2paw

The Naughtiest Girl is a Rain Monitor

I was an Enid Blyton fan when small. I loved Noddy, and all the Famous Five, not so much the Secret Seven or the 'magic' stories but I so wanted to attend Malory Towers or St Clare's. I wanted those Midnight Feasts and to be in a 'form'. I also liked the Naughtiest Girl books, and though I don't think I am naughty, I am definitely a Rain Monitor!!! Once the instruction sheet arrives, I will be recording the rainfall, along with about 10 or so other north Apple Islanders for the ABC. I am beyond excited. I even went to pick up my rain gauge, but they had no sheets to fill in or give instructions so I couldn't start. We had a deluge of a downpour last night but in the interests of statistical honesty I reckon it is better to have no data, rather than erroneous data from a poorly placed rain monitoring gauge. Harki and Peri were assisting with the photographing when two little white fluffy dogs walked past.

The Labradors are friendly and Harki went and sniffed them at the gate whereupon the TLWFDs went barking mad. Harki put her hackles up, but she didn't bark or growl. She came to tell me what had happened instead. Peri on the other hand lived up to her name. Peri Naughtiest girl that she is, was inside the second gate, and when she realised she had missed out on something she leaped over the lowest part of the old wall and took off up the footpath after TLWFDs. I walked up the street after her and, wonder of wonders, she ran back to me via someone's garage, and then I used my scarf as a lead. Look at the wickedness inherent in The Labrador: the glint of naughtiness in her eyes and her laughing expression. She's a rascal, but a year or so ago she wouldn't have come back at all. Harki's goodness must be rubbing off.

Yesterday it was the 25th Anniversary of the Gordon-Below-Franklin Dam being finally blocked. I remember hearing it on the radio in the staffroom. It was a great day and a great decision. Though it split the state all those years ago, today people agree with and support the High Court, except for a few stick in the muds. It was the making of the Wilderness Society and the Green party here, and I can only hope that in 25 years or so we can celebrate the quashing of the proposed pulp mill. The spirit of those days runs strong.......

A while ago Vinny sent some Dalek biscuit cutters to me, and I sent her some Possum wool. It was a great swap and I was able to use the cutter's outline to make a template for embroidery. I made MrsDrWho a little quilt inspired by the Lolcat picture of a Dalek chasing a cat!!!

MrsDrWho and I finally made it to the pictures to see Prince Caspian. It is the second book in what I consider to be the correct Narnia reading order. The film was excellent: darker and for an older audience than the first film. It went for almost 2 1/2 hours and I didn't need to look at the time once. The acting was wonderful, the costumes and CGI fantastic and I was frightened in a fair bit of it. I had to watch through my fingers and slump down in my seat. It would certanly fulfil my childhood fantasies to be running about in the lovely dresses and firing arrows and saving the world!!!

The Get Smart movie has arrived, but I am not going to see it. No-one can be Max and 99 like Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. I shall consider buying the DVDs instead. And soon the X-Files movie will be here!! That is very exciting news though I have only seen the poster. I have seen the new 007 movie trailer. The name is a bit naff, Quantum of Solace, but I like what they've done with the 0 and the 0 and the 7.

I promised the One Pot chicken casserole recipe but after watching the absolutely fantabulous Library episodes of Doctor Who last night I left the book behind.  I can remember the recipe, it's pretty adaptable and you can add or substitute the vegetables as you see fit!!

One Pot Chicken Casserole

• 750g chicken thigh meat, cut into big cubes
• olive oil for frying
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 potatoes, waxy is best
• 3 carrots
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• large handful of beans
• 300 ml cream
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard
• salt and pepper
• parsley, chopped

The potatoes and carrots need to be cut into chunks,. I used chat potatoes which are smaller and cut them in half, but I would probably cut a normal potato into quarters.

Heat the oil in a large pan and then fry the chicken in batches until it is well browned. Remove from the pan and add the onion and the potato, carrot and celery. After 5 minutes, add the chicken and the stock, put a lid on the pan and bring to the boil.  Turn down to a simmer and cook for about an hour, stirring and checking it 2 or 3 times.

Mix the cream and the mustard and add along with the beans and zucchin. Cook for a further 20-30 minutes uncovered: the sauce should thicken slightly and the vegetables should all be cooked through. Finally season with salt and pepper and mix in some parsley. Serve with rice or pasta. I added some mushrooms and garlic to the casserole. It freezes very well.

