I'm very happy to tell you that Kerry and Sunny are engaged. Kerry bought the ring before he went over to Korea in March and proposed to Sunny while he was there. We couldn't tell anyone until all members of both sides of the family knew about it. We're not sure when the wedding will be but I'm sure when they've had a chance to discuss it, we'll have a wonderful day to look forward to. Hanno and I couldn't be happier to see both our sons married to strong, hard working, beautiful women. 

When your own children get married it gets harder and easier. Many people told me that babies were difficult, that two year olds were the worst, that five year olds would make me rip my hair out, that teenagers were unbearable. But I found that while it was not always a bed of roses, that each year was better than the one before it and with every passing year I loved my sons more. They may not be perfect but in my eyes they're very close to it. So that's the easy part. I think it's harder because you have to establish relationships with girlfriends, then wives, and that isn't always easy. I have grown so close to Sarndra and Sunny now, I love them as my daughters and have dispensed with the "in-law". I am a very proud mother and grandma and I'm very thankful to have the family I have.

Kerry, Sunny and Jamie are still living near us and we look after Jamie when we're needed. Sunny has settled in again since they returned from Korea a couple of weeks ago and while her mother hasn't fully recovered yet, Sunny talks to her and her sisters on the phone frequently. She is looking for a job now so they can both work towards building up their savings again.

Shane, Sarndra and Alex are living further up the coast at Gladstone. It's about a five hour drive from here. They're got a lovely home in a good suburb and they're working hard towards their future. Shane is undergoing training on his job, Sarndra works part-time in a fabric and craft shop and Alex goes to day care on those days. It's a wonderful little day care centre. The woman who looks after Alex takes the children on outings and organises very creative activities for them. She also has a private Facebook page where she posts videos and photos every day so all the families can see what their children are doing every day.

It's Alex's birthday this week. He will be three years old. It looks like we might all drive up to celebrate, not on his birthday but soon after. I think spending time together will be good for both Alex and Jamie. They see photos and can recognise each other so having that face-to-face contact will help build their relationship. And it will be heart-warming for me to see us all together again as a family. I am fully aware that families who love and support each other don't just happen by chance. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into relationship building but we're all prepared to do what it takes to make our family what we want it to be.

I hope you've enjoyed this family post. I get a lot of emails asking me about my family so I'm pleased to share this brief update. Thanks to Sarndra and Sunny too for allowing me to use their photos.

We had a quiet and relaxed weekend which included lunch with Sunny and Jamie on Saturday. The weather was cool so it was a good time for roast pork shoulder with fresh red cabbage, Dutch Cream potatoes, peas and gravy. We always welcome Sunny and Jamie with open arms when they visit and love having them here. I love hearing about what they've been doing and while we're talking, Jamie sits with us for a while, then runs off to play, then returns again.

Jamie helped opa with Lucy, our blind chicken. She is an Old English Game hen. He helped feed her, then opa showed him how to hold her gently. When they took Lucy over to the grass, Jamie spent a while in the sunshine talking to her and making sure she was drinking her water.

When we came inside for lunch, there wasn't much to do. I only had to make the gravy and put the meat and vegetables on serving dishes, then everyone helped themselves at he table. As usual, Jamie finished his plate and then we all enjoyed cheesecake and coffee, or for one of our guests, strawberry milk.

Opa serves up the gravy while Sunny cuts Jamie's meat and vegetables.

A pair of spotted doves resting in the sunshine just outside my window yesterday morning.

It's been a week of cold nights and mornings here and one of the coldest winters I can remember for a long time. No doubt many of you in other countries will be either enjoying the hot summer temperatures or struggling through them. No matter what the temperature where you are, I hope you find relief with a hot tea or a cold drink while you relax.

Thanks for your visits and comments during the week. I look forward to seeing you again next week.

