MakeCookGrow.com – Page 31 – Some gardening, cooking, creating and everyday suburban life

A Great Week in Melbourne

Share this post

We live in Western Australia and we’re closer to Bali or Singapore than most eastern states capitals. We decided it was time to fly to east, starting at Melbourne and then do train trips to get to know more about the state. Later, we went to Sydney and Brisbane, too.

Jumped on a tram to do a loop of the city blocks to familiarise ourselves with the area. Off at the Queen Victoria Market and bought strawberries, goats cheese, some brie, a Portuguese tart a vanilla slice and nougat. This was our bed picnic for the night.

We visited the National Gallery of Victoria and enjoyed 16th-18th century British and European paintings, their International Collection of 19th and 20th century works,Australian Impressionists, fabulous glassware and also Japanese ceramics. Great exhibitions. We took trains and trams almost everywhere; not something you can easily do in Perth. The tram system is very efficient at moving masses of people and it is very cheap. In fact, the central city area is free.

Wandered around the Alexandria Garden after a long lunch.

Set off for Bendigo on the train. A booming gold town from 1850-1900, it became for a while the world’s richest city thanks to gold. The architecture remaining from this era is wonderful to see. The Chinese also arrived with the gold rush and there’s gardens and buildings remaining in the Chinese precinct. There’s lovely old buildings along the main streets and well established parkland but we were there mainly to visit the Bendigo Art Gallery.

We went for the Balenciaga Exhibition, curated by the V and A. Cristobal Balenciaga, a Spaniard, was an influential and innovative 20th century designer. His designs were sculptural and focused on the silhouette and fitting shapes to the fabric. His exquisite craftsmanship is apparent in all the clothes on display. He wanted women to be bold, striking and interesting.

The exhibition included sketches, photographs, fabric samples and catwalk footage, plus modern technological demonstrations of pattern making. All fabulous.

This Balenciaga piece could be worn as a skirt or a cape. I am wearing it as a cape, the most luxurious piece of clothing I have ever worn! It was intended to be worn over a very straight, fitted dress, not my traveling top and trousers with boots made for walking, not glamorous nights at the opera! This exhibition showed how Balenciaga often designed his clothes after he’d chosen the fabric.

To the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne to see the Wayward Woman exhibition, Fascinating history of women in the early settlement of Victoria. Also interesting was the history of the building and the development of this area of Melbourne.

Melbourne is all about food. This restaurant, di Stasio, advertises in the Weekend Australian magazine so we booked before the trip and were delighted with our lunch. Old fashioned service and decor, fresh, carefully prepared food. Worth waiting years to eat here.

The next day we ate at their new restaurant, Citta, and really enjoyed it, too. Different decor but the same carefully selected and presented food. Finished off with a long walk in the Fitzroy Gardens.

Melbourne is all about food. There’s amazing food everywhere and it is generally well priced. Almost every laneway bulged with interesting cafes and bars spilling out from the buildings.

The Royal Botanic Gardens are accessible and beautiful. We had only allowed two hours including the tour we’d rung and confirmed the previous day. When we arrived we were told the tours were off for the rest of the day, no reason, bad luck. The couple behind us, also tourists, had pre-paid, so not at all pleased. It was such a shame as there’s so much to see but we didn’t have enough time.

The next day we took the train from Melbourne to Sydney. We’d decided to do this to see the countryside, but it was exhausting. The train was late, stopped frequently waiting for clearances, the food limited and way too hot. Relieved to arrive in Sydney. although quite sad to leave Melbourne. There’s so much to see and do and I’m sure we will be returning one day.

Today is CONCUSSION AWARENESS DAY. Now recognised as having serious long term consequences we need to ask the person who is possibly concussed these questions. Do they have a headache, did they lose consciousness, decide if they appear confused or are they slow processing information? If you see any of these symptoms, seek professional advice.

Share this post

Making A Mosaic Ball

Share this post

The third ball in this trio of spheres, the one at the front, is a new one. Once faded and grubby, it is now covered in mosaics and looks lovely with the others and balances the arrangement. I made the grey sphere on the left from concrete here. The one on the right is a trough float, one of several I collected over the years.

This is a retired lawn bowling ball. It was painted silver and looked lovely in the garden, but slowly the colour faded and washed off. Time for rejuvenation!

