Look no further!
Go visit your local nursery for a free lift of spirits

Free you say!

Yes definitely because no money changed hands.

By letting my mind be refreshed and calmed on a hot hot day under the misting sprinkler.

I remembered …
Lavender cutting/slips growing under some greenery
Hibiscus cuttings/slips slowly growing roots in a glass jar
Red trumpet creeping vine cutting/slip started in a pot
Big Red geranium growing lushly from a cutting/slip

It was a stepping back in time of how old gardens were created.
Networking and sharing.

How to best utilise what I have at home in the garden…..just a moving round and swapping positions. Or repotting with large recycled pots from the neighbour’s hard rubbish clean out.

There was no instant gratification costing $$, just some methodical or random planning and a little patience.

Have you ever done this?

Blessed

Joining Through the Garden Gate

Joining Frontier Dreams

Impressions from my sister in law.
Memories of 1978.

#farmergetsawife
Agriculturalists gets a wife
City bride new to the country
City spouse new to the country
City girl marries her farmer
City miss weds her rancher

All of the above are depending on from where you live in this world.
Different expressions….same meaning

“I married my beloved farmer or rancher as the Americans say. A young lady who lived nowhere near the country but by the sea. Near Semaphore in Adelaide, South Australia.

Well all this came to nought. No happy catch up time. No time for chit chat.

Country life line

Rather, a call had been received from my parents in law asking that we return to the farm property immediately for my husband to help with the grain cleaning. In those days you needed to wait having made a booking for a man to go to your property or ranch on a set day to do this job …well that time slot had come early!

There was no new bride to be carried over the threshold. I ventured into our stone cottage myself.

But I love our life here. Over the years we’ve lived in a few different houses. First was that stone cottage.

Cycles of family life.

Alexa back here again.
Our cycles of life
The years roll by
Silently but ever moving

Our family visiting the Farm

Now I must search out that pastie recipe from an old school book when we did Home Economics at High School. My sister in law bakes an awesome one.
Best eaten on a cold day which is the opposite to what we have here presently in Australia. Summer heat waves. Yet I guess you could eat it with a salad.
I think I will wait though so that the oven does not over heat the already warm house.

What a pity I did not keep my copy when I culled all my books during our recent move. The modern copy is rather pricey now.
Live and learn.

Recipe of pasty…….
Page 7 of 8
“Cookery the Australian Way” 50 some years old and still serving and teaching our young.

Memories are the threads of life
A tapestry in the making

Glamping. A child’s perspective …

We have fun glamping

We have the glamping tents up lots
It’s real cool

Raining or sunny

They are so much fun

A place to chill

Or pretend,

‘specially us boy cousins

That’s the very “bestest fun”

All you need are sheets and cushions

LOTS

Grandma always has heaps for us to play with
They are her old sheets for fun stuff

Maybe even Grandma’s patchwork quilt if we can get it before she looks

We can make a BIG tent with LoTS of sheets for us ALL
We can make LITTLE tents for one person

We use Grandma’s laundry Airer and lots of pegs
You have to fix the sheets to stay there
Grandma pegs the sheets to lots of things
Like the door handles and hooks on the wall and clips it in the windows

It’s funny when Grandma has to crawl in the tent ’cause she is big

We go Glamping on grandma’s back verandah.

No pause button here. Beautiful endless youthful energy. Precious.

Because “us” boys have discovered that with a click we have our own “house” When the adults were talking we giggled and locked our door
“Hmmm…unlock the door please” they said

But that’s no fun!

We can make a HUGE tent outside too in a tree that has pink flowers in the hot sun. It has a funny name. Grandma knows what sort it is.

Really fun this sort of Glamping

We just have to get to Grandpa and Grandma’s house….

“Please can we go mum”

Find me also on Facebook

Courtesy mensatic@morgueFile free photos

Finish…
A chosen title

Joining in with 5 minute Friday

I’m a slow Slow typist…

START..

