The kitchen (actually the whole house) smelt great while the jam bubbled away. It really smelt like strawberry lollies.
Bottled up, still warm and almost ready to enjoy. Strawberry jam is very easy to make. A little water, a little lemon juice and equal quantities of strawberries and sugar. Summer in a bottle. I'm glad I got it made before the kitchen hots up later.
I probably should have had the heart to pull this compost pumpkin vine out two months ago but I just wanted to see what it would become. Will it be a true to kind variety that we planted last year or will it be a crazy hybrid variety? 
It is growing well and has huge flowers. It might even be an Atlantic Giant from Hope's plant from last summer.
Crinkles the ram ready for retirement(he doesn't think so)
The sunny days are drawing the flowers out of their shyness too. My dahlias are just starting to open up and although they lack perfume, they make up for it with their showy blooms.
My little parcels have been delivered and well received.
Boxing Day everyone descended on our house. Tim worked( and was busy) but the rest of us enjoyed mini pavlovas, scones and tiny chocolate button biscuits with tea or coffee. The girls made a great new friend, my sister's mother-in-law, and spent the morning beading together. There are bracelets galore at our house at the moment.
I know I am down to the wire but I am really enjoying making up these little gift bags for my close family. Everything in the bags is hand made by me (except for a little bracelet made by Hope, the resident beading fan). I'm still adding little bits and pieces as they come off the hook, out of the kitchen or as the last seam is sewn. There seems to be a myriad of ideas on the internet which are quick, easy and ever so cute. In return my sisters, my mum and Tim are all making something for me or giving me something repurposed. Apparently one of my sisters thinks that giving me something back that she 'borrowed' when we were in primary school counts. I'm just interested to know what it is and if I ever missed it.
No, I didn't brave the inflatable pool structure. That was strictly the domain of the kids at the local pool Christmas party. The water was simply too cold for anyone else.
Today I got my workout in the vegetable garden. I'm completely tuckered out and feeling good about it. I also have some fresh spaces to fill up with more plants.
Yesterday afternoon I picked up my crochet hook and some Nundle Wool Mill wool and tried out Jodie's Christmas Star tutorial. They were fun, they were easy and very quick. The girls have claimed all of the stars I have made so far so I'm going to make a few more for me and also for my sisters.
Yesterday I also received my washer swap parcel. It came from Pixie and I feel very lucky. A sampler of herbal tea, some crnaberry and raspberry tea, a Santa stitchery and a very cute Christmas wash cloth. Thanks Pixie.
Tiny the newest little lamb is very cute. She has a big voice and will be frolicking with her older siblings soon.
She is only ten days younger than her brother but he is big and she is well...tiny.
I'm also feeling rich because we have an abundance in the garden. The whole meal can be provided from our own produce. Last night I dug some of the Cranberry Red potatoes which make the sweetest pink -tinged mash.
As a treat we even had dessert. A bit slap-dash but chocolate dipped strawberries. The best part is that the biggest eater, Tom, doesn't like strawberries so there was more to go around. There are still plenty in the garden and the peach tree has just started to ripen, yum.
I didn't hesitate the Christmas washer swap and sent away a little Christmassy washer parcel to Fiona. I sent it Tuesday afternoon and it has already arrived so I must say Australia Post have really been working hard. I also sent a tin of tea as that was one of the themes for the swap.
I have also been lucky of late. I entered and won a give away from Kris via Kerryanne's blog.
Whilst in town for an end of year violin concert, I ventured into the greengrocers. I was surprised to see little plastic containers of flowers. There were nasturtiums, pansies, snapdragons, marigolds,fuschias and perhaps a couple of others.
Each little punnet was selling for around the $6.99 mark. If the punnets had 100 grams I would have been surprised which makes flowers at the fruit shop about $70 per kilo.
I've never tried eating snapdragons or fuschia but I will give them a go next time we eat something appropriate to accompany them. Obviously though I am missing out on a gastronomic delight if price is anything to go by. I think however the flowers most likely end up as garnish or as a point of interest in a salad and even then they are quite often left uneaten.
