Fixing the ceiling on the portico.

The ceiling on the portico in front of our house was replaced a few years ago.  When it was replaced the new ceiling looked terrific and we were delighted with the result. Move on a couple of years and a few heavy rainstorms over time and the ceiling was beginning to look a bit suspect.

I thought the stain looked similar to mould so decided to give it a go with some bathroom mould remover spray.  I got out the ladder and set to work.  Sure enough after leaving the spray on for ten minutes I then wiped it off and the ceiling was back as good as new.

Well worth the effort.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the next heavy rainstorm.That is sun reflection in the centre of the ceiling.

An essential trip to Perry Bridge for tomatoes

Tomato sauce is an essential for my younger daughter’s family.  I make the sauce which has become the firm favourite for the family.  We had been hoping to get sauce tomatoes from the local greengrocer but the price was a bit expensive.  We have been fortunate in previous years to get our tomatoes from a farmer at Perry Bridge but last year he didn’t have a crop.  We were lucky this year as he had an advertisement in the local paper saying that he had tomatoes for sale this year so we made the 150 km round trip to get the tomatoes. $15 for a ten kilo box.

We also bought some capsicum from him and I already had the garlic and onions.

The box had ten kilos so I cooked the sauce in 2 kilo lots.

I prepared each of the spice lots and chopped the tomatoes and onions in 5 batches.

Here you can see I have completed two batches and there are three waiting for the next lot of cooking.I chop the onion in the food processor but do the tomatoes by hand.

This lets you see if the sauce is ready for bottling.  This wasn’t ready as you can see that the liquid has separated.  The mixture needed to be cooked for longer.

It took two days to complete the ten kilos but it was well worth it.

More cooking, balm for the soul.

Our cumquat tree has produced well this year and so i have managed to make a batch of cumquat marmalade.  I am not a huge fan of marmalade but I love cumquat marmalade.

I have blogged about this before and you can find the link to the recipe here.

What we have done to our hedge.

Our side hedge is quite a long hedge and over the years since we have lived here the height of it seems to get taller and taller.  One year we did get someone in to lower the hedge but it obviously wasn’t low enough and it has grown back over the years again.

You can see from the picture below our hedge height before I started to cut it back.

The reason for cutting it down so much lower is that I am now in my seventies and I guess I am more aware that when I get on a platform there is the possibility that I might fall and that would not be a good thing.  To cut the top of the hedge I needed to get on a platform that was about a metre high, not a good height from which to fall.

I have cut the hedge down to head height so I should be able to reach it more easily.

There was certainly plenty of green waste to take to the tip as we managed about eleven ute loads.

My first attempt at making dishcloths

I have been trying to eliminate my stash of wool and part of that stash is cotton, not wool.  The cotton is left over from garments I have made for grandchildren and my daughters.

I did a quick search on the internet and found a couple of free patterns for cotton dishcloths.  Two of the patterns are knitted and the third is crocheted.

I have made the two knitted dishcloths but have yet to make the crocheted one.

I like this one the best.  Very easy to do as it is knitted on the diagonal.

I made a third dishcloth but unfortunately didn’t have enought of the one colour so there is a different coloured corner to this one.

Some creative projects that have taken place.

Since last posting before Christmas and the following bushfires I have managed to do a little bit of creating.  I have been knitting socks as they are an easily transported activity that doesn’t take up much room as it is one ball of wool and four needles.

I have managed to complete two pairs of socks and I have two more balls left to use.

I also, before Christmas, knitted a beanie for my sister.  The wool was possum wool that I bought when we were in New Zealand.