Digital De-cluttering

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While we have been away I have been working on making some order of my digital photographs.  It is all too easy to simply download them from the camera and go no further.

My earlier feeble attempts had resulted in me putting the photos from each major holiday since December 2005 into their own folder.  I had not made any further progress.

During this holiday I have sorted through each folder and selected those that have some merit and deleted many which simply do not make the grade.

The joy of digital photography is that you can take lots of shots and then choose the best ones.  However, after taking heaps of photos, you do need to actually follow through and complete the process by deleting those that are not worth keeping.  You know the ones – sloping horizons, blurry, too far away, can’t remember why you took it etc.

After culling the excess, the next step was to number them so that they would stay in the order I wanted them.  The system I use is a 3 digit numeral eg:  001, 002 and so on which is followed by a description.  Without the numerals at the beginning the photos will be sorted alphabetically by the title which is not helpful when you want them to follow a sequence.

I have completed the descriptions on the photos for 6 of the trips plus about half of our last trip in May.  I also made sure that I have done the ones for the current trip and kept up to date each day.  This is how I intend to do it in the future 🙂

Once I have done all of the holiday photos I will then need to work on all other the others – children, grandchildren, house, garden etc.  It will be a long process but hopefully worth it in the end.

Inspired by Sandra, I will then scan all of the existing print photos that are in albums and sort them in a similar way.  Hopefully, my children will never have to sort through shoeboxes full of un-named photographs when I am gone.

I have included some of the photos that I regard as the best of what I have sorted through recently.  I hope you enjoy them.

Holiday Eating

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One of the biggest holiday budget killers can be food, especially if you find yourself eating out.  It does not have to be high-quality restaurant dinners either.  Coffee and cake for afternoon tea or a sandwich and juice for lunch – it soon adds up.  $5 or $10 here and there can quickly add up over a couple of weeks.

After our road trip in the middle of the year to NSW and South Australia we decided that it is definitely worth it to pay a little extra for self-contained accommodation where you can cook your own evening meal as well prepare food for travel/sightseeing the following day.  A couple of nights we stayed in basic motel rooms and found that we ended up spending more by the time we had even a basic pub meal.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it has been a little trickier this time as we were travelling internationally.  However, we brought a set of the bare minimum of our picnic set.

It all packed into a small cloth bag.  The bag was the ‘packaging’ from the last set of sheets that I bought.

We brought a few bags, including these ziplock bags which have proved to be very useful.

Avoiding packaging has been a bit of a challenge but I feel that I have done the best I could under the circumstances.  The supermarkets here have bulk bins of various items so we managed to utilise the ziplock bags to buy cereal as well as nuts and dried fruit for snacks.  Bread has been my downfall but I have kept any bread bags to pack our sandwiches in for our lunches as well as finally using them for rubbish bags.  I have also bought meat on styrofoam trays covered in cling wrap from the supermarket.  It has reminded me of how much packaging I actually avoid at home by making our own bread and taking our own containers when buying meat from the butcher.

These are some of the groceries we have bought along the way.  The scrambled eggs, baked beans, chicken and pasta meals have meant that we could budget for some special meals as well.

We have eaten out a few times and really enjoyed the meals.  The Thai meal we ate in Christchurch was excellent and the food highlight of our trip so far was our meal at the Harbour Light Bistro in Nelson.

Holidays are not all about the food, although The Duke may beg to differ.  We have enjoyed being able to take a couple of tours which, although not cheap have been really interesting and good value.  I have already told you about the one to Farewell Spit and yesterday we went on the Mailboat Cruise on Queen Charlotte Sound.

A Recycled Bus

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We generally prefer to choose our own itinerary when travelling rather than going on organised group tours.  However, group tours are sometimes the best (or only) choice.  Yesterday was an example.

When we were planning this trip I decided that I would like to go to Cape Farewell, the northernmost point of the South Island in New Zealand and the adjacent sand spit.   We chose to stay here at Pohara on Golden Bay.  I checked out options for seeing the area and found that while individuals could take private vehicles to the base of the spit (about 30 km in length), the only way to go out along the spit and see the lighthouse was to join an organised tour.

Farewell Spit Eco-Tours have been doing these tours for 60 years and we were lucky to go with John who has been doing these tours for about 25 years.  His knowledge of the geology, history and birds of the local area was amazing and he was an entertaining guide also.

