Saturday,October 2nd

I'm glad no one was sitting in this car last night.About 9:45 pm,I heard a big crash. At first I thought it ws in the house but could find nothing. It was quite wild and windy and we had actually had almost 60 mm of rain that day,the best fall in months. Some of it even fell in the catchment area!

Then a Fire Brigade rescue unit and the police pulled up. The tree had come down and was right across the whole road. Unfortunately, I think this little car is beyond repair. Its doors bow outwards and the tree sits almost on the seat. It had brought down wires on the other side of the street. This was in the second house down from mine. The State Emergency Service people then arrived and did a marvellous job in the rain of clearing the street. They left the tree on top of the car and roped off the whole site. They also secured the downed wires. They do a wonderful job in dangerous conditions and deserve more recognition than they get.

This afternoon a tree lopping service arrived with a big chipper on a truck. They've cleaned up the mess and removed the tree from the car. All that's left is the car and a bit of sawdust. I don't think the owner has seen the car yet. Possibly away for the long weekend. What a surprise to come home to!

I thought I was going to have a quiet weekend but this has livened it up. My husband is away at a conference and I'm having a lovely quiet time. I went out this afternoon to get some prawns as a treat for my dinner, but they didn't look appetising. I have some veal mince in the fridge. I think I'll make some spicy meatballs and have a couple with some salad. Then I can freeze the rest for a meal next week. I might make a sauce with some tomatoes or whatever. I'll have to see what's around.

I've been enjoying the peace and quiet around here. I haven't done much really,some reading, sleeping,a bit of knitting and surfing the net.

Sunday,October 3rd

It's a lovely day here. It's cooled down considerably from this morning. I walked down the street to Parramatta Road to catch the bus to church because my husband is still away. I thought I was running a bit late for the bus so hurried. It was late and I had plenty of time. I was surprised to see how busy it was. After a few stops, there were people standing. It was quite a good trip. The driver was pleasant, not like some of them who take off with a jerk when passengers are barely in the door. This one waited till people were seated before taking off. At one stop, he was about to start when he noticed a group on the other side of the road outside a motel. They were obviously strangers to the district and were looking at maps. He called out through the window, told them he could help and waited till they crossed the road to catch the bus. Service beyond the call of duty and certainly way beyond the usual!

I made the veal meatballs last night and had them with some salad for dinner. Yummy! What's even better is that there are enough left for another meal. I used two of theeh very fresh eggs we have been getting froma friend. They are much smaller than the huge ones I usually buy. I put a big dollop of a good pesto with lots of basil in the mix. I also added two anchovies which were sort of mashed into the mixture. I can eat anchovies on pizza,but don't use them much otherwise. They are a bit like fish sauce. Just a bit can't be tasted but gives a real flavour kick to the dish. The mix was a bit sloppy so I grated a thick slice of homemade bread into it. This had been made with some French onion soup as part of the liquid. The meatballs were very nice. I'd repeat the recipe.

I was watching the ABC news last night and suddenly saw my street on it. They were talking about damage from the wind and rain of the night before and showed the SES clearing the road of the fallen tree. We're famous! On national TV, no less.

Thursday, October 7th

I've had trouble getting into Angelfire over the last few days. Couldn't even see my journal,even by typing URL. It would come up with ads and nothing else.

It's a beautiful day here again. The nights have been cool,but the days are warm. I'm sneezing madly, but I suppose that's the season. It's warm enough to be back to salads regularly for lunch and lots of fruit. I've been eating bananas on my breakfast muesli. One piece of fruit gone almost without noticing.

Not much to report really. I haven't been making a great deal of effort as to eating, but equally haven't been doing anything much wrong either. Lots of vegetables,small amounts of fruit,no butter, all that sort of thing.

mark and sam came over on Monday for morning tea. I made wholemeal scones with some honey in them. They arrived after 12:00! Tora and Andrew ate the scones,so probably used them for lunch. Apparently the baby needed feeding when they were about to leave and then needed a bath. After they had gone,I realised that it would have been a perfect day for photos but I had forgotten. There's always another time.

Saturday, October 9th, Election Day,

It's been quite a productive day here. Also been a beautiful spring day, sunny but breezy. It's a bit cool now and we might need the heater on if we watch TV.

