29th September posted by Heidi.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
mum and dad have a lovely day.

And how would you like your Bumblebee Ma'am?

 

Done to a crisp please!

This is a warning to all unwary Bumblebees who fly into our Domain at night and make for the only available uplight - it is pretty hot in there.

This is a novel way to have your evening interrupted! The smell of a sizzling Bumblebee is not a pretty smell.

We had an exciting afternoon!

at the Community Garden yesterday!! Vijay decided it was time we cleared up the pile of rubbish which had accumulated over the months, in readiness for the Grand Opening by the State Premier and the Mayor. It was a lovely still afternoon, not a breath of wind - that was until we lit the fire! Suddenly the wind came up, but we were ready with our two hoses and rakes, as all good Arsonists should be. There was a lot of smoke and suddenly we heard the sound of the Fire Engine and in they rolled! They were impressed with our precautions, but said under the NEW as yet unpublished Bylaws we cannot have fires anywhere in urban areas anytime! Fancy telling us now! Anyway the pile, as you can see, has gone down, and the song in my head, which comes over and over again is "I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to start a flame in your heart."

See that heap of branches to the right of all the empty beds?

 

Well thanks to the boys in yellow, it now looks like this!

 

We've done it!

 

Food fit for the last supper! Tonight Ken polished the table for the twentieth time and I dished out the soup for the last of the 97 people who have helped us raise the amazing sum of $2,946 over the past couple of months.

I have just done my sums, although it is 4.33 am and my brain might not be functioning quite rightly, but I make it that we have helped 5,100 children in the fight against Polio. Speaking for myself, I have enjoyed it and I thank everyone who came to dine with us, encouraged us along the way, and I now know that the way to a man's wallet is through his stomach!

We finished in fine style, with the Mayor of Kingborough coming tonight, that might be a bit of namedropping, but he just happens to be an old friend of Tim and Mandie, their children having attended the Steiner school here in Kingston a few years ago.

BUT we have not quite finished! Couldn't hang up my pinny without getting to my target of $3000.00 (that was somewhat elastic and increased as time went on!) so on Tuesday we are having a last ditch effort with a Coffee Morning here when we hope to raise the last $56. It should be 'a piece of cake'

Robert Pennicott

What a fantastic man, and what a fantastic effort. He is the first man, with his first mate Nick, and his trusty camaraman Zorro, to circumnavigate Australia in two little rubber dinghies with outboard motors! The foreword to his Blog: www.followtheyellowboatroad.com reads as follows:

"I deeply believe that when I die I want to have made a substantial difference to the world. I have dreams to give away a lot more money than what I do now, so I have come up with an idea that will make me the catalyst to hopefully raising many millions of dollars"

So I hope, in my small way, that I have helped eradicate Polio from the world!

Spring has sprung!

 

 

Had to find some big flowers to put in my new big vases! Didn't used to like the funeral lilies but they are growing on me!!

Dinner Parties for Polio

I am still doing our Dinner Parties and to date we have raised $2.300, so by the time we have finished we hope our target of $3000.00 will be reached!

Follow the Yellow Boat Road

If you have Facebook, have a look at Rob's Page and look at the video he has posted on his trip from Hobart to Triabunna. There you will see where we were a couple of weeks ago, Cape Rauel and Cape Pillar and the fabulous coastline around Tasman Island. This we will certainly 'do' when Heidi comes after Christmas, we will do the Tasman Island Trip with Rob Pennicot, like the trip we did round Bruny. I am really looking forward to this trip, it should be great.

The other video clip I want you to look at is on Rob's Blog, the bit from Portland to Apollo Bay is quite spectacular, you may remember that Ken and I spent time there, doing some of the Coastal Path, the Great Ocean Road, well this is the bit he is travelling on the video clip. If you have time I urge you to look at both the Facebook Page and www.followtheyellowboatroad.com.

The Wicked Witch of the East - Aussie style

 

Need the corks Mate, to keep the flies at bay Mate!

Afternoon Tea at the Community Garden

 

and Ken thinks I go there to work!!!! Well I do really, but today we thought we would christen our new table by using it for afternoon tea. We meet there every Monday, rather than going up on our own, much more sociable. It is all planting and working at the moment, not much to harvest - yet!

ello ello, whats this all about?

 

No, we are not expecting the patter of tiny feet, at least not here, maybe in Uganda! This is my contribution to the six ladies from our choir who are leaving for Uganda on Saturday to make up a choir of l00 Australian voices who will not only sing with African children, but help to build a classroom for a Childrens Village in Uganda. Wish I was going with them, but don't envy them the nine or so jabs they had to have before leaving.

This time last year....

 

I was in Prague, celebrating my birthday with friends. How time flies!

Now THIS is a Sandcastle!

 

Further to Heidi's scathing remarks about the 'sand pies' I recently called sandcastles, I knew I had some somewhere in all my photos, and tonight I found them, so hope this sandcastle lives up to expectations!

Here is another nice one.

 

This was taken around Heidi's birthday last year, we had bought her some native shrubs (all of which are doing well) for her birthday.

Welcome to sister Helen!

 

At long last I have heard that sister Helen is looking at my Blog, so this one is especially for her, to say Welcome to the Blog and I hope you enjoy it sister. Just wish I could get the other two to do the same, no excuse for Susan, she has a computer, a bit more difficult for June though, unfortunately.

The Mill at Oatlands

 

Now I know you might have seen this one before, but it just came up on my screensaver and I just could not resist showing it to you again, I think it is a great photo, even if I say so myself.

It jogged my memory as I am just making bread milled at that mill, although I have not made any bread for a while, and I think I may have lost my touch!!!! (or maybe my yeast is a bit old!)

Yum!!

 

Today's Pasta session produced this delicious-looking canneloni. Wonder what we will come up with next week.

Oh what a beauty

 

 

never seen one as big as that before,
oh what a beauty, must be two feet long or even more!

Well, maybe I am exagerating but the radish was pretty long, and just look at all those snowpeas.

A trip to the Bottle Shop

 

leaves Ken in an pensive mood!!

We both need our heads examined!

 

so we have come to the right place for the first seven hours of investigation into our brainwaves, then comes ten weeks of intensive Mindfullness Meditation, then another seven hours of tests to see if we have improved any!!!

For all this we are attending the University of Tasmania to help two young ladies who are doing their PhD's to see if the course affects heathy older adults performance on attention and memory tasks as measured by neuropsychological tests, personal reports and electroencephalograph measures. So there, now you have it!

Good job the Dinner Parties are almost over (another two to go and up to now we have collected $2,300.OO for Polio, and we can concentrate on the next challenge in our little lives. One thing is for sure, life is never dull!

Making our own Pasta: Lesson No. 1.

 

 

 

 

You must be truly fed up of looking under our bed at the cobwebs, its been a week since Heidi and I had our first 'go' at making our own 'pillows' as the kids used to call them. We made the pasta on the bench, just like we had watched in the youtube video, then we made the delicious filling of spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheese seasoned with nutmeg and salt and pepper. Heidi piped in in, I covered it over and together we expelled all unwanted air and cut it up into more than bite size pieces. That evening we went back to savour the fruits of our labour and all agreed that it wasn't bad for our first attempt.

Next time she tells me we are making tortellini, so watch this space.