I am going to decorate it with mosaics. The colours will be stable and the texture created by the pieces of tile will add interest. It is a small piece and I will use small pieces of broken tiles and china to cover it.

It will be placed with these spheres when it is finished.

EQUIPMENT

ball
glue
broken tiles or china
safety glasses
a hammer
a plastic bag
grout
rubber/latex gloves
rags for cleaning

I started by washing the ball. When I’d chosen the pieces of china I wanted to use I put them into two containers. Some pieces were too big. I slid them in a plastic bag and hit them gently with a hammer and they cracked easily. I wore safety glasses.

Next I glued them onto the ball, leaving a small circle on the bottom so it sits securely on the ground. I chose two colours to mix well with the other two spheres already in position. One container has plain white tiles, broken into useful pieces and the other had a green and white broken plate.

I used a multipurpose household glue. There are specialist glues intended for use with ceramics but this was a small job so I used a glue I had and it worked well. Working on a sphere meant the pieces would slide down the sides if I put too many pieces on at a time. The glue needs time to cure.

When the glue was cured I mixed up the grout. Wearing rubber gloves, I pushed the grout into the gaps until they were all filled. I also sealed around the base. Using a rag, I wiped the excess grout off the tiles, then used a damp rag to finish cleaning them. I left the finished mosaic sphere for two days to dry properly before putting it outside.

So while we’re in the garden, lets think about honey. September is HONEY MONTH, which celebrates and promotes everything to do with honey. Beginning with honey bees, pollen and beekeepers an amazing, sticky sweet product emerges.

Think about suitable bee habits this month and enjoy eating honey.

Share this post

Planning For Travel and Eating Mussels

Share this post

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!

Share this post

Two Ann CleevesThrillers and Blood Orange Sorbet

Share this post

ANN CLEEVES MURDER THRILLERS

Ann Cleeves, an English crime writer, has written more than 30 novels, including a series of thrillers set in the Shetland Islands. Several have been made into a television series filmed by BBC ONE featuring the main protagonist, Jimmy Perez. All are great viewing. Our most recent read, Wild Fire, was written in 2018 and is the last in the Shetland series. It would also make a great film. Cleeves has worked as a probation officer, cooked at a bird observatory and as as auxiliary coastguard and these interests are all apparent in her books.

This was a gripping murder thriller, with well developed characters and a clever plot. The descriptions of the surrounding landscape make me want to visit the Shetland Islands but only in summer!

Another murder thriller by Ann Cleeves, this time from the Vera series. Many of these stories have also been made into a television series by the English company, ITV. This story has more of Vera’s private and early life revealed in it as her father is involved in the plot. He was not particularly law abiding and not pleased when his daughter joined the police force. Again, a gripping, clever and entirely engaging story.

BLOOD ORANGE SORBET

This is a Blood Orange Sorbet, one of the many citrus treats we enjoy during the citrus season. It’s quite difficult to find blood oranges in Perth but the juice makes a very good sorbet.

Start by putting the bowl of an icecream maker in the freezer for 12 hours, or according to your machine.

To make the sorbet, make a sugar syrup by mixing 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water. Stir and dissolve the mixture in the microwave. Cook one minute, stir, mix another minute, stir then decide if the syrup needs more heating to completely dissolve the sugar.

Juice five blood oranges, plus a lemon and add to the syrup. Some recipes add zest, but we don’t, then chill the mixture.

With the paddle in place in the bowl, mix for about 12 minutes until the syrup is almost solid, tip into a container and put back in the freezer until you’re ready to eat it. Delicious.

( There is a range of Blood Orange Sorbet recipes online )

AND IN THE WINTER GARDEN

The first of the tulips. They’re gorgeous, but strangely they are blooming on very short stems.

I love arum lilies but they are considered a weed in Western Australia. I grow them in a contained bed where I can see the large, lush green leaves and lovely white flowers from our bedroom window.

The white irises have begun blooming. I have them in garden beds and in pots.

Monday, August 26th was INTERNATIONAL DOG DAY.

People and dogs have lived side by side for thousands of years and we celebrate this symbiotic relationship on 26th August.

Founded by author and dog behaviourist Colleen Paige, in 2004, not only to focus on our pet dogs but also consider abused and abandoned dogs and puppy mills.

