or earn is not as important as what we put into life.

Sometimes I get a bit angry about my financial position, caused by divorce and redundancy. I am indeed lucky to have a pension. I have tried a range of ways to supplement my income but for various reasons nothing has been terribly successful - yet.

Meanwhile, when I am sad about things I need to focus on what I can do for other people. I do some volunteer work once a week at Manna House, a place for people to come in off the street and have a free meal. There are often days when I am not at my best do not feel like going, but I must admit, when I do go my mood usually lifts.

But giving in life doesn't have to be through formal processes. It can be in our day to day relationships. So often we forget to be giving towards those who are closest to us.


Alfred comes to stay
 
This week Alfred, my daughter's rabbit spent a couple of nights with me.

He ended up in a pen in my lounge room.

Having Alfred at my place is quite difficult as I have a full blown fur phobia. I have had it for about 50 years. It means I cannot cope with being near anything which is soft and furry such as rabbits or cats. Dogs are fine. They have hair rather than the soft fur of cats and rabbits.

I talk to Alfred and feed him. (He has quite a food regimen of greens, pellets and hay.) But I don't pat him.

 Terrarium

I love terraria and set up a small one with some succulents my daughter gave me.

Interesting sites


1. 27 Beautiful sheds

Photo source

Click here to check out 27 great sheds.


2. Steam powered rocket is legit

Photo source

Click here to find out about this steam powered rocket and the opportunities it brings.

3. One word: plastics

Photo source

An island crusader in the Philippines takes on the big brands behind plastic waste. Click here to read more.

A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE (#2 September 2017)

I have a mouse in my house. I also have a full blown phobia of small furry animals - cats, mice, rats, rabbits. (Not dogs - they are hairy.) So a mouse in my house is a cause for grave concern as it can completely disrupt my life.

On Sunday night a small, dark mouse ran across my lounge room floor. Such is my horror of mice and rats that I often imagine I see them out of the corner of my eye, but then when I have a proper look it turns out to be a shadow. But this was no shadow.

From here the evening took a downward turn. Peter spent a long time chasing the mouse with a broom and I spent most of that time in safety - sitting outside in the car. I don't know where the mouse ended up but I ended up sleeping in the car...which turned out to be quite delightful.

Peter had just cleaned my car windows so I had a beautiful view of the stars. With the seat reclined in my trusty 2002 Silver Camry I could stretch out completely under my quilt which kept me toasty warn. The morning brought beautiful bird songs and I spotted several birds I hadn't seen for a while including a Catbird.

I slept in the car for a few hours the next night because I woke up at 4 am and thought I could hear the mouse in the kitchen but when I checked it out the next morning I could see no evidence.

I am pretty sure the mouse has gone from my kitchen, lounge room and dining room. I have put out baits, which I really don't like to do, because I know it is not a nice way for a mouse to die, and these have not been touched so I am pretty sure the mouse has disappeared. But where? From whence it came? And will it return or has it been too terrified by Peter crashing after it with a broom. I guess time will tell.


DECORATING


I came across this picture below and think it may be a good way to go with my kitchen.

Photo source

I plan to paint my kitchen black before I get my house valued. I do plan to replace the kitchen at some stage after that.

At the moment my poor old kitchen is rather sad. The cupboards are almost 40 years old. They were painted 13 years ago, but that paint is wearing off. Because I plan to replace it within the next year, I feel that I can go mad and really change things with some paint, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter.

Sad old kitchen

 

I plan to paint my lounge room white and cover the lounge.
I bought these 2 quilt covers for a total of $8 at the Salvos.

Wilbur on two quilts

I will bleach them and then use them to make patchwork
slip covers for my lounge.  

I have a lovely shiny new soap dish above my bath. I managed to smash the old one. Luckily the styles of soap dishes haven't changed much over the years and Peter was able to find a matching one in Bunnings.

New soap dish

  

The gutters on the front of my house have disintegrated. In order to replace them Peter has been removing old Alsynite sheeting. This has left a whole area open to the weather and the sunlight.

Roof off pergola

The old sheeting was covered in lichen which I think looked quite beautiful but certainly darkened the area and the adjacent rooms in the house. 

Alsynite sheets on the ground

 

Lichen on Alsynite sheeting

RECIPE 

It's cauliflower season. I bought a beautiful creamy white cauliflower nestled in green leaves from the fruit market on Monday.

I grew up in the days of meat and 3 veg for dinner every night, although I must give kudos to my mother for being an innovative cook for the times. We did have the occasional spaghetti Bolognaise or curry or even battered Tasmanian scallops deep fried. But cauliflower remained a boiled, soggy ghostly vegetable on the side of my plate.  

