Discombobulation

It is surprisingly discombobulating (isn't that just such a fabulous word) when you are expecting to go to work and then find that you are superfluous to requirements.

Last Wednesday I had the usual email description of what Jim had been up to while his carer was with him. It's much like the daily reports you get when your child is at daycare - X had some apple for morning tea, played nicely in the sandpit, had a sandwich for lunch and a nap in the afternoon. I get told things such as: Jim and his carer have watched lifestyle shows on the television, Jim has walked up and down the hallway for exercise and had cherries and chocolate during the day and ate his sausage roll and salad for lunch.  Last Wednesday the carer also mentioned that she would be away this week so wouldn't be able to come. This was a bit disconcerting at not much notice.

I arranged that I would come in yesterday for a short day, mostly to cover the lunch breaks. It was also decided that I would call at around 9:00 before setting off and see how things were.  If it was very quiet, perhaps it wouldn't be necessary for me to go. It seemed to me to be highly unlikely that the phones would be quiet on the first day back after a four day break. So yesterday I dressed in my work clothes, prepared a cold lunch for Jim, got organised and, as planned, rang at 9:00 to see what the phones were doing.

I was surprised when the phone was answered by a receptionist who never works on a Wednesday. She was very surprised when I said who I was. We exchanged pleasantries, discussed our various Christmas activities and then I asked whether I was expected at work. Well no. That was why she was there. The practice manager had told her that Jim's carer wasn't coming so I couldn't come in and could she cover for me please. Just as well I had rung to check.

So I changed into my summer At Home clothes (which is to say shorts and a t-shirt) and wondered what to do for the rest of the day. I had done all the things I had intended to do before leaving for work. What else to do? I wandered around aimlessly for a while and then decided to do some of the things I had planned for Thursday.

I carried on with my mini-Kondoing of the house. I put away the Christmas decorations, which I don't usually do until the 2nd or so of January but I couldn't do the Kondoing while they were up. As is the way with these things, I seem to have created more mess than order but I can see order lurking in the corner. I did some things in the garden. I took some stuff to the op shop and some of the soft plastics to the Redcycle bin and the glass to the bottle bank.

In the end it was quite a productive day. But now - what am I going to do today 😂

Stella has gone home after her long weekend in Mount Helen. Freyja has made another trip to the covid testing station, having been pinged as a close contact after a work colleague had tested positive. Her visit this time took 3 and a half hours instead of the 30 minutes it took the day before  Christmas Eve. The prime minister has announced a re-definition of close contact which will standardise policy across the states and territories. It has yet to be ratified by the premiers and chief ministers but he explained it at length anyway. I think I must have not been listening closely enough because what he said didn't make much sense to me. I haven't worried too much because the premiers and chief ministers may well amend it. And I'm sure it will all become clear in the long run. I'm sure!

It's warm and sunny this morning. It's supposed to be a lovely summer's day. I intend to enjoy it. (But would it be ungrateful to think that I wouldn't mind a bit of rain on the garden? Perhaps overnight!)

Christmas Weekend

The result of Freyja's covid test didn't come through until 06:00 on Boxing Day morning, so they weren't available on Christmas night.  My nephew and his family couldn't come when they were "pinged" mid Christmas afternoon. So a smaller group than we were expecting (and the group was smaller anyway than usual with other people overseas and interstate).

But it was a good day even so. Jim and I went up to Hill House mid-morning and had bacon and egg sandwiches for brunch. We had a quiet present exchange. I spent the rest of the morning making a pumpkin lattice and a pastry Christmas tree, filled with tapenade.  I must say that my tree looked more like it had come out from the Wild Wood rather than Santa's workshop but it tasted ok

We do a "Secret" Santa for whoever is going to be there on Christmas night.  It's not really secret in that we know who has given us the present when we get it, but we don't know who is buying for us until then. Jim and I had my 19 year old vegan niece. I trawled around the internet looking for a festival, or an adventure or something that fitted the $100 price tag. I ran across the Vegan Grocery Pantry and discovered that they do a 3 month gift subscription of a mystery box for exactly the right money so I ordered one for her. I knew that I had missed the cut off for the December delivery but decided that it would make a perfect present anyway. I could give her a Christmas card which said she would get a box in January, February and March. A few days later they rang me to say that they had a spare December box and did I want the subscription to run from December instead. I was very impressed with their customer service.  Anyway, it arrived a few days before Christmas. Her parents intercepted it and gift wrapped it and brought it with them so it was there for the Secret Santa exchange. It had some really nice things in it. She was particularly excited by the squirty soya cream.

