The birds reappeared in the Silky Oak this morning. I woke up, looked out the window and there they were; preening their feathers in the early morning light. As per usual it has been about a week since they were last in the garden.

What else have I been up to since then?

Making use of one of my Christmas presents – a jam funnel, thanks Mum!

Using the above leads to this. Mulberry Jam, yummo.

Stocking up on mangoes, then slicing and freezing so there will be golden mango goodness way past the mango season. A whole tray of mangoes for $8 <– that’s my kind of bargain.

Look at all those bags of goodness.

After a few years of umming and ahhing over different digital radios, I finally picked one up. A Pure Elan II, whilst I dearly loved the Orla Kieley and the look of the other Mio radios they didn’t offer a pause feature. If I was getting a new kitchen radio I wanted to be able to press pause and come back to the radio when I’m off the phone/finished shooing away the sales person/bible promoter at the door etc.

I’m loving it, it’s great having ABC Jazz in the kitchen without either having to have the TV on or having my laptop on the kitchen table.

The house currently looks like a cross between a bomb site and a warehouse as Mum packs up as the ticker counts downs the days till she departs, we are almost in the single digits!

I leave you with this.

That’s my attempt at making a Mango Juice Bali style -> mango, ice, sugar syrup. Blend it together and drink up the sweetness.

This Christmas season has seen many, many changes in our household. A couple of months ago, after Mum had come back from exploring the bush in NSW, a conversation was resurrected from one we had had years ago about why we (really my parents) live in Brisbane. It was about Grandad of course and nothing could have taken my mother or myself away from SEQ whilst my grandfather was alive. With his passing in June and the passing of my father in May last year; that conversation could be had again as those events have changed a lot of things in our lives. I moved back home. We purchased an investment property. We’ve taken on a boarder (who may have had a Lotte bowl slip out of his hand and land on the floor in more than one piece … My Lotte is now more secure in where it is stored) and that’s just the billboard changes. Mum has had the chance to revisit that conversation we’ve had a few times over the years about leaving Brisbane and teaching somewhere else, I always used to suggest WA but that is an awfully long way a way. Mum though discovered a place closer to home though and next year she will be still be a Maths teacher but in NSW in a country town situated in the north west region. The town she is moving to is about a 7hr drive from Brisbane, luckily it is also on the Melbourne to Brisbane bus route so she will be able to hop on a bus to come home for a visit! Most importantly there is plenty of bush walking and an active club to keep her weekends occupied.

This has meant that Mum is packing up her life or perhaps I should say “culling her life”, there has been items leaving this house left, right and center. Some via Lifeline, some via Gumtree, some via Freecycle, others via the rubbish bin, some to people here and there. Some times it feels like that unless it is bolted down, it won’t be there when I get home from work!

Another change this year is that for the first time in the sixty years my mother has lived we have an artificial Christmas tree!!!! And we put it up on Dec 18!!! My father and my maternal grandmother are probably rolling in their proverbial graves (well more accurately, their ash particles are probably vibrating at a higher frequency than normal …)

However, it’s not just any artificial Christmas tree. It’s a 6ft Mistletoe Pine Aluminium Christmas Tree made by Raco. Yep, how many people do you know in Australia who are rocking an Australian made Aluminium Christmas Tree? Very few I would wager to say. I normally see two or so appear each year on Ebay and one of the ones that appeared last year made its way to me. I then gave the tree as part of my present to Mum last year (Well actually it was to both Mum and the house. Do you do that? We have often over the years had presents to the the house from the kitchen or to the fridge from the stove etc). My reading of the date codes on the box say it was made in 1964 and the price label reads £6/15/ which according to our friends at the RBA that is about $84 in the money of today.

Our tree has always been real and has always gone up around the 23rd or so and then comes down on the 6th of January or shortly there after (A major pet peeve of mine is when people talk of the twelve days of Christmas as been the twelve days leading up to Christmas, I grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. You seriously think the three kings got an early warning that Jesus was been born and started their journey twelve days before he was born ??? I’m a by no means a believer but it riles me when people talk about and use an idea that they clearly seem to have no idea what it actually means).

