On Becoming Empty Nesters, Cooking, Summer Garden and Reading

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ON BECOMING EMPTY NESTERS

Like the Obamas, we have just become “empty nesters”. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, (Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your life In Focus) Michelle Obama, as a new empty nester, talks about the energy she can now direct to her other interests and how she can focus on her husband.” It’s just him and me and Bo and Sunny. ( the dogs) They don’t talk…the dogs.”

silhouette photo of grass field

Your life changes when the children have gone. Some friends have expressed sadness and a loss of purpose, but more often women talk about having time and fewer distractions so able to follow their own interests, re-newing interests with their husbands or developing new interests.

This is an exciting time for many women who have juggled motherhood, home duties, working and being a wife. Many find it relaxing and invigorating. Some friends commented on how the house stays tidy and there’s always milk in the fridge. Others enjoyed the more adult relationship they were having with their newly independent child.

assorted flowers in macro shot photography during daytime

The biggest, unexpected change for me is that I sleep better. Our son would wake at 5am on workdays, then come downstairs at about 6am and have breakfast then leave for work. He was always very quiet but I was aware of movement in the house. Now I sleep in and I’m loving it!

COOKING

Summer means crayfish (lobster), crabs, prawns, mussels and squid in Western Australia. It has been very hot today and I wanted to make something really easy for dinner. Enter Squid in Tomato Sauce!

Need a delicious and easy summer dinner? Gather 350gm of squid, an onion, a jar of herb and red wine pasta sauce, some dried and fresh basil and ground pepper.

Cook the diced onion in olive oil until soft. Meanwhile cut the squid tubes into rings. When the onion is soft, push it to one side of the pan and cook the squid for five minutes. Combine the onion and squid.

Pour the pasta sauce into the pan. Boil a kettle and swish out the jar with about a cup of hot water and add to the pan. ( Then use the rest of the hot water to scrub the cutting board.) Leave to simmer for about 20 minutes stirring regularly.

Serve with fresh basil on pasta or rice. A generous meal for two or for three with rice, pasta or steamed vegetables. Add another large squid tube and you have dinner for four.

Preparing the prawns for lunch tomorrow. Fabulous seafood in Western Australia.

ORANGE IN THE SUMMER GARDEN

The predominant colour in the summer garden is orange. These orange bulbs are haemanthus coccineus, usually called hemanthus. When the bulbs stop blooming, strappy green leaves appear. Apart from the bright orange flower they have a spotted stem.

The bulb lies dormant in the garden until mid February, then the top becomes green with a white rim and then this becomes orange and the flower appears.. A bulb about to flower is just to the left of the two flowers.

Gorgeous, cheerful day lilies. They don’t last long but more come all the time.

This chili plant has purple, mauve, red, orange and yellow fruit.

These cannas seem to bloom all year round.

READING

As usual, I’m mostly reading library books.

If you enjoyed Elizabeth Strout’s “Olive Ketteridge” and “Olive Again” I’m sure you’ll enjoy one of her older books, published in 2017, “Anything Is Possible”. Set in rural Illinois this is a story about growing up in a small country town and the relationships within families and the wider community. A good read.

Also reading at the moment “Cover to Cover” because I’d really like to learn about book binding and this is a very motivational book. I am looking for a tutor to show me how to stitch the signatures, bundles of pages, together then add the cover. I know what to do but like to see someone else demonstrate the process. Once I’ve seen it done, I can do it.

Enjoying Sophie Pester and Catherine Bruns, “Supercraft Christmas” because I saw it reviewed and knew I’d love the crafts featured. I plan to sew fabric gift bags much earlier this year to reduce the Christmas pressure. I will use their Advent Calendar bags as a pattern for printing the bags.

You know how they talk about Nigella’s television shows and cookbooks as “food porn”, well, I really like decorator porn! I’m currently reading “Be Your Own Decorator” by Susanna Salk. Not because I want to re-decorate (well, I probably do) but because I just like to look!

Pages and pages of beautiful rooms and not a sign of decluttering in any of them! These are the favourite rooms of 75 renown designers and most of them are gorgeous. Full of collections unique to each owner and all supported by the author’s advice and design tips plus lots of information about using colour. So interesting.

I have just read that wooden toothpicks were first patented on the 21st February 1928. Toothpicks are common in all cultures. Skulls of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens clearly show signs of teeth being picked clean.

Although picks made from wood remain most common, during the 17th century toothpicks were luxury items made of precious metals and decorated with precious gems. Plastic toothpicks have been available recently but wooden picks, often made of birch are still popular. Dentists recommend the plastic picks but prefer the little brushes. I would avoid single use plastic picks.

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Bushfires, Reading and Summer Fruit

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Bush Fires in Australia

Raging, out of control bush fires have been incinerating parts of Australia for some weeks now. The consequence is loss of lives, loss of animals both wild and domesticated, loss of food crops and loss of homes and businesses.

