The First of Many......

I've had my first volunteering experience with the CWA......Australia Day found me up at 5:30am for a 6am start at the local church...helping serve up free breakfast to 60 or so lucky souls...sponsored by the local council, Anglican Church, Rotary and the CWA.....following the breakfast I also served free tea and coffee at the Australia Day festival in the local civic park from 5:30pm until 7:30....these old country girls really know how to look after the locals......I loved it !!

A few of the CWA ladies taking a quick break with a well earned cuppa..

Some attendees singing along with the band to Advance Australia Fair..

It really warms the heart to help out among the community...I was so glad to be a part of this lovely group of committed country women...there's so much I can learn from them all...kindness and generosity of spirit just for starters.

Those Darn Apron Strings .....

Is it ever to late to have an epiphany about your relationship with your children??....Recently I have realised that I still try to control  advise my adult daughters occasionally.......always unintentionally ....but now finally understand how frustrating this must be for them.   They are grown women and I need to let them make their own decisions regardless of what I think...and stop voicing my own opinions on how they do things....my comments are always efforts to help them and protect them....but it really is time to cut the apron strings and let my beautiful girls live their lives without mum's two cents worth giving them grief....let them work things out in their own way and stop trying to protect them (from whatever it is I am trying to protect them from?).....It's time to realise that perhaps mum doesn't always know best....even though she thinks she does.

Letting go is never easy....but it feels good to finally recognise it .

More Than Just Tea & Scones......

Yesterday I joined the local Country Women's Association....they were just fabulous....admittedly I am a decade or three younger than the majority of members...but what an amazing bunch of elderly ladies they are....so motivated, focused and welcoming... I was a little disconcerted when one of the gorgeous septuagenarians sat down at the piano and belted out a verse of the national anthem and they all sang along....this apparently happens at the beginning of each meeting...but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things....... .I'm really excited to be joining the group.  Have already put my hand up to volunteer on Australia Day at a memorial breakfast at the local church hall....6am start !!...these old country gals really do an amazing job...fingers crossed I wont let the team down...hope I can keep up with them....seriously...they are very enthusiastic and committed and what they lack in physicality they more than make up for in endurance !  I'm also hoping to gather a few delicious recipe's ...... the afternoon tea yesterday had the most amazing slices...watch this space .

The insignia for the CWS....a great bunch of ladies.

Spent this morning in the vegie garden and am slowly getting a bit of variety growing out there....the beetroots have started coming up, my first cucumber, early snow peas and silverbeet....I need to find  a good recipe to use the silverbeet as I'm not really a big fan...but have made a commitment that we eat everything that we grow. 

The garden is finally starting to show some results

Currently reading the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner...All the light we cannot see....the author is definitely an incredibly gifted writer and the story is fabulous...but the continual flipping back between time periods and characters made it a less enjoyable read for me...would still recommend this as a great book and well worth the effort.

2015 Pulitzer Prize winner...always a controversy over the winning novel.

It's going to be stinking hot here again tomorrow....41c and then some in other areas....this is the hottest summer I can remember for quite a long time.....hurry up and grow trees in my yard !

Keeping it Simple......

I had a quick burst of zucchini's which now unfortunately seem to have halted...I think it's the weather...very hot and very windy days are not the friend of many of the vegies in the garden.....did manage to make a vegie lasagne using up the four zucchini's I had managed to grow...had a mixed "left over" vegie layer, pumpkin, tomato and zucchini and a spinach and ricotta layer...topped off with cheese sauce.... washed down with a glass of sav blanc....not too shabby !

 

Last night's vegie lasagne....wasn't brave enough to make my own lasagne sheets just yet !

All the vegies are good for you....not so sure about all that lovely  melted cheese though.

The old charmer over the back fence is back from his Queensland holiday and popped his head over when I was out feeding the feathered girls......he had a couple of ears of corn he had grown so I swapped him for a capsicum from my garden.....he also bought over  a pile of silverbeet that went to seed while he was away which he tossed to the chooks....we talked tomatoes and cucumbers before he  headed back home....my tomatoes are a bit lacklustre.....there are tomatoes but the plants are still very small....hhmmmmm....I am blaming the weather again !!...although old Les tells me it's because I'm not planting basil next to them and using magnetics like he is.......maybe next year.


Tomato and chilli from my garden....swapped the neighbours corn cobs  for one of my capsicums.

