muppinstuff

everything was happening yesterday

Ahem.... added on Monday night. This post needs an edit. Obviously I really was a bit worse for wear. Some of it just didn't make sense at all....

Well, my computer is back (big thanks to my Dad!). All repaired with a new motherboard and new hard drives. It's blisteringly fast compared to before. There is still have some work to do. We need to re-install my beloved photo processing software (ACDSee). And there are questions I keep asking myself now I see myself at a sort of crossroads of the new. Do I go with internet explorer or make the leap to google chrome? Or run both? How am I going to set up my favourites? How different is Windows 7 to Vista? It all feels a little strange, so I think there will be an adjustment period before blogging and working on my photos begin in earnest. But I have my Outlook back! Yay! I felt so cut off from internet land and even my offline life without it. Although I was beginning to adjust.

Anyway, it will all have to wait a bit. I'm still feeling a bit fragile. Like a rose wilting in the heat. We had a double birthday bash here last night for G and me. There was no escaping the inevitabilty of this party as it was a significant birthday for G and really, it just had to be done. Of course, we decided that everything had to be ship shape - why I don't know, because once those kids go through the house it's not like anyone notices whether you've tidied the laundry or not. I had nightmares about not having enough food and as a consequence we have a fridge full of leftovers. All up, it was a pretty good party though. Lots of neighbours and children, who for the most part were charming and had fun without hurting each other. Some cool presents including a hilarious book on fruit carving. I also made the executive decision to clear all the savoury food before setting out a dessert table, as I'd made cheesecake, cupcakes and a big cake and others had bought slice and meringues and there was fruit and sesame biscuits and Mim's lovely banana cake. I rather liked that bit and people seemed to enjoy it. Then when it was just us and the stayers, I relaxed into a serious bit of trashification. For which I am paying today. But it was so totally worth it. I know I keep saying it, but I really like living around here. It's the best.  

p.s the picture above is clearly not our house. I got the photo from here. Real life photos will be a while coming I think.

hurray! barbeque in the park season has begun

On the way home from childcare, we popped in at a neighbours to see if they were going to barbeque at the park tonight. Several little impish heads popped over the fence from the new deck and Grace was swept into kidworld. Another neighbour said he would go if others went, which given the chill in the wind was my thought too. Our night confirmed, I went home to prepare some food and let G know. It was lovely seeing our neighbours and meeting new friends. Catching up on gossip. Confirming that the self-raising flour from the co-op is indeed plain flour and that I'm not the only person who's had some cake disasters. Talking about the vegie co-op. It's good but strange sometimes, and it's reassuring to talk to others who've been vegie co-opping for longer. G came down for a while and then went of to the Megadeth/Slayer concert. That was one I passed up, not even the prospect of a big night out would have got me to that one. I am so boring, I know.

 
After the park went back to Mel and Andy's and lounged around there. I love their back area, sort of like an outside lounge at a groovy cafe, with added northern suburban charm. It was so very good to see Mim again who is back from overseas and I met Sherrin, another fellow blogger - also doing blogtoberfest- waves hello! She's lovely like heaps of bloggers I meet and she knows my sister too. Small world eh? Keep meeting bloggers everywhere these days, or maybe I'm just less self conscious about it. Grace disappeared inside to the world of dress ups and reappeared an hour or so as a very cold mermaid wanting me to get her dressed. And then wanted to go home. Just I could have stayed for another hour. Anyway, I don't think I've got much more to say tonight. I'm tired and have had beer which slid down quite nicely thank you and is combining with the purple pill to make me feel very relaxed.

ps, you can see the same night through another pair of eyes and another lens over at starashan. How cool is that?

 

I go out walking

So far I've only missed one day of my walking this month. And that was Monday which I'm going to forgive because I just don't see how it could have been squished in, and anyway, I did walk down to the pizza place on the corner where we had the meeting and back again so it was about half a walk. Today I didn't stress about it and predictably, because I was tired and coldy and was home with Grace for a good part of the day and then we all went out to run some messages together, the chance just didn't come up. Indeed I felt pretty good that I manged to get the house sort of tidied, the washing put away and drag Grace away from ABC kids. Oh, and clean out the fridge and make left over vegie pie for dinner. Then after dinner, once Grace was in bed, I put on my backpack (for the camera), a hat and scarf and went for a walk. Just like that. Easy.

