Dailies: Solo crumbles, morning-picked tomatoes, family outings, a lot of scorched toast

Saturday 15 February

It’s so cool this morning! What an absolute treat. The hot weather has been wearing everyone out, pets included. Autumn can not arrive soon enough, and I’m quite tempted to go for a walk in the cemetery this morning and see what the leaves are doing. I think they might turn early this year? 

This morning’s habit bundle was done in a trice, then I made a couple of slices of Vegemite toast and some tea. Eldest son had made a pot of coffee when I ventured back to the kitchen so I will have a cup of that in my ‘Horace cup’ soon too.

I spent some time on my Feedly reader, catching up on my favourite blogs, and then I watched this gentle and helpful video by Ella Smyth and then this one too. I also did some knitting (a jumper for a little baby) which is going well.

I had a quiet day as I’ve been feeling especially ungood the last week or so. Never mind. Things always change, friends.

Dinner was leftover sausages with napoli sauce and bowtie pasta. That felt like nursery food and I liked it a lot. So comforting and easy to eat. 

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Monday 17 February

I had to put an extra quilt on my bed last night. It’s cold! Of course it won’t last (for now) but we all needed the break to catch our breath and stop that ‘running a marathon all day long’ feeling from consuming us. The dogs snuggled extra close and extra cutely and my feet were super pleased to be slipped into snug slippers when I got up.

Yesterday was a quiet one. I rested and ate nourishing things and sent my Feeling A Bit Sh*t newsletter out and watched telly. I wanted to garden but I’m resting my hands in the hope that when I do get into the weeds again, they won’t get too hive-y. Blerk. I spent a lot of time talking to my sister about our worries which was hard but good to get out, I suppose. 

A little stack of perfectly scorched Vegemite toast was the order of the morn. Plus a cup of tea and some reading on my Feedly reader. (I am so glad Valentine’s Day and all the themed stories about it are over! I like it for those who do, but it’s not for spinster me.)

Above: Crumble for One with a side of Bad Sisters

Today I am going to see Youngest Kid for a little visit and then I’ll come home and make … soup, I think. Perhaps a loaf of bread in the bread machine. I’m a sucker for the magic of appliances, even though I know I can make a prettier loaf without the machine I love the alchemy of putting all the ingredients in and turning it on, leaving it to hum and whizz by itself and coming back to a perfectly shaped and comforting cube of bread. True ta-dah!

It’s going to be 22 degrees today, friends. Hmmm. What to wear for this cooler weather? I have almost forgotten … Maybe a dress and leggings? I need to be super comfy because not feeling well/in pain.

Getting dressed: Floral cotton long-sleeved dress (bought years ago on ebay in several colours – it’s the same as this one), leggings, tangerine and lime socks, Merry People pink boots

After that I watched a gentle YouTube video until it was time to go out. 

Above: Op Shopped Tea Towel

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Good Stuff

How to grow what you eat and eat what you grow.
Keeley Hawes knows how to make a fabulously weird (nursery food) sandwich.
This trinket-filled home is a feast for the eyes.
Madeleine’s Tofu Noodle Stirfry looks delish.
I love this idea – Books I’ve read because of other books.
Little actions can help at a time like this.
A little bit of Wordsworth for your day?
Roxane Gay’s beautiful tribute to her late mother.
This textile-focused podcast sounds like a good one.
Everyone needs to know about Berit Ternell.
Here’s what’s on Oprah’s Book Club list.
Some people are such genius and natural quilters, aren’t they? “Each day is a four patch.” <- could not love this more. Am doing.
Gorgeous photos of Jean Shrimpton.
In praise of dungarees.
How to keep a nature diary.
Just a charming old school blog post about a charming outing.
Top five costume films set in the early 18th century.
Goodness, look at all these dahlias.
Very Coburg wallpaper. Found via Lonny.
Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea pitas.
Have you seen this knitted hooded scarf yet? (Hurry up autumn!)
A new recipe for tomato focaccia for us all to try.
Very very pretty chintzy interiors.
Sally’s Blackberry Tart looks incredible.
The always interesting Miss Moss shared a work-out mixtape.
Gosh. (Insert heart-eyes emoji)  First Winter at the Homestead.
This incredible embroidery is incredible. Incredible!
Chocolate Croissant Overnight Casserole.
Caramelised Aubergine and Lentil Ragu.

