The Rest of November

November was rather a busy month for us.  I have shared my stitching efforts, but not a lot else.  I did share about our trip to take Monique to the spa here and here.  Now, I will finally fill in some of the gaps.

The garden continued to flourish.  We were gifted a bulb of home grown garlic earlier in the year and hadn’t got around to using it before it started to sprout, so what do you do?  You plant it.  We have now harvested a nice little crop.  It is currently curing in the shed ready to store and use throughout the year.

Our poor old wheel barrow has seen better days.  It has quite a story to it.  We picked it up as a tip find not long after we set up house together, about 40 years ago.  We painted it dark green, planted some flowers in it and put it in our garden.  Ten years later, we moved out of town.  At that stage Mick put a sheet of tin in the base and it became our wood carting wheelbarrow for the next fifteen years.  Once we moved into town, ten years ago, it reverted to being a garden barrow.

As you can see, there isn’t a great deal left of the original tub.

Surprisingly, the frame wasn’t too bad.  

Now Mick has placed the old copper that our bay tree used to be in on the frame and yes, that is another pot on top.  We weren’t sure what to plant in the copper, so the pot with the strawberry has temporarily been put on top, so the runners can take root in the copper.

Our one standard rose bush has not been looking too healthy, but it has had a nice flush of flowers.  This was the first.

We picked the first raspberry.  We had next to none for the last two years, so it is nice to be getting a crop this year.  They are earlier than usual as well.

The strawberries have been very prolific, with about this many picked each day for a few weeks.  They have now started to peter out.

It is always nice to be able to pick a little posy of spring flowers to take over to Mum.

And Mick presented me with a floral gift.  Well, not quite a flower, but a beautiful big Santa Claus.

Other than that, we have had two more trips away.  Some good friends from Queensland came to visit, so we set off in a little convoy of two caravans, heading west to areas they had not previously visited.

We travelled to Forbes, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Grenfell and then back home.  I will do a separate post.  The weather was rather hot, but we still had a terrific time.

Then, towards the end of the month we had a couple of more days away, visiting the Braidwood Airing of the Quilts.  Another very hot trip, but well worth it.  Once again I will do a separate post.

We have now given the van a good clean and put it to bed for a little while.  We don’t generally travel during summer, so will look forward to more trips next year.

Books seemed to be a bit of a feature during November.

Lifeline have a book fair twice a year and we always pop along to see if we can find any of the books we are looking for. We did have some success.

Firstly, I love their book Christmas tree.  Last year they had a competition to guess how may books were in the tree.  I never did hear how many there were.  I was looking at the spines and there were a few I would love to own.

This is what I came home with.  I have quite a few early Ethel Turner books, but not this one.  I also have several Ion Idriess books, but not these, and they were at a very good price.  I was looking for “Trust”, so was happy to find it, as it is the next one to read in a series. At the last book fair I picked up a Margaret Hickey book, which fortunately was the first in a series.  I really enjoyed it so I was very happy to find the next two.  Now to get around to reading them all……eventually.

These were the two craft book I found.  I was quite excited to find the Denyse Schmidt book, as I have a nice collection of her fabrics.  However, I was rather disappointed with the content.  The scrap one has some nice patterns.

I actually read three books in November, which is unusual for me.  They were all found in op shops on our trip west.

The first two, found in different op shops, were ones I have been wanting to read for ages, but have never found.  They are by the author of the Pryne Fisher books, but are quite different.  The lead character is Corinne Chapman, a size 20 baker who lives in an Art Deco apartment block in Melbourne, along with an unusual assortment of employees, fellow residents and her very handsome partner.  There is always a mystery to be solved.  There are six books in the series and I have now read them all.  Very light reading, but enjoyable.

I picked up the next book purely based on the title.  Nothing to rave about, but I read it.  

And that about wraps up November.  

Other Happenings in September

I’ve been rather remiss during September in relation to blog posts, so a big catch up here.  Firstly, I’ll share how I went with my goals.

READ A BOOK

Yes, I read “Cutters End” by Margaret Hickey.  It was one I found at an op shop or book fair or something and I really enjoyed it, as did Mick.  It is the first in a series featuring Detective Sergeant Mark Arita, with another three released since.  I will be on the lookout for them.

