Tuesday; DIY;

What about a chair made from an old suitcase?

From old bathtub to sofa; with a  few more cushions; not bad!

Contemporary sideboard from milk crates;  ideas...ideas...

Recycled; computer desk from wooden cable spools;

I think it looks much better and more individual than furniture from KMart! 

What do you think?

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....

Sepia Saturday 150; 1956 Olympic meeting;

I am somehow at a loss when it comes to team sports. Luckily one member of our family was  an enthusiastic race driver. 

Here are some of the events that took place.

Enjoy;  www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

Thursday; substitute;

LV Paper bag; that will have to do, if you can not afford the real McCoy!

Smile, a bag is a bag; enjoy your day.

©Photo, my garden, Ts

Wednesday; travel to...

Flying over the Flinders Ranges;

Places  in Australia with odd names; I leave you the pleasure of looking them up on the Australian map,
enjoy a nice trip. The names are pronounced in English!

 Oodnadatta,

Pepegoona,

Ararat
 Arkaroola

 Tantanoola

 Wipipee

Above the Flinders Ranges;

 Farina

 Ballarat

 Thackaringa

Taltabooka 

 Murrindindie;

Kalioota
 Winininnie

 Beltana
The Bight,

 Mallee's 

Flinders Ranges a fantastic landscape.

 Darling Downs,

 Yudnapinna,

 Tidnacoordininna,

 Mallacoota

 Baroota

 Yankalilla;

Wallaroo
Wirrawilla

Booboorowie 

Oodla
Wirra, 
Orroroo

Wycheproof
 Wollongong

 Never Never,

Sounding in each mountain rill,

Echoing from hill to hill…

In the lonely, silent places

Men lift up their glad, wet faces,

And their thanks ask no explaining -

It is raining - raining - raining!

Names of  towns used in CJ Den's famous poem  "And it's raining, raining, raining."

C J Dennis, Poet; Journalist, was born in Auburn, South Australia, on 7 September 1876,  he preferred to be known as Den.

©Photos Ts.

Links  T-Picturesque
Poetic Takeaway's;
Three Monkeys

Tuesday; Nature's wonders;

Honey Bee collecting nectar and pollen; My Garden;

Lavishly golden,

 liquid sunshine held in tiny, waxen  chambers. 

 The  fragrance of  flowers and harvest, warmed by sun, wind and rain,

 nectar collected diligently, 

transmuted into  the sweetest  of sweets,

 for sticky, little fingers to lick and savour,

  this wonderful alchemy of  nature. 

©Photo/Text Ts

Link 

http://www.honeybee.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60

Monday; Aahh...

Aahh… close your eyes and dream of an island in the sun;

 idly succumb  to a delightful dream;  a closed book in your lap,

 the soft tap

 of  a slow day rolling by. Aahh…

©Photo/Text Ts

Links

Poetic Takeaway's;

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Sepia Saturday 149;

Aptly described as ‘gifts from the earth’, thermal springs occur in many parts of New Zealand. Most are scattered throughout the Taupo Volcanic Zone in the central North Island, but some are in areas of extinct volcanic activity such as Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty. Others lie in non-volcanic areas, along faultlines, particularly in Westland and North Canterbury. They are formed when rainwater seeps down through rock towards the heat source deep beneath the surface and then rises again. The hot water dissolves minerals in the rock, and the mineral content as well as the temperature of hot springs varies according to locality.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/thermal-pools-and-spas

 Mud is bubbling;

Water Steaming;

Hot sulfurous lake;

©Photos/ Ts Rotorua, New Zealand;

look for Sepia Saturday 

HERE

Thursday; Sunrise in the valley;

Morning sings in glowing pink;

Photo/Text Ts

Links

 Lavender and Vanilla;

Poetic Takeaway's; a trivial world of words;

Tuesday; nibble; Jaboticaba fruit.

  JABOTICABA

(Myrciaria cauliflora)

The Jaboticaba is  a tree native to Brazil. Fruits are formed directly on the stem and branches. The fruit has a fairly thick purplish black skin, with a sweet white flesh inside. It  is best eaten  fresh or can be used to make jellies and drinks.

A multi-branched evergreen tree, the jaboticaba  is a decorative although slow growing tree. Up to four times a year, the small yellow-white colored flowers followed by the fruit, appear directly from the trunks, limbs and large branches of the tree.  Jaboticabas might begin to bear fruit anytime from 4 to 10 years old

Jaboticaba trees are mostly raised by seed. The seeds are polyembryonic each seed giving rise to 3-4 seedlings.

For more info click

http://www.fruitsinfo.com/Jabotacaba-Exotic-fruits.php

Pop the fruit into your mouth, squeeze out the fruit pulp and discard the skin;

©Photos/Text Ts.

