Belated big birthday bloggage Part II

Birthday bouquet from Bertie and Lauren

And now for my actual birthday... I had a good day despite being at work. Or perhaps partly because I was at work. Weird. 

My day started early in the morning when Luke woke me with a birthday kiss and hug. It's far preferable waking up with someone you love on your birthday, even if that someone then leaves for work and you go back to sleep. 

There was a steady flow of birthday text messages and posts on my Facebook wall. There were also a few emails from work people with birthday greetings. They knew it was my birthday because the home page of the intranet has a spot to highlight staff birthdays each day, which I think is a nice touch. 

And I got birthday cards in the mail! It's such a delight to get a card in the mail these days.   

The other secretary in my group had organised mini cupcakes for morning tea. I had three...following on from the gluten-free berry muffin I had for breakfast. I got the muffin at a cafe in the Centreway Arcade, which I walk past every morning on my way to work. I always look at the tray of sugar-dusted muffins as I go past and I always resist temptation, but not on my birthday. That's for indulging, not resisting. It was delicious too - and still warm from the oven.  Yummmm.

I had lunch with Bertie and Lauren from my old work and when I arrived back at my desk there was a beautiful bunch of flowers from them waiting for me, as well as some yellow tulips from my boss, which was a lovely surprise. I got a bouquet of flowers from some cousins at my birthday lunch the Saturday before too, so my flat has been looking a little like a florist's shop. I think I'll start buying myself flowers once a week. It's such a cheery sight.

Tulips, cymbidium orchid, and my Abbotsford 

Convent big bird feather in between

I arrived home on my birthday to the delicious aroma of roasting lamb (my favourite). Luke had left work early to come home and put the roast in the oven. He'd roasted the vegetables with whole cloves of garlic. I can't eat garlic (dagnammit!), but the flavour had transferred to the vegies, so I got the taste without the cranky belly. 

While the roast was still cooking, Luke told me to look in the fridge. I opened the door and there, nestling on a plate with some purple grapes, were three plump purpley-green figs. FIGS! I almost squealed and I've never been the squealing kind.  

Clapping eyes on those figs was seriously one of the best bits of my birthday because I've been looking for fresh figs since Easter when I ate roasted figs in a tasty salad at the Northcote Social Club. I was looking in vain, because the fig season ended in about March. Missed it by that much! I'd resigned myself to waiting for them to come back in season again. But Luke  found some -  right under his nose at work! - no doubt from somewhere up north where it's warmer. 

We had fresh figs with vanilla yogurt for dessert that night and I roasted the others for dessert last night (after freezing them during the week so they wouldn't spoil. I'd read online that you can freeze them, but I think it ruined them. They were very mooshy). 

Still on the topic of figs, on the Saturday just gone, Luke and I had lunch on Chapel Street and when we were walking back to the car, I stopped to peruse the menu displayed in the window of a newish restaurant called Morris Jones. I zeroed straight in on the fig and walnut bread and exclaimed, "Fig and walnut bread! Yum!". A waiter walking past heard me and commented, "It's great. We make it ourselves." Sadly I was already full from lunch (another hearty and warming Hungarian lamb stew at Borsch, Vodka &Tears). But this coming Saturday, I'm gonna be all over that fig and walnut bread. 

Anyway, that was pretty much my birthday. Lots of simple pleasures. 

These are from the bouquet from my cousins. When they got droopy, 

I chopped off their heads and put them in this bowl. 

They're still going strong now, a week later. 

(I had also planned to organise a get-together with friends in Melbourne, but I didn't get my act together due to indecision about what to do and where to go. I might still do something yet.) 

Belated big birthday bloggage

So, last weekend...I left work early on Friday and Luke and I hit the road for Deniliquin, in southern New South Wales, for my 40th birthday family get-together. 

The sun was setting as we hit the outskirts of Melbourne. 

Taken from the car

On the last leg of the trip, between Echuca and Deni, the moon was rising - a huge orange orb, just above the horizon. It was quite mesmerising. I didn't get any photos of it though.

