Think I was about three when this was taken. Half a feckin' century ago!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Squirrelling
Hard southwesterley blow last night. Went to put the rubbish bins out about 5.30 and it seemed to be getting colder and darker by the minute.
We're starting to segue into Deep Autumn now. This morning I had the pleasure of wrapping up warm and heading off to the park to hunt for chesnuts. At first I found none, then realised that with the wind direction, the nuts would have fallen on the other side of the tree. Bonanza! 34 nuts, enough for two nights snacking. When I was in Florence, there was a chestnut vendor in Piazza Santo Spirito; he had a small revolving barrel, just like a miniature concrete mixer, for roasting the chestnuts, very useful.
I'm staying home for the rest of the day. It's very cold and windy and yesterday I dug my potatoes and my back's a bit sore, so no gardening today. Lots of tiny potatoes and one large one. Every year it seems there is a King Potato, which is a lot larger than the others. I suppose I should keep this one and grow next years crop from it, it might be some sort of mutation.
Cooking pear and fennel seed chutney at the moment. This is really good with pork sausages. We have an excellent organic butcher here in Opawa, and he makes the best sausages, whether they be venison, beef, pork or lamb. There's none of that taste of preservatives or too much pepper which inferior butchers use to hide the fact that most of the sausage is breadcrumbs, the sort of sausage you get all too often.
Pear and fennel seed chutney.
2 1/2 lb pears (1125 grams) 1 cup seeded raisins
1 green apple 1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 lb white onions (450grams) 1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups (1lb) sugar 1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white vinegar
Peel, core and chop pears and apple and chop onions. Put all the ingredients into a preserving pan and bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens and is syrupy and brown (about 1 hour). Stir occasionally during cooking to prevent chutney sticking. Seal in jars when cold.
Peaches or plums can be used instead of pears.
(Recipe from Australian and New Zealand complete book of cookery/ edited by Anne Marshall. Paul Hamlyn : Sydney, 1970.)
We're starting to segue into Deep Autumn now. This morning I had the pleasure of wrapping up warm and heading off to the park to hunt for chesnuts. At first I found none, then realised that with the wind direction, the nuts would have fallen on the other side of the tree. Bonanza! 34 nuts, enough for two nights snacking. When I was in Florence, there was a chestnut vendor in Piazza Santo Spirito; he had a small revolving barrel, just like a miniature concrete mixer, for roasting the chestnuts, very useful.
I'm staying home for the rest of the day. It's very cold and windy and yesterday I dug my potatoes and my back's a bit sore, so no gardening today. Lots of tiny potatoes and one large one. Every year it seems there is a King Potato, which is a lot larger than the others. I suppose I should keep this one and grow next years crop from it, it might be some sort of mutation.
Cooking pear and fennel seed chutney at the moment. This is really good with pork sausages. We have an excellent organic butcher here in Opawa, and he makes the best sausages, whether they be venison, beef, pork or lamb. There's none of that taste of preservatives or too much pepper which inferior butchers use to hide the fact that most of the sausage is breadcrumbs, the sort of sausage you get all too often.
Pear and fennel seed chutney.
2 1/2 lb pears (1125 grams) 1 cup seeded raisins
1 green apple 1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 lb white onions (450grams) 1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups (1lb) sugar 1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white vinegar
Peel, core and chop pears and apple and chop onions. Put all the ingredients into a preserving pan and bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens and is syrupy and brown (about 1 hour). Stir occasionally during cooking to prevent chutney sticking. Seal in jars when cold.
Peaches or plums can be used instead of pears.
(Recipe from Australian and New Zealand complete book of cookery/ edited by Anne Marshall. Paul Hamlyn : Sydney, 1970.)
Sunday, April 29, 2012
More autumn pleasures
Indulged in one of my all-time greatest pleasures today. No, not sex, (overrated in my opinion) This is far, far, better.
The Powers that Be have allowed us to have backyard bonfires for the month of April. This has not happened for several years, because of concerns about air pollution and safety. But this year for some unknown reason its OK.