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Above: Op shopped books – the bottom photo shows some ephemera that was in The Tale of the Tales.

Tuesday 18th February

Friends? We had fish and chips for dinner last night. Well. I had a Chiko Roll rather than fish because I am a monster. We nipped up to the F&C shop and ordered from the elderly couple, then bought some wine and a Rasperry UDL (my adverse reactions to alcohol have disappeared!), collected our order and came back home to eat an early dinner and watch TV. (We is Eldest Son and myself.)

This morning I was having some good dreams for a change, so I stretched my wake-up time to 7.30 and made the most of them. Usually I have nightmares because … medication, life, etc. Good dreams have been absent from my life for a very, very long time. Perhaps this means things are going to improve in the coming months? How ace would that be?!

I skipped breakfast today because I am going to yumcha with my eldest. She’s on maternity leave at last, so we are trying to do some little things together before the baby comes. How nice is that? It’s the last time in our lives that things will be this way. That feels like a precious thing to know.

As usual I worked through my morning habit bundle, then made a cup of tea, watched some gentle YouTubes and then had a coffee to try to wake myself up a little more. It did not work. It was delicious, regardless.

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“Take risks… Force myself to think for two pages per day… Don’t scatter myself… Don’t hurry, but work two hours per day, genius or not, even if I believe that it will come to nothing, and confide in someone who will criticize me and take me seriously.” – Simone de Beauvoir via

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Above: Yum Cha with Rin (we all it MumCha)

Friday 21 February

Ruh-oh. A few days out of the usual schedule there. It seems that when I have a social thing during the day it’s home and straight to rest up. And this week I needed to do social things. So no other activities for me.

Annnyway. That’s done and done and I am back to quiet days at home, so hopefully I can have time to do some writing. Without it I feel a bit adrift, so fingers crossed for home days.

It’s going to be hot today, so it’s the perfect day to hunker down (as is tomorrow). I’m taking my full gamut of supplements, drinking water, eating nourishing food, resting, hoping to feel a bit better very soon.  I’m going to catch up on the new series of Survivor Australia, too.

I watered the garden very well, prepping for the hot days ahead and snapping a cherry tomato off the vine as I did. Is there anything nicer than a morning-picked cherry tomato? In that moment, no. I’ve had kilos and kilos of them this year. Too many to eat for the first time ever. This year I will know to plant fewer plants and I’m going to make a fresh bed for them, build it up with organic material in the winter and early spring, and plant them out as soon as the frost has gone. That’s the plan, anyway. The cosmos seedlings I planted are all doing well and some other seedlings from a wildflower mix are popping up too, so it’ll be a sort of floral lucky dip by April, I am hoping.

Above: A little view of Preston Market, looking down to my favourite pastry shop.

My library books are overdue and I really want to finish Lost Lake before I return it. Sorry if you are waiting for it after me. I just never seem to race through a book these days, as much as I want to. I do try though.

I did a little bit of tidying and now I am going to rest for a while and hopefully do some writing later on today. Wish me luck. 

Also? I made this ragu on Wednesday afternoon (using chuck steak from Coburg Market) and it was delicious the next day on penne (for me) and GF spaghetti (for Middle Kid). If you eat meat you might like it … or you could try this plant based ragu which looks amazing.

I bought a leg of lamb at the Preston Market yesterday so we are going to have that for dinner and pretend the weather is not the opposite of what it should be to best enjoy a roast.

This week my brain has been so full of worry (mum’s still in hospital) and trying to see the people in my life without flaking out with ME exhaustion and fibro pain. There’s hardly been a moment to just be and think about the creative things I want to be doing. I feel a bit lost, to be honest, but I know this is temporary. Still. It weighs on me and feels like it’s not temporary … and then that adds to the worry. 

 

Above: Kaffe Fassett Family Album knitting book found at the Sacred Heart Op Shop for $1.

So glad I have a quiet day today to try and restore some order and be alone with my thoughts, because it’s those things that allow me to return to my body when things have been fraught and flyaway. I had hoped that these months before Rinn’s baby comes would be blissfully boring and focused mostly on her and her little family, but it hasn’t turned out that way. I guess it’s a lot to ask for a good chunk of blissful boring anyway. I need to be glad of the snippets of goodness, especially because they are precious in their scarcity at the moment. (Do you ever wonder why life insists on being so roller-coastery? I know I do. Harumph.)

