April 2017 – Page 3 – Head in the Clouds

More Ticks Off My List

Its hard to get jobs done when your cat is racing about like a maniac trying (successfully) to get your attention. Clearly he had regressed to kittenhood this morning!

Masterful job at hiding. Pity about the furry backside sticking out!!

Anyway, among other things I did manage to get the batch of bbq sauce done. Some of that will be coming with me to Texas. (haha – is that like taking ice to Antarctica?)

My chef-sister Michelle’s special recipe – and it tastes good!!

All those extra tomatoes I chopped yesterday I made into a sauce and cooked some meatballs. Its great I still have plenty of herbs as well to throw into these dinners.

Even better there is plenty for leftovers tomorrow night so no cooking.

Thats my Kitchen Goddess, Anoia. I invoke her when my cutlery drawer gets stuck 🙂 (Terry Pratchett fans might recognise her)
The other t-towel I can’t bear to use is this perfect one I found –

Have a great week everyone!

Cheers!

Today I was actually meant to have a heap of photos of me covered in mud running about, climbing over obstacles and crawling through water.
They were meant to run the ‘Burnie Challenge’ today but it was postponed due to inclement weather… Bad weather would have made it more awesome in my opinion! I am to stay tuned to when it will be rescheduled.

So I spent some quality time chopping tomatoes.
6lb went into the sauce – I am making bbq sauce (sorry – the only recipe I can’t share) I only made the first part because somebody ate all the brown sugar and didn’t tell me!!

No – it wasn’t Pip – it was the other blue-eyed boy!

I cut up more tomatoes and cooked them – Will find space in the freezer tomorrow or make some fancy pasta dish with them.

Then I went out in the (pouring) rain and picked more.
Seems like we are about at the end of the corn (sob) But zucchinis are still appearing – how on earth they suddenly appear so big is beyond me!
Damn – I just remembered I left all the eggs in the nest! I didn’t put them in with the veggies because some little charmer pooed all over them! Yuck.

I am slowly working through my list of things to do before Texas.
I am hoping to get a small notebook written for my friends daughter who is getting married and her (soon to be) husband with some house holding tips (clearly not the cleaning type of tips though haha)
But I have a good number of simple ‘go – to’ recipes I use that don’t cost much in time or money to make and am pretty good at budgeting and fairly ok now at gardening. 😀
Since this will be their first time out running/managing a household I thought maybe a small book on things I have found useful might be handy for them.
And I can include pretty pictures!
Anyway, its a work in progress!
I also ordered some ‘business cards’ I tend to make friends wherever I go (and invite them to Tasmania – haha, Jeff has stopped rolling his eyes about this and started inviting people all on his own!!)
I just figured it would be easy to hand out a card with my details instead of looking like a lunatic with no pen. (or paper)

Its pretty simple – and if anyone spots an error, don’t write to me about it.
Snicker. Its too late!

Hope everyone has had an awesome weekend!

Cheers!

Bunnies

Hello!
It rained and rained and poured and was generally soggy today.
So I got to and finished a bunny I had been (very slowly) working on for our Canberra neighbours daughter. (Best neighbours ever – even though we have all moved since our Canberra days we class each other as ‘neighbour’ 🙂

Thought I would give you a quick rundown on how to make a knitted bunny.
First – knit a square. You choose size & colour etc

Outline of where your running stitch goes

Using wool of the same colour (cream colour used above so it stood out for the photo) tie off one end at the midpoint of one of the sides of the square and tack a triangle. (Just big running stitches)

Pull the thread tight and the square will bunch up to start forming the head and ears

Bit messy but you can sort of see the shape

Stuff the head full of stuffing and sew the head hole closed

Sew down back and bottom until small gap left

Stuff the body full and then sew up remaining hole. I don’t follow the seam for the last bit – I flatten it out as shown below so the bunny front sits better.

I then tidy up loose threads, sew the ears into a better position if they are weird, pop on a tail and embroider some eyes (and in todays case weird whiskers)
And a ribbon

He kinda looks like he has a mono brow… !!

Anyway, they are really easy and pretty quick. When I learned to do them I couldn’t stop and there was a bunny explosion at Norwich House.
I haven’t done lots for a while because I got obsessed with shawls and facewashers and they take so much longer.
Here are a few of my past bunnies that have since gone off to other homes (mostly kids at Jeff’s hospital)
Cheers!

This lot were made out of pure wool – merino or alpaca – handspun and dyed. I made them for a friends new baby in Japan. They were having their last meal before their flight.

Bon voyage! (Even a stowaway!)

