Author: Lisa

No prizes for guessing where we went yesterday!!
After a number of really gloomy wet days it was sensational to get out – not to mention away from the news for a while

We met our cousins, Fiona and Abbey and we did an extended loop over the Sisters Hills and Rocky Cape. (Its so weird meeting family and not doing the hug thing and staying separate!)
We went up along the coast before heading up into the hills

Picnic lunch at the shell beach where we picked up lots of cowries and generally enjoyed a bit of fossicking!

The rope netting mess still very much a part of the scenery – I hadn’t realised that the rope must have been underwater so long it grew coral!

Social distancing…
Jeff managed to get about 30 minutes ahead of us by the time he was done! Clearly taking the personal space thing VERY seriously haha

Leaving the beach…

We actually didn’t do the full loop – there was a ‘short cut’ up over another hill that met the main track, so we thought we’d try it out.
Wow… it was a fair slog up but the views!!

We encountered a small white lipped snake… laying directly across the path! Was in no hurry to leave either. Pity I didn’t get a snap for you. I did a lot of ‘shooing’ and it was taking no notice of me at all!!
Finally it mustered up the energy to glide off into the scrub!

Looking over the other side to Rocky Cape

Just lovely tramping through the hills!

I was really footsore last night and this morning – it was the first real outing my new shoes have had. Did I tell you I got new hiking shoes?? Jeff bought them as a surprise as my other ones were falling apart.
They really are very comfortable – the soreness was really from the impact I think as I haven’t done a lot of hiking recently

So – Whats changed in the last few days in your area?
Tomorrow, nationwide, pubs, clubs and restaurants are to be closed. Take-away will be ok. Schools were to remain open but three states are pretty much saying nope, we’re closing schools.
I am sure it will be all sorted in the next 48 hours.
Interstate travel is to be restricted.
The numbers of new cases are steadily climbing.
Again – Jeff and I living the lifestyle we do with no kids – we aren’t finding our daily life/routine a lot different. Except I try to go to the supermarket even less 🙂
Disappointed in small things like no soap workshops or markets, but easy things to go without.
The biggest conundrum I have is whether to visit Ruby or not!!
What is worse? A small tiny risk to visit? Or not visiting a 103 year old lady who really isn’t able to do much else but enjoy company when presented with it!!? We saw Margie in the supermarket today – keeping all nice and separate – and she worries about the same thing.

I wonder where we will all be at in 3-6 months time? How our lives are changing!!
Take care everyone!
Cheers

Hi there!
Bit of a gloomy inside day – did a quick shop run and took some things over to Ruby and Margie.
Thought you’d like to see how the Taiwan Swirl was done – although it would be better in a video!
Mixed 4 colours up and had my dividers in the loaf – last time I only used two. This time I did three…

Slightly fiddlier getting the mixture into the middle slots!!

Its amazing how the colours stay pretty well separated when I carefully lift the dividers out!

Then there is the fun bit of dragging the paddlepop stick through the colours blending them just perfectly!

Then by running the stick around the very outside of the mould a couple of times, it pushes the pattern into more of a pleasing slant!

Here is the one I did the other day!
You can see the pattern if I cut it vertically. Nice but not what I am after of course.
The horizontal pattern is what I am after!

I’ve settled on this slightly narrower and chunky cut. I only get 8 soaps out of a loaf instead of 12, but I’ll just adjust the price accordingly.
They should look really smart once I have beveled the edges and tidied them up!
I just went and cut the other soap from above while I was waiting for photos to load – and I am pleased with the design and colour mix!!

I might have made another batch of soap tonight but you’ll just have to wait and see on that one!

On the Covid19 side of things… Tasmania is closing. At midnight (Now gone by one and a half hours and where does the time go and why am I still sitting here?)
All non essential travellers into Tasmania are required to quarantine for 14 days!! (Thats tourism done and dusted for a while)
I think we only had 11 confirmed cases but our state is an easier one to control in that way.
Panic buying in supermarkets is still ongoing. Sigh. Now towns in reasonable proximity to larger centres are being raided and stripped by bus loads of people from cities!
Firstly. That’s rude. Secondly… social distancing does NOT include bus travel with a heap of other people!
No loo paper on the shelves today, no flour either but I did get some bread!

Hope you are all coping well,
Cheers!

Hello!
I put down the soap making stuff for a day and Jeff and I went out for a drive to find a potential new panning spot and also see a new waterfall.

A nice little area – far away from people although I saw a few hoof marks from riders.

I wonder how old this log bridge is? Was still sturdy in the middle.

Jeff found a couple of specks of gold, but we were being eaten alive by mozzies! Next time we will bring gumboots and insect repellent.

There was a bit of fungi about but nothing too exciting

We failed to find the waterfall – we were in the right spot but there was no track to be seen!! Again, upon return we’ll get some GPS co-ordinates, wear gaiters and bring a machete!

We were passing near by Sharons- so we dropped in!
Woman with a big chopping thing haha
She offered to take us to their local falls which we hadn’t had a chance to see yet!! The way in was dense blackberries (Must return with bucket)
So she hacked a path and in we went!

Jeff took Lottie over the worst of it!

