I'm Back

Hi Everyone,
Yes I know it's been a looooong time since I've been here. I could go into a very long winded explanation about why I haven't posted anything for, eeeeeek, over five months, but that could get a little boring. If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you will have a general idea about what I've been up to, but for those who don't let me summarise.
GARDEN GETABOUT
Garden Getabout is an open garden weekend on the second weekend in November. We have our garden open and I'm one of the coordinators so for several weeks before I pretty well eat, drink and sleep garden. And just to put a bit more pressure on myself I also have a my craft work on display to greet visitors.

ROSS' 50th BIRTHDAY
Ross turned 50 in mid December, so after a bit of down time following the Garden Getabout, it was time to think about a birthday celebration. Even though someone didn't want to make a big deal about it, mainly because he didn't want to make too much work for me, we eventually decided to have a casual lunchtime barbeque with family and a few friends. As the day approached it became of obvious that it was going to be a bit more than a casual barbie but people offered to bring salads and my ever reliable party prep side kick Heidi came home a couple of days early and helped with some cooking and made the White Chocolate Cherry Ripe Mud birthday cake, so it resulted in a great day.

CHRISTMAS
We love Christmas in our house (I've heard, believe it or not, that some people don't). We have traditions that have developed over the years, a real Christmas tree with hand made decorations, Christmas Eve mass, a treasure hunt (yes even though the kids are 28, 24 & 22), just to name a few.
This year lunch was at Ross' sister's with all of his family. We had a home made 'Kris Kringle' and everyone put a lot of thought and/or work into their gifts which made for a fun filled afternoon with lots of laughter.

HOLIDAYS

Boxing Day we headed to our annual holiday destination of Narooma where had a lovely relaxing break of nearly 2 weeks.

SCRATCHING AN ITCH
All the busyness in the later part of 2014 meant I hadn't really had a chance to do any major patchwork projects. In fact apart from making a few projects for the Friday craft group at the Neighbourhood Centre and finishing a quilt off for my Garden Getabout craft display I hadn't done much since early April. Admittedly I had swapped my fabric & sewing machine for wool & crochet hook over the winter, which was fun, but by the time January came around the patchwork itch definitely needed scratching. So scratch I have, like a dog with a flea. The itch has eased a little but my head is still full of ideas just waiting to materialise.

EXERCISE
I always been pretty self motivated when it comes to exercise but what with one thing or another the motivation has been a bit spasmodic over the last year or so. I don't like being unfit so after the Garden Getabout I gave myself a kick in the but and decided I needed to do some form of exercise a least 5 days a week whether wanted to or not. I started walk/running every week day and just before Christmas I joined the local Metafit group to work on strength training and add some variety. It has been a lot of fun and I'm enjoying my renewed fitness.

There you have it, between all these goings on and my blogging mojo going into hibernation, that is why I have been absent from this space. I'm hoping, now that I'm back, I'll get into the swing of posting regularly again. I have lots to share, it's just a matter of having or making the time.

 

Hope you've enjoyed the catch up

Thanks for popping by and until next time 

TOODLES

I would love your feedback.

You can either comment here or on Facebook 

or

You can follow me on

Facebook or Instagram @oneearlybird 

 

More Than Flowers

Hi Everyone,
July is the month when the garden seems to take a deep breath before it has to put on it's show in the Spring. There are still a few flowers putting some cheer into the winter days but there is also plenty of other beauty and interest. So let's go for a June/July garden walk.

FROSTY MORNING

 I love the way the frost covers everything and then glistens in the morning sun.

 The birdies need ice skates

 The frost can even make the weeds look pretty

THE TREES



 Cockatoos enjoying the morning rays  

 Bare elegant branches of the gleditzia & silver birch against the far to regularly grey sky

 

 Seeds of the rain tree, silver birch & maple.

SUCCULENTS

These succulents don't mind the winter frosts. The red one is green in the warmer months.

VEGGIE GARDEN

Not much happening here but red spinach & self sown parsley

SIGNS OF SPRING

Daphne and daffodils.

AND THE FLOWERS



 

THE NEIGHBOURS

 

The mild winter has confused the Arum lilies, they shouldn't be flowering. 

View of the foggy Towong valley from their arboretum. 

Shaggy gum tree.

So that is some of the wintery garden. If the truth be told this post was going to be last weekend with more photos, but I had an lovely impromptu visit from my eldest sister from Campbelltown near Sydney on Sunday. Then on Monday I travelled to Melbourne to help my eldest daughter Cherry with some finishing touches and  preparation for a very exciting event which is happening tonight. That is a whole separate post though, but a sneak peak it involves this

or if you are on Instagram you can search #cherrycollinsofficial for more sneaky peaks.

