Sunday Scribblings "Indulgence"

G'Day,
I just got back from a weekend away in Sydney, indulging in the markets and big city offerings. Food, shopping, people watching etc. Then there is the money, you pay for absolutely everything in Sydney, everything. Especially everything to do with transport, from parking to using your own car and using public transport, is a bit of a shocker down there.
The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is "Indulgence".
Oh how we all indulge ourselves, don't we? I know I do, a dozen or more little ways each and every day. I choose to indulge others around me too.
No I am not going to talk about chocolate... He he.
My biggest and best loved indulgence is water. I love it, I love being in it, watching it, consuming it. And... all this on the driest continent on earth. I know you are thinking, oh no...here we go on another soap box lecture on water, saving and conservation....again, right?.
No , really, I am very naughty when it comes to water. I do lots of the wrong things and I know I should not be so extravagant and indulgent with water, but I am. I take longer showers than I should. I stand or sometimes even sit under the warm flowing water, wasting it just because I am so indulgent , long after I need to be there because it gives me such sensual pleasure. Water satisfies all my senses. Albeit somewhat guiltily.
I do consider myself a bit of a greenie when it comes to the environment and water is such a big important factor in that, especially in our country. But water.... my weakness and I can't get past that indulgence.
There are however things I do that are protective of our scant water source. I use less and less chemicals in my home to help protect our water from being so polluted. I try not to use so much water around the yard, which actually helps the plants that are there to toughen up, and if they don't, well they were probably not meant to be in that environment anyway and something else would have served their purpose better. When I was living in Junee I was very good at water harvesting for reuse in my yard. I even had a fish pond that operated within it's own little balanced ecosystem. Fishies, plants, bugs and all. I never needed to feed the fish in there because they didn't need it and they were healthy and doing well. I just had to change the water a couple of times a year. I had two 5000 gallon water tanks that I filled with water that was coming off my roof area and so I saved that from flowing down the drain for use in my garden. I also had collection containers in other places around the yard. One of the containers was a big plastic garbage bin that had manure in it, filled by drips off the roof of the chook yard when it rained, so I had my own ready made organic fertilizer.
I have recently bought myself an enviro ball. It is supposed to last for 3 years and you put it in your washing machine instead of using detergents that go into our waste water. I don't really know how it works but it has something to do with ionizing the water which makes the dirt come out. I have been using it for a month or so now and my clothes are coming out fine. Since it is supposed to last for 3 years I guess the initial cost will be well and truly offset by my not purchasing detergents.
Water though.
Can you imagine me, indulgently laying back in a warm bubble filled bathtub with perfumed candles burning, my little fan heater keeping me warm, a cup of tea and a good book or magazine in front of me. I do that. Oh yes.... beautiful.
Or sitting beside my dear old Murrumbidgee river, with all my senses tuned into the environment, collecting myself.
Or driving alongside a beautiful watercourse or the lakes on a winding mountain road, up in the snowys, (snowy mountains).
Or by the sea where I can keep one eye on the road and the other on the beautiful sights, sounds, colours and smells of the ocean.
Water my indulgence, Scorpio my star sign and a water sign.
BTW, on the weekend I went into the Sydney aquarium, another watery place. I totally encourage anyone who goes to Sydney to spend some of their money on an entry ticket and go in there and have a look. It is far and away the best aquarium I have ever seen. No I didn't have my camera. I had always wanted to have a look in there but never did before as the entry price made it too expensive to take the whole family to on our income when the kids were smaller. But it is really great. I could have spent much more time there enjoying the underwater tunnels with fish and sharks swimming all around me. Mesmerizing. The fish of all sorts, tropical coloured ones, sharks, rays, there were even two Dugongs in one of the displays, you could never see them up so close any other way than in one of those tunnels with them swimming over and around you. Beautiful transparent and translucent jelly fish and cuttlefish, moray eels, snakes, penguins, sea horses, rays, an octopus, even a few crocodiles, who were definitely outdone by the beauty of the other underwater inhabitants. I love the way they fly gracefully through the water like the underwater world's answer to birds, while we silly inadequate humans can only survive on the land.
Excellent.
We also had a ride on the big ferris wheel in Darling harbour at night, went to Bondi beach, ate out all meals, stayed in a motel. Saw a trannie in Oxford street, dressed in a pink leotard, high heels with a pink feather head dress. Oxford street is famous and a great place to people watch, he he. And I was reminded why it can be so bloody annoying trying to please all of my family at once and keep them happy, but that is another story. It was all good though.
Anyway... back to my indulgence.
Water.
The human body is made up mostly of water.
Life on earth could not survive without water.
A very tiny proportion of the earth's surface water is potable.
A tiny number of what lives beneath earth's waters is cataloged compared to what lives above the water.
You never miss what you have until it is gone.

