Xmas Trees That Move

As I write this I can hear rustling in the corner, the Christmas tree is shaking, there is an intruder amongst the decorations.  We put the tree up a couple of days ago and left it naked, just to see what would happen.  Neo was somewhat nervous of it at first, being the first scary tree he has seen, but it didn't take long....

We decided to keep lights off the tree, in the interest of not frying the cat, instead draping them along curtain rails and under the patio outside.  We particularly love this set that are wrapped around the flue of the solid fuel heater, they look so pretty.  And the grey furry one doesn't seem interested in these.  The tree is much more fun, especially now that it has tinsel and balls on it. 

Steve, Neo and I has a quick visit to Perth last weekend to wish a special little someone a very Happy Birthday.  Yay seven! Happy Birthday to you dear Stevie, Happy Birthday to you x

 

 The aftermath of unwrapping and cake.

Meanwhile, back at home, we realised that we stuffed up our garlic by watering it too much just before harvest.  Last week we stripped the outer papery layers off, to try and dry the globes out a bit, but finally we decided it wasn't working very well and if we didn't do something else quick we would risk losing heaps to rot, so we got to work separating and peeling all the cloves and mostly freezing them while they were still healthy.  We dropped the small ones into a jar of vinegar to see what they are like pickled.  It took ages!  We had done a small amount for the freezer last week but there was heaps to do this time.  We chucked out any cloves that were discoloured and now have a huge quantity of healthy looking frozen cloves.  It will be nice and easy to use them, being that they are already peeled and ready to be chopped.

I also made a batch of lemon/lime marmalade to use up some citrus, the last batch was delicious.  I also made some NeverLasting Orange Slices in Cointreau Syrup.  This batch is made with bought Valencia oranges, following on the first batch I made earlier in the year using our first small crop of a dozen, and boy oh boy they are yummy, particularly with yogurt.

We were rapt coming home from Perth last weekend to find that we'd had a huge 60mm of rain, yeehar.  So the tanks are pretty much full which is amazing for December, and the shed tank that holds the bore water has now been shandied with a heap of rainwater so it's nice and diluted.  We should get the results of the bore water analysis at the end of the week, it will be very interesting to find out exactly what is in it, then we can sit down and work out the most effective way to use it.