Straya Day

Our little travelers are home, having had a great time and bearing gifts. Liberty fabric, Primark PJs, Christmas decorations from the Met and more. I'm not usually a snowdome fan, but if you're going to have one, it might as well be this one. I just love it!

New York, you're in my sights now. It had better be snowing too!

In the garden, the glut of zucchinis continues - I used up some of them to make this delicious cake. Maddie made an eggplant and zucchini casserole (very nice) last night, and I shall probably throw some on the barbecue tonight. That still won't finish them all off, and then there's the yellow squash... I remember reading about Barbara Kingsolver's zucchini harvest. Mine may not be on that scale, but it's not far off.





Today is Australia Day. I used to really enjoy celebrating this day - we had family barbecues or sometimes had fish & chips on the beach. We went to see the fireworks many times. I really don't like the way this holiday has developed in recent years - it seems to have been appropriated by yobbos and rednecks wearing 100% Australian T-shirts and driving cars bedecked with Australian flags. There's definitely an element of jingoism in it all. This 2007 article about sums it up for me. We're having a very quiet Australia Day - nevertheless, there will certainly be a barbie!

a butterfly child so free and so wild

Sorry about the 60s flashback - one of my Orange Jessamine shrubs is flowering. The name (which I think is very pretty) brought back the song Jesamine, which Google assures me was sung by The Casuals in 1968. I have two orange jessamines - they each flower when least expected, at completely random times during the year. They have the most delicious, heady perfume - it's wafting in through the window right now.

The weather is still hot - not disgustingly so, but still hot. We've been promised "the chance of a shower" on Sunday and Monday, but that probably means not very much at all.

Our veggie garden is continuing to do well. I tidied up some of the excess growth on the weekend and fed it some blood and bone. Hopefully that will keep it going a few more weeks at least. The corn plants are not quite as high as an elephant's eye, but they are starting to produce cobs. It's probably time to start thinking about what to plant for winter...





Our globe-trotting daughters will both be home by the weekend. Maddie is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean as I type, and Kati will be on her way home tomorrow. Both seem to have had a fine time, and it will be just wonderful to see them both again.

I have been trying very hard to avoid impulse buying - trying to save money for more traveling. It's very difficult though - I read about this site somewhere. What lovely things one can buy there (in spite of the rather steep postage)!

Finally, here's something else I love. It's a Banksy in Los Angeles - there sure are lots of boring walls in this city which could use a little adornment!

2011 so far

Now that we're 12 days into the New Year, here's what's been happening.

New Year was celebrated very quietly, but I did manage to stay up and see 2011 in.

Our little family is currently dispersed over three continents. Kati is in the UK, in Blackpool, and Maddie is in New York. Both are enjoying the beautiful cold weather (and snow), while we swelter through a very hot (even for Perth) summer. This is how I've been spending most evenings - and very pleasant it is too.





I haven't done very much gardening because of the hot weather. Everything seems to be coping with the heat though - we are overrun by zucchini vines, and it's a constant challenge trying to come up with new ways to cook yellow squash. We have had kilos of them for weeks now, with no sign of any let-up.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to finish all the various crafty projects I've started over the last few years. Including this quilt, which I started more than ten years ago.





I'm still working on the hand-quilting - then I need to find out how to do the scalloped border. There are also numerous knitting projects (one at a time is my new mantra) plus various other bits and pieces. I'd also really like to organise all the photos into albums - something I've been meaning to do forever.

Oh well, there are only so many hours in a day, and only 353 days left in the year...