Cleaning day

It is now several years since Margaret Viney gave me her outdoor tables and chairs, with assurances from me that I had just the right paint to do them up.
So it was with relief that I found the paint still viable and even more when I had finished painting the first piece, the round metal table.
As a result of this achievement, I was keen to install it on the Feez patio/conservatory/outdoor area, but this was not ready to take such a smart piece, having not been cleaned by the previous owners, who had it fully furnished with plants, daybed and dogs.
We set out early with our load and the first object was the top of the airconditioning unit, which looked very rusty and in need of refurbishment. I commenced with nylon scourer and sugar soap and found over an hour or so, that this, combined with liberal elbow grease, was sufficient to remove most of the discoloration and make a coat of paint unnecessary. Some furniture polish restored the shine and we are making a cypress pine top for it, to provide a useful surface in the small area that is the above glassed in patio.
Next I took to the scourer, cloth and bucket, over several hours, removing dirt from window frames, glass and tiles. Many trips were made to the kitchen to empty and rinse, but eventually we got to a cleaned area with just the tiled floor to be done. Small areas showed that these were not cleaning up to any brightness, so we purchased some tile cleaner which promised shine and took to them with the scrubbing brush then a mop for a satisfactory conclusion to the day's effort - being seated at the table when the new owner returned from work.
The wine tasting, which had determined this visit, was then enjoyed to the full, followed by Indian takeaway from Yeronga.

Marmalade

Don has supplied us with a large number of Seville Oranges for marmalade. I looked at them for quite a while before tackling the task. The solution was to combine a couple of methods - grate and chop skin finely, juice and slice fruit thinly - and make up the lot. Then it would not fit in one pot so the mix was divided and the second batch had whisky added.

Watermelons

As mentioned in last week's blog, we enjoyed a watermelon after last Tuesday's walk. That meant Dick could bring home the next one from his office. On Saturday I made a watermelon salad with melon balls, red onion soaked in fresh lime juice, feta cheese, black olives and fresh mint. This had olive oil drizzled over it and turned out to be quite delicious. I served it in the melon case.
With the rest of the flesh, I made a lovely non-alcoholic drink, using the food processor, then straining out the pulp and pips. I added a mix of grated fresh ginger, lime juice and sugar and served it with some floating melon balls and soda water.
We had a dinner with Dick's work group on Saturday evening with a combined feast, then on Sunday evening we went out to Palm Tree for a lovely outdoor dining experience with our friends. This meal featured home-grown walnuts in a pasta sauce, homegrown pumpkin soup and homegrown apple crumble.

The moon in June

Full moon has come around again and I am quite unprepared. The past few weeks have been busy, with a trip to Mullumbimby to collect Nancy from the airport, then we flew to Canberra for the long weekend with Lee. On Saturday we went out early on a cold morning to the farmer's market then headed out to Namadgi National Park with Liz and Lee, where we climbed a steep hill to the Ororal tracking tower, now defunct, and had lunch on the rocks high above the valley floor. We then drove back to Canberra cross-country via Lost Lake, which we had never visited when the Tavs had it.
Sunday was miserable. We went to the Art Gallery to see the Turner to Monet landscape exhibition but as it was the final weekend there were thousands of people in long queues so we had a look at other parts of the gallery then went home. We started on the chair renovation and had dinner at the Tavs in the evening.

Monday was a better day and we walked across to get something from Liz in the afternoon. Thirty minutes each way was very pleasant. We bought a roast duck for dinner.
Lee headed off for a 4 day workshop on Tuesday morning and Dick also had a workshop, so I finished the chair. On Wednesday I did patchwork with Liz and her friends and had drinks with Rita and Andree in the evening.
I had a good trip home on Thursday, feeling refreshed from the break. It was nice to get back to warmer Toowoomba which is also quite green. This month we have had a bit more rain than the 11 year monthly average for the airport [31mm].

Weekend by day

On Saturday I attended a workshop for the Richmond Birdwing Recovery network. It is an interesting project to arrest the demise of an invertebrate species and I look forward to spending more time with these people.
After the workshop I made grapefruit marmalade, adding a lime picked fresh from our tree. It was quite crisp and delicious.
On Sunday morning we had a set of tennis which I lost 2-6, and bought some herbs at Wilsonton market.
In the afternoon I went to an organ recital by Philip Gearing at St Lukes. Take one of Australia's best organ recitalists, who is a local university lecturer, one of Queensland's best organs, and a program of lovely French organ music, and you would think more than a few, mainly old people, would turn up to enjoy it.
Their next Sunday concert is a Cello recital on May 18th.

Combine fruit and sugar

I have made two batches of lilly pilly jelly before Easter, the second one including some green apple. Last week I made cumquat marmalade with fruit from Mullum and today I will cut up the grapefruit I brought back, ready for another cook up tomorrow.
Liz brought up two jars of Mikes Plum Jum in February, and Ann has given me two jars of her fig, rhubarb, ginger and sherry jam.
This is a sweet life.