Our Secret Santa gave us a small, cast iron bird bath which fits perfectly on our tiny patch of grass out the front

It was a good evening and, as is becoming the practice, Wendy drove us home after dinner and stayed at our place overnight, then she and I went out to the Amazing Mill Market on the highway for a wander round after breakfast on Boxing Day morning. Wendy went home on the train.

Freyja's negative covid test meant that they could resume their Christmas plans. So they came to Lindsey and Ian's place for Boxing Day lunch. I made another pastry Christmas tree, following the cutting instructions more carefully. It looked less like it had come out of the Wild Wood and more festive this time! You could really fill it with almost anything. I have another recipe which looks very similar but is filled with chocolate hazelnut spread.  But you could fill it with Vegemite and cheese, I reckon, or fruit mince, or almost anything. And I can't see why it needs to be a Christmas tree either, apart from the branches making a good pulling, sharing dish.

A quiet day yesterday. I made a start on turning out the spare bedroom. There were bedding and things in the wardrobe that haven't been used once in the three years we have lived in this house. I decided that someone else might find a use for them and cleared the wardrobe out. Once the op shops open again and I can deliver the boxes of stuff, I'll do a proper tidy up and reorganisation of the room. Then I'll turn my attention to the study and gradually make my way around the whole place.

It's the last day today of the extended, four day Christmas weekend. I am meeting Chris for a coffee in town mid-morning then Jim and I are going out to lunch with Lindsey, Ian and Stella.  A good end to the festive period.

Stella, Christmas morning

Tony's memorial bear, Christmas night

Not quite sure how we got Jim out of this chair!

Christmas Morning

 It's 7:00 on Christmas morning. It's cloudy and still this morning, with occasional hints of sunshine. It's not supposed to be as warm or as sunny today as the past couple of days have been. Perhaps I'll be able to wear one of my Christmas jumpers this evening.

I went down to Mount Martha after lunch on Thursday to collect Stella and bring her back to Mount Helen for a few days.  Jim stayed up at Hill House while I was gone.  I couldn't take him with me - by the time you've put three adults and two walkers in the car, there wouldn't be room for anything else.  I'm not sure you would even fit two walkers as well as three adults. Anyway, he was quite happy at Hill House while I was running up and down, and Lindsey made chicken kievs and roast potatoes for dinner.

On Christmas Eve, Lindsey went to work. Ian washed all the sheets at Hill House, ready for tonight, then he went to get his Christmas seafood order.  I went to the mushroom farm to get Lindsey's and my Christmas food orders. Then I went and collected Stella and brought her down to our place for the day.

I had ordered a cook along box of Christmas food which arrived just after 4:00 in the afternoon.  They had emailed me instructions for a stress free Christmas morning, preparing the cook along box for Christmas lunch.  In fact, I wanted it for Christmas Eve.  Lindsey and Ian came down and joined us for dinner. The cook along box was quite fun but I don't know if I'll buy it again. I didn't make all the little salads they suggested and instead used the ingredients to make a big bowl of coleslaw. I added extra green vegetables (including broad beans and tiny zucchini from the garden) to the table. I added prawns to supplement the small lamb shoulder and small rolled turkey that came in the box. They only sent two potatoes which is clearly not enough for even one roast potato aficionado, let alone 5 (the box was intended for 2-3 diners). Stella says that I didn't look at the recipe cards before preparing the food. Not quite true.  I did look at them and I followed their instructions for the lamb and turkey. I just didn't follow their instructions for anything else.

What they sent was all delicious and the flavours were lovely. I just don't think I really needed their input for a Christmas menu. I think I'll stick to their international cuisine offerings in future.

Christmas box, before I unpacked it

Freyja and Simon were supposed to join us for Christmas Eve and then at Hill House tonight.  Alas, Freyja woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, a headache and a runny nose. This probably wouldn't have prevented her coming in the past. She says she didn't feel so ill that she couldn't have partied. Under the current circumstances, however, it would have been slightly reckless. We don't want our Christmas weekend to become a super spreading event! So she went and had a covid test and they will come to visit when she gets a negative result. Christmas celebrations can be extended over many days.

Jim and I are heading up to Hill House later this morning for brunch, then the rest of the family arrives later this afternoon for the evening celebrations. But before then I shall have a quiet couple of hours pottering around. Until Jim gets up and shatters the peace 😂

Merry Christmas, one and all. I hope you have happy celebrations

A Festive Sunday Lunch

At some point in 2020 the Australian government managed to annoy the government of China. This resulted in lots of trade sanctions, including a boycott of Australian wines and seafood. Other things, of course but I didn't particularly notice them.