 

Elizabeth Aaaaaargh

Nothing as wonderful as Glenda Jackson in the eponymous mini-series, but we do have a holiday today for E2R's birthday. I am of course philosophically opposed to a holiday for the monarch of another country's birthday, and also the honours when they go to people like the ex-PM. I can't think of anything he did that I, as an Australian, am proud of. I vote all volunteers and carers and the like get awards, not people who are awarded for the jobs they are paid to do, and nothing more.

I am not an iron woman in the usual sense of the word, but MrsDrWho will affirm that I am more than slightly addicted to ironing my fabric stash!!! There is nothing I enjoy more than taking the freshly washed fabric and ironing it smooth and then folding it and pressing in the creases and stacking it up. I abhor any other ironing, but can while away a happy hour at the ironing board, with The Labradors looking on, ironing my fabric.

The Labradors stared me into an extra walk this week. I was moving books in a box to the back of the car and they stood at the gate and looked at me with their big pleading eyes and cried pitifully. I took them for a walk!!!

 

The run to the gate and wait for me to open it, and then we're off. Today there were flocks of black cockatoos, squawking and swooping. I was worried they might swoop down and carry Peri away because she was most interested. MrsDrWho said it would take a whole lot of pterodactyls to carry Peri away. She is a cruel and unnatural aunt. Harki explores up hill and down dale, jumping over branches and through the grass.

When we get home, Peri needs a big nap, and she has started to steal my spot on the couch.....

I am knitting and sewing at the moment but I am working on Belafonte ( the Dayflower Lace Scarf ) My friend, Mrs Mauritius, thought she had lost the chocolate coloured Zhivago Branching Out I knitted for her, but she found it at her mum's. I am knitting her a new scarf as an early birthday present. It is quite good TV knitting, as long as I tick off the rows as I go. I can see there is a rhythm to the pattern in the chart, but I need to check each row if I'm watching Stargate at the same time!!! This is definitely going to need some serious blocking.

Last night I watched Persuasion. P&P is definitely my favourite Austen, but this adaptation has moved Persuasion up to equal second alongside Sense and Sensibility. Next week it's Northanger Abbey and then Billie Piper (Rose from Docotor Who) is Fanny in Mansfield Park in the last week. The six books and another docudrama are being shown as The Jane Austen Season in the USA, but we won't see P&P or S&S or the doco. I must say that Persuasion was awash with emotion and Rupert Penry-Jones makes me swoon!!

This afternoon I am off, as Avon would say, to visit a sick friend. (I have been reading my Blake's 7 episode guide in bed this weekend.) And then I hope to do some embroidery. Tomorrow I am having lunch with both The Knitting Coven and my Sewing Group at the same time in the same place - It's all very sitcom!!!

Oh, and I can't add Categories today. Typepad had decided I can't see them, let alone select any.

Next day: there are  Categories, all of them, not just the ones I have selected. Beggars can't be choosers though!!!

And The Company Jumps, When We Play Ravelry

There was no Boogie-Woogie on Saturday, not even any Rum and CocaCola, but the company was delightful. The Northern Apple Islanders had a Ravelry meet up at Blue. We were all so excited, well I was so excited that Kate who'd ratherbeknitting* had left by the time I took the picture!! So the Ravellers are, from the left: MrsDrWho, Shrekgirl63*, AmandaJ, Magdalena* , Katt and Sharon. [* Ravelry Link] We were all so excited that we plan to meet again in three weeks for some more Ravelry!! Amanda made me a giant brooch, well actually it's Cuzmo [whom I want to call Cuzco] a Knitted Babe, and he matches my new Cardigan. He is lovely and came with a wonderful letter warning of the ill effects of Labradors on a Knitted babe!! Here he is, pinned safely to the corkboard above my computer, like a green guardian angel. Amanda was right: Harki and Peri did want him. They wanted him a lot!!! Thank you Amanda, and rest assured while he has a holey head, at least he's not holey all over!!

I started some new socks at the meet up, but I unravelled them after the gusset decreases because my high instep refused to fit. I have started them three times, and the third time's the charm: Diamonds in the Stream. [I sing along to Dolly and Kenny in my mind] The wool is from the Wonderful Katie at Live2Knit and it's Rita dyed in the 2paw colour!! I wanted to highlight the colours and so I needed an expanse of stocking stitch, but I still wanted a pattern. I have ladders through my purls. I don't have ladders through my knits. I hope they block out. This wool is so nice to knit with, it's delicious. I'm using 2.25mm and 72 stitches and doing my usual sock thing.

