1-12-2004

Corky the corky reindeer, cutting him out hurt my thumb!!!!

• I am Cooking: Vegetables later on
• Labradors Spotted: A learner Guide Dog!!!

Peri went to the Vet and had an exuberant and rowdy time. She made happy noises and leaped about onto the bench seat and all the other people patted her because she was so happy. Dr Tim said she was at the Vet on December 2 nd last year for the same thing. She had an injection and has some drops to go into her eyes. She is so happy today. Harki sulked yesterday but she is happier today as well.

I have just managed to take a wafer thin slice of skin off the pad of my thumb with the extremely sharp Stanley knife. Ow. I have stuck the bit of skin back on with antiseptic lotion and wound it up shroud like in a swathe of stuff. It is doing that throbbing thing and no doubt will be in the way of everything I want to do for the next three weeks. I was cutting up the corks to make 21 Corky the Reindeer for Karen’s class. You need 5 ordinary corks and a champagne cork. Cut a slanty piece of one top edge of 4 corks. Cut another in half and then do the same. Cut one little piece in half to make ears and use one other for the tail. Cut a slanty piece of the bulbous end of the champagne cork too. Now, glue gun the legs together in pairs, with the slanty pieces on the outside, them glue gun the pairs of legs together. Glue the body on top. Add the tail. To make the head, make holes in the head and add twig antlers, then the ears and finally pin or glue on sequin or bead eyes. Glue the head to the body. You can add a halter/reins and a bell and a tartan ribbon blanket. These are very cute and easy to make if you can do all the cutting without actually cutting yourself!!!

Recipe of the day….

Swirly Shortbread

You can process the mixture all at once, or cream the butter and sugar and stir in the rest – you choose!!

Shortbread

90 g butter

110 g caster sugar

185 g plain flour

1 egg

Filling

¼ cup almond meal

2 tbspn brown sugar

1 tspn cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar, mix in egg, then flour. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and then roll out into a rectangle with a thickness of about 5mm ( ¼ of an inch??)

Mix the meal, brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the dough, roll up tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Make 1 cm thick slices and bake at 180 C ( 160 fan-forced) for 15-18 minutes.

I think you could add anything to sugar and meal , like choc chips, or slivered almonds, lemon rind etc.

My thumb has stopped hurting now I am not thinking about it. I have been quite busy today, in relative terms!! I have printed out my Christmas Card list to go into my new Christmas book. I am typing up the recipes I usually use and adding them, also lists of what I cook each year etc. I have 10 things and some are new, but still Christmassy. I am writing with my lovely new pen, it is black as there were no proper smudge proof ones at the newsagency, an Elite Uniball Vision!!! It writes smoothly and with no effort which is what I wanted. I have about 16 more cork bodies to make too. I ant to make the Santa brooches for people as well, so I will make a little production line. I must buy beads and some white felt.

The Harry Potter 3 movie with the bonus Lego bus has been sent and should be here soon. We had a lovely time last night although one person didn’t turn up, but she is having a career crisis. I had the fish, yum, and a glass of bubbly and 2 cups of tea. I was home at 9-40 and in bed by 10-30 pm. The Labradors have all had drops, Peri in her eyes and Harki had pretend ones in her ears. She sat on the bed pleading for some medical attention!!! I hope the postman comes soon as I want to get a parcel, I need a parcel and there should be 3 things coming from the Ebay. It has all been rather exciting and I do want to go to the book shop to get some new books but I am far too sleepy : if I can’t control the Stanley knife, I shouldn’t be driving!!!

30-11-2004

Mud, mud, glorious mud, there's nothing like Nelson for heating the blood!!!

• I am Cooking: Mud Cake for the Vet

At last it has rained and so I won’t have to water the broad beans!!! It has cooled everything down, it was 16 C at 7 am , no wonder we were hot. Peri has an appointment at the Vet at 4-30 pm so I am cooking them a mud cake. She has had sore little eyes before and just needs ointment.

Mud Cake

250 g butter

150 g dark chocolate

1 1/3 cups hot water

1 tablespoon instant coffee

440 g sugar.

Melt all this, stir till smooth and cool.

260 g plain flour

½ tspn baking powder

¼ cup cocoa

2 eggs

Whisk in rest of ingredients. Pour into 20 cm square lined tin.

Bake at 160 C ( 140 fan-forced) for 1 ½ hours.

I have caught up on last week’s Alias and only have this week’s to go . I have not done any WW or DS9 taping though. The cricket has been played and won. I think we won by a whole innings really. We had a walk this morning, and then I went to pick up my printer cartridges. It only cost $23 to refill both the colour and black cartridges. It is a very cheap printer to run. I have printed out the sewing Christmas Cards and put a gold bow with green sequins and a gold Merry Christmas on the front. They are drying and ready to be put in an envelope.

Brendan Nelson has instigated his inquiry into the teaching of reading. What a waste of time. The general population of schools is as , or more, able than previous ones. It is a small hard core of non-readers who pose problems. These are most likely children who never will, or would have, learned to read. In fact many of them may never have progressed past primary school 50 years ago. Now the system demands children stay ay school till they are 18. Only a small percentage of these children will go onto tertiary education. The rest are just marking time and keeping the unemployment figures looking good. If Nelson gave schools, especially primary schools, the proper amount of money, staff and resources, then schools would be happier places. This is not to say that sounding out words would help all non-readers read. Some people will never read to what is considered a high level. It is necessary for politicians to recognise individual differences. Everyone is not expected to qualify for the Olympics, or sing at the Opera House or paint like Rembrandt – although that is now in question ( see yesterday’s post!!!) so why do they expect some ideal and unobtainable high standard for everyone to reach in Maths and English. I am the first to have high and achievable expectation for children in relation to learning, but all Nelson and his cronies are doing is teacher bashing. Let them manage a classroom for a year and see how hard it really is to provide a great learning environment, maintain discipline and cater for all areas of the child’s development with little funding and fewer and fewer resources. They would not last 5 minutes.

