Mid summer Christmas

The forecast for Christmas is HOT -that is over 107.6 degrees fahrenheit. As usual here in Perth, really. We do all the usual Christmas things -but of course we don't have snow, and we don't need huge roast meals and pudding! We eat salads and ham and fish. I am making a traditional trifle for desert. 

We had a  Christmas choir performance in a local church. I took the pictures because I had lost my voice for a few days, but it was really lovely.  

With such hot weather, I have put up some more shade around the garden for a few days. A run of hot weather like this usually finishes off the lettuce, but hardy things like passionfruit and citrus usually survive as long as they are mulched and watered well.I am picking blueberries, mulberries, tomatoes, eggplants and rhubarb at the moment.

We helped our son put up a shade sail to protect a western wall of his house. We also spread some mulch under the fruit trees which are still quite young. DH is now making a couple of shade window blinds for the south west front of the house -it gets quite hot there in the late afternoon despite facing the south westerly sea breeze when it comes. 

So here we are a few days away from Christmas. Some parts of Australia already are struggling with the Omicron virus and the disappointment of another disrupted festive season. Our own state government has held on to its very tight border restrictions so our lives have continued pretty much as they did before the virus. All that is about to change. If the virus doesn't escape into the state before, we are supposed to open the borders on February 5th, when we have reached 90% of our population vaccinated. My own COVID booster is due mid January. None of us really know what will happen in February, but it will seem like a backwards step after all this time to be wearing masks and socially isolating. 

Anyway, I guess we will find out in Febrary. In the meantime, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas wherever you are. 

Here are a few things I found which you might enjoy.

Christmas in Australia -the video of a Paul Kelly song which is a favourite at Christmas

Making it better with volunteers 

How Nottingham is cutting carbon 

Syntropic farming for an abundant future

Best permaculture books written by women

Birak -it is early summer

 

I have noticed the change of the seasons for a couple of weeks now, as the rain bands  have drifted away further south, and the daytime temperatures are warming up. On Nyoongar boodja the Nyoongar season word is Birak or early summer. The afternoons are cooled by the sea breezes that abound from the southwest.An almost clockwork style of easterly winds in the morning and sea breezes in the afternoon, meant that traditionally this was the burning time of year for Nyoongars.They would burn the country in mosaic patterns for several reasons including fuel reduction, increasing the grazing pastures for some animals, to aid in seed germination for some plants and for ease of mobility across the country.

As for the animals, there are many fledglings now venturing out of nests, though some are still staying close to their parents. Our family of magpies have succesfully got their fledglings out of the nest, but still come to us for snacks and a drink almost every day. 

The birds and I are getting used to a new backyard fence, which is about 50 cm higher than the old one, and instead of crumbling super 6 panels we now have a dark green colourbond fence with extra depth, into the soil, to fend off the glyphosate the Council sprays on weeds in the walkway behind it. It has made a lovely difference to our backyard, which I was not expecting, really. I would have liked something more see-through, so we could enjoy the walkway, but all efforts to get the council to stop spraying have failed. As this is where most of my fruit trees and vegetables are growing, a good high, deep fence is an investment. 

Our new apple tree has been setting fruit. We also have tomatoes and blueberries ripening on their vines and bushes, and I have been planting seedling lettuces. I reckon we have about 4 weeks before growing lettuces will be impossible, due to the heat, even under the 50% shadecloth covers I have installed. When this happens, I try to move into growing seeds to sprout stage indoors, as a substitute, instead of buying bags of lettuce leaves. 

I attended the annual general meeting of CARAD to talk about its history over the last 20 years, and was given this lovely flower arrangement. It was highly perfumed, too. By taking the flowers out of the foam, recutting the stems and putting them in vases, I was able to extend the life of the flowers for about 7 more days. 

The northern grapevine trellis is now offering useful shade, which will deepen as the season goes on. It keeps the hot sun away from the walls and windows whilst allowing any cooling breezes to get through. The grandchildren like to bring a blanket out here and sit under the vine for an afternoon tea picnic.

Last Sunday we decorated my house for Christmas. Our 7 year old grandson made these cupcakes with his Pa, to keep us all going as we worked. I used the classic whole orange cake recipe but added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon -could have been 2- for an extra seasonal spice. They were great. I am about to start wrapping presents and putting them under the tree. I have a few which were ordered early, to try to beat the problems with shipping and supply issues. 

