Sidecar Rally at the Bridle Track 2012

A couple of weeks ago we ventured all the way to the Bridle Track for the Sidecar Rally.  This was definitely a case of an hour and a half from home and a million miles from care and was just what we needed.

The Bridle Track was one of the routes to the Hill End Gold Fields and was only accessible by riding your horse or walking.  In more recent times it has been a very popular 4WD road and has many camping sites beside the Macquarie River.

Unfortunately, a huge rock fell across the steepest, narrowest part of the track a few years ago and it is too dangerous to try to remove it, as the whole side of the mountain may give way and fall into the river, so you cannot get all the way through to Hill End any more (except on a motorcycle – without sidecar).

It is a really scenic trip.

The road is still very narrow.

Quite a lot of the track follows the Macquarie River, which is looking lovely.

It gets interesting if you meet an oncoming vehicle.

Once we arrived at the rally site, we set up camp with waterfront views and enjoyed our picnic lunch.  We really do rough it on these trips. Sidecars are wonderful for taking plenty of camping gear. This year it was “Olga” the old girl’s turn to go along.

One fellow from Melbourne arrived with a flat tyre.  He had hit a rock, which had split his wheel rim.  There was much consideration as to how to fix it – with the appropriate audience.

The technical tool kit was produced from various sources.  There was discussion as to what the official BMW part numbers would be for these.

The tyre was fixed by ingenuity, and hopefully he was able to ride far enough to have things fixed properly.

The afternoon was spent chatting to other rally goers.  It is good to catch up with people you haven’t seen for a while and to meet new fellow enthusiasts.

Everyone’s sidecar set up is different and they love comparing and discussing all the different bikes.

The evening saw us all sitting around camp fires having a good old yarn.

In the morning this is what we woke up to.  You can’t get a much nicer outlook than that – despite the frost on the ground.

Like I said, we don’t rough it.

We packed ourselves up and headed back home mid morning.  The river was still looking lovely.

I was intrigued by this little old caravan in a paddock.  Very cute, as is the old slab hut.

Finally, Mick came to a grinding holt  as we drove down our driveway.  This is why.

On closer inspection – by zooming in with the camera – it was a tiger snake.  It slithered this far across the road and then stopped to sun itself!  What to do now? Finally, Mick threw something at it and it headed on its merry way.

Yuck!  I just hate snakes.  Coincidently, last year on our way home from the Sidecar Rally we saw our first snake of the year a little further along our driveway.

You can see last year’s Sidecar Rally here and the 2010 Rally here.

Random

I just thought I’d share a few random photos from the last month or so that were sitting on my camera.

Our Green Wattle is just about finished flowering now, but it was rather stunning about a month ago.

 

The bees just love it.

Joey actually sat still long enough for me to take his photo.  He has become quite smoochy since we lost “Biggles”.

There is a lagoon near where we live.  It was dry for many years during the drought, but is now teaming with birdlife.  There are often black swans and occasionally pelicans visiting. 

And, finally, the flags at the War Memorial Carillon in Kings Parade in Bathurst were flown at half mast on the day of Dad’s funeral.  It was quite moving to see them.  The blossom trees were stunning.

Visiting the Chook Shed

I can’t believe that it is a month ago that we made the trek to visit “The Chook Shed”. So much has been happening since then.

Anyway, I’ll tell you all about it now….

It was arranged that Deb and I would visit Chooky for the weekend.  Mick and I also happen to know Chooky’s neighbours through motorcycling as well as stitching, so Mick decided to tag along too.  Unfortunately, at the last minute, Deb was unable to come as life got in the way of things, as it sometimes does, so in the end it was just Mick and I.

We decided to take the Friday off work and take the scenic route, as we tend to do. The trip ended up taking about twice as long as it should have.  As usual, I was snapping photos as we drove along.  The canola was just gorgeous in the paddocks.

We stopped at Dunedoo to visit the White Rose Cafe, which I visited last November and share with you here.  We were disappointed to see that it is now very shut up shop.  Fortunately, all the lovely old original fittings are still there.

There was lots of wattle in bloom in the scrub.

Mendoorin is famous for the murals on the building.  This one is quite impressive.

One thing that I really wanted to do was to visit the Two Eight Two Eight Cafe and Gallery.  In the past it has been closed each time we have been in the area.  This time we were in luck.

I had to chuckle at the Loo sign.

The scenery is quite stunning out this way.

We took Mick’s dirt bike along with us.

The crops were looking rather good.  Just needing some follow up rain to keep them going.

Finally we reached our destination.  Chooky and I got stuck into the stitching straight away, with us both making some bibs.  You can see Chooky’s here.  She did a great job.

On Saturday, us girls spent the day stitching while the boys went exploring on their bikes. They had a great time.

 

Mick bought a rather appropriate bottle of bubbles for us girls, except there only ended up being three of us.  We had a drink for Deb.

(Picture borrowed from Chooky, as mine didn’t turn out.)

I was really happy to finish my SKOW top and we made a start on choosing fabrics for Chooky’s and introducing her to blanket stitch on the machine.  You can read more about our weekend here. The three of us had a great time and all achieved quite a lot as well, despite all the chitty chatter.

This little chappy kept us company through the day.

On Saturday night we had a barbie and sat around the fire.  It was the perfect way to cap off a great day.

