Leafygal

Dancing in the dark

It's funny how life can throw things at you which force you stop and smell the roses.

We've been suffering extreme temperatures for the past few days, over 40c and up to 45c. The whole state is sweltering and there have been widespread power outages as a consequence.
Last night was our turn.
Power went off about 6.30pm. I was in the den with the portable air conditioner on and Pepper the dog and Charlie the cockatiel also enjoying the cooler room.

Dinner was about to be served and because we knew that we were about to have these days of heat I had done some food prep several days ago. We had cold spinach and ricotta pie with a tossed salad.
Usually we eat in the den, but the sea breeze had fortunately arrived and we could open the doors to the deck and although the sun was still hot and determinedly shining in we ate at the dining room table, at the shaded end.

When we finished I went out onto the deck and sat at the little table and read while the sun "sank slowly in the West"! Pepper lay in her "flat- pack- dog" pose, on her side with legs outstretched and enjoyed the breeze and the sound of the next door puppy chewing his squeaky toy.The skyline gradually rosied over and glowed faintly green as the dusk crept on.
It was now too dark to read so I just sat and called Tony to join me

A black flapping shape passed over and then some more. The bats were flying over from the Botanic gardens to the river valley below us and across to Queens Park. I remembered the bats that used to fly past our balcony in Sydney when we lived in Elizabeth Bay. There were hundreds of them and they traveled in small groups. Our bats last night were not so numerous and passed singly or at the most in pairs.
The moon was now clear in the sky, a very slim crescent shape with Venus glowing beside it. The hillside opposite us was for once in darkness. The only lights were cars crossing the bridge and weaving their way up the hill.

I finally moved back inside to find and light some candles. A romantic glow made our room look special and I was about to boil water on the stove for a cup of tea when the electric buzz of the fridge and the radio and beeps from microwave and TV rudely interrupted. I almost wished them away again.

[photo not mine but gives some flavour of the scene]

A Beachy Wedding or Saying Yes

Well I am glad we had a wedding in the family or I might not have blogged for even longer!
Our niece Kylie finally said Yes to  her partner Marshall and they decided to be married on the beach at Torquay on Easter Thursday.

Yes it was different, yes it was a very pretty  wedding, family orientated and informal.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, the weather was very kind, the food vegetarian but delicious  and the bride and groom and their 2 little girls ( my Great nieces would you believe) looked wonderful.  Red cream and gold were the colours.

The groom, who has a certain dry sort of sense of humour heard the words "wedding breakfast" and decided that that was what we would have.  Yes to muesli and yoghurt and fruit.  Yes to muffins, both sweet and savoury.  Yes to croissants filled with cheese, tomato and spinach.  Yes to fruit juices.  Yes to fruit filled danish pastries. A very big Yes to lattes and other coffees.  Just no bacon and eggs!

I had a small hand in the proceedings, making the bridal bouquet and decorating the flower girls' baskets. Lots of fun.  We also potted up some marigolds - the brides favourite flower apart from roses, and violas in big pots to decorate the venue

As the rest of the family have been staying in the nearby vicinity we have seen a bit of them, both before and after the event and it has been great to catch up with all their doings.

We dined out last night at Ganesh in Barwon Heads, a vegetarian restaurant with food based on Ayervedic principles.  We all went for the Tali, a selection of entrees, curries, dahl and a sweet surprise.  Food was a bit bland, but an interesting  experience nevertheless. For coffee we had to visit Barwon Orange to make sure it was up to our high standards of strength and heat, and of course the sweet courses beckoned.  I shared a lemon tart with Tony, figuring that our earlier Beach walk with Trish, Michael and Pepper, from Ocean Grove to Collendina had already got rid of the calories!!! A girl has to dream some time!!!

Officially Christmas

OK, so now it is December and I am able to accept the fact that Christmas is coming!!
I refuse to acknowledge it in October when the stores are starting to put up the decorations and I refuse to celebrate it before my birthday in mid November.

I have a friend who has this crazy attitude to the season. I am certain that she has all her presents wrapped by the third week in November, and we usually realize that December is here when her card arrives on the 1st of the month.
One year I was determined to outdo her and hand delivered a card to her at 9am on the 1st,  just so I could be before her ( but all the other cards still had to wait till mid December)
This year the card came in the mail on Friday - NOT EVEN DECEMBER !
I didn't open the envelope until Saturday.

