09-02-04 (Click on Photo to right & see all photos)

Well, we've run the full gamut this past week: warm, balmy days, solid-walls-of-water rainy ones.

 

The Merri River has overrun its banks through the last few days as well.

 

It's been interesting feeding the animals and exercising the 

German Shepherds through all of this, too.  I've given up on those days trying to comb the dogs, it's just wet, wet, wet.  Yecch!

 

The kitten that God gave Alice for her birthday is still full of hissy fits.  I think it's beginning to calm down, but it's hard to be sure.

 

Brian and Aaron guesstimate that we have at least eight geese a-laying, and then there are the ducks, the turkeys and the chooks.  Eggcity!

 

Mowgli is not a happy little vegemite.  He stays behind when I go to work, and if Brian leaves the door open to, for example, bring in firewood, he is in like a flash and then proceeds to drag my slippers and anything else he can reach, around the place, see if jigsaws are more appropriate (I know there are bits missing from my slippers!) and generally really aggravate Brian.

 

A few hints for you from a magazine over here called That's Life:

 

Fill your vase with dried lavender to keep silk flower arrangements together - it looks nice and smells lovely.

 

When planting seedlings, throw cat litter around the base of the new plants - it is a great deterrent to snails.

 

To make doing your tax return easier, take 12 large envelopes, label one for each month of the year, and then make a habit of putting all your receipts in the appropriate envelope as soon as you make a purchase.

 

Peanut Butter Pottery

 

Mix 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup powdered milk and then add 1 tablespoon of honey.  The mixture will be crumbly, so knead together with your hands.  If the mixture is too dry, add more honey, if too moist, add more powdered milk.

 

Form into small balls about the size of a small walnut.  Make and impression with a wooden spoon handle or your finger.  Gently shape into a 'pot'.

 

This recipe makes about 12 'pots'.  You can fill the pots with seeds and/or sultanas.  And they are good to eat.

 

Lisa McInnes-Smith's Quote of the Week: "True love is wanting the best for your partner; not just for yourself."

 

Night

 

Gentle pearl hanging en pendant

amidst pellucid veils

 

velvet cloth sprinkled with diamonds

in colours of sparking hue

 

How myriad the stars!