February campfires

Ann and I had a campfire while we were batching in the first week of February. It was quite a hot afternoon and we collected things from her vegie garden, then walked around Mt Peel.
I made rhubarb and ginger jam with the stalks from the crowns that she gave me.
Full moon in the second week was at our place with overcast sky and some drizzle. It was nice sitting under the shed awning with the noise on the roof and it eased for us to sit around the fire for a while after dinner. We managed to cook chops on the fire and we did get a glimpse of moonlight later.
Unfortunately we did not go camping on the weekend as the weather was quite wild on Friday night and Saturday. On Sunday we replaced the dining room shadecloth system with a new method which is impressively firm.

Full moon in 2009

The full moon continues this year with a campfire at Mt Peel. I made a Don Dunstan Arabian moussaka with eggplant, chick peas, onion and tomato on top - cooked indoors in the camp oven before we went. It is a nice combination. I also made an upside down cake with brown sugar, butter, dried apricots, prunes and flaked almonds, as a late birthday cake.
It was quite a cool night with some cloud and a nice drive home via Wellcamp.

this life resumes

It has been a busy time since we got back last week. On Tuesday we walked in the Grapetree creek area and things were looking good after some rain, although there was not much water in the creeks. It was good to see everyone again.
We celebrated the full moon on Tuesday night - a bit early, but the moon coming through the trees on Mt Peel coincided with the sunset out towards Pittsworth.
On Wednesday evening we went to a cocktail party to launch the 2009 subscription series at the Empire Theatre. After nibbles, there was a good presentation of the shows and we are looking forward to a busy season.
With Tai Chi on Thursday morning and tennis on Friday morning, it has been a full week, as I have continued to work through the accumulation on my desk.

Full Moon in July

On Saturday we celebrated 40 years since we started going out together. It was also full moon so we had 6 friends around for a campfire. Trish brought a lovely mushroom and blue cheese soup, Don brought his pear wine, we cooked chicken drumsticks and vegetables in our camp ovens, then we had an apple crumble by Rosalie and a lime delicious pudding. Donna also brought a nice slice. We were lucky to get a clear, mild night at this time of year.

Macro meat and sustainability

Last night we cooked our kangaroo mini-roast with vegetables in the campoven on a small fire. It turned out very well. Not only do we enjoy kangaroo meat but it is healthy and environmentally friendly [for meat eaters]. We were lucky to have a mild evening to enjoy the sunset and full moon rise before going indoors at 6pm to watch Le Tour.

On mer bike

My knees are calling for more care these days and I am faced with getting out on my bike or pedalling indoors; an alternative I have already rejected, so this morning I made it with a bit of help from my friend and we rode 7.4 km to the shop for a paper at 10 degrees with some SW wind. I enjoyed it. It's about time I got over the fact that we live on a hill.
Yesterday morning was quite hot at tennis, then I went out to lunch, visited a native garden at Cotswold Hills, made a Far Breton, and we had a full moon campfire at Mt Peel. It was a lovely clear evening but quite cool away from the fire. I had chestnuts to roast but perhaps I was already full of food by then as I was not taken with them.

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].

the Walrus said

Yes the time has come for an update. The Anzac thing got a bit depressing as we watched three very good TV programs on the Gallipoli submarine, a Turkish one based on letters, and one on soldiers missing in action on the Somme in WW1.
We went to a pumpkin harvest party at PalmTree that weekend and enjoyed the moon rising as we drove home later that night.
Brew 26 has been made with a mix of Tom's New Zealand malt and my dry malt. It will be interesting to see how malty it is.
We have had a series of short weeks, with Easter coming early in March, followed by Toowoomba Show holiday, Anzac day and then the May Day long weekend. It is good to get back to normal life.

Nightlife

We went to our second subscription performance at the Empire Theatre on Friday night. I was surprised to find that Cabaret is a political tragedy in the form of a musical. It was produced by the theatre and was quite professional. I have not checked just how professional. We had seats in the front row of the upstairs and enjoyed it.
Saturday night was full moon and we had another campfire at Flemings. After sunset with Turkish bread and Mersey valley cheese with Governor's Choice Shiraz we had camp oven roasted vegetables by Ann, camp oven roasted Italian stuffed tomatoes by Sally and beef sate with Tyrrells red as the moon sailed among the gums trees. We then enjoyed their trip slideshow across the top and back through the centre.
On Sunday night the full moon again rose around dusk so we had another camp oven vegetable roast on our campfire. Our site is more open with a large sky but lacks the large trees, and is subject to wind from the same direction as the rising moon, both being to windward of the fire and smoke.
We did however have a nocturnal visitor, when a large owl alighted on the corner of our patio roof.

The full moon club

This week was the first full moon of the Rat year. It was really good on Wednesday night, rising to a lovely calm clear evening at Cotswold Hills. Unfortunately this rat was home alone.
Ann had suggested Wednesday and Thursday did not suit, but we made it to Mt Peel on Friday night for a real, albeit small, campfire on their block.
It was a hot day so it was nice to be outdoors with the sunset through the trees, wine and nibbles followed by camp-oven dry roasted vegetables and Welsh Cawl.
This was followed by a large dessert of stewed home-grown fruit.
The moon had risen, by then, to a fair height in the trees and we headed off for a walk around Mt Peel for an hour or more before heading home around 11pm.