We live less than five minutes walk from our local polling booth, so that was the first activity of the day. After my muesli and coffee of course! We walked down and there were only four or five people in front of us. I was in a quandary as to who to vote for. My good friend expressed it exactly. "I've voted one way all my life, but just will not vote that way this time. And I can't bring myself to vote for the other major party. I don't like their new leader." I don't know who was standing in his electorate. I refuse to vote Christian Democrat (no way could I vote for Fred Nile) or the new Family First party which I think is being very deceptive about a lot of things. There was also a Greens candidate and an Australian Democrat and someone from a party I had never heard of before-Liberals for the Forests. I almost felt like using my pencil as a pin and voting 1 for wherever it landed. I didn't, but it was hard. The booth is run in the local Kindergarten Union kindergarten and the mothers always have a cake stall. Somehow I manoeuvred my husband past the toffees and cakes without him buying anything.

Then we drove to Birkenhead Point. My husband wanted some more fine glasses. He uses a different one every time he has a drink and likes only the crystal tumblers. There's a reject shop there which sells them 6 for about $25. I maintain he should wash the one he used ,but no. Seven we had already weren't enough. He bought another six. They are fairly fragile.

I went to Spotlight and bought some knitting needles but nothng else. We decided to have a drink at Gloria Jeans because they had tables outside. Talk about dreadful service. I will email them about it. I decided on a strawberry chiller because it was quite warm and I had already had coffee. He waited in the queue for over 10 minutes before being served. How many ahead of him? Just three people. And there were three people serving. Then it tool almost 15 minutes before the drinks were ready. I complained and as my mother would say, "It ws like water off a ducks's back." Not one of them cared at all. Tables outside were dirty and plates had not been cleared away. Yet the service at Ashfield is wonderful.

When we came home we spent a couple of hours in the front yard which now looks a good deal better. Lunch was a salad with a couple of cold chicken drumsticks cut into it. We went out again to Broadway to get some bread flour,not mix, and passed the Breville shop on the way back. We needed some replacement parts for the breadmaker and our urn so they are bought and fitted. Bread is on cooking and I bought some pieces of fresh salmon. I have wrapped that in some foil with lots of pepper, finely chopped onion and lemon thyme. Other vegetables with that.

All in all, quite a lot done today and I knitted in the car too.

If you arelooking for a nice recipe for fresh salmon, what I did on Saturday was lovely. I used a bit of oil, some lemon juice,lots of lemon thyme and some chopped onion. Made up a parcel with foil and had salmon steak resting on some of the mix and some more on top. Cooked for about 25 minutes. It was lovely, I could have eaten a much bigger piece of salmon,although what I had was really sufficient.

We have a taste of summer here today. It reached 30° here,although the weather bureau said only 25° for Sydney. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be well in the 30s. I spent some more time this morning in the garden and used a bucket to water all my tomatoes. They've only been in a couple of weeks and have more than doubled in size and have flowers on them. I'm looking forward to home grown tomatoes again. I used one today in my lunchtime tuna salad which I have had for quite a while. I would have thought it needed throwing out, but no. It was fine. In looks that is, not much flavour. The salad was simple but nice. That makes three lots of fish in the last ten days. It would be lovely to live near the water and be able to have really fresh fish. Someone else can clean them,though!

MIL looked quite presentable when we picked her up yesterday morning. She'd had her hair washed and didn't have it full of baby oil which goes rancid and attracts the dust too. Then she got in the car and Norm and I both opened our windows. I'll have to speak to the staff again. I think she tells them she's showered and she hasn't and Norm's aunt is convinced she changes undies only once a week. Staff are supposed to help her shower because of the danger of falling, even with grab rails and a seat in the actual shower, she's very unsteady.

I'm still knitting. I'm making some slipper socks for my sister as a birthday present. She's just bought herself a house at Forster and will spend most of her time there. She can take these there. I know she uses such things. I'm also doing some more finer wool socks for myself. They are much more comfortable than most of my bought socks, except the dear ones which work out about the same price as my knitting, if you don't factor in my time.

Till next time.

