Busier Than Usual

There was much to do this morning.

Harley and I were up at 5.30am and unbeknownst to us, we were alone in the house for more than half an hour!

Adoring Husband starts work an hour later on Saturdays so he had just left and BGWLBH had left at 5.15am for her morning walk.

I poured myself a cup of warm bone broth out of the slow cooker and sat quietly at the little round table in the family room with Harley curled up at my feet and listened to the morning silence. It was quite lovely.

BGWLBH was the first to walk through the big gates and as soon as Harley heard that familiar click he tore out the door to greet her in his usual bounding manner and almost knocked her off her feet!

Our three little dogs used to yap loudly and run around in circles to greet us so this bounding and jumping by a big dog is a new phenomena for us. It’s the next bad habit that we have to train him out of doing.

While BGWLBH made her tea, I fed Harley a large hearty breakfast.

I then rummaged through the pantry for the broth storage containers and went about filling them and placing them in the freezer.

Next I separated the fresh bread into 2 slices per bag and placed them in another freezer.

I emptied the dishwasher and refilled it.

Spent some quality time with Harley in the pool area.

I sent AH to the local shops to purchase our meat for the weekend and food + bones for a week for Harley. This meant more time for me in the kitchen measuring and bagging meat and separating the bones for bagging/freezing too.

There was time spent in the art room working on an idea for a canvas. I did this on a small sketch pad as part of an idea and so far I’m liking most of it, especially the colours …

Then I napped for an hour.

I started working on an octopus …

I found a whole lot of different octopus shapes so I’m going to do a series of octopus paintings interspersed with my jellyfish paintings.

I prepared a big lasagne and while it cooked in the oven I spent 30 minutes giving Harley a workout fetching and swimming.

I then made three mini fresh garden salads to serve with dinner.

Everybody, except me, had a double serving of lasagne so that makes for a successful dinner!

While the others cleaned the kitchen I took Harley outside for another round of fetching and swimming. He loves both but I can outlast him any day of the week. He always gives in before I do!

We watched some more preseason footy games.

Now I’m in bed and Harley is sound asleep.

I’m hoping to be arty farty again tomorrow it’s sleep time for me now.

Nite all.

Relaxing Friday

Vaccines over the last century

Another very uneventful day.

I have a big pot of chicken broth on the gentle simmer as we speak - 16 hours.

I made bacon and eggs for breakfast because Adoring Husband planned a big day in The Bay having eye tests, delivering signed paperwork, having his hair cut, ordering a new ladder and some personal shopping so he needed sustenance to get him through the day.

I spent a good portion of the morning with Harley having big cuddles, playing fetch and swimming.

At 1pm I watched my recorded episodes of Australian idol then my quiz shows came on. A fluffy movie before preparing dinner and some more play time with Harley while dinner cooked in the oven.

The preseason football games are on and AH and I watched Cronulla vs Knights followed by Manly vs Souths which still has 20 minutes remaining and the score is 24 all.

Harley is sound asleep in his crate.

I thought about doing some art and even cooled the art space by turning on the air for a while, but inspiration eluded me. Maybe tomorrow.

That’s it for today.

Nite all.

They Lied

They lied about Myocarditis

Had a nice day in The Bay today.

It started with coffee at Cody’s Coffee Shack on the Esplanade and while BGWLBH attended an appointment, I walked to the closest shopping area and purchased a pair of green jeans with sparkling stars and a white linen top. The next shop had a nice beaded necklace to go with the outfit and I found two lovely little dresses for Hazie.

An hour later, BGWLBH joined me and we enjoyed breakfast at Aquavue. I ordered GF Canadian pancakes and the meal was HUGE! Four big pancakes, two full rashers of bacon, a whole banana and all of it drowning in maple syrup.

Absolutely delicious but I ate about one third of it. Such a waste 🫤

We visited Nanas Pantry, Office Works, Coles, Newsagent, Chemist and Choice.

Stopped to check the mail and pick up our meat order before going home to make a delicious smoothie for an afternoon refresher.

It took ages to unpack all of our goodies so I sat down for an hour to rest these old weary bones and decided to give Harley an hour of my full attention around the pool where we played fetch for quite some time before he jumped in the water to cool down.

