Wishing you a spooky night of Halloween fun...
...wherever you are....

It took much perseverence on Dh's part to find a supermarket that sells pumpkins like this. Since Halloween is basically a non event here, I think we were very lucky to even get these.
Last year, when we were in the UK I bought a pumpkin carving kit in Asda. I was just gagging to rip it open and use it this year, since I didn't get a chance to have a go with it last year, we had to leave the UK just before Halloween.

So with new tools in hand, this is this years effort - Didn't do too bad a job eh? even if I have to say so myself!

I also happened to find a great recipe on how to make the pumkins smell nice too. I sprinkled the area next to the candles, with spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, and a few cloves. As the candles warm up inside the pumkin, the air is filled with wonderful aromas! We had the candles burning all evening last night, and the room still smelt nice this morning. Happy All Hallows Eve to you all...where ever you are!

Blog Dog - Snowy, Snowy, who's got the ball?
Here's 'Blog Dog' Snowy - playing with his ball. Actually as he gets older he likes to play ball less with us, as it requires more effort, and now when we throw the ball for him, he gets it and bats it around with his paws, and plays catch by himself. Or he lies down and just chews the balls to bits!They get pretty wet and squishy,so he's quite welcome NOT to give them back to me!

Don't you just love to bake?
Happiness Cake

1 cup health
2 cups good cheer
1 cup depression
2 cups fun
2 cups work
2 tsp. pep
1 tsp. smiles
1 dash laughter

Sauce:
Love
Good wishes

Cream health and good cheer. Add well beaten depression. add the pep sifted with the fun and the work. Flavor with the smiles and laughter. Bake in a cheerful oven. Cut into generous slices and serve with a sauce of love and good wishes.

Great recipe!

Sugar Daddy
Click on this link to take you to my latest poem.

Poem

Orchid
I was given this rather exotic looking orchid on Saturday, from a parent who is very pelased with my work with her child. I love gifts like this, cos teaching is HARD work. It does require bucket loads of patience. It is demanding. It is great when the children finally 'get it' on the subject that you're teaching! It IS nice to get a thank you gift.

The orchid itself, is starting to wither, so I wanted to 'catch' it before it completely dies.

Running away - Part 2 - Krissie Style
Running Away at 50 ? Krissie Style

* Can't decide what to pack and where to actually run away to

* Not entirely sure I really want to, but better do it before I get too old

* Eventually out of desperation and lack of original ideas, decide to copy Mary and book flight to France.
* Forget to buy French phrase book.

* Forget to book Hotel or anywhere to stay, and remember that I don't actually know a single person in France.

* Panic at the 11th hour and ring friend and ask if she would like to go with me?

* Dog gets sick and needs vet visit.

*Realize that I don't like antiques

* Guilt sets in.

* Family get that we understand you need a holiday look on their faces and pester if they can come too? They whine in extra loud moany voices!

* more guilty feelings

* Dog gets sicker

* Pre-freeze millions of ready to go meals to last the famille while I'm out there savouring my freedom

* decide to clean the whole housetop to bottom before I go

* feel totally knackered out

* decide that the whole idea is beginning to suck even BEFORE I've gone

* Flights out of the country are cancelled due to industrial unrest

* take 2 seconds to decide I never wanted to leave in the first place, whose dumb idea was this anyway???

* Trash the whole idea in the too hard basket

* dog instantly recovers

* Maybe next year?

Running away at 50
Running away at 50



It all began about a year ago when Mary Moody, a highly regarded and watched ABC, TV gardening presenter and personality, launched her book - called 'Running away at 50.

It was well received, mildly controversial, and a great conversation opener at parties.

In it Mary planted the first seeds of an idea that some women suddenly pack up and run away from their marital homes/ and or marriages at the magical age of 50. I think midlife crisis is the most cited reason given for this situation.

Inadvertently, she instantly gave millions of Australian women permission to even entertain such a novelle idea. After writing chapter after chapter validating her excuses on taking up such an adventure in the first place, she left many of us thirsting for more, and she did not disappoint.
Knowing, that we were all 'out there' hanging out for a sequel, she promptly delivered it a few months later, with 'A last tango in Toulouse". It may well have been her last tango. Nothing since.

Her whole adventure had taken place in the most picturesque surroundings in rural France. (where else?) Pages written with delightful descriptions of gardens, antiques, and the odd pang of guilt of how things would pan out for her once her rendevous with freedom had palled. Would her husband and children want her back? Would they have resented the freedom she had taken. Had it been a much needed sabbatical or a straight out abandonment of her responsibilities? She leaves it to the individual reader to form their own opinions on that one.

