2paw

I Don't Care If You Are Called The Rare Miss Frigidaire.

'Cause you're sensational. Yesterday I defrosted the freezer. I don't like this job, and I put it off. The freezer was mainly filled with a bag of ice and things in ziplock bags. I don't know what some of them were or how long they had been there. I saved the raspberries for a cake I made today. Other than that everything else went.

Peri and Gilly thought the bag of ice ice-cubes was the best thing since sliced bread. It kept them amused for ages. PicMonkey has added a collage tool. I haven't quite mastered it yet, but I am feeling very happy to have a selection of collage options again.

On Friday MrsValley and I went to the Greek Restaurant further up the river. The day was reasonably OK when we started out. We had Arni Yarni Lamb pot pie, Pumpkin and Feta tart and then semolina custard tart with lemon syrup. We spent almost three hours catching up and having a good chat. The pictures are poor, I think the lens was fogged up. Everything was absolutely delicious.

The weather was not. It started raining as we left and there was a huge downpour that lasted for more than a day. There were roadworks and gravel and it was all a little scary. I drove at 60kph but there were people who wanted to do the 100kph speed limit. The council hasn't cleared the drains of Autumn leaves around our suburb, so there were deep puddles across the roads. There were minor floods: a hospital, roads near MrsDrWho's school and in the south of the city. It stopped raining last night and we have some sunshine today.

MrsValley bought The Labradors a lovely treat. Blackmores have a pet division now and she chose some special kangaroo treats. They are perfect for Peri and Gilly: low in fat, easy to break into small pieces and according to them, the Best Treats Ever!! Picture from the Blackmores' site, and we have the Labrador packet of course!!!

I sewed a goanna bag and I am working on my next felt project. Semi-secretly.

I've also been wearing my beret, trying it out to see if I like it around the house before it debuts in public!!

All my Library book Christmases came at once and I sat on the couch reading while the rain poured down endlessly. I couldn't read all of I am David because of the sad part at the almost end. I read either side of the sad part. Rose Levy's book has some wonderful and unusual cakes and I want to bake quite a few. It's hard to find a new series of books to read. I listened to Radio National when they had their broadcast from the Sydney Writers Festival and jotted down a few names. I always scan the book section of Saturday's paper. I use the 'recently added' button (well, you organise by most recent date) on The Library site and keep an eye on authors I already follow. I long to find authors I haven't read who have a long book list for me to enjoy!!

I have new dog walking shoes. The shop says they were $60, but they were on super sale for $10. I think the khaki and pink colour scheme may have put some people off. I'm deciding which shoe laces work best.

My aqua shoes with a velcro closure stopped staying closed. They weren't cheap shoes and I was a bit cross. The lady at the shop where I bought them told me that the shoe repair man could replace the velcro. He did, it's black not white, but you can't see it and it only cost $18. An excellent price and I have a 'new' pair of Winter shoes now!!

Zoe and her family are on The Mainland now and Zoe will be having her bone marrow transplant tomorrow. There's a long hard road ahead for them all. Lucy has not been well, her health is deteriorating. I keep them in my thoughts.  One of Uncle and Auntie Dutch's dog died last week. Tommy was a lovely boy, a boy's boy, and he could be a bit of a grump too. He was fourteen which is a good age.  Poppy, the other dog, seems to be coping by herself.

Later on this week I am going to The Hospital to participate in a session with the doctors in training. I'm going to talk to them about my illness, let them do some observations and then answer any questions they have. I'm not sure how it will go, but they are sending me taxi vouchers so I don't have to worry about looking for a parking space. I'm very happy about that!!

By George, I Think I've Got It!!!

And by it I mean a dress that pretty much fits and looks nice when I wear it!! I saw Michelle from Buttontree Lane sew the Simplicity Amazing Fit 2247 dress and I thought I might give it a go too: patterns were half price, and the material only cost $14. I like the material because it looks, to me, a little WWII and suits the pattern.

I overestimated my size again, though I think the instructions are misleading. I think you should cut for your high and not full bust size. Still, I did sew the dress up first with the seams on the outside so I could more easily adjust and fit them myself.