The benefits of dog ownership are enormous. The use of dogs to assist blind, ill and anxious people is ever increasing. Dogs are popular visitors in hospitals and schools. They create social opportunities at the dog park, for themselves and their owners. And even when you’ve been together for years and years, they are still genuinely excited when you come home!

All dog shelters welcome volunteer helpers, money and donations of blankets, towels and sheets.

Our groodle, LOUIS.

Share this post

Making Natural Dyes and Lavender Hearts

Share this post

Last year I was nearly exhausted by the time Christmas arrived because I was making so many gifts right up until the Big Day! This year I am experimenting with a few things I can make long before the silly season starts so the week before Christmas is still fun.

I’ve been collecting and drying lavender and planned to make some lavender bags. I am experimenting with natural dyes, using 100% cotton ticking as the base fabric.

The first dye I tried was boiled avocado seeds and skins to make pink tones.

After the dye had cooled I soaked the cotton ticking in it for an hour then hung it out to dry. It is a pretty dusty pink colour.

Next I boiled rosemary twigs to make a yellow dye.

This dye is quite pale and not what I expected

This dye is made from onion skins and is a great orange colour. I used the skins from two brown onions and boiled then for fifteen minutes. This is a strong colour. The next day I boiled red onion skins to see if they resulted in a different colour. No, just the same!

I haven’t used fixers or mordants with any of these pieces I’ve dyed. They are only intended to be decorative.

From left to right, the basic cotton ticking, then the avocado dye (pink), the onion skin dye (orange) and the one on the right is the rosemary dye (pale yellow)

I cut a template of a heart shape then used this to cut shapes from all three pieces of dyed fabric.

Machine stitched around the heart shapes leaving a small gap to poke in the wadding and shake in the dried lavender. Clipped the edges. Turned it to the right side, using a scissor blade to poke the heart point out and ironed the heart shape. Clipped the pointy end off the heart so it sat better when turned right side out.

Stuffed the point of the heart and the top with wadding, then poured in dried lavender. I made a little funnel out of scrap paper to direct the lavender in to the middle of the heart. Later I discovered a kitchen funnel worked well, too. I sat the heart in a cup to pour in the dried lavender.

Cut the ribbon and then stitched a button where they crossed. When my parents left the farm my Mother gave me her many jars of buttons. When clothing was finally exhausted, she’d cut off all the buttons and keep them. She kept buckles and other sewing notions, too. I played with the buttons as a child and now I’ve re-used some of them on these lavender sachets.

Sweet smelling, pretty gifts ready for storing until needed.

INVENTORS MONTH

Consider the printing press, antibiotics, the internal combustion engine, the internet, electricity, sliced bread, safety pins and contact lenses: they were all invented by great thinkers and tinkerers and we benefit from them everyday.

August is INVENTORS MONTH. Time to consider and feel gratitude for the amazing range of inventions making our lives easier every day. So, pop the CORK from a BOTTLE of CHAMPAGNE, sit out in the sun on your CHAIR and take a few PHOTOS on your PHONE to celebrate.

Share this post

Decluttering, Making Draught Excluders and Going Down South

Share this post

DECLUTTERING and MAKING DRAUGHT EXCLUDERS

How do you dispose of things when you declutter? When I recently did a big, well overdue wardrobe declutter, almost everything went into the Church Charity Bin. This was because the clothes, shoes and handbags I was removing were all in good condition. They were work clothes and I’ve finally accepted I wasn’t going to wear them again. My clothes are far more casual now.

When we came back from living overseas for a few years, an entire household of sheets, blankets, quits, towels, pillows and tablecloths came back with us. Unsure what we’d need, I kept most things thinking I would sort and discard when our container of household goods from our previous house arrived. When that happened there was no time for a proper sort so the linen press bulged with a jumble of stuff!

This week, my husband and I emptied, sorted, refolded and restacked the linen press. We ended up with two huge bags of blankets, single bed sheets, pillows and towels to throw out. They looked faded and unloved after not being used for years. These bags were taken to the Dogs Refuge. I couldn’t go because I’d want to bring all the dogs home with me.

They rejected the pillows. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise! My mother really feels the cold and was complaining about the draughts coming in under three external doors.

I made her draught excluders and stuffed them with recycled polyester wadding from two of the pillows! There’s one thin one to put in the gutter of a sliding door and two sausage ones for two normal doors.