This year my advent table is decorated with four Kosta Boda 'snowball" tealight holders, which I have collected from op shops over the years. As we get hotter days, most taper style candles struggle to stay upright, but tealights are easier to manage. We light one each week, adding to the number lit until just prior to Christmas all four candles are lit. The central candle is lit on Christmas day and is used daily to Epiphany on January 6. 

As I write the new Omicron strain of the COVID 19 virus has been detected in Sydney. I guess we are all hoping that it won't impinge too much on our Christmas celebrations, but only time will tell. The most important thing is to stay safe and take care of each other as much as we possibly can.

I leave you with these things I found recently. 

Masai Woman's off grid home and garden 

Permaculture - a problematic conversation

How to use plants to keep you cool 

A story about a new stolen generations memorial in Perth. 

Festive thoughts from our place to yours

 

One of the major factors in our Aussie Christmas season is the weather -if it is not bringing fire or floods it is most probably hot. Some people ignore the heat, and continue the northern hemisphere traditions of hot roasts and gravy and pudding. Often we sing carols from the other side of the world -about snow and frost.

When I found myself, as a young wife, away from the family traditions, DH and I decided we didn't care for all that food, and instead started experimenting with our own Christmas traditions. We have most often had seafood, salad and fruit, with a generous glass of champagne-style Aussie wine. We focus on what is in season and most often we sit outside on the patio to eat. Wherever possible we recognise that we are  celebrating Christmas the Aussie way. That means we put up the tree and have an Advent Wreath, but I have to keep the candles in the fridge and have enough to replace them should they melt. We sing carols outdoors -my choir is going to sing at the beach this evening. 

So far, the weather forecast is, after a hot Christmas eve, we will be a comfortable 32 C maximum for Christmas Day. 

The garden will, so long as I can keep a few things alive in the heat, provide us with tomatoes and basil, lettuce and chillis, oregano and lemons and parsley and mint. I am turning to my favourite recipe books from the Mediterranean regions for inspiration. We are planning a low-key celebration on Christmas Eve with just the three of us who live in this house, because the next day my son and daughter in law are hosting Christmas lunch at their place in Ellenbrook. They are relishing the fact that this year, they are not working on Christmas Day! No need to rush anywhere, no need to drag the kids away from their toys. We are just going to have everyone's favourite foods served buffet style -no need to nag the kids to eat, or make anyone feel uncomfortable. 

In the past, we have been away from each other on Christmas Day and often for months each side of it. This year has, despite all the problems, been a blessing because we are just 30 minutes apart. We are enjoying all the sharing of our lives and celebrations. 

(I have added a very simple Nutella Mousse recipe to the "From My Kitchen" page - it is so easy and yet so, so nice! You might find it just the thing for a no-stress treat during the festive season this year). 

Many people are having a very strange Christmas, and will be feeling a bit at a loss this year, due to COVID 19 restrictions. Parts of Australia are now back in lockdown and that is sad. Some will be alone, and that will be quite a challenge. I am wishing all of you, no matter where you are or who you are with, a day in which any sadness and loss can be met with some conversations by technology with those who are dear to you. I hope you can remember that the first Christmas was also a difficult time for Joseph and Mary and their baby, far away from support networks and homeless. They were able to support each other and find their way through it, and I hope you do, too. 

Is your Christmas going to be the same this year, or very different? 

My garden quilt is finished

I have just finished my "garden quilt" and taken a picture of it in the garden, thanks to DD who stood on a set of steps to hold it up. The cute feature panels were given to me by my DDIL and DS, who really know how to bring my two favourite things -quilting and gardening-together. It is now in the washing machine, with three colour catchers! I always wash my quilts when they are finished. I bung them into the clothes dryer on warm afterwards -what I want is that very slight shrinkage (about 4%) of the cotton wadding, which helps to create that soft, crinkled look which I think is so much better than completely flat. 

It is a happy day when I finish a quilt. I always have another in mind -sometimes many more than one in mind, to start almost straight away. I also know that in order to finish the quilt I have had to overcome a number of obstacles -making decisions on colour and shape, recovering when things don't go the way I thought they would, overcoming performance anxiety about some stage or another. This time I was rewarded -finally-with a binding that went on first time- I have had some issues with the past couple of quilts about this -so it is good to have that little problem behind me.