I'm not sure what supposed reason the Chinese government came up with that meant Australian wines and seafood couldn't be imported into China.  I'm sure they came up with something other than that they were annoyed. The end result was that there were lakes of wine and mountains of, mainly Western Australian, seafood languishing.

The rest of the world came to the party and bought up lots of wine. Australians are also more than happy to drink Australian wine. And we are definitely happy to eat the seafood.

The sanctions are still in place. Western Australian seafood is still not going to China.  This is good.  It means that we can have it. And rock lobsters, which often retail for $80 or $100 when the bulk of them are going to China are considerably less expensive when they are staying here.  Still not cheap, you understand, but nowhere near as expensive. Woolworths was selling them for $24 each on Saturday.

So I bought some for Sunday's luncheon party, which Irene, Gillie, Chris, John and Flora were all coming to. And I put the rock lobsters onto a platter with scallops, salmon, oysters and prawns. I made a big bowl of salad and I made roasted baby potatoes with garlic, lemon and lime pieces, sprigs of thyme and olive oil flavoured with lemon myrtle. We had local cheeses, fruit, Christmas biscuits and chocolate Santas after.

People seemed to enjoy the food.  It was a lovely afternoon, despite the weather. Saturday had been a beautiful day. Monday was a beautiful day. Sunday was cold, wet, windy and gloomy.  Ah well. The company was warm, friendly and sunny and that's all you need.

Jim enjoyed it but it did rather tire him. He took himself to bed at around 6:00 and didn't get up until after 8:00 on Monday morning!  Brandy and Whiskey coped with the arrival of Flora, mainly because I shut them in our bedroom just before Flora arrived. 

Today has been almost the perfect summer day. It's been lovely and warm, but not too hot. There has been a light, gentle breeze. The sun has shone. The sky has been blue. You honestly couldn't ask for better. So I went out to the mushroom farm to do a bit of early Christmas food shopping. I dropped into Delacombe for the supermarket. I went to Formosa, the garden centre. And I've finally sorted out two of the garden pods in the back and planted runner bean plants and yellow and green bean plants, which I've been nurturing from seeds. I've put crushed egg shells around to see if that keeps the snails off. If not, I shall deploy chemical weapons! Brandy and Whiskey have been indolently lying around in various sunny spots, watching me. Or not, as the case may be.

Jim has decided that he doesn't eat raspberries (this attitude might not last - he was eating them last week!). This means I don't need to share these raspberry drops so I just eat them as I wander past. 

Somehow, the birds don't seem to have discovered them, which is slightly odd because there are lots of birds that potter about along the back path, where I am slowly growing a raspberry hedge. So far I have two boxes of raspberries. I think I might move the blackcurrant and rhubarb plants in the autumn and keep planting raspberry canes until I have a hedge right along the back path. The blackcurrants don't like it there. They're getting a bit leggy. Not enough sunlight, I suppose.  They're in quite a shaded spot. The rhubarb doesn't mind being in a shaded, dappled light.

Early summer in the back yard

The poppy plant that prevented me
putting the orange tree in its final
resting place.
There are five more small ones coming along

Teeny tiny zucchinis coming along nicely.
This is already shaping up as a better
growing season than last year, although
the summer may yet hold unpleasant surprises.

The Birthday Strikes Back

My usual practice is to let Christmas into the house on the weekend after my birthday. This can be a bit problematic if my birthday falls on a weekend but generally I get the Christmas decorations out on the Saturday or occasionally the Sunday after.

My birthday was last Tuesday so on Saturday I Decked the Halls, as it were.

On Sunday, my birthday struck back!

Freyja and Simon were in town over the weekend, looking after Rupert and Hugo while Lindsey and Ian were in Sydney. We had arranged to go out for lunch on Sunday. When Freyja asked what I would like for my birthday I asked for an apron and a bunch of flowers. My aprons are mostly more than 5 years old and are beginning to look a bit tatty. I've bought a couple of new ones but you can't have too many nice aprons. And flowers are always a pleasure.

Freyja and Simon turned up with an enormous bouquet of native blooms, a magnificent "presentation" apron (one which you would wear after your guests have arrived and well after all the messy kitchen stuff has been finished), a lily plant in a pot and some spice rubs from the native spice shop in Buninyong, birthday gifts from all my children, in laws and grandies. The bouquet was so enormous that the only container I have that it would fit in is my large Christmas jug, which the silver and blue Christmas sticks were in. And so my birthday struck back.  It wasn't finished yet! The flowers moved into the Christmas jug and the sticks moved into a different jug and moved from the lounge room side table to the wood fire in the dining room

It's just as well that the flowers turned up after I had got the Christmas jug out of the cupboard, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it and would have struggled to find anything for the flowers to sit in. I might even have gone out yesterday and bought a new jug!