I have surprising little to say today. I am still suffering the after effects of the heat. This doesn’t mean that I will not have twice as much to say later, but I am feeling a trifle weary and I might lie down and listen to the language talkback.

29-11-2004

The West Wing, soon will be having another run.The West Wing, 20 more eps and I will be done!!!!

It has been a Herculean task, but out of 22 episodes of West Wing I have found 20, and 24 out of the 26 episodes of Deep Space 9. It is s good day!!! I have labelled them all and they are in order and I have commenced the mammoth taping task. I think I will tape and then watch as I can do other things and now and save this for the hot summer days. There is a new Buffy Planner Diary thing out. I am so excited, I might live for more years if there are new planners!!! I am watching it on ebay, but I am hopeful of finding one or more in Target as thy stock the Buffy things. There is the www.minotour.com.au website though and I have found another Blake’s 7 audio that we don’t have. This is very exciting too. I also Googled some Star Trek : Enterprise calendars that are only $12-73 Australian from the USA. Here they are almost $30. Darn GST. I am feeling somewhat better today. We slept till about 9 and it is cooler so I feel calm. I have eaten proper food and had cups of tea. Last night there was an excellent show on the ABC that shattered my illusions ( not hard, apparently), it was called ‘David Hockney : Secret Knowledge and I quote from the ABC website : David Hockney, one of the world's most celebrated living artists, theorises that cameras were instrumental artists' tools 400 years before the birth of photography; demonstrating how artists may have traced projected images. He showed how the artists used curved mirrors and/or lenses to cast an image onto the canvas and then they traced it. I am devastated. They just didn’t learn to paint better at all , they learned to TRACE. It was very good, it had practical demonstrations using models the same as the actual paintings. It was a good investigative show.

I am half way through ‘Exile’s Return’ and I have had an email reply from Fiona McIntosh re ‘Bridge of Souls’. She says that even though she has finished Book 1 of her new trilogy, the publisher won’t publish till this time next year, but at least by then all 3 will be finished. Don’t publishers understand the need to read? Obviously not. They know not hat they do. What recipe shall I add today? It seems that this has become what I do, add a new recipe each day. Today it shall be…..

Rocky Road Brownie

200 g dark chocolate

250 g butter

1 ¾ cups brown sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup cocoa

1 ¼ cups plain flour

¼ tspn baking powder

60 g pink/white marshmallows

½ cup nuts you like!!

Melt butter , chocolate and sugar - cool slightly. Whisk in flour, baking powder and cocoa, and then the eggs. Finally stir in 60 g of halved pink and white marshmallows and ½ cup of nuts of your choosing.. I would also add some chopped white/milk chocolate.

Pour into a lined 20 cm square tin and bake at 160 C ( 140 fan-forced) for 45-50 minutes. It should be just set and will be squishy, but it comes away from the sides of the tin slightly. Trust me, no more than 50 minutes or it goes too hard and burns. Cool in tin and then slice. This freezes very successfully.

It must be earthquake season : we had one, East Timor, NZ and now Japan. We are thankful no-one here was hurt. It is not one of the plagues of Nature we endure here. We are pretty lucky, we have floods and wind and bush fires. People insist on trying to call bush fires wild fires, but that is an American term and we like to call out fires bush fires as they are in the bush. Australian slang, or Strine as it is known , is not widely spoken in its extreme form. We do used Australianisms, like arvo for afternoon, and Hooroo for goodbye, noggin for head etc, but we don’t all speak like the Crocodile Hunter. I like to think I speak well, and I liked to set an example for the children at school. I have a telephone voice though!! An especially polite voice for answering the phone. The spell checker recognises arvo!! I must have made it learn. NZ are not following on in the cricket, we are batting, hoping to get a second innings lead of 500 or more runs, while resting the bowlers.

I should go now and plan my Christmas cooking and make a list of ingredients so I can start cooking when the weather is cool. I need the list for gingerbread and for the Stained Glass biscuits too. Peri is resting now, she was sick last night but seems to have recovered. Harki has had a big play with the giant tennis ball in a plastic bag and is sleeping as well. We will wait for the postman and see if he brings us anything.

28-11-2004

I don't like TV, oh no, I love it!!! ( and this is a cricket song too : Bonus 10CC!!)

• I am Cooking: Pasta, Melting Moments
• Books I am Reading: Bridge of Souls by Fiona McIntosh
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: Taping stuff , not watching anything

I met the outgoing Mongol hordes of Christmas Parade watchers on my way into town. They did not want to move and I was nearly skittled by prams. I managed to get a parking place near LC so it was only 2 blocks. On the way through the book shop I accidentally bought Fiona McIntosh’s new book, the third in a trilogy, ‘Bridge of Souls’. We had lovely brunch/lunch and James, who is 4, took a liking to me and we sang songs and chatted for the whole 2 hours, James will only wear his Spiderman suit, with its padded muscles. I must admit he took the pressure of me!! Everyone smiled and commented about him in a nice way and no-one noticed I was all in green!!! When I cam hope I slept from 2 till about 5. Then it was too hot to sleep so I had roast chicken for tea and then read ‘Bridge of Souls’ till midnight. Then it was cool enough to sleep. The book was good, it tied up all the ends and you really did not know quite how it would end. It does have a happily ever after ending though, not one of my favourite kinds, but it is how her books end. She is writing a new series set in Percheron for next year, so I can’t wait.

TV is looking good this week and for the holidays –

Crossing Jordan

NCIS

Threat Matrix

Alias repeats ( eps 3 and 4)

Spy master

Coupling

The Office

Firefly

Joan of Arcadia ( not sure 100% about this)

L&O Tilty headed man

The Dead Zone NEW Stargate SG1

Jeremiah

L&O Ornery

Little Britain

Voyager

Trial and retribution

Rosemary and Thyme

William and Mary – Martin Clunes!!