According to Bjorn Lomborg, in The Weekend Australian, February 1-2, 2020 p1 “Australia is the world’s most fire prone continent. In 1900, 11 percent of its surface burned annually. These days, 5 percent of the country burns every year.” We need to review our fire management strategies.

Little comfort for those whose lives are in upheaval due to bush fires. Many charitable institutions immediately began collecting money to assist those effected. I am always a bit wary of these big charities as those at the top earn enormous incomes in this country, but was able to donate in a direct and immediate way, elsewhere.

Local farmers from Harvey, near where I grew up, were driving eleven truck loads of donated hay, plus clothes, blankets and nappies thousands of kilometres across the Nullabor to feed surviving stock. The co-ordinator, Ms Belinda Hall, speaking on ABC WA Country Hour 18/02/2020, said , “Some of the most generous donations came from farmers and communities devastated by the 2016 Waroona-Yarloop bush fires (in Western Australia) that destroyed 160 homes and killed two people.”

This was a long journey across Australia. The cost for diesel to fill up these trucks at every service station stop was $10 000. I was able to donate to a crowd funding site to help pay for the diesel and every cent went to this cause.

For an historical overview of fires in Australia, the impact on Australia and other countries and other information, visit this informative site https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043

READING

As usual, I have been enjoying some library books. Unable to do many jobs in the garden due to the heat, I’ve focussed on garden design and gardens as seen by other people. I’ve already ordered this year’s tulip bulbs to remind me the weather will come and it will get cooler, ………….eventually.

The first of these books is “Gardens of Awe and Folly” by Viviane Swift, a whimsical and gorgeous record of gardens she knows well on several continents. She visits nine of her favourite gardens around the world and walks us through each, sharing the history, intention, management and individual charms of each. Her watercolour paintings highlighting the unique aspects of each garden created the most wonderful travel journal. Her depth of knowledge and passion for these gardens worldwide, was very inspiring. Loved this book!

The second book I’ve dipped into for ideas while I’m thinking about rejuvenating the garden was Adam Frost’s “How To Create Your Garden”. Suitable for smaller suburban gardens, his ideas and plans are easy to follow and to incorporate in your own space. There are three sections in the book, focusing firstly on designing, then building and finally enjoying the finished garden. Although this book is written by an English author, much of the information, especially in the design and build sections, could apply to gardens almost anywhere.

Also re-reading Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American” our bookclub book this month. First published in 1955 this novel is about the breakdown of French colonialism and the American involvement in the Vietnam War. This espionage thriller has all the elements of a ripping yarn; love and war, honesty and deception, betrayal and loyalty. I am really enjoying it and I enjoyed the film, featuring Michael Caine, too. We both like visiting Vietnam and a few years ago we stayed at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi where some of the scenes where filmed.

I had trouble photographing this book as the cover is totally unremarkable. I always consider the covers of books when I select them but this cover has nothing to recommend it!

My husband belongs to an all male bookclub. When the convener of this bookclub was interviewed on the ABC radio yesterday, the female presenter made much of the “men only” aspect of the bookclub. This made me think about the four bookclubs I have belonged to in the past 35 years which have been “all female” but this aspect was never an issue. I don’t think it was ever mentioned . Although we often met in houses, husbands were never present. The focus on “men only” felt like a double standard on the “oh so politically correct” ABC but I think the announcer was trying to be controversial.

The Children Act By Ian McEwan

Last year our bookclub read “The Children Act” and last night we watched the film. Released in 2018 and staring Emma Thompson, we watched it on Netflix and thought it was a good representation of the book. Confronting moral and humanist issues played out around the lives of the judge making these decisions and her husband. Great book and film.

SUMMER FRUIT

Plums, beautiful summer stone fruit, delicious fresh and plain. To easily pop out the seed, pierce at the top, where the stem was, with a sharp knife, slice around the circumference, twist each half in opposite directions and the stone is revealed and easy to remove. Works for other stone fruit, too.

Thinking about food, did you know 9th February is Pizza Day? Traditionally an Italian dish, immigration and the returning servicemen after WW2 saw an explosion in popularity America and to a lesser degree, worldwide. It’s a very easy day to celebrate!

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How To Make Vegetable Dyes and Summer Occupations

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Making Simple Vegetable Dyes

Two of my favourite vegetable dyes at the moment are onion skin and red cabbage. Onion skins create a lovely orange tint and the red cabbage water can be diluted to create a pale lilac tint or left as a concentrate to make darker purple.

I have experimented with cotton fabric as the dye can easily grip the fibres. I keep old cotton sheets, select the areas that are not worn and then wash the fabric, sometimes adding one cup of vinegar. I add this if the end product might be washed regularly but if I know it wont be washed, such as a lavender bag, I don’t add the vinegar.

Oni0n skin, diluted red cabbage and concentrated red cabbage dyes on white cotton fabric. The orange sample looks beige in this photo but is actually quite a bright orange.

