A 90th Birthday, Making Greek Salad and Effective Non Toxic Weed Killer

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MY MOTHER’S 90TH BIRTHDAY

My mother has always said she’s going to live to be 100 and she’s well on the way! Last week she celebrated her 9oth Birthday Lunch in Australind. She really enjoyed being surrounded by her family and friends who helped to commemorate this special occasion. All the guest were important to her, from family members, to friends from her many interests such a local government (she was on the Harvey Shire for 18 years, many as the Deputy President), service clubs, the Church, her gym, history, genealogy and her lovely neighbours.

Local wildflowers. After heavy, consistent rain, we having a bumper season for wild flowers.

One of my sisters in law organised the catering, I organised the flowers! The day before my husband and I visited two florists as I had a specific list. Shopping for beautiful fresh flowers is a very nice way to spend the morning. This resulted in one big vase of flowers for her to take home after the event and also small vases on each table.

Our own roses have recovered from chili thrip and are lush and healthy. I used a combination of our roses and bought roses with some white ranunculus, rosemary and small leaf ivy to make table decorations.

Individual table decorations re-used in a single pot and now on my table. So pretty.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM!

GREEK SALAD

Smelt fresh tomatoes at the green grocer and knew it was time for Greek salad. All you need is tomatoes, cucumbers, a red onion, olives, a clove of garlic and feta cheese plus Extra Virgin Olive Oil and vinegar. I squeeze lemon juice into the dressing and sometimes add some mustard, too, but it depends on what you like and what is available! I like a classic Greek feta made from sheep and goat milk but most feta will taste good in this salad.

Usually a Greek Salad has oregano in it and I added some to the dressing but I also had masses of parsley and I wanted to use some of that, too, Tasted fresh and clean.

Lunch of Greek salad and smoked salmon. Just add half a lemon or lime on the side and it’s all done!

Leave the salad for several hours for the taste to develop. I make a large dish full, adding the chopped feta as I serve the salad. The large dish has a tightly fitted lid and I keep it for two or three day in the fridge. The flavours just get better.

NON TOXIC WEED KILLER

A long wet winter and we are inundated by weeds, just like everyone else! I don’t like to use commercial weed killing sprays in the garden as I’m sure the residual toxins permeate the soil. My main concern is for our dog’s well being; he’s often in the garden and I don’t want him exposed to the toxins in weed sprays.

There’s many non toxic weed killing methods online. Of course, pulling out weeds by hand is the best way but we have so many! I’d seen this recipe on different sites for a few years and finally made it. Trialed it on brick paving and was pleased with the outcome. I have tried using just vinegar in the past and it wasn’t very effective.

NON TOXIC, EFFECTIVE WEED KILLER

1 litre white vinegar

3 tablespoons of salt

3 tablespoons washing up detergent

( This increases the wetability and viscosity of the spray, meaning it sticks to the weed and doesn’t just run off)

Shake the vinegar and salt in a plastic bottle until the salt is dissolved. Add the detergent and shake to mix. Leave it until the foam subsides. Decant some to fill a spray bottle.

Before

After

Before

Choose a warm day when the weeds are in the sun and will be for at least an hour, then spray. I will wait for hotter weather then do it again. It took two days for the weeds to really die and I still had to pull them out. It was very easy to remove the weeds when they were dead. I will keep using this spray Shake the bottle occasionally to make sure your spray is well mixed.

WORLD TEACHERS DAY

World Teachers Day, created in 1965 by UNESCO is celebrated on 5th October each year. The theme this year is “Teachers at the heart of recovery”, recognising the many ways teachers have made determined and diligent efforts to maintain educational programs during the CV-19 pandemic.

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A Break Down South

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WHAT TO DO IN BUSSELTON

All the Open Studio information was online but I found the hard copy easier for us to plan our visits.

We love going Down South, the region beyond Bunbury along the south-western coast of Western Australia. Before setting off for our break last week we researched the artists we wanted to visit as part of the Margaret River Region Open Studios program. We found the guide’s recommendation to visit five to seven studios a day to be just right. The artists we visited were inspiring and we liked so many of the artworks we saw. I will be looking regularly to see if any of my favourites are offering workshops.

Adobe Stock

We stayed at a resort in Busselton. Once a sleepy little town famous for its 1,840m long wooden piled jetty, built in 1865, Busselton is now a vibrant and exciting place to visit. It spreads along the Indian Ocean coastline. There’s lots to see and do at the jetty including traveling on the jetty train, visiting the Underwater Observatory and the Interpretive Centre and Museum, going on Undersea Walks, enjoying a canoe tour and other seasonal activities.

Nearby the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse is packed with information and a whale watching platform (I was thrilled to see a whale breach earlier this year). There is also the Tuart Forest National Park and Ngilgi Cave and so many vineyards,breweries, specialist coffee roasters and the Chocolate Factory. Plus, all the artists!

The City of Busselton Council has just announced the development of a $38 million dollar Performing Arts and Convention Centre. The multi functional building will be integrated within existing art venues, between the foreshore and the town. The Council intends to promote Busselton as the events capital of Western Australia.

