Monday; puddles;

It rained, 70 mm;  the sun is shining, today I am out there getting my hands dirty.

Bromeliad's little lakes, perfect for tiny frogs.

©Photo/text Ts;  12/11/2012  7.31AM

...enjoy a nice day.... 

Sunday; a must watch;

She is alive....

Content credit: The principal source for the footage was Yann Arthus-Bertrand's incredible film "Home". The music was by Armand Amar. Thank you too Greenpeace and Timescapes

Sepia Saturday 151; Early Telecommunication;

Brisbane magneto telephone exchange  1910

The world’s first phone call;

On 10 March 1876, Bell successfully transmitted the first words ever uttered on a telephone. He said, ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.’ Bell’s assistant, Thomas A Watson, was at the lower end of the wire, in the basement. He dropped the receiver and rushed up the three flights of stairs to inform Bell of the good news: ‘I can hear you! I can hear the words!’

The telephone arrives in Australia

Australian inventors were keen to experiment with Bell’s new device.

One of the country’s most versatile innovators was Henry Sutton (1856–1912) of Ballarat, Victoria. By late 1877 Sutton had developed numerous telephonic devices, and 16 of his models were later patented overseas. His work was acknowledged by Alexander Bell during his visit to Australia in 1910.

The first telephone service in Australia is believed to have run on 2 January 1878. It operated between hardware supplier McLean Bros & Rigg in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, and their Spencer Street Depot, over a kilometer away.

Link  http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/bell-telegraph-and-telephone/

Wahroonga telephone exchange 1939

As of 1861 there were 110 telegraph stations across the eastern colonies.

By 1867 there were 1,676 miles of line within Victoria, handling 122,138 messages (compared to around 7.92 million in the US and 5.78 million in the UK that year).

Reuters, in competition with local news agencies, operated in Australia from 1860 onwards. 

The cost per word for a message from London was at that time equivalent to the average weekly wage.

A link between Adelaide and Perth was established in 1875, with the 2,900 kilometer Adelaide to Port Darwin link (the Overland Telegraph Line or OTL) in 1872 costing £300,000. 

Link  http://www.caslon.com.au/austelecomsprofile1.htm#colonial

First telephone service launched, connecting Melbourne and South Melbourne offices of Robinson Brothers;

1880 First telephone exchange opened in Melbourne, shortly before the hanging of Ned Kelly

1882 First public telephone exchange based in Sydney, making telephone use and ownership available to the public in NSW - barely six years after Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone

1884 Around 7,757 telephone calls handled through the year

1901 The Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia established the Postmaster-General's department to look after all communication networks in the nation

1935 Australia ranked seventh in the world for percentage of telephones. 

Sepia Saturday 151;

Now you can instantly communicate with Sepia Saturday and it won't cost you your weekly wage.

Friday; food glorious food;

Fresh strawberries from Lilli;s garden;

Sometimes on a Saturday or Sunday we cook together lunch or dinner.

Last Saturday we cooked dinner from this book...

We cooked the Barley Risotto...it was absolutely delicious;

For 4  serves; We used;  200 g pearl barley, 30 g unsalted butter; 90 ml olive oil, 1 small onion; 2 big garlic cloves;  a few thyme sprigs and 1 bay leaf; 1/4 teasp. chilly flakes, 400 g tin tomatoes organic if possible;  3 tablespoons  tomato paste, organic as well; 700 ml water, half a tblespoon caraway seeds slightly roasted.

Feta, we used around 150g , a bit less than in the recipe,  broken into pieces; some oregano leaves.

chilly flakes are home made, bay leaf and oregano grow in the herb garden. The barley risotto is cooked like a risotto but it does not need as much attention and it takes longer. Ours took a bit more then 3/4 of an hour, 

cooked in a tagine with lid on,  regulo 3 on a Miele cooktop. Served with Oregano leaves and feta on top. 

This is actually a vegetarian dish, we used less feta as we served it with a small leg of lamb.

For dessert; Strawberries fruit salad served with a little natural yogurt and and a little whipped cream; delicious and decadent!

We all enjoyed this escapade to Jerusalem;

Biblical times Crocodile; sweet!

Photos and adapted recipe courtesy from Cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi;
©Photo/text Ts

Links

Poetic Takeaways;

T-Picturesque

Lavender and Vanilla;

Thursday; must haves?

Keyboard Coffee Cups by Shanghai designer E Square, inspired by the Apple computer keyboard. 

Umbrella

Glows with fiber optic light dots covering the canopy

Three modes: off, blinking lights, solid lights

Light in handle illuminates the ground in front of you

Wednesday; Jacaranda time;

Jacaranda tree flowering in my garden;

One of the glories of spring,  Tall trees topped with purple blue trusses of bells. The spend flowers will spread a purple carpet on lawns, roads and pathways. Followed by light ferny foliage, a most beautiful tree.

©Photo/Text Ts

Jacaranda blossoms, Grafton NSW  Photo Daily Examiner;

Monday; Bookshelf;

Memories; 

...finished reading  "the RUINS  of  LACE" by Iris Anthony. A mesmerizing story, explores the intricate tangle of fleeting beauty, mad obsession and always hope.

From a note to the reader;  ...there were those who made lace and those who wore it. Some paid  with gold for it and some made it under the most cruel and miserable circumstances.

Girls were chosen and taken into convents at the age of six  to learn the making of lace. They worked long hours, no fire no light, as ashes and soot might have soiled the lace. Mostly those girls went blind before the age of thirty and were hunched from their work. When they could not work anymore because of blindness, and did not have a family to take them in, they were thrown outside of the convent where they were abused as prostitutes for a crust of bread.

 In 1636 King Louis XIII of France prohibited lace. Lace was smuggled through Europe for more than two centuries from Flanders to France....