Recently I’ve used onion skins, rosemary, avocado skins and pips (here) and now, red cabbage to make dyes. These natural dyes are paler than a shop bought dye. The list of ingredients used in commercial dyes is very off-putting.

To make the dye, simmer one part chopped plant to about five parts water for an hour. I simmered the cabbage for less time as the colour was so strong. Strain, then add the fabric to the liquid in the pot. Some long term makers of vegetable dyes recommend you keep an aluminum pot for simmering the dyes as the aluminum acts as fixative. Leave the fabric in the dye until you like the intensity of the colour, then rinse in cold water and hang out to dry.

If you know your fabrics will be washed regularly add a mordant, a colour fixative, such as vinegar or common table salt to the simmering liquid. I use about half a cup of either. Salt is usually recommended for dyes derived from berries and vinegar for plant dyes, but I have used both successfully on dyes from either source.

Note: I now drape these dyed fabrics over plants to dry after the pegs I’d used to peg them on the clothesline bleached colour from the area where they touched the fabric. The dye soaked into the wooden pegs.

I will make lavender bags from these dyed fabrics soon.

SUMMER OCCUPATIONS

Once the sea breeze, AKA The Fremantle Doctor, comes in it is cool enough to take Louis to the dog park. He checks all the trees and runs around with his mates. When he is hot and panting he stands close to us and wants to go home.

Louis is a groodle, a Golden Retriever/Poodle cross and has a thick, woolly coat. He is ideal for me as I am usually allergic to dogs but not to his wool. Once the temperatures are in the 30s (86 F ) he gets very hot so he has been to the groomer for a trim. He is now cooler and feels like he’s covered in velvet. He doesn’t like having his photo taken!

Plate of peaches and nectarines for breakfast. I sometimes cut up mango and spoon over sheeps’ yoghurt, too. Summer fruit is wonderful!

After breakfast our son put an eight hour slow cooker beef ragout to cook. Smelled very good all day!

Then later he began making the tagliatelle to eat with the ragout.

Luscious ribbons of gold goodness ready to dry. He chose this thickness so the sauce would adhere well to the strands and it did, too.

The pasta drying rack.

Delicious dinner with eight hour slow cooked beef ragout and freshly made tagliatelle plus a sprinkling of romano pecorino.

The hippiastra are flourishing in the heat with repeat flowers.

The petunias in the new umbrella stand are very pretty. The new stand has been a great success, holding the umbrella firmly in place, despite some strong winds

Had to re-pot these box topiary trees as they were bursting out of their pots. They enjoy the heat more than I do, in fact, they thrive.

These lisianthus were a very welcome gift this week. Not really suitable for as indoor plants, I have planted them in a pot outdoors.

I have spent part of the Australia Day long weekend reading. I continue to get my books mostly from the library, although this sometimes results in me buying the book as I want to refer to it again and again. My favourite library book this week has been Jenny Rose-Innes’ Australian Designers At Home. Any book or magazine about gardening, architecture and decor attracts me. The Australian designers and their houses featured in this book talk about their mentors and inspirations, what they hope their homes achieve in terms of comfort and their motivation for what they have included or excluded. Letting people view your home and treasures is probably a difficult decision. Luckily we get to see so many different styles and read about what motivates these choices. I loved this book!

My least favourite is from an author whose books I have really enjoyed in the past. I began Helen Garner’s Yellow Notebook Diaries Volume 1 1976-1987 at the beginning, flicked to about halfway through, went to the end and all I can say is,”Why? ” She admits the diaries, like many notes written about life, are a “stream of fragments”. Being a writer is a precarious form of work and probably doesn’t pay very well, either, but these notes should have remained as her personal memory trove.

Did you know 30th of January is CROISSANT DAY? Oui! The buttery pastry has always been associated with the French but they probably originated in Austria in the 13th century. Intended to celebrate the Austrian victory over the Ottoman Turks, the moon shaped croissant is thought to be derived from the symbol on the Ottoman flag.

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Australind, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Summer Reading and Eating and Shopping The Sales

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VISITING AUSTRALIND

We’ve just spent a few days staying with my mother in Australind. Although the days were hot the sea breeze arrived in the afternoon and the nights were cool.

My mother is recovering from a broken wrist. She makes her own muesli so I chopped some apricots, dates and almonds and mixed them with pepitas before adding oatmeal. We made big three jars of muesli so they’ll last for a fortnight or so.

Enjoyed walking along Leschenault Estuary in the cool after dinner. Lots of people out crabbing. Beautiful sunset.

Visited family, shopped and spent a few hours at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) We had arranged a tour of the gallery with the curator as part of the Summer School program.

BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERY

The tour began in with the Modern Masters exhibition, featuring modern Australian landscape artists from the early 1900s to the present. The exhibition featured a mix of traditional paintings, Aboriginal works and some abstract paintings. Some of the Aboriginal paintings were obviously influenced by teachers demonstrating European style works in mission schools and some were painted in traditional styles. This is a spacious and light gallery, showing the paintings at their best. Having a detailed and well informed commentary by Caroline, the curator, added to this visit.

