long-toothed hinterland dweller

Pilot lights

When I was a kid, if I got out of bed at night for any reason, the house with its holland blinds firmly pulled, was black end eerie. 

How different these days.  Almost every room is aglow with tiny lights of different hues.

From my bed I can read the time in red on the clock radio and see another small red glow at the base of the telephone. The hall has a soft amber night-light at floor level to guide wanderers back and forth without mishap and another red light on the hall telephone.  There is a welcome in the living room from a red spot on the television and a blue one on the VCR - and there are often banks of others as well if the various tuners and amplifiers happen to be left on. 

The kitchen is positively cheery with time clocks on the oven and microwave (in chartreuse and green) a green light on the cold-water dispenser, a bright blue one on the vacuum cleaner charger and no less than three red lights to indicate that the dishwasher has completed its cycle.  There is a green light in the laundry on the freezer and a red one in the bathroom from my husband's rechargeable shaver. 

The study can look like Luna Park with yet another red telephone light and various red and green lights on computers, monitors, printers and speakers.  My husband's mouse has a single green slit eye like a cat's, while mine glows red from underneath like a space ship.

I think I once saw a calculation of the amount of power that lights such as these consume in a year.  I don't begrudge the cost a bit - I love them.  They're comforting and reassuring when you find yourself up alone on a dark night.

House construction styles these days make houses naturally lighter at night.  There are larger windows and numerous glass exterior doors.  From our kitchen door there is often a dancing light show of the moon playing on the rippled surface of the pool, while on true moonlit nights there will be a mystical clear white glow flooding down from the dome-shaped skylights in the ceiling.

So, excepting during a power failure on a black night, there's no such thing as being all alone in the dark any more!

Regeneration

I read somewhere that gardening is a preoccupation of the middle-aged.

I would agree with that.  For me there is great satisfaction in observing the continual renewal and regeneration of growing things.  That we as gardeners can be involved is a wonder and a great privilege.

These healthy pink worms are busy at work converting our vegetable trimmings, used kitchen paper and crushed egg-shells into rich castings .... to grow more vegetables! 

And here are the compost bins where all the stuff too big for the worms to handle goes.   I've had a satisfying morning chopping up prunings and mixing in weeds and all kinds of miscellaneous vegetation, then adding chicken manure, lime, blood and bone and wood ash to put together a really good mix.  Next I'll bring in a small colony of worms and they can do their bit as well.

When life seems to be getting too tedious or complicated, it's nice to get down to real basics.

Blanket Wars

For some reason my husband found this cartoon enormously funny.  I have no idea where he found it; it just appeared at my place on the breakfast table one morning.

He says I have perfected the art of the 'crocodile roll' - i.e. gripping the prey firmly and rolling with it until it can no longer break free.

With the summer over, arguments about aircon settings gave way to disagreements over ceiling fan speeds. 

Now finally we're back to the winter battle of the blanket.

A glut of limes

We always knew it was going to happen, when we moved here 5 years ago and decided to plant up our block with useful things like fruit trees.  We began with the citrus orchard - first a couple of lemons to go with fish - a Meyer and an Eureka - then a grapefruit for breakfast and a lemonade, mandarine, tangelo, pumelo and a blood orange, all just for eating.  We also put in some kumquats, a calamondin and a chinotto for preserves, and planted a citron (Buddha's hand) for its novelty value.  Finally the limes - these days an essential if you consider yourself a serious cook.

We went rather overboard with the limes.  We began with a Tahitian (Persian), the most common and easy to grow, then added a Kaffir, because Jamie on TV had been so long extolling the virtue of the leaves in a curry, and finally a West Indian (Mexican / Key) lime, because of their superior flavour.

We then began hearing about the many Australian native limes available - the prickly bushed round limes common in a number of areas, and the rarer, tiny fingerlimes that we discovered grow wild only in a few restricted areas, one of which is quite close to where we live.  Then last year I came upon a NYT article Latest Green Fashions Come in Many Styles about the exciting new hybrid Rainforest Pearl fingerlime (see side bar link) and its use in exotic designer dishes. So into the orchard went one of each of these Australian limes.

