Christmas has gone, the New Year is yet to come

Well the house is back to normal, summer holidays begun

And I'm fighting off the flu that threatened Christmas singing fun.

It's hot and humid weather so I'm sitting by the fan

Binge-watching shows recorded, or anything I can.
My step count's gone to billy-o, I don't move much at all
I even get a nanna nap and early to bed I crawl. 

I could turn on the aircon and work upstairs in the cool

But I'm tired and sick and sorry that I can't be by the pool.

The weeds are growing quickly and the produce coming fast

I race out in the morning cool and pick berries that I pass.

The chooks, of course, are gasping, but still lay quite well

And enjoy the flies and seek the shade when heat their actions quell.

I've dealt with all the apricots that Geoff and family picked

When they went to Underhill in this appalling heat.

I miss the rhyme and rhythm that accompanies Christmas time

And the trumpets, harp and organ and the voices so sublime

But I'll be back and join the chorus when this flu and heat are gone

When the year begins in earnest and we start our next new song.

Christmas Day was fun and busy when first at church I sang

Then all the family gathered and we formed a happy gang.

The children played with cousins and second cousins too

And the adults sat around to chat with nothing more to do.

I've cleared away the leftovers, filled the freezer with much food

Prepared some stock and soup and stuff that should prove very good.

I've cleared the decorations and moved the tables back

So when the year begins anew I've room to think and act,

But now it's time for quiet, for healing and reflection

For sorting things and catching up without interruption,

And to find the new music to learn this coming year

To make sure it is truly familiar to my ear.

So as the new year comes around I wish you all the best

And time to make your dreams come true and pass in every test

That life hurls at you and causes you to fear.

So basically I wish you all a Happy New Year.

From Betty..

Merry Christmas

I wish you all a wonderful time with family and friends over the Christmas  break.

This year I've made my own bamboo Christmas tree.

A cool wet time at Underhill

Greg, Ev and I went down to Underhill last Friday/Saturday for an overnight trip. It was beautifully cool with quite heavy rain overnight.

We really went down for a fruit picking trip - blackberries and apricots. While the blackberries (actually Youngberries) yielded plenty, the apricots were not ripe enough to pick. We will have to make another trip in Christmas week to get any of those or we might leave them for the birds this year.

Then there was the netting of the fruit trees - Greengage Plum, Golden Delicious Apple and Peach.

As it was so damp we allowed ourselves a fire in the hearth and were able to burn off quite a bit of rubbish timber.

Greg and Ev wanted to pitch their new tent but because there were some pole pieces missing it made a sorry sight. In case of rain they pitched it in the carport. Very lucky to do so or they would have been drowned in it overnight.

We were looking around at general things to be done and found the stump of one of the trees. I gave it a bit of a pull and after a bit of wobbling part of it came away. Greg then worked on more of it. A bit more rotting and termite work and the whole thing should come away. Meanwhile we still have some very large logs to deal with when we have someone down with a chainsaw.

It was a pity Geoff and family could not join us on the Saturday but Ponyo had an ear infection that needed to be attended to. Thankfully our phones now work at Underhill so we got messages through to each other.

My Market Run delivery exceeds all expectations

This is what I received this week from The Market Run for $20 (including delivery)...

• 1/2 watermelon
• 1/2 butternut pumpkin
• cos lettuce
• small eggplant
• 2 potatoes
• large sweet potato
• broccoli
• asparagus
• button mushrooms
• punnet tiny tomatoes
• 2 tomatoes 
• 1 orange
• 1 mango
• 1 lemon
• 1 avocado
• 2 nectarines
• 1 peach
• 1 kiwifruit
• 1 pear
• 2 bananas
• 2 carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1 zucchini
• 1 brown onion
• 1 red onion
• 2 red apples
• 2 green apples

I don't think I missed anything!!! And this is called a "Baby Box (adapted for a senior)". I just can't get over it. 

The end of an era?

For those who have visited me in the last 8 years or so you'll know that various members of one family have lived with me whilst completing studies in Sydney. Over the years they have become my adopted family, often staying alone, or en masse, for short or extended periods.

My latest was Arianne who was here for 4 years doing a Theatre Costume Design course.

Arianne had her final exhibition last week and has now, with the help of family, has moved out creating a huge hole upstairs. I think I'll find it a large empty house for a while.

Brett, Josh, Zoe, Arianne, Leigha

On Saturday they all stayed here (except Thea who is overseas) as a base to attend a concert and collect Arianne and her many packages.

Meanwhile my raspberries are producing a stunning harvest and I am able to pick enough for at least one feast every day or two.

