Get Talking - Taste of Summer

So we have just started spring and already many people are already looking forward to summer. Not me, well except for the fact that it will make me an Auntie, summer holidays, Christmas and my birthday. I struggle with hot days and sad memories of people who are no longer with us.

Anyway ... this is meant to be a lighthearted post.

What's your favourite ice-cream flavour?

I love peppermint choc-chip.

It's so refreshing.

Get Talking - First Time Around

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Hmm ... interesting! Just after I turned 30 I started to keep a list of things that I did for the first time. It was fun to keep and had some wacky things on it. I still have the list somewhere! These days, every so often, I will do something and realise that I had never done it before.

I really can't think of anything recently. So I've hunted the list of things I did for the first time since I was 30, so that you can have a laugh!

• Bought a brand new dress (not one from an Op Shop)
• Jumped on a Bouncy Castle
• Gone to Kinder (I was working there, but I never went as a child)
• Bought 3 pairs of shoes at once
• Eaten waffles
• Had a Humpty Dumpty Egg for Easter (you know the ones with Smarties inside)
• Attended an International Sporting Event (Champions Trophy for Hockey)
• Eaten duck
• Watched the same TV series in it's entirety twice in one year (The West Wing)
• Had my face painted (by a 5 year old!!) 

How about you? Anything on your list?

Get Talking - Eating Out

Food ... it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your ability to eat only what you need and not overeat, or on the way it reacts with your body, like with allergies and intolerances.
You've guessed it, this week's question is, in fact, about food.

What's your favourite restaurant and what dish would you recommend?

I don't often go out to eat. It's no fun going on your own and it can be really hard finding things that you can eat when you have unusual food allergies and intolerances like I do. Most of the times I eat out it's for meetings. I think my friends gave up on inviting me places because it was getting hard for me to find something on the menu of the restaurant they wanted to go to.

Get Talking - Food

This weeks question is all about food, not just any food, but the food that you prepare yourself.

What's your signature dish?

The funny thing is that I was just thinking about this, and I hadn't even taken a sneak-peek at the card (I confess that sometimes I do, so that I have time to think about what I want to write).
I don't actually do a lot of cooking. Mostly I cook up a big batch of something during the school holidays and freeze it so that I can eat it during the term. At the moment, one would have to be Cauliflower Cheese Soup. I have tweaked the recipe that is linked here due to dietary issues, but I love it. If you do make it, don't forget that hint of nutmeg. This soup really does taste amazing.

Friday Fill-Ins - October 26

And...here we go!

1. Oh, that makes sense, now I understand.
2. It's a sure sign of insanity when you start answering your own questions out loud.
3. Are we having steak and 3 veg again??!.
4. My heart is lonely.
5. Do you believe in God? I hope you do because I would hate it if you aren't in heaven!
6. I'm a Christian, and I'm not ashamed to say so.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my Friday night date with my sister, tomorrow my plans include helping clean the church building and Sunday, I want to enjoy the fellowship at church and have a quiet afternoon!

Friday Fill-Ins - October 14

And...here we go!

1. It's easy to see how much I love reading when you look at my bookshelves.

2. I have never called anyone "my darling".

3. Once upon a time, in a nursery rhyme there were three bears, a mama and a papa and a wee bear.

4. And they all lived happily ever after ... the end.

5. What is you favourite dessert?.

6. There are many things I wish would happen sooner than later.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to chilling at home probably watching a movie, tomorrow my plans include going out for dinner and Sunday, I want to enjoy breakfast with the team from our kids' mission trip, the fellowship at church and a quiet afternoon!

Public holiday activities

Tuesday was a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup. I have absolutely no interest in the cup, except that because I live in the Melbourne metro area I get a day off work.

I guess you could say that my public holiday activities started the evening before. My sister, K and I were at a bit of a loss to know what to do in the evening, and she suggested we do a jigsaw puzzle. I had this one that I had started on months ago and really wanted to finish, so we got it out and worked on it for a couple of hours. Mum and my other sister, A, also put a few pieces in, but as you know jigsaws are addictive and you just want to keep going until they are finished. So I was up late, because I just couldn't stop. However, I did stop without finishing it that night.

When I got up the next morning A had done some more of it, and K & I ended up finishing it at about 11am.

By the way, the picture is of a painting by Andres Orpinas.

K & I had also decided that we wanted to go somewhere in the afternoon; for a walk and for afternoon tea. Bacchus Marsh was our place of choice. Mum & I had gone there Cup Day last year, but K couldn't come that time. I didn't mind going again because I really enjoyed it last time.

At the last minute, Mum decided that she wanted to come as well. So the 3 of us set off just before 2pm.

The photo to the left is of the first part of the Avenue of Honour as you come into Bacchus Marsh. The trees are Dutch Elms, and each one represents a soldier who did not return from the 2 World Wars. Some of the trees are being replaced because they have died, but the lady at the information centre told us that each replacement is a clone of the original. Further along the Avenue of Honour the tree arch looks better, but to get the photo you have to stand in the middle of the road and that is too dangerous because the road is quite busy (Mum & I tried it last year).

The route into town also takes us past the house where my Dad lived when he first came to Australia from England as a child. It looks a little rundown, but it's still there. The church where my Grandfather was a minister is no longer there - instead there is a shopping plaza.

After stopping at the Information Centre for advice on the best walks, we ended up going to the Peppertree Walk along the Werribee River. The walk takes you along one side of the river, across a ford, along the other side of the river and finally across the road bridge back to your starting point - 2.9 km in all. Along the way we saw moor hens, rabbits and other birds. We were told that if you take the walk in the early morning you can a platypus or two as well (actually the lady we talked to has seen 7 in one morning)!

This is one of the photos I took of the river on the way back to our starting point.

After our walk we had a yummy afternoon tea at The Jolly Miller, a bakery/cafe, and on the way home we stopped at one of the many fruit & vegetable shops on the Avenue of Honour, selling both local and interstate produce.

Goldfish

How ironic!

A tank of goldfish in a fish and chip shop.

I've seen it before, but this time there's one fish that looks like it's desperate to get out.

It keeps swimming as fast as it can from the bottom to the top of the tank

to the top, sometimes jumping slightly out of the water.

There's a lid on the tank, so it can't get out, but it sure looks funny.

Does it think it will be the next to be eaten?!

Picture from Art.com