We arrived before 9.00pm, checked into our motel and then went around to my aunt and uncle's, where my mum was staying. I haven't seen mum since Christmas so it was great to see her. It's been a year since I saw my aunt and uncle, and they were their usual, slightly odd, selves. 

We had a cuppa and a natter, and I got my first lot of birthday loot, including a couple of cheques, which I have put straight into my savings account to go towards my next overseas trip (I haven't decided where I'm going yet).  

Luke and I then headed back to our motel room and the first thing I did was crank the electric blanket up to its maximum setting. I don't have an electric blanket at home because it doesn't usually get cold enough in my flat to need one, but it was freezing in Deni - actually, below freezing. Both nights the mercury dipped to around -3 degrees Celsius, which is unusually frigid for this part of the world. I do hope the inventor of the electric blanket was bestowed with some kind of Nobel prize. It was so, so cosy. 

The mornings were frosty, but the days were clear, sunny and not too cold. Perfect winter days. I did get to wear my doona-esque parka with the fur-trimmed hood for the first time this winter, which was pleasing. Sometimes I wish it was colder in Melbourne so I could wear it more often! 

My birthday do was at lunchtime on the Saturday. There were more uncles and aunts there, and cousins I haven't seen for a few years, including my first cousin Peter, who had  his one-year-old son Archie with him. That's the first time I've met the wee one. I think he was a bit scared of my hair (and he's not the first baby who has reacted that way!). 

I was spoilt with more birthday loot and then we had a nice lunch, finished off with yummy gluten-free chocolate cake made by mum, and of course a round of Happy Birthday. 

It was great to see everyone. We've not been a particularly close family over the years (geographically and otherwise), and it's never really bothered me. They're kind of a weird mob! But in the last couple of years, I've been feeling the need to be more connected with my extended family, which probably has something to do with losing my Dad.  In fact, life has been pretty hard going for all of us the past year or two, We've mostly seen each other at funerals, so I wanted us to get together for a happier occasion. 

After lunch was over, Luke and I went to the Waring Gardens, the park in the centre of town, to take some photos, but the shadows were a little long by then. I did take some of my previously posted bird photos here though, and the obligatory photo of the Simpson Band Rotunda, which is named after my grandfather, who was a fixture in the town's brass band. 

The next day Luke and I had breakfast at a sunny table at The Crossing Cafe near the banks of the Edward River. I had pancakes with mixed berry compote and yogurt. The pancakes had a dense, almost cake-like texture, but I liked it. 

Then we visited the Peppin Heritage Centre next door - a tourist information centre, gallery and museum in the old Deniliquin Public School building. One of the rooms is still set up as a classroom. I have a very vague memory of being in this classroom as a little tacker, long after it was used as a primary school.  These desks weren't there then though - just some old blue and red folding metal chairs. 

Old encyclopaedias

  

This is the logo on one of the old school bags. The motto amuses me, partly because it's more of a schoolmarmish admonishment than the usual encouragement to excel favoured by many schools. None of them high-falutin' Latin phrases 'round these parts. I guess Do It Now could be a plain-talking interpretation of Carpe Diem... 

It also amuses me because when I was a kid, the town's rather cheeky catchphrase was "Do it in Deni", underneath a cartoonish outline of a family of rabbits. Do it in Deni. Do it now. Haha.  (At some point, the Powers That Be must have decided Do it in Deni was too vulgar, because they got rid of it, but I'm pleased to see that it lives on as the unofficial town motto.)

The photo above is the gallery, with an old Cobb & Co sign on the back wall. The sign was found in a shed on the former site of the Cobb & Co booking office (which I think was somewhere around where my grandparents' house was). It was restored by the town's Historical Society. 

A closer view

A lot of the museum is devoted to sheep, since wool growing has long been among the Riverina district's major industries. There were photographic displays for the area's biggest and oldest sheep stations, including Calimo,  where my family lived until I was five (when we moved south to Victoria). 

