Skilly 1996 - 2011

We had to say goodbye to Skilly today after almost 15 years. She had an incurable cancer that was suffocating her slowly at first but then really fast at the end. She was put to sleep today to stop the suffering and I still can't quite believe that she won't be on our feet tonight as usual. She was found in a rubbish bin at only a few weeks old. We lost her for 3 months when we shifted 7 years back and thought we wouldn't see her again then but she found her way back. Now she will stay in the back yard under the strawberry plants.

viv

The last photo I seem to have of Skilly is also the last photo of Chainsaw. Its almost like they couldn't live without each other even though they didn't do more than tolerate each other.

We will miss her,

viv

Symposium

I had a really great time at the patchwork symposium in Queenstown. I am only sad that I didn't get to spend some time with Ms Lottie but at least I did get to meet her.

We spent the first few days at the crib of a friend (holiday house) The views were great and it was nice to be out of the tourist area for a bit. We were up early every morning and I did quilt angel for a couple of days as well as trying to see other things. The angel job was pretty straight forward and mostly consisted of fetching lunch, morning tea and anything else people needed. It allowed me to see what others were up to without being up to it myself and, in some ways ,this suited me better than actually doing the class. I did get a class at the end of the week and this was useful if not quite my thing (the class was booked by a friend who couldn't go).

So now I have an oilstick and the need to add a few more as finances allow along with a few new skills. There are some photos for the second class I angeled for which I will post for them to see and this class would have been my pick really - lots of modern stuff and abstract stuff and fooling around with fibre - right up my street :)

I think this site will temporarily become a travel photo place for a bit as I got lots of nice pics and want to talk about them rather than just shove the lot up all at once.

viv

Potatoes

These are some of the spuds we got from the garden this year. This particular batch came out of one straw bale which Matt used as an edge to the main garden. He dug two little holes in the top of each bale and planted a seed potato in each hole with a couple of handfuls of soil, watered a couple of times and left them to their own devices. So this lot is from just two seed potatoes.

I think you could say this is a success :)

viv in nz

Worstershire sauce

This is for Mickle and anyone else who likes a sharpish sauce on things.

I made around 6 litres of the stuff just because we use it lots. The recipe I use is very easy and requires no special effort but it will smell out your house. Great if you have a cold :)

I mostly use my somewhat elderly Edmonds cook book recipe and then vary it a bit. I also double the recipe so I only have to make it about once a year.

3 onions (chopped)
4.5 litres malt vinegar (1 gallon)
4 tbsp salt
3 pounds apples (chopped cores, pips, skins and all)
2 pounds brown sugar
1 orange chopped skin and all
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp cloves
A good splosh of fish sauce or oyster sauce if you like

Put everything into a large pot and boil slowly for 3 hours.
Strain and bottle. Seal when cold.

I used cooking apples off our tree, bugs and all and strained it all through a calico bag I usually use for shopping :) The bag is now an interesting shade of brown with splodges. I did squeeze the bag too as clarity is not necessary to this. I used recycled beer bottles with those resealable tops to store it in. Matt has made a point of getting his beer in these just for the bottles and even though he probably only gets beer about once a month, we now have a good collection of them.

enjoy

viv in nz

This is Chainsaw.

We do miss him even if Skilly doesn't!!!