Sunday, August 30, 2009

le garden

Bushbabe just posted about her love for her vege patch.

Being a Sunday, my day of leisure and contemplation tends to take place in my garden (okay, on the computer with forays into the garden).

And being 2 days before Spring (by calendar reckoning) it is really starting to pay off.

So here, with pictures, is the garden tour.

To take you back for a moment in time, I received dirt for my birthday/Mother's Day presents. They have indeed been blessed gifts.

Birthday Bed: Our strawberries are ripening up and the pansies are blooming. We have actually picked the first 3 strawberries - not hugely sweet but they were the tiny forerunners to a veritable feast, given the amount of flower and berries that have emerged. The radish are just coming up after being planted last week.






Mother's Day Bed: Tomatoes are going crazy, onions and spring onions none the worse (for the amateur gardening attempts by a nameless visiting dog attempting to infuse a little blood and bone - well bone - into the patch), beetroot beautiful, spinach going to seed and silverbeet coming to fruition.







Every other day of the year Bed: Have just planted this one with snow peas, peas, beans, cucumber, corn and sunflowers. Along the back fence I have put a few hills of dirt and planted some watermelon seeds in the flood zone - I figure nothing lost, nothing gained - and I am looking forward to some watermelon and hopefully less mowing!




Around the house:
  • Harvesting pumpkins from the front wasteland;




  • I just pulled all the old basil and coriander from this bedand am letting seeds rejuveniate. I dug up and separated all the bulbs last year to go all along the side bed and am hoping to have some beautiful flowers for November;




  • the origins of this chilli tree are the cut price stand at the local supermarket - its amazing how 1 bag of rotting birdseyes can turn into the most prolific chilli tree. V's other "avenue" of chillies are attempting resurrection and are not pictured (in case the shame will be their final nail). Only the habernero goes strong, and as anyone who has a habernero can attest, a few go a long way - and that doggarned bush goes just that bit further (why it can't be the jalopeno or the cerrano I do not know);




  • my other herb corner (which used to house the sunflowers from my banner, and subsequently a lemonsgrass cluster) now has oregano, thyme, basil, coriander and the bloddy garlic chives going great guns (still haven't found a better way to use these than a very small amount as garnish - and a very small amount makes no dint in the spreading mat);



  • the citrus we received for wedding presents are shooting and starting to flower - it appears they do like a little attention, although we need to read up a bit on what sort of attention we need to give them.




Thus far from our labours we have had feasts of pesto (I often refer to our crop as "the basil hedge" as it is something that has always been 100% productive), beetroot, spinach and silverbeet in a variety of ways, herbs to add flavour to cooking, chillies for accompaniment and many salsas. The excess green tomatoes from today's prune are set to become another variation for our usual Mexican feast on Tuesday.




The other benefit, of course, is that we are inviting nature into our back yard. Magpies have a bit of a reputation, but we have never attacked any of our brood and they (touch wood) have never swooped us but sing for us (especially when we are gardening and mowing) -and then there are some where we look and wonder - what the heck are you?




Only 2 days to Spring - but it has been Spring it seems for months around here. So come on all - how goes your garden?

Friday, August 28, 2009

Salina's Riddle of the Day...

Three people are taking a bull to the zoo. Anyway, they break down and ask a farmer if they can borrow his phone. He says "yes, but you can only send a text and every word is $1". They only had $1 - what word did they type?

The Answer: Comfortable

Friday, August 21, 2009

Dilem...

I blame the Tim Tams. Tim Tams, for those poor furriners who have never beheld the magic, are delicious and considered a good buy these days if you can get them for $1.99 (although there is a whole 'nother argument about the quantity of Tim Tams that you get for your $1.99).

Anyhow, they currently have a promotion going where you can win a year's supply of Tim Tams (or a holiday - who wants a holiday, I think it is a ruse...)

After I fished the empty packaging out of the rubbish (apparently there is a midnight snacker who pays no heed to the promotion on packaging he - oops, or she - is consuming) I went to enter the competition (because you will never win if you don't enter) and had a problem with the address.

www.timtamdilemma.com - do you see where I choked.

