8th October 2007

Landing was fine. As we walked through the cavernous airport we could see the great orange orb of the sun just coming over the horizon. Beautiful. The customs line ws not too long and very quick. My passport was stamped but I cannot find the stamp. Invisible ink? Stamps in one's passport are important mementoes! A traveller's badge. There was no paperwork completed at any stage. Luggage appeared without delay, and as we exited we saw our driver (organised online at georgetaxitours@yahoo.com) waiting with a name card. He introduced himself as Tony, and ushered us to our taxi. It smells dusty! (not the cab, the air.) We passed mountains and olive trees, some suburbs. Tony explained that most Athenians live in the city, in apartments.

I can't find the stamp in my passport either. Saving on ink, as in Mexico. We hit the hotel at 8.30 am so no room available. The Plan went into effect. We boldly went in search of the site of Plato's academy. Not a major tourist site. We walked to Platoneous Street. A couple of the street maps referenced the Academy and sure enough we found the signs.

We took pictures of it which Kate shall add later. Then Kate patted a dog, and the man who had seen us snapping the Plato sign said there was more in a park ten minutes away so off we went and found another sign. 1. The driver, Tony, was indeed at the exit. Fine. He declined to be paid, preferring to do it all in one hit. OK! 2. The ferry tickets are at the desk and we must remember to check them. 3. Not sure yet about extending our stay. I asked, but not yet done. Kate gmailed the housesitter from the room, using her mobile phone.

We are now in Room 207 at the Hotel Adrian. We both needed to wash the dust off. Today was pedometer-less but I reckon we did 20,000 steps minimum. It was a very long walk indeed, a good three hours of solid walking. It is very dense with shops below and apartments above with canvas awnings and potted trees on most balconies.

Much more to be said about our walk. On the way we saw a small kiosk with film. Yes, one roll of slide film. I feel a little more secure now so took lots of pics, both cameras. I finished one roll while in Plato's Gymnasium.

I was delighted to have found that place. Tony the Taxi Driver was right, there aren't many green spaces in Athens, but this was one of them. It was calm, quiet, green and lovely. There were some ruins which matched a picture Michael had (from a website) and lovely walks. It pays to stop and pat little dogs! We would otherwise never have known.

We got a little lost on our return to the hotel but it wasn't hard to find our way with a bit of map-consulting. Must return to Kalimada Street, off Athina - crochet cotton and crafty things. I am taken with the number of hardware stores. Also small workshops, like the one I snapped of chairs and spools of seat-weaving string.

I am truly amazed that my mobile phone does gmail! It asked, as usual, whether it could access the network, and ages later it suddenly connected! I sent a message to Lisa the Housesitter so she knows all is well.

Michael is plotting our next outing. I am planning to break out my sketchbook and do part of the view outside our room. The room itself looks onto a wall of pale yellow with red curved tiles, but as you go out onto the balcony you can see more of the building next door, and trees. We are very close to the Acropolis and will venture there at some stage - a morning.

Later: not much time spent on the balcony sketching, but SOME! The Tour Guide (Michael) suggested we go to the Keremeikos - about a quarter of the distance we covered earlier in the morning. I had the pedometer on but alas forgot to turn it ON, so all I have a record of is the return journey, a measly 3,000. More like 30,000 today! To help get us more steps we stopped in at the sandalmaker Melissionis the Poet Sandalmaker. Michael bought the Plato sandal, I bought regular thongs called the Minoan. The young man in the shop suggested that I oikl them with olive oil to darkent them and make them supple. I'm wearing them now.... nope, just took 'em off.

Tour Guide: I have slaved away to ensure that Princess Katester gets plenty of steps and what does she do? No pedometer first and then when she does clip it on it is not turned on. So much for her declaRation that all Greek Steps would be counted! I got an International Herald Tribune and Kate got a Parthenon Snow Dome to match the Nashville Parthenon Snow Dome.



We brewed up coffee with the Brisk Brew and I did the crossword and read the paper with my feet up. We saw the wall Themistocles build and the hill Pericles may have spoken from, and more, the Funeral Oration.

I drew the view. Fun with coloured pencils! My first Greek Art.



Then I declared myself to be hungry. We'd eaten breakfast on the plane, then had a chocolate attack in the afternoon, but now was real hunger. We went to the closest restaurant across the street - the Karyatids. Bread and cheesy stuff to spread, and olives were very quickly devoured. A Greek Salad with feta, lots of tomato and cucumber and green capsicum, a very little lettuce. Then lamb souvlaki for me with potatoes and carrots and zucchini. Michael had tomatoes stuffed with rice, in honour of Inspector Haritos, hero of Late News by Petros Markaris. Ate a goodly amount, but not all. It is now nearly 7.30 local time and I am getting droopy. The TV remoter does not want to work and I am tossing up about whether to go down for more batteries.