For me it is now the run down to Christmas with lots of singing practices, performances and services, the last being on Christmas morning.

Another Recovery Milestone

There is now very little I can't do with my new hip. Four months on I have now had one month of 10,000 steps a day continuous even though in that time I've had two weeks with a full on cold.

Even well before the new hip this graph was a rare event!

The next challenge is to be able to roll over onto my right side in bed at night. It is still a bit odd, not exactly uncomfortable and definitely not painful but a challenge nevertheless.

Stoves new and old

This morning I was up on a very rainy morning to cook my Christmas Cakes. The new stove had done them well and even though we had a storm to start the day, we did not lose power and the cakes cooked quickly in the fan forced section of the stove.

Yesterday Kim and I had our last day together before school goes back in February and we worked hard to get the BBQarea all sorted for play and entertainment. Mind you, I don't have a BBQ at the moment but that is beside the point.

Today the whole area and everything in it is well washed with all the rain we are having. My tanks should be full by now and my soil is well soaked I hope.

I have a new stove

My original stove is 72 years old and was leaking gas slightly so that I had to turn it off at the tap behind the stove when I had stopped cooking.

After much deliberation and mourning I found one I could cope with in my kitchen and yesterday the electrician came to create a new dedicated circuit because my old stove had no electricity. While they were doing the circuit under the floor I was able to clean all the grime out from behind and under the old stove. My new stove was delivered just as they finished the electrics but they could not do the gas.

They took my old stove out to my carport where it is going to be used as a serving bench.

It doesn't look too bad out there.

The electrician organised for a plumber to come today to fit the gas part and now it is fully installed and cooking a rice pudding because I know how rice pudding should work.

Unfortunately, the inside is nowhere near as big as my old stove. The top oven can be used as a griller or conventional oven, the bottom oven is a fanned oven or conventional oven. I just turned it on! I am now learning by my mistakes.

Having never had an electric oven before I am going to have to get some help and practice positioning shelves and working out where to cook things and what temperatures to use. It has always been just guesswork previously. It even has a timer and I can program it to turn on and off when I like but that is another experiment.

So wish me luck. If you'd like to come and experiment with me please do.

Keeping Busy

I've had a cold for the last week and have had to cancel all sorts of singing commitments but I am keeping busy with some tedious quilting and a job in my garage that has been hanging over my head for the last 40 years or so.

Surrey scrounged one of the museum cabinets when the old herbarium was demolished. Since then we have labelled the drawers 'temporarily'  with any sort of tape we could write on. A year or so ago Geoff found some lovely 'antique' label holders online so bought enough to do all the drawers.

This week I started the job. On the left is the first column of drawers done and on the right is the next column in its messy state.

It has now taken me a week but the drawers are all cleaned down of all the old labels and oiled. Then I attached the label holders using a template to mark the hole spaces. I created a table that produced labels of exactly the right size for the label holders and printed them on cream cardboard and voila..

It is a pity that the original handles are not all the same size and are not all aligned correctly but I am pleased with the job and they look so neat.

The timber is Sequoia (Californian Redwood) and when the drawers were made in about 1900 the trees used for the timber would have been possibly 100 years old.

If eventually they are used anywhere other than my garage they could do with a good re-strip and oiling but for now they are great.

Recovery Milestone

Today I was able to put both socks on without using my sock aid. This is the first time for almost a year. Since my hip replacement I have tried to put them on unaided each time before reaching for the sock aid and today (at 3.5 months) I have done it!

Underhill is still dry

Last Saturday Geoff and family, Greg and Ev, and Nathan and I had a day trip to Underhill. On the way down Greg, Ev and I stopped at the Marulan Butcher and were thrilled to be able to buy some properly cured corned silverside. We bought other meat as well as it is so good.

The girls loved it of course and helped plant the new fruit trees.

Geoff found the swing seat and rope ladder and mounted them under the Nashi as it is strong enough for the small girls and beautifully shady in summer. Ivy loved it.

There were lots of trees in bloom including this apple in the 'dog yard'. The tree was absolutely humming with bees.

Flowering has been good this year and there are even small fruit on the apricot tree.

Geoff and Greg planted some more Oaks near the top dam which is quite green with the drought.

They also planted Fejoa and Macadamia at the far end of the top dam and Heather and I went for a long walk to see what they were doing.

Nathan did some slabbing on the Lucas Mill of logs he had drying. They are now in the solar kiln he has built beside the toilet shed.

Greg, Ev and I went for a walk to the far dam. This photo of me is taken as evidence of the fact that I did go for a bush walk. I have not walked to the far dam for over a year with my gammy hip. This time I made it quite comfortably. Hooray!

