Photo scavenger hunt July

Here we are at the end of another month which means it's time to show  photos for July's scavenger hunt.  As usual, I have stretched my artistic license with some of the photos.

 

Red, white and blue.

Red, white and blue crafty bits and pieces.

Flip flops, or thongs as we call them in Australia.

These belong to Genevieve.

Ice cream

Ice cream with milo sprinkled on top, delicious.

Strawberries 

A flag

Stretching the flag theme a bit with this photo.  I didn't have a flag.

Fields

Paddocks on my parents farm in Western Australia.

Celebration

Charlotte's 21st

 and

Genevieve's 18th  birthdays celebrated in June this year.

 Sea shells

Making a hanging garden ornament with shells and buttons.

Stars

This star pendant was given to me by a very old Thai lady years ago.  I can't even remember why she gave it to me.

Stripes

I love the appearance of stripes made by shadows on this old wheat silo on my parents farm.

A kite

This is a kite shaped birthday cake I made for Genevieve's 4th birthday.  Sorry about the quality of the photo as I took a photo of a photo.  This was taken long before digital cameras were the norm.

Something that makes me happy (but not a person or animal).

Working on the granny squares for my new cushion cover.

I made it just in the nick of time.  I'm promising myself that August's scavenger photos will be taken early!  We'll see.  Have a lovely day or evening.

Anne  xx

Enjoying patterns and colour

Last week when I was coming out of the library, I saw these free postcards and brought a few of them home with me.  I'm not sure what I will do with them yet, but do like how they look together.

While on the subject of postcards, a couple of months ago I participated in a postcard swap.  Here is a selection of those I received which I've put together because I like the way the colours and patterns go together.

I'm quite facinated by the colours and patterns in nature which makes going for walks rather fun.  Am I the only one who does this?
 
On a not so pleasant note, I had to take Stripey to the vet today as he is suffering a rather nasty pussycat flu.  Poor kitty is sneezy, snuffling, has watery eyes and having tummy troubles too.  I hope his medicine has him feeling better soon.

I hope you are all having a great weekend,

Anne  xx

Easy dinner recipe

Does anyone else get tired of their cooking?  I know I do and I'm always looking out for new recipes that are not only tasty but easy to make.  I found the following recipe here. 
I've adapted the recipe by adding zucchini as I wanted to include more more vegetables.

SPICED LAMB TURKISH PIZZA

Serves 4

Prep time 10 minutes

Cooking time 25 minutes

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, (I used olive oil)

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 zucchini, grated (my inclusion)

500g lamb mince

4 garlic cloves, minced (I used 2)

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cumin, (I added more 'cos I love cumin)

salt and pepper

1 Turkish bread loaf, halved horizontally

100g baby spinach leaves

3 cups grated mozzarella

Lemon wedges to serve (I forgot about the lemon)

1.  Preheat oven to 220C (200C for fan oven).  Heat oil in frying pan over high heat and add onion and carrot, (and zucchini if adding).  Fry gently for 4 minutes.

2.  Add mince to pan and cook for 3 minutes to brown well.  Add garlic, allspice and cumin and cook for a further 2 minutes until mince is almost cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

3.  Assemble pizzas.  Place bread halves on a lined tray.  Spoon lamb mixture over bread and top with spinach and mozzarella.  

4.  Bake pizzas in oven for 15 minutes until bread is crisp and cheese is bubbling and golden.

5.  Cut into portions and serve with lemon wedges.

Loving the way Stripey is looking on.

Even though I chose the leanest lamb mince I could find, I had still had to drain off a lot of fat from the meat mixture.  I think I would prefer beef or chicken mince although this is obviously not authentic to the Turkish influence in this recipe.  I found the lamb fat taste was quite strong.  Other than that, it was delicious and sooooo easy.

I'll leave you with a photo taken a few weeks ago of a sunset from the Bolte Bridge in Melbourne.

Have a fab day/evening,

Anne  xx

Looking on the bright side

Today is Monday, much like any other Monday really when I meet up with one of my best friends for a knit/crochet and natter morning.  We take it in turns to visit each others house which gives us a chance to admire each others gardens, exchange gossip, drink coffee and generally have girl fun.  As we hadn't seen each other for about a month, we had lots to catch up on today.

Monday is also oil painting class day which is in the afternoon.  After a quick lunch, I decided to let the chooks out of their coop to have a wander in their run..  It has been raining and raining here and the ground is very sodden and slippery.  As I was returning to the house, I slipped in some mud and ended up on my bottom feeling rather sorry for myself as my jeans were not only soaked but covered in mud.  As I was sitting on the ground thinking that I was going to be late for my class, I began to think on the bright side.  Here is a list of things I came up with.

I wasn't hurt, a bit tender and bruised, but no broken bones or sprains.

