mortiz044

We were invited to a birthday party on the weekend.  We didn't know the birthday girl but are friends of her brother who hosted the party.  About thirty of us gathered together on the verandah of our friends lovely home here at Julatten and enjoyed a hot roast pork meal with all the trimmings and afterwards there was plum pudding, custard, pavlova, trifle and rum balls.  Yes......it felt like Christmas again! Steffi (my cleaner) helping with the Pavlova First to arrive (as always!)  We have been living here at Julatten for 12 years now and we are somewhat reclusive.  When I say reclusive I mean that we don't get involved in any of the community organisations.  After living in Julia Creek, and being involved in SO MANY committees, we were somewhat burnout when we moved to Julatten. However, doing Yoga and Tai Chi each week meant that we have made many friends and fortunately for us they invite us to most of their celebrations.  Of course we always recip...

Just as I sat down to write this blog, the power went out.  This is not an unusual occurrence as we have, so far this summer, had more than a dozen outages.  Thank goodness we have a generator as it is an absolute necessity.  The sky has been building for the last few days with increasing humidity so it had to break eventually.  Unfortunately though it always seems to break with a vicious thunderstorm. The lull before the storm This was me just two days ago enjoying the pool after my walk.  It is a great way to cool down enough to enjoy my breakfast and it is where you will find me most mornings and evenings. The detox has been going well for Philip and I.  So far I've dropped a kilo since the Christmas and New Year indulgences.  It has been relatively easy.  The naturopathic drops that I take before each meal work well and suppress the appetite.  I'm still only eating within an eight hour period and fasting for 16 hours.  This works wel...

Philip set the alarm for 3.30 a.m. to go on his fishing trip and I never heard a thing!  In fact I didn't wake until 7.00 a.m. and then lay in bed, flicking through social media, until 8.30. It was a glorious morning (again!) for my morning walk and I stayed in the garden after my walk to do a spot of watering.  The gardener had planted some new plants so it's important to keep the water up for the first couple of weeks.  I didn't sit down for breakfast, or should I say brunch, until 10 am and enjoyed my favourite, albeit polarising, meal - Sardines on Toast with lemon, parsley and olive oil. After breakfast it was time to get into my least favourite job of all.  Cleaning the ovens.  After cooking the Christmas Ham, Pork and Turkey my ovens were well and truly in need of attention.  It really didn't take that long.  I sprayed them heavily with oven cleaner and came back about an hour later and the grease really just wiped straight off.  It's actua...

Every Saturday Philip rises at 4.30 am.  This gives him time to have his coffee, toast, shower and toilet and then make his way down the range to Port to meet up with his cycling buddies.  They start the cycle from Port Douglas and make their way to Cooya Beach, Mossman, Shannonvale and back along the highway to Port.  It is about a 60 km ride.  He enjoys the ride but I think the coffee that they have at the end of the ride at Choo Choo's cafe is the highlight. I always hear him move about but always manage to go back to sleep to rise at a decent hour, that for me is somewhere between 6.30 and 7.00.  I like my black coffee while I'm still in bed and the best thing we have ever purchased is our Sunbeam Drip Filter Coffee Maker that we can set the night before.  I don't think there is anything better than the smell of coffee wafting through the house. I try to always get a walk in before breakfast.  I only walk 3km that takes about a half hour. The walk ...

We were meant to meet friends this morning for breakfast.  Jamie-Lee and her fiancé are  marrying next week in a quiet ceremony at one of the local resorts so we arranged to meet at Port Douglas prior to the wedding for a pre-wedding breakfast.  We arrived at the designated time and place and I sent a text message to say we had arrived.  We waited, and waited, and waited for a response and then decided we would go ahead with our plans.  As we arrived at Hi Tide Restaurant I received a message from Jamie to apologise profusely as she had messed up the dates and they were still at the airport in Townsville waiting for their flight to Cairns today! We were disappointed that we didn't get to catch up but not disappointed with the breakfast that we had at Hi-Tide.  This place always comes up with the goods.  Beautifully presented meals packed full of flavours and all at a very reasonable price are standard. Philip ordered the Chorizo, Hash Brown, Beetroot R...

I have a very small pantry cupboard.  It's entirely my own doing as I thought it would be adequate when we designed the kitchen.  Its not..... but I persevere with it.  Today, after twelve years of neglect, I cleaned the pantry cupboard.  This entailed taking every single item out, cleaning all seven large wire baskets and seven small door baskets. So much food.  I really have to start eating more from the pantry! Sorted! I started at 9am and didn't finish until after midday.  It was a huge job that had me also cleaning another two cupboards to re-arrange some of the most used pantry items. Although it took a lot of elbow grease it is so rewarding when the job is finished.  I found food items that were out of date (by years!) and many items that I didn't even know I had purchased.  I found a half packet of rice bubbles (we don't eat rice bubbles!) so this afternoon they were made into Chocolate Crackles and placed into the freezer for when I have ...

From Sunrise...... To Sunset....... And everything in between. It's been a busy day. I started my day with a walk along the jetty at Palm Cove to watch the sunrise.  One lonely fisherman was already on the jetty but I didn't see him catch anything.  The sea was still very choppy courtesy of ex tropical cyclone Penny and the beaches remain closed. I was back in the camper by 6.30 and by that time Philip had made us a pot of coffee and toast for breakfast.  We had to head home today and we were packed down and on the road by 8.00 am. We had a stop at the Port Douglas car wash to wash off the salty sea spray and were home by 10 am. Once home it was back to the mundane.  You know the drill wash, rinse, repeat..... Lunch was Turkey San Choy Bow using the leftover turkey from Christmas that I had chopped and frozen. It was a delicious light lunch that was surprisingly filling. A long nap after lunch, weeding this afternoon and a swim in the pool just before sunset and my d...