May 2016 – Page 3 – Head in the Clouds

Making Money and Cake

This smiley random man knocked on the door this morning asking if it was too cheeky to see if I had any sweet chilli sauce for sale!! He had bought some at one of my market stalls a while back, had run out and apparently once tasted, going back to store bought just wasn’t an option!

By law a street address is required on labels, so he knew where to drop in. The great thing was he bought FOUR bottles! I just made 20 bucks and didn’t even break a sweat!

(recipe here if you want to have a go at this)

I figured if he was cheeky enough to come directly to the manufacturer, I could be cheeky enough to get him to pose for a photo! 😀

That started us off on quite a chat as he was interested in photography and travel too!

The new neighbour offered Jeff $50 to mow his paddock! I tell you – the Millar’s are rolling in it today! 🙂

The weather continues its soggy behaviour. I am still collecting water (old habits die hard) and often use the barrels that are around the yard to hand water potted plants. Saves a bit of electricity as the pump kicks in when the taps are turned on, plus I like hand watering.

One of my water catchment management systems…

My cider vinegar experiment seems to be going along well…

I got hit with the apply smell as soon as I opened the cupboard door! It also frothed up nicely when I stirred it!

I figured I had better try that apple cake recipe myself and see how easy/hard it was.

So much of my kitchenware is rather old fashioned! matches up nicely with my recipes!

Adding the bicarb soda into the cooked apples to watch it ‘frizzle’ was pretty excellent!

One thing that caught my eye about Ruby’s cakes, was her use of butter paper as a tin liner. I am a massive fan of baking paper, because I haven’t got the hang of greasing a tin well enough to get a cake out in one go. But it isn’t that cheap. I have been saving my butter papers to make use of in cooking. I don’t really think I will save a squillion dollars, but every little bit helps, and I love reusing things that normally get thrown in the bin with no second thoughts.

That was todays success!! Turned out perfect!

And below was todays failure

I have spared you the image of the gaping cut and blood. My other finger only just healed and I tried to cut this one off!! Damn that knife was sharp! I was cutting apples for the dehydrator. One slipped and I went to catch it with my knife in hand… ok – really I don’t know how I did it, but my live-in nurse patched me back up with a lot of eye rolling and a promise to buy me a tube of crazy glue.

By late in the afternoon after finishing up in the kitchen (I also did a spag-bol for dinner using one of those containers of tomato, garlic etc packs I made a while back) and feeding more mash to the spoiled chickens and fussing about with this and that, it was really nice to sit down to a hot chocolate and a slice (or three) of that Chocolate Apple Cake!

Here’s hoping for a break in the weather tomorrow so we can enjoy getting outdoors properly for a while!

Cheers

PS there is a really cool little “Visit Tasmania” tourist video I put on my facebook page, just in case you want to get all inspired to visit. 🙂

Source Images: DSC_8037.JPG (Av: F16.0; Tv: 1/1000 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — I miss summer already

Say It With Parsley

I had a lovely afternoon catching up with a friend – also a ‘down the road- across a couple of paddocks-neighbour’.

I got a message that a tray of brownies had just come out of the oven, so I really put my skates on to get down there ASAP!!

A fancy coffee and a still warm brownie!!!

“Have another one” “Noooo – I am trying to walk off some of my excess muffin top you know?” “Oh go on” “A small piece…” “Sure” “mmm… maybe the middle sized piece!”

Cindy and her family are planning on heading off on a Grand Adventure at the end of the year! They bought a whacking great bus and are refitting it into being a motor home & spending a year travelling around Australia!

I hadn’t been introduced to the bus yet or seen the progress so it was pretty impressive to go in and check it all out!

I think I was drunk on brownies by the time I took this wonky photo

The roof of the bus has been raised and it really feels incredibly spacey inside. The little kitchen seems very workable despite being compact – well… it seemed bigger than I expected to find in a bus with full sized stove and good sized fridge!

The kids bedrooms have good space for their things, privacy curtains and are separated from the main bedroom by the bathroom and shower – small but impressive spaces.

Two large drawers will be under each bed

I must say I am a little envious about the disappearing pantries!!

Such an upcoming adventure for them – will look forward to following their progress around the country!

