A Perfect Day.....

We spent Monday at the Zoo celebrating my Gboy's 4th birthday.....he wore his superman costume which he has already grown out of .... he is a very tall four year old...but so cute !! He has Batman, Superman, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Spiderman and now Captain America costumes...he loves super heroes

We all had a cupcake for his birthday....he had superman...what else !

He couldn't wait to take me into the butterfly enclosure as I had told him that it was my favourite exhibit and that the butterfly's would land on him....he was ecstatic when one landed on his cap.  He stood so still waiting for them to land on him.

I love this photo... the innocence in that little face......so excited to have a butterfly land on him...

The Butterfly's are such amazing colours.....it is definitely one of my favourite places to be..... I don't really like the idea of Zoo's as such...much prefer animals to be left where they belong....but I have to admit kids love seeing all the animals.... at least the enclosures are a long way from the cages that were at the zoo when I was a child.



Love the sentiment on this sign at the Zoo.....

The lion's were beautiful...even though I disagree with taking animals out of the wild....



 We had a great day and were lucky to enjoy lovely mild weather....sunny but not too hot...just perfect.  If you haven't been to the Melbourne Zoo recently it's well worth a visit...they have done an amazing amount of work there and are focusing on protecting endangered species and educating children about wildlife.

Montly 9 Link Up for February 2015.....

Happy to be joining in with Linda for the monthly 9 for February....Wow it's already March.....time flies when you're having fun.

Nourish:  At last the girls have decided to favour me with a few more eggs....thankfully I was able to get out a few zucchini slices...needed to use up the glut of Zucchini's that I had.....also stewed up rhubarb....it was delicious and there is plenty more out in the garden so I'll need to get onto them.

Zucchini slice is a bit favourite...also uses up excess of zucchini's and eggs.

Prepare:  I had planned to make the MOO washing powder this month but unfortunately didn't get around to it....I did prepare 4 new garden beds ready for planting...a big load of soil and compost to top up the beds....need to plant out some lettuce mixes and whatever else is in season.

Reduce:  Still working hard on trying to reduce food wastage....had some dried apricots that had been hanging around for way to long....used them up by making an apricot slice...had enough to make two of these during the month.

The slice was a bit crumbly but tasted lovely....great way to use up old apricots.

Green:  Nothing new to report here unfortunately ....  the compost bins are slowly turning to compost...should be ready in the next few weeks....worm farm is going well.  Trying hard to be conscious of electricity usage....and water conservation.

Grow:  Things are winding up in the vegie patch although the tomatoes are finally ripening...seem very late this year...planted heritage variety and they have been very poor producers....the Grosse Lisse have done okay though....I love home grown tomatoes....people are also very appreciative to receive the excess.

Tomatoes ripening on the bench....the chooks won't leave them alone if I leave them once they start to ripen.

Create:  Devastated that I have nothing to report here.....have been so busy ...I know...poor excuse...but I haven't had the chance to work on the mosaic or the quilt ....have done a couple of chapters on the novel though so it isn't a complete waste of a month.

Discover: My man and I took a couple of days holiday last week... stayed at a friends coastal property which was great (nothing like a free holiday)....my daughter and grandson joined us for an afternoon and we went on the ferry to Queenscliff....I rediscovered this beautiful town...haven't been there since I was a child....it was an amazing day out....spending time with the little guy is one of my favourite things...he is fabulous.

Even managed to take the dogs on the ferry....Daphne is a nervous passenger so I had to nurse her

Enhance:  As always my love of reading which I truly believe enhances our everyday lives..... this month book club is The Invisible Girl...a memoir written by the father of a young woman who dies of anorexia....its was incredibly sad and moving...not sure that it helped to understand this terrible illness but it was a very poignant reminder of the vulnerability of the young.

Have also gotten back into my yoga classes....haven't been for ages and I really missed it...it's difficult to find the right teacher and luckily I have found an amazing women who if just perfect... it is Ashtanga yoga which is new to me...have done Hatha  yoga for many years on and off... it's similar but I think a lot more spiritual....I love it.

Enjoy:  I celebrated my 56th birthday this month....nothing more enjoyable than sharing it with my husband and daughters, complete with a homemade birthday cake decorated by my gboy....... I received loads of lovely gifts and was very spoilt as always....

Making my birthday wish with the help of my gorgeous Gboy.....Grandchildren are one of life's treasures.