Well anyway there goes the alarm, time to get my girl up and moving. There is still lots to do today.

 

Until next time

 TOODLES

 

 

I would love your feedback.

You can either comment here, or you can also comment or follow me on Facebook 

or Instagram @oneearlybird

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Out Of Hundreds

Hi everyone, I thought I would be back earlier than this but the week sort of got away from me and I might have got a bit side tracked doing some crafty stuff. Also I needed a bit of a computer break. I find that if I sit down at the computer I get sucked into looking at different things and before I know it hours have gone by and I haven't accomplished much so I find it easier to avoid it altogether. Anyway I'm back now.
This post is a reply to an invitation from Pip Lincolne from Meet Me At Mikes. I/we, her 'Blog With Pip'(BWP) students (I mentioned the course here), have been invited for a virtual cuppa at her blog to share five things we love at the moment and add a link to her blog post.

So I have a dilemma.
I don't have to worry about what I'm going to wear, something comfortable is fine.
I know what I'm going to drink, green tea.

I've even made a batch of macaroons to have with the tea.

(I have included the recipe at the end of the post)

No, the dilemma is
How do you choose only five things you love out of a hundred possibilities?
I could choose the five members of my family, but that goes without saying, they are always on top of the list and anyway they're people not things. Plus I don't know that they want their mother/wife raving about them all over this blog, that could be embarrassing. Anyway after much pondering over a few of days I have come up with five things I am loving right now.

FEELING COSY.
As I mentioned last time the weather has been pretty foul here lately but I have been warm and cosy in our little house with the fire burning away. I love hearing the rain on the roof and the wind whistling around knowing that I'm safe and snug where neither can get me. And even when it's not wet or windy but it's frosty or foggy I can look out the winder and thumb my nose at the cold.

SOUP.
I am loving soup, which is something I tend to make only in the winter. I haven't always been a soup lover but since my conversion, I eat it nearly everyday in the winter. Some of my favs are UNnoodle, Pumpkin/Sweet Potato, Pea & Ham, Thai Style Tomato, Chicken & Corn, and my all time favourite Minestone (or Mine Strone as we call it in our house). I particularly like Minestrone the next day when it becomes Minestewy, but I reckon most soups taste better the next day, don't you?
I'm feeling another soup recipe post coming on. Which one should I do? Maybe you could pop over to the Facebook page here and let me know.

BOOKS.

I am not a bigger reader of fiction but not because I don't like it. I love novels but they are a bit like the computer, once I start a good one I can't drag myself away and then I don't get anything else done. So fiction reading is a holiday activity.

I do however have A LOT of reference books, gardening, cooking and craft mainly, with a few human interest ones as well. I love flicking through the pages being inspired, learning new skills and coming up with new ideas. They are my main source of learning along with the internet.

I get most of my books online, only because we don't have anywhere to buy them in our small country town. I do love browsing in book shops though, if I get the opportunity, and always try to find something buy to support them.

BEING CREATIVE.
I'm cheating a bit here because being creative includes, craft, gardening and cooking (3 favourite things). I love making stuff and can't remember a time when I didn't. It's essential for me, up there with breathing. I have gardened, in one form or another, since I was a teenager, cooked from whenever I was allowed (probably 7 or 8), but craft has been my main creative outlet since I was very small. My favourite day on 'Play School' was always Monday because it was 'Useful Box Day'.
At the moment crochet is the thing, mainly because that is what we have been doing at craft group and because it's winter and I only crochet in the cooler months. (I have a crochet post in the pipeline and will have it up here very soon)

YOUTUBE SATURDAY/SUNDAY.
This might seem a little strange. You're probably wondering what the heck is that. Well it started a year or so ago when RC(hubby) discovered music videos on YouTube. On Saturday or Sunday morning or sometimes both, when he doesn't have to rush off to work, RC sits with computer at kitchen table and selects music videos to play while we have breakfast. It started out as an occasional thing but has now become a regular weekend activity. He plays DJ and I dance around the kitchen. Yep, I probably look like an idiot but who cares, I love it.

There, five of the many things I love. Do you share some of the same loves or would you chose totally different things?
If you like you can pop over to Pip's blog and check out what some of the other BWP bloggers have written about.
And as promised below is the recipe for the macaroons. They are really yummy.

