E G Whitlam 1916 – 2014

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Posted on October 21, 2014

The 24 hours news cycle and the internet were not thought of 40 years ago when Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister of Australia in 1972. Therefore, it is somewhat ironic that I learned of the death of Gough Whitlam via the rolling coverage at the foot of the big screen in the foyer of the city office when I arrived at work this morning. I shared and communicated the news with friends and acquaintances via text messages and Facebook.

In 3 short years Gough Whitlam achieved so much. He had a vision for Australia which included universal access to healthcare and education, indigenous rights, support for the arts, multiculturalism, no-fault divorce,abolition of the death penalty, voting for 18 year olds and of course, the abolition of conscription and bringing the troops home from the Vietnam War.

I was 14 years old when the “It’s Time” campaign swept the Labor Party to power in 1972 and still not old enough to vote by the time Whitlam as dismissed in spectacular fashion by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr in 1975.

There has been much written and said today about Gough Whitlam and his legacy but I would like to share a few words that I read on an online forum by a contributor unknown to me. This really sums it up for me.

“He cared. I’m so glad that he was part of my history.”

Shiny Shoes

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Posted on October 19, 2014

Just a short post tonight as I have been busy with the photo project which is progressing well. There are a lot more of the older blog posts which now have the photos reinstated.

Last week I was in the local shoe shop where I had bought these 2 pairs of shoes a couple of months before we travelled overseas.

I wore them practically every day for 6 weeks and have worn them quite a bit both before we left and since our return as they are simply some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I asked about cleaning them and as I had suspected I was told that they could be washed in a washing machine. I decided to handwash them using a little of the regular liquid detergent that I use in the washing machine.

After soaking them for a few hours, I rinsed them thoroughly, squeezed the excess water out and set them out on a towel on the bench to dry.

Once these are completely dry, I will repeat the process with the red ones.

The lady in the shoe shop also advised that you can buy replacement inner soles for $5. It is nice to know that some things are actually made to last rather than designed to be tossed in the bin at the first sign of wear and tear.

Behind the Scenes

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Posted on October 18, 2014

I have been doing quite a bit of organising over the past week or so but it has been behind the scenes and I cannot really show you photographs of it.

Although it is not immediately evident, I have been working hard to reinstate a lot more of the photos that I accidentally erased from the first 2 years of the blog. I am doing it in conjunction with slowly but surely sorting out my digital photos which is a huge job.

One day all of the photos will be back in place, but in the meantime I wanted to share this older post with you. When I look at my blog stats, it is one of the most consistently viewed ones so I am sure many people will be happy to know that the photos are back in place.

Please take some time to look back at some of the older posts and you might be surprised to see some previously unseen photographs. There are still plenty of posts left to add photos to, so if you find one without that you are interested in, please post in the comments and I will try to make it a priority.

The More You Spend…………

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Posted on October 17, 2014

……..the more you save!

It is not a new line but I have been appalled to hear this numerous times on the radio over the past few days. It is the latest advertising campaign for Harvey Norman. I cannot remember the exact details but is based on the premise that you get a larger discount if you spend more money. The examples in the advertisement are over $1000, over $2000 or over $3000 so we are not talking small amounts here.

I find this type of advertising unethical and just downright wrong. How many people will get sucked in?

What do you think?

Gloriously Gluten-Free

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Posted on October 15, 2014

I made a gluten-free lasagne for dinner tonight. That is not particularly earth-shattering as I know that you can buy gluten-free pasta and I have used it on previous occasions. However, this time I was inspired by a Facebook post from a friend and decided to substitute the lasagne sheets with sliced zucchini.

I use a combination of potato flour and chickpea flour to make the bechamel sauce.

Here are all of the components prepared before I assembled the lasagne.

The last layer in place.

Ready to serve.

Plated up.

The verdict?

The zucchini did not provide as much support as lasagne sheets, therefore, the lasagne did not translate neatly in one piece onto the plate. The taste was excellent which means it was a success by my standards. I would definitely make this again with a few adjustments. I would make the meat sauce drier which I think would help in maintaining the shape. The zucchini could perhaps be sliced a little thicker. You could also make the serves in individual ramekins.

Winning

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Posted on October 14, 2014

While there is always something that can be found to do, it is a great feeling to know that the everyday tasks are all done.

Yesterday I did 4 loads of washing which included the bed linen and towels for both The Duke and I plus our most recent Air BnB guests who departed yesterday morning. The washing and ironing are all done, I have a meal ready for dinner tomorrow night, the bathroom is clean and beds freshly made. The dishes are done and lunches partly made for tomorrow.

So, there is nothing left to do apart from settle into bed with a new magazine that my mother passed on to me recently.