Goodnight, I hope you all had a pleasant weekend.
Love Linda.

G'Day,
Sunday Scribblings time again. I love it. Look forwards to it each weekend.
Anyhow...the prompt for this week is "Human". I thought about it over night and decided to try doing this.

Humans

Abiding
Admonishing

Balanced
Baleful
Calm
Chaotic
Delighting
Disappointing
Eloquent
Elusive
Faithful
Fake
Gregarious
Grey
Harmonious
Horrific
Interested
Indolent
Just
Jumped- up
Karmic
Kaput
Lithe
Lumpy
Merciful
Merciless
Natural
Narcissist
Open
Occluded
Pardoning
Punishing
Quiet
Querulous
Righteous
Ruthless
Sacrosanct
Sadistic
Terrific
Terrifying
Unconcerned
Uncompromising
Vigilant
Vacuous
Warm
Wanting
X nah!
Xenophobic
Yummy
Yucky

Zippy
Zilch
Za end ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Well, that wasn't easy. I reckon some of the words could be used in either a positive or negative connotation, depending on personal belief and cultural upbringing. I couldn't think of one for the positive X. I did look in the thesaurus I have here but tried not to cheat too much. Any suggestions for the X?

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This weekend I am laying low. I have been trying to not spend any money because we are all going on a trip to Sydney next weekend and visiting Paddy's markets. It is something I promised to do with my daughter for the last 2 school holidays. This will be the first time the whole family, Dad, Mum and all the kids have gone anywhere together for quite a long time, so it should be good. Albeit expensive with accommodation, food, transport and shopping in the centre of the city. The kids all have their own income now, not big, but an income just the same so that should ease it a bit.
But...I might just go over to the Kingston bus depot markets this afternoon and get some of the delicious crusty wood fired Italian bread, it is so delicious. Then I might drop into the fresh food markets at Fyshwick later in the afternoon and try to get there when they drop the prices at the fish market, because they don't open again until Thursday each week. Last time I managed to get 5 beautiful blue swimmer crabs at 1/2 price. That place and the Kingston markets are foodie heaven. Especially the Kingston markets because you get to taste everything before you buy it.
:) :) :) :) :0 :) :) :) :) :0 :) .....yeah...you guessed it...too much time on my hands. :) :) :) :)
Staying home by myself sucks! (Pete's working)

Bye
Love Linda.

P.S. Why is that bit showing up in big text when it isn't on here. Too bad, not bothering to fix it, even if I understood how.

