30 July 2021

Weekend Reading

I'm happy to tell you that Hanno and I are fully vaccinated. We had the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been given to millions of people all over the world and up to this point, the over 60s in Australia. It was developed by the Oxford University in England. We had mild fatigue after the first jab and no side effects with the second.  I was really impressed when our vaccinations where registered on our MyGov pages BEFORE we got home! I've now have a My Gov digital identity so I can prove I'm fully vaccinated. It's becoming increasingly clear that this is how we'll be able to return to travel, apply for jobs and attend large functions in the future. 



We're both very grateful to be inoculated and I feel more relaxed about going out now, although mostly we're just going out to pick up groceries, to the vet and doctor. They're opening up AstraZeneca to a wider age group now so if you are able to get the AstraZeneca vaccine I encourage you to get it. The cost of getting Covid, especially the Delta strain, is massive now, and much higher that any risk associated with AstraZeneca. If you're hesitating, talk to your doctor, do more research and see if you can find a way forward. 


We had Gracie back to the vet during the week and she still has an infected ear. She's had two courses of antibiotics and now she's back on the drops. She goes back for another checkup on Tuesday. She's showing no signs of distress or pain and is her usual happy self, except when we put the drops in her ear. So we're giving her the drops just before her main meal, and that seems to be working well.
 


I'm about to repot this lovely pelargonium in a hanging basket. I took a cutting from outside my hairdresser's building, it's grow this big and the flower, about to open, it's a deep, deep purple-red.


I'm full steam ahead with the garden now and it's coming along nicely. I've planted a pink climbing rose on the lattice covering the chicken coop and I can hardly wait to see it spreading out and blooming. Yesterday I bought some rainbow chard and new parsley seedlings and planted the chard up today in a polystyrene box. I also found perpetual lettuce so I bought one, which was really two seedlings, for $3. I'll grow them in the bush house over spring and summer next to the mint and micro herbs.

Tomorrow I'll plant the parsley in the old sand pit, plant a white daisy called White Lightening and an Armeria called Dreamland. I have some seeds to sow and I want to also plant the rose Elina, a yellow rose I bought for Sunny, that I took a cutting from. My last job in the garden will be to tend the citrus. I want to spray them with white oil for the scale I noticed recently, fertilise with citrus food and prune the large orange tree. We have a large harvest of lemons waiting to be picked and that will give us lemons for cooking and baking as well as a good stash of lemon juice to freeze to make lemon cordial in summer.  There's always something to do ... thank goodness.



I baked a lemon cake today and we had rissoles/frikadellen/large meat balls with mushroom and onion gravy, fried potatoes/bratkartoffeln and Brussel sprouts for lunch. Delicious! It's a really old fashioned meal and it takes me back to my parents cooking every time I eat it. I love eating the food I grew up on.

How are you going? Times are tough all over the world and I often think about the names that appear here. I hope you're staying healthy and safe and remaining optimistic for the future. Have a lovely weekend.  xx

🪴 🍄 🪴

WEEKEND READING
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22 comments

  1. I am so pleased you have had your vaccines and had a easy time of it. As I have a clotting disorder I have tried hard to be allowed to have the Pfizer. Then it dropped to the under sixties and I was very relieved. I had my last shot today and I hope that I have an easy time of it.

    I am sorry that your Gracie is still unwell.

    Thank you for your choices today. I love having weekend reading.

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    1. I'm so pleased you got your Pfizer vaccine. Stay safe. xx

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  2. I am happy for you all to be fully vaccinated. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.

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  3. I couldn't agree more on the philosophies of making clothes last forever and meet the humanists. I applaud you for recommending the covid vaccinations. Sometimes with all the praying and denying I see in blogland, I yearn for a measured and reasonable response to today's troubles. Thank you. I hope that Gracie is soon improved.

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    1. Thanks Rita. I'm really pleased to find good articles of that nature to include in the list. xx

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  4. Hello Rhonda Your posts are so warm and inviting and you have such a flair for description and the accompanying photos. I love your pelargonium. I too have a few of these hardy little plants along with my geraniums and my loved fuschias. The issue with me Rhonda is once I attain one of the mentioned plants my eyes feast on all the other various colours and varieties in our local nursery. The frost has given way now to our August winds. So staking is vital and given my hair is quite long my trusty hat so I can at least see my way around my garden beds. I too have had my astrazenica 1st vaccine and am booked for my 2nd. No reservations as to be quite honest there were more disclaimers and concerns with some of the chemotherapy medicines I had. Like you my days are full with cooking, craft, gardening, reading and home. The most important aspect to the day is gazing at the beautiful Mt. Dandenong Ranges from our backyard and listening to our beautiful birdlife splashing in our many water features. I have also come across some beautiful clay coloured frogs living behind the bluestone brick retaining walls. When it rains they sing. Health and happiness to you Rhonda. Julie from Mooroolbark in Victoria xx

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    1. Good luck with your vaccinations, Julie. I hope your immune system makes the most of it and there are no side effects. xx

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  5. Hello Rhonda. I'm glad you were able to get Hanno and you vaccinated.
    My husband and I got our second injection a week ago, and we feel more secure.
    I thought about Gracie yesterday :my neighbor's dog has the same problem,and he already took her to the vet twice.
    I still love to read about your activities in your house and your garden.
    I still look forward to your weekend readings on Friday.
    So, I tell you : "see you next week"

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    1. It's good to know you've had your vaccinations, Pat. Stay well. xx

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  6. Congratulations on your full vaccine status. Astra Zeneca is the vaccine my cousins in England got. No problems whatsoever. Make sure you wait a full two weeks before you venture out though. I am still wearing a mask even after my vaccines I received last April. Of course, it depends upon what is going on in your community. We have seen a slight uptake in cases, but usually it is the unvaccinated who are affected.