So, what is an eco-tour?  My idea is one where due care is taken of the fragile environment which we are visiting as well as respect for the history.  This certainly fulfilled my criteria and we even travelled in a recycled vehicle.

2011-10-28 01This coach was originally a ‘crash truck’ for the New Zealand airforce.  It has undergone numerous re-incarnations over a period of more than 50 years and was a satisfactory and fun transport for our tour.  Rather than spruik the wonders of the latest and greatest fleet  of ‘state-of-the-art’ coaches, John was very proud to tell us of the history of the vehicle.

2011-10-28 02When we reached the lighthouse precinct we were treated to a delicious afternoon tea of tea, coffee and muffins at one of the  lighthouse keeper’s cottages.  Catering is the area where so many supposedly ‘eco’ events fail but not so here.  The coffee was served from plungers in china mugs, the muffins were most definitely home-made and once we had finished, everything was packed back into the boxes to be brought back on the bus for washing and replenishment.

It was great to see recycling and eco-tourism in action.

Holiday Habits

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We are now on holidays in New Zealand for 2 weeks so the posts will be a bit erratic.  As with our holiday in May I am trying to maintain our sustainable habits as much as possible.

It is a bit more difficult this time as we were flying internationally so customs precluded taking any of our own food.  Nevertheless, we took our own food in reuseable packaging on the flight.

I packed a calico shopping bag as well as some of the mesh bags I use when buying fruit and vegetables.  Our food for the trip was in ziplock bags so those have been washed, dried and reused as well.

Although we could not carry fluids on the flight we did pack our stainless steel flasks and have been using them since we arrived.  I also packed plastic plates and some cutlery in a cloth bag so that we can use them for lunches when we are travelling.

Yesterday I bought an insulated cooler bag with a zip top to carry some refrigerated items in the car as we travel from one self-contained accommodation venue to the next.  The cooler bag is soft-sided and can be folded flat so that I will be able to take it home to use on future trips.

The supermarkets here have a range of goods in bulk bins so I bought muesli, dried fruit and cashews.  I used my own ziplock bags so did not need to add any extra packaging.

Till next time.

Salad, Saving & Sewing

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I finally finished the summer pyjamas for Miss O.  Here is the top.

And the pants.

On Tuesday I went out to lunch with some of my work colleagues.  In the interests of both my waistline and my purse I opted to have the salad.  For $15 I had a full-sized plate of 3 different salads – noodle, green bean and Greek salads.  The flavours were delicious and it was a substantial meal.

After lunch I went to Lincraft to look for some buttons.  I have a piece of linen fabric that I bought a couple of years ago  and I want to make a summer top that buttons down the back so I wanted some really special buttons for it.  I used all the money I saved on my lunch and more when I bought 5 buttons for $2.82 each.

This is the fabric and buttons.  The fabric is pure linen with a pattern embroidered in gold thread.  I think the fabric was about $25 and the buttons were $14.  While this seems extravagant it is still much better value than buying a blouse of similar quality.

I will make the blouse when we get back from our holidays.

“Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow”

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This quote sums up how I feel about my latest project.

This is not a great oak, but a bunya pine which is indigenous to our area.

As you know we live in a semi-rural area so we have neighbours but definitely not close enough to speak to them over the back fence.

I have had a germ of an idea which has been evolving in my head over the last couple of years.  I would love to promote a real sense of community among the people who live in our road.  There are probably about 20 -25 households.

I have finally bitten the bullet and contacted most people by email and we have set up a group email for us to share ideas and information that is relevant to our area.  There are so many opportunities to connect with each other, share resources and generally support each other.  I think this is a really important part of the structure of our community and one that we need to nurture.

I am looking forward to seeing what direction the group takes.  I hope to one day see great oaks (metaphorically speaking) from this seed of an idea that I have planted.

Do you have any similar networks where you live?

Mould Patrol

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When I was cleaning on the weekend I noticed some telltale signs of mould around the house.

Time to get the clove oil out again.  I have written about the clove oil in depth in a couple of previous posts.  You can read about it here.

Do you alter your cleaning regime depending on the season?

There are the obvious things like clove oil in summer and cleaning out the fireplace in winter.  The windows need cleaning again but that will have to wait until after our holidays.

