fiveandtwo

Hot Enough For Ya?

Yeah, we're sick, sick, sick of the blast furnace

Things we do to combat the heat:

First thing in the morning close all the windows and pull the curtains. When the sun goes down reverse the procedure and open everything up.

We're fortunate to have ceiling fans in most rooms. Wetting a lightweight cloth (eg. a sarong), draping it over oneself and lying under said fans works surprisingly well. So does dunking under the shower and standing under the fan (without drying off.first).

Swimming. We live only a few blocks from the outdoor pool, and there are some nice swimming spots along the Tambo River for young kids. My older kids, who can swim reasonably well, swim in the Mitchell River which is also only a few blocks from our house. It's deep though, too deep for novice swimmers.

 

At Bark Sheds on the Tambo River.

 

The dog doesn't mind a dip, but she has march fly phobia. Just some buzzing caused her to run to the car and try and launch herself in the (open) window to get away!

Note human feet in the background - that's the husband on his folding chair cooling his feet in the river. Another thing that's nice at home is to put your feet in a bucket of cool water.

I don't use the stove at all. We have a barbeque with a wok burner. You can't use both at once though! It's the burner OR the barby. The best precaution I took before this hot spell (hot spell? freakin' Hell's Gate) was to pick most of the lettuce crop, wash and dry it and put it in bags in the fridge. So, we've been having these salads...amazing what you can add, vary the dressing you make and Bob's your uncle: different salad every night! What I didn't pick of the lettuce crop has started bolting to seed and generally looks very sad.

The garden is surviving, mostly. A couple of pittosporum that hedge the driveway have very crispy leaves, not a good sign. I try and water the most vulnerable plants every night - vegies, things in pots, the portable garden which is in foam boxes. You know, if you hose your feet and legs as you water it's very cooling.

If you're a dog you dig monstrous bear pits all over the place, as the soil dries out and warms up, well, you just dig deeper...and deeper.

I've used some of the hot weather to make a prototype pair of pants - almost done. Here's a pic. of my sewing machine lurking in the gloom!

 

How about that sun trying to penetrate the double-layer roman blind (west facing window).

Here's the muslin nearly done. Then I am going to use it to make about four pairs of pants.

No "proper" sewing can be done - it's too damn hot to have an iron going. Why add to the furnace.

Oh yes, the muslin uses an old bed sheet from the op-shop. 

Thoroughly spoilt by a cooler start to summer, we are now copping it! Roll on the cool change (make it sooner, rather than later...please). 

I Went To Bendigo, Again.

Yes! It's now three times in the last twelve months. Beginning to be a habit it seems.

Ah, but this time was special. A mate and I conspired to vistit this exhibition:

 

Go, go if you can. The most wondrous garments are there. Day dresses, cocktail dresses, suits...and ballgowns...sigh.

I can't ply you with pictures - the garment images are copyright V&A (the origin of the collection).

Our approach with two not-terribly-interested kids each was: visit a public monument (the cathredral) with a bit of quiet inside.

 A bit of running around outside.

 Visit Rosalind Park with magnificent old trees, walk up (steep) Camp Hill to the poppet head tower on top, brave the WIND climbing the stairs to the top of the poppet head, a play in the playground nearby, milkshakes/iced chocolates and cake at the gallery cafe...then, on to the exhibition. Restive towards the end, the offspring were good for about two hours. Just enough time.

If I lived in Bendigo I'd be visiting once a week. Well, maybe not. When something like this is on your doorstep it gets taken for granted - "Oh it's here for months, plenty of time". I lived for some time within cooee of Kakadu (at Humpty Doo on the Arnhem Highway) and did not visit. How silly is that. In defence: we were going to move back to Darwin after time in Alice Springs. I enjoyed living in both those places. I enjoy living where I am now.

Clare and Ally were actually quite interested in the Couture Exhibition. I noticed Clare tucked her top in to her skirt and lifted the top of the skirt up to her waist.

 But really, they just wanted to get back to the swimming pool at the caravan park!

Haunted Stream

I don't know the origins of this name. No haunting during our visit.

I think those black jeans may be really be too small...but the knees haven't gone, they're still good, couldn't I get another few weeks out of them, surely...Cough, cough. 

When this photo is zoomed out you can see remaining damage from the December 2006 bushfires.