Taking You For A Walk

We spent most of the day in the shed putting aside items and pricing them for hopefully an upcoming garage sale.
Not very thrilling in the blogging arena, so thought I would take you on a quick trip around Speelers Track at Cradle Mt.

So pull on your virtual hiking boots (raincoat advisable)

Almost immediately we came across a hiking warning sign – something about steep sections and undefined tracks, don’t go unless you are experienced…

That’s the undefined track above!!

It was a pretty walk – lots of green mossy trees

Every now and again we would come out into a more cleared space before going back into the dim forest

You can just see the old wooden bridge under our feet and the new bridge

From here the track got really soggy. I don’t know if you can see clearly above but the track was also doubling as a small waterfall. And where there were no rocks – there was mud

Like this deceptively deep mud puddle – that I skillfully located.

Stop and rest for a moment – its a nice view back towards Cradle…

Quietly look over to your left… someone is watching us!

The red fungi really stood out in that sea of green

Even though there were tracks… I was getting dubious about if we were on the right path

The sun came out to light up the trees which was rather lovely against the grey skies in the background!

And lucky us – a rainbow!

See that furry backside?? This wombat wasn’t sticking about to say hello! They move surprisingly fast for a fat barrelled animal!

We did actually lose the path at the end – a bit of cross country brought us back to a main track.

This fellow very used to humans was intent on his dinner and didn’t care how close we were.

Anyway, that’s our little walk done – time to go and put your feet up!

Cheers

Raspberry Jam

Hello!
Finally got to some of the cooking that is lurking about on my list!
Two packs of raspberries turned into jam today.
The freezers are full to the brim so taking anything out to cook is a good thing!
I did two batches – as anyone who cooks jam knows (unless they have some tricks I don’t know about) jam doesn’t set if you cook it in large quantities! My upper limit is 3lb (Using Nanna’s old scales of course)
I don’t use anything but the jam, sugar and lemon juice.
Looking forward to my toast tomorrow morning.

Got a bit more done in the herb garden. Collected a bagful of fennel seeds! Although getting the plants out will require a shovel – the roots hang on!

Time to tidy the feverfew

A rogue something or other has popped up in the layered garden I made but never planted anything in. I think it may be a pumpkin. Way too late, but I will let it have its fun. Looks happy enough.

The thick layering of newspaper in this patch has been extremely effective in stopping weeds.

The salvia has exploded again! I can never get over how it bounces back after pruning it to the ground each season!

My hydroponic rose surprised me with a pretty bunch today. (I only call it that because the poor thing lived in a barrel of water for two years while I procrastinated about where to plant it! It clearly had a will to live)

I went to collect eggs… got sidetracked by the tomatoes. I needed a bigger basket, so will have to go back tomorrow and comb the plants more thoroughly… I just picked the obvious ones this evening.

We also squeezed in another hike this afternoon as it had been a few days since our last one. I had the camera out for the inland part of the walk with the longer lens as every time we have been lately we have seen at least one tiger snake and several wallabies.
Clearly a camera is a good animal deterrent – no snakes and not one bouncy thing to be seen! Annoying!

Oh well… it was a beautiful, if somewhat hazy, afternoon!

Cheers

No Photos

Hello!

Pretty unusual hey? Not one click on the camera shutter today. That feels a bit weird to tell you the truth!
I was running about a lot – errands plus it was Jeff’s b’day that I was grossly under prepared for because we discussed this a few weeks ago – we decided on getting some hiking tents later in the year when the finances had recovered.
Then the whole fancy couple of nights away happened for my birthday.
So I dashed into town to pick up something I had been thinking to get him for a while. (Chromecast so he/we could watch Netflix & such on the normal telly, not his little tablet! Once he woke from night shift and worked out what it was he was pretty rapt. )
I also baked a cake. (as one should do)

***

So – I stumbled across some information about clearing US customs that reported about people being requested for their mobile phone and other devices along with their passwords for inspection.
Is it going to look really dodgy when I say I don’t own a mobile (cell) phone? Smart or otherwise? Or an ipad or anything similar?

In fact – is anyone else left out there that doesn’t run their life from their mobile phones?? Is it just us and Ruby?? haha
Seriously. Would love to know if any of you cope with life without a mobile phone and why.
I have had them in the past, but never really used them very well. In the end it was a drain on money for something I have easily lived without for quite a few years now.
Being mobile-phone-less you notice the phone habits of others more keenly. Bit like being the only non-smoker in the room!! Some people have to attend to calls/messages/notifications really frequently which makes normal conversation with them quite disjointed.

I get all my messages and info via my PC at home – which isn’t even a laptop! lol.
So when we step outside the room, the house or the property we are really free! I like that!

