One of the simple pleasures is breakfast at our local coffee shop with good book in tow. This morning these beautiful spring flowers welcomed me at the table.
I am reading Kate Llewellyn’s A Fig at the Gate (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2014). Her reflections on gardening and life are wise and considered.
Now I ready for a day in the garden. How have you started your Saturday?
Follow me on Instagram:
crabandfish_garden for short reflections too. Happy weekend.
There aren’t too many blue shades in nature. I remember my grandfather, many years ago, getting very excited telling me he was growing a new rose called “Blue Moon”. But really it was a lavender colour – not blue at all.
Sure, there are bluish pansies and violas, however, they also have a purplish tinge. I have lots of blue pots but otherwise no blue plants. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened a packet of seeds this afternoon….
Well! The pack read Roma Beans from a reputable mail order company. They were duck-egg blue, they even looked like tiny duck eggs! When I read further, I discovered they were treated with a fungicide. Well! Do I want to plant blue beans? Do I want to eat the next generation of blue beans? Mmmmm…..
My little garden patch is struggling after the cold winter.
A little garlic, some spindly spinach, regularly nibbled on by Mr Kangaroo, who, by the way is still around. Some sorrel and a bowl of lettuce.
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And today we had shots of brilliant sunshine – I had to plant.
So, in they went – the blue beans! Maybe I’ll just grow them for seed! Can you recommend growing blue beans ?
I’ll keep you posted.
We harvested the grand total of four pumpkins from our rambling plants.
I guess, not bad for a mountain garden in a cool zone. I will definitely try again next year. Happy pumpkin hour! We will savour our little crop of nuggets.
This time last year I was busy baking in my kitchen. I tried my hand at ginger bread cookies. Having purchased some delightful cookie cutters from an American on-line store called House on the Hill and they included a lovely recipe. Apart from the usual star shapes, I bought a cabin in the woods mould and an acorn. I guess I have a romantic notion of a cold Christmas surrounded by warm hearths and warm glows. I guess a cold climate is more conducive to trying your hand at specialty baking and crafts.
This year we are in Brisbane with family here. I have to say, give me a cold Christmas any time. The temperatures during the day have been a constant 32 degrees C with humidity and blazing sunshine. All great, when you’re by the sea, but not so great in a city, or in a weatherboard cottage. Too hot to bake, too hot to eat really. So I guess we head for the air conditioned shopping – but away from the “madding crowd”. Instead our usual vintage haunts never fail to lure us.
One advantage of being here is that we don’t have to drive very far and often we can walk to these vintage and craft sellers. Wonders can be found.
I love these vintage buttons from my favourite little shop – Travels with my Aunt named after a film of the same name. Check out my blog entitled Travelling North, 9 July, 2013
So whether you are enjoying a hot traditional Christmas dinner or a cold seafood lunch, whether you are with family or friends or on your own, in a cold climate or a hot one – what classic or traditional elements will you include in your day?
(Ours will be Spumante, Panettone and plum pudding!)
There are times when distance certainly makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. For the women in our family, we are separated by many kilometres up and down the eastern coast. Daughter Number One in regional South East Queensland and Daughter Number Two in Sydney. As for my own mum, she is in Brisbane and still living in the house in which I grew up.
We are all busy living our lives. However, I know that we often miss being able to just come together and chat over a cup of tea or go for a shop or simply take a quiet walk in the garden.
The month of May is traditionally the month when we commemorate our mothers or significant women in our lives. The month of May for me has become a reflective month. On Mothers’ Day it will not be possible for me to spend the day with any of them. I am grateful, however, that I will spend it with other mothers.
The month of May is also the month of my own grandmother’s birth. We had a very close relationship and she was a great source of home grown advice. Her cooking and baking accomplishments are still vivid in my mind. I recall her poppy seed cakes, the traditional palacinke and the plum gnocchi – north east Italian specialties – a legacy of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. The kitchen utensils she brought with her from Fiume hang in my kitchen as a constant reminder of our connectedness.
One of her favourite pots was the aluminium jug she lined with brown paper to fill with squid and chips! Cleaning squid in the kitchen sink became a much talked about event usually eliciting shrieks of horror as we watched her poke out the eyes of the squid with her sewing scissors! The old, yellow sink would turn a deep purple from the accidentally punctured ink sac. After much rinsing, the tentacles and the translucent tubes would be coated in white flour and shallow fried – only a few at a time! I can still hear her cautionary words! I was delighted when Daughter Number One completed the same nifty feat in my kitchen sink last Christmas! This time, adding salt and pepper instead and, thankfully, no squid ink in sight!
My own mother, now in her eighties, would always be counted on to assist when one of us were ill or in need of a last minute baby sitter. She and daughter number one were particularly close those many years ago.
The month of May is also my little granddaughter’s birthday. There is much to miss. In our technological world where we can Skye and talk and use fantastic APPs on our I-Pads we cannot touch, we cannot bake together, we cannot share a cup of tea or feel the gentle kiss of a child.
The month of May is also dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Whether or not you believe it adds depth to a month which is set aside to commemorate the mother.
Therefore, for the month of May, may I wish for
Many memories of good times together
United by those invisible bonds only mothers and their children have
May my daughters love as profoundly as they have been loved
Whether you can be together or not – Happy Mothers Day !
Thanks for all your gifts, love and kisses – from a distance. How do you commemorate your mother?
crabandfish garden 