WOYWW 569 - Window Art

How has lockdown been for you? I'm down to one day a week work at one job, the second job shut down.

Those of you who are crafters will notice that I haven't been crafting since WOYWW 513 when I went to craft camp and ate all this wonderful food, but the bigger news is I am now going to run that Craft Camp as the previous coordinator has too much on her plate. Next years dates have been booked and I am about to contact all the previous attendees to see who is coming so we can lock down the camp.

Apr 25th was Anzac Day for Australia and New Zealand. You can read about it on my post HERE

Everyone in Australia was doing driveway commemoration due to the social distancing rules. We normally go to a commemoration  park on the island called Pat's Park.

I wanted to do something at home so I decided to make some Poppies and stick them to my window. My inspiration came from a cousin's daughter in the US who decorated her mum and dads windows with hearts to show her support for Healthcare workers, it's such wonderful display of support and artistic creativity.

I have posted her photos below mine with her permission, thank you Rachel.

 So I found a poppy flower template on the internet and printed it out onto 80gsm paper which I cut out.

 There were three sizes but I only used the larger one, next year I'll plan it better and use all three. I also used a Stampin Up flower punch I had that almost looked like a Poppy flower, and a circle punch for the stamen. I would have liked to put green leaves too but didn't have enough time.

 I then traced the flower onto a thick plastic to trace onto the red cardstock, You can see the Australia map I punched out as well to use as the stamen on some flowers.

 I stuck the completed flowers on my arms to transport them outside to the window.

I couldn't reach the top of the window so that is why the flowers ended where they did.

I made a mistake on one and glued the Australia Map back to front so now all the eastern states are on the west hahahaha.

This is my cousin's daughter Rachel, she used a Silhouette Cameo and Cricket

 She did an awesome job decorating all the windows of her house downstairs, I believe it took her a day to do it. They live in the US, I have visited this beautiful house and gorgeous family, I am so glad they are my family by marriage.

So each Wednesday we virtually visit craft desks around the world via Stamping Ground and see what others are up to. 

Also entering this into CARDZTV Anything goes Challenge

Sending love and healing to those deskers that are suffering from Covid. May you heal through all the work the Healthcare workers are doing and from our love. Saluting all those front line and Healthcare workers out there that are putting their own lives at risk to keep us safe. 

Penpals during lockdown - Folded Letters

Are you writing more letters due to lockdown? I have acquired a few new penpals and re-united with old ones that dropped off due to one reason or another. Here are some folded letters links you may find interesting.

Folded letters from the war
http://riowang.blogspot.com/2011/09/triangular-letters.html

https://www.improvisedlife.com/2011/12/06/triangle-letter-how-to-mail-for-free/

Folded letters tutorials

What else are you doing to keep yourself busy? I've been doing alot of gardening in my sorely neglected garden and happy with the results.

Stay safe and stay motivated.

Anzac Day 2020 - a different world

Anzac Day 2020 a new way to remember our Veterans. ANZAC Day April 25th is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand.

A view looking aft of lifeboat carrying unidentified men of the Australian 1st Divisional Signal Company as they are towed towards Anzac Cove on the day of the landing.

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federated nation for only 13 years, and its government was eager to establish a reputation among the nations of the world. When Britain declared war in August 1914 Australia was automatically placed on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany."

So due to this Covid-19 lockdown I decided to decorate my window with the Poppies that are used for this day.

Due to lockdown and self isolation rules, (we normally attend the dawn service at Pat's Park at 5.30am to honour our Veterans), majority of people on the island did driveway remembrance.

Found a poppy template online. Here's a printable pinwheel poppy

 First I printed the template and cut it out 

 Cut it out onto hard plastic so I could trace around it

 Placed them on my arms to transport them out to the front window

I ran out of height to fill it up to the top of the window, also didnt realise red came in different shades

LEST WE FORGET

5 minutes of Fame

I follow an online news called THE NEW DAILY, there are World news and Local news. One article was talking about Corona Virus and how people are managing lockdown or self isolation. The article also asked for photos so I sent my recent photo of my revamped garden that I have been able to do since the lockdown in Australia.

HERE is the article that shows my photograph as the headline picture.  

I was working 2 jobs last year and one shut down and the other only has very minimal shifts, so that allowed me to have some free time to tend to my sorely neglected vegetable garden.

This photo below was featured in the article.

Another Fallen Tree Limb - Pine this time

In July 2019 we had a 2 tonne limb fall off one of our trees straight into the duck run, luckily no ducks were killed and neither was I, the time it fell was when I usually went in to feed them and luckily I had moved them into the pen.

So this week another tree limb fell down, I measured it and it was 12 foot long, luckily the previous owner had trees cut away from the house, we still have 3 trees too close to the house for my liking and some council trees also too close to the house.

The positive to this is we can use the wood immediately and its now coming into winter so it was good time.

 It took down a Staghorn on its way down

 Finally got some red dirt deliveredy, interesting to read that red dirt does not have nitrogen in it so will have to add lots of poo to it. Everything else seems to grow well in red dirt on the island.

 This is another Staghorn we have on another tree but the one that came down was the same size.  You can see below where it came off and how big the Staghorn was

I am going to try and plant an upside down tomato vine with this. Will have to hang it on a tree because hubby wont let me hang it on the patio - yeah I know, strange man

Winter Scavenger Hunt 2019

I first saw the Scavenger Hunt on Nil's blog and curiosity got the better of me so I wandered over to where it all began with A Bracelet of Days. It's almost the end of 2019 Winter Photography Scavenger hunt which started around Dec 2019 so I am scrambling to find all the photos.

