Merry Christmas to all...who enjoy it.

[sean]

Have a good one!

Thankyou everyone, for putting up with me, but mostly for the fantastic information and sharing of first hand experience, you're knowledge and understanding is the recognition we all deserve. You all have made me a better person, living a happier life.

Love you guys'...I have not had a drop to drink...yet.

Cheers!

Sean.

[Dodger67]

I couldn't have said it better, so I'll echo Sean's sentiments. To all those who celebrate, may you have a blessed Christmas.

[Gymp]

Yep...Hoping everyone here has a very,very Merry Christmas eh!

Be Good
Gymp

[LisaJoy]

Same to you guys!

[RocketCityMama]

Merry Christmas to all :)

[Kari]

Right back at you!! Merry Christmas!

[NerdaliciouS]

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! :)

[sean]

NerdaliciouS and Gymp over there in Canada, I often find myself trying to imagine what it's like. I guess my view is mostly by the media, movies, TV, news, world news. So I know, intense visual beauty!!!, wicked sense of humour!!!, and ?rivalry between Canada and the US, where Americans seem to often refer to Canadians as Hicks or the like. (don't know, don't want to start anything, just seems a common reference, in jest. We have similar BS here between states. Tasmanians and Queenslanders get it here) It's all BS, fear and envy.

This is it, I'd love to sit and just talk ?crap with you guys. Gymp, I'd love you to see my garden as I'd love to sit in yours, have a cuppa and talk manure and life. NerdaliciouS, I reckon we would inspire each other at least creatively, talk social and human matters, and have a laugh.
Do you/ have you two met each other, are you far away from each other?.
Don't mean to ?pressure you, just wondering.


Merry Christmas! :), lol, let me tell you. I have had a pretty good Christmas, I have managed to eat...just... within enough and sensible, with only a couple of times loosing it, (always chocolate) and paying for it.
We had a huge turkey for two, plum pudding and triffle, we'll be having the last of the turkey tonight.
I have been feeling GGGRrrr with myself, my two main gifts (to give) have still not arrived in the post, books and a chicken incubator. "I" shopped (online) too late! So a last minute dash to get something to give, I am hopeless with such pressure lol, I bought dissapointing gifts, instead of the "fab'" gifts I wanted to give. I haven't mentioned it, so hopefully a pleasant surprise when they get them.
Otherwise, a very pleasant Christmas, a joy to be mostly spectator.
(I don't know a family that isn't going OFF with drama)

I got a camera for chrissy, so I am going to attempt to put some snaps in my album.

Not going to the NYE dance party this year "Tribe" the theme. I'm not feeling up to it, this year my energy levels have dropped, it's rest I'm after. lol.
It's not as fun when your party.....enhancement? is just to keep you standing.

Have a full on fantastic! 2012 both of you.

Cheers!

Sean.

[Gymp]

Hey Sean...
Glad you had a good Christmas,I hope the rest of the folks here did to!!!
I ate a heap of dinner at me Ma's,turkey,pork roast,yam,mashed potatoes,blue cabbage,peas with mushrooms & garlic,tossed salad,spaetzle plus some pickled herring.A grand feast it was.Me Ma didn't have to lift a finger,we all pitched in and brought something with us. My nephew and I did the dishes.I ended up getting a sewing machine for Christmas..WooHoo...I've always wanted one to boot!!!

Nope,I've never personally met Nerdal,she's some 4,600 Kilometers to the west of me in Vancouver I believe.(Canada's one big beautiful country).She seems like a really smart young lass who'd be interesting to meet though!

I've never noticed any rivalry between us Canucks and the Yanks to the south except when the NHL hockey play offs are going on and then it's the usual my team's better than yours type thing.

If you ever hop on a plane or a boat and come to Canada I'd be more than happy to talk veggie garden (I could do that for days on end)We'd even put you up for your stay if you wanted...