Honeysuckle lemonade @ local milk
Picnic recipes

Selling on taste, not health

A Swedish garden blog - Madelief

Going vegetarian can cut your diet's carbon footprint

Summer slice quilt tutorial

Saving water: the writer takes on this month's challenge
Vegetable garden planning for beginners

Coles admits to threatening suppliers

Woolworths accused of raising prices to plug earnings hole

Australian Organic Gardening Resource Guide - this is Green Harvest's just released catalogue for seeds and organic gardening products
Colourful basket weaving

I used to hate being defined by my job. If I was anything, I said to myself, I was not a technical writer for the mining industry, I was much more radical and interesting than that. But the truth was that I was indeed that kind of writer and slowly but surely, it made me unhappy. It seems that many of us are defined by our job. What is the first thing many people ask each other, especially men, when they meet for the first time? What do you do? God forbid you should say you're a mother and wife working at home. That's not acceptable, they want to know your commercial value. Mother and wife = zero. 

But I'd like to dispute that because even though I don't get paid for the work I do, I save a lot of money by taking charge of my home and home producing much of what we need here. We don't get paid, but the value of the work we do is significant. We might not earn money in the conventional sense now, but we save money and the work we do here in our home, allows us to live this slow and gentle life.


Now I want to be defined by my job. If someone asks what I do, I could say I am a frugal housekeeper, a cook, baker, a preserver of food, seamstress, knitter, gardener, chook wrangler, cleaner, maintenance woman and oh, I write about it too. But that's not the important part. The significance part of this work isn't the writing, it is the housework that us keeps warm, fed, comfortable and alive. That's the significant part of the equation for all of us but only the commercial value is generally acknowledged as being important. pffffft


The simple work of every home is often work that's been done over the centuries that has been modified for our modern times. It's still the same work, it's nothing fancy, we are carrying on the traditions of our great grandmas and grandpas. And I'm proud that I do that. I am surprised and saddened that so many look down at the work we do because it's honest work that gives us a good life. Isn't that what everyone is aiming for? If you've been reading here for a while you'll know I don't care much about what other people think of me. I want my family and friends to love me but if someone I don't know questions what I do with my days and gives me a disapproving look, who cares.

Some people in my position would describe themselves as a writer or author and although I sometimes do descrbe myself as such to people when I'm out in the community working, I am foremost a wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. And I write about those important roles. I love the terminology of all of it too. I say I'm a grandma and some people are surprised I'm comfortable with the term. I'll take ten helpings of grandma, gardener, cook and knitter over one helping of technical writer or author any day. Because that is what I am now, I have moved from valuing myself as a commercial entity to believing that my true value is in the simple, ethical qualities I bring to my family and the hard work I do in my home. The life I live now is the golden prize that is available to anyone who wants to claim it and do the work, at any stage of life. I doubt you can put a price on that and maybe it can't be defined by a job title.

I've spent the past few days baking, sewing and knitting. They are such simple, old-fashioned tasks and I know my great grandmothers (and yours) would have been doing something very similar over the years, way back when. I like how these older tasks so easily fit into modern times, filling life with interest, meaning and purpose; and replacing acquisition for many of us. You see it more and more now - younger women and men taking up the needles, learning how to bake and cook, and being satisfied and enriched by it. I am so pleased this is happening because it means that these traditionally women's tasks and crafts will go on and can be passed on to younger girls and boys, women and men.



As well as that connection I have with older times and the interest and purpose these tasks give me now, baking, sewing and knitting/crochet also help me cut my household costs. Buying bread flour in bulk helps me produce good bread for my family for less than the five or six dollars a loaf from a good bakery. I completely bypass the supermarket sliced bread, and have done for many years, because I don't want the artificial flavourings and preservatives that come with it, or the plastic it's wrapped in. I believe I can make a loaf of equal quality to that from a good bakery and although I haven't costed it for a few years, I guess it would cost me about three dollars for a good loaf baked at home. It's a saving of about five hundred dollars per year based on three loaves a week.


