Flower Power

It may be mid-Winter but the sun is bright and flowers are everywhere, yesterday Deb treated me to lunch and we sat outdoors looking over into Warnbro Sound, it was beautiful.

Here are some of the flowers that are colouring our gardens in the complex where we live now...

One of our neighbour's pawpaws look almost ready...she has 4 trees all grown from the seeds of a pawpaw she bought to eat...

and the fog yesterday that almost kept me at home...

Dad is in the wars again with a torn tendon, arthritis and bursitis all in the same shoulder and my cousin Andrew has just broken his leg helping a friend round up some sheep in the UK...hoping for a speedy recovery for them both!

A baby photo to finish off, Twitch was about 4-5 months old in this pic, he'll be 3 yrs old at the end of October...can you see his left-hand whiskers? He jumped up on the coffee table during a black-out and singed them on a candle! Some rabbits!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, lots of knitting and watching footy on the telly is lined up for me!
Love from Sue
xxx

This Winter

A few photos to show what I have been doing since my last post...none of me reading several books a week though!
The patio at the back of this house tends to flood during heavy rain...it had also gone very green so I borrowed Gordon's pressure cleaner yesterday and looks brand new again...

I stood this pot of nasturtiums on an upturned plant pot and love the cascade of green...Twitch eats the leaves too...

one of the many beautiful roses from our front garden...

Flooding on a main road near Fremantle...a near new Jag had broken down in the middle of this "puddle"..

I made new drawstring bags for Joe's chess group to keep the chess pieces clean and safe...

We both love polenta, either soft and creamy or firm and a little bit crusty...I baked these in the oven rather than frying them this time...

The mystery of the mess on my computer table each morning has been solved...why Twitch feels the need to climb up there when we go to bed he won't say but it makes us laugh as we hear his noisy progress...

I finished this throw rug knit from yarn given to me in Canada in 2009 by Priscilla and Will...knew it would come in handy one day...

Opposite my parent's home the golf course is looking very green and lush. This day Dad spotted a pet rabbit on their front garden, we followed it for ages but it just kept running away, sadly it didn't survive...Dad was late for golf and left his lunch on the table so I had to go and find him...

Spring flowers already...these narcissi  have the sweetest perfume imaginable...

Kwinana Hub on a wet Sunday morning...

A 3 kg tin of mixed beans for $6? Yep...I drained and rinsed them, split them into 5 portions, froze 4 and made bean patties with one lot...

Finally a mystery plant growing in our neighbour's garden...it is 8 ft tall, has soft stems and flowers almost non-stop...any idea what it could be?

Bunnies have the cutest bottoms...just saying

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xx

Priscilla

http://pearlzjourney.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/update.html

Some new treatment is planned, please click on the link to read about it
xxx

PS Mother...click here!

Dave Is On The Team!

So proud of my closest cousin, David...see in this link what he is up to now

Sail for Cancer

1985, Dave has inherited his Dad's love of sailing...

working through that bucket list

 Cake eating finals with younger brother, Jon and dad, Tom...

Dave and his lovely wife, Janet and Rani at Arley Hall recently...

Hope you have a ball and raise a ton of money, Dave

xxxxx

My Grandad's medals from WW2 and the Dunkirk Beach

Just found these photos of my Grandad Gardner's medals so will post them and then get more background information off my Dad. The medals are in the care of Uncle Alan and will go to my cousin Andrew eventually. In the first photo are two Member of the British Empire medals, in the smaller box is Grandad's for "services above and beyond the call of duty" after he stayed on the Dunkirk beach helping others to escape after he could have left. On the right in the larger box is that earned by Uncle Alan's wife, Margaret, for "Service to Higher Education" after her long career as the Personal Assistant to the various Vice-Chancellors of Lancaster University.

 After a bit of internet research I find that Grandad was on the 1952 Queen's Birthday Honours List (scroll down to MBE Army and the names are in alphabetical order, Robert Herbert Gardner was his full name.
He was a member of the Territorial Army for over 50 years, nowadays they are known as the Reserve Army, well trained men and women who can be called upon at any time to supplement the regular armed services.
Auntie Margaret's award came in 2001 after 37 yrs of service to the Lancaster University...you can read about it here.. Margaret Gardner 

This newspaper article from January 25th 1962 tells us

"Mr R.H. Gardner of Parkhouse, Skerton, who works for Pye of Lancaster, corn millers. He joined the King's Own Royal Regiment fifth battalion TA in 1923 and recently retired as a CSM. He holds the fifth clasp medal for efficiency and believes he is one of only 12 people in the British Isles to hold this clasp. He served in the second world war for 6 years and was at Dunkirk. In 1950 he went to Germany to observe training methods."
You can see the five clasps or bars on the medal on the right in the photo above.

the cap badge

Home on leave in the 1940s outside 4 Condor Place, Lancaster

Wearing all the medals many years later, in the back garden of 20 Longlands Rd, Lancaster

I really will have to find out more!
Love to you all
xxx

Frugal Measures Indeed

Hallo Folks...this is my 400th post and it's back to the very basics after a tough federal budget was announced this week.
I'm taking time to reflect on all I've learned at the forum and through my life and jot a few things down that may help you as well as me.

A good place to start is in the kitchen.
 Cooking from scratch is usually cheaper and has the added benefit of you knowing just what you are eating to a large extent.
Reduce the amount of meat we eat, it is costly and un-necessary to eat the huge amounts of meat we do in the Western world.
Less meat...what then?
More beans, lentils and legumes in general. Cooked from scratch they are a very thrifty alternative to meat.
Here is a great chart for pressure cooker users.
Eggs are great main meal staple too.
Eat more soup! We love our soup and it's a great way to use up little bits of left-overs and what-ever is in season and becoming 'boring'. It takes 5 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of pressure cooking to have a hearty vegetable soup ready. For variety use different vegs each time, vary the size of the pieces and puree it occasionally. Rose's soup with a cup of chick peas added...