There are still a few things I'd like to fix: the puffy sleeves (though MrsDrWho likes them, is she just messing with me??), the front bodice needs to be taken up about 2cm at the shoulders. I always have forward shoulder seams and as I am definitely going to be sewing this dress again I want to add 2 or 3 cm to the front shoulder seam and take it away from the back seam.

I inserted a zip by hand again, but really this dress doesn't need one, I can easily get it on and off without one. I enjoy hand picking the zip, and it is much easier than using the zipper foot on my machine, which isn't terribly helpful.

On the whole, I am very pleased: I had my nice beaded sandals to match and my new Short Scene cardigan matched perfectly too. And off I went to Afternoon Tea with my knitting friends!!!

I did have not-a-very-good go at cleaning the mirror, and of course my lovely Labrador assistants assisted me!!!

I've been lucky enough to win two prizes of late. MrsDrWho and I went to a Trivia Night with some of her colleagues and we won!! It's a nice bottle of wine and some Lindt chocolate. I already have several nice bottles of wine I received as Christmas presents that haven't been opened and I can't eat the chocolate so MrsDrWho has two prizes!!!

I didn't know I had entered Cyndi's competition, but I left a comment won a prize!! She sent me some really interesting Kanzashi flower makers. Reading the back of the packet I know it is a traditional Japanese fabric folding art, but I think of them as a kind of flowery Suffolk Puff makers. I am looking forward to be-flowering quite a few things!! She also sent some beautiful fabric, and every piece of the set has green in it, and some cuter than cute tiny 2 1/2 inch charm square packs!!

Noah the dog and Wilson the cat sent Peri and Gilly some dog biscuits. They were so very kind as to send vegetable biscuits so that they can have one almost every day and not worry about F A T.

Peri has been eating her breakfast and dinner at a higher level than Gilly. She's very clever to balance and eat quickly at the same time!!

Lorelai Gilmore has rediscovered an old toy and so there has been a big gumboot clomping about inside, and out!! She is experiencing gumboot bliss!!!

And after giving in and finally fixing the cuff of my mittens, I found the rest of the ball I had carefully put away, and so I unravelled the cuff for a third time and now it is finished. Except the mittens are so grubby after our walk. I can't believe how grubby they are!! It's been dull and rainy today so no chance for washing and drying them before tomorrow. I'll wash them tomorrow and they will have until Thursday to dry.

I am hoping nothing very much happens this week because MrsValley and I are driving of the city a little for lunch on Friday. I want to rest up and prepare. In saying that, I've had series 2 of Sherlock here since before MrsDrWho went away to Singapore. We think we'll rest Due South and watch some Sherlock one night this week. Maybe I'll sew some more cute hexagons for April's Craftsy blocks and maybe we'll sew May's blocks before June!!!

The Seven Ear Itch

Thank you for all the kind comments about Lorelai Gilmore. She has been taking her medicine every day and walking on a lead when we go to the dam. Peri ranged far and wide and Gilly yearned to run after her.

She hasn't cried at all and we have been trying really hard to be quiet and calm. Today she was allowed to run off the lead and she has a wonderful time, running with Peri. There were so many smells she had to have a bit of a rest!!

Peri was happy to have her running, and rolling in something smelly, mate back.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... I had my ears pierced an extra time and a half. Ergo I have five holes in my ears all up. Sadly, probably more than seven years ago, I stopped using the extra piercings. They closed up at the back. MrsDrWho gave me nine pairs of cute earrings perfect for the three extra piercings and so for the last three days I have been making my piercings work again. I concentrated on one at a time and every time I walked into the bathroom I'd poke the earring in to see if it would go through. Eventually the back of the hole gave up the ghost and I poked it through. Strangely, I seem to have no real feeling at the back of my ear lobe. And today: success. I am all earringed up!! Here's the three earring ear:

I can see more gray in my hair. It's bite the bullet time. I don't think I could keep up with a colouring regime, so apart from some wodges of colour in late Winter, I am apparently going to just not care!!

That's one job out of the way.

Job Two was pyjamas. I wanted to sew some, but of course The BSODL (tm) only had fluoro green or pale, pale green with white bunny flannelette.  There was a sale at Target, and though there wasn't a matching pair, these will do nicely at 50% off the original price. The top is a bit racy with the back being all lace. It is lovely, soft and stretchy!! The pants have sheep that say, "I only have eyes for ewe".