Similar savings can be made if you have a yarn and fabric stash. Making gifts and the soft furnishings you need at home using the fabric from your stash will save you a decent amount each year. Over the weekend I made a lamp shade using fabric I had here. It's much prettier than any I could have bought, I have unusual taste in these things and I doubt I would have been able to buy anything close to what I like, so it's a win-win. I save money and I also get a lamp shade that suits my taste and blends in beautifully with what we already have here.  I'm also using resources I have on hand, don't have to go out to buy what I need and the icing on the cake is the satisfaction I feel when I look at that lamp. Not just now but into the future as well.


We will welcome a new baby into our family soon. Tricia's son Danny and his partner Laura are expecting a daughter and as part of a gift for the baby, I've started knitting a little dark pink hat. It's a washable, organic wool and cotton blend, done on straight needles, because I didn't have a suitably sized pair of circular needles on hand. I hope it helps keep the baby warm because she will live in the Blue Mountains where it's very cold. Once again, I had the yarn and needles here, so getting our gift underway hasn't cost anything. I love being able to welcome a baby with home knitting.

It's a worthwhile exercise to collect any fabrics or yarn anyone offers you over the years. You might also find inexpensive fabric and yarns at your local second-hand shops. Even if you have no projects in mind, building a stash will help you when you do need something. Having the materials on hand helps you cut your costs, it inspires creativity, it gives that all important feeling of self-reliance and if, like me, you believe that homemade comes from the heart, your gifts will be a fine indication of your feelings towards the person you give your gift to.

I think of my stash as another form of stockpiling. It saves time and money and allows me to have my own materials on hand when I need them. Are you using your stash for your projects too or are you trying to build up a stash?

The revolution - axing our personal debt

I received an email from a young woman the other day who told me that she's so conflicted about a choice she has to make that she's deliberately not thinking about it and she'll probably end up just flipping a coin to decide. She said by doing that she'll be getting what is meant to be. Phttttt! I don't believe in fate or coincidence. I believe we make our own luck and good fortune by working for what we want. Usually the decisions we have to make are those involving your work, family, friends and home so you should do as much thinking about those decisions as you can. The choices you make, whether they be good choices or bad, will impact you when you make them, and like a ripple on a pond, long into the future too. Flipping a coin to make a decision is like saying you're not worth the effort. Everything you do matters.

Flipping a coin and deliberately not thinking about important issues is side stepping the opportunity you have to make your own decisions. I encourage all of you to plan ahead and live according to your values. Own your life! This isn't a dress rehearsal. You don't want to realise that too late.  Plan your life as best you can, but be flexible when you have to be. Planning ahead will give you the best chance of success because you can actively work towards what you want. Non-planning really doesn't take the decision making out of your hands, there will still be an outcome. You're making the choice to not make a decision and then you have to take what comes of that.


When I look back and think of all the people I've met, the work I've done, the places I've seen, the time spent on such a wide variety of things, the countless hours I've spent raising babies and children and teens, the years I've spent working, I can see clearly that my path to here was never straight. It was one with curves, highs and lows, periods of intense happiness but also periods so dark I could barely see what was ahead. Some of my choices were not given enough thought and some just plain wrong, but all those past choices helped make me the person I am now. Sometimes I look back I wonder where all that energy came from, and where it went. I've tried many things, left most of them behind, and am here now with my basket full of what is important to me. I am happy and self-confident and I have the most wonderful family.

So to that young woman who wrote, and to all of you, I encourage you to think about what you want, work hard for it, plan your days and make the most of the intelligence, skill and talents you have. Stay close to your family and friends. I'm not saying this is easy, in fact, I know its not, but since when was the easy option the smart one? No matter what, when you think enough about the issue you're dealing with and then make the decision you need to make, own it, and then put in the effort to make it work.

Are you a decision maker or are you inclined to flip a coin?

I have a couple of food recipes for you today. I love sharing my recipes, they're just plain and simple, but I get a thrill when people say they like them. I really should say I have one recipe because one is for pizza and I don't think you can recommend a recipe for that because everyone has their own ideal toppings. I, for instance, love anchovies on my pizza but most people's eyes glaze over when I say that. Apologies to all with weak stomachs.  