 Today was also bath the dogs day......they hate the bath and it is quite the struggle....I think I get more water on me and the laundry than I get on them....final result is two lovely white fluffy girls....impossible to get a picture of them together....they won't sit still long enough....they are a pair of characters and nothing alike in personality...one easy going and one very highly strung...I have a favourite...I know ...it's wrong....but they don't know so it's ok....I love them both.

Daisy always smiling...

Daphne  nervous as always....

A New Year....A New Day

2016 arrived without it's usual bells and whistles for me.....I had a tough lead up to Christmas and wasn't really prepared... or in the festive spirit...very unlike me. But the start of a fresh year always rejuvenates me and inspires me to get back to basics and doing the things that make me most happy.  I have finally had a go at making my own pasta with the machine that has been waiting expectantly to be used for quite a long time......I definitely need a lot more practice ...it looked okay but I think the texture was not quite right ... my lovely husband ate it anyway, but I thought it was very ordinary.  Hopefully practice will make perfect and I will keep at it.

I have planted out the existing vegie beds as we await for major yard construction to be started.  We need to add additional retaining walls as the new yard is quite steep and I want more vegie growing room...you can never have too many vegie beds...The soil here in Gippsland is reddish clay..... needs a fair bit of help to get stuff growing in it.  It's also quite windy here, something we are not used too, and the garden takes quite a battering. 

Have managed to grow a couple of zucchinis and capsicums already.  I had to place some lavender plants around the place as we had quite a bee shortage....hardly any to be seen and not a lot of pollination was going on...the lavender have bought a few into the garden but I definitely need more...my own hive is hopefully on the agenda very soon !!

 

 

 

Better Days Ahead ...

It's been a tough couple of days....sending my love to my nephew.  Hang in there kiddo, things will not always appear as bad as they are now. 

Look out for those you love.....Life is precious and we should use it wisely.

Lovin' the Country Life.....

Since moving to Gippsland I am falling in love with the country lifestyle...it's just amazing here.  The locals are incredibly easy going and friendly...even the Real Estate agent who sold us the house called around for a chat and to see how we were settling in...and did I mention the markets ..... every weekend there is a local market here and the surrounding towns...so far I've tackled Drouin, Warragul , Rokeby and Yarragon....lovely little markets...while they are no Red Hill they are lovely and quirky in their own way.

Gorgeous morning tea at a lovely café in Yarragon....china tea cups for my green tea  ...yay  !!!

 Last weekend was our monthly catch up with friends and the big K and Robbie were the hosts....we had a Christmas celebration and as usual loads of delicious food.



J and A surprised us with festive dips!!...spinach and beetroot inspired by Karen Martini no less...delicious

I took along a Christmas Trifle...yes I know a bit daggy...but it was a festive theme with red and green jelly.....forgot to get a pic before we ate it. 

Turducken ( I think that's it), home smoked ham and amazing vegies from the hosts and J & M...scrumptious !

 With Christmas almost here and so much celebrating and drinking ahead I am trying to eat a healthy lunch each day to combat all those calories.....delicious salad two days in a row now...that's a record for me I think.

Healthy salads for lunch...including my home grown sprouts.

 Got my sprouter up and running....have grown alfalfa and broccoli sprouts....was a bit surprised by how funky the broccoli sprouts smelt...thought I had done something weird...but apparently they always smell a bit pungent....they taste great and I am happily adding them to my salads.

All good in the sprouter...they pop up in a couple of days...very easy.

 My lovely old neighbour over the back fence popped in yesterday morning ...early !!...knocked on my back door with a feed of rainbow chard and rhubarb ...... I gave him 1/2 dozen eggs the other day and he was pretty chuffed....I love country people.

Home goodies from Les....my new gardening buddy...he's 78 and loves his vegie garden.

We have a fantastic blackberry patch in the garden...complete with bird netting....which we inherited when we moved in....it has the biggest blackberries I have ever seen and they are delicious. Can't wait until all the stuff I've planted gets going....hopefully not too long.

Blackberries and eggs.....not much in the vegie patch yet but hopefully soon !

Our neighbour over the road...Leo the ex minister....just brought my bins up the driveway and left giving me a big wave through my glass front door......... Lovin' this country life.

The Quest for a Simpler Life....

