Weekend around the state.

A TV program that is on each Sunday afternoon. It's not a program that we usually watch only because we are not ready to be watching TV when it airs but we caught the end of it yesterday.

They visited a printing place and showed the letters that was used to type set. He explained that the capital letters were kept at the top and said that was why they were called upper case.

Then he pointed out that the p and the q were very close in looks especially when they are mirror imaged and that was how the saying " mind the p's and q's" come about.

We have decided that we will pay a visit when things get back to normal, it would make for a nice trip out and not that far away. 

Anzac day and Anzac biscuits

Just cant celebrate Anzac day without an Anzac biscuit but they are full of oats, flour and golden syrup.

I make 90 second bread in the microwave so could I do something with that?

It was worth while trying.

First double up on the butter, add an egg some baking powder. Couple of tablespoon of muesli, a few squirts of sugar free maple syrup, then I added equal parts of coconut and almond flour until it was malleable.

Rolled into balls and cooked in the oven. Only made 12 but the taste was there just not as sweet and they kept their shape.

I would make them again for when we feel like like a sweet treat.

Window dressings

We talked about making some changes in our bedroom, I agrred that we change it up but also wanted different window coverings.

Originally we had bought a do one cover that we liked and I made curtains from them but as it was only a light cotton, the colours faded after a few years. Next I bought gold curtain fabric, the gold to match our silk doona cover, however there are different types of gold and curtains were a green gold, so one cover is a yellow gold, they don't match! A girlfriend offered to make the curtains for me as I had started back at work. They were made very well but with block out on the back  it was so dark.

Changed them after five years, I was determined to have them for at least that long. The first two sets were on rods and cords to open. The last pair are on rings and much easier to operate (and make).

Current curtains until lunchtime.

 Now we have a blind. We were thinking of getting verticals but No one was available and we couldn't go too far, either we waited or we bought it ourselves and also installed it ourselves. We went for the rod, on the left, rather than cords.

Now to the next bit in May.

Shetland

Not much on TV last night that we wanted to watch so I suggested we watch an episode of Shetland.

This is set around a police officer who is based on the island of Shetland. As some of the language can be a little hard to pivk up some words, we had the sub titles on.

Fiftyfive minutes is an episode and we watch one and then watch a second as in the series prior to this one, we knew that they go over two episodes. Well, at the end of the next one it was still very tangled so we watched a third, then a fourth and fifth. As we told each other, we didnt have to get up for anything the next morning. When we got to the end of the fifth, we did go back to see how many episodes there were and discovered, there was six so only one to go so of course we watched it.

Oh, my goodness, what a tangled web but probably the best series or movie that I have seen in a long time.

We turned the tv off at 1.20am after almost six hours. We usually go to bed about 8.30/9pm.

I feel okay but will be ready for bed early tonight I think, we havent done very much today, keeping a very low profile.

No bake cheese cake

I read a recipe the other day and decided to make something similar as I didn't have all the ingredients.

I was quite happy the way it turned out.

First I melted some butter in the microwave, added a spoonful of fake sugar and about three of almond flour. It came together nicely and then I was able to press it into a pie dish and into the fridge.

Actual recipe called for 500 gms of cream cheese, I had a pack of 250 plus a little bit. I beat that, added some cream and a spoon full of fake sugar and juice of a lemon. I also added gelatin. When it had a thick consistency I spread it on top of the base.

I have already made a jelly and when that was cool I poured it on top.
The results.

Can't really taste the lemon, I would double that if I make it again. 

Granny square blanket.

I have been working on these for awhile. At first I had trouble getting the square corners and even now they are rounded as I did a single crochet stitch in grey as the last row.

Twenty eight of them start with a square, the second lot of 28 had a circle in the middle then went to a square. That was the harder one to do.

I had a mixture of soft almost like ice cream colours, I feel I could have organised the colours better when I put  them together. I don't think there is two the same.

I did have to redo seven of them, they were in the first batch and I certainly did improve as I went along.

It's smaller than I thought and I could have done more rows around the outside, I did do three rows, yellow, grey and orange.

All rows sewed together, eight by seven.

Taking a breather before starting the next project tomorrow.

Warren's latest project

He bought a tent last year for when he goes off bike riding and stays overnight. The time that he used it was okay but he says he needs a fly for it.

 We also had a car cover which I am not sure it was ever used, it was bought when we had to park one car outside on the concrete. Nice idea but by the time I got home from work, I certainly did not feel like putting it over the car. He spent a couple of afternoons picking it undone. This week was the time to use it and see if he could make the fly. Of course, he could have just gone and bought a fly but that was nit the point. He did make a booking to use the sewing machine for a couple of days.

It is a small tent, a two man.

A study in concentration.

So it has four walls and an overlay top so breeze can go through it. Also there is a separate door.