At 5pm I prepared dinner of barbecue glazed chicken thighs, roasted pumpkin, potato and cherry tomatoes with steamed beans and broccoli. It was quite delicious.

Pre-season footy matches have begun today and Adoring Husband is excited that his team plays tomorrow evening.

I don’t really care because pre season games are never an indication of how the teams will fare during the actual season. The coaches never field their strongest teams so it’s impossible to tell how strong any team really is.

I’m yawning like crazy so I’d best sleep now.

Nite all.

Of Interest

"A lot of people call me a weed but I'm a friend and come to help you!

When you see me, remember that I'm the ONLY one who wants to, and can grow in that particular spot. 

Because:

Either the soil is too compact/hard/stomped and I want to loosen it for you with my roots.

Or there is too little calcium in the soil - don't worry, I will replenish that for you with the dying of my leaves.

Or the soil is too acidic. But I will also improve that for you if you give me the chance.

Or a mixture of the above reasons, of course 😊

I'm here because your soil needs my help so best you let me grow without disturbing me! When everything is fixed, I will disappear again, I promise! 

Are you trying to remove me prematurely with my root? However meticulous you are, I will return 2x as strong! Just until your soil is improved.

You can even tell by my growth at which stage my help is at. If my leaves are flat on the ground then I'm far from ready but if they all reach up then I'm already a long way on my way.

Something completely different is that I am one of the first bloomers in spring so I will announce spring/summer for you. 

During the day when it's hot, I open my flowers but in the evening when it cools off I close them again quickly. In fact, if it's not hot enough during the day I won't open them at all!

My flowers are some of the first food for insects after hibernation and unlike most other plants, I have pollen AND nectar, not merely one OR the other! And I am generous with them! 

My flowers are even delicious for you people by the way, did you know? I used to be called ′′honey (or gold) of the poor′′ because my flowers are so sweet in e.g. jam, sauce or salad! 

But wait until the end of May or later before you start picking and even then, don't pick everything yet! The biodiversity and bees will be very grateful!

Have a dandy day”

- Poem by Paula Kok - Den Boer

After an action packed morning of running, swimming and playing fetch, this is how we found Harley …

I think he’s feeling right at home now!

Aside from painting another canvas black in preparation for my third jellyfish attempt, I didn’t do any art today, but I found a style that I would love to try after my next jellyfish (which I accidentally called an octopus in yesterday’s blog post!). I started a little practise pad today so I hope to soon share my ideas.

Harley has been a good boy - except when BGWLBH dropped a grape while preparing a lunch platter and he snatched it from the ground and ran off with it.

We don’t know if he ate it, but we do know that grapes are very toxic for dogs, so we have kept a close eye on him. Nothing seems amiss but it can take up to 24 hrs to cause problems so we are still on alert.

We chose to not go to the park for coffee this morning so it was a nice lazy start to the day.

It’s almost 11pm and I’m feeling tired. BGWLBH has an appointment in The Bay early so I should get to sleep now.

Nite all.

Olympic Ready

Harley swam 32 lengths of our pool today, even touching and pushing off on the wall at most ends! That’s the equivalent of 256 metres which is more than five lengths of an Olympic swimming pool!

That was after playing ‘fetch’ for 30 minutes.

He has a LOT of energy.

Thank goodness we have a pool for his exercising pleasure and he absolutely loves it in the water so that’s a bonus.

I painted another octopus today. I’m still not happy but it’s much better than the last one …

I’m hoping that it will be third time’s a charm when I try again in a couple of days.

That was my day … Harley and art, my quiz shows and cooking dinner which was potato bake, balsamic grilled tomatoes, charred zucchini, steamed snow peas and lamb cutlets.

MAFS was intriguing as usual.

Now I’m ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Uneventful

It’s been very uneventful down this neck of the woods.

My niece had a gender reveal party on the weekend. She already has a daughter and is now pregnant with a son so everybody is over the moon, especially my sister!

I haven’t done any art for two days.

The weather has been hot and muggy and unbearable so we’ve had the air running 24/7.

After a month in the moon boot, Adoring Husband still has swelling on his foot so had another x-ray today and will have an ultrasound next Tuesday. This should be interesting.

BGWLBH drove into The Bay for some more art and craft supplies while I enjoyed two hours of solitude.

I cooked up a delicious tuna bake for dinner tonight.

Now I need to sleep.

Nite all.