A New Life

I haven't decided whether or not to continue with this blog. We have moved our family interstate and begun a new stage of life. For a glimpse of what it's like so far, E playing croquet in the sunshine:

:)
See why I spend little time at the computer?

-Polly

Scissor Skills and Latin

E loves any excuse to use scissors. Here's a heart she cut out when she learnt the Latin word 'Amo':

 

We've taken a break from working through our 'learn Latin' book and are just picking up new words from songs like this for now. This one is still our favourite.

 

As I said, E loves to use scissors. She's still getting the hang of cutting well, so I bought her a book called "More Cutting Skills". The Mr photocopied all the pages for us. She has only done the first two exercises as yet, but is having great fun with it.

 

Vale, for now.

 

-Polly

Welcome Spring

It has been cold and stormy here for most of the past week, but before that I took some photos of our garden. It has only taken me a couple of weeks to upload them. :P
Here's our little peach tree in blossom:

It has many more flowers now.

Our nectarine tree has many more fruits than last year, though none are ripe yet.

 

And spread throughout the garden there are still many nasturtium flowers ranging in colour from dark red to almost white.

 



Really we have let the garden go this season. It is overgrown with wild rocket and random weeds. It still gives us food, namely chillies, parsley and the occasional onion (although the onions, too, are flowering right now).

Welcome Spring.

-Polly

Ukulele Song

E and her dad went shopping and came home with a ukulele. E then spent the evening strumming along to made-up songs, like this one:

 

"We went to the ukulele shop

To buy a pink ukulele

They didn't have a pink ukulele

They had a blue one

 

We bought a blue ukulele

I've got the ukulele blues

Not the ukulele pinks

The ukulele blues!"

 

-Polly

Breakfast in a Biscuit

I made biscuits and they were good.

Once upon a time I had a gym membership and I used it. My favourite part was the Les Mills 'Body Combat' classes and I showed up for one every Wednesday morning (my day off at the time). After the class, I would walk a few blocks to the nearest bus-stop and head into town. Usually I'd head to my favourite café and order a black coffee and a 'breakfast muffin'. The café is no longer there and they stopped serving the muffins long before that, but these biscuits taste just like them!

Thanks to Vegan MoFo (that's Vegan Month of Food, for the uninitiated) I've been browsing vegan blogs again. Yesterday I came across this recipe from 'Vegans Eat Yummy Food, Too' and realised that I had all the ingredients to make them. I changed up the recipe a little and ultimately my version is no longer vegan. Oh well, they tasted good and are still healthier than your standard sweet biscuit.

Here's how to make them:
Ingredients

• 1 cup oat bran
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup Crunchy Nut Cornflakes®
• 1/4 cup sultanas
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds (linseeds)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp margarine

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the oat bran, grated carrot, sultanas, flax seeds and cinnamon. Stir until well combined.
• Fold through the applesauce, honey and margarine.
• Stir well until mixture clumps together. (Use your hands if you need to!)
• Shape into rounds and place on a lined baking tray. Flatten each biscuit with your fingers or a fork.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown.
• Transfer to wire rack to cool.

When my father came to visit recently, he left us a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes® that none of us enjoy as a cereal. This recipe, though, is perfect for them. Any time of day we can taste the flavours of breakfast, in a biscuit.

-Polly

Here's a Cat

So, I have kind of neglected this blog over the last few weeks. Life got in the way. That happens and I'd rather life get in the way of blogging than the other way around. Soon we won't even have regular internet, so there will be even less posting here. Oh well. Here's a cat:

 

 

It's a photo I took of my family's cat about 3 years ago. The regular readers of this blog have probably already seen it. I blame the Vegan MoFo writing prompts. :P

 

-Polly

Making a Hat

The other day E wanted to make a crown. It had to be purple and it had to be sparkly.

 

I found some purple card and measured it to the size of E's head. The only sparkly things I found were one pipe-cleaner (which I bent into a bow shape) and a little loose tinsel. E got to work decorating her crown using markers and stickers, pasting on coloured paper shapes, and using coloured tape to attach the sparkly things. She sang the "Making a Hat" song from Play School as she worked. When it was done, I stapled it together for her. I think she was quite proud of her creation.

The next day the crown became a boat for E's Jemima doll, with a wooden spatula for the mast and an empty playing-card box for the sail.

-Polly