The Week

It's a busy week. I went to the dentist this morning for step 2 of a root canal - and didn't feel a thing. Thanks Kath. Gibbo went to the chiropractor; he played cricket in Kingaroy yesterday. They lost badly and he could barely walk when he arrived home after over-enthusiastically (is there ever any other way with Gibbo) chasing and diving for the ball, twisting in the air, flinging the ball into the stumps and running the batsman out - all in one fluid movement I might add - while the crowd oohed and aahed in admiration of this athletic prowess (this is his vivid description of the event, mine would have been slightly less exuberant if I'd been there). It appears he's pulled a muscle (or as Megan suggested, tweaked it a little).

I went to Mums and we did a test transmission of Mate's defibrillator to Brisbane. It was a very easy process with the mobile monitor and he's scheduled to now transmit on the first Sunday of each month.

I have parent teacher interviews tomorrow afternoon then Drew and I are booked to see High School Musical at The Empire in Toowoomba. He'll miss the first drama workshop for this term.

Thursday is another parent teacher interview and another on Friday. Rehearsals start in earnest on Friday afternoon for the school theatre restaurant - Mystery on the Orient Express.

Somewhere in all this I also need to work; end of month looms again.

Gibbo and I go to Bundaberg Saturday and Sunday for more QCC cricket (back recovery pending). Note to self - take plenty of reading material.

Flowers for Lunch

More garden news; exciting stuff hey? In July 06 Gibbo and I went south to truck the first tranche of the new wagyu herd. We stayed at a picturebook B&B run by an entertaining man who had lived a rather colourful life to say the least. He cooked us magnificent meals, one of which had stuffed zucchini flowers as an accompaniment. I asked for (and received) the recipe and for the last four years I've occasionally thought "I should make Curly's flowers". So on the weekend, I did. No measuring, a bit of substituting and there they were; they were good but I'm sure they weren't as good as Curly's.

Collect your flowers - I only had 5! Remove the stamens.

Collect your ingredients. The parmesan was waaaayyy beyond its' use by date so I substituted some strong Mersey Valley.

Mix the ricotta, grated cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Prepare the camembert for melting.

Stuff the flower.

Twist the ends; don't worry if the stuffing busts out.

Mix the tempura.

Shallow fry in oil for a couple of minutes.

         

Top with a dollop of melted camembert. Enjoy.

Up Early

I woke at 3.37am in a mild panic - I knew I had to be somewhere, do something, get up - but what for I couldn't remember in the haze - was it school or chooks or something else. Then my brain switched on and I relaxed and realised it ws the dawn service I had to get ready for. I quickly got dressed, woke Drew, made a cup of tea and off we went.

It wasn't nearly as cold as last year but just as chilling in other ways. When the announcer said that many of the young men who went to war had lied about their age and were only 16 when they signed up, I caught my breath - that's how old Drew is. Can I imagine him going off to war - never to return? No I cannot. That's why we give thanks each year to those men who did go off to fight - so that we can stand freely at 4.28am each April 25, hushed and quiet.

We came straight home and went back to bed. Gibbo barely noticed we'd gone; he thought it had been 5 minutes. We went back in at 9am for the street march; it's a 4 day long weekend here due to the show holiday so numbers were down. Here's my boy. I think he forgot to do his hair.

I thought of Redgum, geurillas on fallen trees and 1967, when I was 5.

The Last Post

The creek in our town.

Local Show

It's a few years since I've been to our local show; it's a far cry from it's heyday when I was a kid. My mother and grandmother dressed in their finest, my father and grandfather in coat, hat and tie (brothers too) and off we all went; I remember the dark purple felt ribbon my grandfather would win for his sheep fleeces - and even a red, white and blue tricolour for Champion Fleece of Show. Those halcyon days are long gone; many of the traditional rural displays have disappeared completely, replaced by spray-on tattoos and tacky stalls. It all seems a bit sad and tarnished - or is it just because I've grown 'old and jaded' in my outlook, no longer able to see things with wonder or a fresh perspective - and because I don't have little children to watch their awe and excitement? My favourite stall from those days was the clowns - I would spend most of my money on them.

Drew worked hard at the Pony Club BBQ Stall.................mobbed by customers!

Having a pedicure.

There was a rather bizarre duck race, contested by Quack, Down and Bill - three times around the ring, up and over a ramp and through to the finish line.

Two stewards on the right, an exhibitor on the left.

Four best Birds of Show - ours are on top. Might I point out that my silkie on the left has two ribbons on his cage while the little pullet on the right only has one - does that mean I came third overall, relegating hubby to fourth???!!! I certainly hope that's what it means.

We went back in last night to pick Drew up and ended up watching the camel races - I do so love a camel. Then we watched the aboriginal dance troupe from Toowoomba perform the Rainbow Serpent dreamtime story; the fireworks were excellent; then we watched the smash-em derby for about two minutes before the arena was completely engulfed by dust so we couldn't see a thing - and nor could the drivers on the sound of the crashing and banging going on.

What's Been Going On

I had intended doing a permaculture update but when I looked at the photos I thought they were rather poor so I scrapped the idea. The update can wait.

We've been busy since I was last here. Last weekend we went to Weis' for a social club feast and I went to see Andrew on Sunday. I got some tailings from his sheep pens; Mate uses them in his garden so I thought I'd get some for the PC garden. You'd think with 15,000 cattle I'd have enough manure but I'm open to something different.

Gibbo went south to inspect and purchase some wagyu. Chris went to Brisbane on Tuesday to drop off more resumes at architect offices. Meg worked hard all week to finish the two assignments for her Masters degree. Drewy went to school!

Friday was a holiday here for our local agricultural show. Gibbo helped R cut down trees at the local state school. Drew ended up working on the Pony Club BBQ Stall for 10 hours both days of the show. We took chooks in for judging; we came up against each other for Champion Bird of Show, Gibbo with a wyandotte pullet, me with a Silkie rooster - a first time event for us! Neither of us won overall best bird but it was good to see our birds out the front - and a friendly bit of rivalry never hurt anyone!

Meg and Chris went to Brisbane to catch up with Uni friends. They're due back tonight.

Today Drew and I paid our respects to the Anzacs at the dawn service and later at the town march.

The Evidence

Yes, at last it's happened - I've picked my first roma tomato from the permaculture experiment. I washed and dried it lovingly, photographed from many different angles, cut it in half, sprinkled it with salt and pepper - and ate it all by itself. It was delicious!

I've since eaten another one and today, Gibbo and I shared four with a salad for lunch. There's still quite a few coming on.

25 Different Ways with Sunflowers

Me, the camera and some sunflowers in the round garden. This is the result.