What Ya Readin Junior: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

As we continue to be lashed by wind and rain, and surrounded by fog here in south-east Queensland......five days and counting..... the dogs and my existence has taken on a cabin-feverish aspect. I have only been out for food and community commitments. And, the dogs are desperate for a walk....but I am not braving the driving rain. We even had to debate whether we could make it to church on Sunday the fog was so thick. We did in the end, but after one aborted early attempt.

Fortunately today something to break the monotony of the days- a parcel arrived from my mother-in-law in the UK. Mostly, it contained the makings for baby girl's nursery curtains but there was also the most delightful book. I just have to rave about it in case anyone else has a baby they are buying for!

Well known Australian author Mem Fox has teamed up with UK Illustrator Helen Oxenbury in '10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes". The words are gloriously simple, but the sentiment is beautiful. There is lots of repetition of words - so perfect for young listeners. The Penguin Books Australian website has a sample of the illustrations. I hadn't heard of the book before but it turns out it was on the New York Times bestseller list for 18 weeks.

The premise is every child around the world has, " as everyone knows" , "10 little fingers and 10 little toes"; and your own special child also has "3 little kisses on the tip of their nose". Too lovely.

Here is Mem Fox singing it!.... http://www.memfox.com/mem-sings-a-book.html

Away with the Fairies

(beckykelly.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index...)

We have had so much rain in Toowoomba in the last couple of days. It has been causing all sorts of flooding issues; both in our storage areas which are soaked and on the roads, many of which are dirt! I believe 87 mm fell at Toowoomba airport on Monday night, which is a record rainfall for the area for many years.

This morning I wandered outside into the mist and rain (which is ever continuing) and I discovered a toadstool. Not an exciting red and and white one like that pictured but a toadstool nonetheless. It got me thinking about how wonderful it would be to have a young child to share stories about the fairies that live under the toadstools with.

When I was little my Mum used write letters to me from Fairy Twinkle Toes and Fairy Almond Blossum. We recently rediscovered a box of the letters when I was back home visiting. Mum's efforts created a very real world for me and I was a very enthusiastic letter writer back to the fairies. What a wonderful gift of imagination it was. I hope I can do the same for our little girl one day.

Calender Cards

I had a calender lying about which I had been unable to get rid of because I loved the pictures. It was an old Kew Gardens one Mum had passed on to me. Then on Angry Chicken's blog I saw instructions on how to make cards out of an old calender. So that's just what I did. 5 sheets of pictures (because that is all I had saved) made 10 cards.

It was a quick and easy project; less than 1/2 an hour's work start to finish and very little mess. My two criterias for undertaking any project! Though, as I say that, the kitchen table is covered in cut fabric and has been for the last two days:) I haven't wanted to disturb my arrangement of patchwork squares so we have been eating around it!

What's Cooking: Lemon and Coconut Slice

Last year when my Nanna moved into a nursing home one of the things I inherited was her collection of recipes. I made this Lemon and Coconut slice the other week and my husband gobbled it down. One of the advantages is that it is no bake; ideal on those hot summer days. And, for us, it mainly uses ingredients we have on standby. It seems to keep for about a week in the fridge - if it lasts that long!

Lemon and Coconut Slice

250g packet Milk Arrowroot biscuits (crushed)
1 cup coconut
grated rind of 1 lemon
125g butter
1/2 cup condensed milk
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (sifted)
15g butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp hot water
extra coconut

Method:
Combine biscuit crumbs, coconut and lemon rind in a large bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan, add condensed milk and stir over low heat until combined. Pour butter/milk mixture over crumbs and mix well. Press firmly into a foil lined 18cm by 28cm lamington tin. Refrigerate.

To prepare icing, combine all ingredients, except extra coconut, and beat until smooth. Spread over chilled base. Sprinkle with coconut. Lift out of tin using foil as a handle and cut into squares to serve. This makes about 24.

Country Life

We have now been living the country life for 2 weeks. It has been quite an adjustment - a new state and very different way of life. We are living about half an hour outside the regional centre of Toowoomba. Our location doesn't even have any mobile telephone coverage and we get the country television stations; no digital signal in this part of the country!

We are told that the Darling Downs is in severe drought, with the dams having less than 10 per cent capacity. However, it has done little but rain and storm since we arrived. And, this is the middle of summer! Many mornings we have awoken to thick fog covering the range. It sometimes takes until 10-11 am to clear. We drove to church last Sunday with visibility of about 2 metres. Slightly nerve-racking when you are turning across a major regional highway. The picture below is the view from off our patio - you might be able to tell there are not many houses around us.

For me the move means not just adapting to the quieter country life but also commencing some time staying home. It is 8 weeks until our baby is due. Having always worked or studied I am finding this aspect of our new life the most challenging as I find ways to fill my days. This came as quite a shock because when I was at work I could always think of ten thousand things I would prefer to be doing at home!