Spooks

And that is without Dr Who and other small things.

I have decided that for Sewing I will make a different little card and give people some melting moments – 3 or 4 in a little bag. Here is the recipe –

180 g soft butter

¼ cup icing sugar

1 tspn vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

¼ cup cornflour

FILLING

60 g soft butter

1 cup icing sugar

2 tspns grated lemon rind

2 tspns lemon juice

Cream butter, sugar and add vanilla. Mix in flours. Place in fridge till cold. Roll into small balls and flatten with a floured fork. Bake at 180 C ( 160 fan forced) for 12-14 minutes, till golden.

Beat all the filling ingredients together and use to sandwich the cold biscuits.

You can use lime or orange as the flavours, or omit the lemon rind and juice and use chocolate ganache

( 100 chocolate, 50 ml cream melted, mixed till smooth and then cooled)

I also like to add some grated rind to the lemon biscuits.

Today I am doing house work and washing and I think I will make pasta for tea. I have not had breakfast yet – too hot – I will have to write a new verse for the sewing card and make the cards as well, not like my proper Christmas cards either.

I mus go and see what the labradors are growling at – maybe the black and white cat.

Oh and the cricket is on and we are giving NZ another hiding so far!!!

It's very clear, our muzzy is here to stay.

• I am Cooking: Pasta
• Books I am Reading: Feist - Exile's Return
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: The Tupperware doco

It has been one of those days when I feel muzzy. Neither really tired, nor awake ; not a true headache, but not clear either. I have pottered around and made a dent in the work but I haven’t really eaten anything except for some Shapes biscuits. They are not a proper meal so I am going to make cheese and parsley sauce and cook some vegetables, then make pasta later on. I should have a nap in between too. I have Blackjack: Sweet Science to watch but I have just about caught up on everything else. There is an episode of an historical ‘dark ages’ doco on at 5 pm, and then nothing really till ‘The Debt’ at 8-30.

The Labradors have had a similar day ; too hot to play and run, they have slept on the cool slate floor or on the polished boards in the breeze of the window. We are all slightly not quite right today, which is not unusual. In the cricket it looks as though NZ will have to follow on. This is very good!!!

I shall have a strong cup of tea, Earl Grey I think, and some sugar which I try not to have all the time either.

I have the new Guy Gavriel Kay book and the new Feist books to read. I must choose one …. The Feist, I think. I am sad to see my review is not up on the Library site as yet. It has been 5 weeks since they added a review – very slack.

27-11-2004

All of my friends love shortnin', shortnin', all of my friends love shortnin' bread!!!

• I am Cooking: Honey cured bacon and eggs!!!
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: What not to wear the genuine one!!!

I have made, iced and written on the mud cake, I have been for a walk and watched ‘What not to wear’ and I have been missing the real Trinny and Susannah one. I thought it was the terrible Australian one!!! Here is the recipe for the Honey Cinnamon and Nut shortbread.

250 g butter

2/3 cup caster sugar

2 tspn honey

1 2/3 cups plain flour

1/3 cup rice flour

½ tspn cinnamon

55 g nuts

Cream butter and sugar until it is very pale and thick , add honey. Stir in flours and cinnamon and bring dough together with your hands. Knead on a lightly floured bench rill smooth. Press into a lined 16 x 26 cm tin and smooth with the back of a spoon ( a warmed spoon helps) Cut into fingers then press nuts into each one. Sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake at 160 C ( 140 fan-forced) for about 40 minutes or until it is a pale golden colour but not browned!!! Cool in tin for at least an hour.

I also like to cut shapes out, like stars or trees, and bake those as they look great in a little box or a cellophane bag.

It was so warm last night and I am having one of my “I should rest but if I sleep I will have a headache” days!!! I am religiously slathering on the sunblock now and wearing my hat when we go for a walk as the UV rating is 10 which is very high. Here in Tasmania, although we have temperate weather, we have very high UV and people are often surprised by the strength of the Sun’s rays and are burned.

It is the Christmas Parade in town today. I am going in an hour for very late brunch or early lunch. I hope there is a parking place!!!

26-11-2004

Slow down, I do too much, gotta let some big tasks pass - Yeah!!!!

• I am Cooking: Mud Cake
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: Ha! In my dreams!!!

I have finished the Nativity. This morning I wrapped all the 25 things, labelled the little set of 25 drawers, wrote little poems for each item and then put each in the corresponding drawer. I also made a card for Alex, cooked her some double chocolate biscuits – recipe follows and wrapped her 6 LipSmacking lip gloss thingies!!! The I went to Karen’s school and made Wild Dolly Peg Angels with a group of boys and then used my Voucher from the Trivia night at the specialty butcher shop. I bought an organic Nichol’s chicken, honey cured bacon, chicken, lamb and beef sausages and some bones for the Labradors. Oh and I edited and proof read Karen’s school reports.

Double Chocolate Biscuits

Cram ¼ cup butter (60 g) and ½ cup brown sugar ( 110 g)

Then add one egg,

Fold in 1 cup of plain flour,

½ a teaspoon of baking powder

25 g cocoa and a teaspoon of vanilla extract or strong coffee.

Then stir in ½ cup white chocolate, Bits or chopped and

½ cup of dark or milk similarly!!

I find it best to refrigerate then roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and bake at 150 C in a fan-forced oven for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a rack!!!

You could leave out the cocoa and just use white chocolate, caster sugar and craisins, or macadamias!!!

I haven’t really watched Kath and Kim as I was very tired after going to Di’s for tea. I put a tape in for Jeremiah and went to bed. Tonight I plan on eating my chilli plum sausages and stir fry and then go to bed. Oh I have to make a mud cake. I will have a nap and then get up and make it when it is cooler. The last Glass House in on tonight – and Carnivale is coming on December 19 th. Now I have to make some shortbread and a decoration each for 8 people in the sewing group. A plum pudding or a wreath?? Honey, cinnamon and nut shortbread I think. That is all for now!!!

