Moving On

All posts, bookish and otherwise, are now over on A Lady Bug's Life.

Looking forward to your visit!

On Mangoes

Spring is truly here in eastern Australia as we are starting to see the first mangoes of the season. We are very fortunate to have mango growing areas in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland.

I love mangoes. The pungent sweet aroma when you sniff to check if a mongo is ripe is such a treat. And then, you cut the tough, oozing skin to expose the tender golden flesh. Yummy. The best way to eat a mango straight is to slice a cheek of mango, cut a fat dice into the flesh and then bend back the skin and dig in!

Another option is to blend mango and milk to create a milkshake. Or as we discovered in Singpore to mix shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk and diced mango. My mouth is watering at the memory. And now, Karen has given me another option....I think I might try this soon.

On someone special coming home!

Well, it's hard for me to believe that DH has been home for just over a week now! He arrived late last Sunday. We have had a lovely time just getting used to him being around again. And, I have been having fun being thoroughly domestic....lots of bread baking, cake making and tea drinking going on here. Oh, and I managed to get almost instantly sick as DH brought home a Baghdad Fluey Bug. What a lovely present:) Just left with the hacking cough now! Fortunately I have the second half of this week off work so I should be able to give the bug the boot.

I made a welcome home sign to make DH feel at home! It is very simple bunting...almost no sewing required. You just need a bit of fusible interfacing and pinking shears.


This past weekend we went down to Bowral to check on our investment property and our tenants appear to be keeping the grounds in immaculate condition. I was very impressed. They are certainly better gardeners than we are.

Bowral has a well known secondhand book trail so we felt duty bound to have a look around the shops. DH had just cleared off his bookshelf so we traded in a whole lot of books for credits at our favourite secondhand bookstore - Bong Bong Books (it is the name of the main street in Bowral). As such, I got this massive stash for just a $6 outlay, oh and DH got one book (to be fair there were no others he wanted)....

On Skirting

I have been having a play with a couple of skirt patterns lately....very simple ones I have found on the internet.

The first I made the weekend before last. Because the skirt is designed for a child I used slightly more fabric. Actually, if I was to make it again I would use less - perhaps the amount for the largest child size. The end result is a very bunchy around the waist - an awful lot of excess material. But it is as twirly as it supposed to be and I love the colours. Perfect for Spring.

Then this weekend I made a cherry skirt, following this pattern. On this occasion I had the opposite problem, too little fabric. I was walking like I had my two legs tied together; perhaps because, again, the pattern is for a child. So I adapted it a little and added a split at the back. I wore it to church last night and am quite happy with it.

On Our Trip

I promised pictures....but I am afraid I am little constrained by the fact that my husband has said I can't post any photos in which we appear and there seems to be at least one of us in most of our photos. Additionally, my husband has half the photos on his camera....and it is in Iraq. So, here is a taster and I will add more when he gets home - hopefully he has some in which we are absent.

Anyhow....while in Penang we spent a couple of days in the historic city of Georgetown. One day we took a special trip in to see the Blue Mansion...named for obvious reasons. Our tour guide was brilliant and showed us how the house had been designed to incorporate many elements of feng suei.

They were rebuilding one of the huts in the grounds of our hotel in Batu Ferengi, I found the process fascinating....

And now the photo shortage becomes evident....because we find ourselves in Singapore....visiting the Merlion.....defender of the city.

We went to Sentosa Island while we were in Singapore. One of the highlights there was a tour of Fort Siloso. Fort Siloso is where the British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in WW2. The site has been really well done up. There are lots of interactive exhibits - you can even experience what it would have been like to have been a British soldier sent out to the colony in the 1870s. Anyway, so you don't have to trudge up the hill to the fort....you hitch a ride on this charming old lady.

We went to Jurong Bird Park on the far tip of the island. I will not go into details of how I got pooped on twice by birds....and how the second time my husband tried to pacify me by telling me that it was just a berry from the tree that had fallen on my head. Might I add both times he was standing next to me...at not a drop fell on him.

Anyway, the bird park is brilliant and well worth the trek out - even if the birds have no bathroom training. They do really amazing bird shows - the photo below is from the Birds of Prey show. They even had a vulture (or, maybe it was another species) who would bang an egg with a rock to get it open. The only problem being that the bird is elderly, suffers from dementia and kept forgetting what it was supposed to be doing. Very amusing!

On 6 weeks

Wow, it has been 6 weeks since I last posted... what a retrobate blogger I have been. Well, maybe a catch up post is appropriate today, and I will try to get back to more interesting posts tomorrow.

1. Our trip went really well. As expected the connection at KL didn't work out but we didn't let that put a dampner on things! Highlights included: high tea at Raffles (in Singapore) and at the Eastern and Oriental in Georgetown, a visit to a tropical fruit farm and the night safari at the Singapore Zoo. Of course, the best bit was getting to spend 2 whole weeks with my husband. Hope to post pictures tomorrow.

2. My Mummy came for a visit. She arrived the day after I got back from Singapore...we had a lovely time just spending some quiet time together.

3. My husband has got a posting to Melbourne for next year. Love that city. Not so keen on the accomodation arrangements Defence Housing is proposing. We move in November....our house is not available until February.

4. Number 3 means I need to find a new job. My current employer is only situated here in Sydney. They offered me a secondment to another organisation but, after a lot of soul searching I have decided to turn that one down. I have decided I want to work in a role which focuses on social welfare. So, I am hard at work on job applications.

5. I am trying to do a tax return. Or rather, get all the paperwork together so the accountant can do our tax return. This is considerably complicated by an investment property purchase during the year.

6. My husband gets back home next week... we are down to single digits! Am spending lots of time getting the house ready (have a fun craft project to show you) and get all his favourite foods in.

Life is always an adventure!

Off overseas...

Europafox asked if I was off to KL soon. I'm not but I thought I should update you on my travel plans. DH has his ROCL (R&R for those who don't speak military) leave starting on Monday. We have two weeks. We are spending one week in Penang (so flying through Kuala Lumpur), then we have a week in Singapore. I am so excited. Only 5 days to go....I can't wait to see DH! I have sorted out our flight issues and now will be able to meet up in KL and catch the connecting flight to Penang together. I am finding it so hard to concentrate at work this week because I just can't wait for Monday. Ok, so I don't actually see him until Tuesday but once you are on the plane time is somewhat redundant.

And Ladies, the crazy man thinks he will be able to spend back stuff from Iraq with me. Uh, hum I have some serious shopping to do....there will not be room for his stuff in my suitcase. Well, there might be room but their will be no excess weight capacity available;)

Anyway a weeks time should found us relaxing at the Swiss Club. Fortunately, my in-laws have membership so we will be able to spend lazy days poolside.