Many opinions about the book and her experiences have been aired, both on radio TV, and off course by women like me who meet other women in supermarkets, libraries, and other places we go to for a natter, and discussed what we thought of the book over coffee or whilst buying food for dinner at the supermarket.

Opinions were polarised ?it became either the " good on her camp", and the "how selfish must she be" camp.

Personally - I must confess having a dunno moment on this one. Maybe she did the right thing, maybe not. Dunno. At this point in time the undecided are still out on that one.

A touch of Feng shui to clear the cobwebs
I've been giving feng shui a lot of thought these days, especially as I'm de cluttering the garage. Who was it that said that the basement, is a symbol of our 'sub concsious'? What is the garage then?

We don't have basements in our houses here, so the garage is it. I store all my 'memorabilia' (aka junk) depending who's looking at it, so maybe my garage is a symbol of my mind. if it is, its looking very neat and tidy at the moment, some of the junk has been disposed of today. The boxes are all stacked up and the cobwebs have been swept away.
I have memory boxes with all my writing (poems)in them, diaries, and the cartoon pics I must drawn when I was still at school - must be now over 37 or more years ago. I'm looking forward to getting those boxes out again sometime and re reading throught the cartoons I drew.

I'm wondering what all the characters were saying? Why did I even draw them, and who is in them? All shall be revealed soon. I may even go have a look at them tomorrow, curiosity is now starting to get the better of me!


Back to feng shui - I am a huge believer of what it can do for a house or space. Our house is living proof that this method really works. Its not a method that I rely on solely, I don't think that would be fair, so I incorporate it as part of our holistic lifestyle. And if it ain't broke - why fix it!

So - here's a beginners guide on how to enhance certain areas of the bagua that relate bakc directly to certain aspects of our lives. (David - this one's for you!)

Don't know how to enhance a gua? Or what cure to chose? Here's a summary of the most common tricks.

(With thanks to ivillage. Here is the link to some further information.)

Feng shui

There's no place like Gnome
GNOMESVILLE



It's been talked about in many circles, and even been discussed on Rove Live - I am talking off course about the unique and interesting tourist phenomena that is Gnomesville.

Looking at our recent holiday video, we re visited this wonderful quaint little place, and enjoyed seeing gnomes that usually only reside in people's gardens.

It's hard to find someone who knows just exactly how the gnomes started appearing, but the story is that it really did just start with one gnome, placed on the side of the road, and it has now grown to a community of what some people estimate is over 1000!


Gnomesville is situated at the roundabout that joins Wellington Mill Road and Ferguson Road in the Ferguson Valley area. One of the easiest ways to get there is to head east out of Dardanup.

It took a long drive, and the feeling that we'd taken the wrong turn somewhere along the way, before we came upon the roundabout that we'd been told to look out for several kilometres back.


The suddenly at the roundabout, we saw gnomes scattered everywhere - in the bush, alongside the road, down the various pathway - kids and adults alike will have a great time just trying to find them all.

We walked along the pathway 20 metres one way, thinking we'd seen them all, and then we would look, and find one peeking at us from up in a tree or from behind a log!

And it's not just a pile of gnomes on the side of the road - it really is like a little community. With groups of gnomes playing cricket, flying planes, having parties, and other such activities. There's a lot going on. Meet the Rolling Gnomes (the rock band), see the Gnoman Empire, experience There's No Place Like Gnome, and many many other Gnome puns.

So what is the attraction of a bunch of gnomes on the side of the road? Well, whatever it is, it attracts busloads of people everyday. It has now become a very popular tourist attraction, one that all the tour companies and tourist bureaux promote, and people are encouraged to visit and even bring their own gnome from their own part of the world, write a little message on it, and leave it there.

This idea has led to quite an national and even international feel to the gnome community. Last time we were there I saw gnomes from London, Sydney, New York, Broome, and many other places from all over Australia and the world.

Check it out sometime. There's picnic tables for those who want to stay a while, and the surrounding countryside is beautiful, with the King Tree and Wellington Mill close by too. Make a day of it. We did!

Garden Recipe
FOR THE GARDEN OF DAILY LIVING

Plant three rows of peas:
1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash:
1. Sauash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:
1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

No garden is without turnips:
1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

To conclude our garden we must have thyme:
1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patiece and cultivate with love.

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(I really like this rhyme so thought I'd share, especially in the gardening theme)

And...last but not least, a photo of the fruit on our Loquat tree, that provides us with lots of shade, but not much else. The fruit, is not really that edible - it tastes very acidic, and sharp, akin to a gooseberry! An aquired taste?