Finish…a word my dearest man has been waiting for many months
Hanging in there at a stressful job more suited to a younger age group
More suited to a faster typist
But he stuck it out
Counting down one day at a time
Keeping going
Keeping his resolve
And then it was
Finish
Forty nine years of work
Day after day after day
Providing and supporting
During the young energetic years
During young family years
During stressful time
During a change of city
EnDuring years of fighting suburban gridlock traffic
Then as the years have aged him being blessed to find closer to home work
Just a little drive
Happy to find work in the waning work years
Happy and enthused and interesting
Then overnight it all changes again
But the job must continue
But it will kill him
So the days get counted down, and the tension falls like petals
Till Finished…June 30
Ah…
Thank you my dearly beloved x

New adventures
New horizons

STOP

Courtesy GaborfromHungary@morgueFilefree photos

Working in the Fashion industry
Recently I was directed to a sewing site which was more about professional sewing but it reminded me of my youth. My first ever job was working at a small boutique fashion knitwear place called Sigrid Styleknit….I did Google the name and got one photograph in some Australian migrant archives.

Working in that industry must run in the family as my mother ran her brother’s knitting mill in Germany when the “hired” help didn’t materialize and orders were piling in. More on that maybe on another occasion.

My job amongst other things was to write out the sequence of how the garment was put together. Basically a garment construction plan! Which machinist the said garment went to and in what order, the accessories used plus much more.

For example the material started at the steam pressing table straight from the knitting room with its order label tag swinging from the side…style 1347; size SSW; colour red; order Judells (I think they are still around). From here it proceeded to the cutting table and began its long journey through the work room being moved from one section to another. where most of the girls were from European counties…for example Italy, Greek, Polish, Czech. It went to an over locker girl to sew shoulders together and to neaten the side seams. Then the sewing machine girl to do side seams and sleeve seams. Back to over locker to set in sleeves. To the linker machine which I thankfully didn’t get to use as it is very fine eye straining work in the putting on of a knitted edging without missing a stitch. Like this one I had done on a favourite Cardigan of my husband many moons ago!

Then onto to a blind stitch hemmer for sleeves and bottom hem edge…plus a myriad other jobs to create the finished garment with unique buttons and hand sewn buttonholes to its final inspection for flaws and package into order boxes to be delivered by Comet Freight throughout Australia.

At the beginning of each new range, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring one job I remember doing was following a new garment right through each process. I had to time with a stop watch the different stages for the office to include in the costing.

Writing it like this makes me marvel what I actually learnt and did as I gained experience …me a young, shy, naive girl. I had no idea what I wanted to do for a job and it was only that my father had done some work on the big industrial knitting machines that I ended up there. That quite often happened I think as once you left school you just went to the first job available unless you were specialising or going to business college…for example my hubby just wanted to leave school and work. His first job ended up being what he then did most of his working life in International Airfreight with its myriad changes.

Thinking back, I was only young and straight out of school at sixteen. I did an apprenticeship, went to night school for three year doing examination courses in advanced dressmaking and tailoring. Also learning pattern making ( really hard ) where we had to draft patterns on blue paper in quarter scale. I left work when I was about 22 before our eldest was born. A lifetime ago. Later on I wished I’d been older to fully understand and appreciate the concepts of all this dressmaking.

My mother, my teacher

But it did serve me well through the years as I sewed for myself and our children when it was expensive to buy ready-made and have always mended. I have sewn curtains for our homes and made bags and know how to make do and repair. So in essence my first job set me up with Life Skills….what more could a girl ask for.

What about you.

Joining with Frontier Dreams, a Waldorf schooling creative mum

Some old photos I found taken between 1967-1970.
First one was the advert for my job and the second was a photo shoot for Sigrid Styleknit. Young blonde me in back and Sigrid the designer in black sunglasses in front. It was a Candid snap taken for Sigrid….the other ladies were well known Adelaide models whose names I cannot recall now.

Courtesy taliesin @ morgueFile free photos

World environment day which was some days ago…

…well Life and Caring happened in between, but Hi, I’m back

How am I doing world environment day … every day
How do I see it … every day

In simple language, in a grandma, mum and dad and family way

Abundance of newly striked cuttings vigorously growing

Grow plants from cuttings to spread and share the abundant growth and joy around

Huge mushrooms on a dinner plate grown from mushroom compost by friends…a by product of spreading compost under the orange trees :)

I’m going to again push my love of seeing bees busily collecting nectar amongst the bushes and herbs which we grow in our tiny patch….as soon as the sun comes out even in winter here in Australia the bees come out foraging. But soon I’ll have to prune my flowering Lavender hedge which I am so loathe to do. I know, I have to be cruel to be kind to keep my hedge nice… But still !!! Also this time of year our little veggie/herb patch looks a bit sad as I really need to plant spinach to fill in the hole left by the finished Basil and tomato