Anyway – sorry for the lack of pretty colours in my post. I will put in a better effort tomorrow for sure!

Cheers!

A Few More Tasks Done

Hello!
How has everyones week started?
The last couple of days I have been trying to work through some essential food processing tasks among other things to get back on track.
Unfortunately it seems my list is getting longer and not shorter!

Yesterday I got to the corn. Tonight I made chicken sweet corn soup with some of it and it was pretty good!

The chooks were really happy as they got the cobs to play with!

They are totally bored of the tomatoes, but the corn is still a very exciting treat!

Yesterday the stall made $5!!
*Shrugs* its $5 I didn’t have before.
Today was much more impressive… $25! One lady I invited in as she showed interest in some other things, so we went around the garden with her little boy picking carrots, herbs, chillies – I don’t put everything out there as I just have to deal with it if it doesn’t sell.

While it doesn’t look much – there is an awful lot of tomatoes in those 4 containers!! I got all the manky tomatoes – ones that were going a little funny or had been nibbled on (Basically anything not being sold to passers by) cut out all the dodgy bits and made up a pasta sauce (Along with my capsicums, onion, garlic & herbs)
Just got to find room to get them into the freezer. They will be great to have when we no longer have the fresh produce.

I did a small amount of actual gardening.
This has been driving Jeff mad – my collection of dead sunflowers and sweet peas.
I wanted to collect seeds so I needed time to get to it – ripping things out is easy. Collecting the seeds, more tedious!

Pip was my cheer-squad

Anyway, it was a start. Next is to collect the fennel seeds and pull all those up – they are getting a bit messy too.
Actually everything is messy right now!!

This afternoon I went up to see my cousin, Fiona and return the camping/hiking gear that her family was generous enough to lend us! It was great using their stuff and deciding what gear we want to invest in to continue this hiking thing!

On the way home I was lucky enough to see a pretty nice rainbow -so I actually stopped the car to get out and get a few shots.
Seriously – I am such an A to B person when driving. I hate stopping!!
But I think it was worth the pause to admire!

Cheers

The Overland Track – Day Six

Hello! Finally had a chance to get the last images done to wrap up this amazing hike.

Morning at Windy Ridge was beautiful. The sun hitting the mountains and watching the clouds roll over them was a fabulous way to start the day

We packed our gear for the last time – we were aiming to get the ferry at the next hut and finish our journey. We hadn’t booked it though, so it was a bit of pot-luck.

No more crazy uphills for todays walk. We were heading to Narcissus which was a pretty gentle walk down the glaciers path. Lots of wonky paths and small streams to cross but nothing to test us like the rest of the hike.

Other crossings mean balancing on rocks – not so straightforward with the big packs on!

I couldn’t find in my book what this berry was. Great colour tho

We had a lot more of these smoother paths under our feet on the last day

Even though it was a short day, we still adhered to our ‘packs down every hour’ rule

All of a sudden we were in open country again

We reached the little suspension bridge and we knew Narcissus Hut wasn’t far away. Felt a bit weird though – like I hadn’t done enough work for it to be over!

It was a hot day and the river looked rather inviting.

Rachel had gone ahead today and the hike was too short for us to catch her! But she had gone and arranged the ferry – almost. She had passage for Jeff and the three packs – but Rachel and I had to pack day packs in case the ferry had a couple of no-shows before we knew if we would be taking the 30 minute ride to the end, or doing the 17km walk!

Plenty of people were taking a well earned dip in the lake while waiting for the ferry

This young lady – one of the guides – was on her last of possibly 60-100 of these hikes! (she has lost count!!) Apparently rain, hail or shine, she jumps off the jetty!

Our ride arrived and happily for us, the people that didn’t confirm earlier still hadn’t showed, so we could all jump on board together

So – back to the car, which was happily where we left it and full of cake, drinks and biscuits!

It was really one of the best things I have done – despite the pain and tiredness at times, the positives far outweighed those discomforts.
There is something beautifully simple about getting up, putting your gear on your back and walking to your next sleeping spot. Eating, sleeping, then doing it all again. No chores to worry about, nothing from your usual life can be done, so you narrow down your focus and enjoy the breathtaking and stunning scenery before you.

Thanks for reading about the adventure – We are very keen to do it again some day!!

Catching Up On Home Tasks

I accidentally got up at 7am this morning. Our daylight savings ended, but even 8am is not my optimal time.
However… I was partway through my coffee and fully awake before I realised it.
Suppose I could start working through that ‘to do’ list that I haven’t gotten around to writing yet!