G'day,
Just thought I would come in here and tell about something that is bothering me at the moment. Last Wednesday night I was harassed by a couple of teenagers at one of the schools where I clean. I was cleaning the loos at the back of one of the schools and I heard someone yelling out and when I turned around 2 boys probably about 14 years old, I couldn't see real well as it was getting dark, were hiding behind a wall and jumping out yelling out things to me. I tried to ignore them but when I turned around to look again they were mooning me and saying foul things. I finished what I was doing and thought I should go inside the building and lock the other door as they might be trying to create a diversion for someone else who was up to no good. When I went inside one of them ran up to the back door and threw a cracker inside the door. It filled the room up with smoke and burned a mark into the new vinyl floor that had just been laid and burned the carpet. Then I got mad. I went over, wrung out the mop I had been using and chased them with it, yelling out at them etc and told them if they came back I would call the police. I was so angry and lost it a bit. Then I wrote a report in the communication book and went to the next job where I reported it to the school principle. My son, Michael, who I work with, was in a different part of the school and didn't know anything had been going on. They also removed all the grills from the drains around the school, hoping people could fall down them in the dark I guess.
Anyway, last night I was harassed again at the other school, which is part of the same campus just a few blocks away. This time it was by a couple of boys in a white Ute who were yelling things at me and drove past three times yelling out. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, just the tone was nasty. I thought oh well, bloody idiots and went inside. When I was finished they were parked out the front of the school and when they saw me they started to get out of the car but my son came into view and they jumped back in the car and drove away. I was a bit spooked and told the deputy principle when I saw him today about it. He said he was going to the police station on his way home to tell them about it.
He told me that the school had had a break in last Sunday night but one of the teachers was on site and caught 2 boys in the act.They had got in through the roof into the canteen and were back outside the building when Ben (the teacher) saw them and questioned them. They said they were ex students.
It got me thinking that the two incidents were related and probably done by the same group of kids who were sharing info and telling each other about the silly old duck that they thought was working as a cleaner by herself at night, and that it was fun to tease her. Maybe the next step would be a bashing. I am not normally a chicken and not scared to work at night at my job but now I am thinking.....hmmm. Do I look like a victim for idiots like that and an easy target for some little crim in training's warped sense of humor. The town is just over the border in N.S.W and is known for being a bit rough, or more correctly as having some rough people living there.
I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the time and listening to every noise while doing my work at night and becoming paranoid about it.

Sunday Scribblings "Toys"

G'Day,
Let me introduce myself. My name is Jackie. I belong with Linda. I live where ever she lives and have been with her since she was just nine years old. I was made by her grandmother. Well, not really her grandmother by blood, more her grandmother by marriage to her maternal grandfather Joe Trennery, my maker's name was Gran though. She made my brothers and sisters too. One for each of Joe's grand children that year for Christmas. I don't know if any of my brothers and sisters are left. But, I am still here. My original clothes are long gone. I wore a pair of red velvet trousers and a pink paisley shirt when I was new. My buttons have all gone and been replaced with odd ones. That red velvet one you can see on my hat is one from Linda's old red dressing gown, well.....it almost matches.. My pink nose used to be red velvet too, long ago.
Linda used to love to cook with Gran when she was a little girl and Gran taught her how to make those little cakes with the bright pink icing that Gran used to make for the grandchildren. Linda still uses Gran's date cake recipe.
Linda gave me a new dress, even though it was second hand and is quite old now too. You see it belonged to her daughter Anne-Marie, she is 20 years old now. So it has special sentimental value for both of us. Linda's eldest sister, Thelma, bought it for her and Annie wore it home from the hospital when she was born. It has matching pink pants, but you can't see those. I am a lady you know! But.... I do need a safety pin to hold them up nowdays. He he.
I have been with Linda for 40 years now. I reckon not many clowns would have had that privileged to brag about. I sit above her bed and watch over her at night. Well sometimes I slump down a bit, but you know....I am getting old. There was a time though that I was left in the dark box in the corner of the bedroom for years. I might not have survived this long otherwise I suspect. I have a few stitches here and there to prove it, but I am a survivor. Yes I am! When all the other toys were broken or stolen or lost or passed on, I survived. I am back in my rightful place of privilege above where my Lindy sleeps. There were even times when I soaked up her tears and held her. Such a privilege for a long term friend. I cuddled her cat. I was dragged around by her babies and used as a pillow. I moved house with her.
Yes definitely a privileged life I have led. Yes.