 My absolute favourite gift  was a painting from my special little man...it's a painting of us all..my husband and I on the left (that's me with the grey hair and my red headed man), his mum and auntie on the right and him in the bottom right hand corner...I have hung it on the wall in my home office.

He finger painted this for me .... with a little help from his mum

I had such a busy February...so much to enjoy.... had a few difficulties with my fathers illness and not reacting well to his medication and suffering early dementia.... but you have to take the good with the bad.....am loving getting back into yoga...it's so helpful in dealing with tough times...Namaste !

Remembered With Much Love......

It's 12 months since my girlfriend passed away from liver cancer....time goes so fast...her family chose to commemorate the anniversary of her death by inviting family and friends to a memorial at the lake where her ashes were spread last year.  It was very moving to watch Richard and the kids release balloons which we had all written messages on ..... a really beautiful tribute to her memory.  She is so sadly missed.... but I think I could feel her presence there... RIP beautiful Heather.

Rich and the kids ...hopefully time will heal their hearts.

One of Those Days ......

Yesterday was one of those days.....the ones were nothing seems to be going right... one of the light sussex has gone broody again just 14 weeks after the last lot of chicks....  a few of the said chicks flew over the coop fence into the yard... they got into the greenhouse and ate all of my seedlings....and destroyed the strawberry bed...... one of the old girls doesn't look too well and she has been laying soft shelled eggs which keep breaking.... A zucchini bush has developed mildew on the leaves....  . the tap on the water filter started leaking and dripping all over the place... argued with the guy I work for.....this was all before breakfast......then while I was having breakfast  I saw this little worried face watching  me.... somehow your pets know when your not happy....made me realise none of the things going on were insurmountable....just annoying.



The beautiful Daisy........she was worried....doesn't normally put her head on the table.

Broody hen is now in the broody buster ( my husband's trailer).... today I will clip the wings on the teenagers...separate the sick chicken to see what's going on with her....pull out the mildewy zucchini plant ... salvage any seedlings from the mess and save what I can... and get the water filter repaired..... then off to writing group.

Loving the Little Things......



Spent a lovely Sunday morning at Burnham Beeches in Kallista with my daughter & Gboy....it's a great spot and amazingly popular...we had brunch at the Piggery Cafe  then a walk through the Alfred Nicholas Gardens...

 

The very impressive Burnham Beeches....a lovely spot to have brunch ... organic local and sustainable foods.. very rustic



 Brunch was smashed avocado with poached eggs and bacon on artisan toast....I love avocado but there was more than I could get through on that plate..... the atmosphere in the café is fantastic.

Brunch is different things to different age groups.....Gboy ordered almond pancakes with pear and banana... unfortunately he wasn't all that keen when it arrived...I ate some of it and he polished off my bacon....... He then ordered a cookie which was nearly as big as his beautiful little face !

An impromptu snap of us walking out of the gardens.

 Our walk through the gardens took us past the old mansion which is going to be restored to a boutique hotel... the lake had been emptied as they are completing restoration work there.... it's an amazing property and to think that the Nicholas family used it as a holiday house....

Monday is my day to mind the little guy..... we started Monday with his swimming lessons and then off to do some lunch and shopping with his Auntie Moo Moo  (my other daughter)  ... Monday also included a long overdue haircut......

He loves his swimming lessons..

He looks so grown up with his haircut....he will be four next month....where did those years go ??

It Was All About the Nuts....

The February Sunday luncheon with the same group of friends transpired into the Saturday night Soiree which had a theme of "we are all going nuts!".. nuts to be in every course.  As usual everything was delicious, food and wine flowed and between the 8 of us we managed to polish it all off.

Almost too pretty to eat...

 Robbie and the Big K had entrée and we began with a delicious starter of Chicken and Cashew patties with a Thai dipping sauce.

Scrumptious dukkha and nut crusted lamb

 J & A our host's prepared a stack of nut and "homemade dukkha" crusted lamb cutlets .... they were so tasty ... served with a side of boiled potates with pine nuts and a lovely creamy aioli ....I was asked to bring a side dish and provided a beetroot and cashew cheese salad...it was from Wellbeing magazine so was a very healthy option but could possibly have benefited from a delicious goats cheese or feta as the cashew cheese was a little bland I thought..

Yummy potatoes and pine nuts with a tangy dressing.

My baby beetroot salad with cashew cheese, walnuts, cranberries with a red wine vinegar and oil dressing

It goes without saying that this was ......decadent and delicious.

