Back on deck again

Thank you for the welcoming comments I found in my previous post. They were a delightful surprise and I am looking forward to popping over to everyones' blogs in the next few days to catch up.

This is just a short post to get back into the swing of things again.... also a good excuse not to start unpacking the suitcases ;-)

We had a lot of fun being with our family.  We were able to share in a very special birthday for our sweet eldest granddaughter, and to join in the preparations for her party.

No helium needed.... just rub balloons quickly
against hair and it makes enough static to keep
them clinging to the ceiling all night !!!!!!

Our dear youngest granddaughter was not feeling the best, so we were able to bore her senseless with endless games of Boggle, Scrabble and whatever her heart desired ;-)

[George Bear is showing how sick his mummy was]

Will be back later with more details of our fun with the family... including a recipe for our daughter's most Scrumdiddlyumptious Mud Pie Cake Easy Peasy (oil-free) Recipe EVA!!!

Offline temporarily

Am offline temporarily from today while we enjoy some time with our family.

Here's a last burst of our Cannas for your enjoyment.....

Will catch up with everyone in a week or so.

Take care and cheers, Susan :D)

A grizzle

I've decided that Blogger and/or our internet provider Activ8 need a good dose of fibre.

Froggie agrees.

waiting.... waiting.....

Herbals, Childrens' Street Art, Teasing the Gulls and a bunch of Real Sweet Ladies

~ Herbals - Heartsease (Viola, Johnny-Jump-Ups):

This beautiful old book was kindly given to me by my BIL a while back. It makes fascinating reading and is, I'm sure, a reference source for herbalists today

Nicholas Culpeper, a very famous astrologer-physician of the early 17th Century writes that Heartsease (Violas)  is "an excellent cure for the venereal disease. The spirit of it is excellent, good for convulsions in children, and a remedy for falling sickness, inflammation of the lungs and breasts, pleurisy, scabs, itch, &c. The flowers are cooling, emollient, and cathartic..." 

Who would've thought this little plant would have so much responsibility!

My collection of Heartease (also known as Violas, Johnny-Jump-Ups).

Once they're in the garden, happily, you've always got them.

~~~<>~~~

~ Childrens' Street Art: We drove over to Paynesville (as regular readers would know, it's one of our favourite spots).  I wanted to show the efforts of the local schoolchildren. They added to the street 'theme' by each painting a marine-based wooden cut-out. The cut-outs were then attached to planters and rubbish bins (as shown in the group photo below), making them very easy on the eye.  The council similarly decorated various street poles. All combined to create a unique and charming streetscape and a source of pride for the children concerned.

The footpath wasn't left out either, inlaid with a
beautiful mosaic fish

~~~<>~~~

~ Teasing the Gulls: Still in Paynesville. The Autumn air was a bit brisk, so our thoughts turned to food.  Fish and chips perhaps?  You bet....   

"Two serves of flake and chips and 4 scallops thanks!"

Definitely too chilly, so we drove a little down the road and parked overlooking the lake.  Enjoying the view we hoed into our fish n chips....  until

"Helloooo in there.
Wot you two doin' ?
HEY  ! ... CHIPS!!"

"Gonna share? That's real
friendly of youse"

"Awwww, not that's just plain mean...
how can I get it through
the windscreen ... flamin'
tourists.

Ok fellas, we got a coupla
smart-alecs here, call in
the troops!!"

"How do ya like this for
a view? "

"... or this,
wheeeh... give em hell fellas,
we'll get a chip outta them yet"

*thinks* "I'm too dignified
to beg for a chip. I'll just
sit here and pretend I
couldn't care less"

Time for a cuppa.  MD gets the picnic basket out of the back.  I walk off to take a photo of the lovely view we had of the lake  ... oh no, they've got him surrounded! Run for it darling !!!

Please don't report us to the Cruel Humour In Persecuting Seagulls authorities. We've got to get our fun somehow ;-)

~~~<>~~~

~ Real Sweet Ladies: Last, but definitely not least, is MD's crop of Pink Ladies for this year.  They're soooo sweet. It's such a delight to eat home-grown fruit - no wax, no sprays.  
His decision to let the chooks have the run of the orchard (until the fruit started to form), has kept attack by coddling moth to a bare minimum this year.  

~~~<>~~~

May your days be full of fun and happiness

Saturday Bits n Pieces ~ birding,meditating,de-bogging,knitting,autumning

Just finished restoring deleted comments and other after-effects (as I'm sure every other blogger has too) from Mr Blogger's recent troubles. Hope I've covered everything.  
Thought I'd do an all-in-together sort of post today.  

[As always, clicking on each photo will enlarge them]

~ Capturing a Bower Bird (My Brilliant Plan): It’s been over 2 years since I'd captured a Bower Bird on film (‘digital’ doesn’t sound so dramatic).  
The gorgeous olive green, blue-eyed females who visit our yard, announce their presence with that weird little throat clearing sound and the heavy ‘plop’ in the branches or on the ground.  
Since I didn’t re-grow any more red chillies (their absolute favourites), they head straight for our neighbour’s Pineapple Feijoa tree.  They tuck themselves right inside the branches and I have such a hard time getting the camera to focus.  
Enter My Brilliant Plan…. I pegged some cherry tomatoes to an outer,  more exposed,  branch and waited. 