 

Yep, the jeans are too small.

This was our New Years Day expedition, only four of us. Roger and I, Clare and Ally. Linsey was at Pyramid Rock Festival on Phillip Island. She , and a bunch of friends, were Festival volunteers which meant they were there free of charge. Linsey did a number of "wristband distributing" shifts as her volunteer contribution. Her verdict: music terrific, weather foul. She came home afterwards starving for a home-cooked proper meal - no cooking or heating facilities for the campers. Apparently dry biscuits and tuna was the food of choice...Big Day Out is the next one she's going to.

Leah and Giles both stayed with friends in Lakes Entrance so they could watch the fireworks there. Being up where we were meant no mobile phone reception - I was greeted by several "can you pick me up" messages upon coming into town but I guess they walked home from the bus, or got a lift because all were home when we got back!

Hmm, maybe I am too kind in the picking up department.

Back to the Haunted Stream.

 

 Another part of it.

 

The ceremonial burning of the sausages. "No, the fire is too hot, the flames are leaping through the hot plate. Yes, it would be good to let it die down to coals. No, we don't need to sacrifice part of our lunch just to see". Fortunately only five sausages were sacrificed in this experiment. We actually had some lunch - following a swim while waiting for the fire to die down.

It was good to go "up bush". I haven't been for quite some time. I think it's the smell I like most, eucalypts, earth, a certain spiciness. Flowers and plants I can't identify. It's quite heady out there at this time of year.

Then there's the bird and insect sounds, and wind in the tops of the trees. Branches snapping in the distance, and close.

 

That compass on the right there...wildly inaccurate. Everywhere you go, it's south, or perhaps south east. It's terribly kitsch and really suits the "Hummer" (actually a weeny Suzuki Sierra). Roger had Clare and Ally convinced the fishing float far right was GPS and we'd never get lost. The flowers are my contribution. Such is my lack of knowledge, I don't  know if they are native or weeds. They were only growing at the edge of the "road", along with weeds so I'm guessing they have the habits of weeds (hardiness, prolific reproduction...) even if native.

I've finished the magazine project, it'll be posted tomorrow. I feel quite liberated to be rid of that deadline.

Happy New Year!

Road Trip And Swap Meet

We went to the truly huge Bendigo Swap Meet! Swap Meet, you say? Aren't they just old car and motorbike parts, bloke's stuff? Well, not always. Many of them are a treasure trove of op shop-type stuff (I am being very generous revealing this secret to you).

You see, many of the fellows are accompanied by their wives, and rather than sit around doing nothing, these women have their own sideline in vintage and secondhand goods.

So, while my husband fossicks for old motorbike parts my eyes are peeled for additions to my collections. I bought buttons, old keys and scissors, books, wooden bobbins, a vintage suitcase and ice creams for Clare and Ally, my faithful sidekicks. They also got parasols because I forgot to pack hats for them.

If we go to another of these enormous Swap Meets I think some sort of trolley is in order, for carting the loot. Many more experienced than us had something on wheels for this purpose. Plenty of these:

Much improvisation of the humble bag trolley:

 

An array of shopping carts:

 

 

You've probably guessed I was very taken by the array of "transports".

Human ingenuity is a wonderful thing.

It wasn't all poking around at Swap Meets. We took the "talking tram" (running commentary pointing out landmarks and giving historical background) tour around Bendigo, took a tour of Central Deborah Mine. Part of which was underground - a big thing for claustrophobic me. I concentrated hard on the guide and refrained from looking up at the tons of rock above my head...I breathed slowly and deeply...and survived.

A visit to the Victoria Hill Reserve was rather easier. The remains of diggings and mines in that area, with the mine shafts sealed off. I forgot to ask the Central Deborah guide why the tower-like lifting structure over the mine shaft is called a poppet head. Google hasn't even been able to tell me.

 

 

The journey home took us via Shepparton, morning tea at Benalla, Bright, lunch at Harrietville, over Mount Hotham (some hard, icy patches of snow remaining) to Dinner Plain and Omeo, then on to Bairnsdale. A very scenic route.

The teenagers seemed pleased to see us after five days fending for themselves. The dog was ecstatic. I am hoping that a greater interest might now be taken in learning to cook well, and generally care for, and organise, a household. What do you reckon my chances are? Truly, I have shown each one of my three older offspring how to use the washing machine. Obviously it didn't imprint, they got a friend to come over and show them.Sigh...

