You have to see this

You have to come and see the wildflowers in Spring in Western Australia.

No, really -just drop everything and come.

You will see so much that is beautiful and rare.

Mass displays of everlastings.

Brilliant blue leschenaultia.

Native hibiscus.

Tiny orchids.

Wattles in their thousands.

Can't come just now?

Enjoy these pictures -we had so much fun on just one day's drive north of Perth.

Next time you must come with us, though!

I am so stingy that (part 2)

I have some celery plants. They are too bitter to eat raw. So I decided today to make cream of celery soup.

I took the bones of a chicken which made our picnic lunch yesterday. I boiled them for stock.

Then I added the celery and leaves of about 1 whole bunch of celery, an onion, a quarter of pumpkin and two potatoes and boiled them for about two hours..

I tasted the soup . EEEK. It was bitter!

OK time to experiment.

I added a pinch of salt. I added two desertspoons of sugar.
Still bitter.

I added a desertspoon of chicken stock powder. One tspn of curry powder.

Hmmm....stranger!

Ok now I am desperate. Don't want to throw this out!

Added half a jar of applesauce and one whole can of coconut milk.

Blended it with my lovely bamix.

Served it with home made scones. Vietnamese mint sprinked on top.

The comment from my daughter made it all worth while:

"Strangely this works! I would eat this again! WIN! 8-)

Celebrating!

There were flowers and a beautiful gift of a new Greek icon of Sophia (Wisdom) and her daughters
Faith, Hope and Love.

There was champagne when I got home from work on Friday!

Why?

Regular readers may remember a post I made last year here which talked about some promises I had made to myself. One of these talked about getting a new job. Yes I have done it! I announced on Thursday to the Committee that I was leaving my work of 13 years in a not for profit agency, the last 10 of these as Executive Officer.

I am proud of myself for dong this before I had actually received an offer for a new job. It felt like I was jumping out of the aeroplane without a parachute!

However the very next morning I received word that I had been offered a job that I had applied for -one I was describing as my 'dream job".

When I made the decision to leave, I wrote a list of what I wanted in a new job -and this one fitted the bill almost to a T. I wanted to work for another not-for-profit agency, with a strong track record of getting things done. I wanted a project position that would give me back some face-to-face work with clients as I find this most energising. I wanted a training component to the position as I love that part of the work. I wanted a fairly short term position -after so long in one spot I just wanted some freedom and variety. And I wanted a challenge!

And I will start this new position very soon. It is all of the above.

Of course it is a bit scary. There is always grief at leaving some things that were worth having in the other position. But I am very grateful to have got this far. I took some risks, I made some hard decisions. For me-for happier days.

My original post made these promises to myself. Here is the promised update:

1. I will take my long service leave which is so overdue... I will do it for myself, to care for myself. I will take a trip, I will do a retreat, I will organise craft classes and learn new skills.

Action so far: I took my Annual leave -learned patchwork and quilting -went on a retreat.

Goal Completed!

2. I will try as hard as I can to finish the mortgage payments completely so that I can take the pressure off myself if I need to get out of my present job into something kinder for me-less hours, less money but more life..

Action: We are still making extra mortgage repayments but we are soo close to the end! This job I have taken does not have the 'less hours' that I wanted, but hopefully in the next 2 years this will be a reality. Goal 70% completed.

3. I will learn new ways of tackling conflict so that I don't get so damaged, and that includes learning to put boundaries around hurtful relationships.

Action. I have been working on this one with my spiritual director, and I am booked in to some workshops too. Pleased with my progress - and the healing which is going on. Goal 60% completed.

4. I will be braver than I was.
Action: I have been taking some risks, doing some things I haven't done before. Mixed results, but I am not stopping yet. Still doing this -see above! Goal 60% completed.

5. I will let the day's troubles be sufficient for the day. No importing tomorrow's worries into today.

Action: Still working on these, but I think I am getting there. Goal 50% completed.

5. I will put my energies into life giving things and walk away from the places where my gifts are wasted. No regrets, just the wrong place for me.

Action: Done in one major area of my life -goal 50% completed.

6. I will love more, laugh lots, and grow more fruit!

Action: Planted passionfruit, cape gooseberries. Need a trellis for the grapes. Taking more time to go off and do things that are fun. Goal 50% completed.

7. I will finish my Diploma of Business. Done! Goal 100% completed.

8. I will practice gratitude-all the time. Goal 80% completed.

That is it for now, but I intend to come back and update it.

Do something real on a long weekend.

Today was a holiday in Western Australia. That means a three day weekend.

We have filled it full of wonderful things that restore the soul and add to our lives. None of these things required much in the way of money and all of them involved us being active and interested in our lives and the lives of others.