I cleaned the garage out on Saturday, and found a lot of very dry offcuts, rosemary bush trimmings, lavender, etc. that have been waiting for an opportunity to go up in flames. So I dragged out the brazier and had a wonderful morning pottering around supervising the fire. Having a bonfire is an atavistic pleasure; it brings back memories of my childhood, when people had large gardens and a forty-gallon drum down the back for burning garden waste. Dad and I spent many happy hours throwing stuff into the drum, and I would always try to roast potatoes on it overnight. They usually burned, or got lost in the ashes. I tried it again today, though, with a better fire and more ash, and success! Yummy, smoky, baked potatoes for afternoon tea, with Lapsang Souchong tea to continue the smoky theme.
Then I covered the ashes with earth to make sure they were out. I prefer this to dousing with water, because I can use the potash enriched earth next year for my tomatoes, and adding water to ashes just makes a mess.
Mum's birthday today, the first one without her. Beautiful weather, better than summer, she would have loved it.
The Powers that Be have allowed us to have backyard bonfires for the month of April. This has not happened for several years, because of concerns about air pollution and safety. But this year for some unknown reason its OK.
I cleaned the garage out on Saturday, and found a lot of very dry offcuts, rosemary bush trimmings, lavender, etc. that have been waiting for an opportunity to go up in flames. So I dragged out the brazier and had a wonderful morning pottering around supervising the fire. Having a bonfire is an atavistic pleasure; it brings back memories of my childhood, when people had large gardens and a forty-gallon drum down the back for burning garden waste. Dad and I spent many happy hours throwing stuff into the drum, and I would always try to roast potatoes on it overnight. They usually burned, or got lost in the ashes. I tried it again today, though, with a better fire and more ash, and success! Yummy, smoky, baked potatoes for afternoon tea, with Lapsang Souchong tea to continue the smoky theme.
Then I covered the ashes with earth to make sure they were out. I prefer this to dousing with water, because I can use the potash enriched earth next year for my tomatoes, and adding water to ashes just makes a mess.
Mum's birthday today, the first one without her. Beautiful weather, better than summer, she would have loved it.
Friday, April 27, 2012
The ugly American
My present job involves a lot of interaction with tourists. Most of them are nice, charming people, but every now and again you get one who makes you go AAArgh! Male American, in his 50s or 60s, large, talkative and what a pain. He was annoyed that a policeman had given him a ticket for speeding; he was doing 119 in a 100 zone. When asked if he knew what the speed limit was, he said he didn't think there was one in New Zealand. He said that he will not pay the money, as "no one gets money out of me".
Yesterday he visited Greymouth, which in his opinion was dying, just like the rest of New Zealand. Owing to our socialist society, and too many rules and regulations. Barack Obama was a mongrel, because no good comes of hybridizing between the races, and that's the reason that mixed-race people die early, because they are an insult to God's law, he said. Like honey-bees. And mules. Having been in NZ for fifteen days, he was also an expert on race relations in New Zealand. And Maori culture. And he told us what he thought. None of which is repeatable.
Also tea was served too hot in New Zealand. He had to wait for it to cool before he could drink it.
On a positive note, he did like the number of stars we had in the Southern sky. More than in the US. I refrained from telling him it was probably because he'd never seen a sky clear of pollution before. That would have been unkind.
"Of course, the whole world hates America", he said.
No, I thought, at this moment we just hate you.
Yesterday he visited Greymouth, which in his opinion was dying, just like the rest of New Zealand. Owing to our socialist society, and too many rules and regulations. Barack Obama was a mongrel, because no good comes of hybridizing between the races, and that's the reason that mixed-race people die early, because they are an insult to God's law, he said. Like honey-bees. And mules. Having been in NZ for fifteen days, he was also an expert on race relations in New Zealand. And Maori culture. And he told us what he thought. None of which is repeatable.
Also tea was served too hot in New Zealand. He had to wait for it to cool before he could drink it.
On a positive note, he did like the number of stars we had in the Southern sky. More than in the US. I refrained from telling him it was probably because he'd never seen a sky clear of pollution before. That would have been unkind.
"Of course, the whole world hates America", he said.
No, I thought, at this moment we just hate you.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Damn jam
Yet another dismal failure on the jam/jelly front. Used the recipe called no-strain quince jelly; no jelly, just a quince syrup. Whole quinces nicely cooked, though, very delish. I've bottled the syrup to have like blackcurrant syrup, with hot water in winter or white wine or soda in summer (if it lasts this long).
