Flowers for Mother's Day

Spent a lovely morning in the garden, among all this loveliness. Since we had the first rains followed by cooler nights and warm days, my garden has emerged from its stressed summer look to lush growth, in which each plant tries to outdo it's neighbour.

There is both pink and blue rosemary in flower, white and yellow and pink daisies, red and purple and cerise pelargoniums, and lots of lavender cultivars. The bees are still very busy.

I found a volunteer (self-seeded) rosemary and lavender which I have replanted out in the back to encourage the bees out there where I need the bees to pollinate vegetables and fruits.
Speaking of fruits, this is one of the gifts from my family for Mother's Day - a lovely kalamata olive tree. We planted it in the front yard where it will be some light shade in the summer time.

I got other lovely gifts -two books on preserving, and two seasons of Hercule Poirot on DVD!

Tonight we are going to a concert version of Rockwiz - a favourite TV show which celebrates rock music and I know we will have a whole lot of fun.

Happy days!

Busy Bee

There were lots of bees in the garden today. All through the lemon blossom, the lavender and the daisies. They were busy bees!

I have been busy too, sourcing flower arrangement paraphernalia for a certain celebration in September. You have to practice these things! These strange purple beads swell up in water and I am testing them out with some asters to see if the flowers stay alive.


I have made a Stargazy set of quilt squares. I liked it once I saw it come together like this.

The myer lemon has luscious fruit-just a few.

DH planted a Kaffir lime -thank you darling.


The potato beds got extra mulch.

The 7 year beans have their first bean pods.

And there is a new addition waiting to be planted - a giant kalamata olive! Just in time for Mother's Day ! WoHoo.

How to have a great weekend-The Husband's story

Start by admiring your lovely vegetable tub, growing so well under your careful water management.
Plant up a new strawberry pot.


Then paint out the old yellow paint in the hallway and redecorate with "Antique White USA". Of course this is after you have moved all the stuff out, and found the scrapbooks and memory boxes and had a laugh and a cry at all the stuff we found.


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Have a nap when you need to-after all this hard work.

And what is your wife doing all this time?

Sewing!

Riot of colour

I have been quilting again!

I plucked up the courage to take my queen sized quilt to a local person who has an enormous long-arm quilting machine. Surprisingly she did not comment at all on the small but obvious flaws in the top, (blush) instead we spent time choosing a lovely over-all pattern and the thread which will be used to sew it all together. It will take a few months for her to be able to quilt my top, as she has such a lot of work on, but I am glad to see it off to its next stage of development, because there is so much else happening.

My DD and I made the 'quilt sandwich' today for the king size single quilt I have made recently with all the lovely colours in it. You can see that Lady, our very elderly cat, came out of her usual sleep mode long enough to inspect progress as the green spotted border went on. This quilt has been a joy to make, because I have just loved the colours.

I think I can quilt this one at home, as it is going to be quite simple and I think I can -just-manage it. Mind you it is quite a big quilt and there will be moments when I wonder why I started!

Yesterday I was back in my lovely sewing class as I am embarking on several new projects.

One is a Jan Mullens pattern called " Dark Nightz" and I am making this as a comforter size, using all my scraps in new ways. It is a fun project and not too complicated.

Next Saturday I will be back in class, this time making a jelly roll quilt. I have some luscious moda prints called "Bistro" and I am really looking forward to another jelly roll quilt as they are such fun to make.

None of this activity is exciting enough yet for Lady to be particularly interested however. Her interest is only when the project is on the floor!

There was a wedding here

My sister in law is now married to her lovely man. What a happy time it was.

It was also quite a simple family affair.

My son played his violin, my husband was on the piano, his sister on the organ and a friend played trumpet. Some friends sang for us whilst the register was signed.

My brother in law drove the car -which belonged to the groom.
The bride's son read a Bible reading, as did the sister of the groom.

My other sister in law worked on the invitations, order of service and other printed material.

We had cake in the church hall after the service, then went to a restaurant for a lovely meal. The tables were decorated by a friend. The table decorations were given out at the end of the service to some of the many people who had contributed to make the day a success.

Yes it is a relief it is now over -no wedding comes together without some stresses and tears and worries. But the best thing of all is that two people who could do with some companionship and affection have found each other, after some pretty turbulent years each of them had to face alone. Happiness always to the bride and groom!

AND happy birthday to my two gorgeous men -my son and my husband, both of whom are celebrating this weekend!

First Easter at New Norcia

We had a lovely time celebrating Easter with the Benedictine community at New Norcia. We were able to be there from Maundy Thursday right through to Easter Monday. What a treat! There were several of our friends and acquaintances there too, and such an interesting group of people who travel a long way to spend Easter like this, without a bunny in sight.

The Benedictines have a ministry of hospitality. This is the guest house where we stayed. The rooms are comfortable, but it is the peacefulness and quiet which is so highly valued. Most people find their mobile phone is out of range here, and there is no radio signal either, or any televisions.

The farmland behind the monastery was looking good after recent storms dumped over 80mm of rain in two days. I thought this landscape was begging for an Arthur Streeton to paint it.

There was time to walk after the regular prayer times, and high and holy days in the Abbey Chapel.

It was lovely to see water in the river again, after such a hot and dry summer time. In the northern hemisphere Easter signals new life after the barrenness of winter. For us in Western Australia, Easter often coincides with the break of the season from summer to autumn, and with the return of the water to the landscape new life emerges again.

The river managed to make a quite acceptable little babbling noise over the rocks, but you have to be still enough to hear it. Rushing about will only mean you miss the subtle beauty. There were other sounds too-monks quietly chanting psalms, wind in the trees and the exuberance of birds first thing in the morning.

On Sunday there were lots of alleluias, trumpets, cellos and organs, and of course the singing of the choir! DH and I were privileged to be asked to sing in the choir, and it was such a lovely thing to do.

Easter meant that we slowed right down, and made time to listen, and pray and reflect. We talked to people and to each other, wrote in our journals and read several books.

It was a wonderful celebration, and we hope to do it again next year.

Recipes!

Thought I would share a few recipes with you this week.

Minted garlicy salad dressing
The first started with a problem -our autumn garden had no 'leaves' for salad! What to do? I took a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower from the fridge and, after cutting them into little pieces, blanched them in hot water for about a minute.

Then I went out to the herb pots and harvested some mint -a good handful.
I whizzed it in the blender with a gloop of home made Greek yoghurt and a clove of garlic. The quantities are a bit vague =you want it to be able to coat the veggies. I reckon about 3 tablespoons would do it.

Then I added a pouch of chick peas from the freezer, (I cook then up in batches and freeze until I need them) which I popped in the water I had used to blanch the veggies, to warm them up a bit.

YUM!

The next recipe is from I don' t remember exactly, but I know that it is attributed to Peter Singer.

Dahl is the staple diet of millions of people in the world. Don't let them have all the fun!

Dahl:
1 tblspn olive oil
2 cloves garlic (crushed/chopped)
1 medium onion, diced
2 tspns curry powder (more if you like it)
1 cup small red lentils
1 cup water
2-3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tin tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tblspns lemon juice

In a large saucepan, saute the garlic for a minute then add the onions and cook until they are beginning to soften.
Add curry powder and cook for a minute.
Add lentils, stir a bit and then add water, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
Bring to boil, turn down very low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Add chopped tomatoes, and simmer until thick (10 minutes?)
You want soft lentils and it should be not-quite-porridge in consistency.
Add coconut milk and lemon juice.

Serve over rice -with broccoli and cauliflower dressed in minty, garlicy dressing!

Enjoy!