And a new striped green top. It is not emerald, it is not bluey green. It has dark blue stripes. It is hard to photograph and it was on sale at Rockmans.

There has been, wait for it, knitting!! I found my cardigan carefully put away in a tub of knitting and sewed the fronts to the back. It fits. This is good. So I decided to tackle the sleeves, bearing in mind the pattern is written for 10ply and I am using 8, and I want straight sleeves instead of bell shaped.  The first attempt at a hem was a failure.

Then I tried a band like the one on the other pieces with a potential placket and button. This was more successful but I over-estimated my arm size and it was way too big. I want the lace pattern to show up nicely.

The third time seems to be the charm thus far.

I am not a huge Heston Blumenthal fan. I know his food can be considered 'art', but I liked it best when he helped the children's hospital or the submariners. SBS is showing How To Cook LIke Heston. I am never going to serve my chilli con carne on a bed of flaming wood-chips or waft about the house trailing liquid nitrogen vapours,  but I might just be tempted by the chicken pie, the rich chocolate truffle cake (without the exploding space lollies in the base) or today: the roast potatoes. They are cooling in the colander waiting for the next process.

I am rather more excited about Sally Wise's self saucing banana pudding. I'm making that tomorrow and served with custard it should be delicious. It's from her new book. I made the Ginger Coconut slice for morning tea and it was so quick to make, cooked in twenty minutes and topped with lemon icing it was delicious. I like A Lot of ginger so I think I will add some finely diced glace ginger next time.

We have been having record April temperatures during the day and overnight so it was lovely to have some proper rain. Not much, but enough to make things green again and to make Peri and Gilly smell like my woollen school blazer did when it was in the rain.

The Labradors like the rain too, here's hoping we have more, but in moderation.

That's When Good Neighbours Lead To Good Ends

Today is a day to remember Harki-Parki-Parker-Posey. It's been two years since she died and I don't know where the time has gone. Harki was the most wonderful Labrador, and we still (in the style of The Waltons), say good night to Harki, Vundy and Tori every night.

Today is also Neighbour Day.  The idea behind The Day and how it began is explained on their website. In our little part of the street three of our neighbours came for several hours and cut down the branch that had fallen over in the garden, and some other branches and ivy and things and took two ute loads to the tip.

Here's the before:

And here is the after where it is too sunny for Peri, but Gilly's young eyes are working really well.

Good neighbours do make good friends!! I baked Chocolate Stout Cake, Sticky Gingerbread Cake, Banana Caramel Muffins and Raspberry Brownies for each of them: to say thank you. And I made scones, jam and cream and sausage rolls for morning tea. It will be a sunny, open backyard in Winter and the wire strung across near the house, that we use for a clothesline, will get so much more light and air.

Thank you Neighbours!!!

The mornings have been very cold, so cold that we had a frost and The South had the coldest morning for fifteen years.

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the technology to build the world's first bionic hut. This hut will be that hut. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster. Well maybe not faster, but the steel is definitely stronger than the old treated pine supports which were destroyed by vandals.  I think the new picnic hut at the dam will be a good one and so do Peri and Gilly. They have given it The Sniffs of Approval.

This morning we went outside the back door to discover water was cascading through the garden, down the steps and through to the next house. It was barrelling down the garden.  The water is still running in torrents, thankfully down the drain outside the gate once I moved the leaves, nine hours later and it is a horrid brown colour. We have a reduced water flow to the house as well. There has been a big digger excavating parts of the road. Who knows what happened???

Knitting? Sewing?? Any kind of craft?? No. Nothing at all. I'm just not feeling the craft 'love' and I have no idea why. It is very strange, especially as the weather is lovely and cold.  Maybe this week the 'love' will be back and I will be motivated? I've been thinking about Me Made May. It's not Me Made March or Self Stitched September this year. May is just not a good month for me to wear things I have stitched. Basically I wear jeans/ trousers, a long sleeved t-shirt or top and a cardigan. The cardigan is the only thing I have 'stitched' and it's going to be pretty boring seeing the same five cardigans six times. I think I will give it a miss.

North By Northwest is on TV and it's become a film I must watch to the end. Each time I see or hear something new. I'm addicted to it!!! So The Labradors will have their dinner, and we will watch Roger and Eve wend their way through the twisty-turny plot.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are Shoe??

