Happy Birthday Aj and op shopping bargains.

Happy Birthday Aj, 18 today, legally able to drink but to sick with the flu to even think about alcohol. He spent the day in bed and said he felt so bad he couldn't even play his PS3. Wow he must be sick.Aj and Tom, brothers and best friends.A little op shopping today.Oriental tray, I love them.Two Christmas plates for the Midwinter Christmas nibbles coming up in July.Pretty Old Foley dish.oops , not curtains as they were priced at, not sure what they are but gorgeous fabric, they will be used for something.oops I did it again, lovely oil cloth, I bought what they had, it just fits the table, love it, has seal of approval from "the men" but Basil hasn't seen it yet. It might be a girly" bridge to far" will have to wait and see. I will have to have a more special dinner for Aj on the weekend as he isn't feeling well enough to enjoy his birthday, I can't believe my baby is 18, he would deny it but he is the loviest of men, loyal, kind and funny, he is popular with his mates( even if he never has his phone switched on) and adults as he talks to everyone. We are proud of him, even if he is eating us out of house and home. Love Aunt Bee.

I don't believe it!

No Dave it's my chair get off, off I say, obey Dave, oh why are cats not dogs.

The dinner, the car and the saint.

You can just see my beloved Suzuki Vitara in the drive, may she come home safely.

I don't know why I was so apprenhensive last night, Little Red and Lofty were great guests and the meal was no big deal. We haven't entertained in yonks and though I consider  myself to be a confident and competent cook (say that fast 7 times) I really freaked out yesterday. I found a leg of lamb, $32.00!  hell's teeth, thats expensive, haven't had lamb for at least 2 years, it's so dear, so the menu with a few sides from Matt's Sunday Lunch from Febuary's GoodFood 2010. I did lamb with balsamic/raspberry/oil/ salt and pepper rub/baste (so good), Welsh onion cake but I did it in the oven, and cabbage and bacon and whole carrots. Dessert was a  real easy treat,  mini pavs, raspbery coulis, dreamy vanilla yogurt ice cream, and a delicate stream of cream with hot chocolate sauce. I did this on large white dinner plates, very MasterChef and this all served with a lovely Nelson Pinot Gris. I realised how much I love cooking and with all the lovely feedback I've decided Sunday night will be a night for a decent dinner. I say decent because tonight we are having  franks and hash browns. So too the car, it's not good and it has just got worse the final bill will be 3,600 , I can barely bare to write it, but we are spreading the work over 3-4 months to help pay for it, SORRY Contessa I think the trip to England has started to fall into the" land of maybe not". I am saying a few prays to St Jude, he owes me, I often pray to him for other people and he has come through, he now has to see what he can do for me.  I shall stop moaning now, it is only a car and I've a courtsy car till my girl is ready, about Friday I hope.

My chair, bought for $20.00 off Trademe, it's mine, at last, I have placed it front of the sliding door which is used as the main entrance  to our house. It is for me to sit in and sew, listen to the radio, crochet , drink tea and read. Why have  I done this?, there is only one lounge in the house its large and has the stereo and TV,  2 couches and with the "men"and Basil watching TV or DVD's which I have no interest in, I can't spread out with my crafty stuff. So I put the chair in tha ample kitchen/dining/living room and claimed it as my own. Yesterday afternoon I sat down with a talking book, some sewing and a late lunch and had a wonderful few hours of enjoying myself. Strangely enough everyone wants the chair but know it's off limits. The fabric is Sanderson I think and it's a very well made chair, there were 2 more but I didn't want to push my luck getting them as Basil who picked this one up said they weren't in as good condition.Mothers Day, and on a cold and frosty morning I received these goodies, the slippers are my usual gift, a box of fudge, my favourite, two mags, foodie one and the English House Beautiful, a difficult mag to find in ChCh, very hit and miss as to who stocks it, and Chris told me her local shop where she buys her mags is not stocking many of the English ones we both love, I digress. But that's all for me this Mother's Day as Basil has informed me the beautiful bag and 61 Hours the lastest Lee Child book, he bought a week ago were also Mother's Day gifts............... Mustn't grumble as my car went in for a warrent and is in massive trouble, can't even tell you the quote for repairs, as it is so terrible.The talking book I got out of the library, funnily enough it had Julia McKenzie as Ariadne Oliver. I love talking books, but this has to be the worst Hercule Poirot ever, I'll not name the actor but his accent veered from" Hello Hello " to a bit Irish, in fact Aj a Poirot fan came and listened and couldn't work out which was the "little French man".Talking of Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, she was o.k., closer in appearence to AC's description, not wholly satisying but the clothes, the cars, houses and general "look" of the films always delight me. It's Sunday morning and I'm off to buy some lamb for dinner tonight, not having dinner cooked for you Aunt Bee, well no Basil who is at work as I write, kindly invited some friends( over from Oz for a funeral ) for dinner tonight.  Gee I bet your happy about that Aunt Bee..............yes I am...........That is all for now, as I have much dinner preparation to do.

Where have all the Autumn leaves gone, gone to our garden everyone.

Some scenes from the garden and drive, yes we do appear to have everyone's fallen leaves.

A quilt on the way to being finished.....how many years ago did you start it Aunt Bee.

A little shaming goes along way. I have sandwiched the quilt, batting found in the garage, and  a sheet bought scheap on sale years ago, I always buy sheets when I see them cheap as they are the only things I use for quilt backings. Hours on me knees in lounge with some help from Aj, but resolve to do this on a Saturday morning when the men are at work. I'm pleased with the progress and am thinking about the actual quilting a mixture of hand and machine I think. After a trying week we have found out  Basil's not got anything" nasty in the woodpile" so to speak, but tests are on going to find out why his kidneys aren't working as they should, he's doing some tests this week and I have some unusal containers in my fridge, say no more. 

Anzac 2010

Lest We Forget.