 
I love it that I can go any time. That I don't need any special equipment or funny clothes. And there is always something to see. Walking at night by myself probably rules out walking by the creek. Although I do wonder how much more dangerous it really is... parts of the bushland down there are pretty isolated during the daytime too. Anyway, I like to swing my arms and I don't really think, I just let things float and notice things. Like the telly is on in the front room of the house I just passed, ooh and there's a pile of clean bricks with a sign saying free, please take or how some people seem to go to bed really early. I see teenagers hanging round in cars swearing and playing boom boom music. Other people out waking their dogs. Lights shining through the trees. And then I get home and it's all warm and nice and I feel good that I went for my walk again. 

good tired

I'm tired. Good tired. Muscles aching from working in the garden and four days in a row of walking. Today G and I went down to the park and salvaged a big tree branch that had broken in the wind. G used his hand saw to liberate a long silvery grey gum log from it's smaller branches. Together we carried it home. It will edge the front garden alongside the path I'm planning. Then I went back and dragged home all the smaller branches with leaves on them. These have been chopped up with the big and small secateurs into a nice leafy mulch. It crackles when you step on it and smells eucalypty. My favourite sort of mulch.  

 
One of my neighbours is working in her garden a lot at the moment too and she said my mulch looked very pretty. She has an awesome pile of woodchips and said she tried to convince the guy with the truck and shredder to go and pick up the fallen branches in the park but he said they didn't do that. I'm probably stealing, but it had been there for over a week and the branches were much to big for the kids to make cubby houses out of. My neighbour and I talked about our court and some of the goings on. She even finds the boom boom boys at the end of the court with their wheelies and hotted up cars amusing. I do too, except if Grace or the other kids are out on the footpath. And then there's the checkerboard house which can see faintly above. Classic really.

That's all I've got tonight. Braindead. Thinking social media for tomorrow night. Work tomorrow. Daylight savings. All out of whack. Better go to bed. Yikes. Goodnight.

more than potatoes and cabbages

Yesterday was vegie box day. I've mentioned before that we've joined a local organic vegetable co-op. And it's a beautiful thing. Every Thursday we get a box of fresh fruit and vegetables and most weeks it's a s simple as popping over to a neighbours house to pick it up. Sometimes it's a quick in and out, other times we linger and chat or sticky at what other people have done with their house (endlessly fascinating around here because we all start with a variation of a similar house with similar issues). But it's a focal point of each Thursday. As is a dinner dish from the big fridge clean out. Yesterday I made leftover vegie flan - leeks, spring onions, mushroom, zucchini, carrot and silver beet with some egg and cheese in a crispy wholemeal pastry - yum.

 
Some weeks Thursdays are more involved. Like the week I did another member's pick up from Ceres because someone else had done mine while I was in hospital and I thought a trip to Ceres would be fun. Actually it was, except for the bit where I couldn't turn the car around outside the loading point without fear of smashing into a glass cabinet and there was all this mud and a whole lot of high school students were mocking me. And although the teacher did give me a push, I smelt burnt rubber or clutch. And the bit where Grace wouldn't use the Ceres toilet because they're a bit funny and then when she ran away and hid in the community garden. Every other bit - the vegies, the coffee, hanging out with Emily and Helke, that was all fun. Even the calls on my mobile from someone ready to pick up were kind of fun because Emily had to answer my phone while I was driving and it was highly comical.... And then the mega sort with 4 adults in our tiny kitchen, that was kind of crazy. But good.

 
This week was the week I'd swapped with Zoe but she suggested as I'd done an extra one already that we share it and she did the collection from Ceres, which is just as well because I don't think Grace would have been up for it. We both sorted, which is a job I rather like. Then I did the meet and greet when people came to collect their boxes. Super easy. Except that the boxes were really heavy. We got a credit for some slimy limp mouldy beans. Very expensive slimy limp mouldy beans. So this week we got; lovely little apples, navel oranges, fairly ripe bananas (I see some baking tomorrow), divine fat asparagus, beetroot, carrots, nicola potatoes, a whole green cabbage, coriander, chillies, mung bean sprouts (better than I thought they'd be), lettuce, avocados and silver beet. There was so much, I gave a good size bag of stuff to my mum this morning and there is still pleanty left for us. This bountiful basket would cost a fortune if we bought it retail, but through the co-op it is very good value. I'm amazed at how smoothly everything seems to run. Sometimes there are little flurries of emails about this and that but it just works. We eat much better because of it too.

I used to think that I would mind not choosing what we got each week, but strangely I don't. It takes the pressure off and my cooking is the better for it. I do a small shop after we get the vegie box to feel in the gaps (like mushrooms and onions this week) and to make things from the box. Our food bills have started to go down too. Not as much as I'd like yet, but a bit. And some weeks I can avoid the supermarket altogether which is lovely.