Janine and Michael were bringing up the rear with dessert...... wow it was delicious...hazelnut merengue base with a chocolate ganache layer, filled with cream, strawberries and another merengue layer, topped with more cream, strawberries and encircled with nutty Ferrero rocher chocolates....scrumptious.
March should see us back at the home of  Robbie and the Big K....always something to look forward to.

Monthly Link Up for January 2015.....

Joining in with Linda to start off the new year.  I missed December...way too much happening and I didn't get the time (sad face).... but it's a great way to share what has been going on and also good to look back on.

Nourish:  I've spent a bit of time in the kitchen trying to make nourishing but cost effective meals.  I have decided 2015 is the year to try and save money.....I made a lovely cheap and cheerful chicken pie which I posted here.  Used some unhappy bananas and made a de3licious banana and raspberry bread and made a healthy slice using up some dried apricots that had been hanging around in the pantry for ages. 

Prepare:  The zucchinis in the garden have been prolific once again....so I made zucchini relish and loads of zucchini soup which is in the freezer....still having to give lots away though, I didn't have success cutting them up ,then blanching and freezing them last year...they were very soggy and flavourless...don't know if anyone else has any ideas on preserving them.

My zucchini relish with homemade labels and into the pantry...

 Reduce:  Still trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use....I don't want plastic bags at the supermarket even though the shop girls don't appear to want to put meat into anything but plastic and I have to ask them not to use the plastic bags....my recent trip to the butcher caused raised eyebrows when I asked them not to use a plastic bag as I had my own bag.  I have no problem with putting wrapped meat into non plastic bags.

I love my hessian shopping bags...I have several that I always use...they last for ages

Green: I have been busy turning the compost and hopefully will have some suitable for the garden beds soon....also the worm wee has been great.  I have also bought the ingredients to make the washing powder from  Here.  Will see how that goes.

 

Grow:  The garden has been growing well but not as good as last year...maybe it's the crazy weather we are having now....40c one day and the 18c the next...I don't think the poor vegies know what's going on.  The corn grew quite a few ears but they didn't quite develop inside to the ends...so about an inch on most of them has no corn...no idea why this happened.



The corn is edible but funny looking

Quite a few tomatoes on the plants...but not as many as last year...still enough though



Zucchinis are everywhere.....they grow so fast if you miss one within a couple of days they are like huge gourds

 The pumpkin vines went crazy but quite a few of the baby pumpkins didn't develop... just turned yellow and dropped off...I think they may not have been fertilised even though I did have a bit of a dab at them with the stamen from the female plant.

Pumpkins are also a bit tricky this year....there's quite a few there but a lot didn't fertilise

Create:  I've been pretty busy this month with my elderly parents unwell,  so creativity was a bit out the window...didn't quite finish the block of the month on the quilt I am working on...only two blocks of the month so far and I think I have had this for about 10 months...need to lift my game...


Still not finished this block......only managed the 2 blocks so far



This is an old photo of 1st block....it's finished now....

I have also planted a couple of pots in the greenhouse with Basil...I am planning on using the terracotta pots with Basil plants in them as gifts..... hopefully they will continue to grow and I have created cost effective but lovingly cared for gifts.

Growing basil from seeds in the greenhouse....hopefully they will flourish

 Discover:  I discovered that not all 3 year olds are the same size....photo of my Gboy dressed in his Optimus Prime outfit and my nieces daughter Olivia dressed in his Bumblebee transformer outfit...only 7 months difference in their ages...it's really the long and the short of it I think.

Pictures really are priceless.... my Gboy is tall but Olivia is also petite.

I also discovered that... yes two of my baby chicks were roosters.....hardly babies anymore they are nearly 13 weeks old....unfortunately I will have to give them away as I don't want to keep roosters...

These two teenagers will be moving out very soon.

 Enhance:  The book for bookclub this month was A World of Other People....it's actually a bit difficult to read as there is not much punctuation in the book and you need to reread it every now and then so that you can follow what's going on.....bookclub should be interesting as always. 

 Enjoy:  It's summer so there is so much to enjoy...we've been to a lovely wedding...a good friends 60th birthday dinner....moved my mother-in-law into her long awaited retirement village unit...and I spent a lovely couple of hours at the local lake with my daughter and Gboy... far more enjoyable to just watch them on the paddle boat... thankfully I wasn't out there paddling !!

 

My daughter and Gboy are out on one of those paddle boats

C'est la vie.....

The last two weeks I've had a bit of everything....we started out with a beautiful wedding ... and attended the reception of a happy couple starting their lives together.  So much joy and happiness at the church, followed by an amazing reception at Zinc in Melbourne....I love Italians.