Did so. Now watching, starting to wind down.

7th October 2007, continued even more

The adventure of travel begins. 1. Will the airport transfer I gooked be at the baggage claim? 2. Will the Adrian Hotel have a room - well maybe not at 8.30 am or so when we arrive, but tonight? 3. Will the Adrian Hotel accommodate our extension to the 24th for checkout? 4. Will the Milos hotel have our reservation? My parting email to confirm this reservation elicited an enthusiastic, incomprehensible email reply I read in the SIA Lounge.

There is a plan. Words that make Kate go tense. Yes - as soon as the hotel is sorted we walk - after about 24 hours of sitting - to the alleged site of Plato's Academy. Although we ate the sizeable hot breakfast on the aircraft (definitely not Qantas cuisine) I expect starvation will afflict us in a few minutes of walking.

Kate saw the bright lights of Beirut as we flew by. We had seats 15 A and C on a like-new Boeing 777-200. To fix Kate's seat the crew man got her to move out, and hit the re-set button under a flap labelled "Crew Use Only" in the arm rest. It took a few stabs but he got it going.

It is a little more than 24 hours since left home, and we are descending to Athens.

7th October 2007, continued

At Singapore Airport

Bitter disappointment on two fronts. Slide film? What is that? No, not here, try there. No, not there, try over there. No, not here at the airport anywhere. What is slide film? All the assistants were in their twenties, but the complete incomprehension showed the way of the future. I think the film era is just about over. But I LOVE slides. And one of the things I love about them is that you don't need any software at all to make them work. You can even see them with the naked eye.

Disappointment Number 2 is the Airport Lounge. Once before when I was lucky enough to fly business class, which gets you into the Lounge, there was a darkened section, which had sleeping benches and blankets, and big massage chairs. Mmmmmm. I was sooo looking forward to those. All gone. No dark area at all. No sleeping benches. No massage chairs. No oriental splendour. Just crowds of people, almost down to the United lounge at Los Angeles level... Sigh! Where are the glory days of yore? At least the seats on the plane will allow a bit of sleep, I think.

Much later. We eschewed the next meal at 3 am our time. It took a long time to push back as there were electrical problems. By half past we were ready. My seat refused to recline and I approached hysteria, but the crew member fixed it for me. Ah, the wonders of being able to lie flat (almost) and sleep in one's cocoon. (Sorry, people, but I have done the hard yards of economy for years and years and years. I'm over that!) The arrangement isn't quite long enough for Michael, but he appeared to sleep. Time passed. I dreamed of Alex's (my neighbour at home) milkweed trees and clouds of small monarch butterflies and bicycle riders riding into them in the morning sunshine. So I knew I had slept. We are anow an hour or so out of Athens. We had our breakfast. Fruit, including a Cape Gooseberry. Eggs with hollndaise, spinach, tomato, potato, chicken sausage. Good coffee. It is just over eleven hours from Singapore to Athens. Local Sydney time is 1.30 pm so we have been on the go for 24 hours. It is beginning to get light outside - dawn is dawning. We feel rested. Ready for a new day.

And what a struggle it was to talk Katester into going Business Class, but I prevailed. Yes, almost flat, but about two inches too short so pressure on my feet. Yes, I did attain unconsciousness but no sweet dreams of the Tour de Herbert Street with bicycles among the monarch butterflies and neighbor Alex's crops.

The only hitch was the delayed takeoff from Singapore while the power was turned off so a light bulb could be changed. Maybe 45 minutes of sitting. Yet the landing announcement says we will be early by 5 minutes.

I must remember to tell Julie that Waterpipes (the computer game) was on KrisWorld - it was where we first encountered it years and years ago - 1988?

7th October, 2007

Got organised around the house. Changed the sheets, washed, final packing and list checking. Mum came around to bid us farewell. Showered, breakfasted. Read the papers. Tapped feet. Michael snoozed in a sunbeam. Walked The Pug again. Lisa (housesitter) arrived at just after 1 pm, and I booked a taxi online. The cab arrived very promptly - a good service. Majic seemed happy to see Lisa! We bade our farewells to Lisa and Majic. We sure do hope she manages with him OK, he is a bit of a Crazy Pug and quite a handful. Loads of energy, and a bit loopy.

