From earth to table

I had a wonderful weekend away at my parents' house in country NSW. Going home is always a relaxing and nurturing time - Mum's a great cook, and Dad looks after me by seeing to my car (thanks to both!).

This weekend was spent eating great food and drinking wine. That's it really. Friends came over on Saturday night. Mum and I went to a farm on Sunday (stay tuned for a blog entry about that one soon). We watched Mao's Last Dancer on DVD while eating dinner on Sunday night.

It was difficult without Toby. Last time I went home Toby was there, but no Jazz. I kept on expecting to hear the pattering of dog paws on the concrete, and the need step over a dog on the door mat. I miss the dogs so much.

Here is Toby's kennel. As Dad said, no one lives there anymore. It's so sad.


My bedroom has slowly been taken over by Mum's stuff. Parts of my bedroom are just as they were in 1999. Savage Garden Mania.

This is some of my collection of Savage Garden CDs. In December last year, when the bushfires were two km away from my parents' house, Mum asked me what I wanted her to save. I said my Savage Garden CDs.

Here is I Want You. It is very rare. It has been autographed. A penpal of mine gave it to me because her friend didn't want it anymore. It would be worth a lot in fan circles.

This is a clock. My first boyfriend bought it for me for Christmas in 1999. I laugh when I think about him buying it - he was NOT the Savage Garden type.

Here is a picture of Darren Hayes in Vogue magazine. It's laminated, just like most of my other Savage Garden posters.

And this is an introduced species. iPod with Darren Hayes on it.

Here is Baby. She is older than I am. I had her when I was born, and for some reason, she was on my (single) bed when I arrived home. As you can see, she has been repaired. She has many stitches. She has a button with berries on for her nose. I got a replacement Baby because this one got too much of my cream on it.

On Saturday when I arrived, I went out to the garden with Mum to pick some vegies for dinner. The temperature was freezing and I don't go outside much, but this was great!

These are snowpeas.

They are growing up the fence of the dog run. If Jazzy was alive, the snow pea vines would be tangled around her!

This is one part of the garden. We are facing west.

I love the greeny purple here.

Coles Showgrounds Village, I love you, but your vegies lack chlorophyll compared to home growns.


Here is Mum picking vegies.

This is a giant daikon radish. It was THIS big.

This is an eggshell. It has eyes on it, drawn on with texta. Dad said that the eyes scare the butterflies.

This is me with Nigel the ram. I am standing well away from Nigel because he's a bit scary.

This is a pregnant sheep.

See the black sheep with the curly hair? Its name is Mohwak.

Here is Nigel scratching himself on the fence. Sometimes I get so itchy I do this too.

Here are some flowers.


I like the old fashioned style of this woodfire.

Cheese. You know how I feel about cheese.

This is our dinner on Saturday night. I am so pleased that almost all that we ate came from Mum and Dad's garden (the vegies), their paddock (the lamb) or their kitchen aid (the sausage).

I had never stopped to value the goodness of homegrown produce until recently. It tastes so much better when you know where the food is from.

This is fennel salad.

These pork sausages were made by Mum and Dad. No preservatives, just pork mince, herbs and spices. The lamb is Mum and Dad's too.

A delicious lemon tart with King Island cream.

It was a feast!

This is Sunday night's pie. All the vegies on the plate are home grown. And the pie bowls were made locally (near to Albury) by a potter.



Here is Dad rolling the pastry for the spare pie.


I feel really refreshed - thanks Mum and Dad! I truly appreciated seeing the food go from earth to table.