Enjoy your summer Sean!!! It's winter here -14celcius with the windchill today,luckily no snow though...Imagine that Christmas in the summer....you's are lucky buggars ;-P

Be Good
Gymp

[NerdaliciouS]

That sounds like it'd be a lot of fun, Sean, lol. I think I'd also have to show you guys my little garden! I'm expanding it next year! I've become a bit of a treehugger over the past year, lol. I was always pretty big on outdoors-y, enviro stuff. But the past few months it's just escalated. After everything I've learned... I wish more people were aware! So I can't wait to get these tomatoes and peppers off and running. We had a surprisingly good haul this year. Tasted so good too. Ah! Strawberries didn't really like where they were though. I used to have a really healthy patch of them till we moved; wanna get it like that again. Dad accidentally killed the pumpkins. :( This is why he doesn't garden! We also plant some flowers, sunflowers are my thing, lol. Was also taking care of this interesting bush, I'm not sure what it is, but the flowers were beautiful.

And it's funny, because by the media, we're covered in snow! I was kind of sad, we didn't get any this year. Again. :(

And while I've personally never met Gymp, I think it'd be pretty neat to. And there is some rivalry! So many of them seem to hate us! :( Lol. You seem like a pretty interesting person though, I'd love to meet quite a few of you actually.

There's a good probability I'll be going to Ottawa next year some time, so perhaps something'll come out of that (there's family & friends in Ottawa, Toronto, Oshawa, Hamilton...list goes on)!



We had a quiet little Christmas. Aunt and uncle flew in from ON, friend spent Christmas Eve with us. Just a nice little get together. ...And I still remain the air hockey champion. :sign0021:

Hope everyone's was amazing too!

[sean]

Hey guys,

Gymp, what is spraetzle ? and ...lol, you lost me at pickled herring, otherwise sounds perfect.

What I couldn't do with a sewing machine!!!!????. I had one for years, an old secondhand (big/heavy), a bugger to use. At the time I just wanted to make cushion covers, which I did, a dozen or more, otherwise it sat there collecting dust, so I passed it on.
Since wearing the leg bag, particularly now with my 'latex sports', in my mind I have designed shorts/trousers with an inside pocket for the bag, concealed behind cargo type pant pockets on the outside. Recently thinking of ways to simply empty the bag from the outside pocket. (so if you've got a minute...lol). Anyway, what do think? an idea, not likely to be much of a market, but it could work for some of us.
Anyway, very handy machine to have around. It's not a priority but I have an eye out.
Sewing, a great winter sport.

Nerdal, wonder why I am not surprised you're a natural greenie, that is the cutest beautiful, interesting frog you have next to your name.
There's something about nurturing and growing your own food.... so joyous! (lol, I could go on). There is nothing like it.....lol You just can't beat it.....lol It's life itself....lol/////
Love it.....lol......

I have a glut of cucumbers at the moment and they're dirt cheap to buy, no-one wants them. I've had a great spring/summer crop, salad greens are still just going, the end of brocolli and spinach is just hanging in. I've been able to give away a few bunches of banana's. This my fourth year of a good coffee crop and my fouth time stuffing up the roasting, it takes days to get to the roasting stage, hours of cleaning and days of drying the beans. I need a proper roaster $. I could have had about five kilo of coffee, to freeze. I've put in another tree, so I need to get the act together for future crops.
As I am sure I've mentioned before, I still haven't made raised beds so I can grow some root vegies, particularly spuds, I've got some carrotts and beets in an old wheelbarrow, doing well (although I wanted baby carrotts for chrissy, bit slow!)
Summer is here, the vegi's are thinning out/crispy, the struggle to keep things alive starts, pointless planting anything new or seedling, they'll cook.
A couple of pumpkins are taking off...yeah!, last year fab plants and flowers (no bees ?) but no pumpkins, to keep for winter, maybe this year!

Nerdal, Air Hockey...is that with a Wll ?