The finis

The Power of Advertising.

There was a flyer for pizza in our letterbox when we got home from our flu shots. My arm had already began to ache. It would be an easy dinner and we would be helping a business.

Yep, pizza for dinner sounds like a good idea.

Now we have not eaten pizza except homemade ones for over two years and never had it delivered, well we did both.

It was quick, we had ordered early, well, I told Warren to order as it was his turn to cook! Arrived in twenty minutes.

It was good pizza and there was nothing left except a smell which Lucy wasnt thrilled about, I did give her a small piece of mine.

We realised the next morning why we don't eat pizza anymore, the scales were up and Warren had sinus hassles from the gluten. With him not playing his sports his tolerance to gluten has gone up several notches.

That time of the year.

As well as everything else thats happening, we are being urged to have our flu shots. Warren had an appointment at the doctors a week or so ago, just a script renewal and I had said to him that he may as well get his flu shot then.

He forgot to ask about it and so we logged into the clinic. We learnt a few months ago that the practice is so busy with people ringing to make appointments that it is far easier to do it online. We were told that the wait on the phone could be up to 45 minutes and this was way before Corona visis.

It was a twelve day wait for the next available appointment then I realised that Easter was in the middle of that. We were able to get both one after the other.

Tuesday was our day and we got an email in the morning asking if we were still going to have it, yep we were.

First time out of the house for a week and it was easy to get a park. There was a barrier to follow and all had to go through the front door, there are several entrances. Steps on the footpath measuring out the 1.5metres, while a nurse in a mask asking questions about travel, once we were okay there, she took our temps and we were allowed in the centre.

We needed to head to the chemist inside and then see the resident doctor there for a bp check, then next door for our jab. Very fine needle which didn't hurt at all but it has made up for it since. The area is still a little painful two days later.

We took the opportunity to grab some milk and veggies from the meat market next door to the clinic, means that we won't need to go shopping for awhile longer.

Sewing projects.

I don't know the meaning of the word "vortex" but an online friend mentioned vortex quilts and so of course I wanted to check them out.

Basically it's a way to use up all the bits and pieces of fabric, much like how quilts were first made. These two quilts, one I did last week and finished on Saturday, the second one only took two days, I used a fancy stitch on  my machine. This helps to hold it together and also will help with fraying.

First one.
Second one with a blue backing.

As the back is quite thick, I didn't put any wadding in the middle.

These two, I made the weekend before.

Landline

We watched Landline on Sunday while having lunch. Its a good program and of interest to us because we both came from farming backgrounds and it has stories about the rural industry.

Every time we  manage to catch it, I think to myself, we should watch it on a more regular basis. We will see if I remember for next week.

Anyway one of the items was about distilleries, mainly making gin. The closest one to us is only 200k away and we will take a trip down down when things get back to normal. Not that we are gin drinkers but the whole enterprise looked interesting and everything comes either from their farm or neigbouring farmers.

They have several on offer and the most intriguing one I thought was called Ink gin, sells for $82 A bottle, seems expensive but then I don't buy spirits so I don't know how that sits with other spirits. What is fascinating about this one, is that,  it is an inky colour but when a mixer like soda water is added it turns a blush pink. Apparently it is pure science but of course the punters think it is great, I do too.

There are a few local grown distilleries around Rockhampton doing rum, the numbers went from low 20s to 143 at last count. 

The Post

I wanted to watch a movie yesterday and after we all had a snooze, I found this movie starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. I didn't know anything about it but with those two featuring, it should have been good.

It was and apparently was based on a true story.

The Post is the Washington Post a newspaper which at the time was owned by a family but they were looking to float it on the stock market so that it could continue.

Throw in the Vietnam war and some high flying government officials who were more interested in protecting their own butts and lifestyle and that makes for a great movie.

Judging by how the two main after a look I don't think it was a very old movie. With no ads and an intriguing story, I didn't get much crocheting done but that was the only drawback. 

A Bush Walk.

Wow, it seems so long ago that we were able to take bush walks, yet it was only last month.

While I don't want to harbour on our new norm, the numbers of positive cases in Queensland is going down but I think we still need to stay at home for much longer yet.

A nice gentle slope, wasn't so flipping gentle when we came back though, wishing I had taken my walking pole.

Luckily we had achieved what we wanted to, but were going to walk to the end of the path which was only about another two hundred metres away, decided to turn back rather than get wet feet. Lucy on the other hand had been through there twice.

At another part of the park was a big stump, it was massive. I had been behind it and it was at least a metre higher than me.

Cookie making

Since the lock down Warren has of course not been out playing his sports. Between us we are walking Lucy, sometimes she gets two walks a day.

We are finding that, well this is my theory, Warren's tolerance of gluten is becoming less, in other words getting worse.