The Chicken Recipe

I've just had a wonderful weekend of sewing at Sewjourn in Lancefield. In the company of a bunch of splendid women. I can't show what I made just yet - buttons and buttonholes need to be done.

Requests were made for the recipe of the "french-style" chicken we had on Saturday night.

Here it is:

7 chicken maryland portions

butter and olive oil for browning chicken

1 bulb garlic, peeled, finely chopped (yes, the whole thing, not just 1 clove)

2 leeks, halved, finely sliced, rinsed of dirt

2 carrots, peeled, finely diced

2 sticks celery, finely diced

half a bottle of dry white wine

salt and pepper

fresh parsley, chopped

Brown the chicken in butter and oil and place in a large baking dish. Heat a bit more oil and butter in the same pan used for browning the chicken, add garlic and soften a little. Careful not to burn it. Add celery, carrots and leeks and stir for a couple of minutes. Add wine, salt and pepper. Stir and heat through. Pour mixture over the chicken, spreading the vegetables around. Cook in a moderate oven about 1.5 hours, until the chicken skin has crisped a bit and the "sauce" has reduced.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve. Very nice with plain cooked rice and a green salad.

All I added to the dish at Lancefield was an extra carrot and 3 extra maryland portions (to serve 10).

Since I don't have a picture of the cooked dish you'll have to make do with this somewhat disturbing one.

 

It comes from The River Cottage Family Cookbook by the quintessentially english-named Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr. A lovely cook book aimed at the novice cook of perhaps 11+ years and onwards. Or younger, if cooking with an experienced helper.

And now for something completely different.

I found four Kathie Winkle plates and two Kathie Winkle bowls at the op-shop yesterday! And a cup and saucer in a green I particularly like.

 

It's a wonder you didn't hear me hyperventilating from there.

The Op-Shop Crawl

Linsey and I went to see an exhibition of David Moore photos last week, at the Latrobe Regional Gallery in Morwell.

I love black and white photos with a lot of contrast (light-wise) so these were right up my alley.

The journey involved passing a number of op-shops...how could I not stop. In fact, I think there may be some mechanism in the car when I'm driving it that causes it to park itself near op-shops.

I loved the children in this knitting pattern leaflet, and the retro knitwear. Little girls' dresses were so short back then!

Those long socks and polished shoes, the wetted down hair and toothy grins. Sigh. I bet they wore those clothes willingly, too.

This fabric was a ruffle that would have gone around a bassinet. I unpicked the elastic and lace. Cute little sailors, aren't they.

Some florals which are sheets and a curtain. I'm brooding about making curtains for Clare and Ally's room with the left and right ones. I'd really like to make them a dress or top, but that would be folly.

There's more loot but I wanted to show this before the small fry get home from school.

A most generous gift from a fine lady called Norma (who is blogless as far as I can tell). Lovely, eh.

I'll post more op-shop goodness soon!

She Finally Posts.

It's been ages, it seems, since I've been here.

So, what have I been up to? This and that. The big thing was a crafters weekend in Bendigo. I came home wanting to knit socks, crochet, sew, make a sock monkey, make felt...it was really inspiring and the women I met a terrific bunch. I was very nervous about meeting them, but needn't have been.

Here is what I managed to produce :

I didn't finish this one:

A little bird with a floss loop for hanging.

This purse is a ring-in. I actually made it some time ago.

I also hitched a ride to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show - wasn't going to go - glad I did. All that wool, all those lovely things made from wool...sigh. I even bought a skein of indigo-dyed wool and I'm knitting the Windy City scarf from the Stitch and Bitch book (by Debbie Stoller). It has some nice patterns in it but I get tired of the "funky-hipster-speak" writing that litters the book. Heh, must be showing my age.

I'm winging it with this. The wool is the wrong ply, the needles the wrong size and I have immense difficulty following even simple knitting patterns!

The best stall by far was the one selling old buttons among other things. Now, I really could've gone wild with button purchasing, I think I was quite restrained really.

 I also found four Enid Gilchrist books that I don't have. Bonanza!

I certainly had more to carry home on the train than the backpack I started out with. There were those books I bought in Melbourne too...