We might have an hour round trip into Toowoomba to do shopping but there are certain advantages to where we are living. We have discovered the local YMCA markets, which are full of fruit grown locally in the granite belt- this being an established fruit growing area.

This week we are indulging in plums - three types from three different growers. The small ones are sugar plums, the large red amber jewels and a large black variety which I can't identify!

The figs currently available are also delicious - like fresh honey. They just melt in you mouth.

The bird life making its way into our garden is also fantastic. Though we are not overly appreciative of the 5:30 am wake up call from the birds using our washing line as their night resting spot!

These Kookuburra's were on our back fence when I got up to make the breakfasts this morning. They had another friend but it flew off when I opened the back door to take the pictures. They seem to live in one of the trees over the fence.

The other afternoon we had a visit from some form of parrot. Only the male was brave enough to make it onto our outdoor table. His female friend was off in a neighbouring tree! You can't really tell from this picture as we didn't want to spook him by getting too close, but his breast was bright orange!

What Ya Readin': Mrs Tim of the Regiment

Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson was one of my Christmas books. I had been very excited to hear it had been republished, as early last year I read another D.E. Stevenson book - Miss Buncle's Book which I loved. Besides which, for an officer's wife a book about being an officer's wife held lots of appeal.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mrs Tim of the Regiment and am hoping the Bloomsbury will republish some others in the series. Though aspects of army life have changed since the 1930s, when the book was published, I was overwhelmed by the timelessness of many of the issues Mrs Tim encounters - my copy of the book is well tagged with post-it notes. And, there are some great lines about army life.....

'One of our dear C.O.'s most popular ideas,' adds the Child, 'Never knew a man to have so many popular ideas'. (p. 22)

'After some preliminary conversation Nora says that she particularly wanted to see me today, because.......she wonders if I can help her with a crossword......-'A word of nine letters meaning "Living in the abode of another",' she says firmly. Suggest 'Officer's wife', but Nora says that is too many letters, and the third must be Q.' (p. 12)

'It is only that you have nothing in common,' I interrupt him breathlessly. 'Guthrie, so listen to me, and believe that I know what I'm talking about - it wouldn't be quite so bad if you could marry and settle down in a home with friends round you, and each have your own interests and amusements, but Service people can't do that. They've got to be pals, making each other do for everything, finding their home, and their friends, and their interests all in each other'. (p. 242)

Actually the book is very similar in tone to the Provincial Lady books, possibly because both are diary form written around the same period. There are some very amusing lines.....

'Am bitterly aware that Tim is one of those men who do not understand clothes or women, but reflect afterwards that perhaps this is just as well in some ways. Men who understand women being sometimes too understanding of women other than their wives.' (p. 29)

'Major M, asks what on earth I am writing, and is informed by Tim that it is my strange custom (since 1st Januray) to record any daily doings in the enormous tome which he now beholds. Tim also volunteers information that the book is kept securely locked and that he doesn't 'think it will last long'. Realise that it is my perseverence he doubts (not the book's durability) and throw a sofa cushion at his head.

What Ya Readin': The Snack Thief

I recently finished my fifth Andrea Camilleri novel. I started reading the series about four years ago but it initially failed to capture my interest. I noticed that Yvonne had a similar experience with his novels and so, with that in mind, gave them another go last year. I was won over. However, I am not reading the novels in any particular order, just as they come to hand.

In 'The Snack Thief' Inspect Montalbano is investigating the murder of an old man in a lift shaft. On the same day as the murder occured a Tunisian man working on an Italian fishing trawler was machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily's coast. Montalbano suspects there is a link between the two killings. His investigation soon leads him to the elderly man's cleaner - a beautiful Tunisian named Karima - who, with her son, has gone missing. Karima, it seems, also has links to Tunisian terrorists.

Her son, the 'snack thief' of the title, is found by Inspector Montalbano when he starts stealing other school children's mid-morning snacks. At this stage, Inspector Montalbano realises that Karima may have met with foul play and her son is also likely to be in danger. He takes the son into his own custody but soon discovers that there are very high powers indeed involved in the murders.

In essence 'The Snack Thief' is about international terrorism, and the lengths a government will go to to protect their citizens. What intrigued me about this book was that the inside cover reveals that it was first published in its original Italian in 1996. I was only 12 at that time, but it does not strike me that the mid 1990s was a period when issues of international terrorism featured large in literature.

As always, Camilleri is witty in his writing. I loved these lines...

'What's wrong?' Signora Antonietta asked in alarm.
There is no Sicilian woman alive, of any class, aristocrat or peasant, who, after her fiftieth birthday, isn't always expecting the worst. What kind of worst? Any, so long as it's the worst. Signora Antonietta conformed to the rule. (p. 40)

and

Thinking he'd had a light lunch, he felt obliged to eat everything. (p. 55)