Smooth and effortless checking of the luggage and we sailed through customs. We ignored all the duty free. It is wonderful to be free of all those vices. Cigaretttes, alcohol, perfume and cosmetics hold no allure. I tried to buy some slide film to supplement the three rolls I have with me. That experience made me feel like a dinosaur. None was to be had in the three places (in Sydney Airport) that I tried. Singapore Airport is my next chance. Perhaps this is our last batch of slides and a digital camera is next.

We enjoyed the bounty of the Singapore Airlines Kris Lounge - sandwiches, cheese, fruit, little cakes. Worked on the NY Times Sunday Puzzle, by Nancy Salomon and Harvey Estes. Old friends.

We are, this minute, sitting in seats 22 H & K, bulkhead seats. We have just over seven hours to go. It is comfortable, we have much leg room and are perfectly happy. Michael is dispensing "Planes and Trains and Cars" instead of Blinky Bills (lollies) in honour of our travelling status.

Yep! We got push back from the gate and took off right on time. Now four hours later and we are still flying over Australia. I had beef cheek for lunch. Too strong a flavor for me - almost gamey. The dish came from the chef at Aria, so it was an easy way to sample Aria's cuisine. Finished reading The Laughing Policeman, Martin Beck who never smiles. Total flight time of 7 hours and 25 minutes.

I had green curry duck - a bit too fatty but pretty good. I've been enjoying my tatting with dreams of entering the Royal Easter Show. I'm doing a second placemat. If I finish that I will have two placemats. I may continue on and do more, and even have dreams of joining them together to make a tablecloth, but if I stop then at least I have something useful. The pattern is the one in the centre of my blog header, above. I watched John Travolta in Hairspray which was very jolly and perfect airline watching. No deep moments at all, lots of singing.

We are now almost over Indonesia and are about to be fed again. Noodles. Will report later.

It is dark outside and according to Michael's TV we have 2 hrs 15 mins to go. Looking forward to the massage chairs in the airport lounge. Wondering how our little dog is getting on with Lisa. Our business class "amenity kit" was just socks. Earphones are excellent, noise reducing. The bathroom contained toothbrush kits and shaving kits. I am never flying economy again!

We are now close to landing in Singapore, local time 9.00 pm. Elevent pm home time, and the body clock is telling me it is getting to be snooze time.

I just realised that I had left my mobile phone on for the entire journey so hope we will be landing in the right place!!! I wonder they don't have sensors for this kind of thing. Must not forget to find some slide film.

6th October 2007

Introduction
Yes, we have entered a time warp. We have been away in Greece for a few weeks, having a wonderful time. Many trips ago we started keeping a travel diary - on PAPER! This time I have decided to transcribe the diary into my blog. It is just too hard to try and blog while away - Internet is available, but it is so much easier to just write stuff down with a pen in the paper diary. Sometimes I think that people watching us might think we are deaf-mutes! I write my thoughts, he grabs the diary and reads, then responds. I grab it back (no, really we are quite polite about it..) and write again. We might not talk much, but we do write quite a bit.

My convention will be to enter things pretty much as we wrote them, but I will add or edit where I see fit, and of course will add photographs. To begin with the photos will be from the little digital camera, and Michael has taken most of those. I specialise in slides which are being developed now. I will scan them and add them to the blog retrospectively if I get around to it.

My diary entries will be in standard script. Michael's are in Arial Blue.

Here we go.

6th October, 2007

It is a Saturday evening. Mum is here for dinner, on our last night before we leave for Greece. We are packed and ready. Packing lists are so helpful! We have our guidebooks, plus Michael's Red Folder. We are ready for Lisa, our house and Majic-sitter. Instructions have been compiled and printed. Majic has been told, but we are not sure he has taken it in yet.

Tonight's menu includes oysters, and Greek New Cuisine-inspired snapper. Stuffed banana chili with rosemary along with asparagus and fried snapper. It was delicious. Lightly floured and deep fried, then into the oven. The oysters were divine. We watched Iron Chef, then took Mum home and romped The Boy.

My behind?



Oh, you mean I am going to be LEFT BEHIND! REALLY!!!

I'm feeling pretty chipper!

For some time now I have been perfecting my chip technique. My mother and husband have been very supportive in this endeavour, and if chips are even mildly hinted at they are suddenly on the menu. They are easy to cook, and can be prepared well in advance. The final cooking time is only three minutes.

Last night's effort was the best ever, so I feel I should share my secrets with you, my loyal readers.