There was even a photo of the tiny timber cottage we lived in. It had pressed tin ceilings and a clawfoot bath. 

This would have been taken long after we left, since there's very little garden to be seen. We were the last family to live there, so it's been empty for about 35 years. I visited Calimo on trip to Deni about four years ago and the cottage's only inhabitants then were possums. It was well on the way to ruin, which made me sad. 

Baaaa. Everywhere I go...taxidermy!

No blog post about Deni is complete without a photo of the Ute on the Pole and mention of the town's status as the Ute Capital of the World. (For non-Aussies, ute is short for 'utility vehicle'.) Here you go then: 

The town earned the title by hosting the largest gathering of utes in the world during the annual Deni Ute Muster, which is part of the Play on the Plains Festival. Other events include the World Record Blue Singlet Count (3500 people in a Bonds blue singlet is the current world record), and the Australian National Circle Work Championships (a bunch of hoons chuckin' doughies in their muscle cars). No, I'm not making this up (but I am affecting a bogan mode of speech). Basically, it's Mecca for bogans. 

I've never been to the muster and I'm thinking about going this year. As a Deni born and (partly) bred shiela, I reckon I should go at least once, even if it's insufferable. Better buy a Bonds blue singlet then...

Anyway, back to last weekend. After lunch at my aunt and uncle's, we said our goodbyes and set off for home, with a short stop at the cemetery just out of town. All of my grandparents are buried there, along with many of my ancestors. 

This is the grave of some of my ancestors, set among peppercorn trees in the old part of the cemetery. Next to it is the grave of another ancestor, Emma Riverina Lloyd. It's said she was so named because she was the first white woman born in the Riverina, but I don't think that's true. Either way, I kinda like it as a woman's name. 

We stopped again for a little while in Echuca on the Murray River. Luke had never been before and then I realised I'd never actually been there either.  I'd been through it dozens of times, but never to it. We wandered along the main street, and down to the river port, where the old (and not-so-old) paddlesteamers are moored. 

Old(ish) sign

 Old machinery 

  More old machinery

Then we hit the road again. 

The road

I haven't even got to my actual birthday yet! That will have to wait for tomorrow, as will this weekend's glee, because it's past my bedtime. 

Deni, chilly, smelly, zingy

Foggy morning

Luke and I are off to Deniliquin, my hometown in southern New South Wales, tomorrow afternoon for a family get-together to celebrate my birthday. We'll be able to stay a day longer than our last visit in July last year, which means more time to spend with my mum and to take photos. I'm really looking forward to it. 

It's going to be really cold overnight while we're there - down to 0 degrees C one night and -2 the next. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I'm looking forward to wearing my super warm parka though. I haven't worn it at all this winter. The days are meant to be fine and sunny, and not too cold. Perfect. 

I'm still loving The Etymologicon. It's marvelous - it blows my mind a little bit on every page. Some of the origins of words and connections between words are just so bizarre, you couldn't make it up. I'll save up all the mind-blowing bits and regale you with them in one (probably very long)  post.  

I bought two bunches of jonquils on the way home last night - one yellow and one creamy white. When I opened my front door tonight, I was met with their heady aroma. It can be a little strong, but I like it. 

Speaking of nice smells, I gave my Docs a coat of beeswax leather conditioner tonight. I love the smell of that too. 

I had blood orange gelato for dessert tonight. It had a zing to it almost like sherbert. Yum. 

Weekend of glee

Luke and I had lunch at Booktalk Cafe in Richmond yesterday. As the name suggests, it's a café and a bookshop rolled into one. Although I've been there numerous times, I only just noticed that there is a little brass plaque on the back of each chair with an author's name on it. Mine said 'Anita'. Dunno who that is, but I like the idea.  I also liked their collection of games, though we didn't have time to play.