In Other News.

Its still Raining.

And Blowing a Gale!

But the last two mornings we have started out with the sun throwing colourful sparkles from the chandelier in the hallway

Today in a fit of extreme optimism I put a load of washing on… Then as it got closer to finishing, the clouds also got closer… so I chickened out (rightly so) and hung them under cover on the veranda.

Maybe when the rain stops for more than 30 minutes I’ll give the back a clean up.

Its actually amazing how far along dry you can get the clothes even on a wet day. They didn’t take long to finish off in front of the fire this evening. (We don’t have a drier so there is no choice about just shoving them in one to do the job.)

I also made the chickens a pot of mashed potato – mixed with a bit of milk and some other leftovers

Pip decided he needed a taste of course

The chickens scarfed it down like no-ones business! The new girls are yet to get into the swing of things when it comes to gobbling up scraps, but I am sure they will get the hang of it soon

Our girls lay fairly consistently – even through winter. Granted, we don’t get three foot of snow (Actually we get no snow) but even other local chickens don’t do as well as ours I hear… might be something to do with the warm food and general spoiling? Or maybe we have just been lucky.

I sold three dozen yesterday.

I sell ours to family/friends at $4 per doz. which I think is a really good price. Supermarket ‘free range’ (FR eggs are often not exactly that free range either) can be up around $7-8 per dozen.

What do people pay for free range eggs around your end of the world?

Time for me to snuggle down in bed – going to grab a Terry Pratchett book and read while listening to the wind and rain howl outside.

The occasional extras can be seen on my facebook page

Cheers

PS Pip was so happy I got out the clothes horse again – his sleeping place of choice in the cooler months – on the top rack of the apparatus, right in front of the fire! I got loud purrs, kneading paws and several concussing level head-butts!! 🙂

Ruby Tuesday – Chocolate Apple Cake

As I dashed into see Ruby this afternoon the weather had gone from on again-off again sun to completely off along with a drenching downpour, and icy winds just to round things off!

I found Ruby in her lounge room, rugged up with the heater on knitting, as cosy as could be!

I didn’t stop for a cuppa today – just caught up on news of her weekend travels with Margie as they visited several friends & overnighted with family in a posh rental house! 🙂

I promised you the Chocolate/Apple cake recipe, and Margie was kind enough to write it out for me! I think I will have to cook this tomorrow. The weather isn’t going to let up its current behaviour, so will be stuck with indoor tasks.

Chocolate Apple Cake

4oz butter (125gm)

1 cup sugar

1lb apples (cooked) (500gm)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

4oz plain flour (125gm)(all purpose flour)

2 tablespoon cocoa

1 cup Self Raising Flour (self rising flour of course)

1 level teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)

Seriously!! Translating English into English!!

Anyway –

Cook apples with a little water until soft

Sift cocoa & flours together

Cream butter and sugar (Apparently Ruby pops the butter and sugar in the oven as it begins heating to soften it for easy beating)

Add vanilla essence

Stir the bicarb soda into the apples and while all is ‘frizzling’ (A Ruby word) add creamed butter and sugar. Beat well.

Add half of the flour mixture at a time, beating well.

Put in 8″ sq tin (or equiv.) and cook at 180C (350F) until cooked. (Skewer test)

I’ll let you know tomorrow if I can do one as well as Ruby can! (Doubtful)

Have a great day & if you want to see my salvia dancing in the wind, head on over to facebook to see my dodgy time-lapse efforts!

Cheers – I am heading back to my fire! Its a bit icy this evening! The weather page says its 7.9C (46F) but they also add that it feels like 1.9C (35F) I won’t disagree! I am totally going to turn on my electric blanket too! 😀

Rain Continues

For the first time since winter last year, the tanks are overflowing! The rain gauge has refilled and it doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.

My next post may be about how to build an ark… altho my ark only needs to fit two people, one cat, 12 chickens and 2,000 books. (Maybe a guest room so I can pick up the neighbours on the way past – hey Cindy?? 😀 )

No really – despite the gloom I am delighted we are finally getting some good ground soaking rain.

It is also Lisa-soaking

It didn’t take long for my trakkie daks to get pretty soppy.

