So glad I got out yesterday and did a bit while I could (especially stocking up on wood by the back door!) – today was a no-go for any sensible outside work!
The rain came down steadily all day – and even now at midnight it still hasn’t let up!
I dragged some raspberries out of the freezer and proceeded to make the house smell fabulous by baking a banana & raspberry loaf and making up a batch of raspberry jam.
Loaf mix
I just scoffed some of the final baked product as a midnight feast and am now hiccoughing banana bread! 🙂
Jam – pound for pound fruit and sugar & throw a bit of lemon juice in! Easy.I got 6 and a half jars out of that lot!
I was pretty happy with the way it set and tested it out on some fresh bread – have to give it the thumbs up!
Destined for my toast tomorrow morning!
Had a bit of a game with Pip this afternoon – he had ants in his pants, so a rousing game of ‘chase the string around the house’ worked out some of the springs in his feet!
String TheoryEye on the prizeI know these are stationary shots, but the ‘action’ photos are just a Siamese Blur
I managed to tucker him out properly, then promptly lost my Nanna-Knee-Rug as he thinks it is now his. At least he was quiet for a while! 🙂
It started off lovely and sunny today… had a minor lapse early afternoon, then fined up again! All in all not too bad!
It was good to get out and do ‘this and that’
Thought the chooks would like some fresh greens
Anticipation
Then they all stood around, clearly asking where the bacon was?
Too healthy
I left them to it and went to collect the eggs, only to turn around and find the whole squadron had followed me to the coop -still looking for bacon or hot mash no doubt!
I hadn’t collected the eggs for a couple of days!
I am pleased to report that when I returned later in the day, all their green snacks had gone! Good girls!
Time to finish mulching the rest of the salvia! It was easier this time as it was drier and whizzed through rather nicely
Its like potpourri
I was also keeping an eye on the weather – the rain was creeping slowly closer
Despite lack of sun, the breeze was helpful
I fed the worms too… some of the peelings that the chickens tend to ignore and eggshells and general grotty bits I put in the Gee Whizzer and put the slop into the compost.
Pretty worm foodSurviving…
The chickens did get into this and now the broccoli looks kinda bedraggled
Doing its very best!
Even a fragment of a rainbow today!
Things are going well in the hothouse for this time of year
I do think it may be time to remove the last tomato plants… (maybe)
Just a few tomatoes left
I even have some accidental celery! I left it in a pot outside the hothouse door and it has rooted into the ground and is looking really quite good!
Having done all my yard tasks, brought up some barrow loads of wood, watered the hothouse plants etc, I took my rake and headed to the beach…
Rake & Me, hanging out at Fossil Bluff
I know – why be normal??
I was doing an elaborate wedding message in time-lapse and figured that taking a rake to smooth the sand would be useful.
I get a lot of weird looks when I go to Fossil Bluff lately!
We did get down to see Ruby today, but it was pretty late. So no grand stories or photos!!
Her foot is not being kind to her – rather swollen. She does admit that it has done a lot of work in its nearly 100 years of her ‘not being very kind to them’ 🙂
We chatted about knitting and crochet as I took my latest project along for her to check out – A shawl
Not a bikini bottom in case you were wondering
Someone put a pattern on facebook and I found link to a youtube video that was so clear at explaining this!
It will eventually be a shawl
Ruby was impressed with my efforts 🙂 Yay!
We chatted a while & my nurse checked out her foot and has made some suggestions. We don’t like to see Ruby slowed up!!
I am glad I had part two of our walk up my sleeve for tonight! Today I did a lot of sitting about in front of the fire with my crochet!
Jeff and I have not walked to Doone Falls before… mostly when we do the Rocky Cape to Sisters Beach walk, we go the coastal route because we are nerds and love to fossick for shells and rocks!
Jeff spotted the rather run down sign and on a whim we thought, what the heck?? We had no appointments and its only half an hour….
Off the beach and into the scrub
The weather cleared somewhat and the views became nicer as we got higher
And up…
I swear it must have been half an hour later when we finally came across this sign – that said we had 15 minutes to go!
Our suspicions were aroused when we noticed that someone had ‘amended’ the time to 45 minutes
Still… we had come this far…
Helpful walkways over streams and boggy bits
And then we were standing at the top of a path that went dooooown!