'Please enjoy of puzzles and games and fish' 

(written before the fish went to fish heaven)

After lunch I bought supplies to make another terrarium - a much bigger one this time. I can only just get my arms around the bowl when I hold it in front of me. I got a ladder fern and some moss to go in it, but will get another fern as well. The moss came from a damp spot on the ground at the nursery; the nursery lady slid a knife under it to loosen it and wrapped it in cellophane for me. 

I'm going to plant this one myself, but haven't had time so far. The moss has a temporary home on top of a pile of potting mix. I've been misting it with water to keep it moist and happy. 

On Friday one of my workmates told me she was going to the Studley Park Boathouse for lunch on Sunday and I decided I wanted to go too. I haven't been for more than 10 years, even though it's a short drive away. Luke and I went on Saturday afternoon.

The Studley Park Boathouse opened in 1864 and is Melbourne's oldest operating boathouse. It's set in extensive bushy parklands along the Yarra - if it weren't for the hum of traffic, you could easily forget you're so close to the centre of a big city. 

You can hire kayaks and canoes, as well as the row boats for a punt on the Yarra, but we only took photos of them. Here's an old sign of a different kind: 

Not sure how many swamp hens the boats can carry

Fungus

Skeleton

Kane's Bridge. It was rebuilt in the 1930s after being 

 washed away in a massive flood 

Crossing over

Swirly tree

Red gums

The Yarra is brown because of the highly erosive soil in the

 catchment area. It's extra brown after rain.

 The boathouse's resident geese

No Gleeful post would be complete without a duck

Boat garden

On Saturday night we had dinner on Chapel Street. For dessert I had stewed rhubarb with meringue, and rosewater sorbet, served in a glass with a woolly ball of pistachio Persian fairy floss on top (as was Luke's pistachio icecream). I've seen the fairy floss in shops before, but never tasted it. It was yummy, but weird, like eating air (like normal fairy floss, I suppose!). 

Then we headed to the Astor Theatre to see The Avengers.  I love The Astor. It's the last single screen cinema of its kind still operating in Melbourne and stepping inside is like travelling back to the art deco splendour of 1930s, when the cinema opened. 

The ladies powder room

Marzipan, The Astor's calico cat, was in attendance and enjoying the comfort of a moviegoer's lap in the foyer when we arrived. As we were leaving she was sitting on a comfy lounge chair being fussed over by people. I love that the cinema has a resident moggy. There was a cat in residence when I first went to The Astor in my uni days, so Marzipan is obviously not the first feline to fill the role. 

Oh, the movie was good, but I knew it would be since Joss Whedon wrote and directed it. 

Sunday 

I got my hair cut and coloured today. I've added some blue highlights to the top of my usual blue/black hair. As you might have guessed, I have no plans to start acting/looking my age despite my impending 40th birthday. (I'll post a photo another time). 

It was rather chilly and raining lightly when I left the hairdresser, so I got a hot chocolate to warm me up. I don't think I've clutched a hot beverage so enthusiastically before. 

Forty schmorty

White egret spotted on the way home tonight

 under  the Swan Street Bridge

This is my third week back at the gym. Yep, I'm still going. Wooh! This morning my muscles were still feeling sore from Tuesday's workout so I wasn't sure if I'd be up to doing my usual routine. But I felt OK by the time I left work, so I did my usual resistance workout, with an increase in reps on one exercise. I've altered the intervals of my cardio routine to jogging for a minute and walking for a minute, but still running for a minute more than last time...or maybe more than a minute - I keep losing track of how many minutes I'm up to so I err on the side of doing more, rather than less. And when I thought I had exhausted my lungs and energy supply near the end of my workout, I made myself sprint the last minute. 

Have I mentioned that I'm turning 40 in just under a month? That's not the reason I started back at the gym, but it is helping to keep me motivated. I've been fitter in my 30s than I was in my 20s (not necessarily super fit, but fitter), and I see no reason why I can't be  super fit in my 40s. 

It's Friday tomorrow already. Love a four day working week.