My jeans and undies were the only items of clothing that were muddy and wet.
I had a fresh pair of jeans (and undies) to change into.  All they needed was an iron, the jeans that is.  I don't iron undies, life is too short.  :)

I had plenty of water to soak my jeans in.

I'm planning on washing tomorrow anyway.

While I was in the laundry putting my jeans in to soak, I remembered that the sheets I had put in to wash this morning from last weeks visitors, were ready to be put in the dryer.  No sun for drying clothes outside unfortunately.
The egg I had collected and was carrying in my left hand didn't break when I fell.

I thought it might be fun to blog about something that must have looked so funny when it happened.

I have an awesome camera to document where I actually fell.

When I was outside taking photos of my skid mark, I took the opportunity "to smell the roses" which actually means I looked at some of my winter flowers as there are no roses in bloom.

I photographed my flowers to share with you.
I thought about the wonderful fact that because we have had so much of rain, our dams are now at 60% capacity.  After more than 10 years of drought they did get down to 28% capacity which is quite scary.

How is that for for a list!  Now here are the photos.

My AWESOME skid mark.  :)

My soggy back yard and AWESOME skid mark!

Pretty candy pink Primulas.

 

 

 

Snapdragons hanging on by a thread.

Delicately coloured Hellebores.

Hellebore flowers and buds.

When was the last time you looked on the bright side of something because if you didn't you might just burst into tears?

Have a wonderful evening/day everyone.

Anne  xx

A busy week

I'm not quite sure what I've been doing this week but it has passed in a bit of a blur.

Google images

 We've had my niece staying with us from interstate.  She has just finished university study to become a paramedic, is applying for jobs and had interviews to attend.  We managed to sneak in a trip to Spotlight while she was here which is always a bit of a trap for me with fabrics, craft and other wonderful things to look at.  She purchased some lovely soft chunky yarn and made a scarf while she was here

Saturday found us attending a birthday celebration for another niece.  We always have so much fun when we catch up with our family and the evening was full of laughter and good food.  We also welcomed my nephew home from a months holiday tripping around Europe and the U.K.  We were lucky enough to have him stay with us last night and were able to hear tales of his travels and experiences.  Early this morning three cousins, a friend and me (the driver) went to see the last installment of the Harry Potter movies.

Google images

 I've been to see all the H.P movies with the kids and we were a bit sad that it was the last movie.  I haven't read the books yet although Genevieve keeps bugging me about it.  I'm sure I'll get around to it one day.

I'm looking forward to a quiet week with a bit of time for some crochet and a much needed visit to the hairdresser.  Have a great week everyone.

Anne  xx

Adding colour

Good morning!  My apologies for being absent from Ungardened Moments as I've been somewhat discracted by hubby's recovery and other unexpected stressful domestic situations.  You never know what life is going to throw at you next.

In between stressful situations, we managed to sneak in an overnight stay at a Victorian provincial city to see my neice perform in a stage production of Peter Pan.  It was a delightful show and lovely to see my neice doing what she loves most, acting, dancing and performing.  Of course, spending time with extended family is always lovely.

Little bits and pieces of craftiness have been happening here and there when I can fit them in.  I recently decided to add some colour to my life and found this fabric to make some cushion covers for the family room.

I love the colours, bold and bright.  The pattern is wild and a bit out there for me but suiting my mood at the moment. :)   I then started wondering how a granny square cushion might look in these colours, so a purchase of wool was made.

A little pile of granny squares is starting to grow.

There are some interesting colour combinations here with more to come I suspect.

I've just realised that I was casting a shadow when I took some of these photos, so the colours are somewhat dull.  Well I'll be of to add some more squares to the pile.  Have a lovely day everyone.

Anne  xx

In the garden

Hello everyone!  How are you?  Today I decided I needed to be either creative or active and activity won out.  The front garden has been needing attention for some time as I didn't do very much work out there last year.  I also hadn't quite finished raking up all the leaves at the end of autumn so despite the chilly winter weather, I went to work.

I do like my chooks to free range a little bit each day so I thought they could come down with me to the front garden, scratch around in the leaves for insects, bugs and slugs and keep me company at the same time.  Getting them down from their run to the front yard was quite funny.  I use the leaf rake to guide them in the general direction, but I must say herding chooks is a little bit like trying to herd cats.

Here are Missy and Eagle enjoying a lovely chook brecky.

The old tyre swing the girls use to play on made a handy storage spot for garden tools so they didn't get lost amongst the leaves.

As well as raking up leaves, I stacked fallen twigs and branches, pruned two camellias that had finished flowering and pulled ivy that had gone rampant on the ground.