Moving on from that point. This is our tree. Click to see it larger of course!

Have you seen such a beauty? It makes such a lovely sound as you brush past it and oh I love how the lights reflect off it and dance on the ceiling. I actually lay under it on Sunday night whilst on the phone to a friend like a child, watching the light dance on “the leaves” … It is so smile inducing.

Yep, that’s my mother doing what is called Hypotenusing because well a) Planking is just not cool and b) she is a maths teacher …

In tribute to the rain we have had on and off this weekend, today we have a video instead of a photo.

Unless you are reading this via the RSS feed, you might (well should) have noticed that I’ve changed up the design a little bit. Swapped some new colours in, changed the photos in the header and made it a bit more 24 something me instead of 22 something me. Not 100% settled on the background colour yet but we will see. I’ve also been thinking of renaming the blog most probably just changing the words round a little but who knows.

Mum and I went to see Bright Star this afternoon, it was slightly sad as expected but gorgeous nonetheless. I have some questions regarding the historical accuracy of a few aspects of the costuming, mainly the earrings that Fanny wears and the machine knitted jackets/cardigans. I did adore however the ledge that ran at waist level round Fannys room in the house that the Brawnes shared with Mr Brown and Mr Keats. I loved the shots in the fields of wild flowers and in the orchard, all those flowers! Oh to be able to bask in a field of flowers like that.

What I loved the most was the clothes, oh such style. I would quite happily have a few of the blouses and a couple of the frocks and oh the skirts. I think you get the picture.

Also the landscape was just as mind blowing, all those sweeping landscapes and not a hazy sky amongst them..
Whilst the movie far exceeded my story expectations there were a few things that were weird including the child Nullah not growing over the three years or so the film was based on, also the fact that the Japanese landing they show in the film never happened, in that sense I have never been a fan of the movie title, Australia is a pretty big name to live up to. I think call it it Faraway Downs or The Drover or something else would have been just as epic.

It was well worth going to see and I could quite easily watch it again. It has a decent story line that has more than enough action it for those who want it and sweeping vistas and the fox dance for those who want something a little more dainty.

Go see it.

Once we got to the Bald Rock NP car park, we finished packing our packs and headed off up the track, trying to ignore those rain clouds looming above us. We couldn’t ignore those clouds for too long as we ended up with a decent shower as we walked. Though as Mum says she much prefers for it rain when you have already started walking as you keep going but starting to walk when it is raining is another matter. On the walk in, Karl was very lucky and managed to see a Lyre Bird on one of the granite slabs we walked over! After a couple of hours of ups, downs, arounds and over granite slabs (with a food break) we arrived at our camp site. I managed to get a leech attack with in about ohh 30 seconds of arriving at our campsite (more on that later). Mum pretty quickly scrambled up onto South Bald Rock for a play. Matthew, Karl and I started looking at which patch of ground would be the most suitable to camp on. M & K picked their spot on a nice clean leafless piece of grass and put up their fly. Mum eventually came down off the rock and then we cleared leaves away and put up our fly.

By this stage food was pretty high up on our list of wants and that meant it was time to break out the Optimus and cook the spag bol and take some photos.

With storm clouds on the horizon and a mysterious boom noise sounding in a regular pattern, it was time for bed. Thankfully the rain never came and when we woke up in the morning, it was pleasantly cloudy. Once breakfast was had and bags packed for the day walk we marched off down the road and onwards to West Bald Rock.

Along the way we found a birds nest with a little silver dew drop in.

Some Rock Orchids

Two men walking in front of us

A ground orchid

Some wattle, that smelt like heaven

Some very pretty ballet skirt flowers

Lots of cassurinas

an interesting twig

After scrambling up some granite slabs we found ourself on the top of West Bald Rock.

Then it was back down and around the track a little bit to the entry point to Middle Rock. Matthew stayed on the road minding the packs and the rest of us went up. We didn’t get to the top but had a great time as far as we did get.
Looking back at West Bald Rock

Now on Middle.