It's been nearly two months since I've been in the mood to update my blog....so much has happened that has drained a lot of energy and taken a large chunk of my life.....hopefully much of it is now almost resolved...have had an aged care assessment on my dad which will hopefully improve not just my parents quality of life but mine also !....we have moved to the new house 3 weeks ago and all is now going well....so much drama with Telstra/Internet and still missing my mail redirection from Australia Post..3 weeks and still waiting !!....it seemed like my dream of an even simpler life was never going to happen....but I think it finally has...my man and I are now debt free and can't believe the feeling that it brings. We are now furiously planting out the back yard and I am joining a permaculture group so that we can be a little self sufficient in the garden.

First things first we organised the new accommodation for the feathered girls...it's a much better set up now and the ladies are very happy with their new digs.

the coop and custom built chicken run.......I traded some bookkeeping with a builder and he built the run in exchange.

 The yard has a few overgrown garden beds which were covered in weeds and we found some struggling strawberry plants which we managed to resurrect and they are going pretty well now in what I loosely term "the strawberry patch".

the resurrected strawberry patch.....hopefully some strawberries coming our way soon.

lovely little nest in amongst the rose hips......

Found a delightful surprise behind the rose bush that runs along the back fence.......when the little lady got off her nest I snapped a quick pic of her 3 baby blue eggs...not sure what type of bird she is but the nest is beautiful and a lovely reminder that Spring is still in the air.

Three little eggs......I'll keep my eye on them for when they hatch

Have meet quite a few local country characters since we've moved in....an elderly chap out the back who is apparently the best tomato grower in the district....or so he says !...Les is 78 years old and quite the old charmer....will definitely be taking gardening tips from him.

Unexpected inspiration......

At writing group this afternoon we had a visitor who had arranged to sit in on our class.  She was the most amazing young Indonesian Islamic woman who has written and published four books....you can read about her here Okky Madasari ...... is in Australia for 4 weeks and arranged to attend our group through the community house who run the course.  It was sobering to hear her speak of the issues facing her country....population of 200 million......mind boggling for such a small island......around 90% are Islamic.    I only wish those among us who spread hatred for the Muslim community could hear from someone like Okky. This gentle, highly educated, well spoken woman is a credit to her people.....It was eye opening to hear her talk of the problems in Indonesia including fundamentalist Muslim groups terrorising moderate Indonesian residents...she has also just travelled through Germany promoting her book and has seen first hand the issues facing the refugees on the borders.  The humanitarian crises around the world is something that we Australians should not turn our backs on.  It's an enormous problem that needs a united global solution.

 Okky Madasari  is an Indonesian author and journalist. She won an Indonesian major and most celebrated literary prize, Khatulistiwa Literary Award, in 2012 for her third novel, Maryam. At the age of 28, she is the youngest ever to win this prestigious award. Her novels were shortlisted three years in a row by the same award.

A Return to Simple Days....

Such a lot going on at the moment..... hopefully all will calm down soon and life can get back to the simplicity that I love.   Moving house is certainly one of those times when you can take stock of all your "things" and realise you don't really need as much "stuff" as you think you do.  I hope to clear out all unnecessary "things" .... and reduce us down to mainly just the essentials.
There is a lot to do before we move in just 7 weeks...the time goes so fast and I really need to find the time to just stay in the moment and enjoy life.
We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary last weekend....unfortunately too busy helping my beautiful girl move house herself to get up to much celebrating...but we will hopefully take time out this weekend for a nice dinner for two.

Beautiful bouquet from my lovely man for our anniversary...hyacinth's  my favourite flower

 Managed to squeeze in a trip to the clippers for my fluffy girls....Daisy looks so funny when they trim all of her hair and eyelashes away....all eyes and nose.

Gorgeous Daisy after her haircut......I much prefer them shaggy . but she looks lovely and clean

 With our impending move I needed to sort out which chickens would be coming with us as we are moving to a much smaller yard.....I decided to keep the three youngest girls who I have raised from eggs, as all three lay eggs every day... my two lazy light sussex and one 4 year old isa have been retired to a small farm....and no that is not a euphemism for putting them down....they have literally gone to live on a lovely little property with 13 other chickens...four horses, three cats and three dogs....I know they will be happy there among a pair of staunch animal lovers. 

Three younger girls are coming with us...

Have not planted any vegies in our patch so nothing is growing and I miss it so much not being able to go outside and get food from the garden......can't wait until I have things up and running at the new house....hopefully in time to have some goodies in during Spring !!