Sepia Saturday 148; Native Mounted Police;

Native Police Rockhampton, Queensland, 1864

The Native Police Forces were established in Port Phillip in 1842 in New South Wales and 1859 in Queensland. The force was built up of young Aboriginal men who were sent to kill Aboriginal people of different language groups. This was a vital contribution to the defeat of the Aboriginal resistance.

Australian native police like units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command usually of a single white officer, existed in several Australian colonies during the nineteenth century. Yet there were really only two forces formerly budgeted, organized and deployed at the frontier by the government for long term use. The first was the Native Police Corps established in 1837 in the Port Phillip District of the then Australian colony of New South Wales (now Victoria) and the second was deployed in the northern districts of New South Wales, the later colony of Queensland in 1848. However, the latter force, known predominantly simply as the "Native Police Force" (sometimes called the "Native Mounted Police Force") of Queensland, was by far the largest, most notorious and longest lasting of them all. It existed from 1848 to at least 1897.  Other native police like systems were also occasionally used both in New South Wales and in the colonies of South Australia, Western Australia and in Northern Territory (then part of the colony of South Australia), but with the exception (it seems) of a small unit briefly existing in South Australia, they were informally organized often private initiatives, not formerly established and deployed as a government financed frontier force.

More to read  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_native_police

Please go and look what others are up to...here Sepia Saturday 148;

Wednesday; Good Luck;

Ladybird a symbol of good luck;

Bona Fortuna;

Luck is merely a name we give to events after they occur which we find to be fortuitous and perhaps improbable.

Cultural views of luck vary from perceiving luck as a matter of random chance to attributing to luck explanations of faith or superstition.

The Romans believed in the embodiment of luck as the goddess Fortuna. 

Lucky symbols are popular worldwide.

The English noun luck appears comparatively late, during the 1480s, as a loan from Low German,  luk, a short form middle High German gelücke.

Luck is a way of understanding a personal chance event. 

Luck can be good or bad

Luck can be accident or chance

Examples of luck:

Break a leg

You correctly guess an answer in a quiz which you did not know.

Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate or luck, was popular as an allegory in medieval times, and even though it was not strictly reconcilable with Christian theology, it became popular in learned circles of the High Middle Ages to portray her as a servant of God in distributing success or failure in a characteristically "fickle" or unpredictable way, thus introducing the notion of chance.

Rationalists  feel the belief in luck is a result of poor reasoning or wishful thinking. To a rationalist, a believer in luck who asserts that something has influenced his or her luck commits the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" logical fallacy: that because two events are connected sequentially, they are connected causally as well. 

A definition of good destiny is: enjoying good health, having the physical and mental capabilities of achieving set goals in life, having good appearance, has happiness in mind and is not prone to accidents. 

There is also a series of spiritual, or supernatural beliefs regarding fortune. These beliefs vary widely from one to another, but most agree that luck can be influenced through spiritual means by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain circumstances.

Luck is a form of superstition which is interpreted differently by different individuals. Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as "a meaningful coincidence".

Christianity, in its early development, accommodated many traditional practices which at different times, accepted omens and practiced forms of ritual sacrifice in order to divine the will of their supreme being or to influence divine favoritism. The concepts of "Divine Grace" or "Blessing" as they are described by believers closely resemble what is referred to as "luck" by others.

Mesoamerican religions, such as the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas, had particularly strong beliefs regarding the relationship between rituals and the gods.

In these cultures, human sacrifice,  as well as self sacrifice by means of bloodletting, could possibly be seen as a way to propitiate the gods and 

earn favor for the city offering the sacrifice. 

Many traditional African practices, such as voodoo and hoodoo, have a strong belief in superstition. Some of these religions include a belief that third parties can influence an individual's luck. Shamans and witches are both respected and feared, based on their ability to cause good or bad fortune for those in villages near them.

Luck is an important factor in many aspects of society.

Games

A game may depend on luck rather than skill or effort. 

Many countries have a national lottery. Individual views of the chance of winning, and what it might mean to win, are largely expressed by statements about luck. For example, the winner was "just lucky" meaning they contributed no skill or effort.

"Leaving it to chance" is a way of resolving issues. For example, flipping a coin at the start of a sporting event may determine who goes first.

Numerology

Most cultures consider some numbers to be lucky or unlucky. This is found to be particularly strong in Asian cultures, where the obtaining of "lucky" telephone numbers, automobile license plate numbers, and household addresses are actively sought, sometimes at great monetary expense. Numerology, as it relates to luck, is closer to an art than to a science.

Buddhism

Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, taught his followers not to believe in luck. The view which was taught by Gautama Buddha states that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate. The idea of moral causality, karma  is central in Buddhism. 

Ex mea sententia; Luck is mere Luck!

©Photo/Text Ts

Tuesday; thoughts...

Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It

©Photo Ts

Monday; Ladybirds; are garden buddies;

Everyday when I get the lettuce from the garden I find these tiny visitors in the leaves.