Probably failed because I didn't cook it hot enough, but all that hot lava-like stuff scares me. Blast and damn, bloody jam!
Big weekend planned. Hope to harvest potatoes, apples and chilean guavas, clean out the garage, tidy the front garden, make chutney - pear and fennel seed, my favourite - do some painting/drawing, put my photographs on the hard drive and plan my next trip to Italy. Very ambitious, and will probably spend the weekend in bed, exhausted by just thinking about it. Ha, the best laid plans will aft gang aglae.
Probably failed because I didn't cook it hot enough, but all that hot lava-like stuff scares me. Blast and damn, bloody jam!
Big weekend planned. Hope to harvest potatoes, apples and chilean guavas, clean out the garage, tidy the front garden, make chutney - pear and fennel seed, my favourite - do some painting/drawing, put my photographs on the hard drive and plan my next trip to Italy. Very ambitious, and will probably spend the weekend in bed, exhausted by just thinking about it. Ha, the best laid plans will aft gang aglae.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Welcome, Ecuador, and why don't you like me?
Hello to my reader ? in Ecuador. I feel sure this is probably a mere statistical blip, as there can't be many people in Ecuador that would be interested in my blog. Just as there are very few worldwide that are interested in my blog. Boohoo! No one reads me, no one wants me. Further to that, I hope you enjoyed the clip of Henri - self-pity can be very funny, particularly when you find out that the cream in the bathroom is not cream and the door is sometimes... shut.
Went out to Little River this afternoon, very lovely, all the willows along the lake are brightly yellow, and the sky was very clear. Ate food I didn't really want at the cafe just for the pleasure of sitting in the sun and reading a magazine. Life's a bit boring and a little sad at the moment, autumn can be that way. Knowing that the icy fist of winter is closing, closing and we can not escape (unless we can afford to go to Rarotonga).
Anzac Day tomorrow. I'm working, so won't be anything different from usual.
Returned home this afternoon to find the cats asleep together on the sofa. Ah, rapprochement at last!
Went out to Little River this afternoon, very lovely, all the willows along the lake are brightly yellow, and the sky was very clear. Ate food I didn't really want at the cafe just for the pleasure of sitting in the sun and reading a magazine. Life's a bit boring and a little sad at the moment, autumn can be that way. Knowing that the icy fist of winter is closing, closing and we can not escape (unless we can afford to go to Rarotonga).
Anzac Day tomorrow. I'm working, so won't be anything different from usual.
Returned home this afternoon to find the cats asleep together on the sofa. Ah, rapprochement at last!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Christchurch - dysfunction central
Things are just getting crazier by the minute. I've written before about how the earthquake has brought out the nutters and single-issue monomaniacs, and (dare I say it, oh whisper it please, not in our clean green sweetie-nicey naive NZ) political corruption, but it's getting worse.
Summary:
1.- We are to have a cardboard cathedral. This will only be temporary (like 20 years) but will still cost around $4 million. (Some say $5 mill., some say it will blow out to $10 mill).
2. - The cathedral leaders wanted to be autonomous, so decided that the old cathedral would be demolished, without requiring any public input or consultation. It's our property, we can do what we like with it they said. Fair enough, I don't have an argument with that. However, two days ago they indicated that they require $244,000 of public money to build the new cardboard cathedral, because there's a "shortfall". They don't want our opinions, but they do want our money.
3. - The person heading the opposition to the destruction of the old cathedral is an avowed atheist. I don't get this, I would have thought he'd be right chuffed at getting rid of the godbotherers from their prominent place at the centre of town.
4.- An ex-All Black (these are thick on the ground in NZ, pun intended - every second middle-aged man claims to be an ex-All Black) has demanded that $144 million be spent on a covered sports stadium so he and his fellow rugby fanatics can watch games without getting wet. This in a city where people are living in cars and garages and have no flush toilets. Or jobs. Or businesses. Nice sense of the real priorities here. Apparently if we have a world-class sports stadium all our problems will vanish overnight. Perhaps he envisages the homeless living there, who knows. He's obviously brain-damaged from too much rucking. Fool.
