Soupa dooper

It was definitely soup weather on Saturday.
We came home absolutely soaking from netball.
I was secretly hoping it would be called off and we could all have a sleep in .... but no, we trudged out to the courts (Ruby and all) and watched Eliza play in the rain.

Ruby played in the puddles.

After a hot shower I made a hot lunch.
Freshly baked bread using rosemary from the garden the some of the stuffed olives James bought at the market.

And oh the smell of the bread as it baked in the oven ....

Then a pot of pumpkin and potato soup ...

topped with a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked pepper...

Sensational, even if I say so myself!

Home grown

There's so much pleasure in eating something you've grown yourself and pulled straight from the garden.
We've got a small plot in a community garden, quite near our house in inner Melbourne.
Last year the garden didn't yield much because of the drought and the water restrictions.

It was all a bit depressing.

But this year ...

Ta daaaaaa!

We've got silver beet, cabbage, beetroot and carrots with loads more to come.

Eliza loves these tiny carrots in her lunch box.

Sweet, crunchy and delicious!

It doesn't get any fresher.

In Rushed Autumn

It's been so long coming and then this morning it came in a rush.

Autumn is finally here.

The poor trees are so confused. We're almost at the end of April and one day last week hit 31 degrees.

We had rain overnight so this morning the garden was lovely and drippy. The leaf litter formed a golden carpet (look closely and you'll see the sheep poo we tossed on the garden last weekend).

The white crepe myrtles we planted last year are giving some lovely colour in the front garden.

So the season has changed as the year hurtles on.

Autumn is here and I'm into my cook books looking for inspiration for quinces, apples, pears and chestnuts. I'll also need to find some exciting things to do with pumpkin .... but more on that later.

At the heart of things

I made this sweet little heart from scraps in my stash.
It's the heart for our new home.
We'll place it in a column in the kitchen and it will be clad with timber.
No one will be able to see it, but we'll know it's there.
Home is where the heart is ... at the centre of all the action, the meals, the family, the fun and the laughter for many lifetimes to come. xxx

A crafty snapshot

I spent a whole day at the Stitches and Craft Show - child free and husband free ... yipeeeeee!

I wandered at leisure - looking, learning and soaking it all in.

Wonderful to see the film Handmade Nation and our own indie crafty types whose blogs I follow.

I bought a couple of little things ... but mostly I was inspired by people's passion for hand made.