1. Deal with the potatoes. I use three potatoes for three people, and they all get eaten! Old potatoes are required, and I don't know that it really matters what variety. Peel them, then cut them into chips. Although I have a chipping blade on the food processor (which I have used), hand cut chips are better. Cut them not too fat, and plenty of little fragments to crisp up. Soak these in cold water for as long as you like, but at least half an hour. I haven't tried iced water so don't know if it makes any difference.

2. Heat the oil to its hottest in your deep fryer. I wouldn't dream of using a wok or saucepan full of oil. I am deeply scared of deep fat and the only way I feel comfortable using it is in the deep fryer. I use that deep fryer for a lot of things these days. Note: Remove the wire basket BEFORE you heat the oil. Too often I have forgotten to...

3. Dry the chips in a tea towel. Pat them as dry as possible. Water and hot oil aren't a good combination. Put them in the wire basket you have thoughtfully removed while the oil is heating.

4. Plunge the chips into the oil, and put the lid on. Fry for 5 minutes, using a timer. Remove, and allow to sit until you are ready for the next stage. I let them sit on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

5. Let the oil heat up again, and do whatever else you need to do around dinner. Plunge the chips back into the oil for three minutes. Use tongs to stir them up a bit, making sure they aren't stuck together. Three minutes should get them golden and crispy.

6. Turn them out of the wire basket onto the baking paper (or greaseproof paper) and sprinkle with salt.

The baking paper is MUCH better than kitchen towel. Absorbent kitchen paper seems to hold the steam and make the chips soggy. Greaseproof or baking paper is a major element in succesful, crisp chips.

So who want to come over?

Everything is shiny!

A while ago I reported on the stove doors, and how we had taken them to be re-nickeled around the edges of the enamel. They have returned! We are thrilled with the result, the stove looks so very spiffy now. And in honour of their new shininess, I spent some time polishing all the copper cookware. If you look closely you can see my reflection as I take the photo, especially in the big bowl. The next thing might be to replace the peeling green paint with some cream paint. The original owners would be pleased.

Learning new social behaviours from Majic

When it is a nice day and we have free time, we like to explore the nooks and crannies of Sydney. We hop in the car and explore a new suburb. "Hey, how about Bexley North today" or "Have we ever been to Yagoona? What's there?" There is always something there, wherever that it. A specialty food store, a park, or both! Yesterday was glorious, and we had the time. What about Cronulla? Indeed, what about Cronulla. Off we went. We almost had Cronulla and Wanda Beaches to ourselves, and Majic did some Crazy Pug in the sand, and took lessons in being a Digger Pug. He is not a Swimmer Pug though, and was a little concerned at the waves when they came nipping at his heels. The water was clear and beautiful, with gentle waves. I wish I'd had my togs!

After the beach we explored the reserve behind, where once there were huge sand dunes. There are still some dunes left after years of sand mining. I imagine much of Sydney was built using sand extracted from here. It was very interesting. I had my camera with me and took lots of pics. The camera is my non-digital SLR with slide film, so we must accept delayed gratification picture-wise, or follow the links to the pcitures and surf-cam I have thoughtfully included.

What is the point of the title of this entry? As we were walking in the reserve, we encountered a group of schoolchildren. Maybe 13-14 years?? Majic knows no fear, and expects everyone to love him. Mostly they do. This group was no exception. As soon as he saw them he fixed a big smile to his face, set his ears and tail to their most friendly settings, and trotted up to them. Soon he was surrounded by a group of admirers, all of them trying to pat him. They managed to read his name tag, so there were coos and squeals of Majic! Majic! I looked over and saw him lying on his back, paws waving happily in the air as they scratched his tummy and chucked him under the chin. Bliss! We just laughed and laughed.

The new model of social behaviour is this: look happy, rush up to people and expect them to adore you, and lie on your back with your legs in the air. Ummm, maybe not!

Post script

Oh yes, the cleaning lady LOVES it - took delivery this morning.

Hat mandala

I love Mary Rowe's book on Knitted Tams. I borrowed it from a friend, and knitted up the first tam which I wear a lot. I used leftover sock wool for that one. My mother liked it a lot, and asked me to make her one too. So I did, with a slightly different design. You see the result in the top left of my blog's banner. Then I bought my own copy of the book. I knew I was hooked on knitting tams.

My cleaning lady spotted one of them and liked it a lot. She asked whether I would make one for her daughter, and offered to pay. She said she would like bright colours, and I was inspired. I trotted off to Tapestry Craft and bought five balls of wool. Pale blue, dark blue, purple, white and red. Much reviewing of patterns ensued, and I worried about the combinations. I finally opted for four of the colours, and chose the two border patterns and the central wheel pattern.