5.- State houses are empty while people pay $150 a week to live in a garage. The government says a) there is no housing shortage/rent crisis, it's all a figment of the Opposition's imagination and b) even if there was a housing shortage/rent crisis, which we won't admit to, even though there's been a whacking great earthquake which has dehoused 30% of the population of Christchurch, if there was, we would "leave it to the market" to sort it out. "Leave it to the market" is a right-wing economist's way of saying we don't give a shit and we're not going to do anything about it and we hope that all our landlord mates get rich quick on rack-renting to the vulnerable.
6.- Yet another advisory group has been convened to oversee the rebuild. Who did they appoint as the chairman? The guy who's been overseeing the demolition, a very wealthy private individual who will now make megabucks more putting back up what he was paid megabucks to pull down in the first place.
7. - One of the stated aims for the rebuild is to build a "world-class city". What does this mean? Bombay is a world-class city, for bigness and population and poverty. So is Beijing. And Bangkok. But I don't think this is what is envisaged. Or is it?
And so on and so on. Makes one want to go to sleep for the next fifty years until 'they' get it sorted. Or move to some nice quiet place far away where the arguments of this dysfunctional family can't be heard.
Summary:
1.- We are to have a cardboard cathedral. This will only be temporary (like 20 years) but will still cost around $4 million. (Some say $5 mill., some say it will blow out to $10 mill).
2. - The cathedral leaders wanted to be autonomous, so decided that the old cathedral would be demolished, without requiring any public input or consultation. It's our property, we can do what we like with it they said. Fair enough, I don't have an argument with that. However, two days ago they indicated that they require $244,000 of public money to build the new cardboard cathedral, because there's a "shortfall". They don't want our opinions, but they do want our money.
3. - The person heading the opposition to the destruction of the old cathedral is an avowed atheist. I don't get this, I would have thought he'd be right chuffed at getting rid of the godbotherers from their prominent place at the centre of town.
4.- An ex-All Black (these are thick on the ground in NZ, pun intended - every second middle-aged man claims to be an ex-All Black) has demanded that $144 million be spent on a covered sports stadium so he and his fellow rugby fanatics can watch games without getting wet. This in a city where people are living in cars and garages and have no flush toilets. Or jobs. Or businesses. Nice sense of the real priorities here. Apparently if we have a world-class sports stadium all our problems will vanish overnight. Perhaps he envisages the homeless living there, who knows. He's obviously brain-damaged from too much rucking. Fool.
5.- State houses are empty while people pay $150 a week to live in a garage. The government says a) there is no housing shortage/rent crisis, it's all a figment of the Opposition's imagination and b) even if there was a housing shortage/rent crisis, which we won't admit to, even though there's been a whacking great earthquake which has dehoused 30% of the population of Christchurch, if there was, we would "leave it to the market" to sort it out. "Leave it to the market" is a right-wing economist's way of saying we don't give a shit and we're not going to do anything about it and we hope that all our landlord mates get rich quick on rack-renting to the vulnerable.
6.- Yet another advisory group has been convened to oversee the rebuild. Who did they appoint as the chairman? The guy who's been overseeing the demolition, a very wealthy private individual who will now make megabucks more putting back up what he was paid megabucks to pull down in the first place.
7. - One of the stated aims for the rebuild is to build a "world-class city". What does this mean? Bombay is a world-class city, for bigness and population and poverty. So is Beijing. And Bangkok. But I don't think this is what is envisaged. Or is it?
And so on and so on. Makes one want to go to sleep for the next fifty years until 'they' get it sorted. Or move to some nice quiet place far away where the arguments of this dysfunctional family can't be heard.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Urban foraging
Sometimes you plan a day, but it all turns out differently, but not always in a bad way. I planned to go and get some petrol, pay some bills and buy a compost bin today, but took a little walk first to my neighbourhood park to see if there were any fallen chestnuts, as the morning was windy. I found a few, then found another few after deciding to give up, then found some more.
