Melange

relish the tomatoes

2012-01-21T20:54:00.000+10:00

I halved the recipe and am certainly glad I did!

Tasty Tomatoes

Add onions

Lots of salt to draw out the moisture and add flavour

Letting it stew

With brown vinegar

Boiling away

Finished product. They look a bit wonky - I should have put them on a sturdy coaster

hot mustard

2012-01-21T20:36:00.001+10:00

I found a recipe for a really hot mustard and it appealed to Chris as it has beer in it! Personally, I much prefer wholegrain mustard

Grinding the celery seeds

Thickening

Second hand jar, brand new contents

Chris said its got some kick but seems to be enjoying it. I'll put a nice label on it tomorrow to finish it off

gatherings

2012-01-21T20:04:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately the caterpillar got there before I did but that was some of the best, actually probably the best, rocket I have had

And there is some basil and rosemary too. Yes, basil has flowered...

splat

2012-01-21T19:22:00.000+10:00

a new start

2012-01-13T20:50:00.000+10:00

7th January 2012

grass

2012-01-05T03:00:00.001+10:00

first strip

pondering


quite pleased

how do we make it go faster?

glass house mountains

2012-01-02T21:17:00.001+10:00

I'm lucky to live only minutes away from the Glass House Mountains on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. In fact, I see them every day driving home from work. As I have a new camera I'm looking forward to getting up to the lookouts and taking some good photos of the magnificent scenery. In the meantime, here are a few...

pampered

2012-01-02T10:31:00.000+10:00

I have friends that whenever I go to their house I feel pampered. Fair enough, they are old enough to be my parents, are retired and have a well set-up house but it always makes me feel like a uni student again rather than a 28 year old.

Our place doesn't match. We are still at that stage in life where we have bits and pieces of mismatched furniture. A lot of hand-me-downs (thankfully!) and a few new pieces we have purchased.

John and Susan's place is immaculate. They are very particular about the way the live their life. They are very organised and dedicated and it certainly pays off.

The simple things like the cleanliness of the bathroom and the beautiful bed sheets just make me feel so special. Always gracious hosts and beautiful food and wine, I always leave feeling relaxed and well looked after.

pampered


Connondale Chook Shed

off-cuts

sunflowers

2012-01-02T09:59:00.000+10:00

If any flower could be seen as smiling, it would be a sunflower. Sunflowers and gerbera's make me happy.

On our return from visiting my family at Christmas we passed through a town in southern Queensland that farms sunflowers. Unfortunately most of the flowers had been farmed already but even so the view was amazing.

December 2011

Back when my grandparents had lots of sunflowers growing on their farm, I would receive a bunch of sunflowers for my birthday. Even prior to that my mum made me a sunflower dress.

Christmas - maybe 1997?

Birthday 2009

A bunch of flowers brightens a room, a house and a heart. That reminds me, the gardenia out the front is flowering. I might just bring some in.

a spoonful of medicine

2012-01-01T18:43:00.000+10:00

We are renting and can't have a dog. So we have goldfish. Its amazing how attached you can become to a gold fish. You can't hug it or take it for a walk but you speak to it and look after it. It is always happy to see you in the morning (because of the food!)

After a fantastic new years celebration at a friend's house we returned home to find our beloved goldfish "Fatty" dead. We suspected this may happen but I was holding onto the hope that we treated him in time. A few days ago we noticed the new little fish (Whitey - yes, we are great with names) had the dreaded white spot. This quickly spread to Fatty, named because he is fantail - short round body with beautiful long tail, who wasn't looking great.
We had the brother-in-law over to give it some medicine and we went and got some yesterday afternoon but were too late.

We now hold onto the hope that Whitey will recover and we will be able to get him some new friends soon. We'll be sure to treat the water this time before introducing new fish into an existing set up.