Come and get it Lady Bower Bird 

The view from our loungeroom window.
The red arrow shows the pegged tomato lure.
All I have to do now is keep watch.... wait!

<^> <^> <^>

~ Meditation: The steady chopping, dicing and slicing of vegies is another way I meditate. Sounds silly? Ah well, it works for me.
Oniony eyes are no problem - we keep them in the frig (a great hint from our daughter) .... um, the onions are kept in the frig, not the ... oh get on with it!!
Invariably, I prepare too much, but I don't think there's such a thing as eating too many vegies!

Stir Fry tonight

<^> <^> <^>

~ Rude Awakening: The other morning we were woken quite early by what sounded like a truck  - right under our bedroom window.  Ha! that's because it was!  
A concrete pump, aiming for the building site across the road, was positioning itself but became bogged in our verge. A heavy fall of rain the previous evening didn't help.


 Many hours were spent trying to chock and drive out.  Of course, I seized the photo opportunity;  well, we were up anyway!

I like this picture on the left.  The two fellows - who'd been working hard all morning to de-bog the concrete pump, now had the job of restoring our verge.
Beyond them, two neighbouhood dogs chose that moment to square off at each other.
The fellow in the background obviously wanted to join in and share with the shovel work, but he just had to take another phone call.
Doesn't take a lot to keep us amused!

<^> <^> <^>

~ Knitting: Way back nearly to the dawn of time, I started knitting aimlessly.  I would cast on some stitches and just knit.  Bright colours really appealed.  Made quite a few cushions, not all square ones; MD worked out a pattern for round cushions, but I only ever made one - for our son, lucky man!! ;-). His lounge needed a bit of comfying-up, so an assortment  went to live with him – as well as a throw rug, also brightly coloured. 

When our granddaughters were only littlies,  I made them bejeweled cushions – sewed on everything that glittered.  Not your comfiest type of cushion, however, as with our son, they still have them today much to my delight! 

With the weather getting cooler, I’m thinking it’s time to bring the needles and wool out and pop them next to my lounge chair again.  

Ah ha! Surprise! There's something on the
needles already .... hmmmm, now,
wonder who's next on the list for a cushion?

<^> <^> <^>

~ Autumnal: A little vision of Autumn on the ground in our garden. 

  An Autumn scene from over our fence. Thank you neighbour!

<^> <^> <^>

~ Gotcha!: Sucess! Lady Bower Bird took the bait (er.. tomatoes).  

I had a lot of fun taking these shots too.  Still learning on the zoom lens, and am thrilled to have got these.  

<^><^><^>

Have a relaxing weekend everyone

<^><^><^>

A bit of a rest

Seems this hawk felt like a bit of a rest in between hunting trips.  

Our thoroughly netted chookyard is just a bit further down from where it's resting.  We knew the chooks would be safely tucked away, out of sight, in their shelter box,  having been previously warned of the predator's presence by the ever-reliable gang of cockatoos.

All was quiet, so we took delight in taking turns on the camera to record this chance stopover. 

We didn't realise until downloading the photos, but all the while the hawk was on just one leg. 

The dexterity of the hawk's neck is quite something isn't it?  Also, those piercing yellow eyes!

Once the hawk flew off, we could just make out that there were two legs. One was obviously being rested.

As a matter of interest, directly across the path, behind the hawk, was where we found our weird fungi!

Update - Weird Fungus Identified

Seastar Stinkhorn
(Anthurus archeri)

Update to my Post on Monday  "Weird or What! and this is not a joke"

Dr Tom May, Senior Mycologist, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, has very kindly provided all of the following information.
He feels that our ‘weird’ find is a Seastar Stinkhorn (Anthurus archeri), fungus. He describes the Stinkhorn family as an assemblage of bizarre forms sharing strongly-smelling fruit-bodies that usually produce a slimy mass of millions of tiny spores.  

Our specimen was a bit old, and Dr May wrote “When young the Anthurus has slime along the arms (rather than at the base) and I think there is a little bit of slime still on the arms.  Maybe you will see some more specimens - they often occur in troops. The tiny insects are most likely springtails (collembola) - these are often found on fungi. Great to see fungi in blog.”   

Diane wasn’t the only person to liken this strange form to something from outer space. Dr May wrote, in a recent article for a forthcoming issue of Wild Magazine, that Bushwalkers, upon finding the multi armed fruit-body of the Stinkhorn  bursting from its egg-like sac, could be forgiven for thinking that miniature aliens had landed!

The ‘face’ which showed in our photo is part of a hollow stem which, at maturity, can be up to 10cm long. 