On my way to check out the quince tree, I met a woman who was also checking it out. All the low ones had been harvested, but she lived nearby, so she went and got a ladder and we harvested a lot more of the high ones, gorgeous big quinces and lots of them. The best part about foraging is the feeling that some horrible man will burst out of nowhere and yell 'Oi, wotchoo doin' to my tree!" This didn't happen on this occasion, but I still felt deliciously guilty. So this was a pleasant way to start the day. I enjoyed myself so much I put the chores on the back burner, and did a wider forage expedition. Scored some walnuts and a few japonica apples.
I've now got a lot of trees and bushes in the local area on a sort of mental foraging map, but sometimes
people cut down trees which pisses me off. A really good crab-apple that I used to visit was cut down last year, why I don't know, it wasn't harming anyone. Felt like storming into the owner's house, yelling "wot didja do to my tree!"
Getting my heat-pump put in tomorrow, hopefully. Hope I will be warmer this winter than in the past, and that it won't be too 'blowy' and be like living in a wind tunnel.
(Did look at compost bins. $55.00 for a plastic box? You're kidding me! No, thankyou. I'll just continue to pile up the stuff in a corner of the garden, it works but not as fast).
Hope you liked the flower photos, all in my garden. Did I say that autumn is my favourite season?
Yes, I think I said it several times. Ooorooo.
On my way to check out the quince tree, I met a woman who was also checking it out. All the low ones had been harvested, but she lived nearby, so she went and got a ladder and we harvested a lot more of the high ones, gorgeous big quinces and lots of them. The best part about foraging is the feeling that some horrible man will burst out of nowhere and yell 'Oi, wotchoo doin' to my tree!" This didn't happen on this occasion, but I still felt deliciously guilty. So this was a pleasant way to start the day. I enjoyed myself so much I put the chores on the back burner, and did a wider forage expedition. Scored some walnuts and a few japonica apples.
I've now got a lot of trees and bushes in the local area on a sort of mental foraging map, but sometimes
people cut down trees which pisses me off. A really good crab-apple that I used to visit was cut down last year, why I don't know, it wasn't harming anyone. Felt like storming into the owner's house, yelling "wot didja do to my tree!"
Getting my heat-pump put in tomorrow, hopefully. Hope I will be warmer this winter than in the past, and that it won't be too 'blowy' and be like living in a wind tunnel.
(Did look at compost bins. $55.00 for a plastic box? You're kidding me! No, thankyou. I'll just continue to pile up the stuff in a corner of the garden, it works but not as fast).
Hope you liked the flower photos, all in my garden. Did I say that autumn is my favourite season?
Yes, I think I said it several times. Ooorooo.
Monday, April 16, 2012
More autumn food
Achieved a seasonal milestone today, finished getting all the bulbs bedded down for the winter. (Apart from a few tulips which I plant later after chilling them in the fridge - I don't really know if this makes much difference but I do it anyway). Thomas helped. I'd dig a hole and he'd pee in it, just to give the bulbs a bit of a nitrogen boost.
Made pesto too. Didn't have enough basil, due to our miserable summer, so I topped the recipe up with Italian parsley, and I think I like the combo of basil and parsley better. It's milder and has a more "layered" flavour. I've used parsley and walnut before, although the walnuts can give the pesto a bitter taste if too old. I've just eaten macaroni with the pesto mixed through - tastes delicious, very Italian.
Must do something with the quinces I gathered from the park. A recipe for "No-strain quince jelly"
appears in Gillian Painter's book 'A New Zealand country harvest cookbook'. You cook the quinces whole in a sugar syrup, then use the syrup as jam (hopefully it will set) and eat the cooked quinces as a stewed fruit. Sounds like no-strain in more ways than one; cutting up quinces gave me repetitive strain injury a few years ago. You really need a meat cleaver to chop them up, they're hard as wood. The quinces smell wonderful, they're sitting in the fruitbowl in front of me now. Also a few japonica apples. Not many people know that you can eat these, but they are just another kind of quince. My Dutch mother-in-law used to puree them with apples for a more intense apple-y flavoured dessert puree. They also smell delicious.
And I made apple crumble tonight, such a comfort food . So I'm full of pesto, apple crumble and virtue, for a day well spent.