Many people wonder what I am going to do with each quilt that I make. Some are so special I will keep them with me, and display them around my house. Some are just for snuggling under, and draping over the backs of chairs. Some get given away to family and friends. Some I give to the WAQA community quilt group. I don't know what the final destination of this one will be. I will wait and see.

Yesterday was Father's Day here in Australia. We had a lovely day with our son and daughter in law and grandchildren here for lunch. Then we went to a performance of METSO ( the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra) doing some wonderful Beethoven. Our son was playing violin. So lovely to be able to enjoy live music again! The audience is 'socially distanced' to mean that we don't sit in every row, so the concert hall is roughly half full. We can do this because our state of Western Australia has not had any community transmission of COVID 19 for a very long time. 

Apart from all this fun, our lives continue as we like to live them. I spend as much time in the garden as possible. DH makes useful things for us in his 'shed'. We read library books - I have just found the Sulari Gentill series of crime mysteries about her character "Rowland Sinclair" - a good read.I went on a mini 'shop hop' with some quilting friends last week- we are trying to support our LQSs (local quilting shops).

We bought a whistling kettle when our electric kettle died. In Australia we commonly have plug in electric kettles to boil water for beverages, but now I have my induction cook top, I can boil this whole kettle full (2.5litres) in 2 minutes. It takes me back to my childhood! There is something quite comforting about the gentle whistle as the steam announces that the water is boiling. 

Well, that is all for this week. Thanks for staying with this to the end! How was your week? 

 

Fun bargains in winter

Last weekend we celebrated Solstice with a bit of a family party. The grandchildren came over the day before to help decorate. We talked about longest days and the way the earth moves around the sun -all sorts of things, and they decorated small trees and we spread candles and greenery around.   The next day DGS1 turned up with his stuffed toy from the Frozen movie -Olaf the snowman! Great idea, as this is the closest we will ever get to snow during out winter! 

Due to the restrictions in place to keep us all safe during the pandemic, we couldn't have our friends over for a Winter Feast but we still had a lovely day. As it happened, it was sunny day and we were able to be outside. Our DD helped the grandchildren to a long painting session -I think DGS2 must have painted about 14 pictures in about an hour. I had made beef cheeks into a pie, and we had an apple and raspberry crumble to follow. 

The weather has been a wonderful mix of rain and sunshine. When we can we get out the bikes and go to the park. All of the kids' bikes we have here have been found at our Tip Shop, which is a social enterprise employing vulnerable people and saving things from landfill. DGS2 loves his balance bike.

DGS1 now has a big bike at our place with trainer wheels -it was $15 at the Tip Shop, and DH just tidied it up, oiled it and made sure the bell worked! He was delighted with it -"it's perfect!" he declared.

In the same vein, we have noticed that we really like the kind of ambiance you get from table and floor lamps on a winter's day when it is grey and cloudy outside. I got the idea that our lounge room could do with a standard lamp, and went online to see what was available to fit our 'traditional/cosy' decor. That meant that we didn't want any modern lights, nor anything too fussy. I found a wooden lamp secondhand on marketplace, and bought a new shade.  The whole thing cost $105 which was a third of the price of new lamps which look like this.

The sunshine and rain have been great for the garden. I have continued to make compost, and am pleased that the new mulcher I got for Mother's day has improved the quality of the mulch a great deal. I have moved some roses and planted some native plants like this one, for the birds and the insects. It is part of my on-going campaign to add flowers to my edible garden, and to ensure that there are mid and lower story plants among the trees. The garden is by no means full! 

I have been working on a quilt, using some gifted panels with a gardening theme. It is almost at flimsy stage -I have found one of the border patches has a hole so I have to take it out and replace it. It is a generous single bed size. 

We continue to experience the house, following our insulation upgrade, to be a bit warmer overnight and less in need of extra heating, although there are of course days when a glass of wine and a fire seems just right.

My state of Western Australia is doing very well so far in the COVID19 epidemic, and we are moving out of restrictions for everything except interstate travel on July 18. As a result, my choir is working on a regime to enable us to sing together in a very modified way, and we are now holding small dinner parties in our homes. This is a wonderful feeling: today I can go to my library and get some new books! 