Authur Meric Bloomfield Boyd’s Wimmera Landscape

From there to the next exhibition, ” Machines and Makers: Displaying A Healthy Obsession For Sewing Machines”. Intriguing, multi media pieces. Intricate and fun to look at closely, this exhibition features the technology of the 19th century that changed the world. Although the focus is on the political, social and economic changes wrought by these inventions, the pieces were also witty, nostalgic and charming. I learnt to sew on a treadle machine before we had electricity at the farm and still admire their wrought iron frames, wooden tops and storage drawers.

Linda van der Merwe’s Maker’s Mind #2016

These parasols/umbrellas hanging down from outside walkways at the gallery add fun and colour.

CELEBRATING A BIRTHDAY

We’ve just celebrated my husband’s birthday. His favorite gift is always lots of books. He orders them and I wrap them and he enjoys them for months afterwards.

Our son cooked weisswurst German sausages, roasted potatoes and cabbage for the birthday lunch and then this delicious Schwäbischer Zwiebelkuchen, a German version of egg, bacon and onion pie! With a bread-like pastry base and a baked pie of onion, eggs and bacon plus yoghurt, this was a remarkable dinner. It lasted three days, too, as it was a big pie.

READING

My books come from the library. I like to read reviews and then reserve the interesting ones online. We have so many books and plan to sort and in some cases, dispose of some, when it is cooler. This is my plan, half halfheartedly supported by my husband. They are mostly his books.

The Maverick Soul is like a huge edition of the decorator magazine World of Interiors without the pages and pages of advertisements. Miv Watts book features twenty five homes decorated by people who surround themselves with what they love, not what matches or is fashionable this year. These are vibrant homes full of lovingly chosen artifacts and supported by brief histories of the owners. I keep going back to it, flicking from home to home, enjoying the stories of their owners and the colourful and thoughtful decorations.

The second book I’ve just read from the library is David Lebovitz’s L’Appart, The Delight and Disasters of Making My Paris Home. If you’re a fan of his luscious cooking books, especially about chocolate and desserts, you’ll really enjoy his well written story of putting down roots in Paris. If you’ve ever fantasized about buying and renovating in Paris, best you avoid this book, but if you’d like an insight into the French way of doing things, start reading. Previous books of his I’ve read are The Great Book of Chocolate, My Paris Kitchen and The Sweet Life in Paris.

NEW EMMA BRIDGEWATER CHINA

The big box from Emma Bridgewater. Arrived quickly and safely.

Boxing Day sales, post Christmas sales and New Year Sales are all intended to tempt consumers to buy and for sellers to off-load old stock. Lots of sensible people I know bought clothes, or all the family’s birthday gifts for this year or even things they’ll put away for next Christmas.

I bought more Emma Bridgewater china! I love this design and have collected pieces since 1997. I generally don’t open the emails when they’re headed “Emma Bridgewater Sale” as the shipping cost from the UK to Western Australia is frightening. This year I succumbed and these two beautiful bowls and the glasses case arrived safely in seven days and I love them! Not sensible like half price clothes or a years’ worth of gifts but I adore these pieces and have already used one of the bowls.

My much loved collection with the new additions.

Did you know January is Brain Teaser Month? There’s so much focus on keeping the body fit and healthy but during January you are encouraged to focus on brain health. To keep your brain healthy, stimulated and active do some puzzles, such as quizzes, crossword puzzles, sudoku or play Scrabble or mahjong. There’s lots of online strategy games which require concentration and considered choices so give those grey cells a good work out!

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How To Cook Bok Choy, Reading and Happy New Year!

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HOW TO COOK BOK CHOY

Do you like a variety of vegetables? We are lucky enough to find a huge range of seasonal fruit and vegetables in our shops. After the indulgences of Christmas and Boxing Day I like to make light, fresh, easy to eat meals. (That’s in between finishing off the ham and Christmas puddings.)

Today for lunch I quickly cooked bok choy and prawns. At the end I added some garlic and it was very good. This was a light meal for a very hot day while we sat watching the cricket on the TV.

Begin by chopping the ends off the bok choy and washing each leaf thoroughly under running water. There’s often sand trapped between the leaves. Shake them to dry them. Usually I chop them into thin strips but today I cooked the whole leaves. This vegetable cooks down a lot, so make sure you have at least one bunch per person.

Heat about a quarter of a cup of water in a frying pan over high heat until it boils, then toss in the leaves. Let them settle, then swish the leaves around, using tongs, cook some more, swish, until the leaves are wilted and the water has evaporated. I add some finely diced garlic at the point. Serve as desired.

This time I removed the bok choy from the pan, splashed in some extra virgin olive oil and flash fried some peeled prawns. When they were ready I served the bok choy and prawns. You could add rice or noodles. This simple and quick meal tasted wonderful.