25-11-2004

Sugar, Ah honey honey - you are wicked man - the man from NYPD Blue!!!!!!

• I am Cooking: Mud cake
• Books I am Reading: Exile's Return by Feist
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: CSI MIami Vice/CSI YMCA crossover episode

Wow, last night on NYPD Blue there was a highly unusual use of the squeezy bottle of honey!! I thought for a minute I was watching SBS!!!! Here is a really easy recipe for truffles to give as a gift at Christmas :

500 g chocolate

180 g unsalted butter

2 tspn flavouring.

The flavouring should match the chocolate , eg

• white choc and vanilla or Cointreau
• milk chocolate and Coffee liqueur or strong coffee
• dark chocolate and brandy or Galliano

Line a thin bar tin, or a small square tin with baking paper.

Chop butter and chocolate and place in double boiler over simmering water ( I use a heatproof Pyrex glass bowl) Stir constantly till melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add flavouring. Chill at least 3 hours. Cut into cubes. It can be dipped in toasted coconut, or silver cachous for the white, rolled in cocoa or drinking chocolate or brown sprinkles, eg for the darker ones. Cut into squares – makes about 24.

An update on the knitted nativity – all the figures are made and I have only one arm left to sew on before I can add all the accoutrements. There is hair, there are turbans ,veils, beards, lanterns, caskets and all kinds of things. I intend to add some beads and feathers etc too. They are very cute.

I am making a chocolate mud cake for Pauline’s brother’s birthday. I will make 2 smaller ones and join them together rather than one big one as it is more difficult to cook the larger cake evenly. Mud cakes must be moist and squishy!!! I have to write ‘Happy Birthday Richard’ in white chocolate too!!!

My new ‘jogging’ radio is quite good, it receives the ABC AM station way up at the dam amidst all the hydro technology and giant gorges and dam walls. There is a little interference, but it means I can listen to AM the show and Tim Cox and not miss out on the political news!!! I also spent a good 20 minutes looking for the new secateurs, which I couldn’t find as they were still upside down in the packet!! I did 15 minutes of blackberry and ivy pruning!! ( Blackberries are like British brambles I think, I don’t know what they are in America) The Labradors played and we emptied the paddle pool and refilled it with clean water and they had a frolic under the hose too. They are worn out as they had a play AND a walk all before 9 o’clock. I am so tired of the mobile people messaging me that I have recharged my phone early. It is $30 for 6 months on my prepaid mobile phone. This is incredibly cheap. They introduced the new rate for people like me who hardly ever use their phones. At one stage before this I had over $100 in credit so this is much more economical. Tonight I am going to Di’s for tea as Mark is in hospital and Amanda back on the mainland. I might make her something with a coffee flavour as she like this and no-one else does. I must remember to put in a tape for Kat & Kim as it is the last episode. I am feeling very tired and pale lately. I might start taking the multi-vitamins again and see if that help. I was quite pale on Tuesday. At the Hospital they said you can tell I have dogs as when I check to see how pale I am I look at my gums, just like you do in a dog. Another cup of tea then , and back to the Nativity!!!

Here is my Hover Car Racer review I posted on the Library site!!!

Think ‘Hover Car Racer’ : Think ‘Spy Kids’ ; Think ‘Star Wars’ : Think ‘Alex Ryder’. This exciting book by Matthew Reilly combines all the best elements of these fictional stories. In the near future all cars are powered by magnetos drives, harnessing the magnetic forces of the Earth, and a huge racing industry and spectator sport has grown up around these hover cars. Jason Chaser and his mysterious brother, Bug, own and race one such hover car, the ‘Argonaut’. Despite losing a qualifying race, Jason and Bug are offered the chance to attend the International Race School ( a school which owns Tasmania!!!) He meets a new nemesis, Xavier Xonora, and a challenging mentor, Scott Syracuse, along with feisty Mech Chief Sally. Together they take on not only the race school, but the world, all the time battling sabotage and hostile competitors. Jason and his friends soon learn that just being the best isn’t enough. This book was originally written as an 8 part e-serial online, but it loses none of the excitement or suspense, reading like a non-stop action comic. Although obviously targeted at a ‘young adult’ audience, anyone who has already enjoyed Reilly’s other books will thoroughly enjoy reading ‘Hover Car Racer’ and finding the in-jokes and allusions.

24-11-2004

Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Christmas - you have got me on the run!!!!!!

• I am Cooking: Double Chocolate Biscuits
• Books I am Reading: Hover Car Racer
• Labradors Spotted: 1 Golden Retriever
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: CSI Ornery and Cold Case, last eps for 2004

I went to sewing after all my preparation without the proper quilting thread. Bah Humbug. We had a G&T and a lovely chat though. I have bought secateurs and a tree saw and a radio to listen to while I am walking the Labradors. It meant I had to be out at 9 am to guarantee buying items on sale but I managed. Now I realise I have not paid my phone bill so I will have to venture out later on when it is cooler to pay it. It costs extra to pay over the phone and I need some fruit from the greengrocer so that will be an excuse even though I had intended staying home for the rest of the day. We have had double chocolate biscuits for morning tea, well the Gardygardeners have, I can’t eat them as they are too chocolaty. There is a nice angel in the AWW so I think if it is not too hard I will make one for the sewing people. I have to design another sard too so as not to give away my Christmas card, but it will be almost December, so I might just go ahead any give it to them anyway. You have to sing the verse to “Oh Christmas Tree” or “Oh Tannenbaum” as we sang in German in high school.

Oh Labradors, Oh Labradors,

They are like angels sparkly.

Oh Labradors, The Labradors:

Cute Peri, Lovely Harki.

