Christmas mango chutney

There is something very comforting and reassuring about having jars of this year's mango chutney ready to go. I have enough to give as presents and for me to enjoy during the year. Last year I ended up with one small jar for myself. Not sure how that happened but it did.


Each time I make this recipe it is different. Last year's batch I will admit to being one of the best I have made. This year's batch is much sweeter, hotter and thinner than last year's and I will look forward to any comments that are forthcoming on the comparison - purely for research purposes. I suppose I am hotter and sweeter this year than I was last year, not sure about thinner! So the chutney I made can be different as well.


My next project is making santa hats for the ducks to wear in this season of jocularity.  I bet you can't wait for those photos!

Darwin trees

There are some very special trees in Darwin and some that I love seeing in all the different ways that they appear during the year.  We are losing so many of the trees here - due to development, age of the trees, storms wrecking havoc - that I am taking photos of my favourite ones so I can always see them.  I will share a few with you that I managed to take photos of today.

These are two photos of a beauty in Margaret Street, Stuart Park, not far from where I live.  I have missed the full beauty of this by a week as we have had some strong winds come through and the red blossoms of the poinciana tree have diminished and are now on the ground.  This has been here ever since I have lived in Darwin and I would presume that these two trees were planted well before that - a poinciana with a bougainvillea entwined in it.  Whenever I go that way and see it for the first time that year in its full glory it takes my breath away.  It is on the edge of a small park linking two streets so maybe it will be safe for a long time yet for people to enjoy.

These two poincianas are in the Mindil Beach area.  They are two of the most elegant poincianas that I am aware of in Darwin and have been amongst my favourites since I came here.  From whatever angle you see them they are lovely.

Another poinciana.  I have been told that it is one of the oldest still surviving. It is in Gardens Road at one of the original Darwin cemeteries.  I do know that in the inner city it is the first tree to have flowers on it and somehow also the last.

Unfortunately, this photo does not do justice to this avenue of rain trees.  This is Gardens Road which runs from the top end of the city down to the Botanic Gardens and Mindil Beach area.  Again, it is always a pleasure to drive through here as the trees are majestic.  May the good burghers of Darwin stay with the vision of the people who planted these wonderful beings.

Couldn't resist putting in a photo of the magpie geese who are prolific at this time of the year.  See if you can find them amongst the graves. They love the Mindil Beach/Botanic Gardens area as there are also several sports ovals close by.  Space space space.  At Noonamah at the weekend, just before sunset, the sky was close to being black with the numbers of magpie geese flying across to find their roost for the night.

Easier to see them in a very small group on the park at Mindil Beach.


A small insight to some of the things I have loved about Darwin.

I haven't blogged!!!

A friend sent me a gentle reminder that I had not blogged for a moment.  Thank you.  I was distracted but thinking still about what was coming next.  I knew this involved taking photos and I was sidetracked.........


I did take a photo of the bathroom ducks to show you all what I meant about them not wanting anyone else on their shelf. Now you will understand!  The little ones all look so smug nestled together so I will leave them as they are. I know I should have had this photo a few weeks ago when I wrote the blog.  Oh well!!  I have been out of step with myself.  I have these moments sometimes.
But I am back, that is important.  I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend at the Noonamah house of friends and feel much better towards the world in general.
That's enough about me, now to the next blog.

meet ms sue

Heh, the newest addition to the ducks arrived as a surprise this week.  Meet Ms Sue.  Or formally Ms Sue Ducku.  

Yes, I have a passion for sudoku and now I have Ms Sue to help me.  


I introduced Ms Sue to the ducks in the bathroom and very strangely, I thought, they closed ranks on their shelf - the small ducks that is - and said that there was no room for anyone else there with them and Ms Sue would have to find somewhere else to hang out.  Well!!!!  


Ms Sue is now happily ensconced on the desk and will be the desk duck for now and be very good at it as well.  So much for the bathroom ducks.  Is that envy or jealousy that I saw a glimpse of or they really didn't want their feathers ruffled by being squashed.  I may never know.  Who really knows the moods of ducks and rubber ones at that.

delving

I have been delving into a box that I have not looked into for years. I have added items to the box in recent times by opening the lid and pushing them inside. They have been mostly 'I'll get to that later' type of documents, photos, jottings. Things that I think I want to keep but not sure and don't want to make a decision on them now as maybe they will be useful.

At the bottom of this box are diaries for 25 years and the middle layer are journals that I have used when I have been travelling as well as thoughts jotted down at different times. No real discipline in my jottings which has been interesting coming across something to think about the context. As the 'wearing different hats', that note was written in 2006, not so long ago but after having been disturbed by that saying for a number of years. Disturbed enough to write briefly about my dislike.

We are made up of our past, our present and the future we would like for ourselves. Why I am delving is to see how I came to this place where I am now. It's not being so helpful as yet but this is early days and there is always a teensy bit of hope left in the bottom of the barrel that what I am doing is useful. I may not see the usefulness, maybe that will be for my grandchildren to decide (who have not made their presence known as yet).

And the ducks? They accept what I am doing and hang out calmly until my attention will turn back to them. Which it will.

wearing different hats

You know, there is a phrase that I have disliked intensely for years - wearing different hats. Why do we have to wear different hats? Human beings are complex creatures and do a range of tasks at one time quite easily without having to switch their personality or 'hats'. Can we place a ban on this phrase and the people who use it constantly? Can we give them the courage they need to be themselves doing different tasks without having to change their 'hats', just being wonderful complex human beings at their best?

Down with the hats, I say!!!! And I know the ducks will agree. They will want us all to put the hats down and leave them there and be ourselves.