Dailies: Buttered tomatoes, dressing gowns, Beatrix Potter knits, curry leaves …

I had a little break from writing while my sister and her family were in town for the Grand Prix. They nicked off back home yesterday, so here I am again!

Tuesday 18th March

I am feeling so smashed and exhausted after a few days featuring longer-than-usual outings with the extended fam, so I am going to spend the week refuelling, renourishing, recalibrating, rehabbing myself, really. I made a very delicious breakfast of tomatoes on multigrain sourdough. So pleased. I added a handful of curry leaves from the garden because I KNOW those do me good. Plus lots of pepper, ginger, some salt, some soy and some sriracha. It was perfection with a big cup of tea. I watched this video while I ate it.

The plan today is rest. Sigh. So much resting to be done this week to try and feel nearer my “well-ish” baseline (which is not that well, but oh well!) I am learning to knit socks, so I think that and the baby things are going to be a focus today. Hopefully I will be ok enough later this week for the Book Club things – the discussion (EDIT – The discussion is now up and running!) and the craft project. I vow to have one or the other done by Friday, lads.

Above: GIFTED: A Heide Harvest book, thanks to Thames and Hudson

I’m trying to plan some super nourishing meals this week. At least one big one a day. So far I’ve got the following on my possibilities list…

Anna Jones’ Black Bean and Tofu Scramble
This TESCO tomatoey beans dish – I made this! It was so good. High recommend.
Anna Jones’ Corn Risotto – I made this! It was nice. Not fab. Needed more oomph, but a great idea to build on.
Roast Hanger Steak with Apple and Pickle Salad – I saw this guy on the Pamela Anderson cooking show and his food looks super interesting.

Above: L/ a tray of roasted veggies and R/ beans and avocado on toast

Friday 21st March

Well. That was an unscheduled break mostly due to exhaustion and then having a birthday yesterday. Hopefully things will be on a more even and restful keel in the week ahead, although I am slightly worried about having a reaction to the whooping cough vaccine I’m getting this morning. Let’s assume that won’t happen, friends.

I had a quiet day yesterday with a small and speedy family dinner in the evening. Suffice to say I have been doing too many things and I am totally tuckered out and in need of a few days in bed. Dinner was at Rin – my eldest’s – house (the most delicious takeaway pizzas from our favourite Roccella (thanks Pauly!) and some GF treats so that everyone could share (thanks Ari!) I received some very sweet gifts including some Bunnings vouchers and the promise of some labour in the garden from the boys, a May Gibbs bathrobe from Rin and Paul and a big box of flowers from Katie. Some bank-account-bolstering treats from my sister and my mum, and some special snacks from my friend Gemma.

I spent most of the day practising my sock knitting and finishing (nearly!) a blanket for the incoming baby. And I watched some of Scamanda on Disney+ but kept falling asleep and having to rewind it. It seems I am an older person, the type who nods off during shows and says they are resting their eyes, now. Gasp.

This morning I made some tea and did my usual morning habit bundle. It’s been raining so much overnight after a long and dry summer. I think the hot weather is finally behind us, as is usual once it reaches my birthday. Here’s hoping. I watched a video by a new YouTube favourite called Rare Birds and drank a little bit more tea as I did. Then I did some online reading and made some notes for my Wallflower Cordial newsletter.

Above: Op-shopped book – The Beatrix Potter Knitting Book

Monday 24th March

Gosh. I’ve been feeling so crappy. Today I woke up with the usual symptoms as well as some shoulder pain which I have previously had comes steroid shots for. I’m back at the doctor tomorrow, so hopefully can get more of those sorted through the public health system sooner rather than later. I’ve been on the waiting list to see the rheumatologist again for sooooo long. Maybe they will bump me up with this new escalation? Hopefully it’s just from too much activity (ie not that much, but too much for me) and not the very important and much wanted whooping cough vaccine.

Apart from resting I’ve been eating carefully and watching true crime shows on Disney+ (there are so many on there that I have not yet seen.) I also wrote this week’s Feeling A Bit Sh*t newsletter in my continued efforts to be a trusty sharer of mood lifting things (the kind that won’t get me arrested!)

I finished a couple of baby projects this week and they are ready to add to the pile which so far consists of a crocheted blanket, a little crocheted granny stripe vest and two crocheted bonnets. I have a knitted jumper to finish this week (I hope!) The vest was going to be a jumper, but I think it looks so good as a vest I stopped there. I might make another one and do the sleeves too … not sure yet. It was a very easy project. I also downloaded this poncho pattern and I’m going to make that later this year.

Above: Op-shopped book – Susan Duckworth Knits

Also? The garden. Gosh. It’s endured so much heat and a lot of the seedlings just didn’t make it. I’ll start sowing and weeding next week when it will – hopefully – be cooler. (I feel like I keep saying this …. because I do! The heat is just not my friend.) The boys gave me two garden beds for my birthday, by which I mean they gave me Bunnings gift cards and promised their labour to help make two more beds out the back. Such an excellent present, right? They know me so well.

I made this Hearty Lentil, Bacon and Vegetable Soup (as recommended by Karen when I asked about nourishing and hearty meals on Facebook the other day) and a tray of roasted vegetables and this Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake and then fell in a heap on the couch and started work on finishing up a blanket I began over a year ago (for the baby mama!)