On Saturday I went up to Trish's place to learn how to do free motion quilting -that weird thing when you drop the feed dogs and move the fabric at will, drawing with your sewing machine. Wow, what fun! I can really see how I will be adding this to my repertoire of skills to make my quilting projects quite individual and fun. The latest project is a whole cloth quilt for my niece's baby.


On Sunday I slept in and that meant that we were a bit late with a few ideas we had. No problem however to rustle up a salad or two so that we could have a barbeque lunch with a friend of ours.

Then my dear friend from school days and her husband came to look at my veggie garden! That was a lovely thing to do.

Then we were off to our Sunday night home group. What a supportive group we are becoming. We share each other's ups and downs and we care for each other.

Today I slept in again (this must be a record!).
The weather had turned rainy and cold so I used my time finally putting together the quilt sandwich for the whole cloth quilt for my niece's baby. It is a tough job doing this on the floor when you are as ancient as I am!

DH enjoyed an afternoon nap under the quilt I made at Trish's class.

And our elderly cat slept alongside.

Then I potted up the seedlings that I planted a few weeks ago into newspaper pots and soaked a big block of coir to put in the raised garden bed.

The day ended with a lovely roast chicken -free range of course, and roast veggies. A DVD of Poirot makes for a fun and life-giving weekend.

Hope yours was the same!

Fields of Gold

In January I visited New Norcia -and wrote this
"The Western Australian bush looks dry at this time of the year, but it knows how to survive the heat, and will be ready when the rains come again"

Today we visited New Norcia again for the Friends of New Norcia Picnic Day -and what a difference the winter rains have made this year!
The canola crops have turned the country into fields of gold, and the wheat is knee high and emerald green. The sheep and cows are looking healthy on their green feed -and the cape weed even is turning everything into gold. Trees are looking much less stressed. There is water in all the dams and the rivulets and on the sides of the road.






We had a lovely day. The monastery town had put on a lot of displays and exhibitions along with a fine lunch and some concerts to attend.




We visited the famous "New Norcia" bakery to see the baker pulling focacia from the 4.5 metre long wood fired baker's oven. They made it with olive oil made from olives first planted over 140 years ago when the Spanish monks first arrived in WA. They brushed them with more oil and garlic and sea salt. YUM!

Like all those lucky enough to work around New Norcia, the baker was happy to share the secrets of his craft and to share the results.

The only downside of the day was the intermittent showers which prevented us from eating our picnic lunch outdoors, and which meant that the final walk from St Ildephonsus' College, where we had been listening to an early music concert, to St Gert's for afternoon tea, resulted in us being absolutely drenched! I am sure it only poured for five minutes -but we were wet through.

So we came home to a warm room and fresh clothes and the glow of a very happy day among the fields of gold.



Here is one last picture.

I love a good day out. My DH and I love being able to escape from our daily routine, and New Norcia is a special place of spiritual renewal for both of us.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy days

Saturday started slowly. Lying in bed listening to Classic FM in that lovely state between waking and sleeping. Handel on the radio. I hope there is a special place in heaven for the baroque composers !

Coffee with DH and DS before a quick shower and then took some pictures of my spring garden while the sun was shining, Good to see the seeds making such progress in my new mini greenhouse.





Then I started on the 'house blessing".Each week I try to spend some concentrated time on one area of the house. Today I spent 20 minutes giving the stove top a good going over. Made some muesli whilst also tidying the pantry -when I open packets and put them into storage containers I can tidy a shelf and get things back to order. Swish and swipe over the bathrooms, clean toilets, sweep floors.

DH does the washing poor man and in winter it is a pretty never ending job. He also got excited and did a thorough clean and tidy of the bedroom. Where does all that dust come from?

It took only one hour and a quarter, but we were back in order and DD and myself were off to have fun.
























We stopped at the girls toy shop and I bought some Christmas fabric for an advent calendar.

We went to Joondalup to have some lunch because we haven't done that for a while.

Then to a couple of op shops. Picked up some bargains.




Home for coffee with DH and SIL before they both went off again. Chooken in the oven for tea, time to read some of my favourite blogs.

Have the chicken bones simmering to make stock-plan to watch some good TV tonight. I have a DVD of the TV show about Mr Gently and then there is Rockwizz.

It was a good day -and I hope to have a lot more of these in the future. I am about to make some changes in my life -but I can't tell you about them just yet until I have informed some interested parties, but I hope that soon my life will be more of a collection of happy days.

Come for a walk with me

Put on some comfy shoes. It is sunny outside but you will need a coat.


































Come for a walk in the spring sunshine.

Let's see how full the lake is after the winter rains.

We can hear the frogs calling.

The birds seem very busy all of a sudden.





















Let me tell you about the new path I am thinking of travelling.

Somewhere more free than where I have been.

Perhaps something a bit riskier.


Let me talk to you and you to me.

We can dream of summer days.