Until next time

 TOODLES

 

Orange Almond Currant Macaroons

2 eggs
½ cp sugar
1 teas orange rind
½ cp chopped toasted almonds
½ currants
2 cps desiccated coconut
60g dark chocolate

Beat eggs and sugar together on a high speed until really light, fluffy and pale.
Mix through the rind, almonds, currants and coconut.
Put spoonfuls of mixture on a tray. If the mixture is a bit dry you may need to push it together with your fingers.
Bake at 180c for 10 -15 minutes or until partly golden brown.
Cool a little on tray before removing to a cooling rack.
Melt chocolate in bowl over simmering water.
Spoon melted chocolate into a small zip lock bag, cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle chocolate lines over the macaroons.
I dare you to stop at one.

©Michelle Collins – 18/6/2014

I would love your feedback. You can either comment here, or you can also comment or follow me on Facebook or Instagram @oneearlybird

WIth Camera in Hand (2)

Hi everyone, I'm back with this week of photos. The weather has been particularly wintery here with it being cold, wet and very windy. There hasn't been a lot of rain it just seemed like it because of the wind. Needless to say it has been an indoors week, which is probably just as well seeing it's the end of the financial year tomorrow and I needed to get the business accounts up to date.
So this is my week.

I've been working at this for part of the week and procrastinating about it for the other part, hence no new blog posts.

Mr Happy is NOT a reflection of how I feel about bookwork, blaaaahhh yuck.

The beginning of the shortest day

The You Tube Saturday/Sunday DJ

Play time for Lulu & Holly (neighbour) while the sun's still shining. 

The end of the shortest day, YAAAYYYY for longer days.

 A "farm" walk

The above photo edited (B&W, crop & flip)

The sparks fly getting a job done before the crappy weather sets in for the week.

Purple leafed Wattle coming into bud.

Those white specks are snow at Shelley on our way to Wodonga, brrrrrrr.

What do you do when you have an idea and no pencil and paper? You down load a sketchbook app for your phone.

(Sketchbook MobileX, free version, if you're interested)

 Inside job for the boys - before

 and nearly finished.  

A brief bit of sunshine but

this is more reflective of the weather this week.

A hand portrait while I have fingernails

(Yep, usually bite them) 

Something in the mail for me (a late Mother's day present). I like surprises.

Hand embroidery with crocheted edges brought for show & tell at Craft Group.

 

That's the photos for this week and as you can see not much craft, cooking or gardening going on but I hope to remedy that this week. 

I will be back soon with a couple of posts that are nearly ready so until then

 

TOODLES

I would love your feedback. You can either comment here, or you can also comment or follow me on Facebook or Instagram @oneearlybird

 

 

 

 

With Camera in Hand

Hi Everyone. How's your week been? Mine has been pretty good.
I've decided to trial something new, a weekly roundup in photos. I got the idea from Pinknits blog, who does a 'Sunday Snapshots' every week. I think it will be a great way to do at least one post a week quickly, so you can see what is happening, or what's catching my eye and I won't have to write too much(the time consuming part). Most of the photos will be taken with my Iphone which I carry around with me most of the time, like most of you I suppose, so it's easy to capture moments. About the only time I don't have it with me is when I'm gardening. Some photos will be taken with my DSLR but I'll label them. If you would like more information about anything in the photos just leave a comment and I'll reply or do a seperate post about the subject matter. Your chance to have a say about what happens here.So here we go.

With Camera in Hand (1)

 I received this BEAUTIFUL book of photographs (B&W) in the mail. I ordered it after seeing this TED Talk. It wasn't cheap but so worth it for someone that loves great photography. 500+ pages of inspiration.

I made this birthday cake for a best friend, Orange Honeysuckle Cake. Nothing healthy about this one and oh so delicious. Proves I do make naughty cakes.

Lulu catching the morning sun.

 A frosty morning and a bit B&W editing.(DSLR)

Same morning drenching the herd.(DSLR)

And ended up in the neighbours garden capturing the lilies, that shouldn't be flowering in winter. (DSLR)

The start of a morning walk. 

 Birds on a wire or two 

UNnoodle Chicken & Veg Soup (see previous post)

 Working with an idea

 'Granny' is growing.

Excited about the launch of a new fashion label.

(more sneak peeks on Instagram @_cherrycollins_)

Receiving a pretty package from 'Naomi Loves'. Inside her book 'Airmail', a free gift for following her blog.



Freezing my but off here, watching the Federals girls training hard.

The fog settling early on the creek. Not a good sign.

 

So that's my week in photographs, until next time

TOODLES


I would love your feedback. You can either comment here, or you can also comment or follow me on Facebook or Instagram @oneearlybird