IT'S been a slow weekend here. The weather is cooler, we haven't strayed far from the front door and generally we've been pacing ourselves for what will be a busy month of family and festivities.

I forgot my poor old blog and monthly 'I've Done It' post, and thus am posting three days late. I've not posted to Facebook much either. Truth be told, I don't love Facebook and I forget about it too, until it rudely prompts me to post to, or even visit my page.

I am more an Instagram kinda girl, and like so of the blogging community, find the conversations and interactions there like a shorter, speedier version of what blogging was like back in the day.

So apologies I forgot my poor little blog this month. I hope you're well, and all caught up.

IN OCTOBER:

I WENT TO... Harden and Murrumburrah in the Hilltops Region of southwest NSW and Moruya, on the NSW South Coast. I really liked both places, and for similar reasons: mostly what I could see and appreciate of their communities. Commuting life can be a real killer of community involvement. You have to work hard at it, and of late, we've felt the pull of living back in the country. If only there was the work to match our skills.

I ATE... Nothing beats the simplicity of a good sandwich. On our road trip down to Moruya we stopped at Flour Water Salt for lunch and had simple sandwiches of cheese and pickles, on yummy sourdough.

I OP SHOPPED... The road trip to Moruya was, in reality, an op shopping jaunt. Moruya has one of the best Vinnies I've been in for some time. There was much that I left behind, including a fair dinkum, canvas Paddy Pallin rucksack. It took great strength of will not to bring it home. I did come home with a couple of leather belts, pottery, a little West German pot for the collection, a couple of pairs of jeans that I am yet to alter the hems on, a great denim duffel-like jacket and books on weaving patterns and indoor plants.

I MADE... I am back on the potter's wheel - grabbing a chance to book in with the Central Coast Potters Society for another course,  mostly for access to a wheel, glazes, tools and a kiln. If I was to find a secondhand potter's wheel, in good working condition, I'd be a happy woman. Then I'd have to find someone with space in their kiln. Know anyone?

I READ... It must be the season for book releases because there are soooo many new books out that I want to read. I read Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls and Molly Murn's Heart of the Grass Tree.
Gilbert's work always, for me, starts off slow and I find that at just the moment I am thinking I'll abandon the plot, it takes off. There are always a few gems from the women narrators of her novels, like this one:

"After a certain age, we are all walking around this world in bodies made of secrets and shame and sorrow and old, unhealed injuries. Our hearts grow sore and misshapen around all this pain - yet somehow, still, we carry on."

I swear the wind down, or is that up, to the end of the year starts earlier every year. I'm seeing high school graduation photos in my feed, the grand final weekend seems to be a marker to the party season once reserved for Melbourne Cup day and there are signs everywhere that Christmas is coming.

Is it just me, or are you feeling it too?

IN SEPTEMBER:

I WENT TO... Coonamble to visit the grandkidlets and their mum for a weekend. We had grand intentions of taking them all to the Warrumbungles for "a-bencha" - an adventure in five-year-old speak - but the dust storms plaguing Central West NSW right now kept us from stepping out. Our "a-bencha" will have to wait until our next trip.

I ATE... A pretty fine Turkish breakfast at The Walrus, not far from where I work in Sydney. Seriously, how much of a treat is a bang-up breakfast before work? I should do it more often.

I OP SHOPPED... A funky mid-century woven chandelier; an old Life magazine cook book; and a few wardrobe bits and bobs, including an '80s denim shirt, skirt, glass beads necklace and silver earrings with turquoise set in.

I MADE... tie-dyed socks and recycled paper. I ran a friend's Girl Guide unit through September while she travelled and we went with a spring theme. Our first week was spring fashion: making tie-dyed socks. The second week we made recycled paper sheets to write invitations for a spring picnic later in the month. The third week we potted up flowering seedlings and made newspaper pots and planted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The last week we made pizzas from scratch, using this quick-rise recipe for the dough and this recipe for the tomato sauce.