If you are still in more resticted times, I hope you are coping well and staying safe. None of us can go back to normal yet, but life is still good. 

Thanks to all who leave comments -I love to read about your responses and your different lives. 

Mother Earth

On Mother's Day we often forget that the great Mother of us all, the Earth herself, needs a little care and respect, too.

I hope you are all going well and staying safe. In the slow down that is the result of this pandemic, many of us are finding ways to reconnect with the natural world, even if it is only our houseplants or the street trees we see from our windows.

We had some really marvellous rain last week. It was such a boost to the garden, and as it has been followed by sunshine and warmer temperatures, a lot of my seeds and seedlings are looking happy. This is our planting time, and now I have the garlic coming up I am moving on to broccoli and dill and anemones. I have been feeding the avocado which is still, after all these years, refusing to fruit. I have given it a companion tree to provide extra shade, and it has all sorts of compost and stuff in a deep collar around its trunk -but set back so that it does not get too wet. Oh, I love avocados, but this tree surely is going to have to reward my efforts at some stage or it will lose its place in the garden to something else. 

We were able, for the first time EVER, to enjoy our son, daughter in law and three grandchildren having lunch with us on Mother's  Day. It was mild and sunny and we ate outside. DH made a huge batch of sausage rolls, coleslaw and potato salad. I was given a SHREDDER for my garden, to assist in the big 2020 goal of making better compost. 

We have a local group on FaceBook which endeavours to build community and subvert the capitalist system at the same time by helping us give things to each other free of charge. That was how I got a sturdy bird bath support for the bird bath I had, whose base was crumbling. The magpies and wattle birds love this dish. 

I am scattering flowers around the garden, to keep the bees happy. These marigolds seed readily and when they grow it is often a surprise to see just what colours come up. 

DH tidied the garden shed and found a paper bag with some seeds which were labelled 'hollyhock'. He thinks we collected them about a decade ago, at a holiday house we were renting in Albany. Having seen a helpful online tutorial about checking seed viability, I soaked some paper and distributed about a dozen seeds. After a few days I was surprised to see at least a 50% germination rate -these seeds were not kept in ideal conditions at all -that metal shed gets very hot in summer. Anyway, feeling encouraged, I recycled an egg carton into a seed raising container and look what has happened so far:

Life wants to grow and continue to develop. If we stop getting in it's way it will reward us! 

Finally I leave you with a couple of things to read.

Thanks for reading this blog this far and thanks to all those who leave a comment. I enjoy our connections in this way. 

Reading time!

Deep thoughts about a quiet boycott of an unsustainable system from David Holmgren here 

Enjoy the pictures and the story about an Australian wilderness here 

"One day, the seeds may be reintroduced back into the landscape to flourish again which, for Wood, is a comforting thought. It will be nice if we can leave those who come after us with more than just a glimpse of what the world was in the beginning," he says.

Easter in Isolation

Hello everyone!

I hope you have had a lovely Easter. DH and I walked on the beach this morning, and look who I found! Yes, the Easter Bunny on Easter Tuesday, taking a break after a busy weekend.

It was a bit different this time, wasn't it? DH and I watched the Perth Anglican Cathedral services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, from his study. The Cathedral was empty except for a few essential people -but they did a good job at helping us all have a meaningful expression of the faith, despite the difficulties associated with the Covid19 pandemic and required social distancing measures. 

The weather was very hot indeed last week -but thankfully the autumn feel is back again now. As so many of us are now at home and trying to keep busy with growing some of our own food -and it is winter vegetable sowing and planting time now-so we need a bit cooler weather to help them along.

We are finding it so helpful to try to get outside in nature each day -my garden will be looking fantastic because it is getting so much attention! The pumpkin below was the first one I picked this year. It is a bit small, but I have great hopes for a very large one now growing under the grapefruit tree. My grand children took home a large basket of produce from the garden this week -herbs and fruit and flowers. My grand-daughter commented:  "your house is a garden wonderland!'

My improvisational quilt was finally finished this week and it is now hanging up in the hallway. I am pleased with the way it turned out. I call it 'Summer Ices" because I was thinking of gelati all the while I was working on  it. I am looking forward to being able to go back to the gelati shops at Hillarys Boat Harbor when all this is over, and enjoying a meal in a restaurant with other people in tow! 