READING

The gentle lull between Boxing Day and the New Year is the most perfect time to enjoy some quiet time reading. As a family we all enjoy gifts of books for Christmas. In fact, my husband always gets exactly what he wants for Christmas and his birthday; he buys the books he wants and I wrap them!

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Australian Vogue, this months cover features Nicole Kidman, “our Nic”. Really interesting to read about the fashion revolution of the 60’s and 70’s because I was there! Iconic photographs and pieces by past editors, designers, models and photographers makes for an great edition.

Unlike a magazine which is easy to pick up and put down with its shorter pieces, some of these books below have been very difficult to put down.

A fortnight ago I read Alice Hoffman’s “The Marriage of Opposites” and was struck by the cleverly researched facts supported by fiction resulting in an evocative and engaging story, so I can’t wait to start “The World That We Knew” published 2019.

Really enjoyed Anne Glenconnor’s “Lady In Waiting”. Her biography is a rich mix of aristocratic families, royalty, travel and courage. She is also an occasional columnist for the Spectator. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, her story is fascinating and I really enjoyed this book.

Two gorgeous Christmas gift books, with a common theme, are Janelle McCulloch’s “Gardens of Style” which is typically fabulous, like all her books and Jackie Bennett’s “The Artist’s Garden”

McCulloch’s book came gift wrapped and sealed to add to it’s allure. Many happy hours ahead. And some new ideas for the garden, I hope, although our garden is tiny and the gardens featured are often very big. Two beautiful books.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After what has seemed like the fastest year ever, we are about to embark on a new decade. Do you make New Year resolutions? For many of us, the new year is seen as a new start, a fresh beginning, resulting in lists of resolutions. These lists often revolve around self-improvement. So, weight loss, fitness, healthier food and less alcohol.

Some lists focus on improving the work/life balance, resolving problems at work, earning more money or planning for retirement. Or perhaps planning the holidays all that work will finance.

I don’t make New Year resolutions but will continue walking 12 000+ steps every day, investigate more ways to use less plastic and continue decluttering. Had some success throwing out, donating and even selling things during the past week but there’s so much more to go!

So, do you make lists? Do you make permanent changes or do your plans slowly, or even quickly, fall by the way?

Whatever your approach,wishing you a HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR and thank you for reading my blog!

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How To Make Grazing Platters, Little Felt Covers and What I’m Reading.

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How To Make Grazing Platters

Christmas entertaining needs to be easy and relaxing for everyone, so I like to make Grazing Platters, also known as Grazing Plates, with a variety of tidbits to appeal to all tastes. Sometimes I use a wooden board but recently I have been using platters, which are smaller and allow me to place them at regular intervals along the table, so everyone can reach easily.

I select at least three cheeses, a blue vein, a Camembert and a sharp cheddar plus a selection of crackers. Then some cold meats, such as ham off the bone, salami, spicy sausage and pastrami. I roll up or fold the meats into quarters. Next, some grapes cut into small bunches and strawberries, a separate bowl of mixed olives, plates of dips with carrots, celery and crackers and a few bowls of cherry tomatoes, cashews and pretzels or potato chips. I put bread sticks in tall mugs to add some height, along with glasses and sometimes flowers. You can add artichoke hearts which taste lovely but make the platter messy! This feast was for my husband’s bookclub and they needed room for books and their notes so I set the platters down the middle of the table on woven placemats with matching coasters.

Set the table with dinner plates, napkins and forks, as everything should be bite sized, easy to pick up and easy to eat. Put out serving tongs and spoons. Add salt and pepper, plus a jug or two of cold water, then water and wine glasses and you can sit down and enjoy the company, too.

FELT CASES

I like my handbag to be organized with things in pockets, slots or zippered compartments. The mirror did have a little fabric cover but it is long gone and the emery boards were in a fold of cardboard and annoyingly, kept sliding out. I needed replacement covers.

I made the length of felt some time ago. I embedded the silk threads into it to add interest. It was intended to be a scarf but as pretty as it was, it was too hot for me!

So I cut a folded rectangle just longer than the emery boards and another rectangle, just bigger than my closed mirror case. I pinned each piece together and using embroidery floss, blanket stitched the pieces to make two covers.

Using pink card I cut a narrower, folded rectangle to make a pull out lining for the emery board cover. I cut out a thumb pull, slid the folded pink card into the cover and it was done! I lined the emery board cover with card to stop them from catching or tearing the felt. Just pull the pink card up a little and the boards come out smoothly.

So now these two covers are in a side pocket in my handbag. I am glad they have the silk threads in bright colours as the inside of my bag is black and gloomy, but I can see and easily find these in their pockets.

Quick, easy and effective.

READING

The Long Call

The latest Ann Cleeves thriller introduces a new character, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn, in a series called Two Rivers. This book, published in 2019, is set in North Devon where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea. This is a typical Ann Cleeves murder story with complex twists and turns.

If you enjoyed the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, you’ll enjoy this new book, too. Apparently, the film rights have already been secured for this story. It was a good read and I finished it in two long sessions.

