Sweater of many colours

This is a special favour for Gabriana, who has written a daily post about something for which she is grateful, for going on 5 years. 

You can see the positivity she exhibits through difficult circumstances here: nosyparkerblog.com/

I get so fed up with the dull clothes that are offered up every darn winter. We all seem to meld into a blob of black, beige, grey and other boring, depressing colours. Hence my choice of colour palette for this pullover. And, I will make more that kick over the drab traces for next winter; you can put money on that.

Here you go, Gabriana and Jude:

I am very happy with this project.

In which I suffer Shopping List Envy (and report some happy news)

Ages ago, my friend Jan asked if I needed more shopping list. I reluctantly snatched this one from her hand.

When I read it, I knew all my dreams had been answered. I never have to write a list again; I will just trot around the supermarket and buy the items from this list. My pantry and fridge will be groaning with largess. I may be oversupplied with some items, toothbrushes for example, but what a small price to pay! Thank you Jan, for organising my life.

Some of you are aware that a group of volunteers has been beavering away, producing a book chronicling the stories of some of the Italian migrants to this region of Victoria. I can now report that the book has been printed, and we are now offering it for sale.

It has been a huge job which led us to find out so much, not only about the migrants, but also the many tasks that go into putting together a factual narrative. 

We received a photo from the printers  of the first batch of books to come off the press. It brought a surge of emotions as I finally saw the fruits of our labour. (And this offspring took longer than 9 months to deliver to the world!) The title came from a recurring phrase used by the families to explain why they migrated and why they stayed in Australia.

May I present For a Better Life to you:

I am adding a link to the email address to order the book. The cost is $30 AUD, plus postage.

The contact person is Jan Mock, the email address is u3amyrtleford@gmail.com

Thank you!

Now I feel very dowdy!

These folks made my generic blue, paper masks seem very dull and ordinary.

Fruit for smokos (*)

Can you imagine my joy when I was donated this pretty shopping list? People are not so careless with them as they were a few short months ago; there are none to be seen in shopping trolleys/baskets any more.

I was very impressed with the consistent use of ‘bullets’ before each item on the list and the easy to read printing. I also loved the idiosyncratic spelling that pops up here and there. Can you spot the item that might indicate the presence of a vampire at the dining table? (Down Under, we refer to the evening meal as ‘tea’, by the way.) What others might have tickled your funny bone?

(*) Many of you will be familiar with the term ‘smoko’, but in case you haven’t encountered that Aussie word, it refers to a rest from work for a smoke and/or a bit of a snack. 

When I still lived in Dismal Swamp (aka Atherton), I took a photo of the fellows who were gearing up to paint the interior of my home. They were on smoko before tackling the work.

 

 

 

Don’t get any farfalle

Shopping list have been few and far between in these days of Covid-19, but G.O.B. (*) came up trumps for us. He found this rather battered example in his shopping cart at New World, in Stratford, Taranaki, New Zealand.

Taranaki is a region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the Taranaki Volcano, which looks like this:

I borrowed this image from G.O.B. who has a view of this old thing from one of his windows. I’m not sure which window that is. Now I had better go and ask him if it is okay to use it, before I post this and he sues me. 

I’m back, and after a bit of applied whinery and bribery, I may share it with you. Thanks, Bruce.

Enough of the preamble, let’s visit the star of the show. It looks like a list that was  written for another person to do the shopping. 

So 6 chicken breasts, but only 2 chicken thighs? This imbalance will bother me for ages. Make darn sure those thighs are skinless and boneless.

Pork loin steaks: I wish I knew how they prepared them. My attempts at cooking pork ends up in a dish that is either tasteless or dry. Or, both at once, come to think of it.

Then brocholini [sic] x 3, a very healthy choice. Eggs, tea bags (oh, boy, a choice has to be made about the type) and Persil liquid. I have now discovered that “Persil laundry detergent is New Zealand’s leading laundry detergent. Persil is designed to give outstanding whiteness and brightness in all water temperatures.” Do you use this, Bruce? 

