Life in Middle Girth

Apr 24, 2006 at 20:40 o\clock

ANZAC Day, Waihi Beach, and Nigel

by: jaybee

Mood: Good
Listening to: Silence

Tuesday, 5.48 am.

It’s Anzac Day morning, and my boys have just gone off to Dawn Parade. In our house it’s a bit like a mini re-enactment of war, the men going off, some in uniform, the youngest one excited and not really knowing what to expect, the older ones going dutifully, and the adults quiet and serious, and Mum staying at home feeling emotional. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never been to a Dawn Parade, but Brent and the kids always go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always glued to the TV coverage, watch all the commemorative programs on TV, howl when I hear the bugle and have a keen interest in histories from the war (mostly WW2), but I’m just not a morning person. This year is Duncan’s first, he is a six-year-old Kea (that’s NZ’s youngest section of the Scout movement), and Michael’s - well, would be about his 11th - he’s now a Venturer and has actually been asked by the RSA to carry The Flag - not the Scout one, but the actual flag at the beginning of the march, and doing the raising and lowering. He’s under instructions not to march too fast as a lot of the attendees are elderly. Hope he’s got his hair done this morning, all the Venturers stayed overnight at one of their leaders’ houses. (That’s the mother talking there!)

Duncan and I made Anzac Biscuits on Sunday, and that was a great opportunity to teach him a little about the war. My kitchen bible, the Edmonds Cookbook, has one munted up recipe and that’s Anzac Biscuits - had something spilt on it and is now illegible - so we went on the net and found a lovely child friendly site that gave a bit of background about the whys and wherefores of how the biscuit was named and invented, how the recipe was formulated in WWI because there was a need for a healthy and tasty treat the ladies at home could send to their boys overseas - but because of lack of refrigeration on ships and the time it took to get parcels to the soldiers the goodies had to be able to be stored for two months! (That’s why there’s no eggs, they’d have gone off. The golden syrup glues the mix together.) By the time of WWII not so many were sent away - why? Because by then, ships had refrigeration, and many more products were available. Just like the pavlova, the Aussies claim Anzac biscuits as theirs too, but we know that they’re Kiwi don’t we?! Baking with kids is such a neat window of learning, you talk, you measure, you do maths when you double the recipe, its fun, it doesn’t take all day (even if clearing up the mess does), there wouldn’t be many situations where there isn’t an appropriate kitchen activity to be found somewhere!

ANZAC BISCUITS

125g flour 150g sugar
1 cup coconut 1 cup rolled oats
100g butter 1 tablespoon golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon Bicarb of Soda 2 tablespoons boiling water

1. Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.

2. Melt butter and golden syrup.

3. Dissolve Bicarb Soda in boiling water and add to butter and golden syrup.

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour, stir in the liquid.

4. Place spoonfuls well apart on a greased tray. The mixture spreads quite a lot.

5. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

There you go, give them a try.

Right, moving along….I see I’ve already done Waihi Beach, lovely place that it is, so the next burble is Nigel.

Nigel is a goldfish. He lives with us at the moment but spent last year flatting with Pip; actually I’m not sure why he’s not staying with her this year! Kirstie gave him to Pip to keep her company when she first went to Massey about a month before she died, so Nigel has special significance. Well, about a month ago, Nigel didn’t look very well. I was quite concerned that the end was nigh - but then he perked up and we forgot about that. Two weeks ago, I got home to a very upset Pippy and sad looking Nigel who was limping sideways around the bottom of his bowl. Oh dear I said, maybe its time to flush? NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Well you can’t give mouth to mouth to a goldfish, but we did the next best thing, stuck in a lump of oxygen stone, and would you believe it, he came right. Nothing short of a miracle. But wait, there’s more…. Yesterday morning, yep, Nigel was floating upside down. For sure he’s a flusher this time, I thought - but no! A bit of food, more oxygen stone and bugger me, he’s away again. How many times can he do this??? Pip blames the introduction of a new snail, but that was weeks ago. Admittedly, the previous snail had died in the bowl and hadn’t been discovered for about a week, but that was even longer ago and surely any bacteria from that would have done their damage earlier? Clean out the bowl? No, I’m sure that would kill him with shock. It got really gungy after the first snail karked it and before we got a new one, but it seems to be self-cleaning (or else that explains the rapid snail growth). And speaking of snails, I think this one wants to populate the universe because I keep finding wee round patches of eggs on the bowl - but they never hatch, they just disappear and I don’t know whether to blame the snail or Nigel (yes, we do feed him). I’d love them to hatch, just one batch.