On an aside though, did you know that Rhubarb flowers and goes to seed. That spike of a tall Lacey flower though has the most disgusting smell which made me promptly cut it off…but there are still stalks of rhubarb growing for a second crop….firstly I wondered how to harvest rhubarb as I’ve never grown it before, so I Googled for info and found that you twist the stalks at the base and they come off easily. Then as I hadn’t cooked rhubarb for years I found a recipe which may have been a Jamie Oliver one. The instructions said to roast it which I did in an old-fashioned Corningware dish from the Op shop. The dish was just the perfect size. Pour the required sugar on top with a tiny dribble of Vanilla essence. Cover and cook. There was a suggested time and then also that you’ll smell it as soon as it’s done….well that was so correct as to the smell; divine. Next time though I’ll use less sugar. It was SO rich I could only eat a bit of it with my homemade thick Greek yoghurt.

I was happy to have learnt that old milk is a good fertiliser even though it was only half a cup….my parsley is thriving

Then memories…Remembering when…the tying up like a bandaged bear and staking, with a neighbours help, of a vandalised small tree on our park just opposite our house. It is now a huge gum tree.

Also saving a tiny acacia tree years ago from having the long leaves plucked off by then toddler grand-daughter, explaining that we wanted to see the tree grow big. It has!

So there’s many a way to celebrate World Environment Day. We care. We do it everyday without even thinking sometimes, just like the older generations before us.

If you pause for a moment, how or what have YOU done. How do you care.

Do you wish to share?

Even the seemingly trivial things?

Whether you are just starting life’s journey or well on the way like us. With a looking forward to it soon to be retired hubby. New happenings and new adventures and new horizons but always learning.

Lavender is one of my favourite flowers and once established in a friendly spot is as tough as old boots, as you can see in my photo!

Lavender a symbol of an old worldy age, a simple life.

From Wikipedia…
“Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast …are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.”

It make me think of when times were slower, when seasons were followed, when thought was given how everything could be used wisely.

No waste and carelessness, but a time of learning , how to make do, work hard but enjoy the fruits of ones labours. Of helping and supporting one another. Of time to ponder instead of always having to race around or wanting to try something new. Of being content.

The story to my hedge stared over two years ago. My garden was and is getting to be like a very aged person who needs lots of loving care and rejuvenation, but with not too much time I wanted to spruce it up a bit…it is a slow work in progress.

Where I wanted to plant this hedge was a long bed which had a lot of overgrown old plants which needed ripping out and poisoning, a very slow process which I undertook over time. Then had to wait for the Nandina Bamboo and ivy to really die and with a pick dig out the roots…needless to say it was hard work. The soil needed to be enriched a little so I just dug and turned it over where each cutting was going in. Once everything was planted and watered I put down cane mulch of which I had a bale needing to be used up from the shed….it broke down beautifully to feed the soil over time. With sunshine and rain and day following day.

Let’s start some new plants…by harvesting cuttings from my proud “Mother” plant. A large scruffy old bush which I had been tempted to rip out but kept. I have grown so new many plants from this one bush

In July last year I just took soft cuttings and stuck them straight in the ground. I put in excess cuttings knowing I would loose some. Water was applied to keep them moist over summer. A lot of going out everyday to cheer them on and watch as they grew from drooping cuttings. By September the cuttings had “taken” and were well growing with new shoots by October.

I cut off their first flower buds in sacrifice to give strength to the newly grown plants. Once the next flush of smallish flowers had finished I thought I’d better trim the whole hedge to make it even…after some days I thought I’d killed it and was so very upset. But by mid January there was re growth much to my joy.

Now in mid May which is the next year I have a lovely hedge which soon I must prune again to remove spent flowers and let the plants regenerate and so the process goes on. Time after time.