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That is my story for the Toy prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings.
I wonder if any of Jackie's brothers and sisters did survive as long as she has.
I have boxes of my children's toys in the garage that I can not bear to dispose of. Even though they have no interest in them now ......maybe one day?
This morning I was pampered. And it was bloody lovely. My son got me a gift voucher at a day spa in the city for Mother's day. I was a bit slow to act on it but this morning I did.
So at 10.00 I rocked up there and got exfoliated, massaged and had a beautiful spa. The massage and spa were just heaven. Well... the whole thing was. I lay back and loved it. The spa was filled with milky bath stuff and essential oils, surrounded by rose petals and I lay back and enjoyed a pot of Japanese tea and chocolate hearts while I bubbled and soaked. The noise of the bubbles drowned out the relaxing music and I didn't get to listen to that until the spa stopped so I lay there a little bit longer just to enjoy that. Beautiful, just beautiful. I have not had the pleasure of doing anything like that before, but I can heartily recommend it. So lovely and girlie.
Thank You Michael! My Mickle pickle.

G'Day,
Today my oven decided to work again. There must be a short in there some where.
This is what results from the family chocolate cake recipe I had in my post yesterday.
looks alright doesn't it.
Love Linda.

Sunday Scribblings "Visions"

G'Day,
The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is "Visions".
I thought a bit about that word and couldn't get my thoughts together.
Then I thought what was my last vision.
Well today I had a vision of a yummy chocolate cake, ( or was that a craving?). I went to the shop and got some groceries with just that in mind. I wanted a moist soft chocolate cake to split down the middle and fill with freshly whipped cream then top with chocolate icing and fresh strawberries. Mmmmm.
Well I came home and started to go through my old hand written collection of recipes for my favourite chocky cake ones.
Here they are;
The first one came from the side of the cocoa packet, I have made it many times over many years. It works well.
Dark Secret Cake
125 gram margarine.
1 & 1/4 cups caster sugar.
1/4 cup cocoa.
2 cups self raising flour.
1 teaspoon bicarb soda.
2 eggs.
1 cup boiling water.
1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Grease & flour 2x 20cm cake pans.
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, beat .
Sift together cocoa, flour,& bicarb.
Add to mixture, add rest of ingredients and mix well.
Pour evenly into tins & cook for 25 minutes or until cooked.
Cool for 10 minutes in tins before turning out.
Sandwich together with whipped cream and ice with chocolate icing.
You can also cook this in one larger tin then split it and fill.

The next chocolate cake recipe that I use and recommend is one I have had for years that I found in some magazine long ago. It is a large cake and keeps well.
Family Chocolate cake.
185g butter or margarine.
1/2 cup cocoa.
1/2 cup water.
1 cup milk.
3 eggs lightly beaten.
1& 1/2 cups caster sugar.
3 cups self raising flour, sifted.
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Grease a 32x22cm baking dish or a large cake tin and line with paper.Set oven temperature at 180 Celsius.
Place butter, water and cocoa in heavy based saucepan and cook over low heat until melted and blended together. Remove from pan and cool.Pour into mixing bowl. add milk, eggs, & sugar and beat until well combined. Stir in flour and vanilla then beat 1 minute until smooth and combined. Pour into prepared tin, smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean. Cool in tin. When cold split, fill with whipped cream and top with chocolate icing or dust with icing sugar.

There is another chocolate cake recipe that my daughter likes to make. It is from the Lady Flo Bjelke Peterson book that I love. Her recipes always seem to work out good and I use quite a few different ones from that book.
Easy Chocolate cake
1 cup self raising flour.
1 cup caster sugar.
1 teaspoon vanilla.
3 tablespoons butter.
3 tablespoons cocoa.
2 eggs.

Mix all ingredients in bowl for 4 minutes.
Pour mixture into greased lined 20cm tin. Bake in moderate oven (180-200 degrees C) for 40-45 minutes.

But....I found this one in my book toooooo, cut out of the newspaper. I am going to try this one out, next time.
Mud Cake
250g butter.
150g dark chocolate, chopped.
1 cup hot water.
1/3rd cup whiskey.
1 tablespoon coffee powder.
2 cups caster sugar.
1 & 1/2 cups plain flour.
1/4 cup self raising flour.
1/4 cup cocoa.
2 eggs, beaten.