We then got some water from the nicest creek, the water was soo clear and fresh. Then back up the road to the nice looking rock for lunch.

Matthew at this time discovered he had a Leech on him, that was quickly removed and he set about cremating the Leech….

When we returned to camp, we had a little break before going up South Bald Rock – total peak baggers we are, 1 attempt and 2 mountains in a day. In this little break, I gummed on a yummy piece of Voodooo Mint Rocky Road, mmm and Karl took a series of photos.

Then we started up South Bald Rock, with an email from a friend of Mum’s telling us how to get to the cave. However we didn’t make it to the cave as when we first started we mixed up the directions with what we saw. We did eventually find the entrance to the caves but due to the lighting and thunder on the horizon we thought we better play it safe and save exploring the cave system till next time.

Once we got back down to camp, we had cous cous for dinner and then after the washing up was done, we all crawled into bed.

Shortly before 0200, Mum and I woke to rain drops coming in the top of the end fly, my response was to crawl closer to the middle of the fly and try to go back to sleep. A few minutes later, my feet started to get wet and the bottom half of my therma-rest was floating in about 10cm of water….. We quickly started piling our sleeping bags on the therma-rest in the middle of the fly and stuffing anything that was loose into our packs. We then put our raincoats on and got out to survey the storm. Matthew and Karl were on slightly lower ground and were totally flooded.

Wit raincoats and headlights on we worked to get stuff on to higher ground and in a little bit of shelter. There was then not much else we could do but wait out the storm. We walked up towards the slab and watched the water gushing off South Bald Rock in a flow of white. There was water everywhere. Along the road we found a whole heap of dark red yabbies ranging to about 15cm in length having a ball in all the water. When we first walked along the road, the water was easily 20cm in depth however the water quickly receded and we were left with wet gear, gentle rain and a hour or two before it was light. We took down the flies and rigged Karl and Matthew’s fly up on higher ground to give us space to put the packs and space out of the rain. Mum and Karl repacked the packs and just as the first bit of light appeared we got changed, had breakfast and started the walk out. The rain had brought all sorts of things out of the bush and one of the coolest things was these slugs that we found all over the place.

The bush just looked so green after the rain.

Just as I got near the end of a track a rock wallaby hopped across the track which was pretty cool and then when I got to the car park another wallaby hopped across the road.

When we were all changed and the car was packed with our belongings we started the trip home. We stopped at a few places along the way and the highlight would had to have been the Sutton’s Juice Factory & Cidery, where I picked up Sun Downer Apple juice and Apple and Mandarin Juice – both very yummy. Matthew picked up a bottle of their cider and loved it so much that when Mum was back up in Stanthorpe the week before Christmas we got him a case of it.

The leech bite that I got on the first day managed to get infected and about 12 days later I got very sick, with swelling round the bite, hot and cold fevers, swollen glands and very tender spots in my leg. I went home very sick from work and after a nap, I called Mum who came and picked me up and took me to their house to look after me. I started to get better a day or two later but still had a very swollen gland in the leg that the leech bite had been on and tender spots all up my leg. It was then that I went to the doctor and got a nice course of Amoxicillin Clavulanate to clear the infection. All that is left now is a little bit of a scar!

We then continued on our way to Rochedale South where Mini Sal (the little brother of a friend of Karl’s) had put on a *little bit of a light display*. Such a *little display* that he won the best new entrant in the lights competition. Which is pretty cool. So cool that he got on Gizmodo a couple of days ago. It was so cool.

Here is a little bit about the display as written in an email that Mini Sal sent.

- It’s all computer controlled, with almost 300 individually controlled channels of lights,
- It’s synchronized to music, which is played on speakers in the yard and broadcast over a low power FM transmitter (which you can listen to by tuning to 91.7 FM),
- There’s about 600 metres of rope light and about 420 sets of fairy lights used in the display, which gives a total of more than 70,000 individual lights,
- The entire display consumes about 85 amps of power when fully on — I don’t actually have the power capacity to turn it all on at once, even after getting 6 extra dedicated circuits installed for the display.
- The display this year is dedicated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and there’s a collection box out front if anyone would like to make a donation.

