tips for a sunny day when you don't feel so sunny

If your day isn't proceeding quite as chirpily as you had planned, you could buy yourself a straw cow-person hat...

...find any remaining white items of clothing in your possession and get colourful,

...focus on Christmas baking whilst listening to Ella wishing you a swinging Christmas,


...then focus on the beautiful touches around you - like the water-colour Advents calendar which your oldest Sun hand-painted.


And if all else fails, pray for rain.

in the spirit of Thanksgiving

Just in case it wasn't yet evident, my heart's soaring. O yes.

When the leaves dance to the song of the wind,
when the summer sun hits my face at 7.10 in the evening,
when i sit in the Kamaroi library with open ears,
when the earth's essential oils permeate my senses,
when I'm greeted by strong women,
when the Zimbo chuckles,
when I crawl from a tent in the morning,
when there are storm clouds above me and within me,
when Chooch says "O beautiful one" so deliberately,
...my heart's soaring.

Articulate

Ok, the category is "Random". Ready, set, go!

It was an event,
Little Manly, from sunset to midnight,
with Thai food,
lanterns,
4 friends,
a perfectly wrapped, perfectly thought out, with perfectly appropriate card, birthday present,
and more belly laughs than you can poke a stick at?

?

... it was a Lala birthday picnic!

O big fat warm thank you, lovely things, for the most delicious, birthday celebration, complete with vintage floral sheet. I am indeed, very very lucky.
xx
I've had the most social-fluttering, sunny, busy, family, celebratory, Manly, weekend.

Making and baking

Raspberry bread, banana bread and tea. (O how I love tea.)

For todays' post I'd like to share with you my variations of one of my favourite Nigella Lawson recipes. It comes from How to be a Domestic Goddess - Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking (What a luxurious title). A lovely book deserving a significant spot on any Goddess's shelf.

So, the recipe: Banana Bread

You will need:
100g sultanas (but I prefer to use currants)
175g rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
150g sugar, or honey, or molasses
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas (approx 300g without skin), mashed OR 300g frozen/fresh berries (unmashed) OR 300g pumpkin, coooked and mashed;
60g chopped walnuts or shredded coconut or ground hazelnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
(and a buttered and floured loaf tin)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
• Sift into a medium-sized bowl: flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt. Using a wooden spoon, combine well.
• In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar/honey/molasses and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the mashed bananas (or berries or pumpkin).
• With a wooden spoon, stir in the nuts, sultanas or currants and vanilla extract.
• Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.
• Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hr to1 and a quarter hours.
• Leave in the tin on a rack to cool.

I have made soooo many variations of this recipe and it always comes out deliciously (in my opinion). Yesterday this became a Raspberry and Coconut bread, with honey instead of sugar (I try to avoid sugar as often as possible). Another favourite in winter is Pumpkin bread with choc chips (for this version: replace bananas, currants and walnuts with 1 cup cooked pumpkin, handful of slivered almonds and a handful or 2 of choc chips). I think Nigella would be proud of these tasty variations (the Zimbabwean is often not. He can't stand it that I don't stick to the prescribed formula).

And apart from baking, there has also been the hum of stitching going on. Here is a sneaky glimpse of what's been created in our little study. Can't give too much away because one of the recipients hasn't received her Welcome to the World pressie yet. But I'll give you a clue: it's for someone who's name begins with "I".

PS. Don't forget to send extra prayers and blessings for Harry, Lyell, Jo and Jake. Even if you don't know them, trust me - they need them. I'm holding them in my heart and calling Harry's angels as loudly and gently as I can.

trick or treating

Some very scary faces: Tess, Charlie, Noah, Tom and Isabelle.

Choochie on a mission: Find scary house, say "trick or treat", hopefully walk away with a treat (or 2).

Found: the scariest house.

Mission accomplished. And he came out unharmed.

Witchy women (wasn't that a song from the 70's?)

Checking out the loot.

And after all those lollies, using up some energy with a dusk-picnic, complete with swing-spinning, playing in undies, and exploring gravestones in the cemetery. Perfect.

Happy Halloween! (Mwah-ha-ha-ha)

Really, can you beat having a dance to a bit of reggae in a bush community hall?

Green becomes her

Having rebalanced all of my chakras and meridians with the fresh air of Bellingen, I have returned to the hum drum big bang of the big smoke, ready to see which life lesson crops up next. O so grateful for the lessons. I've said that before. May they be delivered gently enough.

The Zimbabwean has survived the long weekend of my talking, with the help of long sleeps and the Bellingen Youth Hostel... always a lingering stranger for me to have a little chat with. Why do I need to chat so much? Sometimes need, sometimes just enjoy it so much. To be sure, it can be exhausting for me too you know. It's not as easy as I make it look.

Anyway... the soundtrack to our latest roadtrip (ohne kinder!) was like this: Band of Horses (John's new favourite), The Killers, Kings of Leon, Block Party, a bit of Sinead, Coldplay, UB40, and the Pixies. And quite a bit of Eddie Vedder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Js2Ef5Ojg&feature=related

O how the little arms around my neck and legs are sweeter after a couple of days of space, and reconnecting with my one true love.

"This monkey's gone to heaven." Yo, sing it to me, Pixies.

musings from holiday location...

Bush walking and skirts. Is a skirt suitable attire for a bushwalk?

Hmmm, yes I do believe so. Especially if long enough to use as a towel, sling, bandage, perhaps even a night-time shelter if you get lost. Perhaps even as practical as a pocket knife!

O how I do like to ponder practicalities of being prepared. I was a good girl guide.