I went to a xmas breakfast this morning so the season is definitely upon me.

I guess that we will have to do our decorations at the shop tomorrow, although we have had ornaments on sale for a month. I am going to the plant market on Tuesday to buy some festive plants so that  will help set the mood.
Now all I'm waiting for is the weather to cool off a little so I can make the cake and the pudding.  My Mother in Law has passed the task to me this year.  She gave me her precious pudding recipe a couple of years ago when I asked for it as my Xmas present.  I would have liked to make it earlier in the year so it could mature a bit more, but it looks like Tuesday will be the day, forecast cooler.

Mini Hols

So another month has ticked by without my noticing. So what's new  ?

We had a mini break at Port Fairy with my father (and Pepper). Stayed at Lochaven Spa Retreat -  a house just outside of town, with cows in the neighbouring paddock - very interesting for small dogs!

Of course we ate and drank well, although encouraging father to eat is still an uphill battle.
Visited various galleries while there - the  Wishart Gallery had wonderful prints and etchings - inspired me to enquire about classes in printmaking!

Time and Tide Gallery has to have the best view of any gallery I've ever been to. It is right on the top of a sand dune and looks down over the ocean.  In the foreground were fascinating rock formations, forming large pools in the water.

We ate lunch there - delicious foccaccias. Also good was the food at Rebecca's Cafe - we had morning coffee there and then took back some of her delicious goodies for our dinner.
One pub meal and another in a more modern restaurant. We also lunched at Wisharts fish restaurant on the quay.

We did some exploring by car - notably to the Timboon Farmhouse Cheese Factorywhere we purchased a goodly supply.  We were interested to discover that the famous King Island Cheddar  and Brie is actually made here!!!

To quote from some publicity info -
"Cheese from the farmhouse -
Timboon is renowned for its cheese. Set amid Timboon's green pastures is one of the town's most recognised - and tasty - businesses, one that helped put the small country town on the map. Timboon Farmhouse Cheese has been turning its organically-farmed milk into cheese for the past 14 years. It now sells both Australia-wide and internationally. The business was established by organic farmers Hermann and Marlis Schulz and is now run by their daughter, Audrey. During a trip to Germany in 1984, Hermann Schulz was introduced to retired cheesemaker Hans Siegfried, whose forte was the development of specialty cheeses not yet being made in Australia. Timboon Farmhouse Cheese is open daily for tastings and door sales from its Mousetrap shop at Ford and Fells Road, 10km south of Timboon. The shop is set in a cottage-style garden."

The cheese factory at Warnambool was disappointing - no tour of the factory and the cheese shop seemed very commercial with cheese from all over the place. We had lunch that day in a typical country pub - very old fashioned decor and food, although tasty.

Also at Warrnambool we visited the Maritime museum at Flagstaff Hill, not really suitable for father to walk or even be wheelchaired - it was too steep and cobblestoned for that, so we did a quick walk through with Pepper and then went back to our retreat for the night. Pepper met some curious sheep at Flagstaff!

Home again - I could have stayed away for at least a week. Ah well .....roll on September and our next Hols.

Photos will follow when I get my camera back from my brother!!!

Belated Easter

I know - I haven't been here for ages again. Life has been falling on me from a great height and just keeping up with the email is difficult some days.
Easter was great.
Food Family and Friends make for my favourite times and that was what we had.

To Pettavel Winery for the famous First Friday of the month Degustation menu to celebrate a couple of family birthdays - 8 courses including Oysters with kaffir lime, Tomato essence risotto topped with a prawn,  Seared tuna with beetroot discs (outstanding!), Viognier turkish delight as a palate cleanser, Ocean trout, Confit Duck leg, Hard Goats cheese with carraway crisps and muscatels and the divine Lemon tart with vanilla bean icecream for dessert.  A glass of wine selected for each course accompanied the dinner -  a great way of dining out.

P and I took father to Barwon Heads for lunch at Barwon Orange and a walk around the top of the Bluff.  Such a different place now from when I was a child and there were no fences at all on the edges. We watched small yachts sailing on the river -  perfect day, cool and sunny.