MrsDrWho and I went to the pictures to see Iron Man on Friday night. Excellent film!! Well we thought so, and so did the rest of the cinema-goers who were geeky boys. I think we may have been the only females there. I'm up for comic genre films, happy to give them a go, and I need to see this again. Two hours and twelve minutes and I didn't want to check the time once. Lots of nice Robert Downey Jr muscled arms and a plot that didn't let up for a second. Stay till after the credits. We did, and so did five other males. Does no-one else check out the Internet before they go to the pictures to see if it's worth sitting through the credits???

I have been buying myself some Fat Quarters as they take my fancy. I am going to do some sewing (See Katt and Sharon!!) and not all for me, obviously, as they are not all green!! I am attached to them though.

After our walk this morning we were quite late, it was almost time for Elevenses when we came home. I bought some yummy French Earl Grey tea from Tonic, good sourdough rye from the bakery and some Chilli Salami from the deli at the trendy shop at the corner. My teapot has lost it's little knob and I was at a bit of a loss and then I did some Girls' Carpentry and found a nice green wooden bead and Voila, it's fixed!!!I didn't eat and drink at the same sitting, the one would have destroyed the taste of the other, but Harki and Peri really wanted some salami. I offered them bread. See what happened. The slight shaking is when I laughed!! We do 'Sit and Wait' but this time they were taking it way too seriously......

Now my blog is sidey-waysie, Toni doesn't like it. I'm not sure, I put all the 'business things' at the right and the reading at the left. I'm not sure I don't want to have it symmetrical again. It is ever so slightly weird.......

We-e-e-e-ear: Is Love?

Does it come from skies above? No, The Love comes from my Green Is The New Black (Ravelry link) cardigan. It is so warm and soft and it fits really well. I sewed on the buttons this morning and I have had it on and off all day. On and off because it is so warm and it's just not really cold enough yet to wear it. I will persevere though!!! The GITNeB, or Basic Black Cardigan by Glenna, knitted on 4.5mm needles in Grundl Dolce. It is variegated greens and so it goes with everything.

I sewed up the fronts and back in less than an hour last week: far less time than I expected. I put it off, and it wasn't as bad as I anticipated at all. In the meantime I finished the Harry Hat (Country Silk) and the It Ain't Half Hot socks (Buttons) for my mum and posted them off. I loved knitting the hat and  the socks took just two separate days to knit. Harry is modelled by MrsDrWho. It was either her, or my round sewing basket balanced on top of The BareNaked Lady. I wanted to buy my mum Sally Wise's new book: A Year in a Bottle, but it hasn't been published yet. The Saturday morning radio announcer raised my hopes that it would be available for Mothers' Day and Agfestm but alas my hopes were dashed. Luckily my mum is fine with delayed present gratification!!!

Harki and Peri just love the cooler weather. They are off up the side of hills, and down the face of almost-cliffs and there are so many new smells and things to see. We met Chocko and Jessie/Jazzie, not sure which is right, and their mum today and Peri was so excited. She ran about with the two other dogs, around in circles and even off up the track with them. Harki is less effusive and likes to keep an eye on things. Just when I thought Peri was going to run away with the other dogs, back she came at top speed, ready for a big pat and a treat!!!  They have some new Kangaroo/Lamb treats from MrsDrWho and they will turn inside out to earn one.

I went to MrsDrWho's classroom this week to help make Mothers' Day gifts. We made mobile phone covers from felt, decorated them, and added a drawstring to the top. You can see some of the finished ones here. The children are quite well behaved and have learned from Easter time how to thread a needle and tie a knot in the end!! I came home and sat on the couch and I was totally overcome with tiredness. My head kept dropping and I could barely keep my eyes open. I had to go straight to bed for a long nap. I am feeling quite well, for me, at the moment and I have to be careful not to do too much. I am wont to try, and then I am worn out!!!

I am Apron Sewing Along, with Sew Mama Sew.  They call it a smock, but it is an apron to me. I have  cut out the paper pattern and Harki has surveyed it for me, making sure everything is A-OK, and it is!! I have to choose some green material and then sew away!! This will be the third apron I have sewn this year and I saw there are patterns on sale at The  BlackSpot of Doomlight, so I might buy a new apron pattern next week.

