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In the Garden April 2023
The garden continues to grow well. Some of the lilly pillys are only about 30cm off the top of the fence. The pond area, which was partially dug up by our dog this month, looks to be surviving. The plants that I had to dig out of the pile of dirt survived, and it looks like the lilly pilly at the centre of the disaster area is going to survive too. In the other major section of the garden, my veggie beds are fully planted and ready to mulch now that the peas have sprouted. The kangaroo paws are also doing very well with multiple new flowers popping up in…
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Bi-Yearly Wardrobe Check-Up Part 2
My four drawers contain: This is my drawer of sports clothes. I usually run four times and do a session of gym and pilates a week. My running-specific bottoms all have decent-sized pockets to carry my phone and fuelling on longer runs Hanging on a hook in our hallway: Running cap The next drawer down contains all my summer-specific stuff: The final drawer contains shoes: In the hallway cupboard: Easy/long run runners, runners for sessions, thongs, cute casual white leather runners. On the shelf under the bench at our front door: old runners for walking, going to the dog park At the back door: slides Heading to the op shop:…
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Friday Thoughts #12
What? Is it already Friday? It was Anzac Day on Tuesday, and Hubby took Monday off so we could get some jobs done around the home. We had a big box of bits and pieces from the various appliances installed in the apartment, and we went through that to work out what we needed to keep and what could go away, so that’s another box in the study gone. We’re getting some quotes for some built-in cabinetry in there. Hopefully, we can get rid of the rest of the boxes and get everything put away neatly. I find shorter weeks mess with my routine, and this week has been a…
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My Bi-yearly Wardrobe Check-Up Part 1
A few years ago, I started doing bi-yearly wardrobe check-ups, once in spring and once in autumn, which means I was due one this month. While my wardrobe isn’t as minimalist as Elisabeth’s, I try to run a fairly tight ship. This was by choice previously, but now that we’ve moved into an apartment, this has become necessary. We don’t have any extra storage places, so I keep all my clothes in my wardrobe, including off-season and specialty clothes. The number 1 rule is that everything must fit neatly into my half of our wardrobe. About three years ago, I started systematically doing this. I wrote a list of the…
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Friday Thoughts #11
Last month I posted about the caterpillas living on my citrus trees. When we came home from Wilson’s Prom most of them had disappeared and I couldn’t find any chrysalis so I guess they were eaten by predators. There were two caterpillas left, one disappeared about a week later and then I was left with one very fat one. I’ve been checking it daily and this week it finally went into the pupa stage. Now I just need to see if I can catch it coming out. Our son received his leave blackout days from work this week, which stay the same most years due to regular major events and…
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Seasons
I’ve been dipping in and out of Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season and Spirit. Her reflections on nature, the changing of the seasons and the way these lead her into reflection on scripture are impressive. I’ve really enjoyed her writing and her approach but ultimately it’s been hard to connect because her place is so different to mine, because the way we experience the changing seasons is intimately tied to place, even when the plants of our neighbourhood contain a good proportion of introduced species. Like many places round the world the four three monthly seasons don’t really fit with the climate in Melbourne. Melbpourne is notorious for…
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Tenderheart Cook #9 and #10
Cooking my way through the Tenderheart Cookbook. Kale Dumplings with Brothy Butter Beans I’m not a fan of butter beans; I usually find them too dry and chewy, so I made this with cannellini beans. The Quick Lowdown: Sweet Patatas Bravas Salad A familiar story … I had a bunch of sweet potatoes, the family were coming over, and I didn’t want to head out to the shops. I made this with buckwheat instead of barley because I didn’t have any barley, and a mix of sweet potatoes and potatoes to keep the family happy. The Quick Lowdown: I was thrilled with both these recipes because they are different from the…
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Friday Thoughts #10
We have had so much rain here lately. It poured most days over Easter, which made for a very lazy weekend. We were down with my parents, and some siblings and nephews and nieces were there too. Arriving home I did a big load of washing on Tuesday and hung it out to dry, but we forgot to bring it in. I woke early on Wednesday morning to rain and realised the washing was still on the line. It finally came in last night after it stopped raining long enough for it to dry. I harvested the first lot of rhubarb from our new garden. We got our original plants…