Here are my finds so far:

1. In the bag: Obviously something has opened up the bag and started to eat the content of my straw

2. Contrast: I bought these shoes cheaply and going to plant something in it, it's a size 10 so way too big for me to wear. I love the contrast of where I had left it outside the patio on the stones

4. Colours: I love the colours of the vegetables I bought last weekend

5. A Garden Gate: I saw this fence on my walk today, I love the contrast of the cement posts and the wood

7. I stood here:  One stubbed black toe

10. The little things:  Woolworths were giving out the Stikeeze toys if you spent $20 or more, they have now stopped giving them out due to the Covid-19. The coin is our $1 to show the size

13. A keyhole: Our front door key hole, its located too close to the edge and the handle is hard to turn

14. Flavour of the month: Chillies, I love my chillies and I discovered I have about 7 chillie trees, 3 I planted and the rest the birds planted

 Wild chillie trees marked by the orange ribbons so hubby doesnt mow them down

 Chillies for cooking                                   Chillies for drying 

 Turned those chillies into chillie jam, its more hot than sweet. Stored upside down to sterlize the lids

15. Letters: The letters I received this month

17. A Line: This rope fence was in a very long line, the whole line wouldn't fit into the photo

If you wanted to play, here is the list:

We're now in to April and have until the 30th to find the rest of our photos for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt. For those who may not be aware of this .... I extended the end date to April 30th 2020 and added some more photo prompts to help anyone who was self-isolating as a result of the coronavirus crisis. This is the revised list:

1. in the bag
2. contrast
3. the way to go
4. colours
5. a garden gate
6. vintage 
7. I stood here
8. 11 o'clock
9. solitary
10. the little things
11. industrial
12. time for tea
13. a keyhole
14. flavour of the month
15. letters
16. a barrier
17. a line
18. a chain
19. an alley
20. monochrome

Alt A: Chess or Checkers
Alt B: Market
Alt C: The View From My Front Door
Alt D: Three Colours On One Item
Alt E: I Am Reading
Alt F: The Sky Today
Alt G: Free Choice

Alt H: Free Choice  

Lockdown simple menus from yesteryear and Postcrossing

I love this post from Down to Earth blog that I follow, its about affordable homemaking. She has a picture of a German Potato Pancake or Kartoffle Puffer. Reminds me of Potato Rosti-hubby's favourite.

There were a few recipes to follow:

The Spruce Eats

The Daring Gourmet

Foodal

Anyway Rhonda's suggested menus if you're not doing too well financially due to losing your job or being stood down:

• Tuna bake - is a mornay sauce with canned tuna, pasta and vegetables.
• Zucchini slice - you can use any vegetable for this. Caramelised onion slice is delicious.
• Salmon patties - the cheaper canned pink salmon is good for this.
• Boiled eggs and salad.
• Corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.
• Next day - corned beef hash with eggs.  My recipe here.
• Potato pancakes- my recipe is here
• Pumpkin or sweet potato or pea or grean bean risotto.
• Meatloaf - and lentil or chickpea version of meatloaf.  Spicy meatloaf recipe 
• Curried vegetables with poached eggs. - I bake the vegetables in the oven with a little oil, curry powder or paste, then poach eggs in another pan.
• Pea and ham soup.
• Vegetable soup with herb dumplings, made with beef bone broth.  When you make the broth, boil them a second time and add salt and pepper for a lovely beef tea.
• Lamb stew - using one lamb chop for flavour - and lots of vegies is very tasty and nutritious
• Spinach or silverbeet pie in filo pastry.  Recipe here.
• Homemade bread - search "bread" in my sidebar for recipes
• Rice pudding - ½ cup white rice with 2 ½ cups of milk, 1 tablespoon sugar and vanilla.  Cook slowly - excellent for breakfast.  
• Bread and butter pudding to use up bread or old hot cross buns.  Recipe here.
• Porridge.

2008 recipe links

50 Old School Aussie dinners

Talking about yesteryear, I came across this in Postcrossing, a treasure trove of letters found in an post office that couldn't be delivered for one reason or another "The Piggy Bank" . I love the handwriting, looks like everyone could master calligraphy.

Sunday Gardening

We were at it again in the garden Sunday. Why hubby decided around 11am to go out into the garden beats me, its the hottest time of day. Anyway we only worked for 1.5 hours

I bought this basket of goodies on the island, every Sunday Greg and Karen come over from Russell Island with their van and sell vegetables to us. I love using my basket for vege shopping, its keeps the vegetables from squishing in bags. These baskets are hard to find, very sturdy.

Visited my compost bin as well (built by the very handy man and garden guru Len) and saw the chilli and pawpaw tree are surviving. Corn to the right are growing, lettuce not doing so well

 So thats the garden so far, decided to extend the garden area by putting pots on the edges. Tomato plants in the white foam boxes you saw in previous posts, red grapefruit, meyer lemon, Nagami cumquat (the sweet oval ones you can eat fresh), I think there are two trees.

My worm farm is looking good with lots of worms.

So what does your garden look like?

Pantry Cleaning Out

This lockdown from the Corona Virus is spurring many people on to do stuff around the house. Well I now have the opportunity to clean out my pantry that was needing it badly. Because I cook many cuisines, I have lots of different items to cook these.

 I have a small walkin pantry

 I definitely need split shelves, as you can see the wasted room in each shelf that I could fill and make it neater and easier to find...someday

 All items out on the tables so I can fumigate and wipe down all the shelves and walls to give it a real good clean

What are you doing for your self-isolation or lockdown?