I remember DISTINCTLY learning that that final word was spelled "dilemna" and so, full of umbrage and ready to do a post about the education levels of modern marketing gurus, googled.

And guess what?

There is a whole raft of information out there for us poor misguided folk who have such misguided notions. (I am not the only one)

And then I truly encountered a dilemma. I couldn't find the unique promotional code.

Waaaah!!!

I may have to buy another packet to see where they hide the code so I can enter - good enough reason for another pack, don't you think?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Got a Date?

One thing I have been doing instead of blogging of late has been to trawl through my trove of collected recipes and offer goodies to my family.

This is the most easy to do date loaf in the world, I swear!!!

Ingredients
  • 1 cup water
  • I cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda
  • 6 oz chopped dates
  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • 1 egg

Method
  • Put water, sugar, butter, bicarb and dates into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
  • Beat in flour and egg
  • Cook in a loaf pan in a moderate oven for 45 minutes
  • Eat and enjoy


How easy was that?

Friday, August 14, 2009

I've got nothing

Every day this week I have thought "I should blog" and there have even been a few times when I have accessed this page, looked at the blanks and gone to do something else.

The good news is that something else actually generally did get done.

The bad news is nothing witty or prosaic has come through this portal for a week...

And I am afraid not much is going to change today - I did attempt to fix that and go for witty and prosaic, but you cannot see the drivel that I just deleted because frankly, I don't need to see it myself.

What do you do when you get the blog blahs?

I am hoping that this too will pass...

Saturday, August 08, 2009

'Salina had a sleepover

last night. It wasn't the first time, and no doubt it won't be her last.

Yes, yes, that meant lots of hot, juicy curry at our house. Mmmmmm.

She had advised me, as I was leaving her bag with her (and the variety of toys she had requested) that she would call me at bedtime.

Awww - my lovely self-confident girl.

Of course, she forgot. I found that teaching your child to be self-reliant is one thing, but how do you teach it to yourself?


1.30am this morning, I had a dream. I can't really recall it, but it seems there was a text message left on our house phone from her.

Of course, I woke up trying to work the darned message out...

We all know the chorus to that particular chestnut. 1.30 wake up + Jeanie = hugely industrious episode about to follow.


The good news is my kitchen is sparkly. The pantry has never been so regimented, and I had a shopping list that was accurate and precise today - hello full moon.

The bad news is I have been tired as a sloth all day, it took me 2 hours to do the groceries - because it appears no matter how accurate and precise your shopping list is, time and motion get treacle-like when you have to stand in front of the seemingly ever-diminishing options on the shelves and try to find the locally produced yet economic variety of whatever - times 70.


I have just received my summons from 'Salina that I am allowed to come and collect her in 20 minutes, and apart from the 2 - 5 am push, I have failed to tick any other boxes on my list - yes, even that "make list" box is unchecked (how is that for a conundrum) so I shall put it down to recharging the batteries for a Super Sunday show and hope your Saturday was far more productive.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Com pu pu pu pu pu pu pu pu ter Games

Hi all!! Miss me much?

I was feeling very virtuous going away for the weekend and NOT taking my laptop - even leaving it off after returning home and not until after dd was at school (and assembly over) did I switch it on.

Or rather, attempt to switch it on.

Monday I had nada (but I did have dd's computer which I also use so wasn't bereft).

Tuesday I took it to the computer doctor, who advised it wasn't hardware (although under warranty but phew) but possibly a virus (a lesson to all mothers who let their daughter's load pony games on their laptops because the video driver in the old computer is unable to be upgraded)...

On Tuesday afternoon my SIL brought her computer box over for me to update her bookwork for EOFY, so Wednesday I unhooked the old computer and set up hers - no signal to the monitor (which is as ancient as the daughter and her computer).

(Of course I had chosen to wear the ill-fitting maternity trousers as I wasn't going anywhere that day...)

Luckily, one of my very lax paying clients had finally deposited her payment, so I was able to go to the local computer shop and grab me a monitor (only been on my list to upgrade for 3 years...) and so I was able to work for 1/2 the day.

Today I went in to collect my laptop and now I am back in the land of the living - wow.

Note to self - must make more than notes to self about minute details such as back up and running spyware on a regular basis...