Gently they are transported back into the garden. 

Ladybirds  are generally loved and cherished by many. Also called ladybird beetles, ladybeetles and ladybugs. They are  a spot of bright, cheerful colour amongst the leaves of plants in the garden. 

They are very welcome in the garden, as they will eat up all your aphids, adults consume 2,500 aphids during their lifetime,  scale insects, mites and other enemies of your plants. Ladybirds also eat flower nectar, honeydew from aphids, or plant material including fungus.

©Photos/ my garden Ts

To attract ladybirds to your garden you need to provide them with food. Avoid using chemicals to control garden insects as ladybirds will arrive to do it for you.

Australia is home to over 500 species of ladybirds. The familiar ones are bright orange or yellow with patterned shells but there are also many other varieties that are black or brown and hairy! Ladybirds are most active in warm weather, and adults can fly long distances to find food or a mate. Ladybird copulation typically lasts for 15-60 minutes but can extend for a few hours or even days.

Ladybirds start life as an egg, go through three larval stages, turn into a pupa and finally become an adult. Some species may have two, three or more generations per year. Ladybird larvae look very different to adults and are confused with other bugs or even scale. Leave little unknown bugs in the garden as they could grow up to be gorgeous ladybirds.

To escape from predators such as birds or even curious humans, ladybirds slide to the edge of the leaf and drop to the ground. If you put your hand under the leaf as you approach, the ladybird could land into your hand. It will hide its legs and antenna under its body, but once it feels safe it will walk around on your hand or fly away.

Many different varieties of Australian ladybirds - they come in lots of different colours and pattern variations. Top to bottom, left to right: Traverse Ladybird, Southern Ladybird, Traverse Ladybird, Common Spotted Ladybird, Tortoise-shelled Ladybird, Fungus Eating Ladybird. Photos, left to right, top row: Arthur Chapman, Donald Hobern, Bill and Mark Bell. Bottom row: All John Tann.

TIP

Lure ladybirds to your garden by making a concoction of honey, water and brewers yeast. Spread it in the garden and ladybirds will come to visit.

The scientific family name for ladybirds is Coccinellidae - which is probably derived from the diminutive of the Latinized Greek word 'Kokkos', meaning a seed or berry (like their rounded shape!). Or it could also come from the Latin Coccinus, meaning scarlet colour.

Link  http://www.backyardbuddies.net.au

Thursday; The red and blue hat;

First born grandson, Lucian, born 1989

The red and blue hat;

I wrote for Lucian 1992

Happy,  Miss Flora sits on her stool

in her hands the knitting of red and blue wool,

First she wanted to knit a mat

but, rather she thought, I knit a hat.

Red and blue stripes and a pompom on top

oh, cry key,  she let some stitches drop,  

Beside her, purring, Miss Kitty the cat

watches the progress of the red and blue hat.

The balls of wool dance up and down 

these movements let Miss Kitty frown,

She blinks and thinks a little play

is fun and makes a better day.

She yawns and stretches and licks her fur,

she lets escape a little purr,

Then a sudden grab for the wool

Miss Flora nearly falls off her stool.

Out of doors and down the street runs the naughty cat

tangled in the wool of the red and blue hat, 

Miss Flora cries stop, is quite aghast,

Miss Kitty her cat is so very fast.

She plays with the wool has so much fun

A neighbour's cat comes too for a run,

Meow, meow let me have a go

the pair of them make quite a show.

They run past the butcher- and baker’s shop

nothing will and makes them stop,   

They pass the church and pass the school

still playing along with the red and blue wool.

Miss Flora is all in a flurry

she really must run and hurry,

She sighs and thinks what am I to do

How will I recover my red and blue wool?

Miss Kitty her cat is nowhere in sight

now, this is Miss Floras plight,

She puts on her shoes, her coat and her hat

and follows the spur of her naughty cat.

She finds the red and she finds the blue

tangled up mess of her beautiful wool,

She finds Miss Kitty curled up in a ball

fast asleep and not sorry at all. 

©Photo/Text Ts

Wednesday; food, glorious food;

Filet steak and Potatoes, always a favourite;

In earlier times it was not usual, quite rare to have menu cards for the guests on the table. 

A historian from the 15th century told, that in 1489 the Duke Heinrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel heading the Reichstag in Regensburg, attracted a lot of interest, because at the meal he consulted often a note while he was eating. 

The head cook had written down all the dishes in order to be served. The duke could choose which dishes he liked  and  spare his appetite accordingly for the best ones.

Mixed lettuce leaves from Lilli's garden.

Photos/Text Ts

Link

PoeticTakeaway's;

Tuesday; enjoy!

Love the scots...

Monday; just paper;

The amazing art work of Calvin Nicholls. (This is my favourite)

Link http://www.calvinnicholls.com/