If they could fly, here’s what they’d do:

Your gifts from heav’n would rain on you,

Oh Labradors, The Labradors,

They are like angels sparkly.

Oh Labradors, The Labradors,

Send you our Christmas wishes.

We hope you have a lovely day

And the food is all delicious.

Good health and joy, that is what I’ve

Wished for you in 2005.

And so the Labradors and I,

We send our Christmas wishes.

I have had one card already as the senders have moved and so we are all getting a ‘heads up’!!!!! I have the last episodes of CSI Ornery and Cold Case to watch and then tomorrow night K&K with Kylie Minogue and Eponee Ray and Little Britain. Yesterday I won a 2 DVD set of Seven Little Australians. I loved that show as a child. You had to say what happened to Judy. I cried every time I watched it so I knew what had happened and I won. Ah, more opportunities to relive my childhood.

I have a memory stick now, with 64 megabyte thingies. I can use it instead of a rewrite-able CD as my computer doesn’t have a floppy disc. You can plug it into the USB port and download stuff, then upload stuff!! It was only $30 and that is very cheap. It comes as a lanyard and has a cover and a cute little cable to reach from the back of the tower where the port is, to the front!!! USB always reminds me of the show ‘Danger UXB’ – unexploded bomb. That was a very good BBC show about a group of men defusing unexploded bombs in England during WW11. It starred Anthony Andrews and was an excellent show, made in 1979. Now I am madly sewing up the knitted Nativity and decorating as I want to have it finished ASAP!!!!!

23-11-2004

Don't cry out loud, just keep it inside, it's not hard to hide my sorrow

• I am Cooking: Chinese Chicken wings and savouries too
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: Alias repeats from the beginning!!!

I don’t know what people saw in the rest of the world ( TROTW ) but here in Australia we got Jamie Durie – a garden makeover TV host, for the first 30 minutes of the Friends’ finale. I want to turn into one of those people who says ‘Why Oh Why Oh Why?’ He showed us next to nothing and dragged out the show endlessly. We wanted to see the after show highlights, like on the end of The Nanny, but no, credits roll, and that is the end. I expect it will be extras on the DVD. There are people here in Australia who don’t know how long ago Friends actually finished in TROTW , and they have posted their opinions on the Sydney Morning Herald website, complaining that Friends copied Sex and the City!!!! Most amusing. Well how was the show? Karen and I did simultaneous watching on the phone, while she loaded her new memory stick into the computer to download her school reports. It was very, very obvious that Courtney Cox was pregnant in real life. They were very bad at hiding it. I do agree that it focussed on Rachel too much, but that was the only story line needing to be tied up. It was the Friends of old : Chandler wisecracking: Joey being naïve: Phoebe at her new age weird best : Ross putting on his best faces of confusion: Monica cleaning and bossing : Rachel her usual indecisive self. You could not have asked for more, but it was the same old See the Lochness Monster syndrome. It is called this as there was an episode of the X Files where there was a monster in the lake and they had to SHOW it at the end, instead of leaving it to our imaginations. They have to spoil it by being totally literal. It is the same with Friends, they let it all be answered. I am not against this, but I do like there to be a few unknown. This must be because all the TV shows I like are cancelled before they end – Dark Skies, Now and Again, Dark Angel ( really, it had a semi-ending) Nowhere Man etc. So there you are., it is all over Red Rover and I am not particularly sad. I am used to making up my own plot for what happens next. I do a lot of thinking when I am walking the Labradors. It is only 25 minutes, but it is a time when my mind does not need to focus on anything other then them, so I have ample time to ponder life’s mysteries. I openly admit that I sing too – mostly musicals but I have a penchant for ‘Billy, don’t be a hero.” By Paper Lace. I now believe that 1000s of people will have left immediately now, but there it is, out in the open. It is on the same level as singing like Kasey Chambers by holding your nose. I make up the verses for inside the cards I make, I write letters, I make lists. I do all sorts of things. There is little quiet time for pondering in modern life, even at home I don’t like it to be quiet, I have the radio, music or TV on all the time. I can’t sleep unless there is a noise. I also can’t sleep unless I have a light on : in the hall and in the pantry, so when I wake, or get up, it is not dark. I am so glad my house is old as I have long cord that hangs from the ceiling over my bed that turns the lights on and off, other wise I have to turn the light off at the door way and then leap onto the bed – well as near as possible – to avoid whatever it is that happens when the lights go out.

Today I have been cooking Bacon rolly-uppy things and Chinese chicken wings, The bacon rolly-uppy things are made by mixing grated cheese, crispy bacon, capsicum, parsley, a bit of curry powder , spring onion and mayonnaise and then spreading on slices of rolled flat bread, You roll this up and then brush with butter and bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes. They are truly yummy. I have lost the recipe but I just make it up now. I have glued the bases into the knitted Nativity pieces and managed to cut off the top of the lid of the craft glue, instead of the inner spout. The pink person, who I think is one of the Magi had to be washed, but the others are fine. I have sewing tonight but I will have to do my quilt as the other two things are for Karen and thus not to be seen!!!

Quark, nylon and Kodak are totally invented new words, and there are not many totally new words. I like to add acribitz, boogelly and percentagise of my own making!!! We have language talk back on the radio every Tuesday afternoon, and I always try to listen. On the news at the moment I have just heard that we are having new tests for drugs when we have a Random Breath Test too. I sometimes take drugs for illness, I wonder if it is just illegal drugs, or any drugs? You apparently give a saliva sample and then if there is a reading you have to give a blood sample. The police are stalking me, I have been breathalysed so many times lately, and I always blow 0.0 as I only ever have one drink when I go out. I am finding it increasingly difficult to blow into the machine thing for 10 seconds – I may have to ask if I can be standing up next time, as it is easier to breathe. Waiting for change at the counter in the supermarket today I was forced to stare at the cigarettes. There can be no more than 2 packets of each kind visible, but they were covered with warnings, like – Smoking Kills- Smoking while pregnant is Dangerous – Lung Caner Kills and so on. If chocolate or wine came with those warnings I would stop straight away. I can’t understand how people still smoke – well I can, they are addicted, and although I exhibit a plethora of psychological conditions, an addictive personality is not one of them. I am obsessive, but not addictive.