Dinner Chez Us with P and I cooking a fantastic standing rib roast of rare beef for us and our friends J & R.
Rosemary and garlic potatoes and baked mediterannean vegies went with the beef.
Antipasto platters preceded the roast and baked rhubarb and apple crumble with icecream finished us off

Sunday was lunch as usual with Father at the Wintergarden, but we made the most of the balmy weather with a walk around the boardwalk at Western Beach. Pepper was ecstatic.

Monday saw another perfect sunny day (What am I saying, we desperately need RAIN )
We lunched with J & R at Kilgour Estate winery where the view is across the sparkling bay to the City skyline.
Food was as good as usual - I had duck again! Dessert was yummy baked figs with mascapone.
There was a rhubarb jelly on the menu which was tempting too.

What a perfect Easter (or should that read Eater!!)

Reunions

Reunions are strange events. I have just been to two, one with people I have known for 37 years - since we were students!!! (I can't believe that number)

The other was of a senior staff group that I worked with in the early eighties.  We always "got on" very well and had several outings a year to which our partners were also invited.
When the organisation broke up we had a wake the first Xmas, and have had a late in the year reunion once a year ever since.
This year saw all but one person making the event - 23 people in all and it was, as usual, great to catch up with everyone's doings.

The strange bit about reunions is that we all just pick up where we left off with conversations and none of us seems to get any older.
I can't understand this last bit - perhaps it is just a "way-of-behaving" thing that makes our personalities overlay our admittedly aging hair colours and wrinkly bits.
Whatever - I don't care.  It is wonderful to keep seeing these friends.   And yes I did once again promise to be in touch during the year - I really mean that!

Shop chaos

Not content with being ordinarily busy, we have recently had to move most of the items in the shop into the centre of the room - or into the great outdoors, so our ceiling could be repaired.
It started falling down some time ago and the landlord  finally decided to fix it.

Of course we had very little notice so have spent a good part of our "days off" recently moving stuff.
Fortunately they were able to do the work at night, so we could still remain open, but goodness knows what the customers thought of our wierd displays in the meantime.

The one bright spot out of all this is that we were able to rearrange stuff, clean the floors properly (although a new mop gave up the ghost within minutes of seeing our rough brick floor!) and make the place look much better.
We even invested in a new vacuum cleaner - trading in our genuine 40's Electrolux.
It is amazing how moving things around freshens it all up.

We also did our Xmas display and have the tree lights working once more.
I may get photos up soon!

Busy Busy

I've been rather busy lately. We did a display for the Barwon Water and Geelong City Council Waterwise Expo a few weekends ago. Several thousand people visited and we hope we got our Leaf and Stone name further out into the community. Favourable responses to our displays have resulted in a few sales so far, but "one never knows - do one!!"

Last weekend started on Wednesday night with the Stitch and Bitch knitting group - I am progressing with a feather and fan scarf in a very fine laceweight hand dyed wool. I am also up to date with the dutch stocking sampler, awaiting pattern #16

Thursday night went to a very enjoyable concert in memory of Hiroyuki Iwaki - recently deceased conductor emeritus of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Concert by a Japanese chamber orchestra started by master Iwaki. We heard a mixture of sixties Japanese, Mozart Piano concerto, Ross Edwards Oboe concerto written for and played by Diana Doherty and my favourite Prokfiev Classical Symphony where the orchestra really let their hair down!  Great stuff.

Friday night we sorted out the wines for the Breast Buddies Annual Wine drive - lots of fun and Pizza later - we seem to have raised more than $1000 so far.

Saturday I attended the Morongo Old Collegian's Annual General Meeting where I took over the reins as President for the next 3 years! If you had told me when I left school that this would be happening I would have been very astonished!!!!!

Home to cook for Father's family 88th birthday party at our place - just a little pork roast dinner for 11 followed by the simplest dessert I could think of..... Two kinds of ice cream topped with raspberry and cointreau coulis, melted mars bar sauce,  slivered almonds and I finally got to play with one of those spray cans of cream! (I forgot to put a cherry on top!)

Sunday - just another day starting with the Mini Field of Women at the waterfront in Geelong. Pepper wore a gorgeous Pink Ribbon in honour of the occasion.  Lunch at the Wintergarden, driving Father home and ending up in Melbourne for our annual reunion with our friends from 3ST (way back when we were students at RMIT)

Monday home, Lunch with father at the Carrington after his doctor's appointment and then drove him home.  Me out to the "Girl's Night In"  fundraiser for Breast Cancer day.

