Sunday Afternoon

A little reading...a little crochet...and some listening...

Reading THIS book.  It's entertaining, enlightening...and very funny!!

Still working on the baby blanket.  Just a few border rows to go...

And listening to another Gregory Alan Isakov CD.  Also good!

Here's the Yarn Along link!



Cooking up a storm, or in this case, tomatoes and soup.  Turning these...

 (an excess of home grown tomatoes)

Into this...

My Zucchini Plus soup...

This is what I put in it, but you can use whatever you've got, in whatever quantities you like...

Zucchini, onion, garlic, leek, bacon, celery, onion, potatoes, vegetable stock, herbs (bay leaf, dill, thyme, rosemary, oregano), spices (cardamom, allspice, cumin).  When cooked, discard bay leaf and stir in chopped parsley.  I also blended some of the soup and returned to pot. Yummy with toasted sourdough!

Need to make another Orange and Blueberry teacake too, but that can wait till tomorrow.

Off to Eat, Crochet, Read...

 

xx

Monday Musings...

From the latest Victoria magazine...just because it's hot here and I want some cold...

 (don't you just love those snow covered mountains!!)

The vest is finished and has been worn (it was a bit chilly on my early morning walk)...

Started a new knit project, and browsing the latest Victoria magazine...

Which contained this lovely story by author Frances Mayes...

 (not sure how this got aligned left...and don't know how to get it back to the centre!)



Got out my hexie flowers, a project from a few years ago when I participated in a fabric swap with a group of ladies in a snail mail group that my friend Sharm started. She is now asking for embroidered hexies for a tablecloth she is going to make, so I bought some calico and erasable pen to do one for her.  If you'd like to be part of it, the post is HERE on her blog...



 

Some of my flowers from the fabric swap which I WILL get finished one day...

And I made a cake...

 (this is the photo from the recipe page)

Mine actually looks like this (because I changed the recipe a bit)...

And this is what it looked like just before I devoured a piece...

 (oops...did it again...)

Here's the recipe...or half of it...

and here's the other half...

Hope you can read it...saves me having to type it out.


Here are my notes re. changes I made:

added some cardamom and allspice to the dry mix
mixed the blueberries in rather than sprinkling on top
Used half castor and half brown sugar and some cinnamon (along with the orange rind) for the sprinkle topping

Cooked it and ate some while still warm...delish!  With a cup of tea :)

I've made this a few times and it's always turned out well and not lasted long...

Time for my afternoon walk!  I'll have to walk extra fast to work off the cake...

 

What...no quotes!!!

 

Nope!  xx

Thursday Things

The blanket is finished...

And the vest is almost finished...

(one armband to go)

Browsing some old Victoria magazines...

Reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, which has recently been made into a film.  Picked it up at the op shop for $4.  Have not read any of his books previously, but am enjoying his quiet, calm style of writing.


Listening to Gregory Alan Isakov...

If you've not heard his music...do check him out (you can listen to excerpts on the link above).  He has a unique sound, and one that I could listen to over and over...

And the quote for today...

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

[Henry David Thoreau]

 

 

Linking in to Yarn Along...


Oh...and settlement on the new house (Min Hem) has been postponed till 7th March.  Disappointing, but the opportunity to de-clutter and downsize even more...

...keeping in mind this American Shaker quote...  "Man's possessions are his burdens"

...and this one...   “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” Corrie ten Boom

Ok...Ok...I'll stop :)))

 

xx

Birthdays, blankets, books...oh...and a new house!!

I had a birthday recently, and Marnie, Phil and Denver took me out for lunch...

 (Denver, Marnie, Phil)

And gave me this lovely book  Winter in the Alps.  So nice on these hot summer days (I don't like summer!!)...

A joy to read...

Love the photography...

And the yummy (but simple) recipes...

Which I will definitely be trying...

And...guess who's got a new house!!!!  As of next week, and thanks to Natasha, Patrick and Jefferson...

ME!!!

 

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou family...for making this possible!!!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

And for the Yarn Along link up...

 

 

The blanket I was working on previously is together (36 squares) and I am now crocheting some border rows and an edging...

 

And as well as reading my Winter In the Alps book, I am also reading The Detour which I am really enjoying (his style of writing and the setting, as well as the plot, which although simple, is also intriguing)...

 

 

Will leave you with this quote I came across recently.  Mostly attributed to Mark Twain...

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

 

   Explore...dream...discover...  And enjoy your week :))

 

xx

 

Wild Weather

After a week of smoke from the bushfires, we finally got some very heavy rain...and thunder...and lightning... and hail...

And in a day, the river went from this...

To this...

It is now hot and sunny again...  Only in Tasmania!!!


On the makings front...  remember this blanket I undid...

And separated the pink/mauve colours...

 (I'm not really a pink person, but will probably use these to make a baby blanket as a gift)

From the blue/green/purples...

I've crocheted 36 squares and edged them in purple...

 (now these are more my colours...)

I am now doing 2 rows of a light brown tweed yarn around each square (to make them a bit bigger).  I was going to do one row of the light brown and one of a dark brown (as they were the only colours I had enough of), but decided the dark brown was too much of a contrast and I wanted to keep it softer looking.  Hopefully by next post it will be finished...

Reading... another Heather Lende book, and browsing the latest Australian Country Style mag...

Listening... to a new discovery...Travis.  Very easy listening (shades of Neil Young on some of the tracks).  So easy...that I've been listening to it all week...

 (Hopefully the link - if you scroll down - will allow you to listen to the songs.  My favourites are No 1 - Sing, and No 10 - Afterglow...enjoy!)

And here's a shot from an afternoon walk recently.  We've had some amazing skies and I've taken lots of cloud shots, but will save them for another day :))

Linking in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

 

Have a good week!!

 

xx