Peri didn't sleep a wink on Tuesday night. In the afternoon she spent a lot of time lying on her back, but the weather was warm and humid and she likes exposing her belly to the cool air.

She was very restless, couldn't settle, and wanted to be in and out, in and out, all night. We were very worried the Pancreatitis might be back, because she couldn't get comfortable then either. So we locked Lorelai Gilmore inside and went to The Vet to see Dr Alison. She is such a lovely, gentle doctor and Peri loves her. Dr Alison discounted pancreatitis and said Peri is so slim she could feel her very small stomach and everything was fine. She checked for ticks, fleas, arthritis or joint pain and then spotted that Peri's skin was a tiny bit pink. Looking at her lying on her back photo, I can see that clearly now.

You can see Dr Alison really checking Peri"s spine carefully and Peri is wagging her tail like all get out!!  She gave her some low dose cortisone tablets and said she should start to feel better in an hour or so. And she did!! I was going out for a few hours and I felt quite happy to leave them both home. Peri slept like a log last night and I check her skin all the time to make sure it is still pale and she is happy!!! Dr Alison is so clever and we are so lucky to have so many good doctors and nurses at the vet.

Last night I went to Sewing. We don't actually sew any more, but in the olden days people made embroideries and cross stitches and did all sorts of fun things. Now we mainly have a glass of bubbly, some nibbles, and a jolly good chat - but I usually do some knitting. It's very relaxed and comfortable and I always take off my shoes.  The Renos have a lovely dog called Jubbly. He's a fluffy small dog, like a Pomeranian. When it was time to go home, I could only find one shoe, and much to my amusement and MrsReno's horror: Jubbly chewed my shoe!!!

That is the photo with the least Gilly. The shoe must smell of Jubbly's chewing and she was fascinated and wouldn't get her head out of the way. East or West.

These are the shoes I bought on The Ebay for $29-99 and MrsReno insisted I take some money and buy myself a new pair. She is very kind, I hope she has recovered and Jubbly isn't in the dog box!!!

Gilly and Peri are very slim. I have kind of lost the ability to judge. I thought Peri was putting weight on, but on the scales at the vet yesterday she was 29.9kg and I know Gilly is 23kg. Gilly is so very cute. I love looking at her funny expressions. I was asking her if the postman was here. Obviously it is night time, you stupid boy Pike she is thinking, and so the postman is not here!!!

There has been a bit of a cooking disaster this afternoon. I ended up emailing the Delicious magazine but there was no-one there. Still I soldiered on for my Friday Food.

Tonight I am going to sort out some of my embroidery threads and put them in my thread box. I was in an embroidery thread whirlwind when I was making the Star Trek Book. I don't mind the winding though, it's very therapeutic.

Some people have a Wordpress blog, and at the moment the entire Wordpress refuses to let me comment, whether I am logged in, or out, or in and out, or out and in. I am reduced to emailing tit-bits of comments because I usually forget to copy the comment and when I go back it has mysteriously disappeared.

Margaret Whitlam died on Saturday. I think The Whitlams were my first Federal political memory. She was a woman of substance in her own right and made a difference to people's lives. The It's Time ad makes me wistful for days of yore.....

And Love Is The Ten-Dog Trap

Good old Frank, and Debbie too.

And who is the Ten dog?? That would be Peri Naughty, who is now a big ten year old and had trapped us with her big brown eyes and happy smile. She has grown to be the most faithful, loyal and loving Labrador and is rarely naughty so she's Peri Pumpkin most of the time, or Peri Darling!!! She's is named after Perpugilliam Brown, one of the Fifth Doctor's companions. There are two collages for Peri, not so many baby photos because in the olden days I had a camera with film and out of 24 photos, 25 of them could be awful.

It seems Peri is happy, grubby, weird or sleepy. Or Adam Ant!!

Peri doesn't really play with toys, though she loves to try and steal Gilly's toys in a most excellent game. So for her birthday there was chicken for breakfast and then, as pictured, sardines for tea.There are no sardines to be seen as in the short time between putting their bowls down and then taking the camera on my wrist to my eye, they were eaten.

