Only time will tell

I have this idea of living in a nice hosuse and a huge garden with vegetables growing. We are still working on the nice house bit but we do have a big garden. Now I'm working towards the vegetable dream. I ordered some heirloom seeds a few weeks ago, convinced myself that ordinary veges are too boring, and planted the seeds 2 weeks ago. The previous owner left lots of seedling pots in the shed, but none of the seeds in the seedling pots came out. However, those seeds I tried in the used egg carton (Gina's suggestion) were all out. They are 5 colour silverbeet, tri-colour zucchini and radish (from left to right).

The plan was to prepare the ground at the same time so the veges have somewhere to grow once the seedlings come out. The ground is no where near ready as I got too squremish about the wood lice and some other namless insects on the ground. Can a person like me successfully grow vegetables? Only time will tell!

Swimming class

After 2 terms of Kingergym, Lara started to do her own thing and not follow instructions. We even had to leave early in one class because Lara would not listen. A change was needed so I signed Lara up for swimming this term instead.

Lara did her first swimming class on Monday. She's over 2 and a half so I don't have to get into the water with her.

It was great fun watching the class behind the glass door. At one point, the kids took turns jumping into the pool from the side. Lara was impatient and wanted to jump first, not realising she would get her head wet, and she didn't like that! She was a little apprehensive, this being her first proper class after a trial 3 weeks ago, but I am sure she'll improve over time.

Chicken update

We were very disappointed to learn that the chickens left by the previous owner are 6 years old and don't lay any more. We thought we would keep them as pets initially, but didn't name them in case we changed our mind (they were sometimes referred to as C1 and C2). They became company to Zebadee, but Lara never warmed to them. Zeb must think she is also a chicken - how else do you explain the fact that she prefers the chicken house than her own dog kennel?

The chickens acted like they owned the house, but they started to grow on us. It was nice seeing them walking around in the garden every morning but it was time-consuming to get them back into their coop. Simon thought there was some intelligence in those little brains, but they were basically food-driven. It was nice to get rid of our kitchen scraps but we usually didn't have enough to feed them. And the food attracted wild turkeys, some morning we saw a couple of turkeys in the garden with the chickens. We heard they can be a breeding ground for lice (pooh hanging from their bottoms was a telling sign we were told). We didn't like Zeb supplement her diet with chicken poohs either. At the end, we decided to 'give them away'. But who wants some old hens? No one! The vet offered to put them down (for a price), but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

At the end, the local vegetable man came and took them. Whether they are being used as soup stock, or live in a farm (as we were told), we would never know. They are very handsome-looking so hopefully they now live in their 'retirement' farm as breeding stock.

We won't see this outside Lara's bedroom window any more. The chicken coop feels empty without them...

Koala park

It was mostly rainy this Labour long weekend. On Monday, we were all restless and needed to get out of the house. It was clear and a little sunshine came out in the morning, we decided to go to the Koala park (Lara says "kolala park").
Our first stop was to see emus, peacocks and sheeps, just as a shearing show was about to start. After that, we walked to the Kangaroo feeding enclosure, passing some enormous animals made of concrete. Lara liked the fake animals but was a little apprehensive about the real ones. We didn't have any food to feed them, but the kangaroos were very friendly and came to say hi, one even opened up Simon's hand to check if there was food in it!
We walked around and saw a cassowary (bad tempered bird), a wombat, koalas, cockatooes, dingoes, and chicknes. It started to rain, luckily it was not heavy. Lara was very interested in all the puddles, she had raincoat and rainboots on so we let her explpore as she wish. We went back at the advertised time to 'pat' the koalas. Lara only got 'one small pat' as there were quite a lot of people there. Th park is not huge, and a little run-down. But I heard it was one of the few places you can pat kangaroos and koalas these days. We all enjoyed this short, relaxing outing.

Books April- September 09

Blue shoes and happiness
The good husband of Zebra drive
In the company of cheerful ladies
by Alexander McCall Smith

I get my hands on any 'No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' books I find in the library. Why? Becaue I really enjoy reading them. It's the simple things in life that matters and these books serve well to remind me that.

One child by Torey L. Hayden
It's shocking, heart-warming, and sadly it's a true story!
Torey Hayden is very good story-teller and seems to be an excellent teacher too. I had to stop reading it on the train one morning, because of one horrible scence in the middle of the book. I still couldn't make myself finishing it. I would recommend the book to anyone who has the stomach to read it.

Warren Buffet: An Illustrated Biography of the World's Most Successful Investor
by Ayano Morio
Contains interesting facts about Warren Buffet. A fast, interesting read for Warren Buffet fans. The drawings are very entertaining, it makes Warren Buffet look like a real superhero. Maybe he is in his own way?

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Jane Austen's first book but it was published last. It is not as famous as the others, and after reading it, I think I know why. The usual hero-heroine misunderstanding but less convicing. Definitely not my favorite.

Julia Child's lamb stew and strawberry jam

I made Julia Child's lamb stew last week, recipe from her book 'Mastering the art of French cooking'. I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I cooked everying in one pot on the stovetop (who needs the extra washing up and our oven is broken) and I used a can of tomatoes rather than fresh ones. I think the main difference comes from using various cuts of meat -I used a mixture of lamb chops and lamb forequarters. I also browned the meat with sugar and flour as the recipe said. It was delicious! I am keen to try other recipes from the book.



I couldn't walk away from these strawberries on sale, and they became jars of jam using my trusted bread-maker. I made 4 batches in two days, each with a slightly different sugar content. I meant to write it all down straight away but didn't. Luckily they didn't taste that different. After giving away 3 jars, I still have 5 left in the fridge. The jam can be improved upon but it tastes a lot 'fresher' than your average supermarket varieties. Lara and parents-in-law like them on toasts for breakfast. I can't wait to try other summer fruit (eg plum)!