Well, I hear vehicles, wonder if it’s all over. Surely not, it’s only 6.30. They usually go and have breakfast in the Memorial Hall afterwards, or at least a cuppa and some sammies - and ALCOHOL for the oldies - a tot of rum in the coffee. That bit has always impressed my kids no end. I’ll go down and have a look at the wreaths later on. At least the forecast rain didn’t eventuate.

Cheers,

Jaybee

Apr 17, 2006 at 13:11 o\clock

The truth about mussels

by: jaybee

Mood: Good
Listening to: Gray's Anatomy on TV in background

Monday, 10.02 pm

 

Happy Easter to one and all...hope that it was as good for you as it was for me.

 

I have just returned home after spending a few days at Waihi Beach, some 5 hours north of here (or more, depending on whether you take the "scenic" route). We went in convoy, Brent and our boys and me in our car, and Alan and Julie towing the boat with their ute. Left after work on Thursday, stopped for tea at the truckstop at Wairakei and arrived at the beach about 11.15 pm. At that point the last thing I felt like doing was making up beds but we couldn't get horizontal until I did, so off I went only to discover they were freshly made up with sheets and all so first I had to strip them, then make them. Sigh, who needs the gym? By this stage I was totally knackered and getting p'd off because I was the only person who seemed to be doing anything - and I still had to suggest somebody make a cup of tea while I put small to bed! Petty of me perhaps, but it was the start of a holiday and I wanted to blob. About 12.30 I managed to get horizontal and sleep was instant.

 

Came the dawn and things didn't get any happier. From some god-awful hour (just before six I think) there were clunking pipes, banging doors, male cheerfulness that only comes from anticpated fishing, small excited brother jabbering at sleep deprived teenage brother in the room next door, engines being tested, refusing to start and re-tried many times before the triumphant revving as they kicked into life...... then the husband stuck his smiling fizzgog round the door to say that they were off now...have a lie in love, see you later.

I fumed.

 

Then I got up and sorted breakfast, and took small down to the beach. That's when I started feeling more relaxed and holidayish. Sand between the toes does it every time and this is wonderful sand we're talking about. What a fabulous beach - gorgeous sand, flat beach, shells galore, clear warm water - and pipis in plain view as we walked along! I think Duncs and I spent most of the day either at the beach or on our way to or from. The house we stayed in is about 100m from the beach, just one street back, so easy! Aren't we spoilt? The weather was perfect with a capital P - and what hadn't I brought? Shorts, togs, and Duncan's jandals.

 

Friday that was, we had fish for tea, and mussels that the blokes took about two minutes flat to collect (and so close they didn't even get their hair wet!), YUM. The dairy on the corner has a takeaway place attached and for a mere seventy cents a piece they will batter and cook your own fish - and this had to be the nicest fish I have ever eaten. Scrum-diddly-dumptious.

 

Saturday was more of the same plus a little bit more. My beach wear was a pair of Brent's shorts that he didn't realise I'd pinched (he wore his togs or tatty old fishing gear all the time). Julie and I went off and had a look through a couple of open homes - found the ideal one for us to buy and set up as a homestay/B&B place; sleeps 16, right on the beach, huge decks front and back, renovated kitchen....only about $1.3m! Dreams are free, we'll keep taking Lotto tickets. Then we wandered around the Waihi Beach shops, I bought a pair of togs (bargain, $49 down from $99), a pair of boardies and a bucket and spade for Duncan, and Jules bought a number plate surround for Alan that said "If you can read this, I've lost the boat". Lol.