Adobe Stock

EATING IN BUSSELTON

The biggest change we noticed in Busselton was the food available. The restaurants and cafes offer such a diverse range of high quality and innovative food. The availability of beautiful local seafood was apparent .(Export markets have diminished due to CV-19) We ate great lunches and even went out for dinner one night but the other nights we resorted to our usual ‘bed’ picnics, not actually eaten in bed! These fairly light meals usually involve cold meat, cherry tomatoes, cheese, crackers and seasonal fruit in our accommodation.

Bistro Breton is a small bistro on the main street of Busselton. They offer typical Breton buckwheat (naturally gluten free) crepes and other French cuisine. We saw it mentioned online, made a lunch booking and are so glad we did as the food was very good. I had a Gratin de St Jacques, ( above) grilled scallops with a traditional Breton sauce. It was served with hand cut chips and salad leaves with a French vinaigrette. I’d return to Busselton just to eat this again! My husband had La Galette Saucisse, a traditional Breton sausage with onion fondue, potatoes, a French mustard sauce and salad leaves. He really enjoyed the rich flavours.

We wouldn’t normally have dessert at lunch but those on the menu were irresistible! I had La Tatin, a crepe with butter caramel sauce on apple, with chantilly cream and vanilla gelato. My husband had La Poire Belle-Helélène, poached pears, almonds, chantilly cream and vanilla gelato. Both delicious!

Followed by some good coffee and we were very pleased with our lunch and would recommend this bistro.

Dinner at Stilts, a casual venue with sea views, a pathway to our accommodation and great food! We shared three dishes. I really enjoyed the Scallop Tataki with XO sauce, avocado and a tapioca cracker and also the Kingfish creviche with hot sauce and grapefruit which was delicious!

The Grilled Octopus, with lemon myrtle, macadamia and garlic puree (above) was perfect! Also had shared a Boozy Coffee cake. Very rich but very nice!

Small but interesting menu, pleasant service, good wine list, great view so we’ll be back.

Our last night and a very small picnic dinner. Well, a mug of Simmo’s fine icecream actually and some leftover goats cheese.

STAYING IN BUSSELTON

There is every sort of accommodation available, too, from quite modest through to quite grand. Depends on your budget but it is apparent many people are holidaying within the state as we can’t travel overseas at this time. So many places are booked up for months ahead. We booked some time ago. I like to hear the waves crashing at night and I was not disappointed. Our stay in Busselton coincided with stormy weather!

Walkway from our unit to the beach.

Cold and windy on the beach, but beautiful, too.

SHOPPING

Hadn’t considered Busselton as a shopping destination but I discovered all the shops I never go to as they are geographically nowhere near where we live! So, visited Aldi, K-Mart and Spotlight and was very pleased with my purchases. There’s also a number of art and craft supply shops and many independent traders. Worth a wander around.

Did you know? Busselton was named after a family of early settlers, the Bussells, who established a farm there in 1835. The settlement was gazetted as a town in 1847.

Today is International Coffee Day, so that’s easy to celebrate, isn’t it?

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Home Schooling, Early Spring in the Garden and Rat Proofing Tomatoes

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HOME SCHOOLING

Early one morning recently I was awake but hesitant to turn on a light and read so scrolled through some blogs. I was particularly interested in one where the mother, entering the third week of lockdown, seemed to be totally responsible for home schooling her two children as there was no reference to sharing this task with the children’s father. Why did this blog catch my attention?

This blogger was not enjoying the constant company of her children. She found their schoolwork tedious and difficult to supervise whilst attending to her own work. Understandably, she was under pressure. She wasn’t enjoying extra time with her kids. In fact, she was furious to be stuck with them. Poor children. She reminded me of the parents who’d arrive with their children the first day of the school year or at the beginning of the school term and express their joy that the holidays are over and their the kids are someone else’s problem for the next seven and a half hours.

These expressions of relief were always shared whilst the child was within hearing range. Sadly, some of these children were all too aware that they were a burden rather than a joy.

Lockdown supervision has sometimes revealed the true ability of the student to the supervising parent. The child’s attitude to learning or such close contact with the parent may also be of concern. Parents who tended to avoid advice about helping their child learn or become socially more adept can suddenly realise there is a problem.

Is this hostility of being with your own child a result of too many other pressures, of work, of housekeeping, parenting, keeping fit and having a life away from home? I don’t know but I’ve met many children whose parents don’t enjoy their company. The outcomes are usually poor for the children. I hope one of the long term outcomes of this pandemic is families look at their priorities and make changes to create happy, well adjusted lives.

SPRING IN THE GARDEN

Spring has arrived in Perth after the wettest winter in years. We live in quite an old suburb so many people have well established citrus trees which have been heavy with fruit for some months. Our own lime tree is covered in juicy fruit and yet is flowering again.

So fresh lemon or lime with everything! One of the consequences of heavy, frequent rain is a staggering amount of weeds. They’re winning at the moment!

