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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 20 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

so is this one

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 20 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

vibrant pastoralism is fun

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 20 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

crank that up to 11 as well

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 20 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sounds as if one of your vices is drums Dpack; I always say my main vice is playing the violin. It doesn't sound loud close to, but it penetrates and can be heard at a distance far better than less pure notes.

Sad that Anzac day has been turned into a political sideshow in Aus Cassandra. I am always saddened by the way politicians take over Remembrance Day here too. Our sons MP was actually taking pictures of the crowd during the 2 minute silence the year before last. Son, who was there with his wife as sheepdog for her Brownie pack, was disgusted.

My grandfather was in WWI, but all he ever told me about was digging trenches in Ireland. Not sure if that was when he was training or during the uprising as he never told me. My parents were involved in communication in London during WWII. Father got sent to various radar stations to install field telephones when the lines were destroyed among other things. That must have been when he was about 17 I think, and was working on other telephone/radio etc. things. He worked at Dollis Hill where the Bombe machines were made, but said as far as he knew he never worked on them, although if he was told to 'build this' he wouldn't have known anyway. Mum was a telephone engineer and really enjoyed the work, if not the conditions in bombed out telephone exchanges. Although they were civilians, I think some of the effects of the war on them lasted into my childhood.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 20 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My dad joined the airforce (he was in a reserved occupation at the steel works but decided to ignore that), but his nearest thing to war service was accidentally navigating the plane out over the Tasman when aiming for Orange (an inland city). Fortunately they worked it out before entering kiwi airspace. I had a great uncle lost on Crete but that side of the family was rarely discussed in polite terms, so apart from playing Japs and Aussies (instead of cowboys and Indians) in my youth, the impact of the war was pretty negligible.

Unfortunately the internet here is not up to playing those clips Dpack - it is still buffering. But I will wait.

I have baked a large lasagne today - seven more servings frozen, and tonight's dinner was huge! I am going to have to wait a while before consuming the last of the rhubarb crumble. Tomorrow's meat challenge is some pork sausages, and after that a hare which I will introduce to the remains of the red wine used in the lasagne. But I might not bother as I have so much food cooked already. And I have not taken them out of the freezer yet.

I would really like to get some masks sewn tomorrow too.

So apart from giving the new mop bucket a trial run, it has not been a terribly productive day all up. Oh well.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 20 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i tried to learn fiddle as a kid, after 2 yrs i decided i could not stand the noise.
guitar, well i can do a bit in dropped D but other folk do it far better.

percussion is not a vice, it is not a lifestyle choice, it is what you are

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 20 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

iirc one can find an app to download youtube stuff rather than "live" streaming it

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 20 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I use a recipe for cassoulet based on the Hairy Bikers one. That uses sausages, chicken, bacon and beans with a thick tomato sauce. Rather good.

My father said that if he had volunteered they would have sent him straight back to his work in uniform, so although the rations would have been better the pay wouldn't, and somehow I couldn't see my father submitting to military discipline. He had plenty of self discipline, but tended to kick over stupid rules.

Managed to get my leeks out over the weekend and baked bread and biscuits yesterday. With the yoghurt I made the other day, we are fixed for basics over the next few days. Flour is becoming a problem here as there are very few flour bags around, and the system can't function on loose flour or different sized bags apparently.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 20 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack wrote:
iirc one can find an app to download youtube stuff rather than "live" streaming it


Handy to know. My signal is unreliable at the best of times but with so many working from home and homeschooling it can be a right pain at times.

Flour is in short supply here too. My local shop occasionally produces some, but fortunately I still have a bit of a stash due to my habit of stockpiling basics.

Today was further work on the kitchen with the result there is no longer anything in there that should not be there apart from the folding table. That I need as a work surface once i find its surface which is currently under 'things to be sorted'.

I also want to paint a swatch of a particularly courageous lime green paint I bought with a view to painting the main wall of the kitchen (on the principle it will be mainly covered by tall cupboards and so not quite so eyecatching) but I have developed cold feet about it, so a swatch will be useful. That will be going on a part of wall that will be covered when I move one of the cupboards back into its intended position so will be covered up if I find myself reeling in horror. Once the cabinet is in position I will place a smaller bookcase on top and use that to house the recipe books which previously have been fairly haphazardly housed.

It's nice to see the space starting to take shape once more - I will post a photo once it is done (if I ever work out how to download the bloody pics from the phone).

All the upheaval also produced the toaster that has been missing in action for some year. I celebrated by having peanut butter on toast for lunch. Tonight's dinner was also lasagne as I have a lucky dip in the freezer and just eat what comes to hand. I will finish off with a fruit yoghurt since I have not baked a dessert yet. Cooking and building seem to be mutually exclusive.

I will hunt out my hairy bikers book and see if I have the recipe MR - Sounds just what i want.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 20 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

over enthusiasm by lime green paint can be moderated by adding raw sienna

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 20 6:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We bought some mint green paint thinking it would be a very pale colour. Luckily we tried it in the larder, as it isn't. Not hit you in the face bright, but too bright for the main part of the kitchen. A swatch seems a good idea. As Dpack says, you might be able to modify the colour and if it is still too dark, perhaps some white too.