Then we went out for my birthday lunch. Freyja had found a number of options for me to choose from and I had selected the Summerfield Winery out past Avoca. I had chosen it because it serves pizza on Sundays and my birthday pizza plans had been thwarted when the local pizza shop was closed. Plus, it had vegan and vegetarian options, and it had an option that Jim would enjoy. Also, it's a nice drive out that way.

Even nicer, because Simon drove so I could enjoy the view and also enjoy the rather nice wine that they produce. It was a glorious day, the pizzas were magnificent, the location was lovely and the company was genial.  A great birthday treat.

And now my birthday is really done and I can turn my attention properly to Christmas.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

I ordered a two door bookcase online a few days ago. I wasn't expecting it to arrive until sometime after Christmas. To my surprise, it turned up yesterday - in two boxes. My flat pack assembly skills have improved over the past year or so but not so much that I would tackle an oak bookcase. I shall see if I can get a local handy person to come round and put it together for me. Otherwise, Freyja and Simon might have to be deployed on Christmas morning.  Last year a cardboard cat castle, this year an oak bookcase 😂

Bits and Pieces

Jim and I went to a party on Sunday. An actual, real party! In Melbourne. Well, in an eastern suburb of Melbourne. It was all very exciting.

We haven't been to Melbourne for almost two years. We drive past it and even through it, but haven't stopped. We still haven't been into inner Melbourne but a suburb was almost as good.

It was the RMG work party, held at one of the doctors' house. The weather was good enough for us to be outside in the courtyard. There were loads of sandwiches, party pies, chicken wings, munchie things. Jim sat in a chair outside with wine and food and had a better time than I thought he might.  In fact, he knew many of the people who were there. In reality he only remembered Lindsey and me. No worries. I just introduced him to people, who did know him and they told him who they were and how he had met them before.

I didn't have wine. I was driving home. 

One of the nurses took a Lebanese chicken dish and a platter of Lebanese pastries. I took a plate of Christmas star biscuits. 

We all had a good time

 

On Monday a new carer came to meet Jim and me. I decided we needed someone to come on Wednesdays for a couple of hours around lunchtime to keep Jim company and to sort out his lunch. I leave lunch for him but he can't operate the microwave any more so I can't leave food that needs to be heated. And he gets a bit bored when left all on his own for 12 hours or so. She seemed to like us and we liked her, so we organised a carer's agreement.  Jim will be entitled to a My Aged Care package when he gets to the top of the waiting list, so we have to pay for this until his turn comes. But the agency we are using is an approved MAC agency so we should be able to transfer across.

On Tuesday, the Occupational Therapist came to see how we were getting on. She checked the new grab rail by the patio door and went through the My Aged Care paperwork with us. Then she said that she didn't think she needed to come any more and discharged Jim from the council OT service. This was, of course, good, but it was also a bit sad.  We like her.

Tuesday was also my birthday. We were going to have pizza for lunch to celebrate but the Buninyong pizza shop was closed (despite their webpage, Facebook page and Google entry all saying that they would be open!!!) So I went to Mount Clear cafe and bought burgers and chips for a celebration lunch. You might think that that should have been enough to keep us going until breakfast. But no. We were hungry in the evening and had a chicken and asparagus crumble with mash and veg on the side for my birthday dinner.

Birthday Burger with the lot
and chips on the side

I took Wednesday off work, partly for birthday reasons (no point taking Tuesday off; I work from home on Tuesdays and could fit that in around the OT and birthday food) and also because the carer was coming for her first visit. I was at home to let her in and show her around the kitchen. Then I left her and Jim to it and went into town to get new undies for me (mine have all fallen apart due to old age) and hankies for Jim (his all seem to have disappeared. I'm sure they'll turn up eventually but in the meantime he needs more).

I got home just before the carer was due to leave to find that she was feeling a bit guilty because all she had done was chat to Jim, watch TV with him, prepare his lunch and make him a cup of tea.  She didn't want me to think she was being lazy but I hadn't said what else I wanted her to do. In fact, I don't want her to do anything else. I don't need chores or tasks to be done. I just want someone to be with Jim. If there is anything that needs to be done in addition to that, I'll leave a note asking for it but otherwise just to sit and be and make sure he has his lunch and a drink.