The housework will return soon enough but for now I am going to indulge myself.

Weekend Work

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Posted on October 12, 2014

After spending my weekdays in the office there is nothing I enjoy more than spending time in the garden on the weekend. I will start with what we actually did last weekend.

We finally finished building this raised garden bed. There are now 4 beds complete and we eventually plan to have 9 of them. The cardboard is a large carton that was the packaging from the refrigerator we bought last year. We always keep any large pieces of cardboard as it makes a great base for the beds and is very effective at smothering the underlying grass before eventually breaking down. I will cover the remainder of the base with some more cardboard before gradually filling the bed with a combination of fallen leaves, mulch, compost and grass clippings which will, over time, become rich soil. It will all be sourced from our block.

We also created a bed for the asparagus. Since asparagus grows very vigorously and spreads, we wanted to make sure that we are able to contain it. The Duke dug a trench and buried some offcuts of Colorbond steel to a depth of 320mm to form the border of the asparagus bed. Here is the work in progress.

This is what it looked like once we had finished and planted the asparagus.

The lettuce seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago have not put in an appearance so yesterday I bought some seedlings and planted them in between the corn which is growing nicely.

The other thing we did today was to start to tidy up around the citrus trees. Here is the lime tree with a new border of rocks and some mulch. You can the orange tree behind it and grapefruit to the far right which have been bordered with rocks and now I just need to finish weeding them and put the mulch down.

We decided to border the other orange tree and the lemon tree in one large area. The Duke collected up the rocks from down the back near the water tanks. We have an abundance of volcanic rocks on the property so it is good to be able to use them.

I have planted more seeds – most expired by several years – so will see how they go. Lettuce, radish, chilli, tomato and bok choy all went in today. I am determined to grow more of our own food and am hopeful of greater success now that the vegetable patch is completely fenced.

This Time Last Year………….

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Posted on October 10, 2014

……….well almost. It was actually 15th October 2013 that I published this post which was the beginning of a series based on Francine Jay’s book, “The Joy of Less”.

I re-discovered it recently when I was working on adding back the photos to my earlier blog posts. The series is now complete with photos and I would encourage you to take the time to read all of the posts. I think there are about a dozen of them. Even though I wrote them, there were some revelations which have inspired me to keep going on my journey to let go of more ‘stuff’.

The original catalyst for the series was the purchase of a new refrigerator and the fact that it required me to open the door of the overhead cupboard every time I needed to access the refrigerator. We did have the doors re-modelled and this is what it looks like now.

Mini Moments

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Posted on October 8, 2014

My focus has been on the real world rather than blogging over the past week.

We have had a long weekend here and a house-guest which was lovely.

Much of the time was spent chatting and being social so not too much housework was done. However it is interesting to look around and see that there was not too much that needed doing. I think that the trick is to do a little bit frequently.

It only takes a moment to get a few small jobs done. As you know, we do not arrive home from work until after 7pm. Last night I made salad while The Duke cooked the salmon on the BBQ. After dinner I hung out a load of washing that I had done before I went to work and brought in the dry clothes from the line and folded them. I also cleaned the vanity and mirror in the bathroom and re-made the guest bed.

This morning I unloaded the dishwasher and tonight will bring in the washing plus finish the ironing. There are only about 5 items as I did most of it on the weekend.

I simply do not have the time or inclination to spend huge chunks of time on housework so this method works best for me. It also means that my weekends are kept reasonably clear for spending time in the garden or more time-consuming jobs like preparing several meals.

The Garden Grows

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Posted on October 1, 2014

After being away for six weeks, the vegetable garden was in need of some attention.

I cleared out the remains of the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower which had been harvested while we were away. There are now corn, lettuce, radish and cucumber seeds planted in the spaces available.

The area inside the fence that I had earmarked for a herb garden is now sporting a couple of very healthy parsley plants as well as several basil seedlings. I planted these on the weekend as they were kindly left for us by the house sitters. They commented that it was cheaper to buy a pot of seedlings than a bunch of parsley or basil.

I have previously shown you here the netting that we bought at the Garden Show and we intended to ask the house sitters to put it on the peach tree as I felt it would need to be done while we were away. That did not happen so now all of our small, green peaches are enclosed. If this is successful, in a few months we will be harvesting luscious peaches that have not been stung by fruit fly. I can only hope!

Before we went away we planted the asparagus and rhubarb in styrofoam boxes until I could prepare the areas where we wanted to plant them. On the weekend we dug a trench and set the concrete blocks into the ground to form a border for the rhubarb. I hope to plant some flowers in the small soil-filled pockets of the blocks.

I hope to prepare the bed for the asparagus in the coming weeks.