The copa and prosciutto:
Both the copa and the prosciutto turned out brilliantly. I know, I know: prosciutto shouldn't be eaten this young. But what the heck. It is marvellous. We gave some samples out as Christmas presents and they have been universally admired.
Our afternoon drinks and nibbles have been greatly enhanced by these beautiful air-dried meats.
I also made some Moroccan-spiced lamb sausages from the trimmings from the lambs we had butchered a few months ago. Shared them with Josh and the boys for breakfast while they were down. Delicious! 'Er indoors has already ordered more of them, so I fear that I have created a monster. Sausages, made with a hand-cranked meat grinder/sausage stuffer are very time consuming, even if the results are great.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
The best Christmas present imaginable:
At Christmas, on the ABC news website, I noticed a human interest story which brought tears to my eyes.
The story was about a 37 year old man who had received a triple transplant - heart, lungs, liver - to deal with his cystic fibrosis. It told of his wife and child and the effect the transplant has had on his family, of his remarkable recovery, with only 2 weeks spent in post-operative hospital recovery. A nice story so far. Then the name.
The man was Josh Leveridge.
Josh and his family used to live next door to us in Condong, NSW, 33 years ago. Our kids used to go over regularly to play with Josh and his brother Sam, who also had CF. We babysat him several times.
Our daughter, Leah, contacted Josh via Facebook, and found out that his little brother is going well and also has a family. Leah spoke for all of us when she declared that the news was the best Christmas present any of us could imagine.
Best wishes to Josh and Sam and their families and parents. God bless you all.
At Christmas, on the ABC news website, I noticed a human interest story which brought tears to my eyes.
The story was about a 37 year old man who had received a triple transplant - heart, lungs, liver - to deal with his cystic fibrosis. It told of his wife and child and the effect the transplant has had on his family, of his remarkable recovery, with only 2 weeks spent in post-operative hospital recovery. A nice story so far. Then the name.
The man was Josh Leveridge.
Josh and his family used to live next door to us in Condong, NSW, 33 years ago. Our kids used to go over regularly to play with Josh and his brother Sam, who also had CF. We babysat him several times.
Our daughter, Leah, contacted Josh via Facebook, and found out that his little brother is going well and also has a family. Leah spoke for all of us when she declared that the news was the best Christmas present any of us could imagine.
Best wishes to Josh and Sam and their families and parents. God bless you all.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Post Christmas update:
Today was 37C here in Franklin, much better than the 40+ being experience on the North Island (mainland Australia) but still plenty warm. There is a small bushfire burning to the West of us, but it is of no concern at this point. In the North of Tassie several homes have been lost in bushfires today. The mainland is insane: out of control fires in 5 states with over 1000 homes lost this fire season - and this is just the beginning of the fire season. And our politicians are still pretending that there is no need to be concerned about climate change.
Courtesy of our son-in-law, Duncan, we have had the road into our place repaired and a container put on a new gravel pad to store some of the masses of stuff currently in storage.
Christmas visitors
Our son, Josh was down with his two boys for the lead up to Christmas, and Yanna and Jack, and our granddaughter Alex, joined us for our early Christmas on 23.12.
Among other things, I received a Boer goat: Vinnie.
Josh and Buddy with Vinnie.
Xaviah became Vinnie's adopted Dad while he was here: complete with late night visits to make sure the goat was settled.
Jack admires Xaviah's courage in bringing Vinnie inside to sit on his lap on the lounge. Sue was taking a nap at the time, but when she woke was fairly forceful in expressing her opinion about having a goat inside.
Xaviah got involved in applying render to the north wall of the house - it helps to be 6' 3" when reaching the high bits of wall - and Che was on render mixing duties. Thanks guys. Your help is really appreciated.
And then, to top off a great Christmas, I was taking Vinnie for a walk, when I noticed bees going back and forth through the grass to get under an old telescopic hive lid I had left on the ground. A little investigation revealed that a colony had established itself in the old lid. I made up a hive out of two old ideal boxes and some left over full-depth frames, popped the populated lid on top, and there's a new hive doing very well for itself. I will complete the rehousing over the next few weeks as money becomes available for hive bodies and frames.
As I finish this posting, it is just starting to rain. Here's hoping we get a decent fall tonight. We had a paddock hayed on Saturday afternoon, but the rain won't be a problem, if we get a decent fall, as the rest of the week is forecast to be fairly dry. So all good!
Today was 37C here in Franklin, much better than the 40+ being experience on the North Island (mainland Australia) but still plenty warm. There is a small bushfire burning to the West of us, but it is of no concern at this point. In the North of Tassie several homes have been lost in bushfires today. The mainland is insane: out of control fires in 5 states with over 1000 homes lost this fire season - and this is just the beginning of the fire season. And our politicians are still pretending that there is no need to be concerned about climate change.
Christmas visitors
Our son, Josh was down with his two boys for the lead up to Christmas, and Yanna and Jack, and our granddaughter Alex, joined us for our early Christmas on 23.12.
Among other things, I received a Boer goat: Vinnie.
Xaviah got involved in applying render to the north wall of the house - it helps to be 6' 3" when reaching the high bits of wall - and Che was on render mixing duties. Thanks guys. Your help is really appreciated.
And then, to top off a great Christmas, I was taking Vinnie for a walk, when I noticed bees going back and forth through the grass to get under an old telescopic hive lid I had left on the ground. A little investigation revealed that a colony had established itself in the old lid. I made up a hive out of two old ideal boxes and some left over full-depth frames, popped the populated lid on top, and there's a new hive doing very well for itself. I will complete the rehousing over the next few weeks as money becomes available for hive bodies and frames.
As I finish this posting, it is just starting to rain. Here's hoping we get a decent fall tonight. We had a paddock hayed on Saturday afternoon, but the rain won't be a problem, if we get a decent fall, as the rest of the week is forecast to be fairly dry. So all good!
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