It's very near

Spring that is...

Lovely blue skies here today,

Nice warm sunshine,

19C (66.2F),

22C (71.6F) tomorrow,

24C (75.2F) on Tuesday,

The birds are singing very noisily,

The blowies are back (blowfies),

The little flies will follow very soon,

I even have a t-shirt on, with NO jumper (sweater).

And the plants are all in bud or bloom.

We tend to grow native Australian plants as they grow the best in our climate.

Wattle, Australian native

Pink Emu bush

Not sure about this one, but very pretty and a native...

( I feel sure someone will know)

Geraldton Wax getting ready to burst...

The Quandongs (wild peaches) are doing nicely,

can't wait for some pie...

Out Back

(where I got the blog name)

on our little block are some native lovelies,

....daisies

Saltbush flowers,

who would have thought they could be so nice?

And in a variety of colours

Pink pigface daisy,

this is growing all over our block in amongst the saltbush

Some Spear Grass

looking toward the salt lake,

see,

even saltbush has it own special beauty.

I think so anyway lol.

In the garden...

Yellow Pigface

Geraniums

Bird of Paradise about to bloom

Freesia

Red Geranium,

tough and hardy in this climate

Stock

It has been a long, cold, wetter than usual Winter,

but in a few days it is Spring here.

Time for changing the sheets to cotton,

and removing extra blankets from the beds,

Digging out the cooler clothes,

getting the vegies in the garden,

preparing for the dirty dust storms that Spring can bring,

but I am certainly ready for the warmth...

just warmth, not HEAT that is yet to come.

Have a great Sunday,

xTania

Easy Fruit Cake (low fat too)

Thanks to my friend Wendy for this recipe.

FRUIT CAKE

750gms mixed fruit

2 cups of orange juice

Mix together and leave overnight.

Add 2 cups SR flour and 1tspn mixed spice.

Mix well and bake for 1-1.5 hours in a moderate oven.

Enjoy!

Have a great day,

xTania

Fiddling about...

Okay so the weather has been cold and miserable lately, not that I am complaining, I will never complain about having rain..

A lot of time spent inside watching the rain fall through my window,

There was mending waiting to be done, so it was out with my sewing machine,

and while I was at it I decided to revamp a couple of old aprons that I had picked up from various op shops in my travels.

These aprons were half ones which I am not keen on wearing (because I am way too messy) so I added a top and bits and pieces to jazz them up.

I added a green gingham heart top to this one with some red buttons and a yoyo flower on the pocket.

Next I took this pink gingham one....

and added a calico top from recycled curtain material I had hanging around, added blue buttons and hearts with some coloured buttons to the pocket.

This one is a vintage handmade apron that didn't have any ties.

Again out of old curtain material I added a top and some ties.

All in all I am pleased with the results, and I have been wearing them which was the purpose of this exercise.

Next I hope to make a bag out of some black trousers that my daughter had worn out in patches. I have cut the legs off and am still deciding what type of bag with I will turn it into. I will post some pics when I get it done.

I am also contemplating doing some knitting and crocheting. I have many things unfinished (UFO's) in my cupboard, which means that unless I actually get them out, they will never get done.

Best Wishes,

xTania

Welcome, gardening and recycling...

I would like to say

WELCOME

to all my faithful followers.

I have noticed quite a few new followers recently, I appreciate that you would find my little place in the world interesting.

Thank you to all those that take the time to leave comments, it is so great to hear from you.

....Weeds....

This is going to be my vegie garden, I have started to pull out the weeds. I did leave the gate open for the chooks to go in and do me a big favour by eating them all, but it didn't happen. The moment I have started pulling the weeds though, the chooks became interested....make me do all the hard work. They don't want the weeds, they just want all the bugs underneath.

The rain has been abundant this year, it is raining again as I speak.

I still have capsicums growing, so have cut them back for the start of the new season. This will be the third year that I have been able to use the same plants.

