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.