Incidental Inventions By Elena Ferrante

Are you an Elena Ferrante fan? Her books were very popular in recent years and I’ve read them all. They have been made into a HBO series, too. This book is different. Ferrante, a pseudonym, was approached by The Guardian to write a weekly column for their paper. This book is the collection of her columns from January 2018 until January 2019, arranged in chronological order.

I loved the Neopolitan Novels, for which she is most famous and eagerly began this collection. Her description of how she approached writing the 52 columns was interesting, but her nervy, anxious state of mind and resulting edgy, uncomfortable writing eventually exhausted me and I gave up at the last week of April. Her internal tension is reflected in her books but amplified in her columns. And the final comment is about Andrea Ucini’s whimsical illustrations at the beginning of each column. They are delightful.

India Hicks: A Slice of England: The Story of Four Houses by India Hicks | Hardcover | 2018 | 30 Day Money Back Guarantee | Best Price Guarantee

If you like peeking into lavishly decorated English houses ( the author’s father is David Hicks, the famous decorator) rambling around fabulous gardens and visiting very old houses through to the newly built, you’ll enjoy the very stylish India Hick’s “A Slice of England”. Related to the Royal family and grand daughter of Louis, Earl Mountbatten of India, she has access to amazing homes, beautiful furniture and century old crockery and cutlery and masses of decorator items.

She also details how she and her partner designed, built and decorated their new home. This is a gorgeous book, and I enjoyed the tidbits of history and fabulous houses with their treasures, although none of it really relates to my life in suburban Perth!

December the 4th is the birthdate of St Barbara, the patron saint of miners. December the 6th is MINERS DAY, recognizing the men and women who spend their days working, often underground, to provide the coal, steel and copper among other metals we demand to sustain our way of life.

So take a look around you and acknowledge the products dependent on mining, from your phone to your transport, your pots and pans and devices. All require products dug from the Earth.

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Cooking Shortbread, Making Gift Boxes, Eating and Reading

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COOKING and GIFT BOXES

Just read that Christmas is only 34 days away so I have begun making gift boxes of shortbread biscuits. Some of these I will take as out hostess gifts. These are tiny little shortbread biscuits to enjoy with coffee or as we did, champagne! They are rich and delicious.

I have a template I’ve used for years to make the gift boxes. I plan a box making session and make photocopies of the box template, glue gift wrap onto the template, let it dry, cut it out and glue the boxes together. To finish I use a leather punch to make two holes for threading ribbon through. I put the shortbread biscuits in little cellophane bags, seal them then put them in the gift boxes. Finally, I tie a bow in the ribbon threaded through the holes. All done!

If you’d like to make gift boxes yourself search online as there are many variations available.

The guidelines are printed darkly enough to see them when the template is glued printed side down to the decorative paper.

I used a plastic ruler to fold along the lines to create the box shape. I glued the side and waited until it was dry, then the base and finally shaped the pleat in the side before folding over the top and punching holes for the ribbon.

Filled with a sealed cellophane bag of shortbread biscuits.

EATING YUM CHA

Our favourite family brunch is yum cha. Luckily, friends introduced us to this restaurant. These delicious little bundles of flavour are light and easy to eat. This time, along with all our usual dumplings, we tried Steamed Salted Egg Buns as our son had just eaten them in Singapore and recommended them. We really enjoyed them. Don’t be put off by the squid ink colour! Sometimes these lava cakes are coloured with squid ink and other times, bamboo charcoal powder. I particularly like steamed dumplings and turnip cake. Not all turnip cakes are equal, but the ones where we go are very good. Add a pot or two of green tea and it’s a great brunch.

READING

I was given Victoria Finlay’s The Brilliant History of Colour In Art. It is an in depth history of mans’ use of colour to illustrate events from the Ice Age to the Digital Age. Finley’s book describes the evolution of paint from ground materials to storing stable colours in tubes. She explains the origins of many words associated with colour along with fascinating stories, all supported with illustrations, mainly from the J. Paul Getty Museum Collections. If you’re interested in the evolution of art and particularly colour, you’ll really enjoy this book. I loved dipping into it with its gorgeous photos and learning something new each time.

How The Dead Speak - By Val Mcdermid - Paperback

Also just read multi award winning Val McDermid’s “How The Dead Speak”, another murder mystery in her Carol Jordan and Tony Hill series. Slow to start, this story picks up pace with many twists and turns. It’s a great thriller with a satisfying ending. A good read from this author who has sold over 16 million books.

Image result for sharon santoni my stylish french girl friends

And finally, I’ve just begun Sharon Santoni’s “My Stylish French Girlfriends” a luscious book featuring the equally luscious houses of her French female friends. Santoni has been married to a Frenchman and lived in France for many years. Here she shares photos and stories about her friends and their homes, plus their philosophy on family life, decorating and gardening and their jobs. Gorgeous photos and creative, resourceful women. I’m about a third of the way through and loving it!