He had had cereal for breakfast for years usually museli but has had to give that away. Soy milk was another thing that he has stopped having. Yesterday after shopping, we had a small hot cross bun each and sure enough, he came down with a headache, not as bad as he used to get but bad enough.

So no flour things for him. On my facebook, there was a recipe for keto cookies so as I felt sorry for Warren, I decide to make some for him.

So easy only four ingredients but I did add some lemon zest as I have it, fresh off the tree.

Just 2 tbsp of butter, same of sugar, beat together with vanilla add about half a cup of almond flour/meal til it looks like bread crumbs. Roll into small balls and push down with a fork. As we "count" carbs, they are only .4gms of carbs. We have two each then I sandwiched the rest with a spoonful of cream cheese, squeeze of lemon juice and some fake sugar.

I baked them at 150 degrees in a fan forced oven for about eight minutes.

These are now in the fridge and will be our afternoon tea for the next couple of days.

Google mini

We were gifted a few weeks ago one of these mini devises. It sits up on a shelf that Warren put up on the end wall just under the air conditioner unit.

We use the Google mini mainly for music and or radio. The beauty about it, is that we can be sitting over breakfast a good five steps away from it and give a command such as "Hey Google, stop streaming" and it turns off.

This morning we thought that it looked like rain so Warren asked Google what today's weather would be.

The answer "Showers are expected in ............(our suburb) at 11am, there may be light showers in the afternoon as well".

As it wasn't that long before 11am, Warren thought he should take Lucy for her walk then.

When they got back, I made a coffee for us and we took it outside to sit under the patio. I looked at the clock outside and remarked that it should soon rain or Ms Google would be proved wrong. One minute later, when it clocked over to 11am, down came the rain and yes there were also some light showers after lunch.

An afternoon walk.

We think Lucy is putting a bit of weight and as we need to exercise too we have taken to take her for an extra walk in the afternoons.

In normal times, she was getting a long walk on Saturdays morning while Warren did park run and then during the week we were going to a walk caching.

My turn today and I couldn't believe the traffic on the road as well as people out walking. I guess the gyms and dog parks are closed so exercise by walking is about all that's left.

Lucy knows where we are going and so she heads off, today we went to the bus stop and we saw 13 people and four other dogs.

Lucy's new lead that Warren made a few weeks ago. He made two and one is permanently in the car. The lead is about 4 metres long and we just haul it in or out depending on the circumstances.

Five minutes after we were home, she brought a ball inside for Warren to go out and throw the ball for her. That usually happens at 4pm, although she will only get two or three then she sits under the trees with it, shes had enough.

Butterflies

We have noticed a abundance of butterflies in our yard lately. Time of year or just because we are using the patio more with the nicer weather.

Very hard to get a photo though.

This one was taken down along the creek, very pretty blue and black called a blue lace butterfly.

This is a couple of  white ones in there if you look closely 

Doors

Once we checked into the hotel, we headed for the lift, we were on the eighth floor.

This was inside the lift. Red glass on all three sides. Imagine coming back after a night on the town and being hit with RED glass walls in a lift. Thank goodness, I don't drink well not much anyway.

We were in the front row of the aircraft, I was sitting in  my seat when I took the pic. Three across but coming back it was only the two of us and I was the first person off the plane! I suppose I should clarify that, I was the first passenger off the plane as it seems that at least one of the hosties put on a vest and goes down the stairs to send everyone off.

Another early morning and on a Sunday too.

First photo for the day as we were driving away from the hotel.

We had an event to go to at 7.30 but had to take a little detour first.

Off to the event which was near where Sheridan had an exchange visit to a high school, back when she was 15 or 16.

Five other people came to the event and chatted until it was time to catch our plane home.

View from the park which was in front of the school.

Tasmania IS a small place.

We couldn't go too far on Saturday morning as we had to drop the tyre in to be fixed and then collect it when it was ready.

We picked the tyre up and as we had had an early start and only a yukkie coffee at the motel, our next port of was lunch. Still shopping time and parking metres were in force but we had no coin so we have to find a free park which luckily we did half a block from a cafe.

We took a seat and were given menus, then the guy, turned out to be the owner, brought over an oil heater and plugged it in "as we looked cold" we were but didnt realise it showed that much

Nice lunch and we ordered an extra coffee as that was so good and warming. While we were eating, another waitress came through and surprise, surprise she was the receptionist who had booked us in the night before. Sheridan recognized her tattoos and she recognized us as well. She had an unusual accent so I asked where was the accent from. She must have been asked that question before as she asked us where we thought she was from. We had discussed it and thought possibly Belgium or Belarus but she told us she was originally from South Africa.

One of the eating places she had recommended was the Nepali restaurant only a block from the hotel, we were able to thank her and tell her that it was a good meal in both places.
S