Covid 19

So what a world we are in now with Covid-19 and Ukraine.

I was very scared to catch covid because I have mild asthma and diabetes, have managed to not catch covid for 2 years until Jan 31-2022 when I had the worst sore throat that I'd ever experienced. It felt like I had swallowed a razor blade. I knew in my heart that it was Covid so I took a RAT test and there was a faint second line. At first I wouldn't believe that it was positive so waited 2 days to be able to go to a testing station to get a PCR test. 

Luckily we had stocked panadol and nurofen, two medicines that we needed and ate like lollies. the panadol helped with the headaches and the nurofen helped with the body aches. Wish I had dry throat cough medicine too because my throat was very sore. So I made this throat tonic that I found on a blog by Down to Earth  

3 - 4 inch long piece of ginger

2 lemons thinly sliced

1 litre water

1/2 cup raw honey

In a medium saucepan add the water, ginger and lemons and bring to a boil. Gently simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, put the lid on the saucepan and let it sit for two hours. Add honey, stir until its completely dissolved and pour into a sterilised bottle.

You can keep the ginger and lemon and recycle it, going through the above process again. The flavour wont be as strong but its definitely worth getting two batches.

To make up the tonic for use, make a hot tea with it by adding boiling water to 2 tablespoon s of syrup, add it to the black tea using the same amount or make it into a cold drink.

I hope you dont get covid, its not very pleasant, I reckon we got the middle version. 

I wrote down everything that happened to me:

Covid-19 a year later

A year later and it's a different world, borders have finally opened in Queensland to everyone in Australia, still closed to overseas and cruise ships. Commercial ships are still delivering more than ever because of the lack of air delivery and more people ordering online.

This article says it all to date: 

I have captured the information for future referral in case the link shuts down as they do. 

Quote:

Coronavirus: Australia leads the world in curbing deaths as Europe is swamped

Australia is among the nations that recorded zero or one coronavirus deaths in November. Australia is the only country that experienced a destructive second wave in August and September to have joined this select group.

November successes

Thirty nations recorded zero or one death in November, the same number as in October, down from 31 in September. All but one are in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. They include China, New Zealand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Singapore, Papua New-Guinea, Thailand, Fiji and Vietnam. The exception is Haiti.

Nations with deaths below three per million – which some analysts see as the benchmark for ‘success’ in controlling the pandemic – are down to 67. This compares with 71 in October and 80 in September. Most are in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.

Australia setting the standard

Australia handled the first wave of infections relatively well, with only 104 deaths to the end of June. Of course, that is 104 too many, but at 4.1 deaths per million it was among the world’s lowest.

Then came the tragic second wave, lifting total fatalities to 652 by the end of August. Most of these occurred in August and most were in Victoria, as has been well-documented. The fix thereafter was impressive, with 234 September deaths, 21 in October and one in November.

No other country has achieved this. New Zealand, for example, has handled the pandemic exceptionally well with 25 deaths in total and only three since May. But they were spared the second wave.

Bolivia, population 11.7 million, has had the second-best trajectory, with a disastrous 1522 deaths in September, then 784 in October and just 237 in November. That is a sound achievement, but a long way from Australia’s one.

Europe overwhelmed

The dominant theatre of the pandemic shifted in November. Whereas the Americas have had the worst-affected countries in recent months, Europe is again the epicentre.

Emphatically so. Of all 175 major countries listed at Worldometers – populations above 340,000 – the worst-hit 18 are all in Europe. They include these advanced nations, with deaths per million for November shown:

Austria: 230, France: 244, Italy: 281, Switzerland: 290, Poland: 305

Hungary: 318, Bulgaria: 398, Belgium: 439, Czech Republic: 471

Slovenia: 528

These 10 nations comprise 2.8 per cent of the world’s population but have experienced 24.4 per cent of all November deaths, a total of 66,077. These appalling outcomes make the rest of the world appear to be doing well when, in fact, that is far from the reality.

The Americas

In August and September, most nations in North, Central and South America were bunched together at the loser end of the deaths per million chart. Of the 16 worst-affected nations in September, 13 were in this region, including the US, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador.

They have now risen dramatically.

