THANK YOU.

A Farewell to celebrate the life of a dear friend-Roland, it was a lovely and friendly service, he was ninety-nine years old. A kind and caring local doctor he was, who looked after all the people. We knew his wife Joan very well who passed on the previous year, now they are together in their eternal home.

Remembering Them with Fondness, our first meeting was at our Table Tennis Sports Club years ago, and since then we got to know them better.
They loved people well and are very kind, for example, over a conversation during a coffee break in our sports club, she would talk or telling a storey, and she always included everyone to make sure no one felt left out.  Joan was a people person, so was Roland.
Roland stayed to play the sport until he was nine two years, Joan had to retire early due to her health. They were a very inspiring couple and indeed loved by all.

At Our Home and Their Home
They were friendly to us and came to visit, they liked our garden too. We were always welcome at their home in  Brolga Avenue and also in the other place in Dalkeith.  They were very hospitable, I loved listening to their stories, so exciting, and I could learn a lot from.

The Bay Leaf Story
A bouquet of fresh herb I love to share with friends.

The day we were invited for lunch, I took the fresh herb bouquet; however, the bay leaf has to be included to make a perfect bouquet.  A small cutting of the tiny potted standard bay tree has to be done to add to the rests of the fresh herbs.
No, they did not need the bay leaf at all, after all that, I found out they had a large established bay tree in their backyard.
Funny, I thought!

The Gifts

The Orchid Plants

Crucifix Orchids - Epidendrum

I am sorry to say, the pair Crucifix Orchid plants the gift of Joan is no longer here, for some reasons I could not look after them properly.  I remembered vividly, Roland and his son Ian delivered the beautiful orchid plants.
To rephrase: the orchids were the gift from their family to Joan, and she decided to pass on to me because she believed that I could look after them.  I was so proud to be trusted.  Indeed, I tried very best, but they were with us for a few years only.
Still, I am grateful that they stayed with us and flowering for a few seasons.

A lovely time with Roland and Joan at our home for a Sunday Lunch.
A roast beef, but no potato, sweet potato instead, green vegetables and Yorkshire pudding for the garnishes.  Fruit sponge for the dessert. 
The Home Baked Bread Surprise gifts from our guests were freshly baked healthy wholemeal brown bread, baked by Roland, and a beautiful bouquet of Australian native flowers, from their garden,  it's just right for our table.  Very kind and generous, that's what I meant, they made time to do great things for others.

Home baked brown bread
from Roland

The bread went a long way, sliced and eaten fresh with butter.

Prepared for toasts.  Beautiful and delicious brown bread, especially a home baked.


Much Appreciated.

Delicious Toasted bread with filling,

Toasted Sandwich of Roland's
Brown Bread

Bouquet of Australian Native flowers
from Roland's garden

Surprise Delivery: One day, Roland came to our home to share this Beautiful Bouquet of Mixed Abutilon, he said, I cut them by myself.  He did this often to all his friends.
I felt honoured and humbled to receive the beautiful bouquet.  Thank You.

Cut Mixed Abutilon From Roland

Maybe not often, but we continue to visit them, and of course we had to see the new home in Dalkeith.  It was a lovely home, well set up for them.  Roland created a beautiful garden in the backyard, full of Australian native plants as he loved.  Joan created the front yard (as I understood).

With their permission, I did ask Joan at the time,  I am sharing with you the picture of their garden.

Joan and Roland's New Garden.

In The Back Garden

A beautiful collection of Australian Native Plants.  

In The Front Garden

Gorgeous Potted Orange Geranium in Full Bloom

It was amazing to see them in the new home, they created a lovely place a happy home and a beautiful garden.

I remember, pleasant afternoons with us, we were so lucky to have them around, together we enjoyed the day and freshly brewed tea. The lovely time stays with me always.

Thank You 

Beautiful Memory.

November 2018

Susy

RED EMPEROR

I thought purple is the colour for this year, but in my garden red is the queen of colour.  The red roses showing off the deep red colour, the potted red hippeastrum is in flower,  gloriously festive.  And of course, the potted abutilon - the red emperor is also in flower, it is amazingly beautiful.

Red Rose and Red Hippeastrum

The cut red roses put in vases to brighten up the house.  The red hippeastrum flowers are tall, handsome the perfect fit for a room divider at present.