And got a bit narrow
Path looks slightly washed away
It continued down… and into a switchback. And the thing about going steeply down is thinking about having to come all the way back up!!
It also got a lot darker down here!
We reached this little running stream and bridge and I will admit to being momentarily disappointed!!
Not Doone Falls
Finally we could hear proper falling water and started seeing more of a waterway rushing down below us (I might add that by this stage we were very much over the 15 minute mark!)
I don’t think I have ever come across a waterfall that has created so many bubbles before!
Bubble City!
It was a soup of froth!!
I couldn’t help it… I had to scoop some up and see what it felt like! Actually it was soft, foamy and slippery. If it had of been a summers day I totally would have jumped right on in!!
It was a funny little waterfall tucked in the rocks with essentially a waterslide down
The water was the usual stained colour
little river on its trek down to the beach
Well, the day wasn’t getting any younger & neither were we, so we started the haul back uphill
One useful thing about having the camera is a fabulous excuse to stop whenever you like to take photos (pant pant, gasp, wheeze)
Spongy
Oh look! A weird tree!! Let me just lean against it and get a photo for my blog (wheeze, gasp, pant)
Well? It WAS weird!!
It was lovely getting to the top of that section and coming back out into the beautiful warm winter light
Gum trees in the late afternoon sunI suspect that’s another hill to tackleAnd overlooking the calm seaA mixture of wombat and wallaby tracks!I think these are wombat tracks
I am thinking whoever does these signs is a super fit sprinter – We are not THAT slow really, but the timings on most of these was rather optimistic!
We had never gone this way and were hoping that it was going to be less work than going all the way back to the beach and up that killer hill!
Oh – and one other minor detail – we forgot to bring water bottles.
Let me amend that.
I just didn’t bother.
Wow – our tongues were hanging out by this stage so after going up another incline…
I heard some running water by the path and plunged into the bush to get to it – lapped up a few handfuls then found a ziplock bag to give to Jeff to collect more
Yup! Drinking water
I am trying to work out how many of you are freaking out right now about the colour of this water and wondering did we really drink that???
Nectar of the Gods
It was cold and tasted so good!! 🙂
Most of Tasmania’s natural waterways are quite drinkable – but I know you are all asking to yourselves how many days I will be absent from my blog with a tummy bug. hee hee
Well… this was Saturday and I am happy to report that all gastrointestinal areas are just fine!! (So far!)
So after the refreshments, we really had to get a wriggle on as twilight was setting in
Onward ho!Not far from the car – but more than 25 minutes from that sign!
Well.. It was a grand little adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed getting back out in the great outdoors for some fresh air and exercise! Glad we did too as it really hasn’t stopped raining since!
Today I was kinder to my body and kept the fire company while adding a few more rows to my latest crochet project.
Since I had so many photos from yesterday, I have decided to break the story up into two parts!
Low Tide
We started at the west end of Sisters beach and headed up around the hill you see in the above photo.
The first of a lot of ‘up’ sections of our day!Cute spongy moss – spotted when taking a breather
As we walked up around the hill we could hear a bunch of noisy voices – kids. We thought a whole class, but turned out to be only three!! Before we saw them, one young voice cracked us up –
“OOOOoooooh Wow – Wallaby Poo!!”
Pokemon Craze – eat your heart out!! 😀
The hill flattened out nicely and we headed through the Banksia Grove
Gnarly old Banksia trees
Anniversary Bay overview
I do love the view over the top…
After so long with wind and choppy seas… the calmness was amazing
I promise I didn’t get over excited this time about potential ambergris… although I was firmly banned from touching it!
This made me laugh
As usual, there was a lot of cool stuff on the beach to fossick through
Cool rock stripes
Due to the recent rains and storms, we noticed a lot of changes to this beach. A lot more rivulets of water making streams down to the sea, exposed rocks and we suspect the usual high tide mark has gone higher and washed away the beach edge vegetation
New stream bedsUnder the sand, layers of mud and rock exposed
Every now and again, proper blue sky would break through the clouds
And be reflected in the puddles on the beach
Making good photographic use of puddlesOdd little streams twisting their way down the beachQuite a lot of this red seaweed was scattered about the sand
We are pretty sure this black rock was not visible in our past visits. The weather has done its workThe water is stained by the local tea tree. It’s quite fine to drink out of the running streamsWater, sand and rock make for some great natural abstract art
At one point, we got quite soggy with this misty rain that came though
But you wait for a few minutes and turn around to enjoy the colours
Reckon we should have been close enough to see that pot of gold!
