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.

Too Busy to Blog ........

Don't know where the time has gone but I haven't had a chance to get to the blog in quite a while.  A quick update on how I've spent the last two weeks or so.......monthly luncheon catch up with the gang was held by J&M....delicious BBQ lunch...I had to bring a starter which was sweet potato rostie's which we ate before I got a photo...lovely salad by J&A....scrumptious decadent cheesecake by R and the Big K....a lovely afternoon.... J&M moved into their new house so it was also a  house warming.


Steaks and salads all set to go.....self service at the big island bar.

What was left of the caramel cheesecake which had a delicious caramel sauce to got with it.

Also spent a day crafting with my eldest daughter and we tried our hand at making bath bombs to give as gifts....very easy recipe and I was quite amazed how well they turned out...I made big ones in a recycled plastic donut box...they came out really nice.   

Mixed up the ingredients, citric acid, bicarb, corn flour, essential oil fragrance, colour and water...

Placed the just damp mixture into the moulds and the donut packaging...

They turned out OK....great gift idea and we've put them on the list for homemade Christmas.

We also tackled homemade candles but the soy we used was for pillar not container so we had a few problems but they came out okay in the end....I have kept my empty jars from candles I have either bought or been given over the year and have up-cycled the beautiful jars....very happy with the result....don't think I will ever buy candles again as they are very easy to make and work out much cheaper.

My up-cycled jars being used for more candles...labelled and ready to give as gifts....or keep for myself !

 Also tried a couple of organic beeswax candles....added coconut oil as this was suggested on the internet...the fragrance I used on these ones was caramel & vanilla......they smell fantastic.

Beeswax candles have a beautiful colour....really happy with these ones.

A trip to Red Hill market for the last market before winter was a lovely day spent with my girls and my gboy....they had a petting zoo which he loved.

At the petting zoo which had lovely baby animals...he also feed a kid and a lamb.

Unbelievable my gboy starts school next year...........time really flies..... I just love him to bits .

My little man in full flight at kinder........a school boy next year!

 Sunday saw us all having Mother's day at my mum's place for afternoon tea...... we had a lovely family day and I was very spoilt with perfume, books, chocolates and a pasta machine from my fluffy girls...thanks to my husband.  Looking forward to getting into some homemade pasta !!

 

Eggs at Last............ !!

 Finally a little surprise in the henhouse ....... the girls that I raised from fertilised eggs that I posted about here and here  have laid their first eggs....albeit a bit funny looking....the colour doesn't appear to be uniform on the shell but they were fine inside..... it's the first time I have raised chicks that have laid eggs....previously in 2013 when I put eggs under the clucky mum they were both roosters....this time I got 3 girls.... it's great.

My two funny little eggs......at last they are laying.

All the girls foraging beneath the fruit trees.................they love it.

The six girls out foraging under the fruit trees....three old girls and three newbies.....I just love watching them peck around the garden..... they are such a natural addition to the yard and worth the effort.

The Human Spirit.......

I am always in awe of the human bodies ability to endure......my daughter and a team of friends entered the Oxfam Trail-walker fund raising event.  They managed to walk the 100km in around 35 hours walking through the night, only resting briefly....a true test to their will and determination to succeed......they are all in a lot of pain and blistered feet (which thankfully they were able to have treated by podiatrist's during the event)...but very pleased with their achievement....congratulations girls!!

The team as they headed off at 10:30am on Friday morning

The team when they finished at 9pm on Saturday...a bit worse for wear but still smiling.

My best friend joined me for a stint as support crew at one of the check-points....we fed and watered them and then sent them back on their journey....The Melbourne event raised over 2.5 million for Oxfam... a fantastic cause...to aid global poverty.

The Good....the Bad....& the Sad...!

 We had a lovely Easter....home made hot cross buns on Good Friday..... a lovely sleep in on Saturday...then an Easter egg hunt in the back garden with the Gboy on Sunday morning, followed by Brunch.....and a visit to our parents in the afternoon....My man having 4 days off in a row....perfect.

All ready for the oven......very wonky but who doesn't love imperfection !!

All brushed with sugar syrup and ready to eat..