Nothing is wasted in our house, small amounts of left-overs are added to the next days' meals or frozen until needed.
Next step is to shop as seasonally as possible...that means buying what is being grown in your area as it will be fresher and hopefully cheaper. Here is a link to what's in season in Australia, I'm sure your country will have a similar site...
http://seasonalfoodguide.com/

Perhaps you can keep some chickens or ducks?
Even the smallest gardens can produce some vegetables or fruit. I planted Rainbow Chard, chillies and sage in the front garden here as well as my lemon tree. A neighbour has 7 paw-paw trees heavy with fruit that she has grown from seed...we both grow a wide variety of herbs to add taste and nourishment to our meals.

Let it be known that you would love to receive any-one's glut of zucchinis, tomatoes or what-ever they have and use them up! Juice citrus fruits and freeze the juice in Winter when they are at their peak and fully ripe.
Join 'Ripe Near Me' and share the bounty!

Around the house you can save money by making your own green cleaning products, gifts and toiletries, clothing, soft furnishings...there are so many links out there that I won't bother sharing any; come and join the forum if you are stuck for ideas. Leave the car at home when you can or do as many errands as you can when you go out. Use the op-shops and libraries, have friends over for coffee or a meal instead of going out to restaurants. Can you put on a jumper and socks instead of turning on the heater? Check with Centrelink to see if you are entitled to any extra payments or a health care card. Before you re-new any insurance policies etc phone around and get quotes...you can save $100s at times.

Do remember to have some treats now and then though!

I know we don't have children at home now and that many families will be worse off if the budget gets through the Senate but let's start by making changes at home, let's be pro-active as Becci says.

Let's keep our chins up, our grand-parents and parents went through far harder times, we are still very fortunate to have so much here in Australia.
Love from Sue
xx

there is light at the end of the tunnel...

Just a Catch-up

aaand a great, big hug to my dearest friend of 52yrs, Gillian who is getting married next month! Gillian and her family moved into a house 4 doors down from us in Morecambe when she was 4 yrs old and I was 8 months older...we've stayed close despite us moving to Australia in 1967 and I wish for her and Gordon a very long and happy marriage; they've been together forever so I'm sure they know what they're in for!

I just have a few photos to share today and a link to the best smoked cod dish I have ever had...it was a bit like Ocean or Seafood Pie but beautifully flavoured by the smoked cod.

The rains have started in earnest now in Perth so with help I've planted out my fancy hibiscus and the lemon tree that was my 50th birthday present from Ma and Pa...it's lived for 7 yrs in a large pot and given us huge lemons every year since. Today I planted rainbow chard, sage, chives and 6 strawberry plants in this cute little pot...see at the back? The chard has gone in the front garden with lots of compost so I am expecting great things of it...

the pansies are flowering too and the habanero chillies are just starting to turn red...there's a year's supply on this one plant!

I've nearly finished this sock now...I love these self striping yarns...wish it got cold enough here to wear hand-knitted socks more often(be careful what you wish for, Sue)

I treated myself to a bottle of rosé from Provence, it was heavenly...

...discovered Odlums of Ireland's baking site and made the cheese and thyme loaf, found this you-tube of playing bunnies and got lost in the joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRfx8YR_nVk

Jess and Liv came over and we went walkabout...they really wanted to climb this tree but despite their best efforts they couldn't get up there...

I had to laugh!
It's dark outside now and I can hear our resident frog having a good old sing-song in the front gardens. The smell of our spaghetti sauce is making me very hungry so will say bye bye for now,
Love from Sue

PS
Twitch just asked if I'd posted a pic of him recently...

...why he only has one leg stuck out behind him is any-one's guess...his tail is there though. He's been climbing over the settee in the middle of the night and onto this table too...

and it's goodnight from him.

Breakfast Casserole

One of the great things about the internet is to be able to read recipes from all over the world. The term breakfast casserole keeps cropping up on American sites but they look far too rich for my simple breakfast tastes and they often use frozen potato gems or hash browns(bleurke lol).

Joe sleeps late and enjoys a cooked breakfast so I thought I'd have a go at this recipe which will make a nice lunch for me too.
Serves 4...
4 eggs
1/2 cup of milk(I used oat milk) whisked together

4 strips of lean bacon, chopped...I used hot salami today
up to 2 cups of chopped vegs such as onion, capsicum, zucchini, kale, (I used 1/2 cup of corn and peas too)
2 crushed garlic cloves
Sauted together and set aside to cool

4 cooked potatoes, chopped

Mix it all together, season well and place in a greased 8x8 inch tin or casserole dish, top with a cup full of grated cheese.
Now you can leave this covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours before you cook it...how's that for convenience?
Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes or until set in the middle, eat and enjoy.

As I was preparing my 'casserole' it became obvious that I was making what I call an oven omelette or even a baked frittata......it was delicious no matter what it's name!

My other project yesterday was to cut and hem a sweet tablecloth from the op-shop to make a kitchen curtain. I tried it for size...you can see my reflection in the window!

I really didn't want to cut it but realised overnight that I would have to...it looks better now, a new curtain for $3 and I used the off-cut to make a pelmet/fringe for our open plan wardrobe...

It looks so European...one of these days Joe is going to put my Eiffel Tower metal print on the wall...that was $5 at BigW. Bargain!

Sleeping Beauty is very well...another blurry photo I'm afraid...

Bye bye for now,
Love from Sue