November 21st is World Hello Day, encouraging you to simply greet people when you’re out and about. Well, that’s easy, isn’t it?

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Why Should We Use Less Plastic and Re-Covering a Pouffé/Foot Stool/Ottoman

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WHY SHOULD WE USE LESS PLASTIC?

Are you aware of the amount of plastic infiltrating our food?

I don’t usually buy fashion magazines. The clothes featured are not really suitable for my post-paid work lifestyle, the make-up is mostly directed at younger or working women, the issues of dating and relationships don’t apply to me and the features are so often about film stars or sports stars and that’s not part of my life.

This month’s Marie Claire magazine was a big surprise, packed with information about plastics in the environment and features about women working towards cleaner oceans and waterways. It made interesting reading.

Just consider:

* more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year

* a rubbish truck load of plastic is dumped into our seas every minute

* by 2050 plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans

Thanks to Marie Claire for drawing attention to these frightening statistics. The article about women trying to address this looming disaster and their passion and determination made interesting reading.

There are easy changes we can all make to reduce our use of plastics. Make or buy lightweight bags for putting your fruit and vegetables in at the shop, use your own non-plastic shopping bags, buy your skincare products in glass jars which are easily recycled, return all your contact lenses materials to your optometrist who sends them off to be recycled and only buy bread wrapped in tissue or paper. Look for other ideas online; there are so many you can slowly implement.

I’ve found one of the hardest plastics to replace in the home is cling wrap. I’ve actually given up on beeswax wrappers and rely on containers with their own lids or use silicone stretchy lids. These are very good but a bit of a fiddle to stretch taut over some cups, bowls and containers but I’ll persist.

Yesterday I was really pleased to receive this month’s issue of Country Living, an English magazine, sealed in a paper envelope. It arrived safely with no damage. One less piece of plastic. Well done Country Living!

RECOVERING MY MOTHER’S POUFFÉ

Do you call it a pouffe, an ottoman or a footstool? Whatever you call it, it’s for resting your feet on or an extra seat.

My mother has had this pouffé for many years and the cover was brittle and cracking. We went to several shops looking for a replacement but she’s not a very tall person and all the foot stools/foot rests/ottomans available were too high for her to use comfortably.

The lining had also worn off the base and it was starting to fall apart. I offered to recover it.

Cleaned up the base and glued the remaining lining down and left it two days to cure. Tested all around the glued edges and it was quite secure.

My mother chose a fabric with a slight stretch in it which made it easier to fit the rounded edges.

Glued some advertising brochures together to make a sheet big enough for a template. Traced around the pouffe and cut out the circle.

Folded the template in half and placed it along the fold of the fabric, pinned and cut out the top piece.

Cut a length of fabric to wrap around the pouffé, leaving a hem allowance at the top and enough to fold under at the bottom. Stitched up the short edge to make a circle. Pinned and sewed the top to the side piece, clipped and trimmed the join.

Added a casing on the bottom edge to thread with elastic for a drawstring.

This will allow the cover to be tightened if it stretches or removed and washed if necessary.

The finished pouffé!

Sunday 20th October was

World Osteoporosis Day is observed annually on October 20th, and launches a year-long campaign dedicated to raising global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. Wikipedia

October 26th is PUMPKIN DAY. Is it Pumpkin Day just because of Halloween? I wont be carving a pumpkin, but I’ve already cut some up with other vegetables to roast for dinner tonight.

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Repairing, Reading, Eating and Growing

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REPAIRING

The downstairs rooms are being painted so everything had to be moved, covered and stored. Discovered the plasterwork and gilding on one of our mirrors was broken on a corner.

The break.

The repair, prior to sanding and shaping

The finished repair.

I repaired the missing piece using Polyfilla, moulding and shaping it as it dried. Wiped it free of dust. Left it four days to cure, smoothed and shaped it again then painted it with gold paint. Very pleased as it is impossible to see the repair.

READING

Enjoyed reading time as we couldn’t really go downstairs while the painter was working.

Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky has one of her favourite characters, Jackson Brodie, no longer working as a Detective but now working as a Private Investigator. Set in a small seaside town, there is nothing sleepy here! Atkinson’s thrillers are fast moving, complex and compelling reading. Really enjoyed it and I’d recommend any of her other books, too.

Doris Brett and Kerry Cue’s The Sunday Story Club, described as ” like a bookclub without books, real-life tales of love, loss, trauma and resilience” was fascinating. A group of women meet at their Sunday soiree to address topics introduced by the hosts and some of theie responses make up the text of this book. All heartfelt, many are experiences common to all women, all enthralling. The appendix has suggestions for starting and running similar groups as well as many provocative and thoughtful story “starters” for discussions. You’ll think about these stories long after you’ve finished the book.