There has been much loud machinery noise lately. I looked out the window and I saw giant machines working across the highway. The area was once marshland, covered in bulrushes. Vundy and Tori would run and leap through the stalks and get all wet and smelly when we went for a walk. The Council has been filling the area with the silt dredged from the river. You can see how awful the river is: so narrow in the middle and then all choked with silt. No-one wants to accept responsibility for fixing the problem, so they fiddle while the river dies. It is also very smelly, though we can't smell it way up here. The big machines drone up and down and raise and lower their appendages. I will be glad when they stop.

This weekend there's an exciting Ravelry meet up here in town, and MrsDrWho and I may occasion the cinema and Iron Man!!! Now it is very dark and I am off to watch Friends, the expurgated version, and knit the back ribbing for my Chappa'ai cardigan, I am alternating with The Pop Tartigan to save my shoulder muscles, and I'll wait impatiently for The State Within.

Canoe Feel The Love Tonight?

I have less than no interest in the fact that The Apple Isle will host the 2009 Canoe Wildwater World Cup, but how could I pass up the chance for an Anna Coren segue to The Lion King???  I have never seen the film but MrsDrWho plays the soundtrack in her classroom in the holidays. We will be feeling the love in 2009!! Peri is feeling the Morning Tea love and hoping for a titbit from The GardyGardeners.

I've been meaning to blog for three days but the light has been bad, on Thursday I had my car lights switched on at 3pm, and somehow it always seemed too dark to take a photo. I have been a little busy, though not on The Pop Tartigan because I knitted a sleeve in the space of 36 hours and my shoulder was boogelly: those 5mm needles can be a killer. I have been doing other things. I have made my mum an Odessa. It is meant to reflect a crisp Spring day in Odessa, though I am not sure if that's Odessa Brazil, Canada or USA, but I like to think it's Odessa, The Film, which just makes me think of The Ipcress File, so I think I'll call this The Harry Hat!! Now if there was a choice of looking at me modelling The Harry Hat, or poking your eyes out with hot needles, MrsDrWho knows which one you should choose. So there is only a progress picture of said hat until maybe MrsDrWho models. It's on 4mm needles using almost two balls of Cleckheaton Country Silk in a blue you can't buy here anymore.

There has been sewing: a Sock Tote for Amanda from you-can-guess-where and a zippy bag for Kate:she's not keeping her Library pencils in it, but rather her socks-in-progress!!! There is also a backpack for me made from LoopyLouey's gifted fabric. I used Lotta Jansdottir's pattern though I lined it with lime green poplin. You can see some dog treats in the back pocket and also Harki's zebra striped toy. She's not very happy, I think you can see her bottom lip trembling in the picture: she's pretty sure I've taken it for good. I gave it back straight away.

My last post about The Flame Attendants et al seems to have elicited the same feeling from most people: we are very sad and disappointed at the politicisation of the Games, but supportive of our athletes. It's less than a hundred days till the Games begin: I suggest we all watch these Games instead and revel in John Howard's Apology.

There has been some cooking: a classic Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. I made it in a bigger tin and I really should have used more pineapple. I did buy more and was planning to dredge it with brown sugar and pop it under the grill, but it never happened. Recipe follows.... I have more to say - what a surprise!!, but I'm saving that for next time.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Topping

• 2 tins of sliced pineapple rings, drained**
• 90g butter, melted
• about 1 cup of brown sugar

Cake Batter

• 120g butter
• 220g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
• 185g self raising flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice from the tin**

Preheat the oven to 180*C, and then line a 25-28cm spring-form tin with baking paper. Brush the base and sides with the melted butter and then sprinkle in the sugar. Finally  place the pineapple rings in the base of the tin. I didn't have enough. You can also put a glace cherry in the centre of each ring!!

To make the batter, cream the butter and sugar, lightly beat in the eggs and vanilla and then fold in half the flour and half the milk by hand. And then gently fold in the remaining flour and milk. Spoon over the pineapple and spread evenly. Cook for 45-50 minutes or until it is browned and springy to the touch and has come away from the sides of the pan. Invert onto plate and serve with lashings of custard or cream and ice-cream. A Classic.