I READ... The Testaments. Have you read this new work from Margaret Atwood? I don't want to say too much. If you loved The Handmaid's Tale, as I did, as well as the series, I simply don't want to drop a spoiler. I haven't even linked to a review here, I think they all say too much. Look away and put a hand up to anyone who wants to talk about it until you've had a chance yourself.

With the last few days of winter trying to make themselves known in my parts of the world, I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the last of winter feasting.

That includes making Maggie Beer's rhubarb and blood orange crumbles and possibly this weekend, on the nudge of Jan, a regular reader of my blog, marmalade for spreading thick on hot buttered sourdough toast.

Are you still enjoying winter fare or are you busting for summer dining?

IN AUGUST:

I WENT TO... Melbourne. It was a lightning visit for work. I wish I could say I did more and saw more. I also camped on Taronga Zoo's concert lawns with 800 Girl Guides for the organisation's annual Zoo Sleepout.

I ATE AT... Our new local, The Ferryman. I had the clam bake and it was deeeeeeee-licious, made all the better by a lovely shiraz and the knowledge of a stumble home had we wanted to kick on past a single glass.

While in Melbourne, I stayed close to work in North Melbourne and also ate close by, meaning I frequented Parkville Store for breakfasts; Naughtons Hotel for easy after-work drinks and snacks; and Auction Rooms, as recommended by a colleague, for lunch with a friend.

I OP SHOPPED... A 1950s black wool suit with pencil skirt and the most beautifully cut jacket. The collar, with rouched wool detailing, circles the shoulders, but modestly doesn't show them, just hinting at a collarbone.

Being black, it's hard to photograph, and before I do, it'll need a little stitch here and there to hold the rouching in place where it's come away.

I always wonder at the previous owner. The suit showed no signs of regular wear and surprisingly didn't hold the smell of mothballs or worse, cigarettes, so my best guess is it was worn by a woman my age or younger, given the length of the skirt and its tiny waist, to a funeral. Like a wedding gown, it was bought and worn for an occasion and could neither be thrown out, nor worn again.

I MADE... I am a few finishing stitches from finishing this cardigan. It's only been two-plus years in the making.

I READ... through the stack of overdue library books on my bedside table, starting with Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams; Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe; A Woman is No Man, by Etaf Rum; and,
The Eye of the Sheep, by Sofie Laguna.

The book to add to your bookshelf is Dark Emu. It should be read by every Australian and is an anthem not only for Indigenous recognition and acknowledgement of Indigenous culture, language and science, but it's an important book to read in the midst of an unprecedented and inescapable climate crisis.

Can you feel it? Can you feel spring on its way? Even though it's the middle of winter, I am already thinking about planting out spring seeds and how I'll keep water up to new growth.
There's a jug next to the kitchen sink to catch what water we can and buckets in the shower to water trees already showing the signs of water stress. I know the forecast and I know it's not good, but even so, I am looking to signs of what the garden can tolerate, taking cues from the Spanish countryside we walked through in a warm spring just a few months ago and now, no doubt, sweltering under record heatwave temperatures. We'll have the same here in just a few short months and I am walking the garden every week, looking at what will stay and what will need to go.

IN JULY:

I WENT TO... I didn't stray far from home this month. Rather, I've been enjoying this gorgeous, although dry, winter weather. It was 22C at home today: t-shirt weather when you're in the garden.

I ATE... at the Patonga Hotel. It's not the first time I've eaten there, but on a glorious winter's day, there's nothing better to spend time with friends, walking from Pearl Beach to brunch at the hotel. Breakfast is served until 11.30am, and it's an extensive, brunchy kinda menu.

I OP SHOPPED... Now that we're staying put and not moving into our teeny, tiny unit, I've ventured into op shops empty handed and brought home a few small treasures, including a stash of American Cook's Illustrated magazines from the 1990s that I'll read before returning.

I MADE... I finished sewing in the ends and working the seams on a knitted vest and have started a toe-up socks pattern: my first attempt at two-at-a-time, toe-up socks. I can see that once you get the hang of the entanglement of wool and circular needles, they can be quite addictive.