I was wearing a full length raincoat too! I had to get up the ladder and muck out the water tank sieve that had filled with leaves, sticks & possums.

(ok – I was kidding about the possums)

Seems like the only chooks that have any sense are the three younger new chickens. They stayed firmly in the coop all day, and were nice and fluffy dry. The rest were a pathetic bedraggled lot

The rain has been blowing in too… so pretty much everything on the back veranda is saturated. Only the wood tucked in the very back corner seems reasonably dry (lucky)

We may have to put the outdoor plastic blinds back up this year… I don’t fancy rain coming in the back door

Pip’s attitude to the deafening rain today was simple. Enter sleeping bag & Do Not Leave.

Apart from housework (blah) I did get around to sorting and packaging up a lot of the seeds I have been collecting.

I saved three cobs of corn, but I have no idea if they were hybrids or not (threw away original seed packet) plus I have never collected corn seeds before. Will be interesting to see if they sprout

I am pretty sure there are enough seeds there for next season!

I have not the patience or time to separate the teeny tiny basil seeds, so just took the pods off the stalks and bagged them up. The smell was divine!

Chilli

A mountain of rainbow chard

The chickens are going to love me more next season when I grow this

The cos lettuce seed still needs a bit of drying out

I kept a sunflower – high hopes for a big pretty plot somewhere next season

Remember the tomato laterals I started? Looks like we have two successes and one fatality.

I still retain hopes for the remaining two.

Mind you… the self seeded tomatoes that popped up at Ruby’s that she gave me weeks and weeks ago are going along really nicely – despite the fact I haven’t bothered taking them out of their ice cream container yet!

Can I call that hydroponics??

I was out of potatoes, so I nicked over to the garage and grabbed a new box! We had such a good potato harvest this season. I’ll have to knock off a few sprouts, but they all look really good. (I think there are 4 more boxes to go!!)

For about 10 minutes, just before the sun went down, we got a little colour in the sky.

Enjoy

Cheers

PS Occasional extras via my Facebook Page

Source Images: DSC_4509.JPG (Av: F5.6; Tv: 1/125 sec.; ISO: 1250; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4510.JPG (Av: F5.0; Tv: 1/100 sec.) DSC_4511.JPG (Av: F4.5; Tv: 1/80 sec.) DSC_4512.JPG (Av: F4.5; Tv: 1/80 sec.) DSC_4508.JPG (Av: F5.0; Tv: 1/100 sec.) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1)

Source Images: DSC_4504.JPG (Av: F4.5; Tv: 1/80 sec.; ISO: 1250; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4505.JPG (Av: F4.0; Tv: 1/60 sec.) DSC_4506.JPG (Av: F3.5; Tv: 1/50 sec.) DSC_4507.JPG (Av: F3.5; Tv: 1/50 sec.) DSC_4503.JPG (Av: F4.0; Tv: 1/60 sec.) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1)

Source Images: DSC_4498.JPG (Av: F6.3; Tv: 1/160 sec.; ISO: 1250; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4499.JPG (Av: F5.6; Tv: 1/125 sec.) DSC_4500.JPG (Av: F5.0; Tv: 1/100 sec.) DSC_4501.JPG (Av: F5.0; Tv: 1/100 sec.) DSC_4497.JPG (Av: F5.6; Tv: 1/125 sec.) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1)

Gloomy Sunday

The day started sadly with a death in the family. Poor little Crook Chook went to chicken heaven last night. We palliated her the best we could – She got lots of cuddles yesterday and a cat box inside where it was warm.

Even though we love our chickens, taking a chook down to get a $70 vet bill, where it is unlikely to make a difference anyway, is just not a sensible option. Sometimes we nurse them back to health, and other times we fail.

I didn’t dig her plot today, so she is lying in state (in cat box) waiting for her burial tomorrow (Plus I had to check with Jeff to make sure that I wouldn’t be digging up previous chickens to bury this one!)

(and yes I cried!)

I was pretty boring today (not bored – just not doing anything really interesting!)

It really was a day that was full of gloom. It never really got properly daylight in my opinion.