I do however, have a hint for a base that might make pizza night easier for you. When I know I'm going to have pizza during a particular week, when I make my next batch of bread, I add another cup of flour, more water, a pinch more yeast and a splash of olive oil. Oil or butter in dough makes the dough more tender and pliable so it's easier to roll out flat when preparing pizza. It doesn't spoil the bread by adding it. When the dough is made in the bread machine, I take off a piece big enough for one pizza base and freeze it or refrigerate it (depending on when I'll be making it) until it's needed. It saves me the extra step on the pizza night of making the dough. I've been making wholemeal dough lately but pizza dough can be made with any type of bread flour. I should remind you the pizza dough I make is for two people. Adjust yours according to the number of bases you need.

My other recipe is for sausage rolls. These are sold in almost every bakery in Australia and when my boys where young, they were always the most popular food I served at their birthday parties. They're a good standby to have when you're entertaining, especially on cold winter nights. I guarantee you, when you put out a tray of hot sausage rolls and a bowl of tomato sauce, they're be gone in less than five minutes. 

Men and boys in particular, love these and it's a great food for those parents here who like to hide vegetables.  I add carrot, onion and celery to mine and you'd never know it when they're cooked. They're a very devious party food. ;- )  I make most of my pasty but I never make puff pastry or filo pastry. These sausage rolls need two sheets of frozen puff pastry.

SAUSAGE ROLLS

1 kg/2.2 lbs finely minced beef, pork, lamb or chicken

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, grated

1 stick celery, finely diced

salt and pepper - you need good seasoning in this, don't be shy with the salt and pepper

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

egg wash - egg wash is an egg yolk or a whole egg mixed with a little water

One of the ongoing comments I've had since I started writing my blog, and also in my real life, is that simple life isn't that simple. Many people tell me that spending hours growing and preparing food and cleaning products is much more complicated that buying mainstream from the supermarket. Many of them tell me that they're too busy to do those things and that buying what is needed every week simplifies their lives because it's easier.

That's fine by me. I'm not trying to convince anyone that this way of living is the grand panacea for all of life's complexities. I think that to live a simple life, at the very least, you need to cut out or cut back on a variety of things, but how you do that is up to you. I know what works for me and my family and that is how I live. We have cut our environmental footprint considerably over the past 12 - 13 years and we've done it consistently. If you're doing the same thing then you're on the right track. 

I've thought about this a lot and I know the following are simplified by doing them at home, from scratch:

That list could go on and on.

It's been a cold week here in our warm country. We desperately need rain but the forecast isn't offering any hope of that in the near future. I hope the weather at your home is what you want it to be.  I do my last library talk at Nambour next week and then have some scheduled for September in the Moreton Bay area. I'm looking forward to meeting those Brisbane people.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Keep smiling. :- )

I've yet to find a more comfortable winter activity than knitting. Just thinking about my wool, cotton and needles gives me a good feeling. And then there's the important choice of where to knit. Even though knitting is so portable when you take the kids to sport or dancing, a little warm chair to knit in is part of winter for me. I have an arm chair set up in the lounge room where I'm surrounded by knitting, needles, wool, patterns, a little jar of markers, a darning needle and small scissors. Bliss.

Alone is a good place to be when you knit because you sometimes need silence to explore the ideas that will form in your brain when you undertake the simple repetition that makes up knitting. Some say that knitting is similar to crochet and I suppose that's right in some ways, but to me, knitting is more like meditation. The long periods of repetition encourage thought that can sometimes be deep and illuminating. But showing her true versatility, knitting will also see you through your favourite TV program, a tennis match or rehearsal.

These photos, above and below, are the same shawl. I'm not sure what happened to the colour but the top one is true.