A beautiful sight for me every day out my back door and windows. A lesson in time and patience. To keep going even if it gets tough…hard work never killed anyone , except for the aches in muscles I forgot I had

I love my hedge bordering my herb garden as do the bees and can watch and admire it for an age standing with my back to the sun….and now the lavender is sheltering new cuttings which when a little bigger I will transplant for another type of hedge …a Japanese Box

….and in between loving the sprinkles of joy and sun shine some of our little grandsons bring when we visit their homes x

Home made

Inspiring …Inspired
Motivating …Motivated
Take it all in and ready to continue on…

Washing all done and packing all put away….

Isn’t that the best feeling after a weekend away.

We had to take linen and bedding, so took our trusty always pull out spare Doonas and not really matching sheets….pillow cases did sort of match though!

A good drive was had home from up the coast back to Sydney.

….It must be the rejuvenation of a refreshing break that gets one into into tidying up, and as seeing the temperature was really pleasant and it being not yet dark I piled sheets and quilt covers and towels etc in loads into that machine. All freshly laundered with a few drops of eucalyptus added to wash water the loads gradually filled the line as they got hung out in the fresh air…..hooray, now no washing to do in the morning…..isn’t that the best, especially for a Monday!

Such a simple thing to rejoice over.

Two more loads to go….but look at that young Lavender hedge in the night light!

My always on hand pre-wash that I use is as follows…

As you can see by the photo, I use my recycled and repurpose the Cloudy Ammonia bottles. I mark my empty bottle into thirds with permanent marker.

1/3 water…in first so you don’t get an overflow of bubbles …I’ve learnt the hard way and have found that if I don’t concentrate I tend to put liquids in the wrong order….ahhh

1/3 Cloudy Ammonia

1/3 Dish washing detergent…can be less…I’m going to try the Home Brand Laundry liquid for my next batch.

Sometimes if I have enough Eucalyptus I add about a small Half TEAspoon.

When I make a batch my measurements are not accurate. Also I make a few bottles at a time.

Home made Pre Wash Spray

So here’s to clean washing and not having to buy preWash Spray.

A little thing you say….but it’s the little things that can add up.

Anyway, have a good day all even if you have to do a spot of washing.

Find the simple joy in -

…clean fresh smelling washing
…fresh water and ready access to abundant supply
…that you are able to hang it in the breeze here in Australia
…thereby you save on power and stressing about the bill
…clothes not wearing out through having to use the dryer constantly
…having a huge variety of clothing etc in the first place
…reducing your Carbon footprint
…by “being green”
…and what else- can YOU think of more
…being thankful that we have the climate so we CAN choose to not use the dryer. Many climates and parts of the world do not have this luxury especially at this moment in their winter.

Just think, an everyday chore we do without thinking and sometimes groan about yet all of the above!

Till later
Alexa

Photographs and content belong to- http://www.Alexa-asimplelife.com

Also on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Alexaasimplelife

Dairy and egg intolerant.

Stuck for dessert recipe…or simply

Run out of eggs

Want to save money

Run out of shopping money

Well, I have a recipe I’ve used and adapted for our taste.

My writing this post comes about because of a comment a friend made having run out of eggs in the middle of a big baking storm….and I think that’s exactly the reason why I initially found this recipe. There are so many variations out on the web, some using Lemon juice others using vinegar. I chose the vinegar option as there is always some vinegar in a home!

PRETEND WHITE CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE…my title

This is an all in one bowl cake. Easy, no creaming, no eggs, no milk. A rich tasting cake with a scrumptious mud cake texture.

Photo courtesy pippalou @ morgueFile free photos

1 and half cups Plain Flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 to one and a half teaspoons Vanilla essence- I use pure like Queens brand
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
6 Tablespoons oil – I use light Olive oil
1 teaspoon Baking Soda (Bi-Carb)

Heat oven to 180C less for Fan forced. Oil 20cm tin or and line tin with Baking Paper. As I use a round silicon tin I also add Baking paper to base, oiled.

Put flour, sugar and water into bowl. Add Vanilla, vinegar, oil and Baking Powder. Mix with beaters till smooth. The mixture will be runny. Pour into tin. Bake 35-40 minutes or until inserted skewer come out clean. I have found mine takes longer to cook being in the silicon cake tin.

Cool for 10 minutes and take out of tin. When cold ice with your favourite icing. I make orange icing using icing sugar, dab of butter, bit of powdered milk, squeezed orange juice and some of the grated zest. If you want plain vanilla butter icing omit orange and add more butter and milk powder with the tiniest drip of vanilla if you wish.