 

Tea that night was at the RSA, yummy meal but I could have done without going out - standing watching rugby is not my idea of fun, nor is waiting till half past eight for dinner...but the tea was nice.

 

 

Sunday, more beach. More lovely weather.

The Easter Bunny found us at Waihi, in the morning there were little foil wrapped eggs all over the ground floor. Alan thought he'd died and gone to heaven (he has a very sweet tooth) but managed to leave some for the kids. Mike went mad and got us all ENORMOUS eggs, think that's where all the absent board money has gone.

Lunch was very impressive: fish - marinated in lemon juice and coconut milk, crayfish, mussels and pipis, salad.... You'd pay big bucks for a feed like that in a restaurant! Then we had roast for tea complete with kumara, spuds, peas, courgettes, pumpkin, onion and the best damned gravy you've ever seen. In between times, there was shell collecting, mussel gathering, sandcastle making, kayaking, fishing, tennis, and reading on the deck. No wonder we all slept well! I think Mike managed a few runs over the track to the next bay too.

 

Monday, uhoh, have to come home. Well, Julie, Mike and I had to anyway because there's this thing called work we have to go to tomorrow. Alan and Brent have taken a few extra days off and of course the other two are on school holidays, so they get to continue in the aforementioned manner until Friday. Lucky lucky lucky them!

 

Now, harking back to the title, the truth about mussels is that they make you fart something wicked!!!!  Forget about beans, forget eggs, cabbage, beer and all those well-known fart producers, mussels beat them hands down. I don't know whether I ate more than the others, or whether the boys just let rip all day out in the boat and thus were able to manage to hold their wind at home, but boy oh boy has it got me going! At least down on the beach you can blow to your heart's content but I've got to go to work tomorrow, god help the others!

So now you know. You have been warned.

 

On a different note entirely, I am reading "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown of "The DaVinci Code" fame. Boy it's good.

 

And now I'm going to bed to read another few chapters.

Happy Easter!

Jaybee

Apr 7, 2006 at 00:50 o\clock

A real day off

by: jaybee

Mood: Good
Listening to: National Programme

Friday, 10.43 am

 

Here I go, straight into the blog box - what happened to my safety routine of entering stuff in a document and pasting it here? Hmm, must copy before I press The Button.

 

Well last Friday I did have a day off work, but it was dedicated to cooking, shopping and preparing for the Open Tournament at squash -probably worked a darn sight harder than the regular job! It all paid off though, the chili con carne and pumpkin soup complemented the chips, toasties, burgers etc we do very nicely. It was a 2 day tournie this time with our traditional Rangitikei Roast on Saturday night - had a larger than usual 'family' for tea, fifty-three I think - and it was great to be able to stay afterwards and socialise and not have to worry about playing the following day. Brent won Men's 4th Div, got himself a George Foreman grill. Haven't tried it yet, but it will come into its own at weekends when everyone is feeding themselves - not big enough for a family of 5!

 

What am I doing with my day off? Weeeelll..... it's supposed to be my day for catching up on housework but so far that's only extended to a complete wash of all dishes on the bench, including last night's pots and the night before's roasting dish; and washing and hanging up another load of clothes. This joins the 2 loads done last night, and will eventually end up on the Mt Everest of clean stuff pulled off the clothes horses and line but not yet folded and put away. NO IT WON'T! I will tackle Mt Everest straight after this blog because it's the most obvious eyesore that hits you as you walk in the front door.

I have also (foolishly) weighed myself just to confirm that my bulk has increased, then downed half a block of chocolate to get rid of it so that it won't be around to tempt me, and I can get on with being good.

