oranges and lemons....

the bells of St Clements...

I keep finding I'm singing this to myself lately.

Winter is definitely all about citrus.

And winter is also all about warm desserts.

You know helping you add that extra unwanted layer for warmth over the cooler months? Hmm.

Well this year, even though it's still not quite officially Winter yet, I've been blessed with picking my own citrus from the backyard. Finally. My first real lemon harvest and my first ever oranges.

A small modest harvest, yes.

A little seedy, yes.

But super sweet and *real* tasting, oh yes.

Am I a bit chuffed? Yes indeed!

And for me Winter citrus just has to be turned into a warm citrus delicious. Aside from a rustic apple crumble it's my next favourite cold night dessert. A creamy warm tangy self saucing pud with the lightest spongy meringue top. So so good with a hot aromatic cuppa.

So good indeed I've made it twice this week already.

So what's helping you layer your bones for warmth this season?

chayote truths

Steamed...
Boiled...
Stewed...
Roasted...
Casseroled... (is that a word?)
and my new favourite Stir Fried with garlic and a smidge (now that's too cute not to be a word) of cumin. Yum.

My side fence is literally abuzz with bees.... which is exciting enough in itself... but when they are pollinating and helping my garden produce masses, and that is no exaggeration, of chokos it's kind of inhale, settle the warm fuzzy nerdy gardener tummy, and enter grin really grin territory here for me this Autumn.

OK I'm just a little overrun. And the girls at work have all had verbal lessons in preparing my giveaways. But I still have plenty of recipes and prep methods I'm excited about and yet to try out.

I'm really loving their homeliness right now and am honestly finding them most delicious. Maybe it's because of their homegrown stature? Certainly not because of any unfortunate choko reputation.

In fact the only reputation I do believe is their complete willingness to take over the garden and perhaps bury you under an abundance of green pear shaped fruits. I simply won't listen to any talk about them being boring or goodness forbid *yukky*....
and that's my not so ugly chayote truth.
Honest you can read more here if you're a disbeliever.

plus one

Mothers Day this Sunday just past saw me sharing in the very essence of being a Mother...
the birth of a precious wee baby girl.
Plus one into the arms of our family fold.
Number one for my sister and her husband.

I've been wanting and trying to write this post for days,
but waiting for my beloved sister to share her news first...
and then waiting for the right words to come.
They still haven't.

Was it because it was the first birth, other than that of my own children, that I've attended?
Was it because it was my sister birthing and my niece being birthed?
Was it because of the concurrence of the day and the act?
Or just the miracle of delivering life into the world... this feeble sentimental statement being the very reason I spent so long unsuccessfully searching for the elusive right words for this post.
But whatever the reason for my awe and amazement and the complete euphoria of my experience....
the power of standing with my own mother, beside my sister and her husband as they became parents on mothers day, was palpable.
I breathed with her
and massaged her.
I encouraged her
and reassured her.
I held her
and swayed with her.
I tried to meld all my strength with her
and let my knuckles turn white with hers.
Amazingly I laughed with her
and of course I shed tears with her.
But there was only one thing aside from her pain that I wanted to take just a little bit of... and that was her strength and courage...and later pure joy. We could all do with some of that.

So welcome to motherhood my sister.
And welcome earth side little April Ruth.
We've been waiting for your plus one.
How we are going to cherish you so...
and how I am going to cherish the sweet gift of sharing in your arrival.

The last minute risky decision to sow my final few rosella seeds in the Summer garden has proved most fruitful this Autumn...

by way of blossom, fruit and jam for our chilly morning toast.

And even though the Autumn shade is encroaching on the garden... a little more than my green fingers would like... my bushes are continuing on with perfect bleeding throated blooms and fleshy finger staining calyxes.

There will be more peeling to be done on the deck... stirring over the stove and steaming thick red liquid locked in glass jars to make that sweet popping sound of a successfully preserved Autumn.

after the deluge

In a forest last week...
scribbly gums
paper wasps
swamp hens
lagoons
makeshift bridges
frilly lizards
paperbarks
kangaroos
wild may

and a storm...
A storm indeed.
A storm that has made these the last photos my beloved camera (as she was) and I will take together in quite a while.
I dropped her off at the repair shop this morning.
Seems despite a snug fit down my front, fast running legs and desperately hunched shoulders one cannot keep a camera dry when several kilometers deep and just so slightly lost within a forest when a thunderstorm decides to hit.

Oh my goodness... soaked as soaked could be we powered on along paths that turned to mini muddy torrents, over creeks, up hill and down...between thunderclaps and heavy drops upon our faces that we drank right off our skin as we ran. The little ones were frightened and cold but perhaps like the Mama kangaroo that almost bounded blindly into us I reassured them and reminded them to laugh and feel, really feel, that beating wet and roaring wind for what it was...
wild simple adventure.

So while I may be camera-less for a bit... I am also a little *water* wiser... and somewhat more astute at reading maps... and I wouldn't give it back, that little adventure.

In fact I went back.
To the scene of the crime.... the next day.
Seven kilometers of beautiful forest filled with post rain frog call I walked, and emerged just post sundown. Tired yet dry, satiated and smiling again even if at the fact that that's how it should have been the first time.
It may not have been revenge but it was indeed most sweet and still wild after the deluge.

so far...

I love school holidays.
The slow pace...
the pyjama's until lunch time...
the baking...
and the making....

Block rockets of course for the boy...
complete with stones for fire because a rocket must have the fire coming out of it's turbo boosters...did you know?


and of course there's the extra time for the garden.
And the girl has been working on the same at school...
which has carried over to the holidays too...
makes a Mama very happy.
So far, so good.

beaches and books

I'm back from Byron
and was straight into the books.
Another exam down now...
no seaglass was found while I was away
but there's a lighthouse
shining
somewhere.
Can you see it on the distant cape up there?

sea glass

I'm off in search of sea glass tomorrow...
Rubbish carelessly discarded then tossed, trustingly, by the wilds of the sea and sand, smoothing it's broken and jagged edges until it is a gem... ruined by man... a treasure of nature.
A bit like me.
Sunday I saw in 39 years tossing around in this universe. And let me tell you it was indeed quite a weekend of tossing around! Dinner, comedy, nightlife, 3am, family, half naked men sharing their skills in a ring, breakfast, cakes and a long long driveway at the farm filled with balloons and banners in my name! I don't think I've ever felt quite so loved by so many as this Birthday... and all over three days! I tell you I am blessed after all.
But tomorrow it is down time. Beach combing. Sea glass hunting.
A recovery of sorts. A breath.
Though a working holiday it is, I think the mecca that is Byron Bay is just the place for me to smooth my jagged edges for a bit, allow myself to be tossed again in the wilds of the sea for a week and then return home... hopefully another step closer to being my own little piece of sea glass.

yesterday

Yesterday it rained.

A steady all day kind of rain.

It was a day for nesting indoors

and drinking tea

and listening to the lorikeets gently chattering as they gorged their colourful selves on the fruits from my golden canes.

It's how I know it's almost April.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)