I got ‘razor’ burn on my neck this week although not from shaving. I wore a polyester cotton shirt. As the ratio was not included on the washing instructions I’m guessing 90/10. The 10 would have been enough for the thread to secure the buttons!
An ordinary life
Autumn sky
The weight on the World
Shaken off by looking up
Adelaide lounge
Frequent travel has instilled in me the danger of leaving my belongings unattended. I was told I could leave my things behind when we were evacuated for an emergency drill; the lounge would be locked. An internal debate resulted in me leaving them on the chair. Later on I dutifully took my stuff with me to the bathroom. When I returned a man had claimed the space I’d been sitting in, obviously a frequent visitor to the Virgin Australia lounge as he spent the next twenty minutes chatting to the bar staff about their team mate.
The plates used here are understandably on the small side to accommodate pre-flight snacks. I find it odd that full sized cutlery is used; have I fallen down a rabbit hole? Popcorn is available sensibly served with a scoop. Crisps (chips) on the other hand need to be handled with extreme dexterity when using the allotted metal tongs.
Green memories
The warm stone and brick facade of St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral contrasted against an ominous sky caught my eye during a recent visit to Adelaide, South Australia.
Once darkness had fallen the road washed with green light in front of the Cathedral reminded me of two hymns from my childhood:
The first filled me with sadness, in contrast, I always enjoyed belting out the second, have I mentioned I was a chorister until my voice broke?
Moment of stillness
Two buses go past as I wait for the green man to appear.
There are two people loitering near the stop. There’s no sign of the express service in the crawling metal convoy before me. I decide to take the train.
I walk briskly towards the railway station. There is usually an ant like line of pedestrians along this route, not today.
I notice the purple green leaves of a ginger in bloom.
As I near my destination I see yellow and silver carriages setting off to the city.
I smile to myself, at least I have captured a moment of morning stillness.
Yellow Pages
I don’t remember many tv commercials, not a good candidate for being marketed to!
I find this old Yellow Pages commercial amusing.
Blue sky moment
Brief conversation over breakfast this morning while my partner was watching a video clip of Packer fighting on the weekend. The exchange went like this:
“Oh it was the Packer son who was fighting. ”
“Yes James Packer, the father’s dead. ”
“He’s looking old!”
Dear Delia,
When I was twenty five years younger than I am today my friends would rave about your recipes. Unfortunately I am one of those people who like to discover things for themselves. I ignored their solicitations and denied their attention.
I wonder why, just at the time I needed a recipe, your easy entertaining recipe 3, Thick Lemon Tart appeared. This looseleaf recipe was published by you magazine in association with Sainsbury’s Magazine. The photo of you is credited to Peter Knab 1993. This recipe card survived the move from England to Australia in 1998, preserved between the pages of my Desserts And Puddings, Good Housekeeping Step-By-Step Cookery book.
The reason for needing the recipe was to make something with frozen limes harvested last year from a potted tree in our garden. I am happy to let you know that even though my oven doesn’t have temperatures marked, size 1 eggs are not available anymore and I was using key limes instead of lemons the resulting tart was delicious.
Today I’m making your Roasted Pumpkin Soup from Deliah online. I was so impressed to find that you have an online cookery school that I felt the need to recognise your philanthropic approach and introduce myself as a late blooming fan.
Robert
Fairies
Dandelions I have seen growing in verges and parks near my home in Sydney appear to be a smaller variety to the ones I grew up with in England, UK. My assumption that this ‘weed’ is not native to Australia is confirmed on the Survival and Self Sufficiency website.
This dandelion somehow survived a recent lawn cutting in the park to produce the familiar feather light ball of seeds I knew as fairies. I would release them by blowing on the ball to watch them float gently into the air. The medicinal and nutritious properties of this humble plant may be responsible for its magical reputation, you can find more about this on My Virtual Flower blog.
Crossed buns
There are periods of time around mid-morning when my mind seems to switch into standby mode. Maybe it’s to do with my blood sugar level. On this particular day I was experiencing a foggy head coupled with a difficulty to process words spoken to me.
Thoughts of a vanilla slice filled my mind as we drove to a local cake shop in Dulwich Hill. Heading past the savouries, I gazed longingly at the crisp, golden pastries, fruit tarts, croissants and brightly iced sponge squares.
A stout, pale skinned lady with red hair advised us that sour cherry was today’s special filling. After selecting one slice of tart and one of strudel the shop assistant enquired “any xing alse?” Noticing a lonely savoury egg tart on a cake stand atop the counter I pointed to it and requested the flan. The archetypal dinner lady purred “iz keeesh!”, “yes we’ll take that too” I replied. “Any xing alse?” she asked.
Spotting hot cross buns packaged in boxes of six my mind wandered to the early nineties, this matronly figure reminded of Iris with whom I briefly worked. “Hot cross buns please, two”, “better if buy six” she said, “yes two boxes please”. “any xing alse?”, “no, thank you”. I didn’t catch the next question as Iris look-a-like gestured in the direction of the coffee machine. I turned to my partner, “coffee?”, he thought this was very funny as I was being offered a carrier bag. Iris with the Eastern European sounding accent asked “vair you from?” ” I don’t know today, I’m all over the place”, I exclaimed with a laugh as I grabbed the purchases and beat a hasty retreat from the shop.