Even the rubbish thrown up by the storms had an artistic quality
Muddy water streaming down the beach
Interestingly this eroded channel exposed the roots of the coastal grasses – long ropy things that, when plaited, proved quite strong!
The blue sky, doing its best!Standing by one of the new streams
Almost time to strip down to my t-shirt!!
It was a really fabulous walk along the beach yesterday – so much had changed and there was a lot to see.
I shall return tomorrow with photos of the second half of our hike, where we wandered off into the bush to find Doone Falls
Enjoy what is left of your weekend!
Cheers
Last look at the beach before heading up into the hills behind
I am pretty tired tonight and there is no way I am going to be able to sort and post process the umpteen photos I took today!
We ignored the rain and took ourselves on a hike down to Anniversary Bay, and then found another path to a waterfall we had previously not known about.
So five hours, give or take, going up hill and down dale (literally) has taken a bit out of me, since I have been doing way too much slothing by the fire these days!
So enjoy a couple of the photos and I will come back and sort them tomorrow.
In the meantime I am going to fall into bed and whinge and moan about my ‘Old Lady Legs’ 😀
Cheers!
Loving the colour of the water and the sand pattern it makes on its journey to the seaTreasuresBeach stuffFirst time to Doone Falls!I have never seen a waterfall kick up this much foam and bubbles before!
We hiked the last part in twilight!!
Hello! Today I am escaping soggy Tasmania to show you another bit of Japan.
Fushimi Inari is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto.
It’s pretty much famous for the thousands of tori gates that line the pathways all the way up the mountain.
Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousand shrines dedicated to Inari – the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari’s messengers, so fox statues can be seen scattered all about the area too. Some foxes will be holding a bunch of rice stalks in their mouths, and others scrolls – presumably important messages.
It was a hot bright glaring day when we went- the colour is amazing! Sunglasses would be an advantage!
It was really good fun to walk up the mountain through the countless tori!
Since early Japan, Inari has also been seen as the patron of business. Merchants and manufacturers have traditionally worshipped Inari. All the tori have been donated by individuals or companies… and can cost up to a million yen each! Names and dates of the donor are inscribed on the tori.
Some of the original structures date back to around 711AD but most are much more recent than that
After all the orange, a bit of green is a relief!!
A lot of side paths and shrines to explore
Meeting the local kitties
Dark shrine on the side of the lake
Finally a bit of colour other than orange or green
Chains of origami cranes
When my niece Emma was shorter than me!!! (sob sob)
As we were heading back down the mountain having fully achieved not getting to the top, but chasing the cats all around because they were cute… I got out my fisheye lens to have some fun with the tunnels of tori
Jeff wandering off in the distance!I love this colour! Its so Japanese !!
This is really a must not miss place to see if you are visiting Kyoto. Its a short train trip from Kyoto’s main station and it costs nothing to enter the area and wander around until your hearts content!
One of Pip’s rare out of bed moments. He lasted long enough to give the weather a dirty look then go back to sleeping in my Nanna-Knee-Rug !!
I quite like the Tasmanian ‘I can’t make up my mind” weather. Admittedly it has been extra soggy and miserable lately… but it will generally give you little blue sky moments and a fleeting chance to run down the back to see if the chooks are still afloat, or show off with a rainbow or ten just because it can.
The gum trees that loom over our house!
The wind really did kick up there for a while!!
Dancing in the wind
The other half of our front gate set got blown off its hinges… there goes another job on to the ever lengthening yard list!
Damn
I had to re-weight the tarps down a few times before I got it right. The wind blew up in sneaky ways and dislodged the concrete blocks!!
I sorted this out but so far – no floods!
Very pleased with the weather curtain – it shields the barrow of wood and its really nice not literally wading in through the door!
The ground is now so sodden that its hard to push the wheelbarrow of wood up the small slope to the back of the house – the ground literally falls away under my boots!
Its a bit of a quagmire down the back right now!Pretty green but very soggy
Of course there are patches of blue sky every now and again
I see a break in the weather, so grab the camera and head outsideThis lasts for about 20 minutes!Then you watch the clouds roll back in!Grey skies over Norwich House!