Source Images: DSC_4447.JPG (Av: F8.0; Tv: 1/100 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 66.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Dark skies all day

Finally I figured I should toss myself outside and go for that walk. I took the camera in the hope something might cross my path that was interesting.

I like getting this far up the river when we kayak Its so peaceful

The river was at a higher tide level this time, which is a lot more aesthetically pleasing.

I came across this bunch of funny cows, whose paddock flanks one side of the path as I start out. They ran away as I got closer, then in true stickybeak-cow style, they started sneaking up on me! I spent a hilarious 10 minutes making them chase me up the paddock – stopping suddenly to turn and look at them so they would stop in their tracks, only to start following me again! (I was hard up for entertainment today) 🙂

Following is the sample of some of the trees that came down in the storm the other day and a sound reason to not go walking when its windy! Wouldn’t be much fun getting clobbered by one of these

I heard several pademelons crashing through the bush – but only got one dodgy photo for you

I didn’t get so much as rained on as constantly sprinkled on today.

You can see where the high tide mark is quite easily

Often when walking this course, you see random items of clothing propped up in trees & on stumps. Kind citizens finding these objects display them better in the hopes the owners spot them and claim them.

Today before finding the little beanie, I also saw a child’s sock. Seems like some kid was slowly shedding clothes on the way around!

Quite a nice little beanie too! I bet there is an annoyed mother out there!

I came home and went to give the girls another feed and was missing three… found that the three youngsters put themselves to bed early! I know a few mothers that would wish their kids would do this!! 🙂

At least they have gotten the hang of the new coop and roost, so we don’t have to go relocating chickens in the dark anymore. They learn quickly!

And lastly – getting the refresher on my limited crochet skills from Margie has been great – I am zooming around my rug and can now cover both legs!!

Best place in the evening, in front of a movie, fire and making something!

I hope what is left of your weekends is great

Cheers

Saturday in the Back Yard

We haven’t taken time to do the lawns etc for a while… and with the rain, Jeff would have only bogged the mower… So things were looking a bit scruffy.

The front lawn isn’t much trouble – just the rest of the weed-laden yard!

Pip is the resident snoopervisor.

Mostly he sits at the end of the lead and howls for me!!

And the chickens are the inspection crew!

The girls are thrilled to have a day out – being let up this side of the yard is a treat.

There are still tomatoes hanging on in there despite the cooling down of the days and nights.

Not bad pickings for May – cucumber plant still going strong!

I think I need to add some broccolini to dinner tomorrow night. (and maybe do some more thinning??)

I planted some wheat (Stolen from the chicken feed) to act as green manure in a couple of the recently dug up areas in the main vegetable garden. Was pleased to see the green shoots poking through.

I’ll wait until this is about 6 inches tall then dig it all back into the ground.

I still have a mass of parsley!

I can garnish anything!! (and everything)

Seems like I am always picking up windfall apples! Most were ok, but the few that had been chewed on were bringing out the European wasps. Trying to keep them off the ground as the less of these we have around the better.

These guys will be so fat that its unlikely they will be able to fly fast!

I finally got onto a much needed job – the one of sorting out the kindling box!! My pet hate is having it full of rubbish and non-kindling sized bits of wood/branches!!

I mean – what the hell is a soccer ball doing in there??

We bought the crate from the tip shop for $10 and its a really good big crate to fill with plenty of kindling/pine cones. I like not having to go out hunting daily for something to start the fire with – especially when its pouring rain, dark and cold.

We have a few ‘dead’ pallets that I will get onto and cut into kindling as well. I pick up pine cones from local plantations and from the paddocks behind us. You can buy kindling, but when you can source it free and have the time, well… our money is definitely better spent elsewhere!

Was nice that the forecast rain never eventuated – it was really good to get out and into these jobs today.

Hope your weekend is going well!

Cheers

Friday’s Footprints – Nikko, Japan (Part One)

During our last trip to Japan we travelled up not so far from Tokyo to explore the famous shrines at Nikko.

This area more than earns its World Heritage title

We spent three days there and could easily have spent a lot longer. Even though I had lived in Japan for a number of years previously, this was one delight I had missed out on until our last trip.