We had a rest day of sorts yesterday as it was pouring with rain and we didn't fancy stoking the kiln in it. I did the shopping, which I find rather stressful at the moment with trying to keep away from people, while husband stayed at home to await the courier to collect another besom broom. That one is winging its way to Scotland.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 20 7:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My paint turned out to be more sick calf diarrhoea so it has been donated to the Hall for our kitchen renovations. I resorted to looking at tiles on line and found some mosaic tiles in mint green and milk coffee and other variations. So I have picked out the mint green for the walls, and the milk coffee for the trims (once I see them in person the trim may go to the warm grey). They are cheaty tiles in that they are moulded in gel and have a peel off stick on backing. I figure if I ensure all their edges are bound in position by the cabinets and other bits and pieces they should not peel off too soon, and they are going to be a lot easier to fit around the electrical fittings too.

Today I attacked the alcove near the door to the loungeroom. Sensibly this should house a pellet heater, but at present I have a 90cm cabinet at ground level and the wall cabinet above. I took the doors off the upper cabinet, manouevred the lower cabinet into position (tricky as it has to be quite a bit taller than usual due to the presence of a door step in its swing zone) and cleaned them all out. Doors rehung on the lower one and the upper one left open. I will make brackets to provide additional support so I can put the recipe books up on the shelving instead on the benchtop where they seem to get engulfed in the various other things that land on flat surfaces.

The bench top is temporary, being some packing the kitchen arrived in, but will be cut from a piece of oiled acacia that is lurking in the bedroom along with the other benchtop materials.

I also got out most of the recipe books, and discovered that what i thought was a hairy bikers book is actually a two fat ladies book with a motor cycle on the cover. Oh well. Now they are accessible I will have a deeper rummage.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 20 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sounds as if you are getting on well. One of our tractors is that colour; the correct name being Harvest Gold, but described by one farmer of our acquaintance as 'calf scour yellow'.

We had another day firing the kiln. It decided to rain part way through getting the kiln up to temperature, so it took a bit longer than it should. Got home soon after 8pm as a result, but seemed to go all right once we got things going and the controller sorted. It decided it wasn't going to play at first. The man that built it as a prototype is very ingenious but not too good at soldering, although in this case I think it was a plug just needed to be adjusted.

A hare nearly ran into me in the afternoon. I was just going for a short wander along the track when it came loping along at right angles to me. We both stopped, and having looked at me, with me still standing still, it loped off across the track in front of me.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 20 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Well that's a nuisance - if you had caught it that would be dinner sorted. I have checked the two fat ladies book and the Edmonds Cookery Book and the CWA centenary book and the most exciting thing they offer is curried sausages, which I can already do but don't want to do with fat sausages. So I will do a little online research for ideas.

Meanwhile today was a driving day so I set off at 8:30 and got home at 3:30 having spent most of the day reading, phoning businesses and otherwise filling in time. Poppet is now booked in to be spayed (at long last) and vaccinated and microchipped on Monday week. It will be nice not to have the consequences of a cat queening indoors when I have nowhere safe from her marking activities.

I have also found someone to pump the septic tank, so it will be good to finally not have to worry about that as well, though it will have to wait for the next pay cycle. All this newfound money will hopefully arrive on Tuesday and every second Tuesday thereafter until 3 weeks before my birthday after which I will receive less, but still a lot more than I do at present. Coronavirus does have its up sides.

The next three days will be in single figures so I plan to spend at least one of them painting the door to be hung between the kitchen and laundry (it was removed for the vinyl to be laid) and installing it. Reducing the draft will be a good thing methinks.

Assuming the cat operation doesn't cost too much I will also be able to order the tiles for the kitchen which would be great, especially if I an also lacquer the benchtop and cut a hole for the sink.

Early night tonight - I find sitting around doing nothing quite tiring.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri May 01, 20 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I don't think my chances of catching it were very good as I am sure it is a great deal faster than me. Sprinting has never been my good point, and these days I prefer a fast walk to a run anyway, although I did seriously think about running yesterday when I got caught in a very heavy rain shower.

A good recipe I have using sausages is a cassoulet recipe in the Hairy Bikers slimming book. It uses sausage, bacon (ham or similar would do), chicken and beans in a tomato sauce. I have adapted it to suit our taste, so only use haricot beans, but think they recommend a mixture of haricot and callinoni beans. I make the quantity they recommend and freeze the rest, but only put in enough sausages for the immediate portion, then cook sausages and add the rest for each subsequent serving. It makes about 6 portions.

Yesterday I stayed home as the forecast was for heavy rain about lunch time. Husband and son emptied the kiln, then the rain came so they gave up. Today is refilling and probably bagging. We also need some more pallets for stoking the fire, so they need to get some from a local tyre company.

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