How to get out of bed feeling great

Have you noticed how a cat stretches after sleep getting all its limbs and body ready for action?  If you do that too you will start your day feeling great.  Here’s how:  working within your capabilities, arch your ankles, bend your toes, flex your entire leg forward, back, sideways and manipulate the toes, heel and ankle forward and back.  Take a moment to feel the renewed strength flowing through your body before leisurely getting out of bed.  Enjoy the experience.

 

The surprise of receiving a mystery plant

Last week I arranged to have lunch with a dear friend.  I was first in the cafe and when she arrived she was carrying the most unusual (to me) display in a jar which she had cleverly decorated with brown string and a raffia bow.

Rhonda has a green thumb and has designed the most amazing colour co-ordinated garden at her new home.  She told me they were Dianthus ‘Green Trick’.  When I arrived home I ‘Googled’  the name and came up with the following information which may interest some gardeners:

Botanical name: Dianthus barbatus ‘Green Trick’

Other names: Sweet william ‘Green Trick’, Dianthus barbatus ‘Temarisou’

Genus: Dianthus
Variety or Cultivar: ‘Green Trick’ _ ‘Green Trick’ is an upright, bushy, short-lived, evergreen perennial, often grown as a biennial, with linear, grey-green leaves and, from early summer into autumn, upright stems bearing large, round, dense, bright green flowerheads with finely-fringed petals.
Dianthus barbatus ‘Green Trick’ is: Evergreen

Flower: Bright-green in Summer; Bright-green in Autumn

Foliage: Grey-green in All seasons

Habit: Bushy, Compact, Cushion or Mound Forming

I also noted that they are becoming very popular with florists to add to bouquets.  I’m looking forward to growing some in my garden in the future.

Volunteering National Volunteers Week (Australia)

We have been celebrating National Volunteers Week here in Australia with various events.  This year’s slogan was GIVE HAPPY, LIVE HAPPY.  The Program Coordinator for the Community Visitors Scheme I volunteer with arranged a morning tea to thank all volunteers for their work and dedication.  It’s absolutely outstanding how many visits have been made.

You may be interested in the amazing statistics which Esis Tawfik, Manager, Community Visitor Scheme, kindly forwarded to include in this post:

MS Community Visitors Scheme
In the past year our 478 Community Visitors Scheme volunteers made
more than 11,365 visits to socially isolated older people in NSW and Victoria.
Our volunteers visit people for companionship and friendship built on
mutual interests. This simple philosophy has added genuine value to the
lives of many people. In 2014, our program was expanded to include
people living in their own homes who receive a home care package. In the words of one of the recipients, for many people, the program is a ‘lifeline’.

As mentioned previously,  I visit Dorothy in an Aged Care Facility, who at 102 loves to chat and talk about her life experiences.  When I was with her last week she said how nice it was to have ‘a special friend’.  I found that very touching.

For readers of this blog who live outside Australia, it would be very interesting to know if you have a similar scheme in your area.

 Another great recipe from Jo Marty’s book :  How to eat well for next to nothing – The Bible of Budget (2nd edition)

ROASTED PUMPKIN SALAD

400g butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped into approx 1-2cm dice, 60g baby spinach leaves, 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed, 2 tsp mild curry powder, 1 tbl vegetable oil

Dressing:  2 tbl vinegar, 1 tbl olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, ½ tsp sugar

Preheat oven to 200C – place pumpkin into a small baking tin with the oil.  Toss through then bake for 20 minutes.  Add curry powder and mix through.  Return to oven and bake for a further 10 minutes or until cooked and a little caramelised.  Set aside to cool. 

To  make dressing:  whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt pepper and sugar.  In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, spinach, chickpeas and dressing.

I demonstrated this recipe at the Learn/Share Vegetarian at the Table course I conducted recently.  All the participants returned the next week telling me what a success it had proved to be with their families.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy trying it out.

 

Tea Cosy Festival at Fish Creek, South Gippsland, Vic.

Along with my friend Olga, I really enjoyed the Tea Cosy Festival at Fish Creek which is held in Fish Creek every two years.  The Festival showcases the town’s character and reinvents a cultural icon of country kitchens along the way.   How well I remember my mum using a tea cosy each day and having a special one for when visitors came by.  I have to admit to not owning one myself but seeing all the wonderful designs, I just might be tempted to find a pattern and make one before too long.

I took some photos but there were so many people in the hall it was difficult to keep a steady hand so the results were not the best.  However,  I’ll share my favourites here:

 

An inspiration at almost 81

I have to say at nearly 81, my husband Ken, is an inspiration.  He’s always planning his next project which recently was renovating the greenhouse and garden shed and reducing the vegetable growing area.  I’m not sure there’s much reduction in the growing area, but things have certainly been spruced up.  When he finishes a project he always says that’s the last one though I doubt it.  At least I hope not.

I’d like to share this timely quote I saw attached to a tree in a Sculpture Park.

 

With that thought I’ll sign off until next time

Janice