First day of Spring

Ever since we arrived home, the promise of spring has been peeping out in the garden, the blossom on the ornamental pear showing its little face first.

Now that the first of September is here, the garden is blasting with spring flowers, and the weather is promising better days ahead.



The ornamental pear with one of the apricot trees in the background.













My delightful blue garden is bluing up, with star flowers, grape hyacinths and rosemary.









Wattle and prunus blossom side by side,




And the view across the front drive, looking towards the neighbours property.

A wonderful time of year, it does your heart good to sit and look out of the windows.

Sleepover

No prizes for guessing who came for a sleepover last night! For the very first time, the twin girls and their Mummy came and stayed the night with us. This was a reconnaissance for future visits when we will be in charge. Needless to say, all our baby requirements such as cot, high chair, change table, etc are long gone, so all the bits and pieces had to be transported from Melbourne.

Everything that was needed came, and we all had a great time, even though Charlotte was not feeling all that well.





Both the girls loved looking at, and touching Sox.






And feeling sad when she walked away from the door




Sleeping in a strange house went reasonably well, with Zoe sleeping from 7pm, until 6am. Not so cool for Charlotte, she kept Mummy up for a couple of hours in the night. Lucky for me, Mummy was here!

Charlotte had her first Nanna hairstyle, so cute!!!






We look forward to their next visit, and plan to have two singles, or one double umbrella stroller by then.


Posted from Castlemaine.

Chickpea Chocolate Cake

This week, as we have settled back into "normal life"( whatever that might be) I came across a mention of a chickpea chocolate cake. I think I saw it on a blog somewhere or other, but I can't really remember. However, I was quite intrigued, so googled up a recipe, and, as I now have to cook for us again, decided to try making one.

I have cooked in the past using besan flour, which is actually ground chickpeas, so I wondered what the cake would taste like.

It was delicious, a hit with all who tried it, and no one could guess what it was made from.

I used the recipe from allrecipes, but did not use as many chick peas, or chocolate. I also used raw sugar in place of the white.

Try it, you will be pleasantly surprised!


http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/11274/gluten-free-chickpea-chocolate-cake.aspx


Posted from home :)

Travelling home

Well, you won't see us on Border Patrol! After declaring our Turkish delight, apple tea, English breakfast tea, coca cola, pomegranate dressing and small wooden horses at the border, we were just waved through to the exit door, and 4 degrees of Melbourne's coldness.

A long trip home, made longer by the Qantas flight sitting at the flight lounge and tarmac for an extra hour and a half. Thankfully, we had the seats that Frank had booked on line well before we left, 32A and B, next to the window, just two of them, and just prior to the crew seats, so I was not blocked in, and no one behind us.

A nice sunset as we made our way south.......





A quick trip up the Calder to a warm welcome at home from our wonderful house sitters, a delicious lunch, catching up with family for dinner, and a 15 hour overnight sleep.

Now we can start planning the next holiday!!

Posted from Springvale.

Location:Turner Close,Springvale,Australia