Books, biscuits and cricket

The end of November. This year has gone so fast, and soon we'll be faced with the new year and all it will bring. It doesn't feel like November because this year, although the temperature has risen, we haven't had much humidity. In the tropics and sub tropics, where we live, it's not the heat that affects you, it's the humidity. But we're still sleeping with a quilt and a blanket on our bed and usually, during November, we have just a sheet and the fan on. I wonder when it will change.

We had a wonderful weekend. It showered on and off but the first match of the test cricket started so I had to watch some of that. In years gone by it used to mark that last part of the school year just before Shane and Kerry had six to eight weeks off school, and sometimes we'd go away to visit family or friends. In those days I would use the end of November to relax and prepare for Christmas and the summer holidays, with one eye on the cricket, and I always sat down and watched the first few overs, if not the entire day's play. I couldn't do that this year because I've been concentrating on the book, but I did sit and watch the first few overs while I did a bit of knitting.

Some days it seems like all I do is write but I'm not complaining, I am very grateful for the opportunity I have to work with Penguin. Besides, who would complain when every time I look up, I see what is in the photo above. That is the view from the window where I sit most of the day typing my words. The greenery here envelopes and protects us from the hot sun and the little single vehicle lane way that leads to our door carries only our neighbours coming home or an occasional car that is lost. Our back boundary is an ever flowing creek so most days here are quiet and slow with bird song rather than traffic noise surrounding us. No, I have nothing to complain about.

I did do some baking on the weekend. Bread and biscuits|cookies were made and now we have two jars of biscuits to have with our tea that should last a couple of weeks. The biscuits were made using the cheap and easy biscuit recipe on the forum. One lot I turned into jam drops, the others have almonds.

Apart from some knitting, cooking and making the bed, the only other thing I did on the weekend was talk on the phone to my sister Tricia, my DIL Sandra and my friends Diane and Susan. Tricia sold her house and is in the process of buying a much smaller cute cottage higher up in the Blue Mountains. I can already see what she will do with her cottage and I'm really excited for her. It's a little two bedroom home, built a long time ago with many of the original features still there. I particularly love the old wood stove in the kitchen that looks like a little Aga and she even found the original wooden wire screen doors under the house. It will be a labour of love to do the small amount of renovating she'll be doing and I'm looking forward to many visits there sitting in the kitchen with that fire burning and the snow falling.

But far away from thoughts of snow is my last tale to tell you. I picked THE pineapple yesterday. Those of you who've been reading here for a while will know that we planted a pineapple top a couple of years ago. We harvested the first pineapple a year after we planted it, then had to transplant it to the front garden. Well, it grew another healthy looking pineapple - pineapples usually set fruit for two years - and tonight I'll be cutting it open so we can eat a couple of juicy chunks for dessert.

While I was out in the garden, I also picked some red and orange lilies and gardenias for the table. Our garden is full of flowers right now so how could I resist bringing the fragrance of gardenias into the house.

I hope your weekend was what you wanted it to be. I wish you well as we go into that busiest of seasons in the run up to Christmas. Enjoy your days.