We stayed in an awesome little guest house – The Nikkorisou Backpackers – which was located at the top of the town near the famous Shinkyo Bridge and an easy walk to all the shrines

We totally enjoyed our time at the quirky Nikkorisou Backpackers

The manager, Hiro, was such a great guy. Since we were the only guests at that time, he spent an afternoon driving us up around the mountains to see the sights!

Me (masquerading as a Canadian) with Hiro

He is also a fabulous artist, and some of his work decorated this cool and quirky guest house

Very cool design, by Hiro – on a random wall in the guesthouse!

More on our time with Hiro in another post.

It completely poured on our first day in Nikko – but it really didn’t take away from the splendour of the area

A glimpse of people in traditional clothes – I think this was a wedding

Source Images: DSC_9073.JPG (Av: F5.0; Tv: 1/60 sec.; ISO: 1250; FL: 120.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Still grand in the rain

Mostly on our first day we wandered a bit aimlessly to get a feel for the area (a bit of a damp feel, but it was still an adventure)

We hit the right time for the superb autumn colours (indeed that whole trip we seemed to follow the prime viewing times)

Source Images: DSC_9020.JPG (Av: F5.3; Tv: 1/80 sec.; ISO: 800; FL: 190.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Fabulous green & purple combo

The rain was intense the first day (we felt right at home really! 🙂 ) The rain chains off the shrines were working overtime.

If it wasn’t so important for us to catch our rain water I would have these on our home!

The next day dawned unbelievably differently from the first (yup! right at home with that changing weather thing)

We got up fairly early to go up and see the main shrines & avoid the crowds

The shrines are rich with details and carvings

There are some famous carvings here, like the three wise monkeys and the sleeping cat

Toshogu Shrine is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.

The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists of more than a dozen buildings set in a beautiful forest. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan, where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrines.

Source Images: DSC_9197.JPG (Av: F13.0; Tv: 1/640 sec.; ISO: 1000; FL: 75.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Details

Beautiful ornate shrines are around every corner

The eternal guardians – scary looking fellows

And then you run across some cuteness!

There is a short walk up the hillside through the forest to the actual tomb of Ieyasu.

Back down the mountain, to the beautiful Shinkyo Bridge

I slipped back up on our final night to get some night shots of the bridge

And at the end of the day, nothing like a good soak in the traditional little tub at the backpackers! Bliss

There is a lot more to this area – but will save for another day.

Hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into a stunningly beautiful area. If you get to Japan – do NOT miss this!

Cheers!

Late Night Cooking

Well… just to let you know, its not all Beaches & Sunshine around Norwich House. Behind the scenes I am getting on with a few tasks as well as acting Chicken Wrangler – gently introducing the new girls to the old.

I finally got around to making some pickled beetroot

I had some vague instructions from Ruby, so I just went for it

To be perfectly honest, it tastes bloody awful, so I put the whole thing, pot and all, in the fridge and thought I had better ask Margie for a proper written recipe. The lovely lady handed that over today, so I will be able to hopefully rescue it in the next day or two.

I picked and roasted the rest of my beetroot to make chutney

I had to cut the biggest in half to roast

I’ll add the recipe for this at the end of the post, for those that are interested.

The recipe calls for three Granny Smith apples, but there is no way I was going to especially buy apples when I am still snowed under with our own!!

I did forget about getting some orange juice… happily I remembered I made some orange juice icy poles a while back, so I saved myself a few bucks there!

I had to scrape together a hodgepodge of jars and lids to finish the job as the order I made a couple of weeks ago seemed to have been lost in the ether…

Beetroot relish – a delight mixed in cream cheese as a dip

Naturally five minutes later I find a bunch of boxes on the back porch full of jars, bottles and lids!!

Sigh

However, it did kick start me into restocking my sweet chilli sauce

I like the fat long chillies as they are less fiddly to cut, so I saved a bunch of seeds to hopefully restart next season

The rest of the scraps I put in one of the Origami bins as they can wrap and compost easily, with less chances of the chickens getting into them. I am not sure if they are bad for chooks, but I can only imagine laying an egg is tough enough without the burning sensation of overdoing it on chillies!

I managed to get 9 bottles out of this batch, Mana is getting one to take to Melbourne with her as apparently it “is the best tasting sauce in the whole world” (I am not sure I embellished much 🙂 )

So here we are at 10.30pm finishing up making sauce!