Or serve plain dusted with icing sugar….lots of choices for any palate.

Being done in a round tin (mine is 22cm) the cake when cut looks like the large pieces of the gourmet cakes at coffee shops that we drool over, but at a fraction of the cost.

Also when you take your cake to an event you can say that people with certain allergies ie, dairy and egg can readily enjoy.

Photo courtesy earl53 @morguefile.com

There is scope for lots of variations on this cake the main and most favoured being CHOCOLATE…mmmm…add 3 Tablespoons and up the sugar a bit. Once cooled cut cake in half so you have two rounds. Spread base with red jam then add beaten/whipped cream. Gently replace top circle of cake. The cake can be left plain with its jam and cream filling or have lots of chocolate icing on top and you are set…..or you can put cream on top and grate some chocolate as we did to a trifle when we had family together over the holidays. Grand children’s hands trying to catch the stray gratings of chocolate. Depends how decadent you want the cake to be. Place in fridge. Again lots of compliments….and wouldn’t it go as a fabulous dessert with these chocolate hearts and freshly brewed coffee if you are looking for Valentine’s day ideas.

Need a bigger cake to feed a group, then double the quantity, use larger tin and bake longer, checking with skewer!

Enjoy….invite some friends round for morning tea instead of going out for coffee and save everyone a bundle. Your friends will thank you for thinking of this.

….but my most favourite chocolate cake is a microwaved cake recipe I have which includes eggs but I use Orgran Egg Replacer. The ultimate Black Forest Cake for pennies.

So some letters on a screen…printed words….
One recipe but many variations,
Quantities for a few or a crowd,
saving money ideas,
about food allergies,
Substituting ingredients,
Everyday happenings snippets
Thankfulness
Brilliant colours
And of course food…
…and what say you dear readers?

With that, for now I’ll leave you drooling over cake whilst I go and prepare our evening meal.

By for now
Alexa

Words and photographs belong to Alexa from www.Alexa-asimplelife.com except as stated courtesy of.

Vintage drawing courtesy “Graphics Fairy”

Driving to the hairdresser early this morning I had to remind myself that we now have a new school opened in a local street. Note to self was “watch out for the low speed zone” whereas for the last 20 something years we just drove without thinking…

…and so my mind wandered….

It happens again, the long summer break school holidays, or vacation as they say in other parts, have ended in Australia. Our older grandchildren went back Tuesday before last so as to be able to complete the required number of weeks of education for the various exams. The younger ones the week after.

So sad to see the end of fun and relaxation. A time for the minds to wind down, for families to regroup and refocus again. For extended families to catch up and reconnect. Little cousins with older cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles, mums and dads, grandparents and friends. Mentoring time.

A slowing down and de-stressing. No bus to be on time for, no school bell to hurry for, no constant homework and assessments to schedule for, no sporting activities to be fitted in and uniforms always washed and gotten ready for.

Now holidays don’t have to cost a fortune! There’s so many family friendly activities. Just do research, ask around organise yourself to take food and drinks from home and you’ll all be right. Besides saving a bundle of money your children will feel more nourished and sustained by the home cooking. Eat at a fast food outlet and you’ll all feel hungry again very quickly due to the sugar spike.

Carry this over to back to school. Having appointments or activities like swimming after school? Plan your day and have sustaining after school snacks with you to be devoured on the way to wherever you are off to!… And for mum too….

At times, with the children cook with them and discuss a plan for a theme like a Mexican or Chinese meal.

For home schoolers this can incorporate learning about the culture or geography and history of that country. The learning to make and prepare a new recipe is adventurous but make sure it’s children taste friendly….In this way you are passing on skills….life skills, as mentioned in a previous post. The best part being that they won’t even notice that it’s a lesson….

” care enough to train a child, not merely treat them to a good life” Dr. Tim Elmore.

But as with all things, special things are only special because they happen sometimes and by looking forwards to them. If we always ate chocolate it wouldn’t be such a delight. Yum yum.

If we always lived by the beach I am sure it would become commonplace, and also, we would not notice the great beauty of our surroundings…

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Let’s not become complacent about things in general. Can you see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Bye for now
Alexa

Beach photos belong to Alexa-asimplelife , written by Alexa.
Vintage drawing courtesy http://thegraphicsfairy.com