Storytime

Birthdays have this nasty habit of sneaking up on a person. I know there are some that love to celebrate, with all the bells and whistles...but I fear as you get older, and older, and older it all begins to blur. Numbers become lost, unless it's a major birthday, one of those that end in a zero. My sister tends to ask me how old I am - she's fourteen months younger and so when she knows how old I am, knows how old she is. Because as most of us come to realise, age is simply a number. It doesn't tell us how healthy we are, how smart we are, how happy we are...just how many years we have lived on this planet. So what have I learnt after living this many years? That I still don't like red wine. Give me a port or tokay and it's another thing entirely, but alas my palate has not matured with the rest of me. I've learnt that I have this grey swathe in my hair, bit like Cruella De Vil, beside the cowlick that decides where I part my hair. (Hello hairdre...

Sunday was Valentines Day- but more importantly- February 14 is also Library Lovers Day. A day to celebrate all that libraries have to offer.  The above is the library I call home....Pakenham Library. This is where I spend most of my time - our children's area.... So why should we love libraries? What do they offer, especially in these hurried days of technology and community. The days of libraries being places of cardigan-wearing librarians peering over their spectacles to shush you is long gone. (Mind you I do rock the odd cardigan, do wear specs at the computer and will tell you to 'keep it down' when and if needed). Libraries, of course, offer books. If you want to learn a language - read a Shakespearean sonnet or two - learn how to puppy train - toilet train- if you want to know how to bond with your bump or tile the laundry - make your own cushions or design your next tattoo. Whether you want to know how to dress your house for a quick sale o...

On the weekend I went to my first ever BBQ festival. I went with five men who were ready to celebrate the carnivore within. Now I know a little about these slow cookers---other half has one at home. But until now I didn't realise the huge variety of cookers - there were barrels and egg shaped ones, box shaped, ones like ours which resemble a small train (puffing billy in fact) and even this one... How great is that?  Not only did I get a lesson in the various types of cookers / bbqs available - it was also time to learn some of the lingo.  Talk of fireboxes and creosote. The difference between a dry brine and a rub. What makes a good bark (yes bark)- how to assemble the flavour base then the flavour layers . Talk of blind box, hickory pellets versus apple shavings.  Then of course there was the tastings... It reminded me how language plays a large part in creating an atmosphere. At the BBQ everyone talked of ribs and briskets, of flavour b...

Seems that I blinked and somehow January is behind us and we are heading off into February. Second month of the year. One twelfth of the year gone and dusted...can't take it back...can't change it. As for goals for this year...I am stumped. Really have no idea, a few vague nuances yes but for a concrete THIS IS WHAT I WILL ACHIEVE THIS YEAR...nothing. For the garden, it's different. I have an idea...dig a bit...usually dig a bit more...more often than not I dig a whole lot more. Then I plant, and plant, and move some around. I let them stay at least for a while. Some I will move again... And so I tweak and rejig until it resembles a bit of how I wanted it to look. Most often it is just a vague nod to my original plan, but I had a goal. An aim. The above bed began with other half cutting down the blue spruce. Add in the weeping cherry from Dad, Christmas and birthday present, then I added the plants from daughter's wedding (so it is called the Wedding ...