In other news, I went for a walk again today. Two days! Yay me.   

from now on, light wins over dark

The Sunday before last (has it really been that long since I blogged?) we celebrated the Spring Equinox down by the Merri Creek. The creek was full of rushing water, the grass was long and lush. There was also a fair bit of onion weed, but that's the city for you. There was eating and drinking, hanging out, children playing and climbing the cliff. And some very serious cape action.

Unfortunately our social calender (plus my laziness) has been such that we didn't make it to the cape making workshop, but I'm thinking that we should plan some outfits for the summer solstice celebration. And some lanterns or torches for zooming about after dark and making our way back to the bridge and home again.

Life is pretty good in the 'hood.  

clothes swap in the park

Last Sunday we had a clothes swap in the park. It was organised as a fundraiser to buy some equipment for our drygoods co-op and it was so much fun (even though I was still in recovery mode and thought I might not make it,  I'm glad I did). It was simple too. The deal was that you arrived with your bag of things to swap; clothes (kid's, men's, women's), books, toys, shoes, some bric a brac. Basically anything good enough to give to the opshop. You paid five dollars per family and you were in. There was also a table with slices of cake, tea and coffee for a gold coin donation. We all started looking at everything as it arrived, of course, but put everything back in the pile. Once everyone was there, we stood around, poised and waited for the word. Then we fossicked. Oh it was good! The only danger was that if you took something off to try something on, it was liable to disappear! And Helke nearly lost her new ugg boots. Oops. But those issues got sorted pretty quickly and it all turned out OK.

 

The best thing I came away with was a beautiful long vintage velvet skirt with a border pattern that I am going to remake into a shorter skirt or some bags.I also picked up a t-shirt to remake slightly for Grace (although it's in an adult size she asked if it was for her - it's stripey and really her colours) and some dress ups. Gerard got some records and Grace got some new toys. We got rid of heaps and heaps of stuff and it was a good feeling that our neighbours got a chance to pick over it before it went to the oppy. Afterwards, a woman from a local opshop came with a van and took the remaining stuff away. It was a winner all round.

I think we're going to do it four times a year now, just before the season changes perhaps. Indeed, I heard that it may be the easiest fundraiser ever. Not that I organised it, but it sure beats being asked to take chocolate from childcare to sell at work. We said no to that one, because we'd just eat it and end up not only having eaten a shitload of very expensive chocolate but paying for it too.  And the clothes swap was great, the kids were talking about it for ages and I think anything where we come home with less stuff than we walked out the door with has to be a good thing.

* * * *

Thank you for your well wishes too. Things are slowly starting to improve, although I am going to have another week off work. I have all these thoughts about the hospital system swirling about my head but maybe I'll leave them until some other time.

Night, night.

the vegie box

So we've joined a vegie co-op. This is our second week and so far, so good. Indeed I think it might turn out to be a very good thing for us. Two years ago if you'd have told me that I'd be joining a newly formed organic vegie co-op I'd have laughed out loud because although I'd have thought that it was a good idea, in theory, it just wasn't the my sort of thing. Shopping for food is hard thing for me to let go of (ask Gerard) and I am picky about fruit and when I think certain things are past their best. For example I rarely buy grapes past Easter and I wont buy apples that smell like they have spent years in a cool store (control issues, me?). So with something like a co-op, I worried that the vegies would be too expensive, not nice, that I'd have no choice of what we got and that it would just be far too much trouble. But this neighbourhood has a funny way of working on me and things that would never have been the go in Brunswick, well they just seem to work out here. There is a degree of what I'd call peer enthusiasm and the geography itself is persuasive. I can walk to most members of the co-ops houses with Grace without having to cross more than one big road (not even a very scary one at that) and none of the walking is down big horrible or industrial streets. We mostly live in a variation on the same house which I find endlessly fascinating. And lastly, I guess that the shopping around here is also not that convenient. There's no good supermarket within a five minute walk. And really, I'd like to not go to the supermarket as much as I have been, because it's boring, time consuming and expensive.