In spite of sleeping for 9 ½ hours last night I am still feeling quite sleepy, so I must have a nap if I am to go out later. I am glad things are ending – like helping with homework, and visiting school with a cake, and even, to some extent, sewing. Next week is the last night and we are eating out at Pierre’s on George. I am feeling very end-of-termly.

22-11-2004

One baby boomer, on her Australian run!!!!

• I am Cooking: Fish
• Books I am Reading: Hover Car Racer ( must read faster)
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: Last 2 episodes of Friends

I went to blog for the Labradors and I can’t!! There is an unexpected error. Just as I was in the mood to update their lives and I can’t. I am reduced to blogging here!! ( as if that was reduced!!) Today is the anniversary of the assassination of JFK. I was only 15 months old, but in my strange tradition of being more baby boomery than older baby boomers I am deeply affected by this. I am fascinated by the whole Camelot thing. I am intrigued by the man and his family, not in a gossipy social butterfly way, but in a

Gough Whitlam kind of way. I believe there are conspiracies. People are very devious and tricky, look at Nixon. It is a yearning for a bygone era when people were better, when they believed in something. There were government reforms, social reforms, the soldiers came back from Vietnam, Universities were free, it was a time of change for the better. Now we are in a time of change for the worse. I can see no light at the end of the tunnel. Oh for a JFK or a Whitlam now, to save us all.

I sneak in as a baby boomer by 2 years but I am very boomy. I have all the baby boomer attributes, I am quite left of centre and believe in a more socialist approach to life. Too many people are dislocated form the mainstream of life today. My sister is Gen X, and we are very different and have different values and beliefs. I like being a boomer, I am proud to be one!!! I want to save the planet and the Tasmanian Devil, and vote out conservative governments and stop unjust wars. Baby boomers wanted to make a difference, it was the same after 1918, when they wanted WW1 to be the war to end all wars. This spawned the Flapper generation. Boomers are flappers taken to the nth degree I think.

All my friends are deep in report writing. I remember this: trying to say a negative thing in a positive way. Brendan Nelson wants truth in reporting, but he would quickly change his mind if instead of “..needs to develop a more appropriate attitude to considering others’ property and equipment” we wrote “ …. Is a thief and steals other children’s things.” He would not like that. Teachers have to be so diplomatic, if they were in charge of the Middle East, all the main players would be in Time Out and there would be new rules being written and enforced!!! Teaching is like being a referee most of the time, it is deflecting violence, physical, emotional, intellectual, and trying to keep the peace. Teaching often comes a poor second in difficult schools : survival is paramount.

I bought the Labradors some teeth cleaning very hard biscuits and Harki is dribbling on my leg as she wants more. Now she has a bag so this might distract her – though that is what Peri is supposed to be for.

We are having the last episodes of Friends tonight and then the last for the year of basically everything else.

Alias is being repeated from the start and I want to make a list of all the letters highlighted in the place names to see if it spells something or is totally random!!! The Office is being repeated too, and I want to watch that again, and the new series of Coupling. I am going to try and complete more of my Christmas cards and my Santa garland to day and do some washing and tidying and sleep.. I have the new Guy Gavriel Kay book and I must not read it till have finished Hover Car Racer. I must, Imust, I must!!!

21-11-2004

All my myself, I wanna be, all by myself, evermore!!!

• I am Cooking: Omelettes

Sometimes I don’t speak to a real person, face to face, all day. It is strange really, as I talk to the Labradors ( sign of madness) and on the phone and email too, but it is no wonder that if I do talk to someone I can’t stop !!! My friends do remind me to take a breath and slow down, but I am so excited to see a real person. I miss school, every day I had my class and all the other teachers and staff and the parents to talk to – and the children were a captive audience – they had to listen!! The social deprivation is one I have come to terms with though. I am not lonely, I am alone a lot, but I am not lonely for company. I apparently have untapped resources in the coping department!! Physically I am also resigned to my fate. Yesterday I was overtired and I slept soundly. This morning we have been for a walk and I have cut out the red striped ticking and the Suffolk puffs for the garland. Making Karen choose the fabric and buttons, unbeknowing ( is that a word? ) it was for making a SANTA garland for her was very amusing. I have made nary a puff though. I have made a tasty cheese, chilli, capsicum, mushroom and red onion omelette. Very tasty it was too.

The SANTA garland is 5 squares : S is for Santa and a sack is attached and filled with little toys; A is for antlers so you make a reindeer head; N is for Noel has a twig wreath and banner ;T is for tree and it has the Suffolk puff Christmas tree; and A is for angel , well you appliqué an angel . It is on red striped ticking with some red hearts, with a Christmas tartan border, I have some Christmas buttons and ribbon and it is very festive. Suffolk puffs are made by gathering a small hemmed circle and pulling it tight to make a ball which you then flatten into a double thickness disc with a tiny hole where it is gathered. They are very pretty. I have made many of them for my as yet unfinished quilt too.

Di’s daughter , Amanda, is home from the mainland so I am off to the ever so trendy Seaport for lunch. I taught Amanda when she was in Primary School and she is almost 20 now and a grown up!!! As it is 11-06 am I must iron some of the clothes I hung up yesterday and brush my hair etc as I will need to get some cash real money to take. We have plastic money in Australia. We are at the forefront of money I believe, and it is a godsend when you accidentally wash notes!! But you can’t iron them when they are all folded and crumpled and they do tear quite easily. I think we were the first country to have plastic notes, and there are myriad anti-counterfeiting features too. We have silver coins: 5c, 10c, 20c, 50 c ( a dodecagon with 12 sides!!) . We have gold coins: $1 and $2 and occasionally a $5 special release. We have notes: $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. What a lot of currency. %cents are of no use really, you can’t even put them in parking meters. You end up with a purse full of 5 and 50 cent coins.