I took my 'nanna trolley" out to the shops to get some milk from the local shop. I pick a good quiet time, and use a local grocer where there are fewer people. I like supporting the local businesses. I like the walk through the quiet streets. 

On the way I saw some chalk drawing on a fence: a palm leaf, a crown of thorns, a cross and an empty tomb.

DH has completed a project in his workshop. He found a broken small table at the Tip Shop, and thought he could repair it and make it useful again. He was able to use a new tool to make the top with a nice edge, and spent some time sanding back and refinishing the legs and repairing the frame. 

I have some lovely fabric on the design wall and am now considering a new quilt, using the new fabric and some scraps. I am missing my regular visits to the local library but DH got some new books for his birthday -and I will get to share the joy of those too. DH and DS both had birthdays this weekend. We celebrated in a bit of an understated way.

So we are keeping busy enough, with all of these projects.

I hope you are the same but if not, here are some inspirational sites for you, in case you need a few ideas to be going on with:

The Radical Homemaker :

http://theradicalhomemaker.net/farm-views-and-politics/lessons-from-the-not-so-happy-homemakers/

Lucy on how to get by in these crazy times
https://www.frugalwoods.com/2020/04/09/uber-frugal-week-day-1-know-what-you-spend-and-where-you-can-save/

Important information from David Holmgren, co-founder of Permaculture and writer of Retrosuburbia -now you can 'pay what you feel for the book! “Pay what you feel” asks you to respond from the heart as you choose what to pay for what I hope will be life changing content. Retrosuburbia now on download- pay what you can! 
See the launch here https://youtu.be/ly4k_Wg9YAs

Get active in the workshop
My good friend Greg has had to take his woodworking classes online -check out his videos here
https://youtu.be/_10R8uezg6M

How to grow seedlings from scratch from Pip Magazine
https://www.pipmagazine.com.au/news/raising-seeds/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=self-reliance-blog-posts&utm_term=raising-seeds-video&utm_content=lookalike-website-visitors&fbclid=IwAR1cWo-3E36kauGA9z0H2ST49ymtKzsRcvT5dr_XMB6ULFdFpTMssi-dQbY

Thanks so much for reading this far. I love to read your comments!

RACES - One day at a time

Yesterday was my birthday (31 December) and I had a lovely time.  I got spoiled with lots of presents, and we went to see the movie "Cats' for a bit of escapism and it was great. Dora (my cat) would have approved! 

On the other side of the continent, however, people were sheltering on a beach whilst waiting for a bush fire to sweep over them all-did you see pictures of this where you live? On our West Australian south coast a very fragile national park is in flames, and I fear the damage which is being done to flora and fauna.

This is a very strange and confronting time to be an Australian. Our successive governments have done very little to acknowledge or even plan for climate change emergencies, and now we are at the beginning of a long hot summer with no relief in sight. For most of Australia it will be months before they have any chance of rain.

We have lost -at this moment- seven confirmed dead- and somewhere around a thousand homes lost. We have many native species at the brink of extinction. This is a terrible thought, and many people find themselves shocked and grieving. For me however, I have been aware and active in this movement to change our world for many years and I have done at least some grieving already. Some years ago, reading one of Tim Flannery's books, I couldn't sleep, and had this urge to get up and go and take pictures of our unique trees down south, before they are all dead! They are not dead yet, but who knows how long they will survive? 

For a longer discussion of this topic I suggest you read this from Meanjin and if you have time here is a  

TED talk you really should take the time to watch  

I am firmly convinced of the power of hope, and that it is not too late to turn this thing around -I will not be giving up. 

I have decided that I have five words which will characterise my year -Radical Action, Community Empathy and Simplicity: RACES for short. 

Radical Action will be required from all of us -to challenge the current way of doing things, and especially challenge the assumptions behind them.  We have to go beyond fossil fuel based economies -and do it quickly. This will require us each to change our own lives-drive and fly less, for example. That won't be enough unless our goverments, our corporations, decide to rapidly decarbonise too. We have to make them want to do it! 

Community is going to be needed because this emergency will test all of us and our ability to be a community will be the key to our survival. We need to look out for the vulnerable and bring them with us.