PS The Jennifer Fallon series?? It's a set of four now!!! Just in case you were on a knife edge waiting for the next one. I am.

The Lady's Not For Turning Straps

How cute it would be, I thought, if Peri could sit outside in the Sun, with a little sign that said 'Thank You' and I could take a photograph and everyone would go 'Awww'. Right, like that was ever going to happen. Peri is feeling almost back to normal: she is playing rowdy games with Harki (who loves her and is very tolerant!!), she is stealing the newspaper and trying to escape out the back gate at every opportunity. She is back to being Peri Naughty. The only reminder apart from her stitches, and I have restrained myself from posting a picture of her belly, is that she tends to sit down a little gingerly. That's it. Everyone's kind wishes, thoughts and virtual pats and kisses passed on with enthusiasm have obviously done the trick!!! We are very lucky.

The enforced sabbatical at home (and here I wonder can you actually have a sabbatical at home if you are always at home anyway??) has led to some more sewing and knitting. I made another Lotta Apron, this time for MrsDrWho, from some vintage (and this sounds so much better than old, I think) fabric given to me by Cathy. I added a pocket and I think I have mastered the strap length. This apron is hot, and I don't mean hot in the 'oh it's the man from Burn Notice, he's really hot' kind of way. No, I mean the added two layers of fabric in the apron make it almost too hot to wear!! It's definitely a Winter Apron. The fact that I am not for turning straps led me to make a Pointy Strap Tutorial. You can find it in the side bar under My Patterns. It is but a small and whimsical thing, yet I like it!! It is my first photo tutorial foray!!!

The next sewing projects will be fixing the zip in MrsDrWho's handbag and sewing myself a Lotta backpack from the lovely Dog fabric LoopyLouey sent in my Bag Swap parcel. It is drying outside now and as soon as I have posted I will make the pattern pieces.

I started the first Ing Time birthday sock for Mr Madcage and you can probably guess his first name!!! It is a quick knit from 8ply Buttons on 4mm needles and 44 stitches. It grew very fast as I knitted away in waiting rooms this past week. No other socks for me as yet, and no Bendy wool has appeared so I'm wondering if I did order some, or I'm just delusional!!!   

I do have a new cooking magazine: the AWW published a Christmas edition last year and that was quite good. This Winter one has a delicious Moroccan soup with chick peas and lamb that I will cook tomorrow. Also Chile Con Carne with Corn Dumplings and Pea and Prosciutto pasta. Y.U.M. And there is a whole chocolate section.

Right now I am reading the final book in Jennifer Fallon's Tide Lord series: The Palace of Impossible Dreams. It has many story lines happening simultaneously, and they get a chapter each, concurrently. It hate it, she leaves you with a cliffhanger ending and then it's off to another character. I am rationing myself to make the pleasure last as long as possible!!!

When You Wish Apron A Star!!!

I borrowed Lotta Jansdotter's book from The Library, and I have made an apron. I am wearing it now. I have barely had it off since yesterday: everyone can thank their lucky stars I didn't wear it to bed as well. It's that good!!! I was originally going to make one for MrsDrWho, but wouldn't you know it, all my fabric is green!!! If you already sew, you can whip this up in just over an hour. It was very quick and easy. I had to make the waist ties longer otherwise I would have expired from constriction!!! I may still add a pocket. Maybe. I hate making ties, with the whole turning them right side out thing, so I always do it my way: I'll take some pictures to show next time.

Last night MrsDrWho and I watched The Ark of Truth, the first Stargate Movie. Wow!! I had assiduously avoided all spoilers and information, and I was thoroughly surprised, amused, frightened, sad and happy. I really enjoyed it. I squealed and hid my eyes and laughed out loud, at various different times I hasten to add, not all at once like a crazed person. It was one of the best sequel movies I have ever seen and now I am impatiently awaiting the next one: Stargate: Continuum.

I joined The Ravelry Wee Small Sock Swap and I received my sock from the lovely Kim yesterday!!! She specially found some green wool and a tiny sheep stitch marker. It is very remiss of me not to have shown my lovely Ravelry Bag Swap either, from the excellent blogless LoopyLouey!! It is green, beaded, lined with green and has a detachable brooch!! Too many extra good things to mention individually, but click to embiggen and play I Spy with the pictures!!! First things to spy? Harki and Peri!!