It is quite difficult to take a photo of Peri by herself. Gilly races in and sits down beside her and won't be pushed or cajoled to move, so here's Peri's birthday snap for this year:

After much thought about the dress, I have decided I will have two dresses: one with sleeves, and one without. I expect the dress with the sleeves will be for wearing out in public and the sleeveless dress for wafting about at home on Very Hot Days. There has been no progress on the dress.

If you are out and about in the Island State you won't have to worry about sleeves, or no sleeves, if you take this tour.

The last few days have been lovely and cool, even cold. Snow is forecast for the mountains, and I have been seriously catching up on all the sleep I missed when the weather was too hot. Every day I have had a nice nap in the afternoon. It does cut into your day though. And then right about now, we're ready for bed again.

A kind friend sent me news that there was a shoe sale in a small shop in town, and voila, I have new shoes. At $35 they were 76% off the normal price of $145. I am especially pleased. There were lots of green shoes but by the time I eliminated those with no heels, or too high heels, round toes or pointy toes and then not in my size, I ended up with two. The other pair was pretty much exactly the same but without the sling back strap. I chose the ones with the strap:

MrsDrWho and I have purchased our material for our Craftsy quilts. MrsDrWho already has some so she is making a start. Mine has to come by post so I shall have to wait a while. Tomorrow I am knitting a cardigan for Susan, MrsDrWho's niece's much loved doll. Susan is only 15cm tall, if that so it shouldn't take long at all. There's no walk either, so we can sleep in!!!

Labradors By My Side, Singing Christmas Songs....

"It's Summer time and I am not in my singlet, shorts and thongs!!"  You can watch the original Aussie Jungle Bells video on The Youtube. I really do sing, rather loudly, lots of Christmas carols and songs as we drive to the dam for our walk.

There has been some more Christmas-ification here:

I sewed a Christmas skirt which I have been wearing every time I go to anything Christmassy since December 2nd. It has many and varied Christmas dogs and a few cats. It is mostly green and very amusing.

Some Christmas pencil cases for The Friends' Children at yesterday's Christmas barbie. I used this fabulous tutorial that has a nice lining that finished them off beautifully inside. I know I should have been able to work it out for myself but the heat befuddles my brain.

There's an owl apron, which had even more pocket dilemmas. Well, I lost the good pocket and so, in desperation sewing, I used a remnant of the Tree Skirt and it had convenient circles which I made into the 'o' parts of the word Hoot. There, I fixed it!! Oh and a Felt Owl Tree Decoration from my Fa-la-la-la Felt book.

I am crocheting some things for MrsDrWho's nephew. Can you tell what they will be??

They will be Cars from the Cars film. The red one will be Lightning McQueen, the blue one will be Strip 'The King' Weathers and I may also make a yellow and a green one too.

MrsDrWho's class made a whole swag of Scary Reindeer Biscuits. I cooked the gingerbread men over several days and in an hour they had all decorated two each. I didn't take a photo, but I made some chocolate gingerbread Reindeer for The Friends' Children.

My present from Mr Reno in the Present Roundabout Thingy was this, oh and a gorgeous Labrador mug from The HouseOfs:

Rhubarb plants, some green gardening gloves, dog friendly Dynamic lifter and a cordless screwdriver. The Dynamic Lifter pongs but I was very popular when I arrived home!!

Peri's tablets seem to be working and she is no longer The Widdler. She is very, very happy and has a waggy tail. Gilly has been going berserkers-bonkers and is running about like a mad thing. I could only make the photo programme fix one of her glowy eyes. I don't know why.

They have had lovely walks, but the creek is slowly getting lower and lower. I shall have to start bringing them a drink to have before we hop in the car to go home. Here they are having a little rest before we go home. Gilly is wearing her sturdy red collar. If you press a button the collar flashes and/or glows.

Our Christmas get together yesterday was most enjoyable, and we had almost the full complement of people, which was great. I was out from 3-30 till 8-30pm and The Labradors were soooo starving when they had to wait till 8-45pm for the dinner. Today I have lain about, being very tired and had two extra naps. I watched Going Postal Part 1. It is quite good.

This week I have a few more Christmas outings. I am trying once more to pace myself and take things easy. I've had my last appointment for the year with my wonderful psychologist and her expert help has allowed me to be far more reasonable about what I can, and cannot, achieve for Christmas. I plan to do some more sewing and crocheting and then some festive of cooking. The weather forecast is very cooking friendly, but it is still 25*C as I am sitting here at the computer at 9-30pm.There is a cooler breeze in the lounge room though.