I had to open a window! This was eye-watering!

Chickens

I’ve been slowly introducing the new girls into the old girls company. So far so good… the biggest of our new girls doesn’t take any guff from anyone, so that’s good. The three younger ones are a bit more timid, but they can hang out together. Tonight I transported them all into the main coop – they are sharing two to a nest. (They look cute cuddled up together)

These girls are silky soft to cuddle – altho I had to wait until they were asleep to pick them up

Tomorrow I will pop them up on the roost so they get used to that. Some wing clipping will be in order too… they fly up and over fences too easily and I am not keen to go racing about the paddocks with the cows and electric fences to get them back! (the last time I went near an electric fence I got zapped on the backside – VERY undignified!)

We also have a crook chook – she has had a bad leg for a while. At the moment she is pretty listless with not much appetite. We have her inside at night in the cat carrier and in the hothouse by day where she is warm and sheltered but not too cooped up.

Dunno if she will survive, but she will get every chance.

I am also attempting at the moment to make some cider vinegar

Tonight for the first time I got it out of the cupboard to stir it up

I was quite pleased how it fizzed up. That’s a good sign right???

Its back in the cupboard, but it smells pretty good. I’ll have to find the recipe again to check what I have to do and when. Since its only scrap apple, water and a bit of sugar, its not much of an investment if I get it wrong.

Of course I am still putting apples through the dehydrator. I suspect Jeff is eating them almost as fast as I make them!!

Despite the rain and cold weather there are still a few pretties in the garden – photographed a few in between rainfalls

Since Mana is catching a plane tomorrow, we dropped in to say goodbye to Margie & Ruby. (Not least Macca!) Of course there was cake. (A sponge from Margie!! Yummo)

I am now going to sit for a few minutes with my rediscovered crochet skills before bed!

Cheers!

I had been knitting so much I had forgotten how to crochet.. Went to see Margie for a refresher course! 🙂

Beetroot Chutney

INGREDIENTS

5 beetroots

3 brown onions

3 granny smith apples (or whatever you have)

500ml balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup orange juice

2&1/2 cups raw sugar

½ teaspoon ground cloves

METHOD

Bake beetroot (Approx 2 hours) then dice

chop apples and onion

Put all ingredients in pot and simmer 1 hour

I love this on top of cheese & biscuits (crackers). Also mixed into some cream cheese with a squidge of lemon juice makes a wonderful dip!

Anniversary Bay

Since Mana is heading off Friday, we decided to chance the on & off again rain and take a short hike over to Anniversary Bay

I am kinda liking how the rain stops every time I go out for a walk!! Must have done something to please the Rain Gods. 😀

We walked up the hills on the west side of Sisters Beach, past the wet cave… great views all around really.

Its a reasonably steep walk down

Source Images: DSC_4266.JPG (Av: F8.0; Tv: 1/250 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — No real path on this bit

Once down to sea level you are greeted with rugged rocky shores

Source Images: DSC_4268.JPG (Av: F11.0; Tv: 1/500 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4269.JPG () DSC_4270.JPG () DSC_4271.JPG () DSC_4267.JPG () Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Weather still deciding what to do

Source Images: DSC_4278.JPG (Av: F14.0; Tv: 1/250 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4279.JPG () DSC_4280.JPG () DSC_4281.JPG () DSC_4277.JPG () Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — All part of Rocky Cape National Park

Not far along you start running into fine white sandy beach areas

Source Images: DSC_4293.JPG (Av: F14.0; Tv: 1/640 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4294.JPG (Tv: 1/500 sec.) DSC_4295.JPG (Tv: 1/320 sec.) DSC_4296.JPG (Tv: 1/250 sec.) DSC_4292.JPG (Tv: 1/400 sec.) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Soft underfoot

Source Images: DSC_4303.JPG (Av: F14.0; Tv: 1/640 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) DSC_4304.JPG (Tv: 1/500 sec.) DSC_4305.JPG (Tv: 1/320 sec.) DSC_4306.JPG (Tv: 1/250 sec.) DSC_4302.JPG (Tv: 1/400 sec.) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1)

Time for a few tourist photos 🙂

Every now and again it would get really intensely sunny!