I READ... That stack of books from last month isn't getting any smaller, though I have made my way through a couple and gave up on others, happily taking them back to the local library.

It's been a good haul at the op shops this weekend. I needed to update my wardrobe and a long weekend at home meant I had the time to trawl shops beyond my usual haunts.

My top scores were a woollen Ken Done jumper for $10, a cream leather skirt for $3.50 and a pair of black vintage Levi's for $15. I also added a wool skirt, hand-knitted wool beret, sparkly purple stretch skirt and a similarly luminous gold top for $26 between them - all up, a little more than $50.

I love how they all work together too: the jumper and the long knit purple skirt; the jeans and the gold top; and that yellow beret goes with it all.

I've aired those that need airing, washed those that need washing and as always, am amazed at the endurance of well-made pieces, some of my finds are easily 30 years old.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend, and a few interesting links...

Are you still having 'porridge days'
I get about three days for most items
Older than Wonder Woman
How do you use your commute?
For the '80s wardrobe alone

I was gone for a month of autumn, enjoying a month of spring in Spain, and it can really mess with your rhythm. Between that and unseasonably warm autumn weather, I am all out of whack.

Everything seems to take longer than it should and I am constantly alarmed to be midway through the year but already looking ahead to weekends for camping in spring and summer.

We’re less than a month away from the winter solstice and heading into those cold, dark days of winter. I’m happy to hang on to the cooler climes for just a moment. I have a pumpkin sitting on my bench ready to be made into a hearty spiced pumpkin and lentil soup and there’s a whole chicken in my freezer to roast this weekend, with a stock and more soup to follow.

IN MAY:

I WENT… to Coonamble. My stepdaughter has set out on a year-long teaching contract, taking her two little ones and hopes that she’ll finally secure a coveted permanent teaching role. She’s been embraced by the teaching community, and the wider community will no doubt come to know of her and her little family through a rather chatty four-year-old who is making new friends everywhere he goes.

I ATE… A lovely dinner at the home of a friend, and biscuits baked by another friend who is always there at just the right time.

I OP SHOPPED… A cute ‘80s wool-blend fluffy jumper with serious beading on the shoulders and shoulder pads to boot. With this turn in the weather I’ll be rocking it soon.

I MADE… a start on the felted Christmas decorations I make each year. This year I’d like to have enough of a stash to sell. I’ve got one packed for a little stitching on the home commute.

I READ… The second book in Nora Robert’s Chronicles of the One series, Of Blood and Bone, for a little light distraction from more serious work-related reading: mostly papers on disaster mitigation, emergency communications and global responses to climate change (you can see why light distraction is needed). I also read Seth Godin’s This Is Marketing. Some marketing pundits love Godin, but I can’t read one of his books without thinking it’s just good marketing, for Seth. Seth, blah, blah, blah, Seth, Seth, more blah. There are always a few small gems, but you really have to watch for them and I always find myself drifting when I read his work.

MOVING UPDATE: The clearing out of our four-bedroom house in preparation for a tiny two-bedroom unit continues. Turns out the unit is in much worse repair than we'd thought and we're getting quotes to determine whether we can afford the changes we want to make. In the meantime, I'm still culling, including whittling down a collection of West German pottery. The photo above is what's about to be posted to Facebook Marketplace. 

Anyone else got whiplash? What a crazy downhill roller coaster run February was. In January I was giving myself high fives for slowly settling into the new year and then February came up and gave me a good shove from behind.

I manage the processes and flow of information Australian Red Cross delivers in an emergency as well as marketing the appeals that support the organisation’s emergency relief and recovery programs. It’s fair to say February was a shocker, with fires in Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and WA as well as floods in northern Queensland and a close call with a cyclone.

We've had a shocker run across the family too, with court proceedings, cars written off, personal items stolen and physical accidents. I reckon all the curve balls were thrown at us this month, so if 2019 can ease off a little now, I'd be damn thankful.

IN FEBRUARY:

I WENT TO… Bundanoon for my Mum’s 70th, and beyond that, I stayed pretty close to home.