I planted a packet of mixed coloured ranunculus corms but they’re mostly orange. Gorgeous.

Trying to tame the determined nasturtiums. Lots of them are orange, too.

RAT PROOFING THE TOMATOES

Our local council has regular verge pick-ups when they remove either our green waste ( garden waste which is too big for the green bin) or general waste and unwanted household goods. The last pickup was for general waste. I saw this aluminum frame out on the verge across the road when I went for a walk and wondered if I could make a rat proof cage for my self germinating tomatoes.

By the time I got back I knew it would work. I think it was originally the frame for a set of drawers. I liked the height and could see how I would seal it at the bottom to keep the rats out.

Carried the frame home and washed it. While it was drying I unrolled some chicken wire and flattened it out. Recycled frame, recycled chicken wire, self seeded tomatoes. All good.

Then we shaped it around the frame, making sure it reach the bottom and covered the top. We have wily rats! Attached it with gardening wire. I’ve put the tomato plant in the cage so now we’ll wait and see.

ROSY DOCK

I found this plant growing out of rubble during our recent trip to Kalgoorlie. I was delighted when a friend identified it from the photo. It is Rosy Dock (Acetosa vesicana) distinguished by its brightly coloured flowers which are pink through to ruby red. It is a perennial plant growing from underground tubers.

It is not a wild flower! It is native to northern Africa through to western Asia. It thrives in low rainfall areas so was popular with settlers moving into the outback of Australia more than 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, flash flooding spread Rosy Dock far and wide. It now threatens many indigenous plants and animals. Arum lilies, now also considered a weed, were spread the same way. They are both beautiful flowers!

Friday 17th September is CONCUSSION AWARENESS DAY. The impact of concussion may not be evident for many years. Learn the symptoms but mostly be aware of ways to protect yourself from being concussed.

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Preserving Lemons, Cord Storage and Almost Instant Versatile Poached Eggs

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PRESERVING LEMONS

Do you have a glut of citrus fruit? Me too. I like the flavour of preserved lemons, typically used in Arabic and Moroccan food, although I use the lemons in a range of recipes.

Preserved lemons are easy and quick to prepare. The prepared lemons are left in the brine for about a month. Then the skins will be really soft and luscious. You need fresh lemons, salt, a jar with a screw cap lid and a sharp knife. The jar and lid need to be sterilised. This can be done in the dishwasher, the microwave or in a big pan of boiling water. Remove the jar and leave it to dry as it cools off.

Begin by washing your lemons. Meyer lemons are best. Slice off the top and the bottom of the fruit. Cut the lemons across one way and then the other, not cutting all the way through. Put a tablespoon of salt in the bottom of the now dry jar, gently ease the lemon open and add 1 tablespoon of salt, insert in the jar. Continue until the jar is full, pressing the fruit down regularly to release the juice. If the liquid doesn’t cover the fruit, squeeze some more lemons and add the juice until the all fruit is submerged. Store in the fridge. (Note, not everyone stores their preserved lemons in the fridge but I prefer to in our climate.)

Invert the jar daily for the first five days, then whenever you notice it in the fridge. Wait about three more weeks before using the preserved lemons.

To use, remove a piece of now soft lemon, scrape off the remaining pulp, rinse off the salt and finely cut the skins to include in your recipe. Delicious! Look up recipes online for Roasted Cauliflower with Capers and Preserved Lemons and Prawns with Oregano and Preserved Lemons if you need some ideas.

CORD STORAGE

Some of our electrical appliances sit together in a small area. This is dictated by access to a power point and convenience as they’re next to the oven, a large work space and the kettle is under the mug cupboard, too.

The mixer is not plugged in permanently. Its cord wouldn’t stay wound up. It is a heavy piece of equipment to move around and resists being slid from one part of the bench top to another, dragging it’s unwieldy cord behind it. The real issue is it took time and effort to wipe around it and keep the area clean.

The solution was so easy!

I bought a stick on hook, placed it out of sight on the back of the mixer and “trained” the cord to stay wound up neatly by holding it in place with a rubber band for a few days.

It’s perfect, easy and inexpensive. Problem solved.

ALMOST INSTANT POACHED EGGS

This way of poaching an egg is so easy and reliable. Pour some warm, not boiling water from the kettle into a large mug, half filling it.

Gently crack an egg into the water and microwave it for one minute. Remove the cooked egg using a slotted spoon and gently slide onto your plate.The individual power of your own microwave will determine the exact time required but my 1200 wt microwave takes a minute to cook. I like my eggs quite soft and runny so you may need more time if you like them firmer. You’ll know from your first one what to do in future, anyway.

Before you cook the egg put your bread to toast as that will take longer than the egg! I’ve heated leftover pasta sauce then slid the poached egg on top of it for a delicious, quick light dinner. So quick, so easy.