This afternoon, while I was putting the roast on, Nigella was on the TV. I love nothing more than cooking while watching TV and it was a particularly good episode about food and family, which you know I am all about. She name-checked a book by Stephanie and one by Mimi Sheraton (I have both of these) and it got me thinking (once again) about my family’s foodie history, what my kids might remember me for in the kitchen and what I might be cooking down the track as a real life GRANNY. I’m going to write about some of this on Wallflower Cordial, I think. 

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Saturday 22nd February

It made it to 36 degrees today which means yet another day bunkering down inside against the heat. Only a few more weeks and the heat will be gone at last. I know you know I can not wait.

I did not leave the house. I cut out a bunch of squares for yet another patchwork quilt, sewed a bunch into pairs and then into sets of four. This was mostly done in a sort of self-imposed darkness with the blinds pulled and a lamp to light the cutting mat, in the hopes of keeping the heat out for as long as possible. I watched an episode of Lucy Worsley’s Agatha Christie show (while I was cutting patchwork squares) and realised I needed to rewatch because I want to concentrate on it. Then I watched Bad Sisters Season Two while I snipped and sewed and that was a good decision. The second season is good, right? I mean, a little bit hard to believe some of the decisions made, but still a lot of fun to watch.

I made Bubble and Squeak for dinner, with the leftovers from yesterday’s roast lamb. I also made a jar of crumble mix to keep in the fridge. I just eyeballed it with oats, butter, flour, brown sugar (add coconut or nuts if you like … I didn’t) and pulsed it together in the food processor. Then for a one-person crumble you just tumble some raspberries (blueberries or blackberries if you prefer … or tinned fruit) into an oven safe single serve bowl, add crumble mix, bake for 20 mins at 200C/400F, serve with ice cream.

Getting dressed: Just PJs all day due to staying in and hiding from heat.

I also read a little bit of Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, the first book of Simone de Beauvoir’s autobiography (prompted by The Marginalian) and that was also a good decision. Such colourful and evocative writing. High recommend (so far!)

I also watched this old Australian Story about Stephanie Wood and men with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And this more recent episode about Hannah Grundy and a group of women impacted by deepfake images and online abuse by men. I really felt it when one woman said “this fire of vitality that I always had just got put out” (… as a result of  a man/men’s actions. Both episodes are pretty heavy going, so don’t wade in if you are feeling fragile.)

Above: Little Women vintage book from Saver’s Greensborough.

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Sunday 23rd February

Hot again today, but only forecast to get to 33 degrees, so not too toasty. Also the change is due at dinner time, so hopefully we’ll get a good night’s sleep and can steel ourselves until the next scorcher (on Wednesday).

I listened to an audiobook when I woke up. It was still dark and I didn’t want to wake the house up just yet, so staying in bed and doing a quiet activity seemed like the best bet. The book is Rough Patch, perhaps you’ve read it? It’s author Kathy instantly made me want to go and buy more dirt and compost.

Breakfast was crumpets with Promite and a giant cup of tea. Then a cup of coffee to try and shift some of the cobwebs and creakiness.  Excitingly my Sunday newspaper was not stolen from the front lawn, as per the last two weekends, so I flipped through that while I was waiting for crumpets to get to the right degree of scorchiness and learned that Heidi Klum loves white asparagus and cooks schnitzel a lot. Who knew?

Getting dressed: PJs again, pals.

Today I’m going to do some more on the quilt, write a Feeling A Bit Sh*t newsletter to send out tonight and rest as much as I can in between those things. I am starting to feel a little more like myself after a rough week last week, but am still quite sub par. Darn it.

Above: Cheese on toast!