There are also a lot of books to spy. I snapped up a bargain Nicky Epstein at the Crazy Day sale last Saturday. I don't know what I will ever use it for, but how could I pass it up??? The GardyGardeners gave me some old cook books, which I am reading in bed!! Then last night MrsDrWho lent me some very old books, some older than me, to read.. there's a Biggles, The Secret Garden and a ballet book!!

There has been no knitting, I had a woozy head and a day in bed on Wednesday, but was up and about yesterday and we have been for a brisk walk in the bush today. The weather is dulling up (I know dulling is not correct word usage, but it is exactly what is happening) and rain is forecast soon. Hooray. I am still managing not to kill my lemon tree and I think this is due mainly to the rain we have been having. I will have to have a closer investigation next time I go through The Forbidden Zone to see if it is actually growing. I'm off to wash some more fabric, I'm thinking of making a new bag, and after 3pm I'm having afternoon tea at the trendy cafe on the corner with The MadCages. Oh, and here's a picture of Peri on the left and Harki on the right, wagging their tails furiously as I am taking photos outside. They were hoping for a treat as it was time for Elevenses. Sadly, no luck there!!!!

The (Break)Fast Show

We few, we happy few, have been lucky enough to know and see The Fast Show. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is "The Labradors Eating Breakfast", very fast and at break neck speed. I am using my special phone answering voice!! I have no idea if I talk like this all the time, I expect I might!!! Harki and Peri are eating rice, chicken, celery and carrot. Very healthy and apparently very delicious!!!

Late this afternoon Auntie and Uncle Dutch came and planted my Christmas Lemon Tree in The Forbidden Zone. I am so happy, I have never had a Lemon Tree of my own before. Typically, I an unable to take a presentable picture of the tree in situ, so I hope to do that for next time. After that we walked up to the cool and trendy cafe on the corner and had an early tea and a few glasses of heavenly wine. Then we walked home and I am worn out from all the excitement!!!

Thank to everyone who was keeping something crossed for me: uncross now!! Donni's Second Ravelry Tea Cosy Swap Parcel arrived safe and sound on Friday. How lucky I was to have Donni as my swapee: even though she thought it strange I should take so many weeks just to knit a cosy, she was patient and uncomplaining. I actually made a few extra things. Donni often pops some green wool or titbits in the post for me and I wanted her to have a nice surprise!! So, here we go: and if I am lucky this might magically pop up in a new window and be bigger!!!

• An old fashioned tea cosy, beribboned and becabled,
• A Knitting For Snow bag, so that she can have the pleasant chill of Winter with her wherever she goes,
• A Skiing Dude drawstring bag for bits and bobs,
• A Skiing Dude Sock Tote, for socks of course,
• And finally a Snowflake Ruffled Apron.

Of course I has sent a parcel before Christmas and it had some things almost, but not quite, the same.

I want to thank Donni for the lovely Make My Day Award. I am glad I sometimes amuse with my goings on!!! I also want to thank Tales From Simon's House for the Arte Y Pico award. I certainly do like green and I do make quite a lot of things, not all of them sensible!! Now I am no good at the awarding, utterly hopeless, but if I visit your blog, I like you!! Nowadays I only do things I like to do, things I want to do - enjoyable things that make me happy. Life is too short to be cross, bored or unhappy. I count myself lucky to know so many nice people internetally!!!

It is a bit of a record for me to be posting so soon after my last post, but the weather is Autumnal and I am feeling tired, cool and happy, and able to think rather more clearly. Tomorrow I am off to watch more of Blake's 7 Season 3 at MrsDrWho's house with Cleo and Caramello. This reminds me, I am thinking of making another ZippyUppy Cardigan. I will want something else other than Doctor Who though: maybe a Stargate, or the Blake's 7 logo, or some thing from Firefly, or Buffy?? Of course I must sew up my Errol CardiFlynn (CPH) first, but then the Universe is my Oyster!!!!  I just have to decide on what to choose.........

PS I accidentally lost this entire post but since I have the Mind of a Troll (Terry Pratchett Troll) at the moment, I pretty much managed to recreate it word for word. If only I could use my powers for Good, rather than The Trivial!!!!