It's time for a cup of T2 Turkish Cherry tea I think. My neighbour gave me a little sample that came with her parcel. They are having free postage till the end of December and her parcel was beautifully wrapped free of charge: it was green wrapping and she gave me the pom-pom. I am not sure how long it would take to arrive, but it is a nice gift to give. And here are The Labradors because they heard the baby gate into the kitchen open. They are sadly disappointed. At bed time they can have a rice craker!!

Batman Characters: The Widdler

Poor Peri was very concerned and worried last Saturday as she had an accidental wee while she was napping inside on the slate tiles. After a Silent Movie style gathering of a sample, we went to the Vet and saw Dr Tim. He said it could be one of a few things and so we have been keeping an eye on her. It seems to happen when she is asleep and is quite common in 5% of desexed females. So Peri and Gilly went to the Vet this morning and now Peri has some tablets, extremely inexpensive tablets, and if they work she will only need two a week and that will only cost $1. Of course if these tablets don't work there are incredibly expensive drugs, which I am sure we will need to resort to. It is the way of the world at our house. Luckily Peri thinks the tablets are lollies and Gilly lines up too, so everyone has to have a fish oil capsule as well.

The ride in the car was very exciting and Gilly was doing her best to be as close to the front seat as she could.

It has been Summery Hot here, 28* yesterday, but much hotter in the Sun and in our house. We had to break out the evaporative cooler, buy a bag of ice, wear a wet cloth on the back of the neck and lie about complaining. Thank goodness it is cooler today.

Once the weather warms up and Christmas looms it can all get just a bit too much so we have been taking things very easy and resting in between Christmas engagements. There has been some sewing:

A Christmas box bag for our Knitting Christmas and some Teatowel bags for Sewing friends.

 

A tree skirt for The GardyGardeners and some cute felt reindeer ornaments.

Warning: MrsDrWho and I signed up for the Premium Picnik and so pictures may have borders and shiny Christmas ornamentation.

Our Lovely Nurse's family at Leukaemia Support Group has a new baby Chocolate Labrador and I just happened to have some Labrador fabric and so I made her a bag as well. Lots of bags this year so far.

MrsDrWho and I had surprise lunch in town today. There was some texting about Parcel Pick Up warehouses being closed, and then a reminder about shoes and then we were both in town and managed to rendezvous. There was one pair of green shoes and now they are all MINE!!!

This year my Christmas outings are nicely spread out over the month. I have them written on the December Calendar and I try to write everything in so I don't have two things on one day.

I am looking forward to Christmas Cooking and I have been making a list and checking it twice.Anyone have any great Christmas recipes they can recommend???

I've also made a Christmas Card photo and almost finished the song to go inside.

There hasn't been very much knitting, but I have the new Knitscene with eight cardigans and I am squirrelling away the Knitted Advent Calendar for next year. Though I did find a use for the glittery green wool I have had for ages: I made a tree!!! It is such a cute pattern and so quick to knit.

The next Batman Character we are hoping for is Mr Freeze. A little rain wouldn't go amiss either.

Analyze (TAR)-DIS

This week has passed in a slight haze of extra tiredness and, I suspect, hay fever.

On Tuesday I was at the airport, waiting for this plane carrying a friend's mum home.

I'm not quite sure about Wednesday. I didn't fall asleep until about 4am and then I was up again at 8am. There may have been a nap at some stage but it took a few days to get back into sleeping synch. If there is such a thing.

On Thursday I visited Auntie Dutch for afternoon tea and her birthday. Auntie Electric and Toddler Electric were there so I gave Toddler this Citizen Kane Hat. She looks so beautiful!! Uncle Dutch came home too, so I had a lovely catch up.

I made Auntie Dutch this TARDIS Skirt and this matching box bag. Auntie Dutch is just the right size for drafting a pattern that will fit onto one metre of fabric!! It's from The Spoonflower.

This RainDear hat was finished in time and I made this DW Doctor Who (new season) 11 cloth to pop inside the bag.

And though you can't see from the first photo, cropped to protect the innocent, she was wearing everything at once!!