"There is no love sincerer than the love of food" - G.B. Shaw
Made pesto too. Didn't have enough basil, due to our miserable summer, so I topped the recipe up with Italian parsley, and I think I like the combo of basil and parsley better. It's milder and has a more "layered" flavour. I've used parsley and walnut before, although the walnuts can give the pesto a bitter taste if too old. I've just eaten macaroni with the pesto mixed through - tastes delicious, very Italian.
Must do something with the quinces I gathered from the park. A recipe for "No-strain quince jelly"
appears in Gillian Painter's book 'A New Zealand country harvest cookbook'. You cook the quinces whole in a sugar syrup, then use the syrup as jam (hopefully it will set) and eat the cooked quinces as a stewed fruit. Sounds like no-strain in more ways than one; cutting up quinces gave me repetitive strain injury a few years ago. You really need a meat cleaver to chop them up, they're hard as wood. The quinces smell wonderful, they're sitting in the fruitbowl in front of me now. Also a few japonica apples. Not many people know that you can eat these, but they are just another kind of quince. My Dutch mother-in-law used to puree them with apples for a more intense apple-y flavoured dessert puree. They also smell delicious.
And I made apple crumble tonight, such a comfort food . So I'm full of pesto, apple crumble and virtue, for a day well spent.
"There is no love sincerer than the love of food" - G.B. Shaw
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Mad Men - The Suitcase (407) Diner Scene
Best episode of the series - "Let's go someplace darker". They do.
Mad men
Just finished watching season four of Mad men on DVD, hopefully we will get season five here in NZ, but it will be on an obscure channel at an untenable time. It is so good, proof that not only dreck comes out of the USA. Great acting, sometimes what is not said is just as important as what the characters verbalize, you just watch the expressions on their faces and go aha! The characters are like a puzzle that you must watch and think about to solve. Don has just got engaged to his secretary and is all smiley - Don DRAPER smiling? It's horrible to see, all you can think is, oh my, we're headed for disaster here.
It's a beautiful autumn day here, so I must go and do something with it. Need to do washing, boring, and re-start the garden clear up. Or go and clear the garage out. Nah.
And needless to say, but I'm going to - I did not win Lotto. No Emerald the goat for me.
It's a beautiful autumn day here, so I must go and do something with it. Need to do washing, boring, and re-start the garden clear up. Or go and clear the garage out. Nah.
And needless to say, but I'm going to - I did not win Lotto. No Emerald the goat for me.
Autumn food
The ten cent piece is all I had left, spent to the max supporting local business. (The onions are for the green tomato chutney)
Going to the Opawa market
Took my new marketing bag out to the Opawa market this morning. Yummy food, all in shades of brown, appropriate for autumn. So brunch was : Walnut and honey bread from Nikau Bakers, paired with pear, pistacio and feta dip from the Volcano, finished off with a chocolate brownie from She Chocolat and some caramelized peanuts from the nut man. God, I love food, and if I was fool enough to post my photo on this blog you could see that for yourself. Sumptuous, Junoesque, zaftig and getting more so.
Started cleaning up the garden by taking out the old tomato plants. They've stopped growing now and look awful, so its good to have them away. Quite a lot of tomatoes this year in spite of it being a cold, wet summer. Will make green tomato chutney with the unripe ones. Damn, I've started talking about food again!
Started cleaning up the garden by taking out the old tomato plants. They've stopped growing now and look awful, so its good to have them away. Quite a lot of tomatoes this year in spite of it being a cold, wet summer. Will make green tomato chutney with the unripe ones. Damn, I've started talking about food again!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Weekend plan
Yes, it's my long weekend again - four days to do as I please. Usually I waste it by being bone idle and depressed, but my new year's resolution is to use my time more effectively and hopefully achieve something. Maybe just make some pesto and do a bit of gardening.
Trying to type with Tom Kitten on my lap at the moment; he's nice and warm, just come back from playing outside and ingratiating himself with the neighbours. When I was out in the garden picking tomatoes and I could hear my next door neighbour saying "oh, you're so cute, so gorgeous", I knew Himself had nipped through the hole in the fence and was smooching Mrs Next-door. He's now sitting by the warm laptop dozing off. I thought he was a gentle introvert when I first met him; more fool me. He's as extrovert as they come. Perhaps I should get a couple more cats, be Mad Old Cat Lady.