You can tell by the colour of these photos that it was a cold, cloudy and miserable winter's day.  But I warmed up quickly from working and had to dispense with my beanie.  Of course these days I have my own internal combustion stove working to the max every 1/2 hour or so and then I feel like I'm having day in the tropics!

A couple of months ago I transplanted a Poor Man's Rhododendron, 'impatiens sodenii' in the back garden.  As a number of pieces had broken off with roots attached, I decided to plant a piece in the front garden to see what would happen.

Here is the cutting in front of the agapanthus and Missy.  I was delighted to see new growth and will be looking forward to see how it survives during summer as the two sycamore trees in the front yard suck up all the water.  There is more work to do down the front but at least it looks tidier now with three massive wheelbarrow loads of garden rubbish in the green bin.

 I have one final photo to share.  I think Stripey must have missed me while I was away because he keeps climbing up on my lap at any opportunity for a cuddle.

Wishing you a wonderful day/evening,

Anne  xx

Photos from Western Australia

Good morning!  I am very happy to tell you that hubby is well and almost back to normal.  With a few minor changes here and there to his lifestyle, he should remain in good health for a long period of time.  :)

I have a small selection of photos to share with you today.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to take all the photos I wanted to, but there is always next visit back home.

This is Jess, my brother's Kelpie sheepdog.  Her life is sheep driven and she loves to work.

This is Bonnie, an older sheepdog who is a big softy and loves cuddles.  Check out how long Jess's tongue is in the background.

This is Humphrey who is 13 years old, enjoying the sunshine on the front veranda.  He was displaying his tummy to me as an invitation for a belly rub.  Isn't he cute?  He is a small cat with a tummy that looks like a barrel and when he trots around he looks so funny.  Every night he goes for a walk with Mum when she is shutting up the chooks and feeding Eddie.

Eddie the pet emu was quite affectionate this visit. He is about 40 years old.

He has very scaly legs and feet which we attribute to his age.

Having a sit down.

There were lots of lovely little lambs gambolling around but I couldn't get to close enough for a good photo.

Looking east.

Sunset

This is Ben, my nephew who is 6'3".  He is in a band and I was planning to see a gig they were doing in a local country town on Saturday night.  Unfortunately I missed that one but perhaps I'll get lucky next visit.

There are always old bits and pieces lying around farm yards and I was taken with this old coil of rusty wire and the colour contrast with the blue sky. 

This is on an old harvester.  I just couldn't resist taking a photo of that lovely word, sunshine.

These are baby paddy melons and definitely not suitable to eat.  They are considered a weed and can be toxic to sheep if they eat too many.  I took the photo for the pretty yellow/green colour contrasting against the dirt.

Mum's ivy leaf pelagonium on the front veranda.  Isn't the colour spectacular?

I also have a lovely photo of Mum operating the twin tub washing machine in the wash house but I know she wouldn't want me to show it, so I won't.  You're safe Mum!!   :)

I hope you've enjoyed this little taste of my visit to Western Australia.

  Bye for now,

Anne  xx

Unexpected early return home

Hello everyone.  I've returned home earlier than expected from my visit to Western Australia as Thursday I received a phone call that hubby was in hospital.  He had collapsed at work and as the paramedics weren't quite sure what was wrong, they took him to emergency at an inner city hospital not far from his work.  After undergoing a number of tests he has been declared well and healthy,  THANKFULLY.   Being over 2500km away from your hubby when he's been taken to hospital and is normally in extremely good health, is very frightening and worrying.

Fortunately I was able to get a flight out of Perth today.  Thank you to my very supportive (elderly) parents who were up at 4.30a.m. to make a special  5 - 6 hour round car trip to get me to the airport this morning.  I love you Dad and Mum.  Thanks also to my brother-in-law who picked me up from the airport and battled yucky peak hour traffic to get me to the hospital this evening and for bringing hubby and me home tonight.  The girls were very glad to see their dad home safe and sound from hospital and their mum to hold the fort while dad rests up for a bit.  All's well that ends well.

Normal blog service resuming soon with photos of my shortened time away.

Anne  xx

Visting Western Australia

Hi everyone.  Just letting you know that I will be away for a week and a half visiting my parents and brother in Western Australia on the farm.  I'm looking forward to seeing wide open spaces, 

 sleeping in my old bedroom, eating Mum's cooking and doing jigsaws with Dad.  Oh and giving him a bit of cheek.  He's TROUBLE!!  :)   I might even get to spend some time with my brother doing farm stuff.

I'll get to say hello to Eddie, our old emu pet,

and go for long walks along roads like this.

I won't be able to post from the farm (I don't think I can), but I will try to keep up with all your posts.  If not, I'll be visiting and commenting furiously when I get back.

Before I sign off, I'd like to say hello to my new followers and say thank you to those who have been following me along the way.  I appreciate the time you take to read my posts.

Bye for now,

Anne  xx