The first excluder is small and thin to push into the gutter of a sliding door.

I discovered the easiest way to poke the wadding into the excluders was using a old copper stick, or dolly, from the laundry. I don’t have a copper for washing but find this smooth, old stick so useful for so many jobs.

( A copper is a deep copper bowl built over a fire box. It is filled with water and a fire is lit under it to heat the water. When it is hot the clothes to be washed are immersed and agitated by the stick, before being rinsed, put through a mangle to remove water and hung out to dry. Coppers were used before we had washing machines.)

To make the two bigger ones, I traced around a mug to create four end pieces, then measured and cut two strips for the bodies.

Used the template lines to guide the stitches joining the ends to the body of the sausage, the clipped the edges before turning them right side out.

The linen press is tidy and logically stacked, the excess things have gone to the Dog Refuge and I’ve made my Mother three draught excluders. Now I just need to find out what to do with thousands of books. Text books, travel books, poetry, histories, biographies, fiction and non-fiction, collected over four generations.

GOING DOWN SOUTH

Last week we went to Australind to stay with my mother. The second day we were there, we all went to Busselton to visit her friend. After morning tea we left them to have a good chat and we went further south to Dunsborough, a well known holiday destination. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and after a lovely wander around the shops we bought lunch and went down to the beach. Gorgeous.

This is Afternoon Tea Week. Afternoon Tea is a British tradition dating from the 1840s. Traditionally, fine china accompanies delicate sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and little cakes and pastries. Sounds wonderful. Start boiling the kettle now!

Share this post

Cooking, Mending and Reading.

Share this post

MAKING MARMALADE in the MICROWAVE

Using the abundance of citrus fruit to make chunky, delicious, quick marmalade. Try it!

Winter means citrus fruit and citrus fruit means marmalade. The specific microwave instructions are here.

Gathered a collection of citrus fruit and cut into chunks before processing until the skins were finely chopped. Added some finely diced preserved ginger.

Saved all the pips and some skins, rich in pectin, into this little muslin bag which was cooked with the fruit pulp. The marmalade set beautifully and the skins from the pectin bag were deliciously glazed and crystallized. They would be perfect chopped into cooking or used as cake decorations.

Grapefruit, lemon and kumquat marmalade with a tiny bit of ginger. The tulips are in a vase behind the bonsai, not growing out of it!

MAKING SHORTBREAD

Visiting my brother and S-I-L in Beverley, a country town two hours from Perth, taking the shortbread and marmalade I’d made. A lovely day in the country.

MENDING A MOHAIR BLANKET

This loosely woven mohair blanket is quite old and was showing signs of constant use, particularly evident from the number of pulled threads. It’s very warm and light. Greatly inspired by The Repair Shop, a BBCtv program running on local television, I spread the blanket out on the table and spent most of a day weaving the threads back, under, over, under, over using a blunt darning needle. Occasionally there was a tear or very thin, worn thread so I mended it with matched cotton thread. It looks new again!

READING

This fabulous book written by Marcus Binney features interiors designed by antipodean Anouska Hempel, who arrived in London in 1962. Her interiors are Oriental in style, which I really like, too. We brought back furniture and decorative pieces when we came back to Australia after we’d lived in China and I enjoy seeing how she incorporates pieces into her settings.

We’ve visited two hotels she decorated in London and one in Amsterdam. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her own house, Cole Park and gardens and other interiors she has done, including their apartment in Mayfair, in this book. She has just decorated the Six Senses Duxton Hotel in Singapore, too, so that’s on my travel list now.

An inspiring book. I bought mine from Book Depository.

The last of the roses before they’re pruned and some camellias.

Dawn from the back door. A cold and crisp start turned into a wonderful, sunny day. Again.

Wonderful! Today is Book Lovers Day. Put down your screens and settle somewhere comfortable and enjoy a long read.

Share this post

Visiting Beverley, Western Australia

Share this post

This lovely Wheatbelt town is a two hour drive from our home. It is one of the early areas established in the West Australian colony. Land grants were first taken up in 1831 and the town was established in 1868.

The old well maintained buildings, some with great street art, house the usual supermarket, hardware supplies, pharmacy, cafes, a great dress shop, a bakery and art and craft shops and galleries, plus some shops selling old wares. It seems to support a vibrant arts and sporting community. Beverley is an easy drive from the city and an interesting way to spend a day in the country.