The weather here is very unpredictable.  2 nights ago I was contemplating taking the doona off the bed and replacing it with a cotton blanket and bedspread but last night we were back to a doona and the woollen blanket.  It is quite cool and windy again tonight but despite that we know that summer is coming.  In preparation I am making some summer pyjamas for Miss O.  I hope to finish them tomorrow and will have some photos for you tomorrow.

Don’t Cry For Me…..

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…because I have finished preparing and freezing the onions.

We grew onions this year from a punnet of seedlings I bought at the Yandina Markets.  From 1 punnet of seedlings bought for $2.50 I had 90 seedlings.  They were tiny but I separated them and planted each one individually.  74 survived and here is the harvest..

Here they are drying on a rack after I pulled them up today.

We do not really have an ideal climate for growing onions as you should really have dry weather when they are maturing so that the tops die off completely and then they can be stored.  Since we are coming into our wet, humid weather I decided that since they were a reasonable size I would harvest them and then dice and freeze in packs of 150g (about the size of a medium onion.

Thanks to my wondrous food processor I now have 7 kg of diced onion in the freezer as well as another 1.5 kg of the lower end of the stalk sliced and bagged up.  When I get time I will use this to make stock.

By next year I hope to have a dehydrator so that I have some more options.

Despite the less than ideal growing conditions I will definitely be planting onions again next year as a harvest of  8.5kg of onions for $2.50 seems like a pretty good return on my money.

Wet Washing

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I read this post from Froogs last week and was reminded that although we live in the opposite hemisphere and it is spring here, it would soon be a struggle to get the washing dry.

We have mild, sunny winter days with relatively low humidity but the spring and summer are a different story.  The spring thunderstorms have started and before we know it we will have 6 months of humidity greater than 90%.

2011-10-15 01I do have a tumble drier but try to limit the use of it.  The dehumidifier is a very effective drier so I set up my wet washing in the bathroom with the dehumidifier.  The bathroom is a perfect choice as it is a small room so the effect is concentrated and as an added bonus the towels end up warm and dry as well.

2011-10-15 02The top rail of the shower screen is perfect to attach the hanger with socks and underwear (and the occasional ziplock bag!)

2011-10-15 03I retrieved the portable rotary clothesline from the cupboard and put it up in the bathroom.

2011-10-15 04In the really humid weather I also ‘air’ the ironed clothes for an hour or so with the dehumidifier to make sure they are totally dry before I put them away in the wardrobe.

2011-10-15 05We do have a rotary clothesline outdoors but I rarely use that as we have plenty of clothesline under the verandah.  However, when it is so humid I do resort to drying the clothes using the dehumidifier.

What seasons are a problem for you?  How do you get the clothes dry?

Don’t Forget the Peaches

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Most of the sewing I have been doing recently has been clothes for various members of the family but I have been doing other things as well.This bundle of fabric has been in my sewing room for a couple of years since I bought it at the op shop with the vague idea of using it to exclude fruit fly from the stone fruit.  We have since removed the peach and 2 nectarine trees that we planted because, although they produced heaps of wonderful fruit the fruit fly infestation was just too awful to contemplate.

However, we did keep the dwarf peach as it seemed less vulnerable to attack by the fruit fly and also it would be easier to manage some sort of exclusion since it is a relatively compact tree.

I had hoped to use this fine mesh curtaining to cover the whole tree but that was not an option so I have been making bags to cover at least some of the fruit.

I sewed the bags and then threaded kitchen string through the mesh using a large, curved needle to make a drawstring.

The finished bag ready to be used.

Here is the peach tree and the photo below shows a close-up of some of the fruit.  I hope I am not not late in covering the fruit.  I do know that I will have all my resources prepared and ready for next spring.

Here are some of the bags in place protecting the fruit.  I am looking forward to a harvest of unblemished fruit.

I have about 12 bags on the tree so far and about another 20 to finish making.  Some will be a sleeve with drawstring openings at each end so that I can slide them over the branch where there are a lot of fruit along the length of the branch.

We are very lucky in our garden as we generally do not have extremes of temperature, frosts or long periods without rain.  Too much rain and fruit fly are our only real challenges.  What pests and hazards do you have to cope with in your garden?