In Australia, September 15th is the National Heart Foundation’s giving day. The funds raised goes towards vital life-saving research. More Australians die every year of heart disease than from any other cause. Apparently, 70% of Australians have at least three modifiable risk factors for heart disease most of which can be reduced by eating a heart healthy diet and being active every day. Keep well and look for ways to donate to GIVEWITHHEARTDAY.COM.AU

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Recycled Plastic Labels, Flowers and Books

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RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLES

This hard to read label says, “I used to be a plastic bottle. This label is made from 100% recycled plastic.” My new cardigan is made of 100% cotton except the buttons and has a label made from recycled plastic. Good.

West Australian solo sailor Jon Sanders found on his recent world circumnavigation that nearly every 100 litre of seawater sample collected contained around 300 particles per cubic metre of microplastics. Why is this a problem? The chemicals released from plastics contribute to infertility, immunity disorders and abnormal neurological development in children.

FLOWERS IN THE HOUSE

The Phalaenopsis orchids are showering themselves in glory! Very satisfying, very pretty.

Several vases of early ranunculus. I cut them on short stems as the remaining stems have so many buds.

I read on a gardening site that ranunculus have more flowers if the corms are soaked prior to planting. I’d never done this before so tried it this year. I shared the corms with my Mother who lives further south. Unsurprisingly, mine germinated and bloomed before hers did but they also seem to be stronger plants. From now on I will soak the corms before planting.

I love arum lilies. They are a weed in Western Australia but my lilies are contained within an isolated bed. The lush, thick leaves don’t die off totally in summer as they do in the wild. The flowers start appearing at the end of August. I like to put the beautiful lilies in vases indoors.

The last of the Glamis Castle roses. They’ve all been pruned now.

CHOPSTICK STORAGE

We use chopsticks regularly. They’ve been stored in a cardboard tube for the last twenty plus years. The tube they were stored in was getting tatty. I was about to throw this acrylic chocolate box in the recycling bin when I realised it would make a great storage box for the chopsticks!

It had a brand sticker on the lid. I tore it off slowly and carefully but it left a layer of sticky glue. Tried removing it with hand sanitizer which was within reach. Didn’t work. Sprayed the sticker with Isopropyl alcohol and the residual glue just wiped off. Gave the box a wash in hot soapy water, dried it and now it’s a perfect chopstick box.

READING

Dr Norman Swan is a well known Australian broadcaster and physician. When I saw his latest book, So You Think You Know What’s Good For You? on the XPRESS ( seven day limit on borrowing for very popular books) display at the library, I borrowed it. He answers the health questions he’s asked all the time, based on the latest evidence and with good humour. Easy to flick back and forward following items of interest, this book is full of information and sound advice. You can just avoid the bits that make you nervous!

PLANTING OUT HYDRANGEAS

These ‘sticks’ are from pruning existing hydrangeas. Take a piece with two growth buds, push it into soil and come back a few months later. Roots should have appeared. I will plant these new plants in a very shady place where I planted some last year, as a trial. The plants only grew a little bit but each one produced flowers. I hope in time they reach a height where they will get more dappled light and thrive. I really like their glossy leaves and big, blousey blooms.

PRESSING EARLY SPRING FLOWERS

I collected a hat full of early springs flowers to press. I’ll use them to make some gift tags so I snipped their stems short. If I was planning to use them to make a card or a picture for the wall, I’d leave a longer stem and include more foliage.

I’d already cleaned the dusty press and put four layers of lithograph paper ready for the flowers. I don’t use paper towel as delicate petals can end up with the pattern of the paper towel imprinted on them. I also avoid newspaper as the ink can seep through the paper and stain the flowers during the pressing process.

Arranged the flowers then covered them with another four sheets of litho paper. I used a wooden press as I have one, but heavy books are also effective.

Put the top layer of the press in place and screwed on the wing nuts not really tightening any of them until they were all in place. Then I tightened them until there was no more movement.

I’ll put the press somewhere cool and dry for the next month. It needs to be accessible as I’ll continue tightening the nuts every three or four days for about a month.

TRAVEL JOURNAL PAINTING

Visited Rowles Conservation Park near Ora Banda while we were in Kalgoorlie. This lagoon is very beautiful. I have done a quick water colour painting for my journal.

In Australia and New Zealand, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September, so we will be celebrating this Sunday. This is a lovely opportunity to get together with family members but it may not be possible for all families due to ongoing lock downs in New South Wales and Victoria. Wishing all Fathers, where ever they are, a lovely day. Happy Father’s Day!

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Cezanne, The China Room, Cooking and Sewing

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WATCHING

Cézanne SELF PORTRAIT (Depositphotos)

We are very lucky to live close to a cinema. It has parking at the back, too. On Sunday we went to see Cézanne: Portraits of Life, a documentary focusing on Cézanne’s many portraits. This documentary was filmed at the National Portrait Gallery in London, The National Gallery of Art in Washington and Musée d’Orsay in Paris with contributions from specialists and curators from each gallery.

There was lots of background information about his life in Aix -en- Provence and Paris, his wife and son and his perpetual letters to his father, requesting money. In fact, an enormous amount of his correspondence with family, other artists and friends was read throughout the documentary.