Alas, she may not be with us long. They've sold their house much faster than they expected to and will be moving up country in the next couple of months. But we decided that she might as well come until it's no longer convenient for her and I'll readvertise then.

And so to today.

This morning I had my first online Japanese language lesson since September 2018. To be honest, I thought it was in 2019 but I can't find a trace on any lessons beyond 2018. From time to time they have sent offers for three introductory lessons to tempt me back. I haven't taken them up for a number of reasons - and in the past 2 years mostly because it seemed that my opportunity to use the language was remote. It may still be remote, but I am hopeful that the border between Japan and Australia might actually reopen in my lifetime. So when they sent an offer of three lessons for 5 USD I signed up.

I enjoyed the chance to speak (halting) Japanese this morning and have signed up for more lessons beyond  the taster three. I was the only student this morning so it was a  1 on 1 lesson by default. I've booked the remainder two classes this weekend. I need to set an alert - I only remembered this morning's 8:00 class at 07:15 when I was still in my dressing gown and had Things to Do! The 08:00 classes suit me, as long as the district nurse doesn't come early if it is their day. Fortunately today she didn't come until after 10.

And now you find us at Rupert and Hugo's place. The weather today has been cold, wet and windy (to the surprise of my Japanese teacher this morning!) We had 20.5 ml in my rain gauge when I read it at 09:00 and my tomato plants are shivering. I opened the back door this morning for Brandy and Whiskey.  Brandy looked at me as though I had taken leave of my senses.  Whiskey did go out, then turned round and ran back inside post haste.  Even so, he was quite wet and was surprised when I dried him with a towel 😂

Me at a party :D 

Storm - in a Teacup

I left work a little early on Wednesday. After a warm and quite humid day in Melbourne, there were storms forecast. The radar showed they were heading towards Melbourne and would likely hit in the next 30 minutes or so.

I am not sure why, but the sat nav took me off the ring road at Dalton Road then took me down to Mahoneys Road. The Edgars Road ramp is closed so there was no alternative but to go to Sydney Road and rejoin the freeway there. This wouldn't matter, except that I think pretty much everyone's sat nav had suggested the same route. There was an enormous queue of people wanting to turn left onto Sydney Road, not helped by the queue jumpers who drove down the middle lane and then pushed their way into the queue at Sydney Road. It took an hour to get from Dalton Road back onto the ring road.

Then, the sat nav took me on an entertaining detour through Caroline Springs before delivering me to the Western Freeway. I have no idea why. It didn't seem to serve any obvious purpose but it was rather fun. Not a route I would usually consider!

There was very little traffic on the freeway. Nothing particularly interesting happened. Until I got to Bacchus Marsh. The excitement was on the other side of the freeway and I was not sure what was going on. There were lots of cars parked in the emergency stopping lane. There were police cars and SES vehicles, but no ambulances or fire engines that I could see. And whatever it was stretched along for a couple of exit/entrances. The traffic was being diverted off at the third exit (from my point of view - it would have been the first Bacchus Marsh exit if you were heading towards Melbourne).

Then I became aware that the car up ahead of me was driving in a strange and bizarre way. It slowed down and started moving around between the outside lane and the emergency stopping lane. I was so focussed on what it was doing that I didn't notice the cattle running up the freeway along the dividing fence until I was pretty much on top of them. It appears that a cattle trailer's door on the Melbourne side of the freeway had come open and the cattle had either fallen out or escaped and were running around at will. Only a couple of them were on the outbound side so, apart from one SES vehicle parked in the middle of the road about 500m beyond the cattle, our side of the road wasn't getting much attention.

It might have been better had the weirdly driven car ahead of me put its hazard lights on. It is probable that then I would have spent less time wondering what on earth it was doing and looked ahead for a hazard. And a bit of notice that there was an emergency vehicle stopped in the middle of the freeway might have been useful. Fortunately, the cattle just kept running up along the dividing fence and weren't tempted to run into the cars. And we all managed to avoid the SES vehicle.

And amongst all that, although there was a storm it wasn't particularly exciting. A bit of heavy rain. Lots of lightning. A bit of thunder. And I'm not at all sure that I gained any time by coming off the ring road at Dalton Road. The traffic seemed to be in good order when I rejoined it at Sydney Road an hour later.

The cattle were surprising, though :-D

We didn't get a storm overnight but we did have some lovely storm clouds in the evening

Had it been July or August, you might have thought they were snow clouds.

Wedding Weekend

I went to a wedding on Saturday morning.

In Ottawa!

