I am happy again.

Yesterday I couldn't walk very well, but today I am much better. My cold has developed into a cough. The old me would have moped for another day, but instead the new me wanted to jog on my tramp. I jogged for 30 minutes and my knee was fine. I can't kneel on it, but I can walk. I will be able to compete in the 5km run/walk on Sunday, so I'm very happy. It is a nominated time event. You nominate the time you will take to complete the run/walk and then complete it without wearing a watch. I will nominate 43 minutes. (8.5 minutes a km plus 1/2 a minute for luck.)

We received our number and transponders for the Burnie 10 yesterday. That is only two weeks away. I haven't really walked enough in training, but it will be fun.

I seem to be over my chocolate fad. There is still some DH birthday chocolate in the cupboard and it isn't beckoning me any more (thank goodness).

Have a lovely, restful, happy weekend everyone. Hope your footy team wins the final.

Warning - I am NOT happy!!!

I am officially OVER this weather! It is one o'clock in the afternoon. It is DARK. I have the light on. It is COLD and RAINY and WINDY. It is nearly the end of September and it is supposed to be Spring. We are supposed to have a light shower every now and then followed by brilliant sunshine for the daffodils and lambs to dance in!













Earlier today I went to the bakery and walking back I slipped over and landed heavily on my knee and both hands on slippery, stoney ground which was covered with pieces of a broken glass bottle that some idiot had thrown down. I think I have a small piece of glass in the palm of one hand, the other palm is bruised and hurting and my knee is cut, swollen and bruised. AND I have a cold. I am supposed to be walking in a 5km walk on Sunday, so hopefully I will be recovered by then.

The only shining light is that I have my dear little happy three year old grand-daughter here and she is singing and colouring in a picture of Bill and Ben.
When she goes home later today I will soak in a bubble bath and try to mend my wounds.

I will come back here when I am in a happier mood!

(P.S. My weather pixie is telling me it is 16 degrees. I think she must be sitting by a heater!)

Comfort food

(This is a borrowed photo of someone else's pancakes)



Sometimes I think it is nice to have some comfort food. Today is SO dark and dull and rainy and horrible I made some pancakes for DH and I for lunch. They were SO yummy. I had mine drizzled with Maple Syrup and DH had extra butter, sugar and Maple Syrup. I couldn't take a photo because we ate them too quickly. SO DELISH!!! DH is now watching Westerns on TV and I am playing on my puter. He usually doesn't sit down for two minutes at a time, but he has a cold and I have told him to rest and not run today (I will believe that when I see it). So far it is working.

Here is the pancake recipe I used. It is actually a pikelet recipe from The "Central Cookery Book" (an old Tasmanian School recipe book). This recipe makes lovely pikelets to eat cold, but today I added more milk to make them more like pancakes and less like pikelets. It made 4 large pancakes. (My changes in brackets)

4 ozs self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used a pinch of salt)
Nutmeg (I didn't add this)
5 tablespoons milk (I added more to make mixture less thick. I used skinny milk)
2 ozs sugar
1/2 oz melted butter
1 egg

Beat egg and sugar (I used a whisk) and add melted butter and milk (keep whisking).
Sift in flour and nutmeg (and whisk till smooth).
Drop in spoonfuls on to a hot, greased pan, griddle or plate (I poured enough mixture in pan to make a pancake instead of smaller pikelets)
Turn when brown (and bubbly)
Butter when cold (We ate them hot with Maple Syrup)

Hope you are all well and happy.

Chocolate coated almonds and Old Jamaica

DH has just had a birthday and he was given a huge jar of choc coated almonds and two large Old Jamaica chocolates. I would like to say I have ignored them. I haven't! Yummo! They are nearly gone thank goodness!









We just stayed a night away by the sea. We had a nice time, but our host was so not like "Basil Fawlty" that he was almost unbearable. We arrived at the "studio apartment" and were greeted by a "very friendly" man who proceeded to get us to sign a declaration that if anything was trashed or stolen our credit card would be charged. We were then shown the apartment, which was immaculate, spotlessly clean, modern, and nicely decorated. There were lots of luxurious pillows on the bed with a laminated, printed sign sitting on them telling us not to use those pillows. We must only use the pillows that were in the wardrobe. "Basil" told us he would be back later with our breakfast provisions. He brought a basket of breakfast provisions of bacon and eggs, juice, cereal and bread for us to cook our breakfast with a note on them to please wash our dishes after use. Every time we walked out of our door "Basil" was there. He was always looking busy (doing I don't know what).At night we decided to walk to a Bistro a couple of kms down the road for a meal. We had a lovely meal and a few drinks, won our meal money back on Keno and started walking back to our room. We were giggling about our host (the wine helped), when a 4 wheel drive pulled up beside us. It was dark, so at first we didn't know who it was. "Hello you two. Just saw you come out of the Bistro and thought you would like a ride back to your room". Sure enough it was "Basil". We tried to tell him we would love to walk in the fresh night air, but he wouldn't take "No" for an answer.

There was no sign of "Sybil" during our stay and I think she may have been like the real Sybil and found every opportunity not to be there with "Basil". Maybe he was just lonely, but all in all, I was glad to come home!

Walk 4 Women

Thanks to

Bri telling us about the

Walk for Women in each State, I decided to go to Hobart yesterday and walk. There were only about 30 people there and most of them were just out for a stroll, but I met a girl who wanted to walk a bit faster and we walked the 8 km together. It was very enjoyable. We walked from Cornelian Bay to the Cenotaph and back and it was a pretty walk along the water. I think it may have been a bit short of 8km though as our time was 64 minutes and I know I wasn't walking faster than last week. Anyway, it was for a good cause and it was exercise and we enjoyed it, so that's all that matters. I came home tired, but happy.

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weekend.

Fast 6km

On Saturday I walked a fast 6km out in the country in training for Burnie 10. I managed 8.5 minutes a kilometre, which is about what I walked for Burnie last year, so I was quite pleased. Sunday I couldn't move well, but I have now recovered. I actually think that walking fast may be harder than running at times. I felt like breaking into a run, but I have a pact with myself NOT to start running EVER (due to DH's obsession with running), so I will continue to walk


It has been a BEAUTIFUL day here today. Hope you are all well and happy and having a great week. No more news from me.