Sharon giving those blackberries what-for!!

Amazing to drive through the logged areas and their unkempt weedy blackberries – down to such a natural and beautiful spot!

And there it is… a short walk along the rivers edge to a beautiful clearing and waterfall!

And yes… I did get my feet wet to get better angles for my photos! 🙂

Great spot for a kid to run wild in!

And a photo for you, Judy, of your handsome lad!

Well – thats us. Out and about in our beautiful area!
Hope your week is going well!
Cheers!

Hi!
We escaped the house looking for a waterfall and a place to do some panning.
We didn’t find our intended waterfall… Jeff did find a couple of specks of gold though!
Dropped back via Sharons and she took us on an adventurous walk down to see their local falls!!
Off to bed now but thought I’d at least share one photo!
Cheers!

Hi!
Lets start with soap!!
This was the slab in the tupperware container that I made up at the show demo on the weekend.
I took it out of the mould today and cut it.
Really pleased with the bold swirls and chunky size!

Then today I FINALLY got delivery of a package I had been waiting for for I think an eon!!
Its a new loaf mould with dividers so I can do some interesting techniques more easily!

This is called a Taiwan Swirl!!
I’ll have to take a few step by step photos of it next time. The colours are divided longways into strips. The you run a paddlepop stick up and down crosswise.
Then… you run the stick along the outside edge a couple of times which pushes the design thus:

Its going to kill me waiting two days until I can cut it haha
The mixture drops in the mould a lot as the dividers are taken out so I had enough mixture left over to fill a couple of dragonfly moulds

This little fluffy-bum hasn’t been well. She’s been slow since we brought her home. She drinks well but doesn’t eat. The other day in the wind I noticed the poor girl being pushed over by it!!!
So decided she needed to be inside at night and hand fed. She ate a bit to start with, then went off everything but green stuff.
She is so light to hold!
Today I had a breakthrough! I’ve been putting her in the veggie patch for a while with me and thought maybe she’d like the compost – worms…
There was a half hearted attempt at them but not much
So… I took her out and voila! She found this horrible big SLUG and worried at it and pecked it until she finally gulped the whole thing down! (Shudder)
But good!! So I picked up an old cardboard box and found more slugs under it … then she got the hang of worms!! I’ve created a monster! I helped dig but she sucked back so many!!! One we found was huge… I tried to take it away because I like the big worms… but she actually snatched it and ran off with it!! Made me laugh. First bit of real animation I’ve seen in her!
Sadly one of the other new chooks has a cancerous growth on her leg and tomorrow is her last 🙁 Hate this part of owning chooks. She is in the smaller cat carrier inside in the warm tonight
The other three are fine. One I have named Dora. She has found a route over the fallen tree debris and happily just wanders around the back paddocks the naughty girl!! At least she returns.

Rocket seeds ready for collection!

I have a couple at least of these Goldilocks pumpkins growing well

Plenty of beetroot happening – I am still stocked up ok on pickled beetroot but its nice to know I have backup 🙂

That self seeded tomato that popped up out the back is wild! Produces beautiful large cherry tomatoes.

Lots of lovely fresh food is on the table daily. I am not much for photographing meals!! 🙂 Too eager to be eating! Anyway- fresh dug potatoes, that lovely corn and the first stuffed tomatoes of the season!! I have really missed those!

They only take a few minutes under the grill to be ready.
Really enjoyed dinner tonight!
Hope everyone’s week has started ok. I am sure so many of you are affected by lockdowns and closures… and empty supermarket shelves.
Here’s hoping we hear more of people trying to help others out and sharing where needed instead of this grabby me me me attitude we keep seeing reported!!
The next few weeks are going to be ‘interesting’ indeed.
You all take good care!
Cheers!

Hi there!!
Yesterdays show day was a success!
Sharon and I had a great day talking to people about goats milk soap and doing our demo!
Sharon even unexpectedly sold a goat!! (No we didn’t bring one)(Hence the unexpectedness)

Sharon had a big basket of lovely pure natural bars of soap and a smaller basket of her lovely creative soaps – some from classes and others she made. Lots of people were interested in the workshops so hopefully there will be more dates locked in soon!

I hogged most of the space with a lot of soap. 🙂
Again it was rather nice seeing it all displayed out!

The dragonfly soap sold well, so did the lemongrass essential oil soap, the chocolate soap and, interestingly, the honeysuckle that I thought was a bit strong.

People also really liked the slabs of soap!! So, note to self… will do more of those!

Our demonstration went well!! Sharon got momentarily sidetracked with the headset mic and swung into some karioke YMCA with actions to a slightly unsuspecting audience… but then we got into it haha

Margie and her friend Chris came along which was awesome and Kirrily turned up with her new fiance (wow) to buy soap and cheer us on.
Sharon did a great job of explaining the basics while we put together our mixtures. (We pre made the lye and had all the ingredients pre measured)

Sharon made a wonderful tray of soap with some natural clay colours and allowed people in the audience who were interested to come up and decorate the tops with dried flowers or poppy seeds…or both!
I on the other hand went for a complete contrast with one of my loud happy hippy 70’s mixes – will have to take a snap tomorrow!
I also brought along a loaf mix so people could have a go at cutting it!
I rather liked this effect!