The display was soo cool. Lots of red, white and green lights, Christmas music and a whole heap of lights. Here are a few photos from the display and then I will put some of the youtube videos at the bottom which give a good picture of how the display works.

This row of Christmas trees was probably my favourite part of the display, so keep an eye out for them in the video and watch them dance.

The introduction to the loop and a little about the display.

Silent Night – I love how the the lights “wake up” in this.

Wizards in Winter – like many others inspired by this youtube video from a couple of years ago

Good King Joy- watch the row of Christmas trees.

Jingle Bell Rock – do the rock.

Christmas Eve Sarajevo – lots of colour runs in this, I love it

The house is on Childs St, Rochedale South, so if you are in Brisbane and have a free evening, take the kids, take the dog, take the neighbour, it is well worth it.

Since I have started full time work, I have often looked at the Spencer and Rutherford display in DJs and ummmed and ahhhed about buying a bag but time and time again I just couldn’t justify the price. Yesterday when I was flipping through this weeks Brisbane News and saw a little ad, advertising a Spencer and Rutherford clearance sale at the RNA. I ummmed and ahhhed about going but I am so glad I went now! I picked up three beautiful pieces.

I was so taken by this bag – Beatrice but I just couldn’t pay $200 for it. It was so so so so pretty. This is the bag that I really ummmed and ahhed about the most. It looked like it would fit my laptop but what if didn’t? I rang Mum and got her get my laptop measurements off the website but of course I din’t have a tape measure with me. I sized it up with a piece of A4 paper and my drivers licence. Then I spied two laptops at the “cashier’s desk” so I asked if I could see if they would fit, they both did and the cashier aka a man who I am pretty sure was Chris Michaelides the business manager of the company said his wife (who if I am right is Kim Michaelides the creative designer) used to use this bag as her laptop bag and she had a macbook. When I got home, I sighed my laptop well and truly fits inside! This bag cost me $99, on the website they are selling it for $171 and I have seen it DJs for round the $250 mark. nice!

This is the other bag I got. I had been looking at a larger bag of the same fabric in DJs on and off for the past year, so when I saw this bag, I picked it up to my chest and sighed. So gorgeous and so classy yet still cheerful enough for me. I am looking forward to swinging this off my shoulder This cost me $79 and in the shops it is round the $220 mark.

My final purchase was a new wallet. I have been using a gorgeous little coin purse that I got at Fossil a few years ago but wanted something a little more grown up and more than just the single pocket. This is what I picked up $39, though mine is a navy colour not the red in the photo. So pretty! If you click on the picture it will take you to the listing on the S&R website and you can see the Matryoshka doll coin purse that is inside it.

The first set were taken by the side of the road looking at a field of what had contained cabbages and broccoli. I just loved the colour and the patterns. The second series were taken at the Glen Rock recreation park, where we had lunch, a little walk, a read in the info shack and some photos. It was a relativity brisk day for September and at one stage I had a tea towel wrapped across my back to keep out the wind. The wattle was just gorgeous and I loved taking these photos. There was also this gorgeous field of long grass which has the most amazing seed tendrils.

The day ended with us having afternoon tea sitting on the footpath outside the Gatton craft shop as the parks were too windy, which was something we have done before but still quite a sight to see.

One downside of new house is that I am now in high possum area and said possums are eating my lettuce (not that I can eat lettuce now anyway but I have been giving Mum and Matthew picked leaves once a week). I have moved the pot so it is now beside the kitchen stairs where there is more light at night so I will see how that goes.

When I was cleaning my windows today the resident Scrub Turkey came for a visit as well (yes my street has a resident Scrub Turkey, I tend to see him/her at least once a day). So cool.

My room has picture rails so when Mum and I went to Bunnings yesterday I picked up some picture hooks and wire. I was so excited then when I got home and tried them they didn’t fit! I was devastated. I was sooo looking forward to using the picture rails. At the moment I have some of my foam core mounted photos and LPs propped up on the picture rails and my framed pieces wrapped up beneath my bed.