They don't take long to make - only a couple of weeks, and that interspersed with boring black sock knitting. The four colours presented a slight challenge, especially when all four appeared in the same round. Two colours around each hand plus five needles meant that a small dog jumping in my lap could lead to catastrophe.

You never really know what a tam pattern is going to look like until it is properly blocked (involves being washed, then stretched to dry over a large dinner plate.) I am just thrilled with the result.

This is a side view before blocking. You can see the border OXO pattern quite nicely here.



And this is a view of the top with its second border pattern (a garland) and the central wheel pattern. It is just lovely, and I am almost tempted to whip up another one immediately. They don't take much wool either, so I have lots left to try all kinds of different patterns and combinations.



It is much more exciting than boring black sock knitting. The man likes his winter black Patonyle ribbed socks and has requested more. Not patterns? Not colours? No, exactly what he has. So I have a stock of ten balls of trusty black Patonyle and I will continue knitting clones of these socks until I run out of wool. He has VERY large feet, so I don't know how many socks I will achieve. These will be my veggie knitting for a long time.

Majic the Pug graduates

Majic the Pug was awarded not one but TWO degrees yesterday. He was first awarded his Certificate stating completion of the Basic On-lead dog obedience program, and then his Intermediate On-lead dog obedience program.

It entailed ten weeks of going to Glebe Bicentennial Park on Saturday afternoons. The class started quite large, but by the end there were only four of us: Pierre the Black Standard Poodle, Cassie the German Shepherd, Bella the white fluffball, and Majic the Pug.

There were, I gather, about 19 of these obedience classes held around the City of Sydney, and ours was deemed the best. (Is that what they tell all the participants?) We were videoed doing Our Stuff for the Hanrob website, and we will post the link when it appears. We also had photos taken on our penultimate class. Alas, Bella the Fluffball was absent that day, but here are Cassie, Majic and Pierre in a sit/stay.



And here is the class photo, with the Council Organiser, Tanja, second from the left.



We didn't plan to do BOTH the basic and intermediate, but we were offered the opportunity. As we were all enjoying it, we took it up. Intermediate involves being able to sit, stay, down, walking around while the dog stays, interacting in a calm way with the other dogs, come, and various other bits and pieces. Majic can do them all. He can walk on the lead OK while we are in school perfectly well!

Am I pleased with him? You betcha.

Responsibility for an old house

Our house is nearly a hundred years old. We are fortunate that it had never been "renovated" in the fifties, sixties, nor even the seventies. Maybe not even the eighties! When we moved in it had maybe two powerpoints, an outdoor loo, and ALL its original features. Those features include three fireplaces with their tiles and timber surrounds, pressed metal ceilings, timber fretwork, kauri floorboards, and more. Over the seventeen years we have been here we have done all the basics. New bathroom (indoor loo). A zillion powerpoints (never enough). New kitchen. Underpinning so the house doesn't fall over. A squillion dollars hurled up into the roof (slate), into the floorboards (what a saga THAT was!) and underneath the house (plumbing, and more.) It makes it comfortable for us, but it also preserves the house for its future, after we have shuffled off. The house will still be here, and we want to leave it structurally sound and in good condition.

One of the quaintest of its original features is the original stove. Metters was an Erskineville-based company, and it is appropriate that we have a Metters stove. Many will remember the gas version, the Early Kooka. This well predates that. When we moved it it was still its slow-combustion version. It has spare doors, all its bits like the hotplate hook to lift up the cast-iron hotplates. It has all kinds of little covers and bits and pieces.

I was familiar with slow-combustion stoves from my teenage years. These cool days remind me of how pleasant it was to lean against the Aga, and how my mother would have to shove aside kids and dogs to get the cooking done. When we moved in, I lit it. Whooosh! There was no way I could damp it down, there was too much air getting through no matter how I adjusted it. And really, a slow combustion stove in the middle of the city is a big hassle. Remove the stove? No way. A compromise was reached. A friend helped to organise the making of a gas burner to sit in the fire box. You can see the fittings on the right, coming up through the ashbox. It can now be lit with a simple match or lighter, and with the doors flung wide, it is a wonderful heater.



As we look at things to be done about the house, we have often thought about this stove. The nickel plating surrounding the two enamel doors (Metters, and Bega No. 2) was flaking off and looking decidedly tatty. Not knowing it was nickel, we assumed it was Chrome, and Michael became Chrome-Magnon Man. He hassled me into hunting around for re-platers. I called a couple, then we decided on a visit to Astor Metal Plating at Villawood. We bundled the two doors into the car and set out. Villawood is quite a long way away, so we planned another adventure while out that way.

