A Big Catch Up - Odds and Sods

Although I have written quite a few posts lately, there are several odds and sods since Tony and Lou returned to New Zealand I want to get down here.  

Let’s go back to the middle of April……

You would think that after all our travelling to Queensland, then Sydney, then Baradine, then Sydney again, that we would want to stay firmly at home for at least a few days, but that didn’t happen.  We heard that there was a book fair being held in Blayney, so decided to have a little day out.  

It was beautiful autumn weather and there is nothing better than driving around the Central Tablelands when all the autumn leaves are on show.

Our first port of call was the nice little coffee shop for morning tea.  Each year the Blayney region hosts a hay bale art trail.  We have gone for a drive around a couple of times before.  This year there was a rather clever tea pot out the front of the coffee shop.

Once refreshed, it was time to hit the book fair.

Travelling back home we drove through the pretty elm tree tunnel, that hadn’t really changed colour at that stage.  These trees were nearly lost to elm tree beetle a few years ago, but were luckily saved.

Through the final row of poplars just out of town, to end a lovely morning out.

This little pile of books came home with us.

Our little shelf in the kitchen had been decorated for autumn at the start of the month.  In the lead up to Easter it had a little change.  Being such a busy time this year, we didn’t put any other Easter decorations out.

Once things settled down, the autumn theme returned, complete with some of our street tree leaves.

A milestone was reached in April.  We have now owned “Sophia” the Moto Guzzi motorcycle for thirty years.  We bought her new in April 1993 and have travelled all over the place with her, even to Western Australia.  She doesn’t get out much these days, but we still enjoy going on the occasional ride.  Now that she is 30, her registration has been converted to that of a historic vehicle, which is much less expensive.  Where did those years go?

Now to May.

I set my goals each month, hoping to meet them, but not always being successful.

I did do some reading, managing to read four books.

The first one was a bit of a nostalgia exercise.  This book was found in a street library and I just had to read it for old times sake.  I used to read some Lucy Walker books back in my 20s.  She is a West Australia author who wrote sweet and innocent romances.  They were usually set on an outback station, with a young lady arriving from the city or England and not fitting in, and not liking a bloke and then something happens to throw them together and they discover they love each other and they all live happily ever after.  It was quite funny reading one now.  They were written in the late 1960s and 1970s and are really showing their age in how people lived and the society norms.

I read The Tea Ladies of St Jude’s Hospital while we were at Lake Cargelligo, and mentioned it previously.

The Lifeline Book Fair was held a  couple of weeks ago and of course we had to go and have a look there too.  I was happy to find another of the Elm Creek Quilters books and have already read it.  They are such a pleasurable read.

I ordered my final read through Booktopia, which is really unusual for me, as most come from op shops, street libraries and caravan park book exchanges.  The significance of this book is that the author is my cousin.  Now that she has retired she has written a murder mystery.  It was quite a good read too.  I hope she goes on to write some more.

My exploration of new recipes was very limited.  I found a recipe for Berry and Maple Bircher Muesli in the good old Coles magazine.  I’ve been wanting to make some for ages and never get around to it, so this was the time.  It was rather yummy, but more suited to the warmer months than now.  It will certainly be made again.

Mick celebrated his birthday with a little cheesecake, his favourite.  You’re never too old for a sparkler on your cake.

We had another day out too, going down to Lithgow, but that will have its own post.

So, all in all, a busy time and not as much to catch up on as I thought.  Hopefully, I will stay on track a bit more from now on.