The Big Red geranium is starting to flower too, a beautiful splash of red colour throughout summer, its celebration Christmas Colour.  Red is indeed very opulent and loves it.

Red Emperor-Abutilon

Abutilon is native to Sout America, and commonly called Chinese lanterns.  It is a beautiful small shrub with its charming bell-like flowers.

This year my abutilon the red emperor is flowering beautifully, the tree has become bigger and stronger.  I think it likes the place, it has enough morning sun, well protected from the wind and the winter frost.  Keeping the soil moist and lots of mulch is essential.  I love the red emperor.

It is one of my potted plants, ideally should be planted on the ground.

The Red Emperor in my garden absolutely Gorgeous.

Once upon a time a friend just turned up at our home, I was so surprised to open the front door after hearing the doorbell to find an elderly gentleman holding a beautiful bouquet, and he said: these flowers are from my garden for you both and I cut them myself.  I was so humbled and honoured, and I will never forget. The bouquet was made out of the cutting of mixed abutilon.  Beautiful!  Thank you.



Kindness Stays in Our Heart.  It is Precious.




More Posts
Susy

FLAVOUR, FRUIT AND FLOWER

Dame's Rocket for a Salad

Rocket Salad

In a fresh salad, added with edible flowers is not only it looks so pretty and appetising but it tastes flavourful and better.  The edible flowers that I use are slightly bitter and hot-pungent, such as rocket flowers, nasturtium, sage flower and borax.

Today I am using the Dame's Rocket Flower for my fresh salad which is going to accompany the meat dish, a simple pan-fried blade steak.
The Dame's Rocket is very easy to grow, but you must observe, it grows invasively.

The dressing for the rocket salad is simple, and here it is.
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- salt

Mix these ingredients together, add in the fresh salad mix-wild rocket, dame's rocket and it's flowers, fresh mint and French sorrel toss them gently.  Serve at once.
(It is better to add the dressing onto the salad mix prior serving)

You could have all mix edible flower salad, and simply drizzle some lemon juice for the dressing.

OTHER  SALADS
A mix of green leaves, bitter lettuce-endive, rockets and the flowers could be made a flavourful salad.

Look at the older posts for this salad recipe.  Type: fresh salad to search.

Tomato and Green Bean Salad

Pomelo Salad

A compost Salad-(radicchio, tomato, greens and egg)

Trancam -(cucumber, mixed greens and carrot)

Spring and Summer are the time to enjoy salads and served with whatever you fancy.  I do serve salads throughout the year because we love the vegetables in any preparation.

Simple baking using fruits, this is what I did, pear sponge with oil. No, I never have done it before and no recipe to follow.  

Pear Sponge

Set the oven to a medium-hot at 175 degrees C

Peel, clean six pears and half

Braise the pear with 2 tablespoons water to soften

Transfer the hot pear to a spicy dish, the juices included

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence

(mix these ingredients quickly but lightly) Do not overmix

Pour this cake batter to the hot pear which is sitting in the spicy dish

Sprinkle with almond flakes

Bake in the prepared oven for 40-45 minutes.

This is all ingredients for baking the pear sponge as I remember.

A light hot sponge with pear, a delicious home baking.  Pear is a fruit that has no distinctive flavour, but it makes a deliciously moist cake.

To serve: dust the cake with icing powder, serve hot or cold.

Sharing ideas with you all about Flavoured fresh salads by using edible flowers and fruits for fruit sponge using oil instead of butter.

Another use of flower.

Beautiful Potted Hippeastrum in Full Bloom, Used as Room Divider 

Thank You for Visiting

Susy

FLOWERS AND FRUITS

Beautiful flowers you could see everywhere this springtime, in my backyard too, there are plenty of them and colourful.  Lots of cutting to fill up the vases for inside the house now.

Fruit trees are fruiting, the potted apple, the fig and the Angle peach are very promising, the fruits are looking very healthy, have to watch the birds, in fact, the plants have to be protected from them.

Hot Pink Variegated Rose

The hot pink variegated rose is flowering for the first time since we got it.

Red Intuition Rose

Another variegated rose is the red intuition.