We got some hail yesterday morning! This patch lasted all day in the garden!
Frozen strawberries!
The chickens seem to be coping pretty well… I really want to put a roof on their yard so they have more places to shelter…
Nice fat, fluffed up hensA nice big container of warm smash – potato and various other tasty leftovers
I like going down the back to stare at the little cows too! They eventually all come up to stare back at me! They are such a crack up with their serious faces!
While I am not really whinging about the weather – it was pretty miserable again today. We started with a hailstorm – and thus set the tone for the day!
It was tough, but I got myself out of the house and down to collect Margie and get to Ruby’s with the express purpose of sharing her warm lounge room and a cup of something hot!
The chit chat eventually accidentally fell upon that lovely old fashioned practice of getting a trousseau together! We were comparing notes and having show and tell with our latest knitting and crocheting projects.
With Ruby’s foot giving her grief, and her eyesight so very poor AND the weather keeping her inside, she is very grateful she can do something with her hands.
Ruby made this case to keep flat all her doilies etc
Back in Ruby’s younger years, most girls were taught all manner of needlecraft. The social scene back then wasn’t huge and in the country, it was even less readily available. Often when friends got together they would sit and make things. Lots of those things were ‘put by’ to give out at birthdays, Christmas or other occasions.
Girls started preparing gathering items for a house long before they even met a prospective Mr Right!
Looking through treasures
Lots of little memories and stories behind certain pieces. Some made, some shop bought!
One such set – a Duchess Set I learned – one larger middle piece and two smaller matching ones – was made by an elderly lady who was a patient for a while in Ruby’s hospital.
Apparently the ‘dear old soul’ had no family and it gave her great pleasure to make these beautiful pieces and wanted to give them to the nurses who took care of her. It was very strict policy that the nurses accepted no gifts, but it was so hard to refuse this lady, and a number of the nurses were lucky to get a memento. A beautifully edged tablecloth was given, and is now at Ruby’s church.
A memory of a patientA bit more detail
Things were made that nowadays you wouldn’t think to have in your collection – a breakfast tray cover, for example – something to present breakfast on, to your house guests!
For when you are being posh
Collections were made of towels, linen and other household items and stored in a special box or cabinet.
Ruby’s mother presented her with 2 sets of white double bed sheets. The kind of quality that would last 10 years, despite being boiled in a copper, poked with a stick and starched into oblivion!
We don’t think anything of brightly coloured & patterned bedsheets do we? Well – they were all white for a very long time. The first time Ruby saw and bought coloured bedsheets the look on Bill’s face was priceless. She hadn’t told him, and he went to get into bed and exclaimed “Well!!! I didn’t think things were so bad we had to sleep in the curtains!!” 🙂
Delicate pieces that lined the silver serving trays
Of course you collected towels – but you had to make sure you had a set of special towels for guests!!
Also special dresser covers were put on the dressers under the jug and basin of water that would be in a bedroom so you could have a wash. Hot water from the fire was used to fill the jug. Of course the cover would get grubby quickly, so there was a lot of washing, starching and ironing and you had to put it back ‘Ever so nicely’ on the dresser.
Tablecloths were important to have too – naturally you had to have your everyday cloth and also ‘one for best’ along with serviettes!
A beautiful tablecloth that Ruby made – a picture in each corner
I got married a bit late, so having lived away from home so long I already had a good collection of house goods to use.
Some girls still have a “Kitchen Tea” where a party of friends come along and bring small kitchen utensils, tea towels and the like.
From reading this and that I believe bridal showers are a big thing in the US?
In Ruby’s day it was a Kitchen Tea Party. Presents were not grand. Small useful things like colanders, graters, pots… it all helped. Usually family helped out with some of the bigger needs in setting up a home.
Times have changed a great deal. I could not imagine myself sitting down making a trousseau, or being any where NEAR that organised. Mind you, my sewing abilities are legendary – ask my mother the best way to put a pair of undies back together (at 15 years old I thought stapling was the best solution) I eventually graduated from Staplers to Double Sided Tape. 🙂
It really was a lovely afternoon, snug and warm in the lounge room with Ruby and Margie chatting the afternoon away and reliving those early years!