Above: crochet for the grand baby – a block stitch crocheted blanket and a granny stripe vest

Tuesday 25 March

The post-GP op-shop visit offered up a few old craft books and a couple of other non-fiction titles. I also picked up some yarn to make a hexagon pram blanket for the incoming little one. I’ve been feeling pretty unwell which is highly boring, so apologies for few interesting thoughts today. I did manage six hexagons as I watched The Pitt and caught up on some reality TV, so all was not lost. And I posted my Old Lady Books Club discussion, which felt like an absolute win. I made a sausage and potato tray bake and we had it with a big tray of balsamic roasted mushrooms. Well. Middle Kid had it. I was too tired to eat but I had a big lunch, so don’t worry about me. (Lunch was that Hearty Lentil, Bacon and Vegetable Soup.)

Good things

This date loaf looks absolutely delicious.
I, like so many knitters, downloaded the Sophie Scarf pattern to knit for our winter. (Am I a knitter?!)
A bunch of things to do with leeks, pals.
This was a lovely and diverting read.
“A lamp in the window and other joys.”
Homemade vegan mayo ahoy!
I’m going to watch this film this week.
Nettles, dandelions and wild garlic …
Smothered pork chops with mushroom gravy sounds like a very good winter make.
How about a Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake?
I’ve got some cutters for Linzer Cookies … perhaps this will be the year I make some? (Above)
Gosh. This porch! Gasp. (Below)

Wednesday 26 March

The mornings are so dark when I get up now, so I know it’s creeping closer to Easter. The dogs ran outside and punctuated the silence with just two little barks today, so I was quite proud of them. Ideally it would be zero barks, but I sort of feel that a bark is like a relieved sigh to an early morning dog. They are just expressing their delight in feeling the cool grass under their feet, hearing the sleepy birdsong, taking in that far-off main road traffic. (Sorry neighbours.)

Also? It’s cooler in the mornings. I have been able to wear my Kip & Co dressing gown, which makes for a happy start to the day.

Above: L/ Breakfast toast with veggies and salami and cheese R/ Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

Sunday 30 March

Gosh. I’m very patchy with the Dailies at the moment. Sorry about that. Sometimes illness intervenes. Shall we catch up a little bit?

I’ve been resting and trying to feel well over the last couple of days, but it hasn’t really been working so I’ve mostly been lying down and waiting for things to improve. I know they will, but the waiting and hoping is QUITE annoying.

I managed to finish a blanket for the grand baby (not here yet!) and I started another blanket and have a little jumper to finish up, too. Basically all I want to make is things for the baby, which I diagnose as QUITE NORMAL. On Wednesday I make the expectant mother the steak and mash and mushroom sauce lunch that she was craving, so that felt like a good thing to do and was also very delicious. We used to have that meal a lot when she was little, often when at various random holiday houses we were staying at. That and salmon patties were de rigour, be it at Sandy Point, Walkerville or Venus Bay (my favourite parts of Victoria to holiday!)

Above: Hexagon pram/stroller blanket in progress

I also cooked a slow beef stew yesterday, using this recipe, and it was really delicious. There’s plenty for dinner tonight too, so that was a win. And somewhere in between I made a roast lamb shoulder and we had it with all the trimmings and gravy for dinner, then made bubble and squeak for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day. I love a recipe that will keep us going for two days. It’s very good for the energy levels and everyone knows that most things taste better after a day of flavour development.

Getting dressed: Old olive green floral dress bought on eBay, leggings, slippers (did not go out!)

Above: L/ things for the grand baby R/ avo on grainy toast

I am going to do some Wallflower Cordial writing today (I missed a post this week due to illness, but am hoping to catch up and write an extra one in the next week or so.) It’s Feeling A Bit Sh*t Day, which means writing a newsletter full of interesting and inspiring and fun things and sending it on it’s way in the early Sunday evening. I am prepped and ready to get that done, at least!

I’m going to try and do a few minutes of gardening each day, in the hope that I can build up some strength and turn over the Summer beds for Autumn planting. I need to look at the sowing chart, too, to make sure we have lots of flowers when the time is right. Rin (my eldest) gave me some thyme and mint dug out of her own garden to plant, because I don’t have any luck with them in pots. I am biting the bullet and putting them in the ground to see if they work out. I know, I know. You are never supposed to plant mint but I want ALLLLLL the mint and I am willing to try anything after so many attempts at growing in containers.

Above: The previously mentioned Lentil, Bacon and Vegetable Soup

Monday 31 March

Phew. It’s the very last day of March and the weather has turned beautifully and the heat is behind us at last. I got up at half seven, let the dogs out for a romp and a yell, made tea and then snuck back to bed for another half an hour. Next I made cheese on toast for breakfast, watched a couple of gentle videos on YouTube and started my Sophie Scarf again in softer yarn. I had initially begun in a lovely forest green from the op shop, but as it progressed it was feeling a bit scratchy and unwelcome, so I began again.

Getting dressed: Maroon floral dress from eBay (old), black leggings, odd Obus socks from years ago, Merry People pink Bobby Boots (!!)

I nipped to ALDI and bought some things to make soup for dinner, plus some pet food and milk and a little packet of those smoked nuts they sell at the checkout (99c and so good for a late afternoon snack!) Then home to mop my bedroom floor, water the pot plants and ponder the ongoing/future garden tidy up …

See you back here soon, with Sophie Scarf and hexagon blanket progress … and recipe ideas … and more!

x Pip

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