I have ironed and am dressed in proper clothes, I have washed a whole load of jeans so the mundane is more or less taken care of. I intend to have champagne ( or sparkling white as the French lawsuits would have us say) I love Greg Champion’s French song . You sing to La Vie en Rose.It is revenge for the Rainbow Warrior affair and all the nuclear testing in the Pacific.

THE FRENCH SONG

piaf/louiguy(music sales/amcos)

these lyrics: Divishti Rankine & Greg Champion

Pate escargots soup de jour

cordon bleu chic coiffure

fait accompli maison

creme de menthe Marcel Marceau

meringue blancmange Bardot

gauche gay Paris garcon

gendarme agent provocateur

eau de toilette voyeur

au revoir deja vu

carte blanche bidet croissant bourgeois

c’est la vie abattoir

bon voyage coup d’etat

hors d’ouevres Peugeot faux pas

Gerard Depardieux

Lacoste penache papier mache

en suite rue morgue yoplait

Pepe La Pew soufflé

en tous cas le Guy Forget

Maurice Chevalier

le Rainbow Warrior

lingerie chocolat eclair

avant garde Frigidaire

fromage crouton Cointreau

cherchez la femme boudoir je t’aime

vol ou vent Jacques Cousteau

joie de vive Plastic Bertrand

le Coq Sportif penchant

Henri Leconte

This sent my Spell Check into a spin!!!!!

20-11-2004

She thought Jane Austen was a car

• I am Cooking: Pink eye potatoes
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: L&O Ornery and SVU

It is a truth universally acknowledged that washing the car makes it rain – or pressing the button at the lights makes them change faster if you want to cross the road. Similarly, clicking on Solitaire makes any page download faster. As I have dial up this is a distinct advantage. There are drawbacks : you become engrossed in the game and forget why you went somewhere; you accidentally shut the game and it was a promising one and it is gone forever; you never feel you actually finish a game , and you hardly ever do get a good run at it. Last night we went to Toro’s and it was good. We had a platter with seafood and nibbles to start and then a variety of dishes including steak, more seafood ( me!) cannelloni and chilli con carne too. For dessert there was roasted fruit and a chocolate tart consumed. They were very eager for us to go but we refused to be moved until about 10-15 pm: nearly 4 hours. It is a big barn of a room, tiled and open and very noisy. There is nothing to absorb any of the sound. They had real live ( as opposed to dead) flamenco guitarists!!! They were dressed in all black and looked particularly Spanish.

5 hours later – I have been to town for lunch, purchased a pair of buckle up short winter boots ( brown) on sale for $20, a Christmas craft magazine and all the craft things to make a swag, lovely green metallic corrugated cardboard. I am beyond tired now. My feet hurt and I can’t remember words anymore!! I am having a cup of tea and a nap. The I must catch up on L&O Ornery and SVU.

19-11-2004

Spring, Spring, have you really come here at all??

• I am Cooking: Mud cake for school

The weather is so temperamental: yesterday it was 31 C in Hobart, that’s about 94 F , yet today here we have had sun, torrential rain, gale force winds and clouds. We have even had an earthquake – yes here, we had an earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale. People never think of Tasmania as being a place that would have earthquakes, but we do, regularly. The Nut at Stanley is a tourist site, it is a huge rock having a short cylindrical shape. It is in fact the plug of magma from the top of a volcano, where the lava cooled and then pressure built up under the plug and it was shot out to come to rest!!! No-one was hurt in the earthquake which had its epicentre near Lake Barrington, a world class rowing lake built a while agio. The tremors were felt a long way away though. 1- or 12 years ago there was an earthquake at Newcastle on the mainland and people were killed as houses and other buildings were flattened. The worst disaster we have had here was the ’67 bushfires. Yesterday I made a shirt and the world will now be forced to see my legs!! I was going to wear it to the Spanish restaurant tonight but as the temperature is arctic I won’t!! I have had my hair cut and delivered the Bunny Sleeping bag. I threw out the rim of my 2-cup teapot when I tossed the dregs on the garden. What colour is my teapot? Green of course, so I had to buy a new one – all of $2. It has a little mesh basket and you put the tea leaves in and fill the pot up. I also bought the girls a rawhide bone and some wriggly ‘Merry Christmases’ in gold foil to paste on the front of my cards.

I took school a mud cake and Nigel the PE teacher gave me some lovely Lindt chocolate and a card to say more thank yous for fixing the parachute, and Penny gave me a great bottle of shiraz for taping Lockhart’s dancing onto a new tape for his award application. It was a very profitable lunchtime. Only 2 Eighth Doctor books to go now before the new Dr Who books begin next year. I bough Karen her red Santa Christmas watch which was on sale for only $20 instead of $30!! Now I must have a nap as I am off at 6-30 to dinner and there will be enormous amounts of talking to be done and I feel quite pale today. My typing is so appalling, I am making errors everywhere. I have never learned to type except on the old typewriter as a child. Mum had all her old books and I used to practice. I did shorthand for a term, but I had to take French, German and Advanced Maths in C and B Class (9 and 10) Later on I went to classes after school when I was a teacher and learned Bahasa Indonesia. I taught it for 2 years and was offered a position in Hobart on the in charge committee for languages but I liked being a class room teacher. It is lovely to experience new languages but unless you start in Prep or Kinder it can only ever be a hobby. Next year I would like to learn Italian of Spanish or another language. I shall have to look into it.

