Wednesday, 3 September 2008

Pinch and a Punch for the first of the month!


This is a wreath flower.
I took the photo last Sunday when we went to Howes Road - there are 100's there, some creamy and this is the pinky one.







The honchos from EREA have been and gone this week and none of us are any wiser again, except they are emphatic the school is closing at the end of next year... So, still business as usual and really just getting on with things. I didn't bother catching up with the HR bloke today as he was not much help to those who saw him yesterday and I had the Geraldton run to get on with.

Cannot believe it is September - the ninth month of the year, 3/4 of the way through - spring - Christmas shopping to plan and lists to write up etc .....In the spirit of spring -had a big clean up at my house yesterday and got up to date with the washing etc. In the midst of this I spent some time on the verandah reading my book whilst lying on a mattress in the sun - it was lovely and I got warm to my bones in the 28o sunshine. I had a roast of pork in the fridge so decided to cook it for cold meat later in the week. I put heaps of salt on the skin and drizzled it with olive oil and put it in the oven on 220o and I got the best crackling I have ever cooked. So much so, when I had eaten over half of it, I had to cease and desist at the risk of overdosing on it all. There was also dinner ahead at the WM's place to leave a space for. This in fact was the second dinner in a row as I did my Nana thing on Monday and took the WM's boys, plus 4 of the bosses kids to a school disco (4.40 - 6.30pm) while everyone else was working. Got roast chicken that night and we had chicken satay last night - al with lots of veg and very yum.

Last night was the big TV night with: "Home and Away, RSPCA, Find my Family, Packed to the Rafters and of course All Saints". It was a bit of a tear jerker night with Find my Family having two great stories and then All Saints being dedicated to Mark Priestly, with a special spiel at the end about him, and phone numbers for life line. Neither the WMH (who is a big softee) nor I could look at each other but I think we both had moisture leaking out of our eyes a couple of times. At least after all that, it was Australian Idol with some grounding from Marcia, Dicko & co.

Whilst I was cooking the roast, I decided to make some spinach pesto to see if spinach would work as a pesto. I used my basil pesto recipie and swapped green bits. Even though I do say so myself - it was very delish. I finished my bottle of Italian olive oil which was good enough to drink (have bought a Greek olive oil today - in memory of the trip last year heh, heh). I forgot to mention that I whipped up a batch of onion/thyme marmalade last weekend - am going to try it with the cold pork tomorrow and will let you know the verdict. To extend my gardening activities I bought a mushroom garden from Bunnings today. It's a cardboard box with correct soil and mushroom bits, and when you put it all together, in about 4 - 5 weeks, I should be harvesting my own mushrooms. The WMH has a box growing in their hall way and it has grown superb mushrooms. Will keep you posted.

Also went perusing lap tops today. All computers on sale have Windows Vista now and you only get word/excell etc for 60 days trial and then have to download/buy the program if you want it permanently. Am only just coping with XP after the trauma of having to leave Windows 95 behind and am thorougly not impressed with the sneakiness of cheaper computers only to have them become more expensive to get what should come automatically with them anyway. Progress, bah humbug!!! Which ever way I cut it, it looks as though there will be no change from $1000 which is a bit ouch. Have bought screeds of info back and will contemplate over the next few days which one I will get.

Tonight is the first night in ages I have not had the heater on, I think the temps are definitely on the rise again. Other signs of spring - I was swooped on by a flipping magpie the other day whilst walking from the horse paddocks to my place via the 'oval'. I heard a whoosh of wings and thought, that was low, and then saw the bird land not far away - it hasn't happened again but am keeping a wary eye out when I walk to and fro just in case. More emus have been spotted and lizards are out and about in droves on the road (have seen at least 8, LOL).Am down to one (warm)layer during the day though still have blankets and duvet on at night. Am about to head off to bed now as its been a long day and will see how warm I am up here tonight. Still doing the winter pj's though. Catch you later.

5 comments:

Kay said...

Mouhwateringly good food desriptions - you might end up on Laura's foodie-friends fave blogging sites soon - or flowerspotters'sites. Starting to feel increasingly springy now - not looking forward to daylight saving at all as it's rather nice to wake up early in the morning with the sun and boidies. The resident tui has been heard on and off. He must have found another perch as his paricular favourite tree (Australian banksia - go figure!) lost most of its limbs in on of the storms. The other indicator that it's getting warmer is that we're starting to find white-tailed spiders again. Julian and I killed a particularly large one in the bathroom in the weekend.

I've also marked the pasage of time as your car is due for another warrant. Mark's taken it for a bit of a run every now and then but you could call it well-rested.

Anonymous said...

Like the sound of the mushrooms, and the pork, and the pesto.
I dont think the character that has demised is in our storyline yet in All Saints.
Such a bummer about the computer. Pity you are so far away. Just as long as you have been able to save all your stuff.
Have made quite a good start to the garden. I think most of the beans have rotted over the winter. But we are planting new ones. Getting space for some other stuff ready, planted some silver beet seeds yesterday, so hopefully they wont take long to germinate.
It's almost a drought now, havent had rain for a few days, and you wouldnt believe how quickly the ground and stuff in pots is drying out.
Sounds like the EREA blokes go away, and then when they return they have hyped themselves up so they take no prisoners. Time to make a start on the day, going to Scrabble this afternoon. love and hugs, Mum

Anonymous said...

Oh darn - just wrote a whole screed and then hit a wrong key and lost the lot!!!
Anyway, good to hear your news, you will have to have jars of goodies for sale in Laura and Tim's cafe! Am looking forward to sampling your cooking when you move in up the road, as you will need regular tasters I'm sure.
A hectic day for all here yesterday with 2 music exams and a trip to Auckland uni in the middle! Nothing like a bit of stress to keep one on one's toes!
Will be pleased when next week's music festival has been successfully completed, then it's all on for exams etc.
The weather here seems to be warming up also but not 28o yet thank goodness.

Kay said...

Good to catch up with you - even if I had to pay for it this time myself.... A nice Sunday - Father's Day but it will rain again before the day is over. Am making he most of the early morning daylight hours before Daylight Saving plunges us back into the winter feeling.

hungryandfrozen said...

Sorry to hear about the guy from All Saints. Not nice at all.

The pork and the pesto sound absolutely delicious! Mouth is watering!

Thanks for emailing the picture of James and Mojo - what a goooorgeous puppy! Tim and Paul were highly impressed that it was named after something from Transformers ;)