We dropped off the doors, to the amusement/amazement of the proprietors. I don't think they'd seen anything like that for a while! The man in charge said that they had clearly been nickeled before 1925, and I shall ask him about that when we pick the doors up in a couple of weeks. We are excited to see them!

While out that way, we decided to go to Holland. Out in the industrial wastelands of Smithfield there is a Dutch Canal House, called Holland House. Also see here for pictures. It has a Dutch food section in the front where you can buy any kind of liquorice you like, herring, smoked speck, cocoa, Indonesian spices, Delft china, wooden clogs, Dutch tea towels, records (yes, vinyl) and CDs, and so much more. A room behind is a cafe, dark, persian carpets as tablecloths, copper hanging from dark beams, and croquettes on the menu. A third cave is a kind of furniture store with heavy oak furniture and more Delft china. It is one of Sydney's little jewels So unexpected to see a Canal House in the middle of this featureless, ugly, industrial area. We bought some food items, we ate lunch there, we explored the furniture.

A very successful outing.

Living up to my daughter's expectations

Seeing my daughter's blog showing her elevated status as a Master of the English Language, I thought it only appropriate to see whether I lived up to her expectations of her parents. So of course I went and did the same quiz. This was my result:

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.
Take this quiz!








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The daughter is good, but she still has a way to go to reach God (aka Mother) status. Tee hee hee! Who said I was competitive??? And who said I was a grammar pedant? I promise I looked nothing up.....

Celebrity mother

Ever since I can remember there has been the tale of the mysterious Indian blood in my mother's side of the family. Story has it that there was an old family photo with an Indian Chief in it. We do have slanty deep set eyes, so who knows if there is any truth in it? When I did my celebrity lookalike a couple of posts ago I turned up a Korean actor. When Julie did hers, she turned up a Chinese actor. Why not do your mother? suggested Julie. So here they are. The first photo is of her aged around 28, and the second around 17.




No Asians there, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is there! How cool is THAT! And that photo of Ginger Rogers is very similar. My favourite, however, is John D. Rockerfeller - can YOU see the similarity???

On to the younger photo,




One Asian face there. Isn't this a fun way to spend time on a rainy day?

All over the place like a dog's breakfast

And what a breakfast it is. Here is the story of Majic's breakfast this morning.

First, he sits patiently while I prepare the bowls. One red bowl each for us, and the two white bowls for him. See how patient he is, while all is being prepared?



Why TWO bowls for him? Let's look a little closer and see what is in each of those bowls:


On the left we have puppy biscuits. I won't name the brand, but it is an expensive one. On the right we have pawpaw, banana, and plain yoghurt. But wait - do dogs eat fruit? Ooh yes. Majic eats fruit salad every morning, and apart from grapes (which are toxic to dogs) he eats every kind of fruit.

I am going to put them both on the floor together, and see which one he eats first, or whether he goes from one to the other.

Here goes:


Yup - the fruit first. And a few seconds later he's still at the fruit:



Still at the fruit, he hasn't even looked at the biscuits yet:



Ooops, spilled a few bits, better go and get those:



Are you SURE there are no stray chunks of pawpaw or banana left? OK, if you are POSITIVE, I guess I'll eat the biscuits now.


Man, it's a dog's life!

Celebrity lookalikes - me?

Thanks, Witty Knitter, for some good time-wasting fun on the public holiday. I went to the face site she posted about and selected a recent photo of me not smiling. Here is the result:



Patrick Swayze??? Consuelo Velasquez>? Who are these celebrities? And because this is addictive, I tried one smiling:



Yes, public holidays are fun.. now to go and look up Bae Yong-jun.

Knitting and beading - some experiments

I am experimenting with another necklace. A couple of years ago I did an experimental piece of beaded knitting - just fourteen stitches, and some strung beads. The silver and purple beads had been strung on red crochet cotton to a pattern which had been designed for a crochet rope, but for some reason it just didn't want to be crocheted. That knitting experiment worked out well - there was a kind of design in the necklace, but nothing really recognisable. I knitted the fourteen stitches back and forth, and the long strip kinda curled in on itself. I sewed on a clasp and a necklace was born. It was lovely, and I gave it to a good friend. I liked it so much I made another exactly the same, and kept it. Every time I wear it someone comments on it.


I've been thinking about more bead knitting, and bought a couple of how-to books by Julia Pretl.