We're on the Move .....

We managed to sell our house at our first open for inspection......thankfully we have been looking for our new home for quite a while and one we had our eye on luckily hadn't sold and we have managed to buy it.....Drouin here we come.

 Have been flat out and not managed many posts of late....we enjoyed our monthly luncheon with friends and it was our turn.....we made pulled pork sliders....my man (who is a very inexperienced cook !)  did a great job and cooked the pork in among other things Pale Ale.....it was delicious....I also made brioche buns.... a first for me and the recipe only made 8 buns so I had to include bap rolls as well....also made a coleslaw....they were really nice ......loads of delicious food , wine and good friends....a great afternoon !!

I had beetroot dip and Yarra Valley Goats cheese for starters.

J&M produced the most amazing caramalized onion, blue cheese and pear pizza's....

Our pulled pork and crispy crackling......J&A supplied potatoes 2 ways....very masterchef

Coleslaw to go with the sliders.....casual luncheon buffet style.

Pork Slider on my home made brioche bun......delicious

The big K's dessert to die for....verjuice panna cotta with poached pears and a tuile....YUM

The Blogging Experience.....

Blogging and following people on line is an intriguing journey...... Sharing event's and experiences with people all over the world.  This morning I find myself in tears over the death of a dog I've never touched, belonging to a man I've never met, in a town I've never heard of. .... yet the loss of beautiful Meg brings me to tears...I've been following John's blog for over a year now and you really start to feel like you know them and care about what happens it their lives.  Meg had been sick for a while and had been given expert care by John before he had to make the difficult decision to put her to sleep. Hope John doesn't mind that I've shared a picture of Meg here as a puppy with her pal George.



Meg (she's the blonde) and George from Going Gently

Having to say goodbye to pets is such a difficult thing and John shared his experience with such honesty and love.  RIP Meg.

We're on the Market....

Haven't been here for a while.....it's a busy process getting your home ready for sale....but it's on the market as of yesterday..  Problem now is finding another one....fingers crossed the perfect house will turn up.  It's a bit sad to be selling, I really love it here but we've made a lifestyle decision to prepare ourselves for retirement.  Debt free will be amazing.   

It's really cold in the hills this week....winter is letting us know she's around.  Hope we get a sunny day on Saturday for our first open for inspection.

The Dirty B Word.....!

Yikes....Budget......We have been to see a financial advisor recently and yes the news is out...I spend too much money...no surprise really, I've never been much of a saver.  We are however needing to prepare ourselves for retirement in the not too distant future....my man is 61 this year.  Sooooo the dirty B word has raised it's ugly head again and yes we are putting ourselves on a budget....we have a plan to get out of our mortgage...sell up ...move a bit further out and buy a home mortgage free. Get completely out of debt and try to live on the weekly $figure that the financial advisor has set for us.  If we do things according to his plan in 4 years we should be able to have a comfortable retirement.... I know I will struggle on a fairly tight budget but there are heaps of blogs out there with good advice...fingers crossed and see how we go.

Meanwhile the garden is still producing a little....


broccoli , mixed lettuce, lemons and my first Protea flower from the garden...they are really lovely.

Managed to get a few figs off the tree before the birds consumed them all....

Now I just need a recipe to use them in !

One of my few remaining pumpkins grown this year....it was huge and tasted delicious.

We had our monthly luncheon catch up with friends and I had to bring soup....naturally my home grown pumpkin made a delicious soup...... that was budget friendly !

Pumpkin soup with caramelised onions ... garlic croutons and a little cream.

We ate outside as the weather was quite mild...even little Charlie joined us under the table.

Pork fillet inside whole pineapple wrapped in prosciutto........from the big K

Fondant Potatoes...there was also a lovely brussel sprouts dish. 

What can I say.....Lemon Meringue Pie from J&A....Yum.

Lastly it was so cold this morning that I spoilt the ladies with a warm breakfast of porridge....yes I can hear you saying that isn't in the budget.....still got a lot of lessons to learn.....but they were pretty happy.

Rolled outs and my homemade yoghurt for the girls.....probably need to get no-name brand oats now.

The feathered girls were very happy with breakfast today.

Winter is well and truly with us....my days will be spent trying to keep warm as we prepare to put our house on the market....watch this space.