Tuesday - day off- I didn't do much!!  I was somewhat bushed by then - I can't think why!
I did finish my page in the Spread your wings Deco book and it has now been sent off.

Flattery gets everywhere - even on e-bay

I was searching for a quote on flattery to use in a Deco Book I am working on at the moment.
Vastly amused to find this small advert on the quotations page I was searching on.

" Buy FLATTERY at eBay. Shop for FLATTERY. eBay has great deals on new & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods and more. Sign up today for FREE! "

This is what comes from over automation!!! :-)

Not the Mass Market

I've just read an interesting article that was flagged in the intro to my blog by my blog host Typepad.

"Back in October 2004, Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson penned one of the most influential magazine articles of recent times, "The Long Tail." The Wired cover story explored the impact that improved searching and better filters have had on selling products and services, making it possible to profit from items that aren't "hits" in the Top 100 sense. Increasingly, Anderson suggests, niche products that alone sell relatively few units will together make up the majority of sales for many businesses"

My tastes, the ones that don't coincide with the majority of Joe Public, may finally have a chance to be gratified.  I can already find odd titles on Amazon, and music is now downloadable track by track . Movies and games are now following.

The Long Tail (a statistical term) is the material that doesn't make it into the blockbuster hit categories.  Movies  that I have to go to Melbourne to see because there is not sufficient audience in Geelong for more than a couple of screenings -  if they make it at all.

The theory is that if stuff is archived on line - very cheap compared to a hire of a movie screen, then a few people seeing each of many movies more than makes up for the many people who see the few "Hit" movies.
All I can say is "Three Cheers!!!"

Happier Story

After sadly farewelling Titch (the little car) we went down to the big car dealer and asked him if we could please have another one to take Gillian and Pepper and all the paraphenalia that seems to be part of my car duties lately (including elderly father and his Wheelie Frame).

I decided that this time the head would rule the heart and so we are now the proud owners of a new Subaru Forester - Silver colour and very sexy!
I will no longer lose the car in parking lots (bigger, taller!) and anyone who gets in front of me when they shouldn't will get more than a sore hubcap!!

Insurance is actually cheaper as Titch was classed as a sports car, and this one is much more staid and a grown up car (although I keep feeling I should have a couple of kids in the back!!)
Still have my own number plates so a small legacy of the baby car lives on.

New Year

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Well I guess that resolutions are made to be broken, and my first post is way past the first week of the year.

XMAS

We had a pleasant Xmas New Year period with friends and family.
Xmas day was busy but I enjoyed every minute.
The meal was perfectly cooked and everyone seemed to enjoy the selection of warm or cool veges.
We had smoked salmon with blinis, sour cream and caviar for starters. Mains were Roast Pork and turkey breast with ricotta and cranberry stuffing. Veges were hot roast potatoes;  asparagus with pink grapefruit and walnut sauce;  Baby beetroot and carrot salad.
Desserts included Mum's famous Xmas pud plus a berry and chocolate Pavlova. This year I even made fruit punch

AT Ocean Grove that evening we started on the Xmas ham and turkey with a great selection of salads, yet another Xmas pud and glasses of wonderful wines all day!!  The remains of the fruit punch kept appearing for the next few days as we kept mixing in new fruits and varieties of alcohol.
Sudoko game was played by all and proved to be a favourite over the next few days.

We caught up with friends at Signature in Barwon Heads one night and the new Barwon Edge restaurant near our place later in the week. Both meals were lovely, with the best steaks ever still at  Signature.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

I've become a bit "over" New Year's Eve, but we celebrated with a seafood supper at home, watched "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on the Telly and invited brother M to join us. A few nice glasses of wine completed the evening.

JANUARY

We finally caught up with our great friends J & R on New Year's Day and talked through one of our traditional LOOOOONG lunches, finishing about 6.30pm.
We also had a chance to chat with their children and grandchildren, nice to do.