I bought some rayon thread to experiment with, and strung alternating black and
white 2-cut beads. They have a lovely sparkle to them. The black ones were left over from a project - a long crochet lariat rope which I wear a lot. The white/rainbow ones I bought in Hastings, Nebraska, on our last visit there. I wanted to knit in the round, so I bought some 1.25 mm double pointed needles from Crochet Australia. The plan was to knit a tube of 11 stitches with the beads alternating in a checkerboard pattern.

Well, knitting on those tiny needles in the round just proved impossible. They were too slippery, there were too few stitches, nothing seemed to go right. I persevered for quite a while, and
didn't like the result. The beads wouldn't stay on the right side despite using the beaded knitting stitch - what Julia Pretl calls the Eastern stitch (needle through the back of the knit stitch, yarn over and around clockwise, bead up and through). The needles kept slipping out of their stitches. I am more patient and persistent than most people, but this was too much.

Next I tried Julia Pretl's double sided knitting. I've done that for a hem in wool before, so I know what to do. Knit, then slip, so you are knitting a tube, but on two needles.

That didn't work either. The slipped stitch made the whole thing too tight to push the bead through. My temper began to fray and I thought I would try one more thing before giving up on knitting and using the beaded crochet technique to make them into a rope.

I took up a pair of knobbed 1.25 needles, cast on 14 stitches and started the usual knit one row (bead knitting) purl one row. I am very happy with this. The way the beads slant in opposite directions, the way they catch the light. Yes, this will work. The piece is beginning to curl over on itself, which will make a nice necklace.



What a learning experience, but frustrating.

I have some lovely silk (thank you daughter, for that birthday present...) for my next project, and some black/red/white cross stitch charted patterns. I have plenty of black and white 2-cuts and might buy some red ones, or another highlight colour. I have nebulous plans to create a patterned knitted silk beaded evening bag with a crochet rope handle. I wonder if I could do THAT in the round, with more stitches and double pointed needles? Hmmm, might do some more experimenting. Knitting in the round might not give the same back and forth slant to the beads.... I wonder..... stay tuned.

How much do I love that doggie?

For ages I have been thinking of baking dog biscuits. Yes, you heard me. I already cook his food and freeze it. The last batch contained quinoa and lentils along with pasta, vegetables and meat. He does very well on it, as did The Great Jonty. However, he gets a very small serving of dry dog food every morning, before his fruit salad and yoghurt.

Reading about the terrible events with contaminated dog food in the US recently galvanized me into action this morning. The first stop was Ozpugs to find some suitable recipes. Yup, there was plenty of inspiration. I gathered the ingredients.

Firstly, some fish stock because we had a whole kingfish recently and had the head and bones. I used some of that to soak about two cups of rolled oats, along with some butter. (Thought about lard, thought about oil, went for the butter this time.)

Mixed that with about a cup and a half of yellow cornmeal, two or three cups of wholemeal flour, two eggs, quite a bit of grated cheese, and two tablespoons of honey.

Mixed it all up in the trusty Kitchen Aid, rolled it out, cut it up, and baked them. No, I do not have a pug-shaped biscuit cutter nor a bone shaped one. Truly, I didn't think he would care what shape the bisuits were!

They came out looking pretty good. Actually, they tasted pretty darned good too! I have to confess I had more than one. Here they are on their cooling rack:



There was much interest from The Pug. It doesn't matter whether I think they tasted OK, what did the dog think? Here comes the acid test.....



Hooray! He likes them! He ate rather more than one or two, and is eager to continue the tast-testing. I shall ration them, and he can have a few for breakfast instead of ground-up chicken heads dry dog biscuits.

Have I just made another rod for my own back? Of course, but that's what having a pet is all about. I wonder if he would like peanut-butter parmesan snaps?

Characters we have met

Majic is a bit of a nervous nellie. He isn't barking or going crazy at his reflection in parked cars any more, but taking him up to the Big Road with Lots of Traffic is often too much for him. When the beeper goes as the pedestrian light changes he lurches out into the road, strangles himself with his check chain and generally goes berserk. Instead of going that way, then, I take him on a much quieter route. We go the same way every time, as I think it might be calming for him.

On the way we have encountered some interesting people. On a small road next to the railway line there are two particularly interesting ones, living three doors apart.