Last week, on a cool, clear sunny winters day, we visited family in Beverley. After lunch, we went for a wander along the wide, main street, Vincent Street. Many of the architecturally interesting facades from early development remain.

Famous for the Beverley Soaring Club, the largest club in WA, you can book a trip for a silent view from the sky.

The council publishes a detailed guidebook, Welcome to Beverley, full of useful information. It includes the plan for a short walking tour of the main street.

ROADS BOARD OFFICE. Built in 1908 and in use until 1961, this is now a private house.

OLD COURT HOUSE Designed by George Temple Poole and built in 1897, the courthouse was in use until 1990.

George Temple Poole, an Englishman, was born in Rome, where his parents were holidaying. After working in Ceylon and London, he was appointed Superintendent of Public Works for Western Australia in June 1885. He oversaw the design and construction of more than 200 buildings throughout Western Australia. Thirty four of these are listed by the National Trust and described as, ” essential to the heritage of Australia and must be kept.”

OLD POLICE STATION AND COTTAGES These Federation style cottages and Police Station, just off Vincent Street, were built in 1910 and restored by the National Trust in 2010.

OLD COUNCIL CHAMBERS Built 1898.

OLD BANK HOUSE 1907, Federation style, now a private residence.

FREEMASONS TAVERN Originally this building had wide verandas, typical of when it was build in 1886. It was re-built after a fire in 1908. Recently renovated.

BEVERLEY STATION AND PLATFORM THEATRE Built in 1886 and restored in 2006. Now a multipurpose cultural precinct and railway station. Like so many other areas of the town, it has a carefully clipped and maintained garden.

BEVERLEY POST OFFICE Still in use as a Post Office plus a newsagency, built in 1910 in the Federation style.

To the right of the Post Office is the ANZ BANK, built in 1909.

BEVERLEY OLD JUNIOR SCHOOL Designed by the famous West Australian architect, George Temple Poole and built in 1894. Typical red brick building with large windows, a school design repeated all over Western Australia.

On the way home, canola crops in flower.

Green countryside following good winter rains.

Grass trees, damaged in a previous bush fire, recovering well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all horses in the Southern Hemisphere for yesterday! Horse ages are standardized so the closer the horse is born to August the first, the older it is in its division. In the Northern Hemisphere, horses celebrate their birthdays’ on January the first. Hope you made a carrot cake for any equine friends you have and helped them celebrate by kicking up your heels.

Share this post

Steam Buns, Apple Crumble and Roasted Vegetables

Share this post

STEAM BUNS

We first met these fat little puffs of deliciousness in Bali in May and knew we wanted to make them at home. One cold Sunday recently, my son began the process of making them for our dinner. We were very glad he did as they were wonderful, filled with spicy meat and vegetables.

Cut little squares of parchment paper to slip in the fold of the buns so they don’t stick while they steam. Meanwhile, bring the water to boiling point in the steamer.

Insert paper and fold in half over a chopstick, put in steamer insert.

Steam the buns for eight minutes or until they become light and fluffy. Carefully remove and add fillings, serve.

Steamed Bao Buns recipe from Jeremy Pang www.bbcgoodfood.com

Delicious!

APPLE CRUMBLE

Apples are in season so I made apple crumble. Stewed the apples in water with a little sugar and cinnamon, plus some sultanas. Made the crumble from oatmeal, flour, sugar and butter. Serve with cream or icecream. Good winter food, good any other time, too.

ROASTING VEGETABLES

The Australian Women’s Weekly VEGETARIAN BASICS cookbook.

We’re meat eaters but when I flicked through this book, I drooled and then I cooked! It’s full of recipes using winter seasonal vegetables. I’ve roasted cauliflowers, potatoes, pumpkin, made zucchini frittatas and roasted mushrooms. Each recipe, focusing on one vegetable, has three or four variations.

I roasted large mushrooms with garlic, thyme, EVO oil and red wine vinegar.

I made the Roasted Pumpkin and Rosemary Crumble, using a jap pumpkin and the crumble made from panko breadcrumbs, wholegrain mustard, chopped up rosemary, pine nuts and butter. The second time I made it I substituted plain sourdough breadcrumbs and chopped walnuts as I ran out of panko crumbs and pine nuts. Other crumbles in the book are Miso Chilli Pumpkin, Lebanese Spiced Pumpkin and Pumpkin and Gremolata. Crunch and contrast against the creamy flavour of the pumpkin.