I ATE… I bought a copy of Hetty McKinnon’s Family cook book and have started moving through the recipes. The change of season at the end of summer is a perfect time discover new recipes. We also had a number of birthdays in the family this month, so this easy chocolate fudge cake was whipped up to accommodate dietary needs (no flour or dairy) and it was a hit. Four ingredients and so easy.

I OP SHOPPED… A blue pottery breakfast bowl, for $4, and a copy of Bill Granger’s Every Day cook book, also for $4.

I MADE… A green frock. I found 4.5m of a lovely green linen blend at my favourite op shop last month and dug through my op shopped dress patterns to see what I could whip up and wear before the end of the season. Between cutting the fabric and finishing the hem and button holes, the dress sat at one end of our kitchen table for almost a month, but the fit and finish are all the better for having taken it slow.

I READ… Rarely will I stick with a book that I can't get into within a chapter or two, but I am glad I stuck to Anthony Doeer's About Grace. It was dense, but the main character is one that stays with you and you really, really find yourself wanting to know how things pan out for him.

My garden is neglected, my cleaning routine was lost weeks ago and I have seen very little daylight over the past four weeks. Uni assignments are due and I am head down in accounting equations and strategic management theory.

And, let me tell you, that's as dry as that actually sounds. I am hoping to bust through this trimester with a pass and pray the courses of the coming trimester, due to start in early May, hold my attention better than these last two have.

Are you studying? What are you studying and why? Do you love it?

IN MARCH:

I WENT TO... I barely left my study. Many, many times over the past month of a mostly glorious coastal shift from summer to autumn, I have asked myself whether a double masters in business administration and marketing is actually worth it.

I ATE... A tasty breakfast at This Little Piggy, at Point Clare. For those who know the Central Coast, I earned my feed by cycling up hill and down dale from Saratoga before riding all the way on to Woy Woy and catching the ferry back to my start point.

Cook and Co. Eatery, at Woy Woy, is an easy, breasy place for a cuppa or for a decadent lunch. I had the falafel wraps bound with garlic sauce, tabouleh and chips (inside the wrap). See, decadent.

I OP SHOPPED... Cadbury's tin, old recipe books, cream horn moulds and a Silva compass.

I MADE... A fresh shirt from an op-shopped pattern and fabric I had in my stash.

I READ... Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife, by Marele Day. I am on a bender of fictional history pieces based on fact.

After a false start in January, February was my "take two". Work projects took off, the textbooks lobbed for the first trimester of another year of study and we were busy with family birthdays and getting the most out of these last weeks of summer.

I reckon we did okay at making the most of the summer but colder, darker mornings signal what's to come. Cooler weather will mean longer sessions in the garden on the weekends, cosy jumpers and steaming hot cups of chai. I'm ready. Are you?

IN FEBRUARY:

I WENT TO... There wasn't even a day trip to speak of, but we did take friends for a spin around our favourite haunts close to home. It's always so good to see your hood through the eyes of visitors. We're pretty lucky to live where we do.

I ATE... There was a fair amount of celebration eating this month, the highlight being dinner out at new-ish pasta bar, Young Barons, at Woy Woy. This is not your average, everyday pasta bar, this is pasta made fresh every day and tossed with flavours that hug a spaghetti. As an extra bonus, the gelato and sorbet choices are made in house too.

Young Barons is a special treat restaurant though. If you want something a little less fancy, try the $10 masala dosa across the road at Epinard. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cafe that doesn't really sell the delicious Indian fare on the menu, but it you've been hankering an authentic dosa or butter chicken, this is the place.

I OP SHOPPED... A few choice finds have come my way this past month. A cute 1960s basket, cook books, knitting patterns, printed linen tea-towels from the 1970s (in mint condition) and a silk Jimmy Pike scarf. It's the same pattern as this one, in a different colourway.

I MADE... Nothing. There'll be little time for making now that the study is back on. Sigh.