The Woman on the Bed

This is our first encounter, if you can call it that. A small white single storey terrace. The door is almost always open, whether it be really early morning, middle of the day, evening, whatever. There isn't much furniture. As I can see right into the front room I see a pile of telephone books, and a bed on the wall opposite the door. There is a woman there, on the bed. It is hard to tell how old she is - she is plump and shapeless and dresses very drably - trakkies, I guess, indeterminate. She is almost always there. She must get up and go to the loo sometimes, but rarely do I see an empty bed or a closed door. Sometimes she is reading, or doing a crossword puzzle (I think.) Sometimes she is asleep. One morning about two weeks ago I got a real surprise. She was up! Standing! Outside!!! She was putting something in her bin, which was in the front. "Good morning" I said. She looked shocked. Majic and I were moving fast, so I don't know whether she acknowledged the greeting - she may have done. The Morning Report now includes a note about whether the Woman on the Bed was there, and whether there was anything noteworthy about her that day.

The Lady with Two Hearts

Three doors along lives another elderly woman, probably Italian. She is like our neighbour Alex, in that she is a pack rat. Her front garden is FULL of stuff - old paint tins with plants, plastic bottles, all arranged neatly. I've glimpsed inside and there is more of the same. Sometimes she is at her upper window (this is a two storey terrace) leaning out, shaking her head sadly. Sometimes she is very friendly and wants to talk, particularly to the dog, who jumps up and squiggles and behaves like the happy puppy he is. On one of these occasions she talked at length about dogs she had had in the past, German Shepherds, I think. This morning she also wanted to tell me about all her operations. The jumper went up to show me the big scar on her abdomen. Then one shoulder pulled across to show where her second heart had been removed. Huh? She repeated this several times, explaining about her second heart, and did I understand? No, I didn't understand. Majic and I went our merry way.

Stand back, I'm in a RAGE

No, it isn't something Majic has done. Even though he DID get at the ball of wool again and he DID chew the knitting needles up. I can forgive him that. What I cannot forgive is ineptitude when it comes to restaurants.

My beloved and I like to have lunch together on Fridays. That's my day off, and he can often do a bit of relaxing that day too. Sometimes we do lunch mid-week, and that's usually a King Street eatery where we can meet half way between home and the University.

Fridays, though, we like to go on an excursion. The seaside often beckons. We used to love The Pavilion at Maroubra Beach. It is a fabulous spot, the food was good, the service pretty good, the prices not bad. But then they went up market. The prices increased, and the ambience changed completely. The last time we were there the snazzy new refit made the noise levels increase tenfold. It was crowded, and it was deafening. Sorry to say it got crossed off our list, very sadly. It was such a wonderful spot.

Another expedition is the Boatshed at La Perouse. Haven't tried that for quite a while, but the food is really good there.

Today we went back to a place we've tried before - the Seasalt Kiosk and Restaurant at Clovelly. Great spot, overlooking the beach. We've eaten there once before. It was cold and raining and windy - the restaurant was not at its best. The food was OK, but we were cold and damp. We tried to eat there another time, but there was a function there and too crowded, we couldn't get in.

Today we were in luck. A glorious day. Time to ourselves. We got a good table, the menus came. Michael ordered a Croque Monsieur (a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, really.) Sorry, they were out. OK, the special sandwich of the day then for him, a salad for me, and a plate of chips to share. Drinks - my current favourite, Limonata.

The drinks came. The chips came. The drinks were drunk. The chips were eaten (no tomato sauce....) Nothing else. Forty five minutes after we had sat down, I asked where the rest of our food was. "Did you order?" said one of the very many pretty young waitresses who had paid us not one scrap of attention the entire time we had sat there. "Yes, we have ordered" I snapped. She went off to check.

"Oh so sorry" she came back a few seconds later. "There is a problem with the order and it didn't get through to the kitchen. They are doing it for you right now!"

"FORGET IT" I said, "WE'VE HAD ENOUGH AND WE ARE GETTING OUT OF HERE." (Well, we hadn't had enough to EAT...). They didn't charge us for the drinks nor the chips. "It is in the computer, but it didn't print out...." said the girl behind the till. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR EXCUSE IS" I said, rather emphatically.

As we left, one of the pretty young waitresses smiled sweetly and said "thanks, bye bye!" I just pushed past her. I was in no mood for pleasantries.

Mistakes happen, of course. But the thing that really got me was the number of "service" people who didn't seem to notice that we had nothing but a bowl of chips, didn't ask how our meal was, didn't notice our weary droop as the hour ticked by, didn't notice our increasinly surly looks and body language.

Alas, another seaside restaurant is off our list of Friday getaways.

One day I'll have another whinge about a Newtown eatery we have walked out of after having had the menu but no order taken for over half an hour on a very quiet lunchtime. We call it the Urban Crypt, and look for the skeletons sitting at the tables waiting for food to come.

OK. That's enough. Where is the fire extinguisher for this keyboard...

Now I have to go and order some more knitting needles to replace the chewed ones. What a cute and loveable dog.