Once I had cleaned and cleaned some more it was off to Mum’s and then off to The Farm. We have crumbed fish and veg every time we go to The Farm for dinner but tonight the fish tasted even better than it normally does. We also spent time counting the linen to make sure Grandad has enough to house the NZ contingent as well as other general planning. Man oh man I can’t wait for December! Only nine sleeps to go till the first of the outer towners arrives!

sigh. We have had one hell of a storm this evening though. We left Brisbane round 1545 ish and as we drove the view out the rear just got progressively darker. A while after we got to The Farm, it started blowing a gale and then it got darker again and the rain started. It rained, and it rained and it rained.

As we drove home there were branches down all over the place and traffic lights and street lights out all over the place as well. I thought about giving them a ring to see if it was too late to come down and join a crew but then I thought that I am fairly exhausted from a big weekend moving and I have 38 Navy kids enlisting at 0700 or 0730 in the morning, I need sleep!

I am now sitting in my room at Auchenflower and the rain stopped probably 10 minutes ago. The only sound now is the trains as they zip past and the various bug noises.

Oh well I have SES tomorrow night and I am sure I will hear all about what I missed out on (clearing gutters I bet)

Just living is not enough… One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
- Hans Christian Andersen

I can get bananas from a banana grower at Crabbes Creek, near where Grandad grew up. I can get apples and pears from this lovely old Italian (?) man from Stanthorpe. Heritage tomatoes from this lovely lady. Fresh local squid from the polystyrene box fish shop. Turkish bread that is at least a meter long from the Highgate Hill bakery and everything else I need for the week.

The other week Mum came with me and I took these photos of her sitting on the soccer field eating some American cherries after our shared Hungarian spinach thing which we had for breakfast.

I probably won’t be going the next two weeks as I have weddings on both Saturdays but generally this is where you will find me on a Saturday morning.

Mum and Grandad had planned this trip to check out the new Pacific Highway and some of the new bypasses. Aunty Margaret joined in because she wanted to see some of the rellies and some of the areas that Grandad used to hang out as a young one. I went well because it meant a chance to drive on the Tugun bypass, hang out with Grandad and see the sights.

We drove down to Tweed Heads and had a lovely afternoon tea with Aunty Doris, enjoyed a stroll in the garden and the first of many catch-ups.

Then we popped in on Uncle Bob and Aunty Heather at Cudgen and admired a lovley scarf that one of their granddaughters who is an Army Nurse had brought back from the Middle East as well as general catch-up. Uncle Bob is very proud of the fact that he still drives the tractor for a couple of hours a day most days of the week. Once a farmer, always a farmer.

Then it was driving down to Brunswick Heads to stay the night. We had dinner at Dominic’s, the local Italian restaurant. We shared some zucchini flowers (something I had been wanting to try for ages) for an entrée which were delightful. I had Chilli Prawn Spaghetti for my main which was just the right combination of chilli and tomato. What really stood out for me was my dessert, the most delightful Panna Cotta, oh it was bliss. After enjoying a long dinner it was time to retire to our accommodation, The Brunswick Heads Chalet Motel.

Saturday morning arrived and it was time to pack the bags and drive up the road to New Brighton (where we actually would have liked to stay the night) for breakfast at the only cafe in town “Pippis” (if you are getting the idea that there is not much to this town you would be right). As we drove through Ocean Shores South into New Brighton, Grandad started pointing out places where he used to fish or picinic. One of the first things Grandad said when we walked into the cafe was to ask the man in charge if he knew of the ex-cop who used to run the cafe twenty odd years ago. The current owner didn’t know him though. After our breakfast, we did a little drive round the two or three streets of the township as Grandad pointed out places and Mum and Aunty Margaret remembered their time spent with Great Aunts/Uncles. Then we walked down to the Beach and oh what a glorious beach it was. To Grandad it is one of his favourite beaches and when he was younger him and his family spent many Sunday arvos their with a picnic lunch after church.