They are making a reality show with ‘Gilligan’s Island’ as the theme. I liked that show, and ‘I dream of Jeannie’ but best of all I liked ‘F Troop’ which was on the ABC here when I was a child. OK I managed to make everything italics!!! The F Troop song is great. Humming as I type!!! Full of pathos was ‘Kimba the White Lion’ :

The end of the Civil War was near
When quite accidentally,
A hero who sneezed abruptly seized
Retreat and reversed it to victory.

His medal of honor pleased and thrilled
his proud little family group.
While pinning it on some blood was spilled
And so it was planned he'd command F Troop.

Where Indian fights are colourful sights
and nobody takes a lickin'
Where pale face and redskin
Both turn chicken.

When killing and fighting get them down,
They know their morale can't droop.
As long as they all relax in town
Before they resume with a bang and a boom
F Troop.

Kimba (Kimba)

Kimba (Kimba)

Kimba (Kimba)

Kimba (Kimba)

Who lives down in deepest darkest Africa(Africa)?

Who’s the one who brought the jungle fame?

Who’s the king of animals in Africa?

Kimba the white lion is his name.

When we get in trouble and we’re in a fight

Who’s the one who just won’t turn and run?

Who believes in doing good and doing right?

Kimba the white lion is the one.

I have sung along with both songs now and I feel refreshed. Kimba’s grandfather was a rug and in the first episode he dogpaddled around in the ocean a lot singing out “Mother, Mother”. Ahh those were the days, days when Astroboy was an old faded cartoon and Rocky and Bullwinkle had ‘nuthin’up their sleeves’!!!!!

18-11-2004

The Bribe of Frankenstein's Monster!!!!

• I am Cooking: Mud Cake for school
• Books I am Reading: Hover car Racer
• Labradors Spotted: One black one at the dam
• TV /DVDs I am Watching: Putting DS9 and West Wing onto a tape for Karen

I have made 17 cards now and I can feel more coming on today. Very pleased with my progress. If you want some self esteem boosting – go here http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

It was very enjoyable. I have renewed my subscription the Better Homes and Gardens magazine, Noni is leaving. Noni has been around for yonks, ever since Play School. I loved Play School :I loved the song ;that each day had a name, Monday was Dress up day, or Tuesday was Useful box day ; I loved the toys, Big and Little Ted, and Humpty and Hambell and Jemima; I loved the windows, round, arched and square – I liked the round window best of all ; I loved the clock ; I loved the Harry the Rose Jumper dog story and the egg shaped TV. It was very good and it is still good today. Sesame Street was too American and I was 10 by the time it came here. I loved Adventure Island, but worried Lisa never changed her dress and some of the characters were called Squire Squeezum and Fester Fumble. I did like the Electric Company, and then You Can’t Do That On TV, a Canadian show with ----Alannis Morrissette ( can’t spell her name, just doubled a lot of the letters) Children’s TV in Australia is good. Silversun is a sci-fi show, Out There is a good drama, Bootleg a chocolate fantasy, Noah and Saski explored the internet and Eugenie Sandler PI was a suspense mystery. All of these are on the ABC, and they have a lot of other good programmes too. I like them, sometimes more than shows for adults. All of the Degrassi shows are great. In La Femme Nikita which was fabulous and had an ending!! All the shows in season 1 has a 1 word title, 2^nd season, 2 words and so on right up to season 5 with 5 word titles!!!!! How cool is that??? Mmmm I am having beetroot for breakfast.

John Anderson, the leader of the National party, part of the Coalition Government and the Deputy Prime Minister has been accused of trying to bribe an MP, Tony Windsor, to leave Parliament before the last election!!! Hot stuff. He has denied doing it on the date specified but had admitted that he did meet with the go-between . Police have already investigated and handed in their report, but they have not interviewed all the key witnesses. John Anderson said “ As far as I am aware I have not broken any laws etc” why not deny it totally? There was a meeting around the date given by an Anderson staffer and McGuire, the go-between, so perhaps McGuire is confused. This is all alleged , of course, but it is a hot potato!!!

The Test between Australia and NZ begins in a few minutes. In the last series they held us to a draw, I like the tests, good old fashioned cream clad cricket. It means I will have to remember to listen to The World Today on Radio National at noon. It is a very poor decision by the world cricket authority to allow a 15 degrees error of bending for a bowler’s arm. The arm is meant to be straight. It is the advent of the sportscam that has allowed bowlers’ styles to be so closely studied, but Murali’s action can be seen clearly with the naked eye. He is, without doubt, a chucker. No question. There is a good doco on the ABC about cricket ion the 80s. I enjoy cricket but I am not a cricket tragic like the PM, I like it in its proper place. Cricket should be listened to on the ABC and the TV should be on with commercial station with the sound turned right down. They invariably miss important pieces of play by going to a commercial break. The Channel 7 gurus have decided to enhance your Sunday night movie viewing by allowing people to vote by SMS for their favourite out of three movies each week. Cam there really be that many decent first run movies still to be seen on TV? I doubt it. I will not be voting!! I have never SMS voted. Here in Australia when you vote as part of a reality show it is very expensive , it can be $1 or more per call or SMS. 7 are also planning to limit the number of ads in the movie, so it will need as close to 10-30 pm as possible. They will increase the cost of ads by 30% to cover this. Channel 10 has given up on movies and shows CSI or L&O. What a plethora of topics has been covered today. I have walked the Labradors and they have been fed, had a play and now they are napping –Harki by me as usual and Peri outside in the sun. I must put sunscreen and a hat on every day as the UV rating is high all the time now. I abhor sunbaking .I never lied it. I would get all ready and take my book out and then 190 minutes later I would be back inside , my eyes all blurry and feeling sick. I remember being sunburned once or twice as a child and peeling but not very often. I do like to brown up my legs a little with a tanning lotion so they don’t dazzle with their Colgate whiteness, but that’s all. I think I shall make a shirt today. The material is lime with a few turquoise stars on it. The pattern is very easy and I think I can whip it up in an hour or so if I can find a zip in amongst the sewing paraphernalia.