I did it! I have decided I just have to get back into the exercise thing. I know I feel better for it. I know it helps weight control. I know it helps me sleep better. I know it helps lower blood pressure and is good for the heart. So why am I so slack about it? I've been doing a bit more walking, although it's been quite wet and cold this week. From the sublime to the ridiculous or vice versa. 40° C last week on a couple of days and barely 15° yesterday.

Any how, I've been slowly getting back on the exercise bike as well as doing some more walking. Hated it at first and it's still very boring. At first I was managing only 10 minutes/day. Then it went to 20 minutes and I've just got off it after 30 minutes. Every little bit helps but for maximum benefit for heart and blood pressure, a minimum of 30 minutes daily is suggested. Now I just have to at least maintain it. I find bike riding boring. I read a bit yesterday. I used to watch TV, but went up one day to find the TV gone. Where? It had gone to MIL who didn't like her old one anymore and wanted something better. Hardly surprising as in her typical penny pinching way, she had bought a reconditioned one dirt cheap and was getting her money's worth out of it. It had no remote control and was almost totally flicker and poor quality. Pennywise and pound foolish really. If I really am going to keep this up,I might have to get another one. Watching the early morning programmes like Sunrise or whatever makes the 30 minutes go a lot faster.

I'm making tuna risotto for dinner tonight and will serve it with asparagus and salad. I had planned on getting some fresh prawns for it, but the weather has been too wet to be bothered going out. I'll use some tuna. I've had muesli and homemade yoghurt for breakfast most days and a salad for lunch, although it was cold today so I had baked beans.

I made some vegetarian curry to take to a leader's conference at church on Saturday. Made it on Friday and let it sit overnight. Since then, I've had several requests for the recipe. Nowe how hard is it to cook some veges and make a curry. I know there was kumara, pumkin, potato, onion, garlic, carrot in it. I made my own curry with chillie fromteh garden,cumin, coriander, cardamom, garam masala, turmeric and a couple of other spices. Just mixed till it tasted right. Added a tin of organic lentils and another of organic chickpeas. Very nice. Served with rice. I thickened it with arrowroot as there was a guy with coeliac disease who can't have anything wheaten.

Better get this risotto on.

Friday, October 22nd

The risotto was nice and because the person I was expecting to also be at dinner didn't arrive, there was enough for two meals. Very handy. I was out shopping last night before dinner and looked at the prawns in Woolies. They all looked as if they had been sitting on ice for ages,very mushy. I checked the frozen packs in the seafood freezer. Somewhere in the distribution line, they must have thawed out and been refrozen. The packs were full of frosty ice. Dangerous and poor quality control. So I still didn't get them. Actually, Woolworths was pretty hopeless last night. There are two stores in Burwood. One in Westfields and the other in the smaller Plaza shopping centre. This used to be Franklins till Woolies bought it. It's not a small shop but last night they were out of a lot of things. No good specials either. I wasn't impressd. I was after evaporated milk, I've used all mine. There hasn't been any there for over three weeks. I asked at the front desk only to be told that another woman was also asking for it. Not much use!

I mentioned a couple of entries ago about the poor service at Gloria Jeans at Birkenhead Point. I did email them and had a reply. My email had been passed on to the state manager. They would send me something for my troubles. Two vouchers arrived for a free drink! Now this might sound as if I'm whingeing. I'm not really. I emailed them because the service and cleanliness was appalling. I really wasn't expecting anything. However, when they said they would send something, I was surprised that it was just a couple of vouchers for a $3 cup of coffee.

Went to Burwood yesterday and bought a mass of Christmas presents for the grandchildren at Dymocks books. I was starving as it was lunchtime and I'd had only a small breakfast. I bought a sushi box which was mostly raw salmon and was very nice. I often make rolls myself with vegetables etc and can't see the point of buying them. However, I don't make them with raw fish and I enjoy these.

We're having a family dinner tonight. I'm doing an entrée. I'm making mini pumpkin pizzas and am going to use finely sliced french stick as a base. MIL is coming too,of course. It will be interesting to se what she eats. She will have already had dinner served at the nursing home.

Guess what? I've actually used the exercise bike regularly. I've been on it 30-35 minutes most days. Today was only 20 minutes. The phone rang twice during that time and I just couldn't be bothered getting back on again after the second call. Hopefully it's working. I seem to have lost some weight in the last few days but will wait till next week to really look.