After we had our stay on the Beach, it was time to hit the road and keep on moving. On our way out of town Grandad pointed into the bush where a river was and said that when the tide and light was right, he and Armand would pick up Crabs as the tide retreated. As we passed near/over creeks, Grandad would pause and look into the water and comment that the water looked dead or not as full of life and flow that it had been in the 1920′s and 30′s when he spent every possible moment in this land.

Leaving New Brighton we headed to Billinudgel on the Billinudgel Rd, a winding dirt road which used to be the main road north. Granadad recalled driving this road with his Grandmother in a horse and sulky when a train roared past below, scaring the horse and taking them for a bit of a bolt. The first building you see coming down onto the Bilinudgel flats is the house that Aunty Lil used to live in. We took a drive up past it and Mum commented that the house was full of knooks and crannies. Margaret commented that it needed re-stumping.

After a drive round Bilinudgel, we went up to the the Pocket, another area which Grandad had spent time exploring in his youth, as the farm (Souldern – named after the village in Oxfordshire from where the Stephenson’s lived before emigrating to Australia) at Yelgun was on the other side of the mountain to the Pocket. He pointed out a creek that him and Uncle Albert once pulled a sugar bag of fish out of.
After a drive round the Pocket, we headed to Yelgun and up Browning Lane to the old farm. It had been a few years since we had last driven up the road to see the farm and in that time the road has deteriorated considerably. When we got up the house “Souldern”, we were greeted by a big barking mutt who didn’t want us to be there.

After taking some more photos we, headed up the highway a bit further to Crabbes Creek where Grandad went to primary school for a quick flying visit before heading up the road to Murwillumbah for lunch with Aunty Colleen.

Aunty Colleen is a legend.

We had pumpkin soup for starters, then salad plates and last and very not least Aunty Colleen’s trifle. This is a trifle that well, they should probably ask to see your ID before you are served. Very good trifle.

We looked at photos. We talked about trips down to the Tweed and we talked about what everyone else is doing at the moment and Aunty Colleens impeding move down south to Gosford to be closer to her children. We collected quite a few photos to get copies of and one of the photos I picked up is of Grandmum, Grandad and Mum very pregnant with me from Uncle Armand’s funeral. It is now on my desk

And we took a family photo.

Then we drove to the other side of Murwillumbah to see Aunty Ena and Uncle Wally and Ian. To look at more photos, talk more talk and eat some more! The first thing Aunty Ena said to me as I walked up the stairs that looking at my face I just look like, I had thought she was going to say Grandmum but instead she said no I had thought she was going to say Grandmum but instead she said Robin, one of Mum’s cousins. I know what I am going to look like at 40 and I know what I am going to look like at 80. Grandmum had three daughters and it is Mum who resembles her the most and since I am Mum’s only daughter well I would be the granddaughter who has the resemblance. That is the fun thing though.

We talked, we ate, we looked at photos and then it was time to head off, stopping at the house at the top of the main street where Grandad boarded through high school for a quick photo. Then it was the drive home and a trip to the Cod Father for tea. So a weekend of food not prepared by ourselves, driving the roads and lots of memories new and old.

And to close it off a photo of the Mandarin tree at Aunty Colleen’s.

Picking the little red balls. Some weekends we do this in near dark other weekends like yesterday we did it in the winter sun. When I took these photos we had not picked the tomatoes for three weeks we had a bounty on our hands.

We pick the reddest, ripest tomatoes we can find, knowing that they will pack a whole lot more punch when they are dried.

After filling our buckets and trying to avoid the cobblers pegs and pea weed, it is time to clean them. The sink is filled with water and the tomatoes are poured in, washing off the dirt.

We stand there, on either side of the sink, methodically picking up a tomato, plucking off the stalk and putting the tomatoes on a rack to dry.

After they have tried it is on to the fun stuff. Cutting each and every tomato in half and placing it on the rack to go in the food dryer.

Then they dry and dry and dry some more till we have little red discs, typically a bit smaller than a 5c piece. Then we feast on them in salads, pasta, dips, cous cous, sandwiches etc or take photos of them in a vase on the balcony….