This week I got around to making tomato relish from some of the last of the crop......followed the recipe I found on the internet and I did think 1/2 cup of salt into the chopped onion and tomatoes seemed quite a lot.....2 cups of malt vinegar also.... and it took forever to reduce.... upon tasting it is very very salty....I checked the comments on the recipe and they all said way too much salt.....I bottled it up anyway and will see how it tastes in a couple of weeks time...such a nuisance using a recipe that I wasn't too sure of.....would love to hear from anyone who has a great tomato relish recipe!


after a quick dip in boiling water the skins come off nice and easy.

Red and a couple of yellow heritage tomatoes, onions.......and loads of salt !



Will see how it goes, but I think it is going to be a bit nasty ...!

 And sadly the little chicken who hasn't been well for quite a while died yesterday......when I went out in the morning to let all the girls out she was just standing there not moving and let me pick her up.....she was so thin......I placed her in a small cage and put her on the porch in the warm sunshine...she laid with her eyes closed all day only waking occasionally.. and the fluffy girls and I sat with her in the sun for ages....she seemed quite peaceful but I wondered if it would have been more kind to put her down....It is such a dilemma but I let nature take it's course..... she had been eating and running around the day before.......hopefully her last day she was peaceful away from the others who were starting to peck at her....I buried her in the backyard under the lemon tree.

Daisy and Daphne sat with me keeping their eye on the poor thing...she was very weak and listless.

Monthly 9 Link-up for March 2015......

 

 Joining in with Linda for the monthly 9 for March.  Where does that time go?

 Nourish:  I was lucky enough to be invited to pick my fill of apples from a local orchard.  Gave loads to friends and family, stewed and froze some and also added my own rhubarb and made a delicious crumble.  Have an abundant supply of rhubarb running wild in the vegie garden so was great to put some to good use.

Apple & Rhubarb Crumble  ..... didn't remember to get a pic until it was almost too late.



 Prepare:  Made a batch of tomato sauce from my tomatoes....not so many this year.  I have another load on the kitchen bench as I write which will hopefully be turned into tomato relish this afternoon!

Homemade tomato sauce....it's a little runny but still tastes good.

Reduce:  Plans are in the pipeline and we may be moving!  Am spending quite a lot of time clearing out cupboards and storage getting rid of all things unwanted.  Trips to the local charity shop are on the horizon.

Green:  Two great books found their way into my hands.  Free-cycled from one of the ladies at book club who was giving away several of her unwanted books.  The Book Thief and Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela ..... I couldn't resist them and happily gave them a new home. 

Free-cycled books....

Grow:  Plenty of fruit on the lemon tree but doesn't appear to want to turn yellow...not sure what's happening there.  Also lots of fruit on the fig tree but it is a constant battle with the local Currawong's to get to them first....those birds wait until they see the purple start to appear on the figs and they are onto it .... looks like I will need to get the bird netting up!

Lemons that don't want to ripen...one is getting almost grapefruit size

Planted out some additions to the vegie garden now that the summer crops are out.  New bed for the potatoes.... and also planted out some snow peas, baby spinach and lettuce.  Another two beds for Broccoli, Cauliflower and Leeks. 

Vegie gardens freshly planted....homemade trellis for the peas using recycled star posts and wire.

Create:  Haven't got to any of my creative projects this month with the exception of the novel.  This is taking up quite a bit of time. Writing Group each Friday is very inspirational and motivating.  Who knows maybe one day I will actually finish it . 

Discover:  It was really a re-discovery, but a beautiful day at the zoo reawakened my inner child... the majestic lions, elephants, gorilla's, birdlife and butterfly house.  Just fabulous and a magical experience to watch my Gboy be enthralled with all that he saw. If only we could all see the world through the eyes of young children.

Enhance:  Bookclub  this month was Her Father's Daughter by Alice Pung.  This is the second book we have had by this  author.  It's a little similar as they are memoirs but still quite a good read.  Also on the nightstand I am eagerly waiting to read my daughter's copy of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. So many books .... so little time.!

This months' book club read

 

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.....just sitting there waiting for me to pick it up!

 Enjoy:  So much to enjoy in March.... not the least the last of the good weather.  We celebrated a significant birthday in the gardens at the Zoo....it's not everyday you turn 4.  Several dinners out with friends, a 21st, an afternoon Tea to celebrate several birthdays...and a 50th where a little too much wine turned into everyone's worst nightmare ...Karaoke !!

Birthday picnic at the zoo for the super GBOY !!

Here's hoping March held something special for everyone else.  Happy Autumn.