Many of us are more familiar with Cézanne’s landscapes, mostly painted in Aix-en-Provence but this film focused on his influence on modern art. His style of portrait painting, intending to capture the feeling of the subject rather than an accurate copy, is accredited with the development of the Modern Art movement.

Cézanne and also Van Gogh are considered the Fathers of Modern Art. Both are known for evident brushstrokes, avant garde perspective and vivid, bright colours. The influence of both painters was evident in the development of Fauvism and Cézanne’s works are considered the precursor to Cubism.

An interesting documentary and as close as we are going to get to artworks outside Western Australia for some time!

READING

The China Room by Sunjeev Suhota came well recommended and as usual, I borrowed it from the library. The story is based partially on his own family’s history and is well written. He writes about the arranged marriages of three brothers and the total subservience of the bought brides. They were virtual slaves to the mother and the three sons. The story is set in the early 1900s so I thought of it as past history, not as something that could happen now. Not an easy read but it was interesting.

Unfortunately, I also read about a local court case which concluded this week in Perth. An Afghani refugee entered into an arrangement with a man in Melbourne to’ buy’ the man’s 21 year old sister for $15 000. She was unwilling to come to WA and to marry the man but was forced to co-operate. Her husband felt she didn’t show him enough respect and the marriage is not consummated.

Eventually, after an argument, he picked up a kitchen knife and slashed her throat twice, then left her on the floor to die. He then rang her brother to tell him to come and pick up her body. In his summary the judge talks about the murderer’s sense of entitlement, that his wife should follow his demands, show respect and be totally available to him.

The Australian Federal Police say that the most common crime reported to them is human trafficking and slavery. It is conservatively estimated that 15.4 million women worldwide are living in forced marriages.

COOKING

Our two passion fruit vines went from healthy with flowers to dropping their leaves and looking awful. As they are now growing new leaves and look healthy again I am assuming the chilli thrip that decimated the roses also damaged our passion fruit. Luckily, a friend has shared her passion fruit! Delicious.

The new growth on the pruned roses is healthy and vigorous. I’ll be checking every day to make sure they are not under attack again. Apart from treating them I have added fresh potting mix to those in pots and fed them Seasol and added pea straw. Fingers crossed they remain healthy.

COOKING DUTCH CARROTS

Did you know carrots were purple until the late 15th century? Apparently the Dutch then hybridised orange carrots as a mark of respect for William of Orange who led the nation to independence. This belief is highly contested online!

Many recipes add honey to glazed Dutch carrots. I find them very sweet anyway, so prefer a recipe with garlic and rosemary.

Pre-heat oven to 200°C (400°F)

Begin by scrubbing the carrots and removing the foliage. You don’t need to peel them.

Line a baking dish with baking paper. Arrange the carrot in a single layer in the tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle on a chopped garlic clove and salt and pepper.

Roast carrots for 15 minutes, sprinkle with chopped rosemary and return to the oven for 15 minutes or until they begin turning golden and caramelising on the edges. Serve hot. Delicious.

OTHER TREATS

Our son visited one of his favourite pastry shops. We all benefited! Crisp, moist and a rare treat.

SEWING

We are having a cold, wet winter. Many of us have discovered draughts under our doors, never noticed before but now very cold and obvious. A while back I made draught excluders for my Mother (here) and this time my son requested two, one for his en suite door and one for the bedroom door. I made these out of the same remnant fabric I used before and filled them with fibre fill. They are very effective

I remember draught excluders on the farm where I grew up. They were heavy and not very flexible. I don’t know what they were filled with, but they lasted forever. Several people have suggested they were traditionally filled with sand or sawdust. Rolled up old towels could be used at a pinch. Everyone seemed to have ‘door sausages’ so maybe doors weren’t as well fitted, the winters were colder or there was less heating.

Did you miss International Orangutan Day yesterday?

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Three Books and Removing Permanent Ink from Cotton

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READING

Our library has a special display of books called XPRESS READS. These are new or popular titles. They can be borrowed for seven days and cannot be renewed. Other loans are for 14 days and can be renewed unless requested by another member of the library.

I borrowed Fresh Water For Flowers from the XPRESS READS area and can see why it is so popular. It is a great read! Written by Valérie Perrin, it has been translated from French into over thirty languages and has won many awards. Perrin has been named as one of the ten best selling authors in France and this was the best selling book in Italy in 2020. It was translated for Europa Editions by Hildegarde Serle.

This is the story of a girl brought up in foster homes and her experiences. It recounts Violette’s life over many years, through young love, motherhood, work, her unfaithful husband and the friends she makes along the way. The story is also about the lives of many characters involved with the family. These personalities add strength to this story of of love and loss, hope and despair.

This is a story about hope and resilience. Despite being 482 pages long I read it in two days. Perrin herself writes that it starts out appealing to women but then the women say to their husbands, ‘You must read this book.’ My husband says he’ll have a look at it, but has not committed to reading it.

