Last year's Christmas Pudding

This is a photo of my first ever attempt at making a Christmas Pudding - I made this for Christmas LAST YEAR!

I made another pudding yesterday. I'm not sure how it will turn out, I'm not so confident this time.
The way I look at it, I had nothing to lose when I made last year's pudding. I had never made one before, so if it didn't turn out, I could easily have said it was because I had never made one, didn't know what I was doing, any excuse really would have worked.
This year, my Mom put her order in, she was so impressed with my effort last year, she said I just had to make another one for this Christmas. I soaked the dried fruit in more sweet sherry that was called for, but OMG, did it taste good when I licked the spoon when I was all done. I mentioned earlier I wasn't so confident, the reason, I cut the ingredients by half this year, and sometimes that just doesn't seem to work when I do things like that with a recipe. Last year it was just toooo big, we've been eating Christmas Pudding just about all year. Vlad said I should just grab some of last years leftovers from the freezer, (it's the same as wedding cake really) microwave it, and put it in front of my Mom on Christmas Day, like I had slaved away all day making a new one. I just couldn't do it. Did I mention Vlad is my Mom's favorite son-in-law (and her only son-in-law), if she only knew hey?
Anyway, today's pudding it is now cooked and hanging to dry. I'll take a photo and post it soon.
Let's hope it's as good as the one in the photo - oh and if you want the recipe, let me know, I may even post it later. It's easy, well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Playing and Big Bear California

Today, I've been playing with trying to make a new blogger template, as well as making a Christmas Pudding (that's a another story though - I'll tell you all about it in the days to come hopefully, Vlad is on annual leave AGAIN - my days or should I say my daily schedule changes DRASTICALLY - just doesn't seem right for me to be sitting here playing).
I took the photo in my header on the way up to Big Bear, California. It is so beautiful there, and the photo I chose, is one of my favorite photos. I think we were at about 6 thousand feet when I took it, it, I can clearly remember the quietness and the beauty. Heavenly.
Big Bear is only about 2 hours from where we lived in Fountain Valley, it's so easy to hop on the freeway and you're there before you know it. Winter is the best time to visit, there's always lots of SNOW and I LOVE SNOW.
I have so many fantastic memories of days spent at Big Bear, playing in the snow, sitting in a cafe drinking hot chocolate or coffee, window shopping, icecream, a meal in one of the great little restaurants, a wine or two.
One of the best weekends I spent there was when Liz and I went for what we thought was going to be a Friday day trip. Unfortunately the weather changed and we were snowed in until Sunday. We had so much fun that weekend. Shopping, playing in the snow, walking, eating, one of the things Liz and l ALWAYS do well. We went to a great little restaurant for a meal and after one too many white wines, decided we should ring Vlad back in Australia. It didn't matter that it was 3 in the morning in South Australia. Poor Vlad, he woke to hear us singing to him, and it wasn't a lullaby he will tell you! We had so much fun that weekend, we decided to do it all over again, the next time I visited, but this time, we were prepared, there was no need to run by the supermarket for t-shirts to sleep in, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc. this time, as our motto after that weekend, ALWAYS BE PREPARED - and - no calling Vlad at 3 a.m. in the morning no matter how much fun we are having without him!
Vlad and I, with Lizzie, have done many day trips to Big Bear over the years, it's always on our must visit list when we visit "our family" in California.
This is a photo of Big Bear Lake, all frozen over, it was so beautiful, but so cold. How I wish I was there right now!

My beautiful girl Maesie

Miss Maesie with a smile on her face - she is so beautiful.

Monarto Zoo Photographic Expedition

A couple of weeks back, Vlad and I were lucky enough to go on a photographic shoot to Monarto Zoo.

One of Adelaide's Photographic Wholesalers put together a field day to showcase various goodies from some of the major Photographic Distributors, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Canon and Pentax. There was 5 million dollars worth of cameras and lenses available for us and the other 298 budding photographers, lucky enough to score an invite, to use.
We all got to experiment and play with cameras and lenses most of us will only ever dream about owning.
It was a great day, a little too hot for my liking, but a great day none the less. To be able to shoot the animals up close and personal, in natural habitat, with the equipment on offer, was absolutely fantastic. I've included a couple of photos I took.

Happiness is a new toy

Is that a smile?
A couple of two dollar toys makes for happy dogs!
Now if only I could be so easily pleased!

