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In the Garden February 2023
There’s been a few changes in the garden since last month. I finished the planting in the main beds with mainly a mix of indigenous and native Australian plants, with mainly purple/blue, yellow and white coloured flowers. I’ve also included a mix of leaf colours and forms for year-round interest. I’m looking forward to the plants bushing out and filling the gaps. We also got our new outdoor dining setting and our clothesline installed this month. Now for some close-ups …
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Friday Thoughts #8
It’s been a week since I posted here … oops. I’ve been wondering if the email for replies to comments is working. If you’ve received a email when I’ve replied to your comment can you let me know below? When I run alone on easy or long runs, I usually listen to a podcast and have been loving my AirPods that I received as a Christmas present. Yesterday I stopped for a drink and when I stood up one of the Airpods fell out of my ear and into the drain that was next to the tap. You know how it is when things seem to be happening in slow…
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Friday Thoughts #7
This summer has been cooler than usual. We haven’t had any days over 40C, and when the temperature finally reaches 30C, the heat is followed quickly by a cool change. That has changed this week; after a very cold week last week (some days didn’t even make it over 20C), we are now on our third day over 30C. The current temperature is 39.4C, according to my app. We often have slightly lower temperatures here near the water; it is currently 41.0C in Canterbury, where we used to live (only 11km away). This means I reached my goal of five swims in the ocean for the summer. I walked down…
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Tenderheart Cook #2, #3 and #4
This is the next update on my challenge to cook through the Tenderheart Cookbook. The cookbook is divided up into chapters for each vegetable which came in handy this week as I was getting to the end of our veggie box, and I had lettuce, cabbage and Choy Sum to use up. Stir-fried Lettuce (p54) I somehow ended up with a large portion of two iceberg lettuces plus gourmet lettuce that came in the veggie box. The first iceberg I used up in some fried rice, the fancy lettuce in a side salad which left one more iceberg lettuce … a perfect opportunity to try this recipe. A simple stirfry…
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January’s Books in 25 Words
Summarising in 25 words what was most noteworthy to me from the books I finished this month. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari The beginning section on early humans was fascinating, but then I became increasingly irritated by the author’s opinions being presented as facts without supporting arguments. The Cartographers – Peng Shepher I enjoyed the concept and plot line of this but the clunky writing and apparently super-intelligent characters who made many stupid decisions bought it down. The Rock – Aaron Smith An outsider’s experience of life in the Torres Strait with a confronting reflection on the injustices, both current and historical, experienced by the…
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Spinach and Black Bean Enchilada Bake – Tenderheart Cook #1
I bought Tenderheart: A Book About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds by Hetty Lui McKinnon before Christmas and hadn’t had a chance to cook anything out of it … and so begins a new series where I plan to cook every recipe in it. I won’t be posting every recipe here, you’ll need to buy the cookbook for that, but I will give you the quick rundown on each recipe across all the points that are important to me: are the ingredients usually found in my pantry or fridge, how much prep-work (I can get bored if I need to do a lot of chopping), dirty dishes, taste, family friendly…
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Looking Backward, Looking Forward – January 2023
Reviewing my progress in January, setting my intentions for February: I spent a couple of weeks with my parents at their house in Point Lonsdale. The girls also stayed down until mid-January. My siblings we down with their families for some of the time too. The summer holidays are usually when we spend the most time together. Daily routines: Start the day with the Lectio365 devotion is happening. I do it before I get out of bed. I’ve wanted to make sure I do my strength exercises more regularly. I think a lot of the problem was that I hadn’t tied it to a particular time of the day, so…