The second book I read was A Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot. This is a very popular book online at the moment and was highly recommended to me. Generally, the comments say the story will stay with you for a long time. It is a wonderful story. Written by Marianne Cronin who is 30, it suffers from poor editing and *historical errors. The story is thought provoking and charming but I’m slow to adapt to snappy, poorly constructed sentences and I feel this diminishes the cleverness of this book. You must make up your own mind as it is a big hit in America.

*For instance, p81 during an event in 1940, Margot asks her grandmother “Do you have a tissue?’ Although tissues had been invented as a cold cream remover, they were unavailable during the war years and didn’t really become widely used until 1954 when they were advertised on popular TV shows.

Thirdly, Small Pleasures written by Clare Chambers and also highly recommended to me. A gentle, beautifully written book about the monotonous life of a female journalist who investigates a claim of parthenogenesis. Chambers heard an interview on BBC Radio 4 about a geneticist, Dr Helen Spurway, who in 1955 observed that a species of fish was capable of spontaneously producing female progeny. This was partially replicated with a rabbit, so Dr Helen Spurway speculated about whether spontaneous parthenogenesis was provable in other mammals, specifically women. Was a virgin birth possible? This story is about a woman who claims her child was conceived without the involvement of a male.

REMOVING PERMANENT INK FROM COTTON

I uncapped a permanent ink pen and the ink had pooled in the cap. It bubbled and splattered on my favourite, thick, very old cotton tablecloth. I use it as a tablecloth as I really like the thick floral pattern which looks embossed on the fabric, but my Mother, who gave it to me, thinks it was a bedspread.

Soaked the stains in a borax paste, my usual whitening method, but that didn’t work. More searching online resulted in soaking the stains with hand sanitiser then washing the tablecloth in cold water. That didn’t work, either, nor did isopropyl alcohol topped off with dishwashing liquid both gently massaged in with an old toothbrush.

The final attempt to remove the stains involved a product bought from the supermarket. The stained area of the cloth was soaked in Dr Beckmann’s Colour Run Remover overnight, then washed and hung out in the sun to dry. Almost perfect! There is still a slight shadow where the biggest stain was but another soak will probably deal with that and certainly hanging in the sun has bleached it a little. My tablecloth is back, my permanent markers are secured in a (recycled) ziplock bag and I am very relieved.

Did you miss World Lion Day on 10th August? Not sure what you give a lion for their special day, but all the things that come to mind are not socially acceptable.

August 12th is also World Elephant Day.

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Mid Winter Week

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COLOGNE

A few weeks ago I wrote about buying 4711 Acqua Colonia Blood Orange and Basil because my Grandfather used 4711 and I really liked the scent. As a cologne it didn’t last long or overpower but every now and then I’d get a whiff of the fresh citrusy scent. Then I read about a project the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam called ‘In Search Of Lost Scents’. Perfumers were asked to create scents to match works from the Rijksmuseum collection.

The Battle of Waterloo

Jan Willem Pieneman ‘The Battle of Waterloo’, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

One of the scents was created by perfumer Birgit Sijbrands, inspired by Jan Willem Pieneman’s 1824 painting ‘ The Battle of Waterloo’. The scents she selected were intended to reflect Napoleon’s anxiety fleeing the battlefield, plus thousands of horses and the leather of saddles, bridles and boots. Another layer represented the muddy earth as it had been raining for days, and sweat and gunpowder.

www. Pixabay

There was also a surprising layer to the created scent; fresh citrus. The former Emperor and many of the soldiers were fans of 4711 Eau de Cologne, then called ‘Aqua Mirabilis’, miracle water. It was considered a medicine plus a fragrance. 4711 claims to be the oldest cologne still being made in the world. It is produced in Cologne, famous for its colognes, hence the word ‘cologne’. Made by Mäurer & Witz, it is a secret combination of lemon, orange, bergamot, lavender, rosemary, neroli, petitgrain*, roses and sandalwood oil. It still smells wonderful.

Pixabay

*Petitgrain is derived from the bitter orange tree. I’d never heard of it before but apparently is commonly used in medicinal oils.

A NEW LAPTOP

My laptop had been dropped once too often and not always by me! After a discussion with my son, Techno Help, a new one was ordered. Years ago I had a glossy red laptop which was attractive and easy to find in a pile of others things on the table. Now my choices were graphite, graphite or graphite. Bit like slowly replacing all the lovely white electrical appliances in the kitchen with stainless steel. So, I ordered sticker which was a picture of roses. It arrived quickly, was easy to apply and I love it.

What’s in the large envelope? A sticker for my new laptop.

BALD AS A BADGER

Pixabay

My Mother used the expression “As bald as a badger”. We couldn’t visualise a bald badger! Turns out, the expression was “As bald as a badger’s bum”. Badgers were trapped and the coarse, thick hairs from their rear ends were plucked to make shaving brushes. After plucking the bristles the badgers were released. Eventually the hair grew back but it was common to see badgers with bald backsides!Pixabay

There’s a common Australian expression “As blind as a bandicoot” probably because they live underground. There’s a long history of expressions making comparisons with animals, such a ‘ as blind as a bat’, ‘as slow as a snail’ and ‘ slippery as a snake.”