Enter the vegie box. You join together with some neighbours and everyone puts in $40 a week (or $20 for a half box). Someone is in charge of paying the bill and the admin stuff and everyone takes a six week turn at ordering from Ceres. It's a good deal price wise, cheaper than going to the Ceres market. We buy most produce by the box, some by the unit or bunch. It's fresh and seasonal. We've got information on food miles to consider and this has got me to thinking about a whole heap of food issues in general. I've decided that imported organic sugar is a bit silly but that bananas, avocados and the like from Queensland are fine. Tinned tomatoes, I'm going try and find an Australian brand I like and chocolate and coffee I'd like to do a bit better with too, but we'll see.    

We had our turn at picking up the boxes and unfortunately, I have to say it could of gone better. I was really anxious about us driving through Ceres (anyone familiar with Ceres might understand this) and then we were half way home and I realised we'd forgotten the onions! Doh! Anyway we got home before anyone arrived to pick up their box. But hadn't finished sorting when Zoe turned up. She was a great help, especially as I was faffing a bit. Still, it was all totally fine in the end and I don't think it will be all that long before we've all totally got the hang of it. And it was lovely having people come and pick up their boxes. Much more fun than the supermarket. The Ceres bit will be fun too, now that we know where to go.

In this weeks box we got onions, bok choy, utterly delicious navel oranges, bananas, grapes (a bit ordinary - but they'd been cool stored), pumpkin, some very sweet dutch carrots, and a cauliflower. It doesn't sound like much but there was rather a lot of everything except the bok choy. And we still have carrots, potatoes and apples left over from last week. That's OK. But now I've decided to work on a menu plan system and on Thursday night brainstormed a number of possibilities, pumpkin and cauliflower being tricky vegies round here. So far we've had pumpkin and red lentil soup, brown rice with eggplant, broccoli, tofu and almonds (using up broccoli and eggplant from last week), cauliflower macaroni cheese and salad, potato and carrot beer fritters with indian spicing, silver beet from mum's garden and soft boiled eggs from childcare (cheap and free range), raw carrot fingers as a side dish. Tomorrow night G is making pizza with cooked pumpkin and rosemary on top and if we get to the end of the week and it isn't finished, I'll make pumpkin scones or something. I've been reading my cookbooks again and it's good. Hopefully over time we'll get into some really good dry goods habits and eventually reduce our food bill, be a bit kinder to the planet and still eat well. And have more fun. Well, that's the plan.

happy winter solstice

Last night we celebrated winter solstice by the Merri Creek. I made a picnic dinner using ingredients from our weekly organic vegie box. We're now part of a vegie co-op, a new co-op that's being formed with the help of another local co-op that's already been running for several years. On Thursday we picked up our first box and I have to say, I have never tasted apples so good. Or had so many pears to eat. The mushrooms are superb and the broccoli was also surprisingly good, with none of that supermarket sulphur taste. Anyway, most of the members of the co-op were there last night. Along with friends and neighbours, people from various groups around the community. This estate has a human connectedness that I've never experienced in a place before. I couldn't have imagined that I'd live somewhere like this and it continues to surprise me. I totally love it. 

We dressed warmly, even though it didn't end up being all that cold. It was exciting crossing the foot bridge and walking up along the creek, pulling our shopping trolley that G found in the hard rubbish, with a rucksack on it filled with blankets and food. G also had his fagot. Made from a dead standard rose bush, candle wax and cotton dipped in vegetable oil. He spent a fair bit of the afternoon working on it while I baked a cake and made carrot dip (we also have rather a lot of carrots). We set up our blanket, chatted and mingled while Grace ran around with the other kids. Somehow, in between all the excitement we ate a bit of dinner. Then everyone came into a circle, more or less, and we lit candles and lamps. Dave made a low key speech, including an acknowledgment of the traditional owners of the land and something about the intention to gather here to celebrate the summer solstice and the spring and autumn equinoxes. As Dave began to lead the group on a walk up the hill, Gerard set his fagot ablaze. It was quite spectacular, although it freaked a few people out (including me) that kids were trying to light their candles from it. I helped a few kids and then realised that Grace had gone up the top of the cliff without us. I bolted up and there she was, tagging along with another family. Next time I'm going to put a glowstick on her, because they sure are easy to loose track of in the dark.  Apart from a few minor issues about candles going out and some kids having torches coveted by other kids, it was a beautiful lovely thing to do. We stood at the top of the cliff and saw the fire and Gerard with his blazing fagot. Back at the quarry we had some cake and more running around, and then sat around the fire talking and such until a few spots of rain convinced us that it might be a good time to leave. When we got home, Grace was super tired and went straight to bed after washing the black from her face and hands. We read half a story from the fairy tale book (The Snow Queen) and I tucked her in, still smelling of campfire smoke, one of my all time favourite scents.