Now, why were the farfella [sic] rejected? Did the list writer discover a packet hidden in the pantry? Or was there a sudden aversion to this shape of pasta? I must admit to rarely using farfalle, but I do love their name. You probably all know that it means butterfly in Italian.

Susie, if you’re reading this, I know what you’re thinking: no wine on that list. 

(* )  G.O.B. is Good Old Bruce who pens a daily post on this site:  Here it is!

Most of his writings end in the death of at least one character. But, he really is a nice fellow!

Weight Watchers recipe cards, circa 1970

Thanks, BoB.

I wish I seen this at the beginning of social isolation; I might still fit into my clothes.

bluebird of bitterness

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Tooth brush dogs

This was sent to me by my friend Karen who was my neighbour before I moved to the Palatial Granny Flat. She had a loveable dog, Bobbie by name. My cat just adored him, and we both still miss the little fellow who gave Karen so much love and companionship.

She assured me that she hadn’t touched the list with her bare fingers.

It’s pretty straightforward, easy to read, with no big mystery items. There are so many vegetables on the list; I wonder if they were able to find them all at the shop? And, I also wonder if borscht is on the menu for dinner tonight? But, I would have bought sour cream, if this was my list. That just finish the soup to perfection. Or, maybe they use natural yogurt for that purpose.

It seems that some pet dog is going to have his teeth brushed; what a nice owner it has. I just noticed the word ‘soft’ adjacent to that entry, probably to remind the shopper not to get a hard brush for Rover’s fangs. I don’t think they were going to look for soft beetroots.

I do covet the way the shopper makes the question marks. I hope there was coffee available today.

 

Pulling Back the Curtains

I think I am preaching to the converted, but perhaps you will consider  Reblogging these considered words.

Stay well, friends.

Art Narratives by Cynthia Korzekwa

Every morning, once out of bed, the first thing I do is open the shutters, pull back the curtains, and check out the sky’s mood. What I see outside the window will, in some way, influence my day.

For 37 days we’ve been living the lockdown. Every evening at six we have a briefing from the Civil Protection so we can have an idea as to how things are going. Yesterday’s good news: the number of people in intensive care continues to decrease and the number of “cured” continues to increase. But “cured” has its ambiguities as we’ve seen in China where “cured” can be followed by “relapse”.

Here in Italy massive testing for COVID continues although it slowed down a bit over the Easter week-end. People continue to be infected but, percentage wise, 20% less than a month ago. Luckily, the number in intensive care has drastically gone down…

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Two for the price of one

Sue sent this to me some time ago, and it has been languishing in the Drafts folder, after being discarded in a shopping trolley. If it is a shopping list with a philosophical bent, it’ll be thinking “Is this all there is to life?”

Sue wrote: I didn’t notice the list in the bottom of my shopping trolley until I was back at the car unloading, and although it was snowing it dried out quickly.

Picking up the list earned me a ticking off from a couple of my offspring. “Mum! With this Corona virus around you shouldn’t be going around picking up bits of paper from shopping trolleys!” It didn’t occur to either of them that my hands had pushed the same trolley that the writer of the list had used!

Perhaps they’re right, but for your interest, a medical spokesman told us yesterday that the virus lives on objects for a few hours only!

Back to the list – I’m not going to say much about this one I’ll leave it to your other readers for now, except to say I can’t make out the first word on the list either. LOR?

Well, dear Sherlock Holmes-like readers, let’s see how you analyse this two faced list.

 

 

Different day, different tree

Just a few metres down from the flamboyant tulip tree I posted the other day, I saw this one.

It must have been a glorious gum tree in its day, shading that house and offering homes to birds and other creatures. I’m glad the owners of that property chose to retain what was left after the tree had many of its branches removed. (Some of our gum trees can be susceptible to failure of the branches, under certain circumstances, sometimes with devastating results.)  

In the background, you see part of the hill which is home to a large pine forest. That portion has been harvested; when you see the whole hill, you see various ages and stages of the pine trees. Soon, they will be replanting the harvested area; that should be interesting to see. I understand the team who come to do that are from New Zealand. The site is very steep, it’s not an easy job!