Pixabay

PLASTIC FREE JULY

I was interested to read that pressure from the children of CEOs is resulting in change around the over use of plastics. Many brands admit they are changing their polices and practices due to pressure from their own children.

Unfortunately, birds starving because their stomachs are full of plastics is becoming more common, according to recent research in the UK. WWF also claims we each consume a credit card size amount of plastic every week. Also in the UK The Rivers Trust (www.theriverstrust.org/stop-flushing-wipes) tells us that 93% of sewer blockages are caused by flushing wipes down the toilet. Probably similar statistics in Australia. Let’s focus on cleaner water.

ROSES

My roses are finally recovering from the plague, AKA chili thrip. Healthy green leaves and buds are appearing just in time for pruning. I am hoping they recover fully and return to their vigorous state of well being next season. Meanwhile we took my Mother home this week and her roses are still blooming happily. As a result, I have two vases of beautiful roses, which makes me very happy.

RESTORING

Running up and down the stairs many times a day recently, I saw the frame of one of the mirrors hanging there was chipped. The frames are classic timber with plaster decorative finishes. I’ve repaired chips in the frames before, so set about restoring this one.

I removed the mirror from the wall and dusted and wiped it clean, before mixing a paste of Polyfilla.

Mixed the Polyfilla using an old knife. I’m sure there’s purpose made palette knives for this job but I like the long blade on this old one for applying and smoothing the plaster.

2. Smeared the Polyfilla carefully into the cracked ornate plaster veneer, over filling it slightly.

BEFORE

AFTER

3. After it had cured for two days I used sandpaper to smooth the surface to look like the rest of the frame.

4. Using a small paintbrush, I stippled gold and copper paint onto the repair to imitate the existing old gold until it looked like the original finish. Added some black water colour paint to mimic the frame’s faint black stripe when the gold was dry then re-hung the mirror. Pleased with the repair.

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, has just won the rights to host the 2032 Olympic Games. By then we should be CV-19 free!

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What’s Wrong With Our Schools and Other Things This Week

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THE SCHOOL The Ups and Downs Of One Year In The Classroom

So what is wrong with our schools? I have just finished reading Brendan James Murray’s book, The School. I taught for forty one years, mostly in Primary Schools, but also Pre -Schools and High Schools. I have been retired for three years but still find myself reading articles about education all the time, and especially those about the current debate in Australia regarding teaching phonics. (Learning to read is a complex skill and each child is an individual and should be offered as many strategies as possible to become a competent reader.)

Murray was a High School teacher. He writes eloquently and with great compassion about the challenges facing teenagers and their teachers in the educational process. This is a work of non fiction storytelling. He amalgamates ten years of teaching into a fictional year, based on children, teachers and a school he knows well. He works at the school he attended as a student.

He also explains the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) ranking system currently used in Australia to determine the students’ ability, or their ‘rank’ compared against their peers. The ATAR score determines university acceptance. The score reflects the students’ performance relative to other students. So, if you have an ATAR of 86.4% you performed as well or better than 86.4% of other Year 12 (final year) students. Despite ivigilating/supervising ATAR exams at the end of each year, I’d never really considered just how each student was competing against every other student, nor how subject scores were scaled up or down to reflect the performance of students across the country.

There are great teachers, teachers who will become very good, burnt out teachers and teachers who should have left the profession. Funding for education is always insufficient for the best outcomes. The students in Murray’s book display every range of expected behaviours and abilities to learn, mixed in with some awful health issues.

What is most evident is students who are poorly parented will probably result in poor outcomes. The student who lives in a chaotic home, with unstable, poorly educated parents, has few routines, is not regularly fed or read to, will probably struggle, despite good funding and good teachers. The cycle of impoverished parenting needs to be addressed more consistently to break this cycle. Even brilliant, compassionate, highly motivated teachers, and there are many, cannot overcome the multitude of poor outcomes associated with poor parenting.

A thought provoking book, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and often informative, I would recommend it to anyone with children, involved in education or in any way influencing programs designed to improve parenting skills.

GOOD INDIAN DAUGHTER How I Found Freedom in Being A Disappointment

Ruhi Lee came to Australia from India as a small child. Her parents migrated here believing Australia would offer them, as a family, better opportunities. In contrast to the previous book, Lee parents do offer a stable but harsh home environment. A clever student, Lee is expected to do as she’s told and to be the best. Physical punishments and cutting comments leave her questioning her value. She knows she is not behaving like a “good Indian daughter.”

Secrets, lies, failure, confrontations and a long term secret boyfriend cause conflict. Her parents crave conformity and she’s told to just shrug off violence, sexual abuse, verbal abuse and expectations which don’t resonate with her character. Appearance and family are everything .

When she learns she’s carrying a daughter she begins to really analyse her own upbringing, determined to do it differently. Sometimes shocking and sometimes funny, this story highlights the way many females are still treated within society. The conflict of generational, personal and cultural divides can leave deep scars. The unrealistic expectations placed on Lee will be familiar in many families, not just amongst Indian families.