I baked a Whole Cauliflower in vegetable stock, coated with a mix of smoked paprika, garlic, parmesan and butter, and before serving cut into wedges, sprinkled with parsley. Very, very popular!

Roasted a tray of potatoes following their recipe and they were very good, too.

I used a leftover wedge of cauliflower in a little puddle of stock and some roasted pumpkin to make soup. I boiled the veg with some extra vegetable stock and when everything was soft, I Barmixed it. Thick luscious soup served with some leftover crumble from the baking dish.

This large softcover book is full of recipes for readily available vegetables. I’ll be dipping into this for some time to come!

Pages marked for entertaining and this weekends cooking.

OTHER THINGS

Made and froze two trays of pasties for lunches during our wet and cold season.

The 29th of July will be International Tiger Day, founded after an international summit in 2010 revealed that 92% of wild tigers disappeared last century with only about 3000 left alive. Factors being highlighted included the impact of habitat loss, hunting and poaching.

Share this post

Six Almost Free Luxuries

Share this post

What is your definition of luxury?

What would you do if you won $40 million dollars?

Listening to the radio when I was driving recently the announcer was discussing a $4o million dollar Lotto ( lottery) draw. He said the winner would be, “Living in the lap of luxury.” Listeners were invited to phone in and describe their idea of luxury.

Generally people listed building or buying dream homes, first class world travel, especially cruises, cars, boats, bikes and 4WD vehicles. One man said he’d pay for his Nanna’s hip surgery as she’d been waiting for it a long time, but mostly listeners wanted to buy similar things; houses, travel and vehicles.

I didn’t win Lotto and am not in the market for any of those things but I do like luxurious little treats around the house which make life very comfortable. They’re much cheaper than the list above, too!

1. My mother always has FRESH FLOWERS in the house. Like her, I mostly grow them in the garden, so minimal cost. I like pretty relaxed arrangements of whatever is flowering. I specifically grow roses, alstromerias, tulips and irises as cut flowers and create contrasting colours using ivy, rosemary and lavender. ( If the ivy roots whilst in the vase, I plant it on the verge where I’m creating a low maintenance garden. Lawn needs mowing and constant watering, but ivy is easy and lush) I also have an orchid which blooms every year and stays inside for about five weeks.

2. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY accessed through our local library. I can download books, DVDs, order books, magazines and DVDs from their catalogue, send printing and pick it up later and also read current magazines and newspapers.

3. The best COFFEE and TEA. Since my niece told me about a coffee capsule strong enough for my preferred double espressos, I’d rather drink coffee at home and really enjoy the flavour. Espressos arrive cold in coffee shops, at home I have the luxury of great flavour, fine china and hot coffee. It is consistently good and I can recycle the capsule. My son, a keen tea drinker, has a cupboard full of his favourite blends. He uses loose leaves in a teapot or a tea infuser. This way he avoids the plastic in many teabags and has a very good cup of tea.

4. LEMONS and LIMES. Zest and a fresh flavour hit for fish, salad dressing, Asian flavoured foods, pancakes, chutney and in bottles of water. I love the smell, flavour and versatility of these common citrus. They add luxury to everything! And vitamin C.

5. FRESH AIR and SUNLIGHT. In winter the light comes right into the back of the house. It adds warmth and brightness. First thing in the morning, while the coffee machine warms up, I go around and open the shutters. I also open doors to let the air circulate and freshen the house. Everything feels clean and lighter.

This one always finds the warm sunlit patches.

6. Retirement has brought the luxury of using TIME how I like, including lying in bed some mornings, reading, and going to activities such as painting, mahjong, yoga and bookclub during the day. I walk 12 000+ steps a day and used to do this mostly at night. Now I have the time to do two or three long walks a day. I still vacuum, shop, cook and tidy up, but not at a frantic pace. Being able to choose how I spend my time is luxurious!

Apart from being my brother’s birthday, yesterday was Caviar Day. True caviar comes from only a few types of sturgeon. So, celebrate with a bowl of caviar eaten from a mother of pearl spoon and enjoy its salty deliciousness.

Share this post