The whole weekend was terrific.  It is so good to just get away from everything and spend time with good friends.  Thanks for having us.

Not Another Bib…..

That time of the month again.  OPAM, and yes,  my finish is yet another bib.

However, this time I also have a Taggy Blanket as well.  One of my workmates had her baby shower yesterday and this was my little offering. We don’t know if it will be a boy or girl, so these will suit either.

I’ve never sewn with minky before, so am happy with the way the taggy blanket turned out.

I should have a B I G finish next month.  Watch this space.

SKOW Quilt Top Finished

Seeing as one certain lady has been getting out the whip I thought it was about time to show my progress on the SKOW stitch-a-long.  After plodding along, I’m delighted to announce that the top is all together…. and on time.

The best bit is that this was finally put together on a recent visit to “The Chook Shed” and Chooky actually was present for the “Ta Da” moment. 

I think she is being a little cheeky here –pretending it is her finished quilt.

The worst part was all the “Pesky Petals”, as I called them, on the tree block.  There are 55 separate petals, all needing to be started and finished and then tied off at the back.  For once machine blanket stitch was not the easiest option.

Now I just have to trim all the loose threads and will be delivering the top to my friend Val on Tuesday for her to quilt it.  I can’t wait to get it completely finished. 

As I keep saying, I would never have tackled a project this involved without the encouragement and accountability of the stitch-a-long. Thanks Chooky for keeping us on track.

Farewell Dad

Things have been a bit quiet here in the last couple of weeks, as on Thursday 13th September my Dad passed away at the age of 93.  It was very peaceful, after a short battle with cancer.

He had been well and active right until the end.  This photo was taken on VP Day, only a month before he died.  He was the last ex POW in our town.

Dad was a keen spinner and the “Mr Fixit” for all the local spinning wheels.

We all miss him.  It won’ be quite the same without him around.

Missing Blog and a Recipe

This evening  I came home to a missing blog!  The blogger message said it had been deleted!  Oh No!!!

After a couple of deep breaths, I followed the prompts and my Google account said there had been abnormal activity.  After obtaining a verification code to enter, everything returned. 

Talk about a relief.

So, as promised, here is the recipe for the Banana Caramel Cake.  The original recipe creams the butter and sugar, but I am a melt and mix girl, so made a couple of changes.  It still worked fine and tasted great.

BANANA CARAMEL CAKE

Ingredients

110g butter

1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons cold water

2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthways

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon golden syrup

¾ cup plain flour

1/3 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup milk

Whipped cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180^OC/160^OC fan-forced. Lightly grease a 6cm deep, 9cm x 19cm (base) loaf pan. Line with baking paper.

2. Combine 10g butter, ½ cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes or until thickened. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Trim banana halves to fit pan. Place cut side down over syrup.

4. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 100g butter. Let cool slightly. Add syrup and sugar and stir till combined. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flours and milk and mix until just combined. Spread over banana.

5. Bake for 55 mins to 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve with cream.

NOTE: Mine rose a lot in the middle while cooking, so I had to slice a bit off for the cake to sit flat on a plate.

Let me know if you try it and have a success.

Spring Has Sprung

After my last post bemoaning the lack of spring like weather, Sunday made up for it.  It was still a cold start to the morning, but soon warmed up and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect weather for drying the washing and Father’s Day.

After spending the morning baking again, I ventured over to Mum and Dad’s for afternoon tea.  Unfortunately, Mick had to work.

Instead of going through my old recipes, this time I tried a couple of new ones – both very successful.  I’ll share the recipe for this Caramel Banana Cake tomorrow.  Mmmmm Mmmmm!

The second recipe was for Hazelnut Chocolate Biscuits, shared recently by Tracy.  I didn’t have any hazelnut spread, so at Tracy’s suggestion, used peanut butter instead. 

Another success, although very rich.  You don’t want to eat too many at once.  Mick loves brownies, so is very happy with these. Thanks for the recipes Tracy.

It’s Spring, Squishy Mail and a Finish

Yes, winter is finally over.  Spring has sprung……

Doesn’t it just look so warm.

OK!  Who am I kidding?  It was minus 6.5 degrees C and the biggest frost.  The second coldest morning this year and the frost was accentuated by the fact that we had a shower of rain yesterday evening.

However, it is now a glorious blue day and should get up to about 14 degrees.

Yesterday when I arrived home from doing the groceries after work (don’t I have just the most riveting social life on a Friday night), there was a squishy parcel waiting for me.

I was strong and waited till after all the groceries were away and we’d had tea before opening it.

Inside were these lovelies.

You see, Lea and her hubby have just returned from participating in ***AND WINNING*** the bash for the Starlight Foundation.  Before she went she had a little guessing competition to see how many sewing notions were in a jar.  There were 152 and I guessed 153.  This is the prize.  Just lovely.  The zippy pouch will be very useful for small projects and the colours are divine. Thanks Lea.

Also, yesterday it dawned on me that it was the end of the month and once again I had no finish to share.  Can’t have that, so whipped up another bib for the gift stash.

I feel a bit of a fraud for OPAM by just doing a little something, but I’m determined to have no months without a finish of some description.

I’m off to my little stitching group this afternoon, so will get some more done on the “Stitching” block of SKOW.  On the down hill run now.