    That dinner looks wonderful indeed.

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  7. Hi Rhonda...thank you for the weekend readings...they look interesting as usual! I have my 2nd AZ vaccine in ten days time and my elderly parents in their mid 80s next month also.
    I have planted out some seed potatoes..in pots like yours. Was going to buy a grow bag, but had the big pots so planted in those. I too love pelargoniums...have a few. Quite stunning when they are all out. I think I got mine from a local fete years ago ☺
    Great you were able to grow such a wonderful plant from the cutting.
    Hopefully Gracie will recover fully soon...sounds like you have got the eardrop giving down pat!
    Have a great weekend and keep safe. I heard you are now in lockdown again.

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    1. Hi Karen. Glad to know you're close to having your second shot. I couldn't find my grow bags so I grabbed the pots instead. The potatoes are growing well and seem to be very happy in the pots.

      Yes, in lockdown again. They discovered six delta cases and it's still not clear how it started. It doesn't effect us, Hanno was topping up our groceries when they called for the lockdown so when he came back, we closed the gate and now we're looking forward to a quiet few days of 29 - 30 degrees. I bet you know where I'll be - the sun umbrella is up, I have a new hose nozzle to play with and plenty of plants to prune, fertilise or move around. 😎

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  8. So glad you got your vaccines and that you are feeling better about moving about. It does give one a better sense of safety. Unfortunately, here in the States, folks have politicized it and so we will not reach herd immunity unless something drastic happens. (What could be more drastic than hundreds of thousands of people dying or getting sick?) So we are donning masks again due to the new variant. I will do what I need to do to keep those I love (and those I don't even know) safe.

    Your plants looks lovely. Isn't it wonderful having so much life around you? It has been so sticky outside that I'm afraid I haven't felt like tinkering in the garden of late.

    Enjoy your new found freedom and peace of mind. Healing to Gracie.

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  9. Your meal looks absolutely wonderful, Rhonda!! Brussel sprouts are my very favorite vegetable! Congratulations on being fully vaccinated now, along with Hanno. Please still wear a mask when out in public as the Delta variant is reaching fully vaccinated people now. The benefit of being vaccinated is that you more than likely will not be hospitalized on a ventilator, if you catch COVID now, and the odds are good you will not die. But the possibility is still there for both so.... mask up and hand sanitize when out. ~Andrea xoxoxo

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  10. Hi Rhonda, it's been ages since I last commented, but I still come and read. I got my second AZ jab last week too, though I haven't been out really yet. Our restrictions have all been lifted here in England, but in my area cases are still high so we are being cautious and still only making essential journeys, wearing masks, and so on. Despite all that, we got the dreaded sickness bug, probably from our daughter's childcare (who thankfully did not get it badly unlike her dad and me).
    Thank you for continuing to post and being a spark of happiness in these dark times.

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    1. It takes a couple of weeks to fully build up immunity after vaccination. I think you're right to be cautious, I am too. We're in lockdown here, a three day lockdown started yesterday after six cases of Delta variant were discovered. I hope you're feeling better now after being sick. It's good to see you back again, thanks ro your comment. xx

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  11. Your cooking and baking always looks so delicious! I have been growing herbs again, too. It's so rewarding. I use them for tea with honey, as bath teas, and in cooking. They really do have antiviral properties. I bought a few Cecille Brunner roses and thought of you. They smell divine...

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    1. Cecille Brunner îs adorable. I'm hard pruning mine this afternoon so it will grow like mad in spring. I'm also harvesting the mint today for tea. That will grow back in 3 or 4 weeks. Take care, Stephenie. xx

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  12. That pelargonium is really pretty. I would love to see it fully opened. I have many pots of pink ones that I overwinter every year and some are 15 years old here. That meal does look like the comfort food of our growing up years. Sometimes I just want to go home again and eat at my parents table but can only go there in my memories now.

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  13. Your garden looks nice. Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Thanks for the reading list. I particularly liked the article by Grandma Donna about loving your house. I have a tendencie to look at what is wrong with our house instead of appreciating what is already there. Thanks for taking the time to list those links😊

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  15. I am thankful to hear that you and Hanno now have that layer of protection against this terrible COVID pandemic. Last week I went to an event where I had to show my vaccination card in order to gain entry. That was new to me, but I expect will be the wave of the future. I am disheartened by how many folks in my community are ambivalent about getting vaccinated. Sigh.

    Your garden sounds like it is going very well! Hooray! We just planted a honeysuckle bush this summer with visions and dreams of it draping across the shed! It has been a hot summer up here, but we finally got some much-needed rain yesterday. Hooray!

    Thanks for the links and this space of calming domesticity and reflection.

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