But this shift in rankings is not because things are better in the Americas. It is because deaths have soared in Europe. The US suffered 72.8 deaths per million in September and 73.4 in October, thus ranking near the bottom of the table. In November, US deaths blew out to 115 per million, but moved up the table as European states tumbled.

Caveats regarding the counting

As always, there are questions about the accuracy of the data from some countries. Of the 30 nations with zero or one November deaths, 12 are poor African states, including Sierra Leone, Burundi and Lesotho, which may not diagnose all causes of death precisely.

Is it really possible not one person died in China, out of 1.44 billion people spread across a vast area encompassing many regions with poor medical facilities? Possible, yes. Unlikely, also yes.

Second wave still surging

Tragically, many nations that have copped the devastating second wave are yet to see it crest.

Advanced countries with more deaths in November than in any of the past six months and with a continuing upwards curve include Germany (see the graph at the top of this article), the US, Canada, Russia, Greece, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland.

We shall see how the situation changes in December. Will the vaccine make a difference? How soon? Will Australia – with NSW recording its first new case in 25 days on Thursday – continue its impressive progress?

Right now, as was the situation at the end of June, the world is again watching Australia with admiration and envy.

Unquote

Gardening - Frangipanis - updated

UPDATED 17May: I added more flowers at the bottom to show the beautiful flowers that will come out of all those cuttings. Aren't they gorgeous!

I wanted to show these photos before I lose them. LOL I grew up with frangipani trees everywhere. We had a huge one and I think it was a white and yellow one.  Well on the island I have been fortunate enough to find a gardening friend from our Monday garden group Jenny who has a beautiful garden of everything and frangipanis. She has around 25 trees of them. They are exquisite. I bought a cutting of very tree - well with 1 acre to play with I can have 25 trees lol. They would be more suitable to our bushfire region than the ones we have now which are also widow makers.

So at the moment they are sitting in buckets while I make the soil good for them. I am amazed how little work they need and they are thriving in the buckets.

Aren't some of them exotic! this is what I have to look forward to, one of them is blooming in the water bath

   

 

 
 

Bread making disaster

I tried my hand at baking this very EASY RECIPE so they said and there were photo proofs to tell me they weren't lying hahahaha, I mean it looks easy enough, was easy enough, then disaster struck.

 Mixed the dough, I think it needed more than the recipe asked for so I added another half a cup of water but maybe it only needed a quarter cup

 See was not runny at all like the video says

added my 1/2 cup more water and it was too soft, I also think I handled it too much at this point as the dough was running off the baking sheet

Looks good enough but the round one was squished in my 4 quart cast iron pot you can see in the back. Next time I will put half the recipe in it. The new bread pan on the right, silly me didn't even oil it or use paper, next time I will use baking paper

Ta da I pulled and plucked and swore until half the bread came out, still tasted good though

The round bread, I must say they tasted good and smelt divine, so don't give up. I wont. Will try some today and cook it in the fireplace we are lighting again to have a feast.

Opps I forgot to post last weeks fire cooking. Going to try and do this every Saturday during lockdown and winter. 

Stay tuned!!!

Funny word distortions

Dominic a friend from Fiji sent this to me, I thought it was brilliant:

Washington Post's "Mensa Invitational" once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing only one letter, and supply a new definition. Some of these will put you on the floor! Here are this year's winners:

1. Cashtration: The art of buying a home and becoming penniless.

2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money in the first place.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10.  Glibido: All talk and no action.

Can you make some as well? Will be fun and I cant wait to see what you come up with

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.

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.

Street Library and Covid-19

So those of you waiting to hear about my street library, well there is nothing to tell except that it's on hold and I dont want to open it up just yet due to Covid-19. I want to keep every one safe. On Macleay Island we want to keep everyone safe and free as this virus has so far not come to the islands and we want to keep it that way.

CoronaVirus and Street Libraries, keeping it safe

Covid-19 and Freak storm

Covid-19 and Peep show

I don't really understand this one because the virus could be on the paperbag


40 times people find things in second hand books.

This is my favourite

Please stay safe everyone and practice social isolation and distancing.  Have you or anyone contracted the virus? How are you keeping?