Started and finished in the same year!

The succulent picture is complete, just got to let it sit for a few weeks, in which time we hope that all the plants will have taken root. Then will come the task if "hanging" it somewhere outside.

Santa got a bit hung over!

All the way up Heidi's long road (3km in fact) we were greeted to Santa hats, in trees, on gate posts, on fences, it was great. Then there was Santa, hope he had already distributed his presents before he landed up in this tree!

And the next day!

This day being Tims birthday we popped over there to wish him a good one, and reflect on how he had mucked up my Christmas lunch 53 years ago as he kept me waiting for two days before he put in an appearance!

Spent most of the rest of the day either coughing and spluttering (have my Annual cold at the moment!) or making up my vertical succulent garden, the frame for which I received from said son for Christmas. I will show you again when I have finished it but it will not be hung for another month or so as the plants have to take root first, otherwise you would just finish up with ahead of soil and succulents on the floor!

The next day

Well the next day was Boxing Day and I got help with the Greek Custard Slice which was for Girls Day at Joan's house. We had a very pleasant few hours sitting in her lovely garden under the big old ? Tree lit up with fairy lights. We all did something toward the Greek feast, the men wouldn't wear their Togas and after a while they couldn't manage a bit of Zorba The Greek dancing either. Spoilsports!

Christmas night

We went over to Tims place as all the boys were around. It was good being with just the family although they were all a bit on edge as their very old, one eyed dog Daicos has disappeared off into the bush, upset by all the noise the boys and Paul's boys had been making, and they thought they might have lost him. Alls well that ends well though, and about ten pm a very muddy Daicos turned up.

A couple of photos of the Jnr Newhams and Tim in his Father Christmas tee shirt!

Christmas Day

Have had trouble with Blogger, but now seem to be back on track.

Today is Tim's birthday so we will pop over at some stage to say g'day to no 1 son!

Christmas lunch with Heidi and school friend Maria was good. The weather was sunny and we could take advantage of our little outside deck, lunch was chicken and nut roast and veggies, followed by Christmas Pudding, which is my favourite at this time of the year.

Maria likes cats (and has one at home) so Heidi painted her a cat, with which she was very pleased.

Don't laugh at Hobart's newest Tourist Attraction!

We now have Mawsons Skate! An Ice Rink but with no ice, so if you fall over you won't get a wet bum!

It opened on the 22nd and closed the same day "until further notice" as the skates they had got in were not suitable for the surface! So now they are awaiting the new consignment.

Hope it's not too late.

I promised June my easy recipe for sour cream pastry, so as I was doing a batch this morning I took a few photos along the way.

Here goes, and this quantity yielded two and a half dozen:

250 grams plain flour and 200 grams chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes. Process till like breadcrumbs then add 125 grams sour cream and pulse till it all comes together. Remove from processor, knead into a flat disk and refrigerate for 20 minutes before using it.

It is lovely to work with, so light and smooth and when baked it is much lighter than my usual short crust pastry, which I have always used in the past. Well worth a go. I made the mince pies, lined the trays with glad wrap then froze them. When they were hard I removed them to a container, to free up the trays for the next consignment, as I only have tins for three dozen and they are so delicious and go so quickly that I need to make double that amount (at least)

No 1 Grandson

Oliver and girlfriend Steph popped in this afternoon. They are over from Perth for Christmas so he came in handy to put our Angel on top of the tree.

The polyhouse

The as yet unnamed Polyhouse is coming on leaps and bounds. Ken and I have applied for Pickers jobs when it gets too much for Karlo and Heidi!

All I want for Christmas

is a new pair of hand knitted pure wool socks! Aren't they exquisite, I could not take them off last night, they felt so good?

And this was the end of the Smoked Salmon

Thanks Karlo, I am glad you don't like it, cos if you did we would not have got to enjoy it.

No, blogger has not got the time wrong, it really is well past midnight, but I can't sleep - again,

Preparing for the Big Day

Heidi, Sue and I worked hard filling the boxes we had prepared with food we had prepared. Sue made smoked salmon and avocado sushi and I did sausage rolls and fruit mince pies with my newly discovered sour cream pastry, and Heidi painstakingly filled all the fresh bread rolls with tasty chicken and cranberry sauce. The finishing touch was a Lindt chocolate truffle, yum.

This thing has a mind of its own when it comes to the order in which the photos appear, I sort them all out to go with the text and they come out all over the place!

Croquet club party continued

We had our 'do' on the beach again, same venue as last year, which surprised me as some members moaned cos it was a bit cold, anyway Santa duly arrived in his snazzy kayak and lucky me was the first one to climb on his knee and assure him I was worthy of a gift, and consequently lucky me got a very wet bum as his journey had been somewhat choppy and his apron must have leaked ( that was his excuse anyway)

A couple of tasty dips and crackers prepared by Bob were followed by our Bento boxes, and then by the beautiful fruit platters done by Sue, washed down with a colourful green Punch which I thought was non alcoholic, only to discover after a couple of glasses that it contained not only gin, but also vodka. Oh well, we didn't get stopped on the way home so my Drivers Licence is still unblemished!

Thanks

To Karlo for the smoked salmon and to Eva for suggesting a Risotto, my first attempt at Risotto and it won't be my last although next time it may not be as exotic as this one.

Christmas lunch with the girls

Only five of us today, Linda was not well.

It has been a s......hot day today, but it was great at Cascades Visitors Centre, although very noisy, so many other rowdy groups, all celebrating the season.

Had a nice lunch, we all went for just Entree, Dessert, washed down with a good bottle of Wine and then a coffee, so didn't feel I had over indulged!

Christmas came early!

Ken enjoying his latest Bridge game on the new laptop, so what with him on the laptop and me on the iPad, who needs television?

Ho Ho Ho

Now just what is Santa's Little Helper doing sitting on his knee? What's going on here?

Probus had their Christmas Lunch yesterday and I got dragged in to help, and I am not even officially a member yet!

I only had one item of clothing to put on, and I didn't even manage that correctly (didn't get my ears in the right position!) so with a bit of luck they won't ask me again next year.

First Tuesday book club.

Last night on TV was the result of the Nationwide survey on the top ten Aussie books you should read before you die! I still have a bit of time as there were a couple I had never even heard of (mind you I do not class myself as a literary officionardo) (doesn't like my spelling but is not offering a replacement) but The Power of One was No 2 and no 1 was Cloud Street, which I did try but am not a Tim Winton fan. After all they said about it maybe I will give it another go. One that did get a mention though was A Fortunate Life by ? Facey which was the first Aussie book we both read when we had put in our application to come to Australia. After reading it it was a wonder we went ahead with it, but seriously it was an interesting book written by a very unassuming man who had had a very difficult life but had overcome many obstacles and came out the other end with a tale to tell!

Another windy day ahead, still chilly cos of the wind chill factor (a pommie expression which we don't hear here) but up to the high twenties again for Friday.

The flowers at the Community Garden

are bloomin' lovely!

Double rainbow over Scenic Drive

And a house for sale, any takers out there?