The dam is quite low and turning green. A few of the trees Nathan and Geoff planted around the dam have survived though and are looking quite good.

At last I feel recovered enough to really enjoy my trips to Underhill and am so pleased that we have friends that enjoy coming down with us.

When life falls to pieces make quilts

Over the last few months I have spent odd bits of time using up my 2.5" squares of scrap fabric in a quilt idea inspired by Bonnie Hunter and her "leaders and ender's". Tuesday and Wednesday this week I've spent time putting all the bits together.

I am really pleased with the result and now just have to consider borders, binding and backing.

I started by making strips of 5 squares with a white triangle at each end. The centre of each strip was a 4-patch of 1.5" leaders and enders and the end square of each strip was the darker of the two adjoining 2.5" squares to create a good contrast with the white ends. I joined the strips together into blocks of 7 strips. Once I'd made 18 such blocks I spread them on the table. The quilt that inspired this one had a strip of another fabric running straight down between each pieced strip. But I noticed that if I offset the blocks when I joined them I ended up with a white zigzag pattern running down the quilt.

However I then had to work out how to fill the empty top and bottom of each strip to offset them. A few scribbles on graph paper and I got excited. Each alternate strip has a different corner filler section.

That was on Tuesday. Of course I then just had to finish putting it together.

The irony is that when Stephanie saw me using the little pieces she donated her stash of 2.5" squares to mine. This was great because it made a wider colour range. But I've ended up with more little squares than I started with. I guess I'll just have to make more quilts! I might even add another strip to this quilt to make it more square?

School Holiday adventures

Over the last week or so I've had a few days of entertainment balancing devices, activities and outings with grandchildren all in torrential rain.

Alex and Luke had a day and a half at ANSTO enjoying workshops during which I mostly stayed out there in the cafe (very comfortable) finishing a quilt and catching up on some computer work. I even succeeded in creating a hot spot with my phone to get internet.

The boys and I visited the girls for an hour or so one evening. They enjoyed playing lego together. We were even able to "herd the cats" to get a photo of them all on the lounge, even Ponyo.

On Friday we went ahead with our planned tour to the city. First a trip to Geoff's work where we started by having a look through the Westpac Bank museum. The boys were impressed by the free food at Geoff's work and spent time playing battleships from the many board games they had to choose from. They were also introduced to the Cathedral game.

We then had time to fill before lunch so walked up Martin Place to the Reserve Bank museum of money.

As I needed some cash from an ATM we went back down to the Commonwealth Bank and were awed by the original features in the bank that we'd already seen in the Westpac Bank Museum and discussed there.

Lunch with Ellen and Geoff then a quick visit to Ellen's work before heading to the Royal Botanic Gardens in the rain.

In the Calyx glasshouse there is a fantastic display of carnivorous plants.

Luke was fascinated by the misting pool and watched it for ages.

After 17000 steps on Friday my weekend was filled with another trip to town with Linda to dinner and the opera and my normal Sunday church and singing, then Geoff et al came for dinner Sunday night.

On Monday Ivy came early and had time on her own with some of the Britains model farm upstairs. She has been waiting all her life to be allowed to play upstairs and was thrilled by the opportunity at last.

The boys came again and joined her upstairs, something they have rarely done.

They found the Cathedral game and played a few rounds with Alex including Ivy in his moves. It was great to see them all playing it so well together.

The weather did clear for long enough to be able to play outside and we were able to avoid devices all day!

Eventually I dropped the boys out to Heathcote then headed home for Ivy's pick up.

Then I collapsed in front of TV with dinner and a glass of wine to recover from a very full week and a great opportunity with the grandkids.

September visit to Underhill

On Saturday last Geoff, Ivy, Heather and Ponyo came to collect me for our day trip to Underhill. As it was a long weekend the traffic was quite heavy and slow but we eventually arrived at Marulan for the markets. The highlight for the girls was 'driving' a fire engine and given fire hats so they could look the part.

We eventually arrived at the block to a dry bleak landscape highlighted by fruit trees in bloom. The most stunning was the nashi just covered in blossom.

As always the crab apple was also full of bees. It provides a great pollinator tree for the other apples and keeps the bees interested in the other trees as well.

The girls always love arriving to find all their toys and are so happy to just play.

Ivy was a very brave girl while Dr Daddy extracted a splinter from her finger. She even managed a smile.

Geoff had help planting a few more fruit trees. First he had to make the wire surrounds which was a really heavy job for one person until he worked out an easier system.

After we had finished our chores we had a quick lunch and left for home. I was dropped home at about 4:30.