See how community can work here 

Empathy is the powerhouse which will keep us going -for example, even if the fires are not here right now, we can feel for those who are dealing with it, and that feeling will spur us to action. 

Simplicity is the compass point for everything I do. We all need a lot less 'stuff' than we think we do, and a lot of life can be enjoyed when you know what is important and what is not. 

Some of you who read and comment on my blog will be just as concerned as I am. Some of you have been in fire zones and dread the return of them. For others, the problems of climate change may be different -maybe it never stops raining and you have to deal with floods, or polar winds bring icy conditions too far south. 

I wish for us all that the new year will bring us clean air, fresh water and food, someone to love and human rights. If any of those are in danger, I wish us courage which will result in action. 

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve down here in Perth Western Australia -and I am planning a gentle, easy day. Last night we attended a 9 Lessons and Carols service and it was a wonderful reminder of all that Christmas means about love and hope. Things are tough for many people around the world - certainly the horrendous fires are on the minds of Australians. I am concerned for many people I know, and lovely towns I have visited. I am hoping and praying they are all safe.

Our world is in trouble because of the way we are living without regard to the impact we are having on the systems which sustain us.  We need to take note, and transition away from exploiting the earth's resources and start the healing and safeguarding of our planetary home. Simple Living can be a good example of the kind of wonderful life we can lead -a life of abundance and not hardship!

I hope that we can all have a good Christmas Day. If it is difficult for you -for whatever reason- please take good care of yourself. Do what you need to protect your soul. Enjoy the escape of a good uplifting book -go to join in a faith community- go for a walk in the natural world ( a city park will do) but whatever you do, try to think of something you can be grateful for. Rebecca Solnit says "Hope is an axe you use to break down a door in an emergency". I wish you hope. 

Today we are doing a couple of gentle things to get ready for Christmas Day. We will be just the three of us for lunch -and that is just fine. We have moved in this year to a largely plant based diet -even more than in the past, so that 'feast days' when we have something like a lamb roast are extra special. I am going to cook it with slivers of home grown garlic embedded in it, and rosemary and fennel. I might do this later today as tomorrow Christmas day will be 37C. (It will go in  the oven after the patatas bravas I am planning for our dinner tonight -having been re-watching Rick Stein's series on Spain).

I am making a couple of salads - I have some baby potatoes for a potato salad with mint and sour cream. I have asparagus. I have olives and feta for a Greek salad to go with the lamb. We are going to have Eton Smash for dessert.

We won't be with our grandchildren until later in January -they are in Victoria. We will enjoy being together then. Before that, we have 2 family birthdays between Christmas and New Year! We like to got to a casual fish cafe near the beach for a celebration on DD's birthday.

We will be back at the beach every morning we can. We will be reading books, keeping the garden alive (I hope) during the heat of the summer, and I will be sewing. I have a new improvised project on the go, inspired by a book I got from the library. I am using gelati coloured solids and leftover indigenous pattern fabrics from my "Blue mountain" quilt.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for leaving comments. I appreciate the connections we make across the world.

Stay well and live simply! Merry Christmas!

Meeting in the middle

Last Friday night we celebrated the Mid Winter feast, as we have done every year for the last six years. This is a time to gather with friends, to mark the solstice, to have some wonderful wintry food and to look forward to the slow extension of daylight and the return of summer.

In order to fit everyone in, we move our furniture out of the lounge room, which is the biggest room in the house. DD has a wonderful eye for making the decorations special each year-she makes it all very festive. We put the dining table in, and supplement it with one of my sewing tables. Seats for a crowd -the seven dining chairs we own were supplemented by some chairs we found at the tip shop for a tiny price. I was prepared to see this purchase as the same as 'hiring' chairs -ie we could donate them back to the tip shop afterwards, but DH said we have enough room in his workshop for a stack of chairs and undoubtedly there will be more parties! 

This celebration is a kind of Yule fest -like Christmas but without the stress (or the heat!). DH and I like to send out our friends with whatever produce we can -this year we used baskets from the op shop and stuffed them with DH's marmalade, some lemon cordial, kaffir lime leaves, dried grapefruit (great for casserole flavour) along with a selection of our lemons, grapefruits and limes. I am amazed how our small garden (we are on 700s metres) can produce so much to share. I have a bucket of lemons out for the neighbours again today...the Eureka lemons this time.