These days I love it but I bake it.

Baked cauliflower with herbs (optional) and mustard seed.

1. Take one cauliflower and break it into florets. 
2. Lay it in a baking dish lined with baking paper. 
3. Spray it with olive oil. 
4. Sprinkle over some stock powder. I use vegeta. 
5. Toss in a couple of tablespoons of mustard seeds. 
6. Spray gently with water 
7. Cover with sprigs of thyme(optional) and oregano (optional)   
8. Bake for one hour at 180 degrees, or longer if you like. 
9. Remove the herbs and serve.

 
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the final product, but you can take my word for it that it looked delicious.

Many thanks to those of you who take time to comment. I really appreciate it.


 Interesting sites

 1.

Pods for houseless

Photo source

Click here to read about architect designed pods for the houseless in Portland, Oregon, USA.

2.

 Incredible 'sea organ'

Photo source

Incredible 'sea organ' uses waves to make music in Croatia.
Click here to read more.

BACK AGAIN #1 September 2017

 

 

It is the first Saturday of Spring. I promised myself I would start blogging again today. Although I am retired from full time work, life remains very busy. I tutor some very special students with different learning difficulties for a few hours a week. Peter and I have also had a few health problems which have gotten in the way of our plans this year.

With rearranging rooms, and not finishing one before I started another, everything in my house had become a bit chaotic. So  I decided to take a more organised approach to my organisation and work on one room at a time. So far I have finished my craft room...

 

 

Craft room

...and my loungeroom.

 

Lounge room

 

Everything that doesn't fit is going into my back room and then I am going to have a garage sale and sell what is left over.

After that I have to decorate each room and paint the whole house. It was last painted 13 years ago by my wonderful brother and mother, and I chose blue. But that is a bit dated now and I have chosen white.

 

I remember blogging about my plans about a year ago. But health issues for Peter and myself seemed to get in the way and slow things down. I still have a budget of virtually nothing, so I am hoping creativity and paint will make a big difference.  

 

In the last few months I have done quite a few enjoyable things. One of these was camping at Belangelo State Forest with some of my family. Below are a few photos. they are not great quality as I am having a few computer issues.

 

Jade cleaning foraged mushrooms and Jasper

 

The forest

 

Foraged Saffron Milkcaps

 

 

Toadstools in the forest.

 

  Mothers' day was lunch at Berrima, at Zen Oasis, an unusual Asian vegetarian restaurant. The surrounds were full of surprising sculptures.

 

Giant butterfly sculpture

 

  A lovely, interesting fungus in my front yard.

 

Unknown fungus

 

The past few months have been full of great walks on the beach with Peter.

 

Towradgi Beach

 

 

Towradgi Beach

 

To top it all off I had a birthday. Peter bought me these beautiful flowers among other things.

Peter's flowers

My wonderful son-in-law Bill, whom I love very much, promised to take me out for cocktails, so Jade and her partner Frew, Rhiannon and Bill, and Peter and I went to The Little Prince. I drank 2 flaming shots and 3 cocktails. One of these was particularly delicious, containing fairy floss, but my favourites were the flaming shots. They were most spectacular but I have no idea what was in them. I rarely drink but I did enjoy these and surprisingly was not in the least affected by them.We did go and buy dinner in the middle of these drinks, from the street stalls selling food in the Wollongong mall on Thursday nights. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I will leave you with a poem that I came across and found thought provoking,

 

Lindy :-) 

 

 To the Western World

by Louis Simpson

A siren sang, and Europe turned away

From the high castle and the shepherd’s crook.   

Three caravels went sailing to Cathay

On the strange ocean, and the captains shook   

Their banners out across the Mexique Bay.

And in our early days we did the same.   

Remembering our fathers in their wreck

We crossed the sea from Palos where they came   

And saw, enormous to the little deck,   

A shore in silence waiting for a name.

The treasures of Cathay were never found.   

In this America, this wilderness

Where the axe echoes with a lonely sound,   

The generations labor to possess

And grave by grave we civilize the ground.


Interesting sites


1.

Garden House

Photo source

The new Binh House by Vietnamese firm Vo Trong Nhia Architects can actually grow enough food for three generations of one large family. Click here to read more.

2.

 Giant ship worm

Photo source

Want to see a video of a giant ship worm? Just click here.  

3.

 Student crime solving club

Photo source

 Student club devoted to solving crimes. Read more here.