One thing I won't miss out on is strawberries. We are having our second flush from our strawberry plants. The fruits are much bigger than those from a few weeks ago but every bit as tasty and lush. To date I am still waiting for enough of a glut to make some jam. I'm not hopeful of that happening, the adults here are the most guilty of eating the berries before they make it inside.
Our last lamb for the year was born today. Exactly one month after the first for the year. A cute little cross-bred ewe who has been nicknamed Tiny because she is so.
Last night Grace was supposed to play violin in the orchestra(hence her all black garb) at a church carols service. We made it 15km down the road when we could go no further, the road had been cut by flood waters. This stretch opened up today but 10km further down the main road, it was still shut. Despite the disappointment of the missed carols service, it was nice to go nowhere.
We have been having real treats from the vegetable garden. Baby vegetables. The carrots are really just the result of thinning but they are big enough to eat and very easy to pull with the ground so moist.
The beans are babies too and the first I have picked so far this season. Ideally they would have been a little larger but I'm an impatient gardener.
My 13th entry for Belinda's Back to Basics Challenge.
Climbing Princess beans just starting to produce beans.Working:
Community:
Tracy
I have had a lovely weekend at home. With cricket cancelled yesterday and Tim on his four days off from work, it meant we were all home together for the whole weekend with nowhere to go and it was such a treat. Everyone had their own little projects going on but we were together. Grace is origami crazy right now and Hope spends her spare time beading. Tom is having a couple of weeks of lighter study before really cracking down for his last year of high school in 2011. Tim spent most of the weekend feeling poorly with his ear but is hopefully getting better now just in time to go back to work on Tuesday. I made a few things. One was the Joy Quiltlet above.
This afternoon I have been plaiting garlic. I still have about 150 bulbs of garlic to go. I don't know if I do it properly but it works for me. I just plait them up like a French braid, adding a new bulb with each plait. They hang in the laundry which doesn't have a window and in the past, have lasted about 8 months before sprouting. We love garlic and go through at least a bulb every week.
This is a very poor quality picture of my favbourite Christmas decoration. It is the first one that I ever owned. It was given to me by my penfriend, Nena, back in the 1980s. It is a little plastic snowflake and is a little treasure because it came from a good friend.
I hope everyone is having a lovely pre-Christmas season whatever the weather. Tonight we will be watching one of our favourite Christmas movies, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. My all time favourites though are the claymation films from the 1960s.
Tracy
We had a fun night at the lighting of the community Christmas tree. The weather held off and the night went off without a hitch. It is however raining again today. I do like a pretty Christmas tree and although I like the lights on ours, it would never win any prizes. It is a one of a kind though, a patchy old artificial tree with a lot of homemade ornaments. The kids love it and I don't want to change it either.
While the weather was fine and I was in town, Hope, Grace and I enjoyed the jacarandas which are in bloom. At the moment they are a perfectly festive looking tree which needs absolutely no added decoration. My jacaranda is only just starting to flower. We are 50km from town and about a month behind as far as flowering goes. It's amazing what adifference 50km and some hills and valleys make to the climate. I have seen a few people around town sweeping up the fallen jacaranda petals (and they haven't seemed to be happy about it either). I actually love the purple carpet that they lay, a perfect place for a picnic(when the ground isn't so wet).
The Christmas tree lights that I wrote about yesterday are up on the tree. They are fragile as I mentioned and each year I am always a little nervous about turning them on. Maybe they aren't the safest option. This year I will have them tested to make sure they are ok from a safety standpoint. One thing is for sure, I can't replace the bulbs.
I have never seen bulbs like these ones in the shops. The string of lights feature a snowman, kewpie doll, the scary clown pictured above, humpty dumpty, some birds and candles. I have looked around a little online and found some similar bulbs and I was shocked at the price. I don't think I should have these lights anywhere near the tree that the cat likes to play in.
On to the title of the post. Waterlogged. That is what my young nectarine trees are. They are dropping leaves and looking poorly to say the least. Last year they were planted out in the winter and had to deal with scorching temperatures, dust storms, hot winds and locust once spring and summer arrived. This year, the soil is sodden and causing them to turn up their toes.