Our Knitting Dining Out group went to the local Institute of Hospitality. The students prepare and cook the food, make drinks and serve. The new building is very nice but the acoustics are just terrible. We all left with slight headaches and ringing in our ears. The food was delicious. I had a Very Berry Mocktail and this grilled sirloin with special butter, asparagus, mushroom and onion compote and beetroot glaze. It was so yummy, the only thing missing was some bread to sop up the lovely gravy at the end.

Today I walked with this pair of Labradors:

Peri and Gilly have The Spring Fever and every day they want to play rough and rowdy rebel games inside. I have to use my Teacher's Voice and stand up tall and point at the door and say, "OUT!".

I found this bamboo in my Monday Spring Clean. I have 15 balls of Cleckheaton Bamboo, enough for a whole cardigan. I wish I could point you to THIS pattern with a clicky link, but I am not sure of a pattern that will suit bamboo. Any suggestions are gratefully accepted.

And now this is the end of my post, I am going to sit and knit and watch this show, and then read this new book.

Ricotta Get Out Of This Place, If It's The Last Thing We Ever Do.

Today I made ricotta cheese. I feel very clever. It turned out to be just like ricotta cheese from the deli. Who knew it was so easy??

There are lots of recipes, but I used Donna Hay's: 750ml milk, 250ml thickened cream, 1/2 tspn salt flakes and 40ml lemon juice, though you can substitute white vinegar.

You bring the milk, cream and salt to the boil, add the lemon juice and simmer for 2 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes off the heat and then pour into a lined strainer over a bowl and leave for 1 hour.

Then it is done. It's amazing, it's like magic!! The ricotta tastes lemony and maybe next time I will use white vinegar to see what happens.

If I had not been so excited I would have remembered to save the whey and put it in the refrigerator. I'll remember next time. I made the ricotta and ham tart from Donna Hay's 10th Anniversary book with the ricotta.

Peri Naughty has really been enjoying the Sun, and the hole she has dug in the garden. She spent several sessions sun baking and then coming inside for a big drink and a cool down.

Lorelai Gilmore has been saving us from the Line Marking Men. She had to keep woofing at them when they stood in the middle of the road directing traffic, and we had to reassure her everything was fine. She's also been making mud again using the paddle pool and dirt.

Brownie #1 Review: MrsDrWho and the staff said the brownie was very nice, spongy and light. But they also thought it was brownie-lite, maybe for the uninitiated and young brownie connoisseur. It was all gone by lunchtime, nonetheless!!

I am feeling good at the moment, tired, but well in my head. I am doing a little Spring cleaning every Monday and thus far I have found my Photo Book of all the dogs (hurray!!) and many other things, including a Hmm Hmm panel belonging to MrsDrWho. The edges had frayed to billio and I said I would fix it. The nice lady at Esme's helped me find a fine stripe to match and I used Heat'n'Bond Lite and the fabric to fashion a new border. Here's the Before and After:

I also remembered to buy some stretch black jewellery thread so I can re-thread the necklace that broke. I bought a tiny jar of green buttons for $4-95. So many lovely buttons. There was another identical jar, I may have to go and buy it too, then I will have enough for some sets.

I also decided to look at the Homy-Ped catalogue today. I had browsed it, but in a desultory fashion. I went into the chemist shop and bought one pair of casual shoes, well not really shoes. They are called Libby, in the Pear colour for $40. They have diamantes on the buckles, but I am not holding that against them. The kind lady put the other pair of shoes away for me till the end of October so I can save up for them: Dakota, with the bead trim, also in Pear. The Libby pair is very supportive in the mid sole area, so I am wearing them for a little while at a time.

I also cancelled the insurance on The Dog Car and handed in the number plates. It's a strange feeling, soon The Dog Car will be off to The Wreckers.

I've replaced the Library Card I lost a month or so ago, the very day I had it issued. I had been looking for it, and putting off asking for a new card. The Librarian I saw said I would have to pay in an ominous voice. We get one free replacement card a year. I thought it might cost $50, or even $100. Nope!! It cost $7-70 including GST. Knowing I am a Library Card Loser, I've made a photocopy, laminated it and tested it on the Self Issue machine. It works!!! Now I have a back up. Just in case.

Tomorrow I am going to have a rest day. I didn't mean to do so many things today, it just happened. I might knit.