TRY A NEW RECIPE

Don’t laugh, but this was to make some chicken and bacon sausage rolls.  A very simple recipe that most people make with their kids, but something I’ve never done.  They received a tick of approval from Mick.  No photo, as they were either eaten straight away or put in the freezer for later.

I also made a small batch of strawberry jam.  

This came about as a result of our second fridge in the garage dying.  There were still some strawberries from last year in the freezer that hadn’t completely thawed so I made jam rather than throwing them out.  Fortunately, there wasn’t all that much in the freezer and the fridge is mainly used for drinks.  Now we have a nice, new, more efficient fridge out there that should last for many years.  The one we had was Mum’s old fridge, so would probably be about twenty years old.

HAVE A FUN DAY OUT

Fancy morning and afternoon teas seem to be the flavour of the month lately.  This time it was a morning tea to raise funds for the Radiation Bus.  Radiation treatment for cancer is not performed in Bathurst, with patients having to travel to Orange, about an hour away.  This bus runs each week day for minimal cost to the patients and creates an informal support group on the way.  It is run by the local Community Transport and receives no government funding.  The morning raised $5,000, which was an impressive effort.  The organiser is one of my neighbours, and many of us were requested to bring along a plate of food.  There was such an incredible spread and at the end of the event there were plates of slices and biscuits for sale, so Mick was able to have a few treats as well.  I even had my photo in the local paper.

Our other fun day out was to attend the NSW Quilters Show at Rosehill in Sydney.  That will have its own separate post.

Mick had a fun day out with my brother, who is a member of the local 4WD club.  The club went on an outing to check out a newly opened suspension bridge over the Cox’s River on the Six Foot Track, which is a walking track through the Blue Mountains.  They were blessed with a beautiful day weather wise.

The photos he shared showed an absolutely beautiful spot. Once he gets Rosie all sorted we may have to go for a drive and picnic so I can see it too.

WRITE UP BLOG POSTS ON OUR ISLE OF MAN TRIP

That still doesn’t seem to be happening.  I will get there.

What else have we been up to?

When we went to the Bathurst Swap Meet in late August Mick bought two signs.

The first one appears to be a very well home made, Suzuki sign.  It was just silver metal.  

He masked it up and painted the background the same colour as Rosie, his Suzuki Sierra.  It now hangs on the shed.

The second was a pair of signs off a vintage Franklin caravan.  They were even a nice chippy orange colour.

With a bit of chopping, masking and painting, he now has a name badge on Frank the Fuso truck.  It doesn’t take much to keep him happy.

Now that it is spring it was time to switch up my little shelf in the kitchen.  Sometimes the items remain pretty much the same each season, but it was fun to “shop” our display cabinets to find some different spring like items.

AND NOW FOR THE WEATHER……..

Early spring is notorious for being changeable and this year has been no different.  Firstly, our spring weather arrived about a month earlier than usual.

Warm mornings usually herald us having breakfast on the back verandah.

Plants budded up early and everything was looking lovely.

THEN…..

We had what they called a “Polar Blast” with the biggest frosts we have had all year.  I really felt for the orchardists, vignerons and wheat and canola farmers. There have been some big losses to some of their crops.

Our biggest casualty was the wisteria.  While other bloggers were sharing their wisteria in full bloom, ours was still budding up.  Then, frost hit and this is how our flowers look.  All over town it is the same. So sad, as it would have put on a good show this year. Compare it to this time last year.  The azalea and hydrangeas were also victims.  

Fortunately, the crab apple seems to have been unaffected.

Our iris and renunculas are adding a pop of colour at the moment.

Thankfully, we hadn’t got too far ahead of ourselves with vegetable planting.  We had some self sown tomatoes coming up in the garden, so covered them when the frost was forecast.  They are now in pots being taken in and out each day.  We have planted some cherry tomatoes in pots and they are in the little potting shed at the moment, also being taken in and out.

We are trying an experiment this year, growing some potatoes in a stack of tyres.  They are just starting to poke their heads out, so we will be gradually adding more soil and tyres as they grow.

Hopefully, the worst of the frosts are over and we will start to plant our veges in the next couple of weeks.

And that about sums up the month of September.

The Rest of April

When I read back over my posts for April they really only cover the purchase of “Frank”, our little Fuso truck, and Scrub Stitchin’.  There was actually quite a bit else that went on as well.  Autumn and spring always seem to be our busiest times of the year.  