Monday 24 February

Gosh. The hot has retreated again. Thank goodness because it’s just tooooo hot. I woke up early and then went back to sleep, tugging the covers up and delighting in the early morning chill. When I woke again it was 8.30 and the rubbish truck was finally outside, collecting the hard rubbish that had been booked for November and never removed. When I peeped through the blinds to confirm this, the nature strip in front of our house was absolutely tidy and clear for the first time in months. It’s the little things, people, it truly is. Buoyed by this progress, perhaps a positive sign of some sort, a tell for the year ahead? (Please?!) I tore through my morning habit bundle, stopping short of making breakfast and taking my tea back to my bedroom. (Also friends …  why is there not a multitude of words that mean ‘positive sign’? There are a tonne that mean ‘bad sign’ but just NOTHING for the more hopeful flipside. Seems stupid.)

Above: Pasta with Ragu. Was so delicious, friends.

My tea and me went through my usual blog reading next. I am triallling a blog reader (RSS reader) called FeedBin and so far I like it. I have been using Feedly for a long time, in the wake of Google Reader dying, but it’s a bit glitchy and I constantly have to refresh the screen. Also it’s geared to business which FeedBin is not, or at least not quite so obviously. I use an RSS Feed Reader each day to read all my favourite blogs and website updates in one place. It’s especially important to me because I love curating interesting link lists for y’all. (Also, re my reading this morning, not a good thing at all, but maybe you want to dump your AirBnB app now?)

Today I’m going to read some more of my Simone book (did you see the gorgeous quote I shared in the new Wallflower Cordial update?) I’m going to do some food shopping now that I can get in the car without roasting. And I already put my bed linen on to wash during my whip around this morning. Still feeling sub par, so I’m going to pace myself as carefully as I can so I don’t conk out too early. Doctor’s visit tomorrow, to discuss.

I finally decided on Baked Beans on Toast for breakfast, so I had that (lots of pepper and Sriracha, please!) and a cup of tea while watching KrisAtomic’s new video. Oh my GOSH the SCRAP SHOP!!!! What could be more perfect?

I pottered away at the Old Lady Books Club project (coming soon!) and watched this video next.

Getting dressed: Old black and white gingham shirt-dress from Best & Less in Glenorchy, op-shopped H&K khaki loose-fitting pants, yellow Birkenstocks (bought new last year).

Above: Knitting work-in-progress that I promptly frogged and restarted.

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Wednesday 26th February

I didn’t really feel like writing yesterday. I had a doctor’s appointment and was knackered after that, so I nipped home and rested the rest of the day away.

I’m back again today, getting ready to see Kid 1 and Kid 3 for a little while later on. 

This morning I watched a couple of cute YouTube videos for the purpose of spirit boosting and tone setting. I also watered the pot plants before the heat closed in. Some are looking a little bit worse for wear, but seasons happen and weather happens and sometimes seedlings DO look a bit crappy, don’t they? I have some more seeds to plant this week, so I will wait until the change tomorrow and do that.

There are still a few flowers bravely doing their thing out there, though. I suppose they are a lot like us in the heat … a little the worse for wear but still soldiering on and being lovely.

Above: Just some of the flowers that have somehow survived all the heat.

… I picked up the kids and we went to Saver’s in Greensborough and I realised a) I had not been there in years and b) it’s my favourite Saver’s because it’s so cluttered and hums with busyness. I should have been paying attention to Minna Gilligan all this time. I have been going there since it opened, of course, but I had only been there once when we first got back from Tassie. I’m going to add it to my ‘when I feel okay days’ rotation.

I got a polka dot dress (ANKO, but nice and cotton and wide-cut) and some Doc Martens (so pleased) and a bunch of books (of course). I also found some sock yarn and a couple of vintage baby patterns. All in all a very pleasing trip. I found a little chair to sit on halfway through our browsing. It had wheels so I wheeled myself along the racks for a while, until I felt better. I very surely looked like an idiot, but it was very reviving to have a mini rest in the shop. I totally get why people use mobility aids now. We had a quick coffee at the new Roccella at Uni Hill on the way home too.  (My adorable and kind son-in-law’s family part-owns the Roccellas and they are great!) Once I got home I ate some leftover noodles and went to bed because of course I have to every time I do any blinking thing gosh darn it.

Above: Rin at Roccella

It was so nice to be together in these last weeks before the baby comes and things are different. (Different but GREAT, of course.) I snapped a couple of photos of the kids for posterity. Likely next time we do a group outing like that there will be a little one it tow.

Imagine that!

x Pip

PS: Sorry for any errors/typos. V tired.

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