o frabjous day!

o frabjous day! books, recipes & other things

  • Incinerated

    While I hung out washing this morning and raked leaves on Sunday morning, the husband built this incinerator from an old drum we got from a friend’s property, and some other scrap metal he picked up somewhere. Our house is surrounded by tall eucalypts that spend all year dropping leaves, twigs and sometimes quite large…

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  • Remembering

    I remember travelling in Bali when I was 13 and reading The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones. I absolutely loved her quartet of Dalemark books, and named a wooden puppet that I bought after one of the characters. I think they remain some of my favourites of her novels (they are much creased…

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  • Wicked Girls

    I bought Seanan McGuire’s album Wicked Girls recently, without having listened to much of it. But I really like her books (she writes urban fantasy as Seanan McGuire, and zombie political thrillers as Mira Grant), and she’s a fantastic lyricist, so I figured I’d enjoy the album. And I do – it’s great modern folk…

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  • Pineapple

    New to this week’s box of local fruit and vegies were a beetroot, some celery, and a pineapple! Cat not included. Shortly after this photograph was taken, Horace knocked the pineapple off the bench onto the floor while trying to eat the leaves, was roundly scolded, and went off to sulk on the lounge. The…

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  • New residents

    Chickendome is finally completed and inhabited by four red point of lay chooks I picked up at the produce store today, where they were loaded into the car for me, and I was offered a cuppa. I like the produce store. The chooks spent some time in their box when we put them in Chickendome,…

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  • Bees

    A hive of bees – or what looked to me like a hive of bees – have been collecting pollen from the blossoms in one of the palms for the past week, thrumming away as we walked somewhat warily underneath them each day. I have been wondering what their honey will taste like. I suppose…

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  • Off the grid

    We spent some time off the grid this weekend – staying at a friend’s place, where they live without mains power, hot water, phone lines, or much plumbing (say hello to the long drop dunny). It was nice and relaxing as a guest – after all, I wasn’t the one who had to boil hot…

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  • Solutions

    – After listening to this interview with Alain de Botton, I am definitely going to check out a copy of his book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. I have avoided his books in the past because I have always thought they looked like too much hard work, so I think I’m going to seek…

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  • Not my forte

    Last weekend, the husband painted the door to Chickendome (our new chicken pen, still under construction) a rather nice blue colour. Today, we finished the wire – while it still needs more wiring together by way of snake proofing, the basic structure is now finished. Chickendome lives! “You know, I still have some glittery gold…

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  • Wings

    These Top 14 Astronomy Pictures from 2010 are incredible – I particularly like shots of the moons of Saturn, and the dunes of Mars. A couple of very thought provoking posts about intellectual property. I really liked this post by Flinthart about lifelong learning. A couple of interesting videos from TED – Brene Brown’s talk…

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