Stinkhorns feed on dead organic matter and, in so doing, they contribute to nutrient recycling. Wood chip mulch in urban areas is a ready food source. Also, the slimy spores of stinkhorns rely on animals for dispersal.  This information, from Dr May, explains how we were lucky enough to have our very own stinkhorn.  We’d spread wood chip mulch  throughout our garden at the beginning of this year – much to the delight of many animals, who’ve dug in and scattered it quite diligently… and, most likely have played host to those slimy Stinkhorn spores!

It was also interesting to read that Stinkhorns are found worldwide, but are especially diverse in Australia.  Dr May  concluded with “It is such an unusual fungus, and always interesting to see. “

We were delighted to receive such a wonderfully informative, and quick, response to our query by an obviously dedicated and knowledgeable Scientist.

Dr May's current projects are:

. Ausfungi – a catalogue of Australian Fungi

. Interactive tools for identification of macrofungi  - see link below


For anyone interested in identifying fungi, go to Australia-wide Fungimap Scheme, a mapping project for fungi. Details of how to join and to submit records are detailed there) 

Orange Marmalade ... Grevillea, that is

The curly shapes of the Grevillea flowers are so enchanting.

Their intricacies delight.

Here are some of the stages of growth I found, all on the same bush, down at the end of our block. Enjoy.

perhaps a little closer ......

G.venusta x G.flossadenia Grevillea 'Orange Marmalade'

Weird or What ! and this is not a joke

MD came in and told me to get my camera and go down to the backyard, so I did - that always meant a great photo opportunity of one thing or another!!  Wasn't disappointed either ......  

In my excitement, I forgot to measure it but that's an ordinary garden slug next to it - probably just as amazed as we were I think!  In the sun, its soft spongy texture was quickly deflating. 

Here's a side on view.  The little specky things were some type of insect crawling around on it.

Now this is where it gets even more weirder. 

Inside it was a series of hollow little tubes in a lighter colour, but when viewed really close up it resembled a face.  I tried every which-way to try and get a proper shot of the inside - if you click on the photo to enlarge, you may just see what I'm talking about!  I promise this is not a joke, I haven't manipulated the image in any way other than to crop the photo.  I do hope it shows up.

Obviously it's a fungi of some sort, and it just knocked us out at it's weirdness.

Froggie's in on the joke too

Shopping Day. I was copying my shopping list from the blackboard into my notebook. "Butter, shampoo & conditioner, powdered mustard, cat bran, aspirin, curry powder"... CAT BRAN ????  what?  *scratch head* we don't even have a cat! CAT Bran??? [oh boy, what project had I dreamed up (and promptly forgotten)  now?] .... come to that, what is cat bran? and so it went.  


Turned around to ask MD what he thoug.....   oh, the cheeky man - was sitting watching me and quietly laughing his head off.  


Mystery solved:  OAT Bran .... guess who rubbed half the O off!!! 


And, Froggie sat there all the time  -  in on the joke :D)

Crumbed Pumpkin and Garlic Slices

This post is in response to Hazel's Great Pumpkin Challenge. She's gathering pumpkin recipes from whoever wishes to contribute. Already there are many delicious variations of what to do with the humble pumpkin.

My offering is very simple, tasty and easy to prepare. Children like it done this way too.

I usually make it with Butternut Pumpkin - the round slices look nice, but any variety works just as well.

Crumbed Pumpkin and Garlic Slices
Cut , as much pumpkin as needed,  into slices about a quarter of an inch thick
1 egg
Half a teaspoon of finely minced garlic (or garlic powder)
Breadcrumbs
Olive Oil - enough for shallow frying
 
Lightly whisk the egg and garlic together
Dip each slice of pumpkin into the egg mix
Then coat each slice with breadcrumbs

The crumbed slices can be prepared ahead and left in the refrigerator, or, alternatively, cooked straight away as I did for this post.

Heat enough olive oil in a solid base pan and fry gently.  If cooked too fast, the coating will burn and the pumpkin will, of course, not cook through.

Turn after approx 4 minutes and then cook for another 4 or 5 minutes until, when skewered it's just tender.

Remove from pan, drain on absorbent paper (or a wire rack over absorbent paper).  These slices can be kept warm in an oven, quite happily,  until ready to be served.

Crumbed Garlic Pumpkin Slices

The Lories are back in town

A couple of Blue Cheeked Rosellas enjoy a quiet chat out on the patio

"Have you heard the latest?  Seems those dreadful Rainbow Lorikeets
have been seen around the town."

unaware they're being watched...

"Pssst tell the others. I've found the perfect spot. I'll need a bit of help
convincing a couple of Blue Cheeks to move on though"

"Reinforcements coming"

"Bye bye Blue Cheeks... our turn now"

"Let's party!"

"Wheeee"

"Turn the music up ... don't worry about the neighbours!"

The Rainbow Lorikeets are certainly back in town. There's never any doubt when they arrive.  Like a big unruly gang of partygoers.  I'm sure they get quite tipsy on the nectar!
Their beautiful bold colours are a visual delight amongst the trees and shrubs, and their chattering is frenzied at times. 
We enjoy watching their antics. They do tend to bully the other birds who've obviously learnt to give in and let them take over, knowing they'll move on to somewhere else fairly quickly.  Here's some photos which MD took recently.