The cool end of another weekend gone. Almost the end of the month too. Yesterday was a beautiful day, quite warm and very humid after the rain. We did quite a bit of gardening. For years we have struggled against a waxy weedy vine which comes from next door. It has a minute creamy flower and literally thousand of little nodules on the stems. If these are against a tree, they form roots into the bark. If they fall to the ground they form a new plant. The plant is nourished by absolutely enormous tubers underground and it's totally impervious to Zero and other sprays. It was strangling our avocado tree. We could pull bits off which were quickly replaced. Yesterday we got the ladder out and clipped madly up high. Filled our green waste bin, because there is no way I would put this stuff in the compost heap. After a long time working, it was hard to see what we had actually achieved. The tree is too tall for us to harvest the high avocados. Sometimes they fall into the fishpond underneath and the fish love them. It is self sown and has beautiful fruit with a smooth skin, smallish stone and very creamy flesh. We really don't want to lose it. In the end we tied a rope around the top of the tree and my husband cut the top off. About 6'. It took him,me and the next door neighbour to pull it down by the rope as it was so entangled in the vine it was held upright. We've put a tin over the cut to keep the rain out. I hope the tree lives through this, but the vine was killing it anyway.

We also went shopping for a new microwave. Our old one was rusting badly in all the seams and had rust bubbles on the roof of the actual oven as well. I didn't fqncy the thought of rusty fragments in my drink or food. I wanted stainless steel to match the other appliances but had a hard time finding what I was after. Some had only a stainless steel plate on the outside of the door and were ordinary metal inside. Bit of a con job in my eyes. All of them were smaller than our old one except for a combination convection/microwave oven which I didn't want or need and which was $950 dollars. I also wanted a weight defrost option which my old model had. We eventually bought an all stainless steel model, Sanyo, for $220. It's now in place but I haven't had any use for it yet.

Family dinner was most enjoyable on Friday night apart from MIL. Even my husband had to notice and asked how often she showered. After some hesitation she told him every second day. I would have said it was more like a week. He was going to the nursing home yesterday but after taking her to church in the same condition today, he'll go tomorrow to see the Director of Nursing. All the boys and their wives spoke to me about it separately at our dinner. It's something we have all been telling him about for quite a long time now. Just like many other things, he seems to think we are ganging up on both him and her. Then he finally has to face reality and acknowledge what we've been saying all along about her is true. I just wish he'd act when we first speak. There's no way she would accept anything coming from me or any action initiated by me. She has blood sugar checked several times a day and insulin injections given as well, so I'm wondering how come the staff haven't acted already. You couldn't get within two metres of her and not notice. Sad, really.

Friday, October 29th

I knew I should have made time to update this on Monday afternoon. Monday night I came to do it and the light in my study went out. Husband was out and there was no way I was going to try to put the ladder up in a pitch black room, let alone climb it with just myself in the house to change the bulb! Then he mucked around with his computer and jammed the internet settings. Took 3 days to get him to fix that!

It's freezing here today. I left home early to get my hair cut and froze on the station. The wind is still cold and when I arrived home, I quickly changed into warmer clothes. Four seasons in a few days, and toss in some heavy rain and galeforce winds for good measure too.

Well, he went to the Director of Nursing who said it was a "touchy subject." Nurses would be glad if someone refused a shower because they are pushed for time. I know that, but really! They are going to "look into it" and let him know. He took her to a funeral on Tuesday and said she wasn't as bad. Just as well too.

I did lose a kilo last week. After checking the scales early, I had hoped it might be a bit more. However, at least it stayed off. Eating has been fairly good. I'm trying something new tonight. I had two large meatballs leftover and some leftover couscous. I've cooked a great pile of vegetables with a lot of onion and garlic and will combine everything. Certainly healthy. I like couscous, but he's not so keen so I don't know how twice in a week will go. Sort of fried couscous instead of fried rice.

I've been making fresh juice everyday for lunch in the Breville juicer. Apple, ginger,mint,celery and carrot. And a cucumber once as well. It's refreshing and healthy, although I could not possibly have eaten that amount of fruit and vegetable whole.