I READ... I squeezed in one last summer read before the textbooks lobbed. I was sorry to learn The Naturalist's Daughter was a work of fiction. I so wanted the story to be true. If you are a fan of historical fiction, you'll enjoy this. It's a fast and easy read, and very satisfying.

Sydneysiders, have you noticed the absence of a Southerly Buster? One is forecast for early Wednesday morning. Thank goodness, because I am missing that sweet, blustery cool wind that marks the end of a hot spell.

The Marcus Clark's Christmas Gift Book, from 1962, harks back to a time when plastics were the epitome of style and good taste, and we were led by American fashion and design over our British forebears.

I have no idea whether it's a true story or not, but I always believed my paternal grandmother to have carried a bunch of big, dramatic, white November lilies on her wedding day.

I don't know whether she told me that herself, whether's it's family folklore, or it's a story that's just in my head. She died last year and in looking through the few artifacts of her life given to me by my Dad and Aunt, I can see versions of my Gran I never knew. There's the young woman excited to marry her sweetheart, the mother with knitting patterns of practical schoolyard vests and jumpers, the practical home cook and the CWA member. There are, I know, many other versions of the woman my grandmother was, but these are the clues I've found in a couple of photos, drawings of her wedding and bridesmaids gowns and the marked knitting and crochet patterns saved from her home.

I know I say this a lot, but seriously, where did that month go? I look back over my calendar and I can see where it went. It went down a hole of university study and assessments.

My last 'pinning' post was in April. That was a long time ago and I don't know why I've abandoned them, I like seeing themes appear across my Pinterest boards, and the current trend definitely has a pink hue to it.

Things to make and do: It's close enough to Christmas that I am thinking about adding a little early festivity.

Things to cook and eat: It had me at roasted plum and cardamon.


Things to drop dough on: I just found a linen overshirt, similar to this one, at Vinnies. It's going to get plenty of wear this spring.

Things to hang on the wall: So simple, so stunning.

What a difference a few weeks can make. I walked in Brisbane Water National Park at the beginning of August and water was spilling over the falls, dripping from charged hanging swamps and there were places you had to watch your footing because of the mud.

This month, it's a different story. This month I've turned sprinklers on my garden here at home, and the park, well. The creek is down, the mud has dried and while rock orchids are in flower, the wildflower season is not a patch on past years.

IN SEPTEMBER:

I WENT TO... Brisbane to see family and work (and did a little orchid hunting closer to home).


I ATE... Simple, un-fussy Italian, at Il Verde, in the new King St dining precinct of Brisbane. I like a no-fuss Italian restaurant that lets the food do the talking. A simple, understated wine list and a select few desserts (with gelato a must) goes a long way too.

I OP SHOPPED... Brisbane's op shops are some of my favourite. My sister and I spent a day trawling stores in Paddington and Bardon. I scored an unworn 1960s swimsuit for a gold coin donation. It was going to be thrown out, as is the policy (understandably) for many op shops, but for me it was a case of "right place, right time". I also came home with a pair of Levi's jeans for $5, a couple of summer tanks in linen and silk and a 1950s Pake Muu-style Hawaiian dress, similar to these.

I MADE... a knitted beanie. I know, it's spring, and all winter knits should be off the sticks, but a work colleague gifted me some beautiful chunky wool and I found the perfect pattern on Ravelry.

I READ... I honestly don't know why I keep this here. I am reading massive amounts of text, but it's all for uni, and no one wants to hear about that. No one.

A denim jacket is my in-between season go-to. I have three of them, that's right, three. They can be worn with pants, a skirt or dress.
Roll the sleeves up, or leave them down. Go buttoned or open. Layer, or not.

Though the mornings are still cool, the first days of spring have been glorious. I have already done a spring clean of the wardrobe and filled bags for the op shop and more bags for a garage sale later this month.

I'm also pondering new knits for the changing season, despite having the better part of a front panel and both sleeves to do on a winter cardigan.

This Australian Sun-Glo Knitting book was an op shop buy, picked up for the World War II knits and information about the wartime wool supplies.