The cutting of red rose has brightened the rooms in the house.  The roses are almost finished for the first flowering, but it shall be back around summertime.



A good year for the flowers and the abutilon red emperor is at it's best.

Red Emperor

Roses in a Vase

Fruit Tree and Potted Fruit Trees

The nectarine which I grafted a while ago is living, and well, it has small fruits, they are not many but better than the previous year.

And this potted espalier Fuji apple is fantastic, it has lots and lots of fruits, hope they stay there and growing bigger until harvest time.  Indeed it pleases me, as last year it did not have fruits at all.

 The potted Angle peach and the potted Tree.

The potted hippeastrum is in flowers, sixteen stems with buds, and now they are almost in full bloom.  I thought it's too pretty to be sitting outside, and now it is inside the house and to be used as a room divider.  It's useful, and we can enjoy the flowers at the same time.

The temporary room divider.

Aren't they so delightful, the flowers, the fruits, the glory of these nature gives enjoyment to anyone to see.
Happy with the simplicity of nature and how lucky have I been for having time to care for my garden.  We have good weather now, and the garden is looking beautiful.
The year is almost over and remember, it did not start well, followed by unpleasant experiences, big struggle, a health problem that we have to deal with.  The world could be cruel and confusing.
My children said everything is going to be better, only good things are coming.  True!  I believe the wisdom of the children and family.

The beautiful colours in the garden, colourful flowers and fruits taught me lots and endlessly giving encouragements.😊  Love to close off the year with a happy smile.

The tradition of giving flowers is continuing and how good it is to be able to cut them from very own garden.  In Japan, offering fresh fruit for a unique gift is their culture, I know this tradition stays forever.

Everything is beautiful, love the pictures of the flowers and the fruits.

Celebrate Simplicity. To be truthful is sending you free.  

Today is a sunny day here.  Have a Good Weekend!

Mor Posts

Susy

Coming Home

It has been a long time we have not seen the children, as they are busy with work and commitments.  Just as well, though, we are not fit to have people around, but it is going to be useful to catch up with my youngest daughter and her husband this weekend.  We did see our oldest daughter in Brisbane in October, and earlier we visited our second daughter in the Netherlands, this year has been fun to spend time with the girl's family and all grandchildren. We are blessed.
Here at home, the garden is pretty at this time of the year, roses are in full bloom, the grass is green and more flowers in the garden to look at.  The house, the room is always ready, and cooking is organised most of the time, and this time the menu sets up well.  They have a pleasant stay, I am sure.

The Garden

Flowers in the garden.

When the children to come home, often they sit outside or walking around the garden, and they always give us lovely compliments, they are very happy for us for keeping active.  Very encouraging.

Cut flowers from the garden to fill up the vase the table set up for lunch my celebration on Saturday

The Feast on Sunday.
Batik tablecloth, glasses for the tea.
Javanese dishes are in the menu: white steam rice with garnishes-sambal goreng udang, empal daging, terik Ayam, telur pedas, keringan, trancam,  krupuk udang, lodeh tofu, CapJae,  Belated birthday dinner for Susan and Tris.

The Table and the Cooking  Javanese Food

The Dishes are served together, and a glass of tea is for the drink, however white wine does go well with the food.

The Kitchen.
It was a busy day in the kitchen all dishes were cooked my way, no recipes, indeed my home cooking. It's an excellent excuse to cook the delicious dishes for the belated birthday.

Very successful cooking that day.  All the authentic Javanese food/ingredients bought by Susan from Melbourne made the authenticity of the dishes, thanks, Susan and Tris

In the backyard.
Fresh air in the garden,  walk outside in our yard, and it's was good weather, and the air was fresh.
Alfie, Susan's dog, was good, behaving very well, he enjoyed playing with his toys and running round in the garden.  A charming dog with well disciplined.

Catching up, communicating, telling stories, and so forth in the kitchen while the cooking took place was enjoyable; indeed, I know they are comfortable, always go along whatever we do.

Alfie resting well on his mattress

It was a lovely weekend,  Thanks kids for coming home. 

We are blessed with our children,  they love to come home for visits even though they live so far away from us.  We are Always Together.

A Beautiful Quote.
You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. Desmond Tutu



Have a Good Day All!

Thanks for Visiting.
Susy