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
Grease and line 23cm tin.
Mix butter, chocolate, water, coffee powder, whiskey and sugar in a heat proof bowl. Stir over boiling water until melted together and smooth.
Sift flours and cocoa together.
Stir into melted mixture with eggs. Mix well.
Pour into prepared tin and cook for 75 to 80 minutes, test.
Cool then ice with this mixture.
Melt 200g chocolate with 1/4 cup cream over boiling water until smooth. Cool until it thickens a bit, then spread over cooled cake.
Ohh yum!. Definitely gotta try that one! I haven't got any whiskey but I thought I would just use Tia Maria instead.
So I went to start getting the ingredients together and measure them all out.

On Friday morning the electricity company was doing some work in the park outside our house. The power was off for about 4 hours.
My oven didn't like that, obviously.
Today when I switched it on to preheat to do my cake it was not working.
But... I had a vision of this yummy chocolate cake, split down the middle and filled with cream and topped with that icing, maybe some of those strawberries I got the other day....
I could almost taste it!
I have lost some weight, probably 12 to 15 kilos over the last 3 or 4 months. I am quite proud of that. I have dropped 2 clothing sizes and have been having fun buying new clothes. I haven't fitted into this size for a long long time.
Someone must be looking after me... because my oven won't work! He he! Thank you God.

Bye.
Love L
i
n
d
a.

G'Day,
Here are a few pictures to share, just because.
The chooky thing is the finished result of what I made several months ago. She is guarding my front door. Not a very good picture. It is in the same glaze that the mugs are glazed in, an iron red. Some of my blog friends asked to see something I had made. So... here tis'.
Next picture the mugs. Iron red stone ware glaze. They turned out o.k. I had to fiddle with them quite a bit because the glaze had too much water in it and as it belonged to the potter's society I wasn't game to try to fix it up by taking some of the water out, so I left it and had to keep dipping and drying the mugs out as I went. If the clay absorbs too much water while you are glazing it, the glaze goes on too thinly and starts running off again before it dries and gives a poor coating. So that is what was happening with these. Interesting though, one of the mugs went into a different firing to these and must have gone a few degrees higher and came out absolutely beautiful. Darker, glossier and with an almost oil spot effect to it. I had 6 of these, they all were o.k. i am using them at home now.
Scribbling, by me.
Scribblings again.
The next picture is inside the war memorial at Goulburn. (See my post a few stories back.) I was puffing by the time I got to the top of the stairs but the view up there was pretty good. I probably used up a few extra calories getting there and it is supposed to be good for you to put your heart rate up. :> It was cold too, doesn't your body use up extra calories to stay warm, and less to stay cool. Ah what a nice idea, there has to be some sort of bonus to having cold weather. Last week here in Canberra we had a cold snap. One of those days it was just 3 degrees at 2.00 in the afternoon when I went to work. I wore about 4 layers of clothes and didn't take my big jacket off all day. Brrrrrrr. That night it got down to minus 6 degrees.
The war memorial again.
This is a wonky pot. I don't really like it and should have trashed it and not bothered to fire it. The glaze on glaze decoration on it looks OK. though. Them's my finger prints. I like putting those little turned lines on the bottom of all my thrown pots. They have become my own little signature.
Today I went to the Thursday drop in morning again at the potter's society. I turned 2 serving bowls that I made there last week. turning is cutting the excess clay of the half dry pot ( known as leather hard), a bit like wood turning except with clay. I also put 2 bags of clay through the pug mill. One was too hard the other too soft. What a great toy the pug mill is. It remixes, blends and De-airs the clay so I don't have to spend hours upon hours recycling it and doing it all by hand. I didn't get to use one of them before I came to Canberra, a friend in Wagga used to have one and she said I could use hers but I never did. I used to do all my recycling by hand. Silly me!