Almost like ice cream cake!!

Anyway, it was a long day but pretty fabulous all around. I really enjoyed sharing a stall with Sharon and people were so enthusiastic about our soaps so that was really nice!
I know Sharon sold well and I am happy to report that I sold nearly $400 worth of soap yesterday!! Can you believe it??
The best thing? So. Much. New. Space… in the library to fill… already planning some more creations!

Hope your weekend was as marvellous as mine!
And here are some veggies just to show you that normal life stuff is still happening in the background!

Cheers!

Hi!
Tomorrow is the local agricultural show and Sharon and I have set up a stall among a small group of people who will showcase their particular skills/wares.
As well as (hopefully) selling some of my ridiculous stash of soap, we are booked to do a demonstration of soap making.
I have also a couple of loaves of soap to cut to show people!
We were in the paper today but the link is for a paid subscription… will take a snap of the article to show you later!

I honestly meant to find some time to do a post that wasn’t soap… but looks like I will have to plan for Sunday to finish catching up on that post processing!

I tried another pebble soap – I timed it this time. Took me 50 minutes to dab the loaf full!!! In comparison, it would take only a few minutes or so to fill normally!
Still… its a very pretty effect.

Big events are being shut down on the mainland due to the Coronavirus. They cancelled the Grand Prix but the football is still going ahead!
Anyway, our little show is still on. Last I heard there were 4 confirmed cases in Tasmania.

Well.. I have an early start and a long day tomorrow!
Fingers crossed for some sales – will drop by to let you know how we went!

Cheers!

PS – another soap experiment in the making…

Well this looks a bit weird hey?
Someone (probably me) was up way too late one night since she had overslept for 4 days… and found some new soap techniques
This pebbly kind of design was an exercise in patience. (Because we all know how super patient I am)

Looks like some creepy alien is going to hatch out of those eggs

I did another one tonight and timed it… Took me 50 minutes to fill the loaf mould!
You have to make the mixture pretty thin. I separated into 3 squeeze bottles and you dab the base colour in spots over the bottom of the mould. Then squeeze the second colour on top of the first dot and then squeeze your third colour on top of that.
THEN you repeat. Many times!!

As you can see, if I cut the usual vertical way I’d get an interesting pattern (as seen on the side) but miss the pebbly design that runs horizontally.

Mind you, I only cut one lot as it really hadn’t set enough to handle easily – but I was too excited to wait longer

Above are thin slices from the very end and bottom – not very aesthetic and since the process takes forever, I want the best look out of the soap I can get even if I am taking some of the soap away.
As you can see below – quite the difference!

Anyway, I am pretty happy about how the design worked out and will cut the rest and tidy them up once its hardened up a bit more!

In the background I am working on some of the latest photos but not quite ready – so those stories will have to wait.
We’ve been out in the yard a bit and today FINALLY did a very very overdue tip run. Yay!

Hope your week is going along well!
Cheers!

Hello!
I am feeling a lot better today! Even went into town for a short while!

Nothing much done with my photos but I did get thoroughly over excited about cutting this loaf of soap!
Not bad for my first embed!!

I think I need to buy more embed moulds.

Hope everyone has had a splendid weekend!!
Cheers!

Hi!!
We had some fabulous rainy gloomy days. Would have been perfect to post process a zillion photos and make soap… but…
Have been crook in bed!!
Think maybe food poisoning? Ugh. Who knows. Anyway, no need for sordid details apart from being happy I bought toilet paper BEFORE the Big Australian Meltdown over poo-tickets.
Seriously – people are having fisticuffs in the supermarkets over it!!
What is going to happen when there is a REAL shortage? (Of anything)
Really shows how badly behaved and selfish people can be which is a bit disappointing.
Even in our little town, the supermarket is being stripped of toilet paper!! I went there for something else a few days back and people were lined up with their trolleys full!! I asked the checkout lady if I got bonus points for NOT buying it 🙂

Anyway, I’ve got the hand washing thing totally covered – since soap covers many available surfaces in the house!!
Above was my last attempt at the ‘kaleidosoap’
Getting better-ish. Will have to develop another tool for this at some point.

This is an odd one – the red colour just disappears in the loaf!! I wrote to the supplier and they said its something they hadn’t come across in 30 years of soaping haha – of course!! Its a neat effect but I did want three distinct layers of colour!!

I am liking this chunky effect

Today I finally got up out of bed – actually I had to go to a different bed at about 5am as I was so sore from being in our bed so long!!
Anyway, got up to see how vertical suited me and it went pretty well.
I did a couple of mild domestic tasks and went outside – so nice to enjoy fresh air!! Also had a much needed shower…. and made soap!! haha

I’ve been dying to put this new one together – I had pre made ‘tube hearts’ to embed into a loaf and had enough extra to cut to pop hearts on top.
The theory is when I cut the loaf, it will show a couple of hearts in the middle…
Can’t wait to see if I’ve got it right or muffed it!

Cheers!

(PS – totally write and tell me if toilet paper is the hot commodity in your town!!)