Templates

I have little experience with blogging but I found a site which gives you free templates with instructions on how to change the banners with your own pictures. I'll definitely use that information. Some people seem to be able to do anything with Photoshop - they're so creative and clever. I have Photoimpact but have never seemed to be able to do much with it. I guess I need to set aside some time for persistent and focused learning.
Today is supermarket day - I like to get that over and done with quickly and early so I'm usually first through the doors.
It is very dry here - I have 2 bores and because we did have some rain a week ago they should have enough water in them to run for a while (about 30 minutes each before they start to 'hunt')

My poor, neglected blog I set it up ages ago and then forgot about it. I must be more diligent. During winter I dragged out the tapestry frame and got into that again. Today I should finish quite a large one and set up the next. I rarely get them framed - for me the value is in the 'doing' I find it very relaxing but the framing is expensive so once finished they're usually rolled up in a towel and stored.

Also on the list for today is making pizza from scratch - I use Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe. I bought a cookie press this week, so as I have the oven on for the pizza I will put a few trays of biscuits in. I wish I had a pizza oven - but with the dry weather and fire risks I wouldn't have lit it today anyway.

My place

I am a retired teacher and I live in the Gold Coast hinterland. My first project on retirement was to start vegetable growing, mainly because of the convenience involved in not having to rely on supermarkets. I had to clear my small backyard of 3 massive trees that had been planted by the previous owners. The trees had caused all sorts of problems (including the destruction of the sewerage system) so had to go regardless of the vegetable gardens. The one downside of the removal of the tress was the loss of the protection they gave from the afternoon sun - however, the sun is now blocked by passionfruit vines.


The vegetables were going quite nicely until we were hit by a savage storm and everything was shredded by the winds. Despite that setback I still manage to harvest some part of our vegetables from the gardens. So at this point I am reconditioning the beds - I have a section of one of the gardens full of garlic and tomatoes are coming to an end in others (so untidy).

Cooking
Today I am experimenting with cooking an old sweet bread recipe using the breadmaker for the mixing and proving - I'll cook the bread in my bakers oven. For the past week I have been trying to avoid using the electric stove and oven. I bought a bakers oven about a month ago and hope to master it as quickly as I can.

The oven:

This is my bakers oven - it is terrific as I get to cook meals as a byproduct of my room heating. I love it.