"When Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil"

The first rose - Gold Bunny

Freesias

Camellia

The inseparable pigeon pair

Meyer lemon

making Lemon Drizzle Cake 

a treat for hubby

only one slice a day!!

Orange Blossom

More Azaleas

Delicate Hellebore

Post title quote: Bishop Reginald Heber 1783-1826

Enjoy some Chopin while you browse...

Chopin is my saviour...

Taj's beach visit; Hubby recovering....

Tajma Hall

Husband Michael has been in hospital the past two weeks and had his bypass last Thursday - a quintuple!!  The hospital is 2 1/2 hours from our home in the country and the turn-around trip is quite exhausting.  Our friends, Rick and Mani, kindly invited Taj and I to stay over. While I visited Mike, Rick and the little girls, Amber, Lauren and Bianca took Taj for a walk to the beach and the park.

He loved the waves!

Yawn!  I'm pooped!!

I'm happy to say that Mike is doing well; he told me that "the dreaded Physio" was coming this morning to get him on his feet.  It will be a long haul but I'm sure he will feel great down the track and get back into his flyfishing. 

Beautifully dressed or tarty?

Got your attention?  Nothing to do with clothes.  One blogger described my humour as 'droll'; well, probably.


I haven't bought Mayonnaise since last summer.  I found this recipe online but I'm afraid I've forgotten where, so my apologies to the person who thought it up and thank you!


Ingredients
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or lime


Method
Place the first 5 ingredients into blender and blend on low speed for 2 minutes.  


Still on low speed, gradually drizzle in half a cup of oil, add lemon juice and slowly add the remainder of the oil.


Notes
Depending on the vinegar used, you can get a different taste.  I'm currently using White Balsamic Vinegar and love the taste.  


I once made it up, did the taste test at the end and it was really tarty.  I realised that I had left the salt out!  That tiny bit of salt really takes the edge off. 


I make a very tasty Coleslaw by adding a few dollops of this and a few sloshes of Caesar. 

Beautiful, creamy Mayo!

Tartare Sauce

Make the basic recipe above and add 1 tbsp chopped capers and 2 tbsp chopped gherkins. Optional extras are 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley and 2 tsp grated lemon rind.  

The end result is a delicious tartare sauce to have plate-side with fish or spread on wafers under tomato and spring onion for lunch.  

The Warm Breezes of Spring...

"A girl without a friend is like the spring without roses." ~ French Proverb

"In springtime, love is carried on the breeze.

Watch out for flying passion or kisses 

whizzing by your head." ~ Emma Racine de Fleur

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!' ~ Robin Williams

"Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear

that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, 

not the composer" ~ Geoffrey B. Charlesworth 

"Spring has returned.  The Earth is

like a child that knows poems." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

"There is no winter without snow, 

no spring without sunshine,

and no happiness without companions." ~ Korean Proverb

American Author visits Ballarat in 1891

In 1891 Mark Twain stepped onto the platform of Ballarat's grand 

railway station where he penned

his timeless prose about Ballarat

and its newfound wealth. 

"Forty-five years ago the site now occupied by the

City of Ballarat was a sylvan solitude as quiet as

Eden and as lovely.  Nobody had ever heard of it.

On the 25th of August, 1851, the first great gold-

strike made in Australia was made here.  The

wandering prospectors who made it scraped up two pounds and a half of gold the first day - worth £600.  A few days later the place was a hive-a town.  The news of the strike spread everywhere in a sort of instantaneous way - spread like a flash to the very ends of the earth.  A celebrity so prompt and so universal has hardly been paralleled in history, perhaps.  It was as if the name BALLARAT had suddenly been written on the sky, where all the world could read it at once."

From 'Following the Equator'

by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

The fact that, during the 19th century, one of the world's most influential writers and one of its best-known singers, Dame Nellie Melba, were both drawn to Ballarat, is testament to the town's cultural heritage.

Dame Nellie Melba

With its wide boulevard planted with elm trees and lines with grand statues, you'll see evidence everywhere of Ballarat's spectacular rise from humble mining settlement to wealthy city.

Explore Ballarat today and you'll discover that history isn't confined to dusty old books and stuffy museums.  In Ballarat, there is a living and breathing history.  A history immersed in stories of romance and mystery.  A history steeped in legendary tales of tragedy and triumph. A history you can be part of every day.

Ballarat's Avenue of Honour

I'll be like a kid in a lolly shop when we move to Ballarat!

Source: BALLARAT, Victoria's Goldfields, Official Visitor Guide

P.S.  "Ballarat" came from "Balla" and "Arat", derived from Aboriginal words meaning elbow or reclining on the elbow (resting or camping) and place.

The Last Month of Winter

Yesterday morning, through the window

(I haven't washed the outside yet!)

Well, we're gradually getting there; still have some more sifting, sorting and tossing 'treasures' accumulated and sitting idle in the shed and barn.  The house is sparkling; I've been filling, sanding, undercoating and painting, particularly in the laundry where a little puppy chewed his way up the architrave and made a real mess of the door eight years ago!  I should have taken before photos!

Afternoon

It's rather wet and chilly again today, so I'll have to wait for a couple of nice days to paint the doorsteps. Only 25 more days of Winter and then we'll put the house on the market. Very soon we're spending a few days at BALLARAT, to have a look around.  Of course, we can't go house hunting until we have a buyer here.

The Manchurian Pears are 'popping'

The past month has flown; mainly because I've been busy but three weeks of that was taken up with watching Le Tour de France and the fantastic end result, our very own Cadel Evans winning it!!  It's the first time we've watched it in entirety and we now know so much more about road cycling events; the terminology, the tactics and, of course, we've seen so much of that extraordinarily beautiful country and the commentators came across with the history of each town, chateau and église.  It will be something to look forward to from now on.

Another result I'm really thrilled about is that 14yo Jack Vidgen won Australia's Got Talent last week!!  I wrote about Jack here. The first prize was $A250,000 and he has a contract with Sony but, this is not America, he only has his Mum and his invalid Father, so I hope that the industry gets behind him. Personally, I also hope that he furthers his studies!!

   "♪And a Cocky in a Desert Ash♫"

Thank you, everyone, for dropping in and leaving a comment and I apologise if I haven't replied.  I most probably won't post for another month.  Actually, as much as I love blogging, I'm feeling quite liberated and might stick to this precept!