I've just finished my second shawl. It was very simple knitting, ideal for a beginner who wants to progress beyond scarves and dish cloths. I made both of mine with organic cotton, one in the colour Diligence, a dark grey and the most recent in Patience, a camel light brown. I thought a lot about those two qualities while I was knitting my shawls.  I'm also doing up a few dishcloths to show at my library talks. The one on my needles now is Deb's waffle weave, which is in my book and was asked about at one of the talks. I recently knitted a pair of fingerless mittens (in New Zealand pure Merino) for Hanno but when I finished them and gave them to him I noticed I'd knitted one in a greenish grey and one in a bluish grey. Ahem. I guess I'll be doing up another pair. They'll match this time. :- )

Knitting is a wonderfully creative investment of time in the practical activity of making clothing and soft furnishing for your home. Generally the clothes we knit last for many years so it's wise to use the best yarn you can afford. That yarn will be rubbing against skin when it's worn so try to steer clear of the Chinese acrylics and look for more natural alternatives. Real wool breathes, real cotton is cooling. But think about the time you invest in knitting too and make that time enjoyable by using yarns you like the feel of. Use good needles. I'm totally won over by bamboo needles and although I have metal, wood and vintage plastic, I always choose my Japanese bamboo needles now. I've noticed that Japanese needle sizes are alongside the UK and US sizes on various charts now. I think that reflects the incredible influence that Japanese crafts, fabrics and implements have had in the West in recent years.

I am not the best knitter in the world and my projects are rarely, if ever, perfect, but knitting makes me happy so I'll keep clicking those needles. I really enjoy the time I spend making things from wool and cotton. It feels right. It suits me and my life. If you're a beginner, and you're looking for help and encouragement you'll find it at the forum. There is a monthly thread where members show and tell their latest projects. Chel and Judy are there to keep your hands busy and your mind thinking creatively while the rest of us appreciate all you show us.

What's on your needles?

Purl Bee's knitting tutorials and knitting terms

Purl Bee's knitted home projects

How to knit a bag

Knitting ideas

I have no doubt that a change of mindset towards a less complicated and busy life would help almost everyone pursue their simple life dreams. It's not easy to switch from the culturally-sanctioned spend-up-big-and-then-pay-for-it lifestyle to a simpler life. Almost all good things are difficult to acquire and you have to be prepared to work for them. The easy things are what most people do. So if you were to ask me today how to change a mindset of convenience to something more sustainable, I'd tell you that, like most things, it's a process of small changes.

There is a lot to be said for cultivating respect for oneself, others, our work, our homes and our environments. I doubt you could live this life if there wasn't some respect there to begin with but as you move into it, as your mindset changes, respect grows and builds understanding and contentment into your ordinary days. I never think much about the special days, the births and deaths, the weddings and anniversaries, because those days take care of themselves. It's our ordinary days we need to be mindful of. They need work and commitment.

I want my life to be full of spectacular ordinary days that are sprinkled with special days. I know that no one is going to walk up to me and offer me such a life on a silver platter. The creation of that kind of life is for the person who lives it. For me, respect plays a big part in giving me those memorable ordinary days. I respect the work I do here because it helps give me the lifestyle I want. That includes not only my housework but also my writing in various forms. My housework gives me the comfort and simplicity I want in my life, my writing gives me creative expression and the opportunity to connect with like-minded people all over the world.  For me, that's a great combination. But there are thousands of other combinations and it's up to everyone to find what works for them.

But I am doing all this for a reason other than comfort and connections. I am living according to the values that are important to me. They provide an ethical structure in which to live my life.  Respect, a change of mindset, mindfulness, self reliance, trust, grace and resilience all play a part. So if you're not really connecting with your simple life in the way you want to, although you're being frugal, organising yourself and doing all the practical things, maybe you need to look at your values and your mindset.  Simple life certainly involves a lot of practical things bunched in together but if it's to last, those practicalities are usually built on beliefs and ideology.

Open yourself up to new experiences and read a lot. If you can get hold of some of Wendell Berry's work, he is an excellent guide. In the meantime, read this poem of his. It's sublime. Of course, I'm not going to steer you away from the practical guides and recipe books that teach what you need to know but don't shy away from books that make you think. They can help you build a solid foundation for your life and will give you good reason to continue in times of doubt.

What has influenced you in your simple living journey?

How much is enough by Vicki Robin
The question of lifestyle by the editors of In Context
Enough by me, written in 2010