I put the stall out the front first thing – had a friend drive by and pass me $20 out her car window – she raided the garden while we were on the Overland Track and was squaring up what she owed. Cool. Easy start.
Not many other people stopped by today – only picked up another $5.20! But happily the same friend dropped by and restocked up on vegies but instead of getting money off her, she is bringing me some of her home made goats milk soap in exchange. I can use those for some presents on my upcoming trip.

I zoomed on down to the local market today to pick up some wheat for the chooks. Dropped in to see Margie and Ruby – Margie had made me a lovely sponge cake for my birthday, so it was an extra special visit for a cuppa and catch up!

Keeping a few beetroots on the stall table

It wasn’t on my (mental) list but we had run out of laundry detergent. Not good when you have a bunch of smelly hiking clothes to wash! So I made a batch of it. I didn’t have the borax, but it still should do an ok job.

I am rather keen to get into the hothouse and sort it out a bit. I didn’t but wanted to show you the late self seeded tomatoes that are taking over the world in there!! They have gone mad!

The more pressing garden task was to pick the last of the corn from the first patch and pull up the plants

They are just past their best, so I really wanted them picked so I can get the kernels off the cobs and freeze them for later use.

We aren’t the only ones enjoying the corn. The chooks get a few dodgy cobs and they love them! Keeps them amused for ages!

I’ll still need to dig out a lot of the roots. Once this is all dry I will run it through the mulcher and add it to the compost

Yet another self seeded tomato producing well… this one in the middle of the second corn patch!

And more tomatoes.

We even made time to hike the circuit around Anniversary Bay this afternoon!
Got to keep the momentum going!

I am about done for the day!
Maybe tomorrow I can write that list and then panic properly about what I have to get done before leaving the country! 😀

Cheers!

Slightly Kidnapped

Sorry I dropped off the airwaves there!!
Jeff just got about a years worth of ‘husband points’ by sneakily sorting out accommodation up in Cradle Mt NP!
I thought I was going hiking for the day!! He pulls into the car park of one of the fancy lodges and says.. ‘We’d better book in first’ !!

Two nights in a spa cabin for my birthday and late 10th anniversary!!
Bliss!!!

Followed by a moment of panic wondering what clothes I would be forced to wear for two days since Jeff (of course) packed.
Then there was the realisation that I suck at fashion sense and I don’t actually care, so anything he brought was bound to be better than my choices!

He did pretty well – although in the ‘crisp’ mountain air, the three quartre pants were a bit breezy!

It was all so posh!! There was a complimentary bottle of champagne and a chocolate platter left for us with a congratulations on our anniversary card! How special!
Then one of the staff knocked on the door to ask if we wanted him to… and I can’t remember what he exactly said… something about getting the room ready for the evening.
So ‘not used to posh hotels me’ asks “What does that entail?” and apparently he closes all the blinds and turns down the bed covers!!

I was totally amused/impressed but said no thank-you that we would manage. He asked if I would like the chocolates anyway??
Silly question!
Yes please!!!

There was a spa bath and a lovely little fireplace that had been set ready to simply put a match to it! None of our usual lugging firewood around in this establishment!

Because 1000 photos of this area isn’t enough, I have now added to my post processing problems with a whole swag more images to get through!
And I KNOW I have to finish the final day of the Overland Hike story!

And I have totally lost the plot in the garden – no pun intended. I am hoping for a fine day tomorrow to put out the stall and try to sell some of the 10kgs of tomatoes sitting out there – not to mention corn and zucchinis!!

Surprisingly deep mud puddle found

Anyway, we did a short walk on the day we got in (about 2 hours) which was really lovely, even if we did get a little lost at the end!

Wombats start appearing at about 4pm and totally do not care about humans. They care about breakfast (they, like most Australian animals, are nocturnal)

The next day we did about 6 hours hiking – back up to the base of Cradle and across the Face Track.
I will get some photos of the map when I do a proper post on this, but in the meantime here are some of the spectacular sights we were lucky enough to see.
Best birthday EVER!

Often the track was barely a track – on several occasions I had to put the camera away to be able to use both hands as well as feet to safely get down or up some sections.

The big difference this time to the Overland was being able to come back to a warm fire, spa, someone else cooking dinner and a soft bed!

Back to reality – home again and I need to write a comprehensive list of things to achieve before Texas. So much is running about in my head and I have been enjoying life so much I feel like I might explode!!
Time to get all my ducks in a row!
By the way – today I got my Visa Waiver approved, so I am one step closer to the USA!!
Excited!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

Cheers

Month: April 2017

More Ticks Off My List

Saucy Sunday

Bunnies

Taking You For A Walk

Raspberry Jam

No Photos

A Few More Tasks Done

The Overland Track – Day Six

Catching Up On Home Tasks

Slightly Kidnapped