Phoebe chilling out

Have a lovely, relaxing weekend everyone. Phoebe is always completely relaxed, no matter where she finds herself.

Edited to add: I was sitting in the study a little while ago & turned around to get Moby Dick off the tbr shelves (it's a long story which involves buying another copy of MD even though I haven't read the copy I already have) & noticed how beautiful the shelves looked in the late afternoon autumn sunshine. I grabbed the iPad to take this photo & then noticed that

Lucky was sitting on the window sill looking gorgeous although puzzled as to why I was so excited to see her in a good spot for a photo where she couldn't immediately wind herself around my legs to avoid the camera. Just a completely normal Saturday afternoon at our house.

Midwinter weekend ramblings

Saturday afternoon was just lovely, not warm but sunny & the predicted rain & hail didn't arrive. Lucky loves sitting on the window sill in the study observing our neighbours.

Phoebe prefers crouching behind the flower pots observing Lucky & waiting for a chance to pounce.

I love winter, especially in Melbourne where we don't have the freezing temperatures, snow, sleet & general dramas of winter in the Northern hemisphere. We do have our fair share of frosty mornings & torrential rain though. We even had an earthquake a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately it was about 10km under Moe so very little damage was done. We felt it here in Melbourne. Lucky, Phoebe & I were enjoying a quiet evening with a concert on the radio. I was reading & when the rumbling started, Lucky dug her claws into my knee & Phoebe woke up with a start & looked at me for an explanation. I said I thought it was an earthquake & we'd just have to sit tight which we did. It was all over in 30 secs although it felt much longer.

Then there's my vegie garden. I started it a little late for summer veg although my herbs did very well & I managed a few tomatoes. I planted broccoli & carrots in early autumn & I've just eaten my first broccoli which is very exciting. I was concerned when little green caterpillars attacked the leaves but I was out on caterpillar patrol every morning & evening picking the wretched things off & they don't seem to have done any harm. There's more broccoli on the way & I hope to be eating my carrots soon. I ate the broccoli on Saturday night with a trout recipe I saw on one of Nigel Slater's programs. The trout fillets were wrapped in bacon & baked in the oven & served with lemon juice & parsley.

I've also bought my one & only Jubilee souvenir. I was very taken with this Emma Bridgewater Jubilee teapot. I love the squat shape & the 50s design. It has the words Steadfast & True around the base which I think describes the Queen perfectly. It arrived last week & it's a good pourer so I've retired my $5 teapot that I've been using for at least the last 15 years & I have this lovely pot to look at & use every day. It was also my first eBay purchase. The Bridgewater shop were charging £50 postage so when I picked myself up off the floor, I thought of eBay as I couldn't find an Australian distributor. It's new & the same price as at the Bridgewater shop but much less for postage & it was here, safe & sound, in less than 2 weeks.

Sunday morning was chilly but the rain still hadn't arrived so I was off early to the farmer's market, stocked up with veg, lovely handmade soap & gorgeous gluten free biscuits that are perfect when I feel like a treat with a cup of tea from my Jubilee teapot.
I made a big pot of my favourite soup at the moment, carrot & potato with cumin. It's the cumin that makes it so delicious. I also made a wholemeal chocolate hazelnut cake for morning tea at work today. It's a recipe I cut out of the newspaper & it has a very Eastern European feel about it with hazelnut meal, chopped chocolate & chopped hazelnuts sprinkled on top.

The afternoon was spent watching the rain pour down, reading Leo Walmsley's Love in the Sun, listening to the Goldner String Quartet playing Beethoven with two very contented cats sleeping their lives away. A lovely way to spend the weekend.

Abby's weekend

Cristina from Rochester Reader was asking after Abby last week so I thought it was probably time for an Abby update. Abby's very well. She had a visit to the vet a week ago as the result of some bleeding from her bowel & we discovered from a blood test that she has hyperthyroidism which is very common in older cats (she's 16). She was on a bland diet for a few days & she's had a course of antibiotics. After the first day, she was completely fine and it's impossible to tell if the bleeding was just one of those things or something more serious. I think she just picked up something in the garden that irritated her on the way through. She's on tablets for the thyroid condition & we go back for another blood test in a fortnight to see if the medication has lowered her levels. The bland diet wasn't a great success but she put up with it pretty stoically whuile it lasted.

We're both enjoying the end of summer here in Melbourne. The last week has felt distinctly autumnal. A few nicely crisp mornings & not too hot during the day. Fingers crossed that summer really is over & I can start planning winter mornings cooking soups, stews & chocolately treats & long afternoons reading & listening to music.

I took these photos yesterday. Abby's morning routine usually includes sunning herself against the back fence, sharpening up her claws on the timber.

Then, after lunch, she likes to have a snooze in the shrubbery in the front garden. She doesn't look very pleased with me, I may have woken her up. I'm sure she'll forgive me around dinner time, she always does.