Even the tiny tomatoes are still hanging on....

I have given them a trim as well to see whether they come back or not.

We had a visit from a magpie yesterday, sitting himself on top of the flag pole and gaubling away.

Also tried my hand at recycling some mesh bags yesterday.

I have heaps of these left over from oranges.

Have cut into different sizes to use at the supermarket for fruit and vegetables.

I folded the mesh over twice and sewed along to make a bottom.

And added some string to tie up.

I will try these out when I next do the shopping. They appear to weigh very little.

This is what I did recently with my left over bars of soap.

I whizzed them up into little bits, added a little water, then pressed them into trays.

I cut into slices and then sat them outside for a while to re harden.

We are using them now and they work fine.

To update you on my leg pain.

Today is the first day that I have been able to move freely. I have had an ultrasound of the leg and there is no DVT (deep vein thrombosis) which is extremely GOOD NEWS. I do however have clotting in 7cm of my varicose vein behind my knee to my calf, hence the discomfort. My doctor assures me it will be okay and has advised me to get my feet elevated regularly and wear compression stockings everyday from now on, even in Summer :(

I am to put the stockings on as soon as I rise in the morning and take them off when I am ready for bed. I have taken my leg measurements and will go down to the chemist later today and pick some up.

I can have the veins stripped if I choose to, but the stockings are an option that I am going to try first. I am a big chicken when it comes to surgery....

Hope you are all having a lovely day,

xTania

Earthquake and other tidbits...

A bit of action happening in our area at the moment. We were rudely awakened yesterday morning at around 7am with a rumble and jolt of the bed. An earthquake occurred nearby close to the town of Quorn where my two daughters live. Apparently the centre of it was very near my family's little hobby farm that I showed in a previous post. Everyone is okay, just a lot of noise and rattles. The Flinder's Ranges runs along a fault line. My eldest daughter has labelled it a 'Quornquake'. A short time later a second quake occurred on the Eyre Peninsula, so they have been called twin quakes.

Then last night the small town of Penola was hit with a mini tornado whipping through the main shopping district. I think this is down your way Joolz, hope all is okay.

Now on to other happenings....

The cyclamen I received on Mother's day is flowering beautifully.

Hubby was cooking chicken schnitzel the other day when the shape of this schnitzel caught his eye....

"cute"

For you Jan

You noticed on the recipe sheet picture in my previous post, that there was a citrus sauce to have on pancakes, so here is the recipe. I haven't tried this yet but am hoping too soon.

In a recent post from Cluttercut recently she spoke of cast iron cookware.

I have been using mine for about two years and would highly recommend using these. The food cooked in cast iron pans has a very different flavour.

I have a large pan, shown here, with a handle that becomes very hot. Shown in Cluttercut's post were some little pot holders, so after some thinking I came up with an idea for a pot/handle holder for mine.

I grabbed one of my knitted dishcloths, as they are quite thick, sewed up one end and along the side and I had to tuck the end in a little, but hopefully this will do the job when handling this pan from now on. I am going to make a special little holder but in the mean time I will use this knitted one.

I am resting today, although not through my own choice but one that has been forced on me. On Thursday night I started to get a pain in my left leg where I have a dreaded varicose vein. The pain was preventing me from walking freely. Anyway it continued on the next day and Saturday until I thought I had better get it checked. Turns out I may have a blood clot forming or already there, so I am off to have an ultrasound of my leg tomorrow. I am wearing support stockings and resting with my feet off the ground as much as possible. I slept on the couch last night with my legs propped up higher than my heart, hoping that it helps. As soon as I stand the pain is back... I have been given some anti-inflammatory pills to ease the discomfort...Looks like I will be having surgery on my legs soon to try and 'fix' the problem. Don't you just love genetics?? lol

Hope the weather is nice where you are this Sunday.

15C here today, it is nice sunshine but very windy.

xTania