My niece Emily had been due to marry her Canadian fiancé in Ottawa in the Canadian summer, 2020. We were going to go. I've never  been to Canada and had been looking at things we could do before or after the wedding. Then covid struck. Jim and I had to make that hasty return from England in the March and the wedding was postponed to the Canadian autumn. 

Then it was cancelled. International borders were closed. And not only was Australia's border closed to incomers, those of us who were in Australia couldn't get out unless you had an exemption permit, which were very hard for ordinary citizens to get hold of.

Eventually, a few weeks ago, Emily managed to get an exemption permit which meant she could get a visa that let her into Canada and off she went.

The wedding finally took place, in Ottawa, on Friday afternoon, Ottawa time. 9:00 Saturday morning, Mount Helen time. We were all invited.

Ian brought Stella up to Mount Helen on Friday and she was ready, all dressed up in wedding clothes, with Lindsey and Ian at Hill House. I was dressed and ready to go at Tani. Tabitha and Gareth were there in Sheffield, Austin in Gifu, Freyja and Simon in Westgarth. I think pretty much the whole Australian family was there, plus many of the overseas bits of family, plus the groom's  family in the Caribbean. There were 30 or 40 people actually at the venue and just under 90 logins from around the world so perhaps 150 - 200  virtual people.

Grandmother and parents of the bride, ready and waiting

Me, wearing my best summer jumper, ready  and waiting
It was not a summer temperature!

It was a lovely wedding. Lots of fun. The venue was beautiful. But cold. If I was a bit chilly in my summer jumper in Mount Helen I imagine that Emily was positively frozen in Ottawa where there was snow falling!

Have a few screen shots. They are a bit fuzzy but you get the idea:

As I said, it was a lovely wedding.  Really happy. And it is a perfect way to attend a wedding. You don't have to get properly dressed if you don't feel like it, although I did. You don't have to leave home. You can have champagne if you are minded and no need to drive afterwards (I had a cup of tea; 9:00 in the morning is a bit early for champagne for me!) No need to hang around in the falling snow while interminable numbers of photos are taken. The virtual guests were all projected onto a large screen so the bride and groom could see their world wide attendees.  Perfect.

Ian had organised a High Tea from the Westin to be delivered on Friday, ready for post-wedding celebrations. Very generously, he had bought servings for Jim and me to have at Tani.

Post wedding celebrations:

At Tani

and at Hill House

Jim stayed in bed for the wedding ceremony but got up with enthusiasm when I set out the High Tea for brunch. The lure of tiny sandwiches and cakes is very strong!

We continued the celebrations on Sunday with lunch at the Swiss Mountain Hotel in Blampied on the way to Daylesford. They have only recently reopened after the recent lockdowns and density restrictions and people have returned in droves. It was a lovely day on Sunday and the restaurant was very busy. Nice to see people venturing out again and returning to the pubs, cafes and restaurants - but it was a bit noisy and there was quite a wait for our food.  Worth the wait, though. The food was lovely.

Ian and Jim were also with us

The Weather Dogs seem to have heeded my request for some nice springlike weather. It was beautiful yesterday and is shaping up to be a nice day again today.

Sunday morning sunshine:

Stella is going home again today. We've got the district nurse coming to give Jim his Monday morning shower, then someone is coming mid-afternoon to put a new grab rail by the door onto the back patio. Life goes back to normal after the excitements of the weekend

Dear Weather Dogs

Please may I draw your attention to the calendar?  It's oh-so nearly December. Oh-so nearly the start of summer.

I am neither expecting nor wanting Very Hot Weather, but a small spot of warm-ish weather wouldn't go astray. The morning shouldn't look like this

It shouldn't be necessary to have the heater on, or to have to buy wood for the fire.

I wasn't expecting to be wearing proper winter clothes. Maybe not summer clothes, but definitely not a thick jumper.

If you wouldn't mind bringing a smidgeon of warm, sunny weather, I would be very much obliged. Not boiling hot, you understand. Just pleasantly warm.

Many thanks.

Love and kisses ...

Sunday Roast Potato Party

Freyja and Simon were once again in Ballarat over the weekend. Freyja asked if we had any Sunday Lunch plans. We didn't, so I suggested they come around and we could have Sunday Roast Potatoes.

Freyja and I both like roast potatoes a lot, so it seemed like a good plan.

I contacted Lindsey and Ian and asked if they fancied joining us for a Sunday Roast Potato Party. They did indeed fancy it.