The daughter of very good friends of ours looking radiant on her special day

Then three days later my husband's beautiful auntie passed away after a brief illness... she was such a delightful little lady...tiny at just 4'11"..... her funeral last Thursday was a very sad day indeed....she will always be remembered with much love.....may she rest in peace.

Our delightful Auntie Mae in happier days at her grand daughters wedding..
she always looked immaculate and was an absolute joy.

The day after the funeral my elderly father was hospitalised and once again we have gone through the fears of wondering if this is the time we will lose him... he has been so sick for over 4 years now..... I've spent many hours this week in hospital with him and running mum back and forwards to visit him...seeing his doctors.. and talking to his nurses..... Thankfully he appears to be slowly recovering and fingers crossed will be back home soon... ..It's so hard to watch loved ones suffering when you are powerless to help.... ... ..such is life.

Happy Chicken Pie......

Already we are half way through January, the year is flying....One of my new year resolutions was to save money, reduce spending and stop any unnecessary waste.  I had a left over BBQ chicken breast, some broccoli and a lone sheet of puff pastry so I added a cheese sauce, corn and carrots and made a "cheesy chicken pie".  This is a first for me, usually the dogs would probably have scored the left over chicken but I was so happy to have found a way to utilise the left overs...I can hear others saying "so what", but this is new for me.....basic steps along the road to living more cost effectively.

 

Happy Chicken Pie...I enjoyed playing around with pastry too.

Smells good....dinner for two tonight

On a completely different note the local supermarket is already displaying Easter Eggs....I have had enough of consumerism and how stupid retailers want to market junk at the earliest opportunity...why would they be selling Easter Eggs and hot cross buns now...the mind boggles....!!

It's All About the Yolks Folks.......

Production is down in the hen house due to the new chicks born in November....and I'm only getting one (sometimes none) eggs a day....For the first time in 3 years I've had to buy eggs....I bought "free range" eggs from the supermarket yesterday.  I had one of my girls eggs that was laid yesterday and poached it along with the supermarket egg for breakfast this morning.....can you spot the difference !!  That gorgeous golden gooey ball of deliciousness is my egg...that insipid looking, pale yellow watery blob is the supposedly free range egg from the shop.  People often ask me why I go to all the trouble of having chickens, picking up their poops, cleaning out their house and making sure we have locked them away safely every night, even running late if we have trouble getting them in before we have to go out....well people, this is why!!   I actually fed the shop egg to the dogs, I couldn't bring myself to eat it.

There is no comparison to a home grown freshly laid egg....

The First Day of 2015.....

I spent the first day of the New Year doing everything I love...even managed to do a couple of hours work from my home office.........then let the chooks out to have a scratch around the yard.......


The ladies scratching around under the fruit trees....

 looked around the vegie gardens in amazement at how much they have grown in the last week...lots of sun and rain....everything is flourishing.

Herb garden, and the pumpkin vines which have gone crazy.

More vegie beds....some nearly finishing and some just taking off..

 My mums birthday today...she turned 82 ....my G boy who turns 4 in March had the best seat in the house...very proud of the cake that he had decorated himself with loads of candles and assorted birthday bits and pieces.

Loving the decorated cake.....lots of birthday love in there.

 Back home in the afternoon to literally put my feet up.....spent a lovely hour or so reading on the back deck in the sunshine....Bliss !

Everyone should take the time to put their feet up once in a while...it's on the NY list.

 Then BBQ dinner outside with my main man.....just waiting for him to cook the sausages for him and tonight for me a lentil pattie....trying to reduce my meat intake...it's on the New Year  list !!


Dinner for two.....in the back yard with the late afternoon sun...lovely

Would be great if the rest of the year goes as well as today ..... fingers crossed.

Another Year Older.....

 Happy 2015...Last night we saw out the old year with some friends....just a quiet night spent chatting, sharing nibbles and a few drinks and waiting for midnight....The older I get the less I feel the need for big celebrations to end the year....but I love new beginnings and love starting with a  clean slate and the chance to reinvigorate my life, passions and what I hope to achieve over the next 12 months.



I do make resolutions but whether I can maintain them or not doesn't matter, the fact that I am lucky enough to live where I have the freedom to make these choices is enough for me.  I'm just happy to be able to do my own thing and try not to judge others for what they do, with obvious exceptions.
Is World Peace and abolition of terrorism too much to ask for in 2015?  Probably, but I will put the message out there anyway.