All the very best for you both and your families in 2012!

Gymp, isn't it fantastic to be alive, we have seen the change of centuries, great time to be around.....(silly thing to say, I mean isn't it great to be our ages at this time of ongoing changes )...and doesn't the future for kids with SB look all good ?

Cheers!

Sean.

[Gymp]

Sean - Spaetzle - Is a type of dumpling pasta,it's quite tasty with gravy poured all over it.Pickled herring is great but probably need an acquired taste for it,I used to hate it as a kid (me Dad used to MAKE us eat everything that was put on our plates whether we liked it or not)and sometime along the way it sorta grew on me.I grew up in an old european household and the food was especially strange to my friends,there were only a few that would dare come over to our house for supper.Blood sausage,smoked eel,head cheese...it scared the crap out of them lol.

Interesting concept sewing a pocket for your latex bag,I highly doubt there'd be a market for it though,not many people wear the contraptions we do,the world has changed and so have the ways that incontinent people urinate.We're a dieing leaking breed lol!
I intend to be using the sewing machine to mend clothes plus hemming pants and such.I do have a plan to design and sew up a new set of saddle bags for the bike though,gonna do it in leather,all the previous saddle bags
I bought were made of nylon and don't last too long,two years tops!

You can grow coffee,WOW you're a lucky guy,I'd love to be able to grow my own java beans.My veggie garden did very well last year,we're still eating the stuff I froze last fall and my tomato sauce should last into next summer.I'm starting to run out of frozen beans though.I had a late crop due to the dam Mexican bean beetle the little buggers took a bite out of every bean it seemed and by the time I got them under control with a home concoction of dish soap and olive oil it was late in the season.
I grew some "parsley root plants" for the first time last season and it turned out really well,the roots were as thick and as long as a good sized carrot.I've been digging in compost/brown leaves every fall for ~ ten years now and it's really starting to pay off with a nice and loose sweet dark soil.
This is the first year that I reused absolutely everything,nothing went to waste.All the yard/kitchen refuse got composted from the whole year,not a single bit went out to the garbage dump.I did have to build another composting bin to handle it all (1.3 x 1.3 metres x 1 metre tall).Next year I'm gonna get two rain barrels on the go,one off the garage and one off the house,no sense using the piped chlorinated water we pay big $$$ for.Rain is free,tee hee hee.

Sean,for the kids with SB sure the health advance things are on the up for them and they'll probably have it somewhat easier than we did.The way the governments/politicians/big corporations have messed this world up who truly knows what the future holds for them or for anybody young for that matter.I'm watching our kids struggle to get by.I really hope this next generation can turn around the mess our generation and the one before left them,this greed and got to have everything nonsense has to stop! nuff said!!!

Nerdal - It's really great that you love to get your hands dirty so to speak.My strawberries got flooded out last year and we only got a few berries in all.Only a couple plants survived the deluge of wet we had last spring,I was so disenchanted that I ended up letting the weeds take over.By fall I ended up cleaning out the patch and am gonna have to raise the bed.Should have enough compost to do that by next spring...Sooo I'll be trying again.I grew a variety of sunflower that ended up being taller than the gutters on the house and the flower itself was huge.I kept some seed for a replant and if you want I could mail you some.


Be Good
Gymp

[NerdaliciouS]

Oh, you don't know the half of it, Sean, lol. I was actually considering getting some firebelly toads! Just because they look cool. I like amphibians and reptiles; we now have a lovely snake, super friendly.

I can't believe you can grow your own coffee! I personally hate coffee, but to just grow it would be INSANE! I remember one year we grew carrots, which sounds dull but... They only grew to be mini, and they had a naturally sweet taste. You could eat it out of the garden and they were sooooo yummy! They were supposed to be just normal carrots too. And it's weird, because we kept some of the same seeds and when we moved next door, re-planted but didn't get the same effect. Makes you wonder what was in the soil, lol. I think I'll try my hand at bonsai next.

