Wednesday 14 December 2011

Gimmie Shelter


I can't get this song out of my head this week, I love it!

End of year shananigans

Happy Christmas everyone. A beautiful tree drawn by Django the reluctant drawer!


The reptile man came to preschool. This was a huge black headed python. It was beautiful.




We all got to hold Snap the crocodile.


This is the beautiful peacock that often turns up at preschool. It wanders about, honking at the kids, pooing on the veranda and sitting on the roof.




Django was 'The Hat Peddler' in his Preschool concert. It was his last day at Preschool.



Nelson won the Art competition to have his drawing on the front cover of the school cookbook.
Posted by Picasa

Saturday 10 December 2011

The Girl Effect

I am lucky to have a lovely little daughter.  She is lucky to be her.  She can do what she wants with her life.  She has a loving family, clean air to breath, water to drink and fresh healthy food to eat. She has room to run and play and the time and space to have a happy childhood.  Other girls around the world are not so lucky.  It is Sunny's birthday tomorrow and so I am going to make a donation through Global Giving to help another girl somewhere in the world who is not as lucky as Sunny.   You can choose to donate to specific programs.  By donating just $25 I have provided school supplies for 20 girls for one month in a school in India.  Hopefully the money really gets to where it is needed!

Friday 9 December 2011

Sunny's Birthday Party

Two already. Not a little baby anymore.

I finally made these little wings this week - nothing like leaving a job to the last minute. I have been meaning to make Sunny some since i first saw them earlier in the year.




I had to make her a sun cake.   It was actually very easy to make, just two circles and one cut into triangles.


Sunny was very pleased with the singing of the Happy Birthday song just for her. The whole day was worth it just for that very happy, pleased smile.






Partied out.
Posted by Picasa

Friday 2 December 2011

What we are eating



Onions. I have pulled up lots of onions lately - including some huge ones. This one on the right weighed 600 grams!! All these onions means....Onion Jam. Yum. I have tried a few recipes but my favourite one is Libby's recipe (from Delicious I think).

For the relish

  1. 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  2. 3 red onions, thinly sliced
  3. 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
  4. 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
  5. 1 tsp cumin seeds
  6. 3 tbsp brown sugar
  7. 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
  8. Large pinch crushed chilli flakes

Method

  1.  Begin by making the relish as it can be served warm or cold. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan and cook the onions for 10 minutes until softened and lightly golden. Stir in the garlic and seeds and cook for 1 minute more. Add the sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar and chilli and bubble for 5 minutes until the liquid evaporates.
   But we cook the onions for longer about 30 mins to start with then another 30 ish after adding the vinegar etc.  I also usually double the recipe.  So yummy on a sandwich. Actually on anything.  I put it on my dahl last night, it is good on fritters, vegie pies.  Yum.





Cabbages.  We have been eating alot of cabbage - usually as a coleslaw (cold sore).  I like to use a simple dressing of 3 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp of light olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar.  Adding orange segments to the slaw is nice too.  We also love the purple cabbage salad like Bob makes and last night I made an Indian cabbage dish which was good!


Zucchinis are just coming on.  I have made some yummy fritters from a recipe thanks to Gourmet Girlfriend as well as the old faithful zucchini slice.

Cucumbers are going crazy - i picked the first one yesterday then found another 5 today.

I planted heaps of sunflowers but only three survived.  This one is getting very tall.

The boys harvested the garlic the other day, we got a wheel barrow full.

Posted by Picasa

Monday 28 November 2011

Friday 25 November 2011

It's raining again

While I am worrying about my brother surrounded by fire in WA we are wondering if it will flood. I can't imagine hot dry bushfire weather..... we are all soggy and water logged.  Look here for some photos of the fires in Margaret River.




The jacaranda trees are out.


Off for a rain walk and puddle splash.
Posted by Picasa

Monday 21 November 2011

Upstream

On the 11/11/2011 we had our very own 'Upstream' festivle.   It was a fantastic weekend.

( What is that hanging on the left of the sign?)

The banging wall. Clatter and smash.



Who is that handsome keyboard  player?


Cool crowd.

Tent city.


The beautiful new stage the clever fellows built.


Posted by Picasa

Monday 24 October 2011

The Peace of Wild Things

The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry 

I was just browsing some of my favourite sites and I visited Keri Smith - an artist, writer, person whom I admire.  I hadn't visited her lately (I don't mean really visited but cyber visited), anyway she had posted a poem by Wendell Berry.  I liked the poem and never having heard of the poet I looked him up and he sounds like a very interesting man (and a cool dude).  Next I looked up some of his poems and this title caught my eye.  I really like it and can relate to the poem.  That is how I feel when I am down at the river.

Here are some quotes of his (from here)

“One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race.”


“You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.”

“The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared food, confronts inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality.”

“How joyful to be together, alone as when we first were joined in our little house by the river long ago, except that now we know each other, as we did not then; and now instead of two stories fumbling to meet, we belong to one story that the two, joining, made. And now we touch each other with the tenderness of mortals, who know themselves...”

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”

At home with Sunny and Django

We love making and playing with the waterfall!!





Messy cornflour goo is another favourite. Now Nelson is back at school, Django keeps me busy!






Hooray a milestone is reached. Django can now swing. Hooray for swinging!
Posted by Picasa