Author: deborah

Beautiful Bali (1)

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A lovely break in beautiful Bali. We’ve stayed in the same group of villas many times.
Spacious, comfortable accommodation, good facilities, and very helpful, friendly staff.
So relaxing.




Bali has so many amazing restaurants. We ate at old favourites and tried some new ones, too.
Good food, interesting decor and great service.




Regular visits to a nearby place for reflexology.
In-room reflexology for my husband and a pedicure for me….very indulgent, very nice.
Talked into the purple nail polish and love it!




Tropical lush gardens. These lanterns hang along walkways and remind me of bird cages.
Lots of exotic heliconias.

Tomorrow is Maritime Day. Does that float your boat?

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Some Gardening, Some Cooking

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These hippeastra have bloomed for months.

Clivias are blooming, too.

Bought a worm composting farm and dug it into a garden bed in dappled light.

It’s citrus time in Western Australia, so I made a Lime Cake. This recipe has olive oil instead of butter and was very moist.

Neighbours put out a basket of oranges at their gate so I made an Orange Cake. It was very good.

Another neighbour gave me some lemons, so we had Lemon Delicious Puddings.

These Brussels Sprouts were oven roasted in olive oil. I stirred through sweet chilli sauce and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes. They tasted wonderful!

Cooler weather means our son uses the slow cooker to make delicious ragu. He serves it with pasta or couscous. The smell wafts enticingly throughout the house for hours before we eat it!

A recent article in delicious.com.au (A Wasted Opportunity) talks about the cultural, environmental and economic problem of food waste in Australia. I have redoubled my efforts to not throw out food, so more Bread and Butter pudding.

How did you celebrate International Nurses Day?

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Making Furniture

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A new birdcage but nowhere to put it. Tried several places, on shelves, on a cupboard and on a bench and nothing looked quite right. Decided to measure up and make my own display unit.

Did some measurements and sketched a plan. Took the plan to Bunnings, an Australia wide hardware store. Bought the planks and took them to the Chop Shop in the back of the store where Brad cut them to size.

Painted the pieces in Dulux Antique USA.

After the second coat of paint our son drilled and screwed the unit together. My husband held the pieces in place. He counter-sank the screw holes, I filled them and later, sanded and retouched the paint.

Very pleased with this new piece of furniture.

It’s International Iris Day today. Mine are looking good, but it’s too soon for them to flower

 

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Birdcage Cushion

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Couldn’t resist the birdcage image!

Washed and ironed the linen cushion cover and then pinned on the pompom edging.

Machine stitched the pompoms on, using a large zigzag stitch. Hand stitched zippered edge which was hard as I have a sore finger. The pompom edging stretches a little bit.

The finished cushion.

Couple of pompoms left over, so I cut them from the edging. I made the tassel from embroidery thread looped five times. After I stitched one end together and snipped straight across the other end, I stitched the pompoms together on to the top of the tassel. Added a wooden bead to cover the stitching and some others for decoration then attached it to the laminated bookmark. The lovely floral bookmark is from Yas Imamura’s Quill & Fox.

Yesterday was International Firefighters Day.

 

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PERTH GARDEN FESTIVAL

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The Perth Garden Festival features garden displays, landscaping, floral displays, garden related products for sale and sustainable living ideas. I went with my Mother and niece and we had a lovely day. We looked at the displays, talked to lots of experts, enjoyed cooking demonstrations, talks about controlling pests naturally and also a talk about roses.

These grass trees thrive in the poor Western Australian soil and look great in the bush and in suburban gardens.

This hybrid tea rose is called Grandma’s Rose. It is very pretty and very fragrant.

Gorgeous vase of banksia and eucalypts. These plants are native to Australia.

Inspiring displays.

The Festival was held at McCallum Park which has many mature trees for shade, including this Moreton Bay Fig Tree.

Today is International Jazz Day. Did you celebrate?

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WORLD READING DAY

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Except in the UK and Ireland.

We are a family of keen readers. We had shelves built on three walls of this upstairs room and all the shelves are full. I think we need to curate this collection!

Some recent holiday reading.

We have another break coming up and have already bought a pile of books to read, ready to pack when the time comes.

Just finished this bookclub book, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and really enjoyed it. Based on historical fact and rounded out with some fiction, it was a good read.

Tomorrow, the 25th of April is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, when we remember those who courageously fought to keep Australia and New Zealand free. These biscuits were made from oatmeal, flour, sugar and golden syrup to  stay fresh for long periods. They were sent by sea to the Middle East and France to the soldiers and all those men and women who supported them and we eat them on Anzac Day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.

Read a great book for World Book Day!

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Australind and Picnic

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Easter Long Weekend

My Mother’s Chicago Peace rose and her ivy leaf pelargonium which is a beautiful deep purple. We spent a lovely day with her in Australind.

Louis, our Groodle.

Picnic in the park with friends on Sunday. It was a lovely afternoon.

This covered tray is very good for picnics.

Did you know it was World Heritage Day yesterday?

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Easter Blog

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Good Friday

The very moist centred chocolate cake is delicious!

A special Good Friday treat to share with friends and family.

The thermal wrappers were bought online and were very easy to use.
Boil the eggs, let them cool, slip the egg into the wrapper and then place it on a dessert spoon.
Dip the spoon into a bowl hot water, submerging the egg, hold for a few seconds then remove and allow to cool.

Very pretty eggs!

I hope your Easter time is restful and lovely and spent with people you love.

Did you enjoy World Scrabble day yesterday?

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Pretty Easter Eggs

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Easter planning has begun! I sprayed shaving cream in a baking dish and dripped, then streaked, food dye through the cream with a toothpick to create swirling patterns and then rolled hard boiled eggs through.

Set them to dry in an egg carton for about 15 minutes then washed them clean.

They look very pretty!

The red Pierre de Ronsard standard rose has turned into a tree. This stem is 165cm, or 65 inches long and needed a heavy based spaghetti jar as a vase.

Did you do something good on World Health Day?

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Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

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My mother and I flew to Melbourne for the Flower and Garden Show. So many beautiful displays and plenty of expert advice.

The floral displays indoors and outdoors were inspirational.

Lovely outdoor ideas for year round use.

We also enjoyed catching up with friends and relatives.

Look at this stunning new chrysanthemum! Amazing variety of colours.

Did you know last Sunday was World Autistic Day?
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