When the expectations of parents clash with the plans of children, things can become splintered beyond repair. This story made me wonder, when should she just give up? Not every situation has a happy ending but Lee has surrounded herself with a family and friendship group which is genuine and supportive. She and her husband will ensure their daughter will have a different childhood.

As usual, I borrowed both books from the library.

A DAY DOWN SOUTH

My Mother had melanoma surgery 12 days ago and has been staying with us since then. Today she was well enough to go back home.She has a dressing on her nose covering a graft, a long dressing on her hand and another site under her eye. Although her wounds are healing well, she’s been told to stay out of the garden for a few more weeks. She’ll find that very hard! I picked some lettuce for her and she was keen to “poke” about.

July 14th was Bastille Day in France. Did you celebrate? Macarons anyone?

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Making, Cooking, Eating, Reading

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MAKING

I have painted every day for the last two months, sometimes just quick works, sometimes intricate paintings and sometimes following Zoom sessions. During this time I become interested in painting blue and white china. I sorted all my blue paints and tested each to decide which were closest in colour to the blue on my many pieces of blue and white china.

I found making a reference sheet of test colours really useful and did something I should have done years ago: I drew up a grid and painted a rectangle showing the colour of every tube of paint I have and wrote their names, too. I have no idea why I didn’t do this before, but it is very useful!

Then my son gave me a Moleskin Watercolour Album. It is gorgeous and the texture of the cold pressed cotton (25%) blend, acid free pages is very good. The next day I drew up and replicated the colour grid inside the front of the journal. Great reference, just needs some great paintings, now.

COOKING CABBAGE SOUP!

The greengrocer has a range of cabbages. I buy them all, the reds ones, the Savoy ones, the Chinese (wombok), the black and the common green drumhead ones. I had run out of ideas for preparing cabbage! I looked up “cabbage soup” online. A nostalgic moment. You see, the majority of recipes for cabbage soup are for the Cabbage Soup Diet!

When we lived overseas most foreigners lived in a compound. Christmas wasn’t celebrated there and there was no holiday except at the school. Most of the wives and children returned to their home countries for a few weeks to celebrate Christmas and have a holiday. This meant mass dieting for weeks before hand and the diet of choice was the Cabbage Soup Diet. I don’t think it was very successful but seeing so many entries for it online was nostalgic, not necessarily in a good way. Boiled cabbage smells bad.

Next time I’ll grind fresh spices instead of using powdered ones.

Under all that was a recipe from a site called Simply Good for Cabbage Soup, (here). The reviews were enthusiastic and there were lots of them, so I made Cabbage Soup. I had all the ingredients. It was easy, healthy and very good. I will make it again.

EATING AND COLD WEATHER

It’s the middle of winter in the Southern hemisphere. We have had more rain than I remember since I was a child. The dams and even the aquifers must be full by now. Wet and cold days seem to require carbohydrates, so I’m quick to oblige. When our son came down from Kalgoorlie for the weekend, we had bagels and paninis for lunch and a roast beef dinner with roasted vegetables and luscious gravy.

The next morning we had yum cha, delicious little bites with warming spicy dipping sauces. The yum cha restaurant is always crowded and noisy. There’s large round tables where big groups enjoy the food and company, smaller tables and then tables for four. The servers come past with trolleys you choose from or trays with specialties and you can order your favourites, too.

Small but diabolical chocolate muffins.

I’d made chocolate chip muffins. They have amazing powers to fight cold weather

My Mother has been staying, too, after some surgery for melanomas on her face and hand. She really feels the cold, so has an electric blanket on her bed and now, an electric throw. It was recommended to me by a friend and endorsed enthusiastically by another friend, so off I went to buy her one. The first two shops had sold out, but the third shop had one left. They had unpacked ten that morning and told me I was lucky to get the last one.

She thinks it’s very warm!

READING

I’m a fan of Irish writer Marion Keyes books. She is funny and sharply observant. She writes fiction and nonfiction. I always checked to see if she had for a new book available when we were traveling. Remember plane trips? When I finished the book I’d leave it in the hotel for someone else to enjoy.

Thoroughly enjoyed ” Making It Up As I Go Along”. Published in 2016 this is a collection of columns and articles she wrote for various newspapers, travel magazines and other magazines. We learn about her nail polish museum, her many trips overseas and Himself, her saint like husband plus her passion for rugby.

I borrowed this book from the library to balance out my other selections, serious garden tomes on treating pest invasions naturally, re-espaliering fruit trees ( mine has shot upwards, seeking sunlight as the neighbours’ trees have grown and block the sun) and small garden design requiring little water, except their idea of a small garden is big compared to mine. Interesting and informative, but very serious so some droll observations from Marion Keyes were very welcome.

How are you going with Plastic Free July? Aldi has a set of four fruit and vegetable bags. Two are made of calico, two are woven cotton. Light, easy to wash and reusable. Four less plastic bags every week. You can use the paper bags intended for mushrooms if you forget to take reusable fruit and vegetable bags shopping.

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