Not a bird post this time

Lately I seem to have been posting pictures of birds or whinging.  So I decided a change was in order.

This spring and early summer have been wetter than usual.  It is also warming up.  Both my garden and my MS thrive in warm and humid conditions.  I do not.  I do however love my garden and the beauty in it.  So a trade-off.

We have planted many, many liliums - mostly the heavily scented ones which cause River and others a lot of grief.  There are more coming into bloom each day.  And some of their stems are over six feet tall, with up to fifteen blooms to a stem.  I have never seen them grow to that size before.

So is the increased pain and fatigue and decreased mobility/flexibility worth it?  Hell yes.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have been featuring the birds who visit us  for a little while.  This week the birds I am putting up today are ones who shouldn't visit us, as we are well away from their usual homes.  Needless to say we welcomed them.

The first is the yellow tailed black cockatoo.   These birds are more likely to be found in eucalyptus forests or woodlands, but came to visit in the last severe drought, when food in their natural habitat was scarce.

The next visitor also dropped in during the drought.  It is the aptly named Superb Parrot.  They are now listed as an endangered species so we were particularly happy to see them.

And my final bird for this week is the Rainbow Lorikeet.  I believe they are quite common in Sydney (a couple of hundred kilometres away), but we don't get them here.  Well not often anyway.  Someone else featured them in their Sunday Selections a little while ago, and I hope they don't mind me putting them on display again.

Aren't they all an enchantment? 

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have been featuring the birds who visit us for the last few weeks and, judging by my huge collection of bird photos, could do so indefinitely.

I am going with Eastern Rosellas today.  They are quite small birds, but bring vibrant splashes of colour when they visit.  The female is slightly less bright than the male, but they both seem to bring the sunshine with them.  Not really birds with character oozing from their pores (do birds have pores?) but enchanting just the same.  They apparently mate for life, and this first couple do look to be deeply attached to each other.

This is not strictly within Kim's guidelines, but I hope she won't mind.

Another week goes by

This has been another interesting week in the 'may you live in interesting times' way.  I have always thought that phrase was truly ominous.

Monday was way too busy.  I cleaned the kitty litter tray (not high on my list of preferred jobs) and vacuumed.  Then we went into town to take the smaller portion's clock to the clock doctor.  Hooray.  To the stoma clinic for next months supplies for himself.  Then to pick up bird seed (another 20 kilos), garlic, cinnamon and milk.  Home for a cuppa.  Then to the post office to send things overseas.  A big queue which is unsurprising.  I am still unhappy that if you are sending things to the US of A, an additional $9 'security charge' is added to the postage if the article weighs over 500 grams.  Which gifts for my nephew, his wife and their children assuredly did.

Then to the doctor because both of us had prescriptions which needed renewing.  Here is where it starts to get weird.  I have been seeing this doctor for over a decade (and will find another as soon as I can, but that is another story).  For the first time ever she expressed sympathy for the way I am feeling.  It is true that I was/am feeling crappy, but that is often the case when the weather is all over the place.  I went in to get my scripts renewed and she upped the dosage on all of my painkillers without being asked.  Then she took my blood pressure and her concern deepened.  I usually hover around the 120 over 80 mark.  On Monday it was 90 over 80 which goes some way to explain why I have been spinning out a lot.  She checked and it isn't an effect of the medication I consume.  A mystery.   Who knows where it comes from.

She hoped it was temporary.  A wish I share.  Give us this day our daily whinge.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have been featuring the birds who visit us for the last few weeks and, judging by my huge collection of bird photos, could do so indefinitely.

I know I posted photos of Corellas quite recently, but this long billed Corella appeared during the week and virtually demanded his photo be taken.  So I did.  We also get the short billed Corellas who don't have this bird's splashes of pinky-orange on their heads and breasts.

Isn't he (or she) gorgeous?

The cake you have when you are having a drink.

We have been giving Christmas cakes as presents for over twenty years now.  The basic recipe has remained the same, but we have improved it  fiddled with it in that time.  The smaller portion keeps adding to the list of recipients.  I am not certain how many we are making this time, but have now made seven and have the fruit soaking in booze for the next batch (which will include a medium sized cake and five or six smaller ones).  Having made the cake we water it on alternate nights with caps full of rum and brandy.  The alcohol the fruit was originally soaked in disappears in the cooking process.  Not so the additions.  Hence the cake you have when you are having a drink.  It is seriously rich and I think that if you had a big slice you would be some danger from the breathalyser bus.

Booze soaked ingredients

In a recent post about the glories of fine healthy salads (which somehow got derailed) Spectra indicated that she would like the recipe.  Lou has also expressed an interest.

So here it is.

Traditional Christmas Cake


200g (6.6oz) raisins
200g (6.6oz) sultanas
200g (6.6oz) currants
100g (3.3 oz) glace cherries
100g (3.3 oz) chopped mixed peel
100g (3.3 oz) slivered almonds
about 250g (8.3 oz)of the marmalade of your choice - which works out to 1/2 a jar
300g (10oz) Wholemeal Plain Flour
60g (2oz) Wholemeal Self-raising Flour
250g (8.3 oz )Soft Brown Sugar (I use about 125g brown sugar and the same of dark brown sugar)
250g Butter (8.3 oz) (plus a generous extra lump for luck)
5 Large Eggs
3/4 cup Brandy/Rum/Orange juice (whichever you like - we go the mixed rum and brandy route)
1 dessertspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon]
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
approx 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Prepare the fruit at least the day before and preferably a week or so before you make the cake.  Mix all the fruits together, including the almonds and the marmalade and half the brandy/rum/ combination.  Cover the mixture and set it aside until you are ready.  This year we have also been adding generous handfuls of dried cranberries to the mixture - it is a remarkably forgiving cake.

The cake tin you use needs to be both greased and lined with greaseproof paper - extending the paper over the sides of the tin.

Melt the butter over a low heat.  Stir in the brown sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift the flour and the spices.

Add a little of the flour and spices to the fruit mixture alternately with the melted butter, starting with the flour.  Lastly stir in the rest of the brandy/rum and vanilla essence.  The mixture should be stiffish, but not stodgy.

I have made it in a variety of cake tins, which should not be filled more than 2/3rds the way up the sides.

Cook in a slow oven (150C or 300F) until a skewer comes out clean.  Add a cap full of your chosen alcohol(s) as soon as you remove the cake(s) from the oven and stand on a cake rack until it is cool.

When the cakes have been cooked and cooled we water them with alcohol a capful at a time at least every second night.  Yes, they are a bit of a pain to make, but they are worth the effort - and they keep really well too.

Large and two small(ish) cakes

Meduim sized cake

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

This week Kim has promised to treat us to a gala display from her daughter Veronica's wedding day yesterday.

I have said that I am going to devote Sunday Selections to my many, many bird photos for a few weeks.  Crimson rosellas are my chosen bird for this week. They visit us most days and are always welcome.   Another cheeky one.  Despite being considerably smaller than the King Parrots, they have convinced the Kings to give way to them.  They are also not above challenging the cockatoos, corellas or galahs all of whom are much bigger than they are.

The one with the mottled green back is an adolescent crimson rosella who is yet to come into his full glory.  That green is an astonishly good camoflague.

And the galah and the wood dove are pushed towards the back - where the pickings are slimmer.