And lol, as much as I like video games, it's not on a wii! It's on an actual air hockey table! Ever played?



And that'd be wonderful, Gymp. I miss them so. :(

[sean]

Hey guys,
OK spaetzle sounds nice? The Irish are into all sorts aswell, my mum would cook and eat anything, most of them loved the stuff, every organ kidneys, liver, heart, brain, toungue, yeh black and white 'pudding'....hello, blood sausage! I don't recall any eyeballs, but everything else. My brothers, all hunters, one a butcher, mum worked in butcher shops. I think meat was scarce in my mothers day back in Ireland, she seemed a little obsessed with it (and the sons x6 to feed). I've tried it all, don't need to any more. The ?ox toungue.....looked like a big toungue..ooo and this ?loaf of aspic/jelly with bits of lumps of things....oooo.
No wonder I was vegan for a few decades. Each to his own of course.

I was surprised I could grow coffee when I moved here, there are plantations locally, Arabica Coffee. There's also macadamia, banana, citrus, blueberry some mango and various, I guess sub-tropical fruits and veg'. It's semi rural, I'm on the edge, pockets of suburbia are growing around me. The last 2 years I've had a favourite patch of forest turn into a recreation centre and (in 6mths) shopping centre (which I will be greatfull for). Alas! the family of echidna who had probably lived there for, who knows/ever were given NO! consideration, until one was hit by a car. Some pathetic last minute attempt to relocate them........further up the creek!....where the next housing estate is planned for.....whenever!
Exuse me....it makes me CRAZY..er.
Koala's live here, we have signs on the roads to watch out for them, they get a bit lively around mateing season, just past. The local primary school (1/2 a block away) had an allbino koala visit them for a few days...it was amazing!. They are so threatened by cars and dogs.....people!!!!!, almost everything is being done to protect them.

Sorry, coffee...I'm excited lol. I love a good coffee, as I've mentioned I fluked my first roasting and stuffed the last ?4 attempts. Late spring the beans rippen and I'm getting bigger crops each year, one tree so far. This last attempt I probably would have made ?about 4+ kg, and the tree is ?half the size of the plantation trees. I have another on the way, I expect a small crop next spring + more from the other. I put in 2 more trees but have since built a screen in front of them, hopeing they grow above it. It grows into a nice evergreen cylindrical tree with waxy white flowers that smell like soap, maybe 8/10 mtre.
As I have not yet mastered the whole preperation, roasting of my own coffee, I get a taste of locally grown at markets, I'm not a cafe' person but locally grown is served in the groovy cafes around town. There's a bit of a hip boutique cafe' culture, competition and awards for all.....
I'll post some pics next spring......of me actually drinking my own coffee, fingers crossed.

I have posted a few pics in my pics, of a resident green tree frog. The (garden) wildlife is surprising here, we have little skink lizards everywhere, you sometimes need to slow down for them to get out of the way. I have been watching a communal nest under my back steps, I saw a baby scurry out yesterday, expecting lots more (although a bit too exposed in part, some eggs 'I see' are obviously ?cooked, but deeper should be OK???) I think it's the time of the year for them, I also have leggless lizards that look like snakes, about 30cm, they nip with no (visable) teeth. And on hotter days we get blue tounge lizards baking in the sun and eating our snails, it's great having them around.
I too like reptiles and amphibians and birds and.....................even mozzies and fleas? (from a purely scientific point of view!)

I have some actual baby carrots in a wheelbarrow and baby beets, they don't grow any bigger, my ground is too clay for root vegi's. (parsnip $9+ a kg).

Parsley root plants, I've not heard of, I pulled up some seeded parsley the roots weren't very big. Big as a carrot sounds great, what is it like to eat...love parsley.

Air hockey, of course, I thought a table....no can't say I've ever played.
Probably the limp wrists I was born with, LOL.

Cheers

Sean.