 

Also crossed swords with the principal at Dunx school, he's an arrogant twat and I'm old enough and ugly enough not to bear fools lightly these days - I tend to feel that school is one place to stick to your guns and not be ho hum if things are bothering you because your kids only have one chance and I'd rather be off side with a headmaster over stupid policy than fuming and stressing over it. As long as I am happy and confident with the teachers, and I am, I have no concerns for Dunx learning. He had a first year teacher but I have full faith in her and like her methods. I also feel comfortable in the classrooms and with auxilliary staff, try to help where I can e.g. I complained that there was no road patrol in operation this year - especially at the beginning of the year when kids were new or getting back into routine - and finally, in last week's newsletter, there was a paragraph about how road traffic and pupil numbers have decreased to the point where it wasn't consideded necessary to have a road patrol but if parents wanted it then they could volunteer to do it themselves. This morning I volunteered to help on Fridays (day off) - but reiterated that I believe the school should be doing this especially seeing as we have Y7 & 8 pupils now. I have had the comment that "the kids don't want to do it" - SO WHAT? Responsibilities should be encouraged. And that "only the caretaker ever used to do it and its not his job" - again, SO WHAT? It's the school's responsibility to keep our children safe. Don't they have duty teachers any more???

 

Wow, I must be more fired up than I thought. Ooops. 

 

Have been to the Dr for BP checks twice in the last week, and both times its been up 140/95. Disappointing because it had been good lately. The first time the nurse tut tutted and was very concerned and insisted I return a week later - and when I did and it was the same, she more or less shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. For God's sake, be consistent woman! I was really worried after the first time - she's the professional, do I worry or not???

Oh I feel like I've got verbal diarrhoea and can't shut up. Never mind. What next?

 

Spent a few hours last Sunday at A&E with Greg - he'd been to a 16th birthday party on Friday night and sometime during the night he'd jumped off the tramp and landed awkwardly, hurting his foot. Didn't get much sympathy on Saturday cos we were all busy at squash, but when I saw it still swollen on Sunday and him hobbling like an old man I thought we'd better go and get it seen to. We would have had to have gone to The Doctors in PN as they were the duty doctors anyway, so skipped that step and went straight to the hospital where they xrayed him and declared that there was "an irregularity" in one of his foot bones. Not a crack or a fracture, just an irregularity for whatever that's worth. No strapping, plaster or anything, just "wear sensible shoes" i.e. not bare feet or socks. Oh and take pain relief as needed. OK. The up side is that he gets out of doing the Road Race at school (running many kilometres around the streets of PN). The down side is that he couldn't do rock climbing in rec sport yesterday. Still managed to scoff pizza though - the kids ordered from Pizza Hut and got it delivered to City Rock. School was never like that in my day!

 

Oh excitings - I've got a new computer printer! Daughter's one gave up the ghost so I thought I'd shout her a new one and was looking at real cheapy cheap ones before the penny dropped and I decided to get us the new one and pass our old one down to her. Duh, it took a while!! Got a Canon iP4200 (for all you technofreaks that understand these things), and now owe my boss a chocolate cake in gratitude at his giving it to me at cost, bless him. (The pay might be peanuts but things like that make up for it.) Managed to get it installed last night and printed out a couple of photos - just on plain paper but now I'm dying to have a go at photo paper. I can see our ink cartridges running out real quick, all 5 of them. Why does it have 2 black ones?

 

Arrgh the time just beeped, I'm rationing time off from housework and now I've got to get back to it. I have enjoyed this. Much quicker than writing in the journal, and my hand doesn't go numb - just about given up on catching up there, will have to write "see blog" or something. Am also itching to do the Fiji trip in journal cum scrapbook cum photo album. So much to do, so little time. We're going to Waihi Beach for Easter, probably leaving Thursday night. The Colemans are coming too, and Mike, Julie and I have to be back for work on Tuesday but Brent, Alan, Dunx and Greg will stay on for a few more days as it is school holidays. The big boys will go out in the boat and fill the freezer, and the kids will look after each other, at least that's the plan.

 

Right, time to tackle Mt Everest.


Cheers,

Jaybee