And it was genius. I can't imagine why I have never thought about it before. If you invite people around for a Roast Potato Party, pretty much the only thing you are obliged to provide is a large platter filled with roast potatoes. Nothing else has been offered, so nothing else has to be on the table!! All I had to do was to peel a mountain of potatoes (the potatoes I had to hand needed to be peeled, or I might not have bothered with that step), cut them into sensibly sized pieces, put them in a large roasting tray with some oil and put that in the oven - and let them get on with it.

I did, of course, provide other things, so the roast potatoes could bask in their potatoey magnificence. I made a platter of green vegetables in a "cheezy" sauce made with oat milk, corn flour and nutritional yeast. We had spiralised zucchini and carrots, which I found ready spiralised in the IGA, in a tomato sauce. I would have added olives but some amongst us are not fans, so I served the olives in a separate small dish. 

I had some vegan Christmas munchy treats that I had found in Coles; I served them too as a taste test for Christmas.  Very tasty. I'll try and get more for Christmas feasting.

We had summer fruit with chocolate sauce after - mango, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, since you ask. 

But mostly we had roast potatoes.

It was great!

Mystery

The other morning I looked out the front window and found my pretty little pink flowered bush squashed flat.

It had not been flat at the previous day's end. I have no idea what had sat on it to squash it so. I pulled off the broken bits and left it, to see what it would do. It has started to pull itself up again and yesterday I propped it back up.  I think it will be ok.

In the small back garden bed in the front yard I have growing three hollyhocks, one lupin and lots of long grass. I intend to put the spare wooden raised box along there when the hollyhocks have flowered. I was measuring that bit of garden bed to see if the box would fit, when I realised that the lupin was gone!

It was quite a large plant. It didn't seem likely that snails had carried it off, rampant though our snails might be. It seemed unlikely that a human had come and taken it. If a human was tempted by the plants in the garden, there are more attractive ones than a lupin partly buried in long grass. Also, there wasn't a hole where it had been.  It had simply disappeared.

Oh well. I'm not going to lose any sleep over a lupin, much as I like them. I decided to dig up some of the long grass, since I was there and so too was the garden fork. As I dug a few bits of grass out, I found the lupin root. It had come out with a large clump of grass. The plant had been apparently bitten off right down to ground level. And eaten, I assume.

The only thing I can think of that would likely have been in the garden and would squash a small bush and eat a lupin plant would be a possum. We don't often get possums in the garden, that we are aware of, but I can't think of anything else it could be.  Not bird behaviour, nor cat or dog. Echidna, possibly - although, do echidnas eat lupins? And I wouldn't have thought echidnas would find the locale to be delightful. And why eat the lupin and not the delicious, juicy hollyhock plants?

A mystery. I have no idea. Fortunately, whatever it was doesn't seem to have its eye on my baby zucchini, melon, cucumber, sweet corn and potato plants, Nor has it got into the backyard, where a veritable smorgasbord of herbs and plants awaits a hungry visitor. Something has been munching on the carrots' leaves but I suspect one of the many bird visitors and have take steps to deter them. And there will be big, big trouble if any mysterious creature eats my asparagus plants!

Light in the kitchen

Some while ago, Lindsey said that she had been talking to the Handyman at work and he had said that he had recently bought some solar skylights and was very pleased with them.

I had never heard of solar skylights!

I did a bit of investigating and, the next time I encountered the Handyman, I quizzed him carefully about them. Then I went to Bunnings and had a look at the various options. Then I thought about it for a while.

A fortnight or so ago I bought one, as an experiment, for the kitchen. I am aware that, no matter how sunny it is outside, if I am at home I always have the electric lights on in the kitchen. This seems quite wasteful if there is an alternative.

On Thursday an electrician came and installed it. He was here for less than half an hour. And I am very pleased with it. I rather wish I had bought a bigger one, but this certainly makes a difference. So much so that it makes the lounge and dining rooms look rather dim.

I intended to buy a couple for the hallway, which gets no natural light, if I was pleased with the experimental one in the kitchen. I am now also going to get one each for the dining and lounge rooms. The electrician says he will do a discount for bulk installations so I think I might buy one a month or so and call him back when I've bought all four.

Jim is a bit confused by the new light being called a "skylight". He spent quite some time looking up at it and then complained that it hadn't been properly installed because he couldn't see up through it. It is true that it is not a proper skylight. There is a small solar panel on the roof and then a cable running through the roof space to the transformer inside the light fitting. I have started calling it a solar light, which makes much more sense to him. 

You can get them with a battery for use in the evening as well as the daytime, plus there are some which can also be connected to the electricity supply. I decided that for now that was all a bit complicated. I'll look into alternatives down the track, when this one and its forthcoming companions need replacing

Winter Fights Back

The weather over the past few days has been less than clement.