The colours of the trees are at their peak, so it has been the best time to be out and about, taking it all in.

We did have our first frost on the day after Anzac Day, which is to be expected.  The dahlias all got zapped so have now been cut back for the winter.

Firstly, in the week before we headed north, I assisted with the set up of the Royal Bathurst Show, in the needlework section.  It was a really interesting process to be involved with.  As we were heading off in the week before the show I was only able to assist with receiving and preparing the entries in readiness for judging.  I didn’t get to see the final display, but a couple of photos were forwarded to me. There were no entries from me this year, as the show was held while we were at Baradine.  I look forward to being involved again next year, and it won’t clash with Scrub Stitchin’, which is good.

In the preparation for Scrub Stitchin’, I cleaned my machine and wound a few bobbins.  I don’t know why I had never previously thought to use a pipe cleaner.  Boy, can you dig in and find some big dust bunnies.

I knew I would be doing a lot of appliqué at Scrub Stitchin' and I use an easy thread needle to weave in the thread ends.  Usually, the needle sits in a pincushion beside my machine.  I don’t know what made me think of it, but I have a cute little suction cap pincushion that I received as a gift, but have never used.  I popped in on my machine and it is the best thing ever.  Love it.  Why didn’t I do this before?

I had fun getting my batik fish ready to take to Baradine, not that I did any work on them.  Mick took this candid shot of me selecting the various threads for the appliqué.  Yep, I have quite a selection of threads to choose from.

We have had some roadworks out the side of our place.  The road has been full of pot holes for years, with just a shovel of tar added after rain.  It really needed doing.  They took just three days to completely rip up the road and then reseal it.  Let’s hope it lasts well.  The sealing took place on the day after we left for Baradine, so it was a nice thing to see it all finished once we returned home.

And the pretty sky on the morning we left for Baradine, showing where the road works were up to.

We have done quite a lot of miles since we returned from Baradine, but in the car, not Frank.  

Firstly, just a few days later, we headed down to Sydney to the Caravan and Camping Show.  It was such a pretty morning as we left town.  The only thing we bought were two more sensors to go on Frank’s dual back wheels.  They let you know if a tyre is going flat or if the wheel is overheating.  We are so glad we are not in the market for a caravan now, as there are just so many to see.  We think it would be rather overwhelming.  It was a nice day out.

I read a book.  It is one that I had picked up at an op shop or street library or somewhere.  A rather enjoyable, light read.

On Anzac Day, after we had attended the Dawn Service, we gave my brother a hand to get a load of firewood for his heater.  We went out to a property his mate owns that has lots of fallen timber from a wild storm a few years ago. My brother took his ute and trailer and we too Frank and our trailer.  It’s been years since we have been out wood carting. As a kid, they were always a fun day out in the bush.

Well, Frank proved that he isn’t a four wheel drive, which we were well aware of.  One incline on the property had really wet, slippery grass and despite several attempts, Frank would not go up, his wheels just spinning.  Let’s face it, he came with very basic road tyres.  

No worries, we just piled into my brother’s ute, filled his trailers and then the boys went back to Frank, swapped trailer and filled ours, before swapping trailers once again before heading home.  Problem solved.

While the boys were swapping trailers I had a nice little wander around.

The timber they were after was stringy bark.

So named for obvious reasons.

There were numerous wombat burrows in this section of scrub.  Mostly unused, as told by the leaf litter at the entrance.

Quite a few were under the roots of a fallen tree.  This one looked more recent. Any wombat in there would have been woken from its slumber with the cutting going on above.  I didn’t even realise this hole was there until they were well into cutting the timber.

The timber on this particular tree was still a little bit green, so they split the logs, ready to store till next year.  When one was split I noticed this little creature.

A witchetty grub.  I’m not sure if this is the ones the aborigines ate, but it looks like it.

Also, there were some interesting tiny fungi growing on the side of a part of the log. So delicate.

Just before we left, I found another wombat hole.  This one is the freshest we found and is obviously in current use.

We did bring home a little bit of wood.  Someone else had cut a couple of lengths of a hollow log and left them there.  We will pop them in the garden and plant something in them.

We did have two more big days out, both on the last weekend of the month, but they will have their own separate posts.

So, that did tick off most of my other goals for the month.  However, there was no new recipe tried, which was a bit slack.  Maybe this month.