Let Them Eat........Bread

I have been not busy, and busy, and definitely not Busy Phillips. Busy is her nickname, so she's not been given a virtue name: 'busy' is not on the list, I checked. Apparently 'busyness' is not a virtue!!! I don't have a nickname, and I'm not sad about that, but I do give extra names to all the dogs that live here. Could Harki's name* be any longer???!! I am being gradually taken over by Friends: assimilated, absorbed, whatever. It is on every weeknight at 6pm, and at first I was a bit lackadaisical with respect to my viewing, but as time has passed, I am setting the timer so as not to miss it!! We have just started Season 4. Setting the timer is so easy now, I press the green Guide button, scroll across or down the TV Guide and then press Return twice. I love my new DVR. Has there always been a spell check on The Typepad?? I just noticed it today. It may have been there forever. I have interesting perceptual abilities!!(View the Basketball video to test your perception)

So, things what I have been doing (Thanks to Morecambe and Wise whose memory was evoked in Life on Mars last week. I can't stop humming "Give me sunshine..." and doing the silly dance on the inside)........  Well, I had some very nice numbers from The Specialist and The Specialist's Immediate Superior last week, and this means that when the Clinic people from Melbourne visit they might not be so gung ho for action. Hooray!!! My Lump has also been given the Surgeon's all clear and we are watching it to see what it will do. (My mind boggles at that thought!!!) School started on Thursday, and I started a migraine. This year is the first year I wasn't feeling sad not to be going back to school, but maybe I was sad in my unconscious even though I didn't know it? Can't say, but I did have to go to bed for 2 1/2 days. I could sleep for Australia in The 2008 Beijing Olympics, and so could The Labradors. They slept on the end of the bed from Thursday night all the way through till Sunday morning. Then we had hot weather, and that made us all too hot, and not in a cool 'hot babe' way either!!! Thankfully it rained this morning (MrsDrWho wasted a wish there) and we went for a 20 minutes walk to the shop at the corner and got beautifully wet and cool.

I have been knitting my Bag Swap bag for The Ravelry (Bag disguised to protect the innocent) I have finished my Face Cloth for my swap. I have also finished my second attempt at The Tea Cosy Swap!! I would request a universal crossing of fingers and toes tomorrow as I plan to be posting some parcels!! I can't show anymore photos until the parcels have been received. I bought some delightful wool from Donni. It is so very beautifully green and so very soft!!! The Little Red Hen thought of me and sent me some sock wool she was 'de-stashing' How kind!! I am about to buy some wool from The Lovely Katie at Live2Knit as well.

At The Knitting Coven on Tuesday people laughed, albeit kindly, about the fact that I had a picture of bread and milk saved on my camera. It is special milk. Milk in a glass bottle that is not homogenised, only pasteurised. It is from a place about 40 minutes away. I don't like milk, after years of School Milk(there should be music to terrify you here) I have a hard time liking it any way at all, but at least this is not in a carton, and there is a refund for returning the bottle. They have yoghurt too. The bread is a cute little sourdough rye. It is crusty and delicious. It comes from the French bakery in town. You can eat it just with butter, and nothing else, it is so tasty. It was difficult to take this picture as Harki and Peri kept popping their heads up to see if there was any chance of some bread or milk for them. They had kangaroo bones instead. Yes, not only do we, as a nation, eat our Coat of Arms, but The Labradors do too. They love kangaroo, and it has little if any fat, so it's very healthy!!!

I have spent a few happy hours rearranging and renaming my lists of blogs. At one stage Typepad was showing every single recipe I had ever posted and this prompted me to try, unsuccessfully, to fix it. In the end it righted itself. MrsDrWho spent a few happy hours sorting things out too. I think her sorting might be a World Record though!!!!!!

*Harki-Parki-Parker-Posey

Don't Cry For Me Allen-Peter

The ABC, aka Aunty, has been showing woeful Summer programmes this year. But there have been a few shining lights, and Love is in the Air has been one of them. The last episode screened on Sunday: National Anthems. For someone who loves Frank, I found I knew all bar one of the songs. And I mean I could sing along and I knew the tune and words!! Someone from The Whitlams, and I only know that because I am a bit of a fan of Edward Gough, talked about Tenterfield Saddler by Peter Allen, and then Peter and The Whitlam man both sang the song (Obviously not together) It just makes me cry. I have no idea why, but play that song and I feel tingles down my spine and I cry.  I also cry at the end of You've Got Mail, during Assistance Dog ads, when someone has just died on Stargate Atlantis The Thirdly Season, at the End of West Wing, Nelson Mandela, when I think of Harki and Peri..... These are a few of my Teariest Things!!! I don't have to pinch myself with tweezers through my pocket or have an onion in my hanky either!!

