My Other May Goals

As usual, I had few non stitching goals for the month. Here’s how I went.......

1. READ A BOOK

Yes, I knocked that one over early in the month . It was a simple read, but better than nothing. 

2. TRY A NEW RECIPE

Yes, this time it was Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins, using some of the last of our raspberries.   I kind of made up the recipe by picking bits from a couple of different versions.  They turned out rather well and will be added to the regular makes.  Mick picked the very last few raspberries yesterday, so I think another batch will be made today. Who’d have thought we would be still picking them right up to June. 

We did quite a bit of other baking as well.  All of these are in addition to the other two batches I posted about here.  I've never baked so much in my life.

Banana bread to use up some overripe fruit.

Mick celebrated his birthday, so we made a rhubarb crumble cake, a favourite of ours.  We used the last of the rhubarb stalks.  The plants have now been divided ready for next year.

Another favourite, fruit medley slice was whipped up.  This has no butter or oil, so is nice and healthy.

And, finally, some Milo biscuits.  This recipe is one I took from a Milo ad many years ago, but don't make all that often.

While talking of picking the last of our produce, we used the last of our eggplants in another batch of eggplant curry.  This is such a quick, easy and delicious recipe that a friend recently gave to me.  I could make it every week, but I think Mick would get a little sick of it.

If you would like any of these recipes, let me know in the comments and I will forward them to you.

We really only have silverbeet left in the garden for eating now.

3.    GO FOR A WALK FOUR TIMES A WEEK

No. My excuse? We did have some rather bleak weather, which I feel is a valid excuse, but otherwise, we just haven't.  Having said that, when we did go for a walk, about once a week, we went for a long walk, usually between six and ten kilometres.  

The view from the top of the hill behind us goes for ages.

We have been drawn to walking along the river again.

The last of the autumn colour is beautiful and we were surprised to see the number of small groups picnicking  on the soft grass.

I love this root system of a fallen tree with its mushrooms inside.  It is like a little fairy's grotto.

We walked the loop in the opposite direction to usual this time.  You don't even realise these little rapids are there from the other side of the river.

4. GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Yes.  This is something we were really happy about.  I posted about it here.  Mick also went for a ride with the Panorama Motorcycle Club.

5.  HAVE A WEEKEND AWAY IN THE VAN

Fail.  This was always going to be a pipe dream. The happy news is that from 1 June, we have been allowed to travel again.  We are scheming.........

In other news since I last posted, just to wrap up the month.......

We both came down with a head cold early in the month.  We did the right thing, as requested by the Premier, and trotted up to the hospital and had the COVID-19 test.  Fortunately, we both came back negative.  The results arrived in just over twenty four hours, which was good.  I did take a couple of days off work to get over it.  That is another reason why we didn't do so much walking.

Mick decided to attack another section of our rather wild and woolly shrubbery.  His plan is to plant a couple of plum trees, as we do miss them.  We have always had a plum tree in our back yard at our previous homes.

Rip, rip wood chip.....

That looks a bit tidier.  Now we just have to wait for bare rooted trees to arrive at the nursery.  We will plant a President and possibly an Angeline Burdett.  We still have to make our final decision on the second variety.

Mick also considered planting a feijoa, as we love the one at the little house we lived in for twelve months, but we really won't have the room with the other two trees, even if we keep them small.

Mick has been plugging away at the rebuilding of his Rickman Honda's motor and is making good progress.  He now needs to order more parts for the next section.  He is surprising himself with how much he is enjoying the process.

Finally, on the last day of the month, a small family group visited the property where Mick grew up.  This was to scatter his Dad's ashes.  The site chosen overlooks much of the land his Dad owned in his earlier years.  The property is looking wonderful at the moment, after the ideal autumn conditions.  A perfect final resting place.

And so wraps up the month.  A month in which we were going to do so much, but have really enjoyed the slower pace of life by staying home much of the time.  It was also a month where life has gradually started to return to some sort of normality, with schools reopening, restaurants, pubs and cafes opening in a very limited way, and a  noticeable increase in the volume of traffic on the roads. 

We look forward to June.