We are now gradually returning our home to its normal layout. The decorations are packed away, the sofas are back in the lounge room. We are taking it easy for a while now, I think! 

When the rain stops, DH and I like to go out for a walk around the lakes near our place. We live between two lakes -each one with lovely walking tracks. The heavy rain we have had recently has filled them up and made the birds and frogs very happy. We love to see the flowers in season.

As the weather has got colder, I have had to adapt my bread making. I have found it necessary to swathe my sourdough bowl in a thick towel as it rises overnight. I made this one in a tin rather than the banneton, in order to eliminate any possible excuse for the bread to sulk and not rise when tipped out of the basket!

We are gradually getting the winter pruning under way. DH has trimmed the grapevines which shade the northern windows and wall in the summer, and we are getting lovely sunshine in now. The Eureka lemon has had quite a big haircut, as has a rambling rose in the back garden. We picked up another compost bin for nothing, and I have placed this one under the Eureka lemon out the front. This will provide that tree with extra moisture and food -especially during our hot summers.

We did have one disaster on the gardening front, however. ALL my broccoli florets were eaten by rats!!!! Today I took out the broccoli. I will plant something that the rat does not have such a taste for, I hope. They don't seem so interested in the mizuna, for example.

My poinsettias were lovely as decorations for the Mid Winter feast. Even though I burned the ends, as shown on YouTube (!) they sadly were spent the next day. Mind you, DH tells me that the bush which supplied the cutting from which our plant grew, is about 3 metres high, so as the bush grows in future there will be plenty to spare!

Last week I finally got my scrappy mountains quilt to the longarmer. She said that she had a bit of a "window" in her diary in which she could get the edge-to-edge design done for me, so I may be able to go back this week and pick it up. She even offered to put the first side of the binding on it for me, which will be an enormous help! The drive out to her place takes us quite close to the lovely Swan Valley, so DH came with me when I dropped off the quilt and we stopped at a favourite winery and cafe on the way home. We may do this again when I go back to pick up my quilt!

A friend dropped off a whole bunch of half square triangle blocks -someone she knew had started to make a quilt and never finished it. I had mentioned our Community Quilt group, and said that we would take the blocks and see what we could make of them. Well, when I saw how many blocks were finished ...and how many bags of tiny half square triangle blocks were not sewn together yet, I thought I had better get busy. It would be good to see if I can get something together as a quilt top before handing it over to the Community quilt people for finishing.

So here we are, meeting in the middle of the year.  I love this time of the year...a quiet and reflective time, with plenty of opportunity for brisk winter walks, nights by the fire, and the odd glass of wine.

How do you feel about winter - or perhaps it is summer where you are?

Happy Easter: now the other stage of life begins

This icon of Jesus rescuing the souls from hell is a favourite of mine, and is in prime place in our house today.

Happy Easter! 

I love this hymn which I found today on YouTube

Today is a very significant day in our household. DH has RETIRED. We are, in fact, both retired.

Who would have thought, all those years ago, we would have made it this far? It is a wonderful moment. A time to savor in all its richness and blessing.

This past few weeks have been a bit hectic for him, so first, a rest. 

Apart from handing over his duties, we have also had some wonderful events in these past two weeks. 

We were given free tickets to a wonderful performance from students at WAAPA, one of our local conservatories, in a wonderful sacred music performance in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Perth -recently renovated and a fabulous space for music.

We also sang ourselves in a choir performance at St Mary's Anglican Church on Good Friday. It was a very nervous time for us in the lead up to the performance, but it is always amazing how much an audience can lift our singing. Choirs like ours, which are not professional and which teach people like us how to sing amazing music, are a wonderful community building phenomena. I love the way our very talented musical director can get us ordinary people to sing wonderful pieces of music. They are going round and round in my head now. 

I also attended the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees here in Perth. We stand for a humane treatment of asylum seekers. 

We also celebrated DH's birthday with a walk in a national part, coffee and cake in a cafe in the Swan Valley and dinner at a beachside cafe. He had a lovely time!

Now we are going to enjoy a bit of quiet, as we settle into our new way of life. I have some quilt blocks to sew, and DH has some lovely gifts and vouchers from work to use, and this will enable him to renew his home office for future use. A bit of a tidy up and some de-cluttering may ensue.