There was a horrid rumour that the ABC was changing their logo to ABC1, and the Wave may be downgraded or disappear. I love The Wave. The Wave has survived, you can see it if you scroll down to the bottom of this page: it does look good. Mind you, the new logo is sky blue, red and white and it looks like we should all be singing The Marseillaise and eating snails, it's not very Australian. I have been told to move with the times, but let's face it: I love Frank, I am permanently behind the times!!! I love the station idents in the early 2000s when normal everyday people drew The Wave in the air with their finger.  I'm doing it now, and going 'La La La' in the ABC Logo Tune.

Truly it never rains but it pours and we have had flooding rains. I drove through a mini flood in town and a manhole cover had been shot out of the ground and asphalt was scattered all about. The Labradors are very happy, but when I came home in the middle of the storm they were both inside, not waiting faithfully out in the rain for me!! Clever and sensible dogs. It was Barry the GardyGardener's birthday yesterday, and it would have been my dad's too (well I suppose it still is really, he's just not here) and the anniversary of the bushfires too. A momentous day. I managed to finish The Shocker Socks in time. They look very strange, but I think that's because I have quite small sized feet. Harki and Peri love Uncle Barry. It may have something to do with the fact that he was giving them the mini pikelets I cooked for them for morning tea. The grown ups had banana pikelets and instead of mashing the bananas into the batter, I cooked one side of the pikelet, then covered the top with thinly sliced banana and then flipped it and cooked the other side. The banana went sort of caramelised and I sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. MrsDrWho thinks that they need a nice dollop of cream or even a scoop of ice cream. They never last that long!!! Harki and Peri's breakfast didn't last long either. They had an very healthy breakfast of rice, carrot, celery, lean mince and a little dry dog food. They still prefer pikelets!!!!

I have been sewing some more bags made from strange things. I made a Crisp Zippy Wristlet and a Zippy Lab Bag!! I'm also experimenting with a new kind of small knitting bag. I'm making a prototype, it's green with white polka dots!! I have been doing quite a bit of sewing because it has been cool.

I'm participating in The Ravelry Bag Lady Swap. Here is a picture of the bag thus  far. The bag has been disguised to protect its identity. It is basically knitting round and round. A Lot. It is quite soothing. I needed pure wool, and not green, so of course I couldn't knit from my stash. The BSODL(TM) had pure wool on sale but the ball band said each 50g had only 55m. I knew this couldn't be right but the Girl-behind-the-counter-who-knew-better, knew better. So I said I would buy one ball, take it home and measure it. Later on during the storm I went back to buy the rest of the wool because, surprise, surprise, the ball had 93-97 metres, I averaged it out to 95m. The Girl-behind-the-counter-who-knew-better didn't really believe I would go home and measure the wool. What about me suggests in any way that I wouldn't be at home unwinding wool and measuring it against my metre ruler?????

When we go for our walk in the bush, we really are in the bush. There is a narrow track about 50 cm wide and the ground slopes sharply away to the right, to some rocks and a cliff that falls away to the Gorge. You can just see the water at the bottom. Does Peri care?? She does not. My heart is regularly in my mouth, but she is sure footed as a goat, leaping and running about. Harki is more sedate and prefers the topside of the track. 

I like today's date: 08-02-08 and Happy Chinese New Year too!!!

Banana Pikelets

• 1 egg
• 150g Self Raising Flour
• 150-250ml milk
• Optional: 1 tbspn sugar
• bananas, sliced into thin circles
• olive oil/ butter for cooking

Sift the flour into a bowl, and break in the egg and pour in a little of the milk. Use a fork or a whisk to gently combine the wet ingredients and slowly incorporate the flour as you go. I prefer my batter to be a bit on the thick side, so I use just enough milk. You can set the batter aside for half an hour or so if you like. Then heat a non-stick pan to medium, and add the oil/butter. Gently drop 2 spoonfuls of the batter, for each pikelet, into the pan and let it cook until there are many bubbles on the top. If you lift it up a little it should look golden or light brown on the base. Place some banana on the pikelet and then carefully flip it over to finish cooking. You have to just check underneath now as there are no telltale bubbles. Keep warm on a plate and then serve and devour.