So far only the three older lime trees are bearing.  The Kaffir was first.  We have discovered that we don't appreciate the flavour of the kaffir leaves in curry, but I am still experimenting with their use in Asian dishes.  The fruit are fascinating to look at - the skin all folded and wrinkly like a pug dog - but they have very little use, excepting for the zest in cooking - and I am told that the juice makes an excellent hair conditioning rinse.  But we have fruit from the two other lime trees coming out of our ears!  What to do with all the surplus fruit?   As I wrote in an earlier post, I've tried the key-lime pie, but my waistline could not handle too many of those. 

So today I have a second batch of fine-cut lime marmalade boiling on the stove, the aroma drifting enticingly through the house.  Also Tjilpi will be glad to know I have put down a batch of lime pickle.  When it becomes ready, if he is still stuck up there at Poeppel's corner I might have to air-drop a jar to entice him out.  A web search yesterday turned up recipes for lime curd, lime sauce, lime vinaigrette and lime aioli, so I can see I will be busy in the kitchen for a while!

Meanwhile the two lemon trees are also dripping in fruit.  If only I didn't have my awful anxiety about never wasting food.  There are only so many friends and opportunities one can find for foisting off surplus produce.  What is going to happen in a year or two when our other orchard comes into production?  All that tropical fruit we will need to dispose of - the avocadoes, longans, malay apples, grumichamas, jaboticabas, wax jambus, sapotes, wampees and custard apples - to mention just a few.

Might be a good time then to think about moving on!

Post Script:  For anyone who finds the topic of citrus growing a fascinating one I would recommend looking in on this excellent UK website - Home Citrus Growers.  It has everything you need to know about growing any citrus tree, anywhere in the world - and is one of the best sources I've found of information on the Australian native varieties.

When they're not around

After they've gone you miss the patter of little feet for a while - especially when you see their gardening shoes lined up beside your own on the verandah.

Grandparenting

We minded our two small grandchildren last weekend - to give their parents a break - a little R & R.  They were dropped off on Friday morning so it was a actually a 3-day weekend.  As always, the experience was exhausting.  No wonder the blogging has been on hold for a while.

It's hard work going back to full-time, hands-on parenting.  (Or rather, I should say 'hands-off' parenting, which is what it is these days.  Whacks on the bottom are very much frowned upon by today's child-rearing experts.)   Many of the rules for children that were commonly accepted when I was bringing up my family have now gone out of the window.  Rules like... you-will-sit-there-until-you-have-eaten-everything-on-your-plate .. and children-are-to-be-seen-and-not-heard.  (Although I cheat with the second one; that actually began to go out when I was a kid.)

But one thing I have noticed, is that despite the common fear that modern day kids are all becoming hooked on junk foods, many have actually become sophisticated little gourmets - preferring avocado, Camembert cheese or a nice pate to the kind of snacks we used to offer - an apple, a jam sandwich or a Sao with Kraft cheese.  Incidentally, it is a relief to know though, that toast and Vegemite is still very acceptable at breakfast time.  As is jelly and banana custard for dessert.

The hardest part of caring for children at our age has to be the early morning starts -   especially for a Gran who likes to ease into her day with two leisurely cups of coffee with toast and marmalade, a quiet read and lashings of soothing music from ABC - FM, before delving into the email and traipsing through a few blogs.  And it's the same for her 'Grumpy' other half, whose head has generally been buried in his two morning newspapers for at least an hour before he feels like having a conversation. 

With a toddler like our Miss Muffet, the need to be constantly on your feet, poised -either for a quick rescue or a hasty retrieval - takes its toll.  As does all the lifting and carrying ... and the nappy changing ... and the dressing ... and the feeding .. . and the bathing  - it's all hard work.  Made more difficult by the fact that the little person involved is doing absolutely nothing to make the task easy.  I often think of those many grandparents one hears of, who for various reasons become permanent carers of their grandchildren.  They've formed an advocacy group here, called 'Off Our Rockers', to draw attention to their plight - often a financial one on top of the never-ending physical demands.

But this very tired Gran and Grumpy survived their weekend - and will no doubt put up their hands for another in due course.  And the highlight of our week since, has been to watch Monday's episode of 'Super Nanny' and to feel relief that the behaviour of our two precious darlings is by no means at the far end of the 'unacceptable' scale -  and perhaps to congratulate ourselves on a job fairly well done - and of course to count our blessings!

Miss Muffet always checks our letter-box for mail as it's just at her height.