The Sunday Story Club By Doris Brett

This is debut novel by Suzanne Daniel. Allegra in Three Parts is a story set in the 70’s during the second wave of feminism in Australia. Allegra is a child living between a feminist grandmother, an extremely hard working, immigrant, no nonsense grandmother and a mainly absent father. Her mother is dead and she wants to unite the remaining members of her family. An interesting book and rather nostalgic with well researched brand names and products from the 70’s mentioned throughout.

( The book refers to cuisenaire rods for teaching mathematics. In use for over 50 years, this reference took me back to my first teaching job. I’d used these rods extensively during teacher training, but soon discovered they didn’t help some children. In fact, they seemed to confuse rather than help some children master basic operations. I realised I needed to employ a number of strategies to teach new concepts as learners could be visual, tactile, auditory or a mix of all these types. Lesson learnt!)

Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel (9781760781712) - PaperBack - Modern & Contemporary Fiction General Fiction

EATING

Bowl with zest which packs a lot of flavour, the oranges and the syrup.

Blood Orange Sorbet

In Western Australia we are nearing the end of the citrus season so this is probably the last lot of blood orange sorbet for this year. The fruit is slightly tart and is mixed into a water and sugar syrup before it goes into the icecream making bowl to ‘paddle’ for 10 minutes. Result? Delicious, pretty, sorbet!

GROWING

The spring garden is full of hippiastra, roses, lilies and alstromerias. The “sticks” of hydrangeas I’ve planted are thriving as is the spearmint scented lavender. I’ve planted tomatoes and put in seeds for lettuce, chives, spinach and coriander, plus some multi-coloured petunias. I have never grown petunias from seed before, so, fingers crossed.

Alstromerias are a long lasting cut flower.

Optimistically large supports for the tomato plants.

Lush, healthy hydrangeas grown from “sticks” harvested from last year’s plants.

Spearmint lavender always covered in bees.

Cream clivias. I have grown some from seed but don’t think they’ll flower for several years. I have orange clivias, too.

October is the month many countries celebrate Octoberfest with drinking and feasting. Do this sound like you?

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Planning For Travel and Eating Mussels

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PLANNING TO TRAVEL

Planning an interstate holiday, so we’ve begun preparations. The first thing is some books. We buy second hand paperbacks which we can both share and then hand on to other travelers. When we’re going to non-English speaking countries we take lots of books but this time we’re traveling within Australia, so magazines and books will be available everywhere. Lighter packing!

We will fly to Melbourne then apart from visiting art galleries, museums and some friends in the city, we’ll take train trips each day. Then we will take the train to Sydney and also go to galleries, see friends and take daily train trips, before taking the train to Brisbane. Here we will enjoy a few days with friends who live in Queensland and be driven both north and south of Brisbane. So packing for cold, wet, windy with sunny days down south and warm, humid days in Queensland.

The author of one of these books we’ve bought is Lisa Jewell and we’re both looking forward to reading that one! We have just finished reading three of her thrillers; The Girls In The Garden, I Found You and Watching You. Great reading!

We’ve booked lunch at a few restaurants, mostly for the reputation of the food or recommendations, but also in the Blue Mountains for the view. We are looking forward to train, tram and ferry trips, each moving slowly enough for us to enjoy the views.

Also needed a trip to the hairdresser, a fairly regular event now days. I consider going grey but haven’t made the decision. My hair seems to grow very fast, too.

I made two loaves of sourdough, one to eat until we go and one to freeze for when we get back. I like to leave something for dinner as we return late in the day and airline food doesn’t always appeal.

And finally, down the coast to have lunch with my Mother. A beautiful day and lovely to just sit and chat for a while.

So, write a calendar for our son who will be responsible for walking and feeding the dog and putting out the bins and making sure the plants are watered and we’re ready to go!

MUSSEL SEASON

Mussels are fresh and readily available, so off to the fish shop at The Boatshed for 1 kilo for lunch.

Mussels can be cooked in a tomato based sauce, in a creamy sauce, with chilli and many other ways, but at lunchtime I like them in a clear, clean broth.

MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE

Serves four as part of a lunch spread, or two served with bread or toast.

INGREDIENTS

1 kilo mussels
75 gm butter
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 sliced leek
good shake dried thyme
500 ml dry, white wine

Scrub the mussels under running water, shake to dry.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy based pot over low heat, add leeks, garlic and thyme. Cook until leeks are translucent, about 7 minutes.

3. Add the mussels and wine ( I used Penfold’s Koonunga Hill Semillon Sauvignon Blanc) and cook until the mussels open ( about 5 minutes) Stir a few times during cooking.

4. Discard any unopened mussels, ladle into a serving bowl with the juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with fresh buttered bread. I prefer toasted sourdough fingers for dipping. Delicious and light for the middle of the day.

Father’s Day treats. I made Pumpkin Scones, one of my husband’s favourites. I use a recipe from the cooking book I had in Year 8 at school!

Today is FORTUNE COOKIE DAY. Sounds like a good excuse to eat Chinese for dinner, then crack open a fortune cookie to be assured of good luck, good health or good fortune!

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