Saw a house that I would love to buy, but don't have the money. It's an old house, in a country town within commuting distance of work, with a bit of land and a log-burner. I'd keep chickens, and a goat called Emerald. The gardeners at work could be roped in to a working bee to plant an orchard. I could buy it if I win Lotto or get a half-million advance on my pay, but I don't think either way its a possibility. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
Trying to type with Tom Kitten on my lap at the moment; he's nice and warm, just come back from playing outside and ingratiating himself with the neighbours. When I was out in the garden picking tomatoes and I could hear my next door neighbour saying "oh, you're so cute, so gorgeous", I knew Himself had nipped through the hole in the fence and was smooching Mrs Next-door. He's now sitting by the warm laptop dozing off. I thought he was a gentle introvert when I first met him; more fool me. He's as extrovert as they come. Perhaps I should get a couple more cats, be Mad Old Cat Lady.
Saw a house that I would love to buy, but don't have the money. It's an old house, in a country town within commuting distance of work, with a bit of land and a log-burner. I'd keep chickens, and a goat called Emerald. The gardeners at work could be roped in to a working bee to plant an orchard. I could buy it if I win Lotto or get a half-million advance on my pay, but I don't think either way its a possibility. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Bargains at the markets and Godbotherers
Been busy at the markets lately. The tray cloths were bought at the Shabby Chic market in Rutherford Street, Woolston, last Sunday. And the wonderful marketing basket was from a local garage sale.
Easter is now nearly over, the weather has been really beautiful. I worked the first three days, but had today off to go to Odering's garden sale. Three camellias for $10.00 each, a Moorpark apricot for $20.00, a clutch of four Barnhaven primroses, and assorted $1 specials. Planted my anemones in pots too.
Got really annoyed with a Christian group yesterday. They appeared in the gardens with a trestle full of Hot Cross buns and propagandist literature, hoping to get The Message across with free food. After a complaint from a member of the public about indoctrination they got a flea in their ears. I took one of their flyers to write a letter of complaint to the church in question, they were one of those evangelical groups, the most obnoxious kind that can't leave other people alone. The flyer was the usual crap about how we are all miserable sinners who are going to burn in Hell for all eternity if we don't accept Jesus and stop sinning. "Well, it's a lovely autumn holiday afternoon, you're enjoying the gardens with your friends and family, feeling good about life, but we "Christians" can take the shine off that. -You gon' fry in hell, brothers and sisters, fry in Hell!" No one will convince me to convert to a God who will quite happily condemn his own creation to eternity in agony for not obeying him. It's a form of bullying - do it His way or else. And His way is really their way, they've made him in the image of themselves. Miserable humourless bastards with their petty, vindictive, grudge-bearing God.
What would Jesus have done? Told you to enjoy the sunshine and admire the pretty leaves.
Easter is now nearly over, the weather has been really beautiful. I worked the first three days, but had today off to go to Odering's garden sale. Three camellias for $10.00 each, a Moorpark apricot for $20.00, a clutch of four Barnhaven primroses, and assorted $1 specials. Planted my anemones in pots too.
Got really annoyed with a Christian group yesterday. They appeared in the gardens with a trestle full of Hot Cross buns and propagandist literature, hoping to get The Message across with free food. After a complaint from a member of the public about indoctrination they got a flea in their ears. I took one of their flyers to write a letter of complaint to the church in question, they were one of those evangelical groups, the most obnoxious kind that can't leave other people alone. The flyer was the usual crap about how we are all miserable sinners who are going to burn in Hell for all eternity if we don't accept Jesus and stop sinning. "Well, it's a lovely autumn holiday afternoon, you're enjoying the gardens with your friends and family, feeling good about life, but we "Christians" can take the shine off that. -You gon' fry in hell, brothers and sisters, fry in Hell!" No one will convince me to convert to a God who will quite happily condemn his own creation to eternity in agony for not obeying him. It's a form of bullying - do it His way or else. And His way is really their way, they've made him in the image of themselves. Miserable humourless bastards with their petty, vindictive, grudge-bearing God.
What would Jesus have done? Told you to enjoy the sunshine and admire the pretty leaves.