Cat's Whiskers

It has been a drizzly, grey day, but these pretty white flowers, commonly known as Cat's Whiskers, stand out brightly along the path to my front door.  When I was given a few small cuttings, maybe 12 months ago, I had no idea what an asset they would become in the garden.  This fast growing perenniel bush, Orthosiphon aristatus - F. Lamiaceae, is hardy, as well as being an eye-catching plant.

Looking at them today I recalled  an interesting fact about this plant - a native of S.E. Asia and Australia's tropical north.  I had no idea until recently that it is well-known for its medicinal properties.  My reliable herb guru Isabell Shipard, author of How Can I Use Herbs In My Daily Life?, says that in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is known as Kumis Kutjing, it has been used for centuries to treat kidney disease and urinary stones.

Its use in expelling kidney and bladder stones has been backed very reliably by recent research.  This is not something I would have thought much about if I hadn't just the other day been regaled with a work-mate's story of his very painful discharge of such a stone.  Apparently, in the trials, up to 60 % of the patients benefited merely from taking a simple tea made from dried leaf and boiling water.  Hence its other common name - Java Tea.

A plain cup of tea made from 15-20 leaves is also recommended as treatment for rheumatic pains or coughs.  According to Isabell, the effectiveness of this herb cannot be under-estimated.   She cites the fact that more than 10,000 tons of the dried leaf is exported from Indonesia every year, mostly to Holland and Belgium.

Although I enjoy herbs for their culinary use and in refreshing teas, I've never been one for trusting any but the most common of herbal remedies.  This one sounds fairly convincing though ...  and I do have a persistent cough....

I am sipping the brew as I write.  It's not unpleasant - the aroma being rather clove-like if anything - but I don't know how many cups I would be prepared to down in the interests of my slightly bothersome throat.  A kidney stone though - that might be another story.

Bog-snorkelling

Meet Kez and Tigger.  I don't know them personally, but they are sporting identities of note in the local region where I live.   They are pictured here sitting on cases of beer in the coolroom of the bottle-shop I frequent when replenishing my liquor supplies. 

I keep hoping I might run into them there one day.  They are in the coolroom as part of their acclimatisation for an international bog-snorkelling competition which took place this year in Wales. 

You can read all about this obscure sport at Tigger's Tales.

I thought I should add some balance to my blog by showing that where I live in the hinterland is not only peopled by little old ladies like me wearing hats and gardening gloves, but there are some real life adventurous types as well.

Reading Meme

1. You're stuck inside Farenheit 451.  Which book do you want to be?

Try as I might, this concept is too abstract for me.

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

'George', the tomboy member of Enid Blyton's 'Famous Five'.

3. The last book you bought was .... ?

'Form and Foliage Guide to Planting', by Jennifer Stackhouse and Helen Young (Murdoch Books).

4. The last book you read was ... ?

'Recycled Spaces', by Viny Lee.

5. What are you currently reading?

Three books - 'One Hundred Philosophers', by Peter J King, 'Latham's World: The New Politics of the Outsiders', a 2004 Quarterly Essay, by Margaret Simons, and 'The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady', by Edith Holden (a Mothers' Day gift).

6. Five books you would take to a desert island ...

A decent English dictionary - so that I could master a page or two of new words every day.

A comprehensive book on the various paths of yoga - to keep physically and mentally fit.

(Ever practical, I wouldn't consider taking anything I'd already read. These three hefty volumes have sat in my shelves unread for too many years.)

Shakespeare's Complete Works,  Manning Clark's 'History of Australia', and 'Wild Swans', by Jung Chang.

7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why?

One of the Centralian bloggers I like to read, Elsewhere, in Alice Springs, because she has expressed interest in this meme and she is likely to come up with something interesting.

Sisters

My sister has just been to visit and there has been a week of intense catching up and sharing.  Since I left home at sixteen we have always been apart – living in different states, if not countries, and visiting at most, once a year.  In many respects we are chalk and cheese: she - tidy, organised and well-groomed, me - cluttered, messy and daggy, she – prompt and punctual, me – tardy or frequently late, she - classically artistic and tasteful, me - more eclectic and haphazard.  But under the surface our roots are inextricably bound.   Our common childhood experiences and their effects on our being are a source of never-ending discussion and speculation.  Our senses of humour are finely tuned to the same wave length.  No relationship is quite the same as the one you have with your sister.

Me with my little sister in our Girls' Club uniforms back in the fifties.