Fabulous stretches of beach along here, and because of its slight remote nature, its never full of people… in fact, seeing one or two is unusual.

You can keep walking west all the way to the lighthouse at Rocky Cape if you are keen

The going gets a lot more rugged as you go west – but great areas to fossick for shells

Generally if we are going to do that, we start at Rocky Cape – someone drops us off and we walk back to Sisters Beach where we will have left our car. We take a picnic, lots to drink and take our time. (usually around 6 hours!!)

I must say the climb back up the cliff was invigorating!!

Finishing up & looking back (not panting TOO much!!)

Source Images: DSC_4365.JPG (Av: F20.0; Tv: 1/200 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Bass Straight

Pretty much ready for bed now – Its still raining off and on. Would be nice for Mana’s last day tomorrow to be sunny and gorgeous – will have to wait and see.

Cheers

Source Images: DSC_4363.JPG (Av: F20.0; Tv: 1/320 sec.; ISO: 500; FL: 20.0 mm) Processing: Fusion F.3 (HDR; Mode 1) — Goodnight

Ruby Tuesday – Knitting & Reminiscing

I love turning up five minutes after Ruby & Margie have had a baking afternoon!! Poor Ruby. I didn’t let her cut that beautiful cake until I had gotten the photo I wanted so I could share it here 🙂

The weather has been continually filthy. Although I won’t complain about the rain – we needed it badly. We woke to no power for a few hours this morning – so I went on my walk. It must have been a wild and woolly night as there were branches and bark strewn everywhere and I counted 16 trees down across the pathway, or nearby.

Jeff was sleeping off a nightshift, and Mana & I mostly knitted. In the end we decided to pop over and see Ruby & Margie, have a cuppa, hear some stories and brush up on our crocheting skills.

While Margie taught Mana the basics of crochet, I sat with Ruby on the couch and asked about her early life in Natone – about 10 miles from Burnie, the ‘major’ town.

Even though your nearest neighbours were a mile away, people helped one another. If someone did a beast, all would often share. Meat that wasn’t consumed within a certain time had to be salted or kept in brine. It was better if people took turns to provide fresh meat.

The post was delivered to the shop about a mile from the house. Whoever went up to the shop collected all the post and left it in a box that was set up outside Ruby’s family farm. It saved a lot of people a long walk in a hilly area. Not many used bikes, the horses were mainly work horses & there were no cars.

Ruby’s father was the first to own a car in that district.

He had a large wagon (they called it a truck) a big flat affair that was about 5mt in length. He would load it up with produce (usually potatoes) and drive the horses into Burnie, where the produce would be put on the ship and sent to the mainland.

It was an all day trip – he mostly walked to spare the 3 or 4 horses that pulled the load.

On one of these trips in about 1924, Ruby’s Dad met a car salesman. The salesman offered him a car, and Ruby’s Dad said, I would buy one if I could drive it! The reply was “I’ll have you driving by this afternoon”

Would you believe it, he was! Got his licence that afternoon as well from the police station and drove it home!! Ruby, who was 8 at the time, said they couldn’t believe their eyes!! She can’t remember who brought the horses and wagon home!

Despite Ruby’s almost total lack of sight, she continues to knit. Bright colours on grey needles help.

The cooler, darker (& decidedly wetter) weather will prevent a lot of time in her beloved garden, so she really needs something to be doing. She is not going to let a little lack of vision stand in her way!

Ruby is not happy ‘sitting around being a useless old woman’ Creating something, growing something, helping someone. It keeps her young!

These strips, Margie will sew into rugs when done, and very smartly, Ruby has three on the go at once. So that way if she makes a mistake on one, it can be put aside for Margie to sort out in the morning, and another one picked up to continue knitting!

Mana leaves us in a couple of days, so its nice to have some family snaps (& cake) before she heads off to the Big Smoke (er – Melbourne)

And the cake was good – better than good. I was so engrossed in eating it, writing stories & relearning my crochet that I forgot to get the recipe! I will have to make Note To Self and post it at a later date (it had a pound of apples in it!!!!)

Have a super day!

Cheers