It's Friday - & that guilty feeling

Well here it is Friday - has this week flown by or what?
Did we achieve all we set out to do while Vlad was on annual leave? Maybe not, but who cares in the big picture.
I've got to be honest - there were definitely times this week when I felt GUILTY. It just didn't feel right to want to check my emails or even to take the time to write something in my Blog. For some reason, I felt I should be doing something 'constructive" while Vlad was home. It's not as if we had any major plans for the week. We wanted to do some maintenance things around here, the kind of things that required four hands instead of two. Spend time with the dogs. There were a few MUST DO's, a few MAYBE's and a few WOULD like to DO, but there were no major plans.
So why each morning, as I turned my laptop on, did a feeling of guilt come over me? Kind of like naughty, naughty, you know there are other things you should be doing than this. Does anyone else experience similar feelings, when their significant other half is home on vacation time or whenever really? Shouldn't each of us be allowed a certain amount of "my" time, even if the "rules" change? Why shouldn't we be allowed to do anything we please, when we please and NOT FEEL GUILTY?
Did I achieve all the things I usually do in the week? Did the grocery shopping get done, the laundry, the housework, three meals a day (OK sometimes only two), catch up with friends, the hairdresser? YES, YES, YES and YES. Most important though, did I get to spend quality time with Vlad? A resounding YES! Still, every time I sat down this past week, I thought, is he thinking, so this is what she does all day! What is wrong with me? Why do I think this way? Is it GUILT and if so, WHY?
So how much am I looking forward to next week, when Vlad goes back to work? A whole bunch!
It's back to what doesn't get done today, gets done tomorrow. Isn't that what retirement is all about?
Only 4 more weeks to his next vacation time - I'm so excited - #!&!!!

Mondayitis & Do animals comprehend death?

How wonderful was it not to be woken at 5:30 a.m. this morning by the alarm. Vlad is on annual leave - yippee! I woke at 8:20 - I don't think it will happen again tomorrow morning though. Our plan for today was we were going to take the dogs to the beach, but the weather was overcast and there was a fine mist of rain, so no beach. It was an uneventful day really, a typical Monday, spent winding down after the weekend. Mac and Maesie seemed quite happy to have Vlad home. Mac is definitely Vlad's dog, though I know he loves me, he lives for the attention Vlad lavishes on him. He followed Vlad around like a magnet all morning, every move Vlad made, Mac was right there, it's so funny to watch him. On a normal Monday, he usually sulks for most of the day, until he hears Vlad's car turning into our driveway, then he instantly springs to life. Traitor he is.
As sad as it sounds, I often wonder how animals cope with death. OK I know, I said it's sad, and it's bad enough for us to cope with, but we comprehend the finality, how does that work for an animal, how do they, if they do that is, comprehend the person they loved, and they do love, is never coming back to them. Do they sense our pain and somehow understand? It's a sad thought, but one most animal lovers would have probably thought about at some time in their lives. I recently read two fantastic books, one was "All My Children Wear Fur Coats, by Peggy R. Hoyt, and the other, When Your Pet Outlives You by David Congalton & Charlotte Alexander. I would certainly recommend each of these books to any animal lover.
I managed to spend some time this afternoon playing around on PhotoShop, for the life of me, I can't work it out, layers and filters and styles and adjustments and Noise, what is that? The list goes on - I did manage to make some blog templates though, so hopefully I will load one up in the next day or two, that is if I get time. I think Vlad already has my day planned for me tomorrow, let me see, how many days until he goes back to work............

Tonight's dinner - Taco Salad

The Tortilla shells I told you about in my earlier post, turned out great, especially once I filled them with Taco salad!
If you're hungry, best you look away now! This is what we had for dinner tonight!

Sunday - A Day Of Rest

A brand new day - Sunday - I love Sunday

How good it is to wake to the sounds of nature instead of the sounds of a busy street. I woke this morning to the sound of the latest visitor to our garden - a baby magpie! He/She was obviously letting his/her Mum know - hey I'm hungry where is my breakfast? For the past 2-3 weeks, we've had a family of magpies spend hours teaching this baby to forage for food in and around our garden. Mum and Dad Magpie, not to mention all the Aunts and Uncles of the young one, seem to know our cat, Mollie, is far too well fed for them to worry about. Let's hope it stays that way!

As is usual in our house on the weekends, Vlad brews a pot of coffee. He makes the most fantastic coffee, as much as I try, I never seem to be able to replicate it. The smell of freshly brewed coffee is one of the great aromas of life I think, and to wake to it, is just bliss. What more could I ask for, the beginnings of a new day and coffee!

So what do I have planned for the day ahead?
This morning, after breakfast, I'm going to make a batch of Cinnamon Crumble Muffins, a favorite in our house. Hopefully later today, I'll get some time for my latest passion, Digital Scrapbooking. I'm new to DS and new to the tool needed to accomplish the layouts, PSCS3. It's fascinating though to see all the elements come together, then sit back and think, WOW, did I do that? It's so easy to lose myself for hours, add this, take that, create small works of art - if only I could spend ALL my time - there are so many other distractions and things still needing to be done though.

I want to try and mould some tortillas into fluted shells some time today too. Most recipes call for deep frying the tortilla and then placing it in the mould while hot, but I'm going to try and dry roast the tortilla in the oven. I'm not sure how they will turn out using this method, it will probably be a trial and error kind of thing, but nothing is ever wasted in this house, what with 2 dogs and my PoP, sometimes it can get ugly and I'm not talking about the dogs either! Tonight's dinner will be Taco Salad in fluted tortilla shells or not! I'll share a photo of my efforts with you, if they turn out, I've got my fingers crossed.

Vlad is on annual leave this next week, so I'm not sure how many hours I will get to "play" as he has so much planned for "us". It will be a nice change, well for the next week anyway......