I am determined to reactivate my commitment to Weight Watchers and will try using the weekly menus again to get back on track.  I like doing it this way as I don't have to make decisions about what to cook and I can plan my weekly shopping accordingly.
The meals are very appetising and Tony doesn't mind eating them. Seafood Pizza made on Lebanese bread was a great hit.

Eating out sabotages the plan somewhat and we had a lovely lunch with J & R at Kilgour winery. I made good choices of food having scallops followed by rock ling.  R's Mussels were the "Best " he'd ever had! other choices were fresh pea risotto and linguine marinara - both pronounced excellent. Wines were Pinot Gris and rose. The weather was perfect for sitting looking across the yachts and small boats on the sparkling blue waters of the bay. Such a cliche but true.

Monday we took father to the Barwon Heads Hotel where we had a very good value meal, and I was good and chose the seafood salad.  It was a good serving and satisfied my eating out needs. We then spent the afternoon helping brother in law J with his new computer followed by a very relaxed family Barbecue.

The Night before Xmas

Another long break between entries.
(I feel a New Year's resolution coming on!)
Lots more of the usual filled this month.
Artworks included Xmas cards, Chooks ATC's and 2 projects for Xmas presents which I will reveal later so as not to spoil the surprises.

I've been to some lovely Xmas parties starting with our BREAST group's Breakfast at Finnigans. We then repriesed it to give Marion a birthday lunch at Portarlington, where I was delighted to see my design for her garden put into reality. It will be lovely when it grows a bit!

We had our "Staff " xmas party at the Cremorne hotel the other night and  drinks for the Wintergarden tenants and staff on Wednesday.
I then choofed? off to the Knitting group and we dined at the Sailor's Rest  Lovely meal despite the large numbers of Xmas partiers there.

In my defence for not blogging lately, I feel that I should reveal that I've been miserably unwell for the last week with the second sinus infection in 2 months. I've never had this before, and I have been amazed at how much of the body can be affected by 2 little cavities. Throat raw from coughing, ribs sore ditto, head pounding, ears woolly, and worst of all the antibiotics gave me the runs!
I am feeling heaps better but still have the debilitating cough that makes me breathless and very slow moving.  Just what you need in the run up to Xmas.

I managed to plan the Xmas menus and do the food shopping.
I hope I have gifts for everyone, charity donations will be the order of the day for many on the list, but this is not a bad thing, we all seem to have a surfeit of unneeded "things" in our lives, causing more clutter.

Now I have to decorate the Xmas tree, having opted yesterday to clean out the fridge as a priority. At least this Xmas I can open the fridge door without everything falling out at me - I feel a little virtuous!!!

Bring on the festivities and as Satchmo Armstrong read this morning on the Radio-

Merry Xmas to All and to All a Good Night!!!

6 impossible things before breakfast

Just had a very busy but enjoyable day.
Shopped this a.m. for family dinner party this evening.  Nice Safeway butcher butterflied 2 legs of lamb for me very cheerfully and the produce man recommended  some pontiac potatoes for roasting.  Almost good old fashioned service!
Collected my father from Ocean Grove and took him to the "Saturday afternoon at the Pictures" which I had organised for the Morongo Old Collegians' group.
We saw the movie "Dalkieth" abouta  retirement home where the residents were given a new lease of life when they were given a racing greyhound. A bit slow to get going but an enjoyable movie overall. The "girls" came up trumps with delicious afternoon tea sandwiches, slices and mini pikelets. We do food well in this group!!

Rushed home to put the lamb and potatoes in the oven, then took father back to the Wintergarden for the Dabble 'n' Daub gallery launch of a Vermeer copy show. An artist spent much of his career doing Vermeer copies and they really were delightful. Had one glass of Gluhwein and sprinted home again to rescue the roast and put the rest of the vegies on.

The whole family - all ten of us,  had a fun dinner in honour of my father's 87th Birthday, actually last Monday.  (Tony, Michael and I took him to "@ the Heads" for lunch that day). As usual we all ate much too much with desserts of pavlova (bought!) and sister Lou's famous Orange syrup cake Yum!!!

The only downer today was finding out that one of our long standing friends has just had surgery for Breast Cancer.  I know she is a strong lady and will come through this ordeal as Pru and I have,  not to mention all our other BC friends but I do wish her luck and more strength.

What more can I say???

I try to take one day at a time... but sometimes several days attack me at once!!!