Autumn kitty
Thomas playing in the leaf pile - great camoflage. I rake the leaves up into a neat pile, then Thom dives into them, just like a kid in a McDonald's ball pond.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
SLAP An Architect - and Save your City
Found this on a facebook page New Christchurch. Don't know who put it together.
About cats and markets and books and movies
Experienced something this morning that I haven't heard for 3 months, purring in stereo. Two cats, one on either side of my head, expressing how happy they are.
Found out that Thomas probably has ringworm. I've never had a cat with ringworm before. And Emma's got some kind of bacterial infection, or something on her nose, so it's back to the vet for both of them before Easter. At the moment I seem to be supporting the vet, but I guess that's just because I have a very young cat and a very old one, not an ideal situation for the bank balance, but I still like to have two cats rather than just one. I think they enjoy it too, even if they quarrel from time to time. They can relate to each other in a way I can't.
Had a great day on Sunday. First I went to the organic food market at Opawa. Very busy, they were having a Tomato Fest. Bought leeks, Cox's Orange apples and some caramel coated nuts. So yummy, just ate them all (the nuts, that is). Then I went to the Shabby Chic market and bought some more vintage tray cloths. Hoping to start a huge collection that I will bequeath to the nation on my death. Bought a book from the excellent book stall, called Heroic acts of unbearable love. I think.
I've been buying a lot of books lately from markets and fairs, can't seem to find interesting new books at the library lately. Rereading a lot of old faves, Richard Adam's haunting The girl in the swing, Antonia Fraser's Frost in May, and The age of innocence, much better as a book than a film. Some books should never be filmed, they are too subtle for cinematographic treatment. One such was Bee season, the movie was just boring and couldn't convey the inner feelings of the characters. Watched some old favourite movies too, the Emma Thompson Sense and sensibility and the wonderful Maggie Smith in My house in Umbria.
Well, back to work tomorrow, back to the extrovert world of customer service. How it grates against my introvert psyche. If only one could get paid for being a recluse.
Found out that Thomas probably has ringworm. I've never had a cat with ringworm before. And Emma's got some kind of bacterial infection, or something on her nose, so it's back to the vet for both of them before Easter. At the moment I seem to be supporting the vet, but I guess that's just because I have a very young cat and a very old one, not an ideal situation for the bank balance, but I still like to have two cats rather than just one. I think they enjoy it too, even if they quarrel from time to time. They can relate to each other in a way I can't.
Had a great day on Sunday. First I went to the organic food market at Opawa. Very busy, they were having a Tomato Fest. Bought leeks, Cox's Orange apples and some caramel coated nuts. So yummy, just ate them all (the nuts, that is). Then I went to the Shabby Chic market and bought some more vintage tray cloths. Hoping to start a huge collection that I will bequeath to the nation on my death. Bought a book from the excellent book stall, called Heroic acts of unbearable love. I think.
I've been buying a lot of books lately from markets and fairs, can't seem to find interesting new books at the library lately. Rereading a lot of old faves, Richard Adam's haunting The girl in the swing, Antonia Fraser's Frost in May, and The age of innocence, much better as a book than a film. Some books should never be filmed, they are too subtle for cinematographic treatment. One such was Bee season, the movie was just boring and couldn't convey the inner feelings of the characters. Watched some old favourite movies too, the Emma Thompson Sense and sensibility and the wonderful Maggie Smith in My house in Umbria.
Well, back to work tomorrow, back to the extrovert world of customer service. How it grates against my introvert psyche. If only one could get paid for being a recluse.
Fiery autumn flowers in birthday jug
Fiery autumn flowers in birthday jug.
My friend gave me this lovely green jug for my birthday. I've filled it with the fieriest flowers I could find. Now I look at the photo I see there's an annoying gap on the right hand side. Bugger.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Welcome, Canada.
Hello and welcome to my Canadian reader. Now I've got the whole of North America covered. It's like doing a jigsaw, getting all the countries of the world on my audience stats map. A bit worrying though; was this how Hitler saw the world? And Alexander the Great, and the Roman emperors? And the British with their Empire? "Just one more country, then we'll stop...no, just one more and then we'll stop...no.
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