It was horrible on Friday. It was cold and it rained pretty much all day. I knew that Jim and I were going up to play with Rupert and Hugo on Friday and on Thursday had bought them a bone each.  A proper bone, not a dried bone. Rupert and Hugo are not allowed to have proper bones in the house but it really wasn't a day to insist they go outside. So I set them up on the squishy, old couches in the dining room and made them sit on them to have their bones.  It seemed unwise to let them chew marrow bones on the brand new leather couches in the lounge room!

They were happy with this arrangement.

Much later, Rupert asked to go outside.  Hugo decided he would go outside too. Now, what normally happens when Hugo asks to go outside and the weather is horrible is that you open the door, Hugo starts to go out, stops abruptly, sniffs the air, looks at the rain, turns round and gives you a filthy look and comes straight back inside. Rupert just goes out, does his business and comes back in and goes somewhere warm to dry off.

On this occasion, Hugo shot outside and over to  his bath by the fence, followed in a more leisurely fashion by Rupert. I was a bit surprised. He came back to the conifer tree, again followed by Rupert. What has he picked up, I wondered. It seemed unlikely that Hugo would dash out into the rain to pick up a soggy soft toy. Rupert, maybe. Hugo, no. I went to investigate.

What he had picked up was a baby rabbit. A live baby rabbit. "Drop it, Hugo," I said.  He did not. I said it again, more urgently - and much to my surprise, drop it he did. He regretted this immediately and tried to grab it again but it ran away and went under the fence out into the paddock. The rabbit explained why Hugo had dashed out into the freezing rain. He went back in again as soon as he decided the rabbit had really gone!

The rain cleared a bit on Saturday morning so Lindsey and I went out to Avalon to get some trees and other things. It wasn't dry, you understand, just not as wet. The rain came back in the afternoon.  It was wet and very cold yesterday. Anyone would think it was August rather than mid-November and, strictly speaking, towards the end of spring. I have had the fire lit all weekend. I still worry about the cats getting too close to the wood burner (although I never worried about Marlo getting too close to the one we had in Tupton - strange!). So Jim and I went into town to see if we could buy a fire guard. 

I went to Barbecues Galore, where I had bought the wood burner. They didn't have any in stock. "It's the wrong time off year", said the sales bloke. "People are more likely to be buying barbecues than fireplaces and their accessories."  We both looked out the window at the wind and the icy, icy rain - and laughed! I don't think the temperature got into double figures yesterday and they were forecasting snow down to 1000m.

Jim and I came back home and I went to buy a fire guard online through the Barbecues Galore website.  They had exactly what I wanted for $99. I would have bought it, but the postage fee was $125.  $125 just for postage! Extortionate! I bought something similar through eBay for $75 and $10 postage. Much more reasonable.

It's still raining. It's still cold. I think it's supposed to stay this way for several days. I've almost run out of firewood and I don't really want to buy another lot just yet. I wasn't expecting still to be using the fire by now.  I was expecting to be considering whether my little Dyson space age heater/cooler would cope with a hot summer or whether I should invest in a reverse cycle air conditioner. The last two summers have been very mild in Ballarat. I think we are probably due a hot one this year.

Sunday Lunch

There are tales that are told from the Before Times of folk gathering in groups at tables in each others' dwellings. In these tales people gathered to eat food, drink wine and engage in conversation and merriment. There is a mythic quality to some of these tales, although the tales portray the gatherings as nothing out of the ordinary.

It is a long time since Tani has hosted any such gatherings.

I know we saw Freyja and Simon at Stella's place last Sunday but it was rather nice to see them again yesterday at our place for the first Sunday Lunch with guests in months. I had intended to make a big salad platter with summery additions, like tempura vegetables, crumbed zucchini, picnic style foods.  The weather, however, was chilly and damp and cloudy so we had the salad with ravioli and a tomato and spinach sauce on the side.

We had a bottle of the (alcoholic!) Hero of Zero and a bottle of (non-alcoholic) Giessen sauvignon blanc and soft drinks.

We had conversation and merriment.

It was just like the Before Times!

The shops have all opened again in Victoria and most covid restrictions have been lifted. When I was at work on Wednesday I called into the Everything Shop by the surgery and bought a new cat climbing stand that I had my eye on throughout the Melbourne lockdown. As you might expect, my cats were a bit suspicious of it when it first arrived but Brandy, especially, has started playing with it. It's a bit wobbly at the top. I need to work out how to stabilise it a bit.