Train reading was The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Loved it. Cried, when the main character's son died, and laughed too. The description of visiting funeral parlours while researching coffins was a crack-up. Plus she kept chooks.

When I finished that I started on Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I enjoyed In Defense of Food, the Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants tenet is something I strive for. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed though, by all I want to do, the changes I want to make. I try to remember the words of a good friend: Hasten Slowly.

Thursday saw me on a flying visit to Pakenham. Why Pakenham? The nearest Bernina dealer. Well, not the nearest but the one in Traralgon would talk the hind leg off a donkey - too much for me.

I raided my savings and bought a seriously nice new overlocker.

A Bernina 1150MDA. The internet was most useful when researching overlockers. Reading reviews, visiting manufacturer websites and so. I did need to go and actually try the machine myself though, just to make sure all those positive reviewers were being truthful!

What else has been going on? I completed Giles and Linsey's tax returns (ugh) and remedied this:

A very sad specimen of a roman blind. This is what happens after twelve years hanging in a west-facing window. I made a new one. Rather lairy, but sometimes lairy is good.

 I even remembered to take before-and-after photos!

Cheers for now. I will publish this before Typepad freezes up again.

Pink Clouds

Coming home from Net, Set, Go with my budding netballers yesterday it was hard to keep my eyes on the road. Look at these splendidly coloured clouds. So beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I guess this is where having Photoshop would be useful - I could edit out that powerline. Can you do things like that using Photoshop?

Now, why are my photos all this big regardless of how I resize them?

I obviously haven't had time to have another Typepad fiddle and investigate Typepad Help (usually quite good).

I've been fiddling around designing and drawing little dresses, skirts and tops. If I make a pettern for a basic A-line dress, a basic skirt and a couple of basic top styles then they can form the foundation to which various sleeve, collar/neckline, fastening and pocket styles can be added. The patterns can be cut apart to have contrast insertions and the like. I have an end roll of newsprint, the measurements for sizes 3 months to 4-5 years (beyond that young lasses get too picky), a how-to book of patternmaking, a long ruler, set square and french curve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready, set, go! Cough...

Fish o' The Decade

Definitely a once-a-decade phenomenon. My husband catching an eating size fish, that is (not through lack of effort, though).

A 1kg trout, what a beauty.

It's been a scattered week. Well, more so than usual.

I got my large, luxurious sheepskin off lay-by. I haven't sat on it yet, but doesn't it look sooo comfortable.

A random room shot from where I was sitting on the couch to photograph the "sheepy".

The room through the doorway is Linsey's bedroom. It's really interesting to go and look at the ever-changing pictures, photos and artworks on her walls.

I was tagged for the "Seven Weird Things" meme by Janet. I should be able to come up with loads of weird things to tell since I've been considered weird for most of my life! The label did lessen somewhat upon finishing high school. Then I pretty much embraced the tag.

I'll come up with the seven in due course.

The Old Laundry

Abandoned buildings. Ruined, not one pane of glass intact.

I am drawn to poking around in them. Creepy, but irresistible.

Near my house is what used to be the original town hospital, then it became the town geriatric centre, finally sold to Sea Sun College. People from China whose plan was to set up a school to be attended, periodically,  by groups of students from China. That seems to have fallen through somehow. Only one group ever came, and that was six years ago. Rumour has it there were problems obtaining visas. I don't know.

The original hospital building is heritage listed (it's beautiful: old, red brick, ornamented, gothic windows...). Other parts of the complex are rented to community groups like the local theatre company, country music club, U3A and family history association. One whole wing was the premises of our short-lived Steiner School.

The old laundry was rented to the gymnastics club for a while.

It's been unoccupied for several years now.

Vandals have had a fine time.

Once buildings aren't occupied, they seem to deteriorate rapidly. I reckon the old laundry would make a great conversion/renovation project. I doubt anyone round here has the kind of dollars required for such an undertaking.

Look at these sky windows.

English ivy invades.

The boiler room chimney.

Boy, would I love to get in and photograph all those pipes and cables in the boiler room. Tantalising glimpses through broken wall panels.

The space once used by the gymnastics club.

All windows broken, inside and out.

Boarded up.

Want to see some sinister artwork and animation based around the abandoned factories of what was East Berlin? Visit 99rooms. Amazing, definitely sinister - some rooms are downright scary. I love it!

P.S. Things are settling down around here...for now.