Weekend Reading and family meals

We celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary during the week with tea and cake on the front verandah.  We were married in Hamburg in 1979. A couple of months after that, I was pregnant with Shane and we returned to Australia the following September with a three month old baby. Happy days!

It took ten minutes to fix one of Hanno's favourite jumpers. The raglan sleeve had come away from the back so his 15 year old jumper gets a few more years of use.

The last few days we've expected storms and heavy rain but the forecasts proved unreliable and we got about 5mm. Last night's storms were lots of thunder and lightening with very little rain. Still, I'm grateful for every drop and over the last few days much needed water has slowly trickled into our rain tanks. 

And now it looks like the warmer days have arrived. We're expecting 29C today and 36C on Monday. I've still got a few odd and ends to do in the garden and I want to clean up the bush house, so I'll do that soon before the humidity arrives.  That's the killer, as soon as it's humid, gardening and most outside work becomes much harder.

Donna and I had another lovely talk yesterday. Getting to know her has become a fascinating part of my week and even though we have a lot in common, our differences are also binding us together. We were talking about food this week, and among other things, the benefits of having a list of favourite family meals. Those who did my cooking workshop a few months ago will know I have a list of about 40 meals that we enjoy and are easy to cook.  I usually cook about 15 - 20 of those meals regularly on rotation and if I want a change, or someone is coming for dinner, I check the list and choose something else. All those list meals use ingredients in my pantry and freezer so I know I can rely on the list and I don't have to run to the supermarket to stock up. 

This is the first flower spike on the Berry Canary digiplexis; it's a perennial. New flower spikes are now growing below the main spike. 

Mixed tall snapdragons.

I'm going to do more posts on my blog in the coming months so I'll start with that one to get the ball rolling. During the week, I also added an email subscription app to the side bar on the blog. I used to have one there but Google withdrew that service in July. Email subscription makes a list of emails for me and automatically mails out new post details to everyone on the list. Please be assured, I'll never use your email address for anything else nor pass it on to anyone. If you want to join that service, simply add your email address in the "Subscribe to my blog" area in the side bar over there ----->

We had several Covid cases in my state during the week and although we're not in lockdown, I think we're close to it. Until now, football has been played in my state and the grand final is tomorrow. Everyone is hoping the match will go ahead but it's still up in the air. We're in a state of transition here with plans to move forward and open up when 80 percent double dose vaccination is reached. That will happen before the end of the year. I hope the Covid situation is improving where you live and that you're staying well.

Weekend Reading

• Australian bird of the year poll 2021

• Back from the shrink: how to rescue clothes that have shrunk in the wash

• Indigenous traditional owners win back Daintree rainforest in historic deal

• Gibraltar cave chamber discovery could shed light on Neanderthals’ culture

• How to join yarn in knitting - 10 techniques from easy to invisible

• Winners of the 2021 Nature Conservancy photo contest – in pictures

• 12 ways to save money on food like Grandma did

• 70 cheap dinners that will save you big bucks

• DIY Gathered Midi-Skirt (With Pockets!) | How To Make A Gathered Skirt

• Turkish stuffed potatoes

• Tea is more than a drink, it's a lifestyle

• Glenda Crawford has judged hundreds of cakes and knows the secret to a perfect baking