Eclectic Reading

I'm just writing a short post today to let you know about my new blog feature from Amazon.  As an Amazon Associate, I can link to books, movies, other products available on Amazon.com and if you decide you'd like to buy the product through my blog, I'll get a commission up to 15%.  It's a great way for me to keep track of what I've been reading and share my thoughts on it.  Hope you enjoy it!

It been an eclectic month of reading in the Smith-King household.  In fact, the librarian might start thinking I'm multiple personality or schizophrenic or something!  The first of the books was by an old stand-by, Nora Roberts.  She's always reliably entertaining.  This was Three Fates and it didn't let me down.

I walked down the aisle at the library and this book just jumped into my bag - The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl.  It was just so cute, but a little too precious for me to take seriously.  It did have a couple of nice ideas in it for me.  My favorite was about the joy of  writing actual letters instead of relying on email or Facebook to keep in touch.  I'm trying to to put this into practice.

Lillian Beckwith is an author with whom I was completely unfamiliar, but I've fallen in love with her writing.  She lived in the Hebrides and wrote about crofting life.  It's a simple, beautiful life that Ken and I dream of often.  Hills Is Lonely is the non-fiction book about her experiences in the first year or so of living in the Islands.  I recommend it highly!  Island Apart is a fictional story that is just so sweet and not what I expected.

Also in the non-fiction aisle was The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist.  Written by an Australian about an American slave who became one of the most famous entertainers in the United States, it was completely fascinating.  I can't believe I'd never heard of this man before and it completely whetted my appetite for biographies.

Mom and I were talking about Elizabeth Berg and her beautiful writing.  The Year of Pleasures: A Novel was one I hadn't read before and it is gorgeous, heartbreaking, and uplifting.  Everything a novel should be!  And the last book from the library shows my growing and odd obsession with Beatrix Potter.  At Home with Beatrix Potter: The Creator of Peter Rabbit is a gorgeous book about her home in England's Lake District.  I was never a huge fan of Peter Rabbit or any of her books, but I've fallen in love with her cottage and her life.  She wasn't just a woman who drew silly little animals in vests and shawls, but was deeply passionate about her home and the land.  I look forward to reading more about her...maybe even checking out Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunnnies!

Tomorrow I'll go to the library for more books to keep me going another month.  With the books, knitting, cooking, and cleaning, I really enjoy being a housewife.  Who would have ever thought I'd make a decent housewife?  I know Mom and Aunt Deb have to be shocked!

Sorry this is a weird post, I'll do a proper one soon.

Love,
Courtney

Anniversary

I have officially been in Australia for a year! It's been a beautiful year of love, laughter, sacrifice, and tears. You may not believe me, but every day is a surprise and joy for me. Even the worst day is better than my life before. Not because I had this horribly tragic life, I'm not a character in a Bronte or Dickens novel (as much as I would have enjoyed it), but because I was missing something. Before you click to close this page, yes, my name is Courtney and I'm a romance-aholic. I admit it. Most of my young life was spent with my nose in a book, I can quote all the romantic movies of my youth by heart, and the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is still my favorite movie ever. It's on TV this month and Ken has been kind enough to promise to sit through it without complaint! Who needs Mr. Darcy?

But back to my original point if I can remember what that was...oh yes, missing something. When I was a little girl, our entire family got together for holidays at Grandma and Granddad's. We ate and talked and the kids ran wild and everyone was happy and loved. And every year, I would sneak into the back bathroom and cry. How could I be so happy and so sad at the same time? It was fear - fear that I would never find that love I could see in the married couples around me. It was this elusive dream all through my childhood, adolescence and young adult life. And then I met Ken. We clicked, but the timing was just incredibly wrong. It took another eight years for us to make that commitment.

And now that I have that beautiful love and partnership, life is perfect right? Well, yes and no. Can you believe I'm still sneaking into the bathroom and crying? The fear is back, but it's different this time. My fear is that by following my heart and leaving my family back in Indiana, I'm actually the one being left behind. Our lives are so different and now so far apart. My niece turned 16 a couple of weeks ago! Without me?! My cousin and her family are just growing and changing so much! Without me? My Grandma is getting older and more frail and more forgetful every day. Without me? How can I be so happy and so sad at the same time? Is this what it means to be a grown-up? Does everyone feel like this? How do you get through it?

I'm learning to get through it with the love and humor my parents have passed down. And a lot of hugs from Ken. My dear Ken who took me to a beautiful dinner on our anniversary and acted just as excited as me about my new shoes for the occasion. Ken who gets up early every morning and makes sure I have hot tea and toast as soon as I wake up. Ken who makes me laugh so hard that I collapse into a puddle on the floor. And I guess that's what life is about. Making sacrifices and loving someone so much it doesn't actually feel like it's a sacrifice at all.

My family here in Australia is getting larger. Ken's son and daughter-in-law are expecting a little boy later in the year. We are all so thrilled! Bella is trying to come to terms with having a brother instead of a sister, but it'll be fantastic. I can't wait, little boys are so sweet and just to hold a baby again will be heaven! They were so lovely and brought me over a worm farm for my birthday. Julie even emailed my mom and found out my favorite type of birthday cake, then made it for me!

Life is good. It's been a wonderful year, and I can't wait to see what the future holds in store.

March

March has always been one of my favorite months. The beginning of Spring in Indiana, when you can finally start to see the pale green haze around the trees signaling the beginning of buds after the long, grey winter. The air smells different in March, and you can start to feel your shoulders come down from where they've been huddling around your ears all winter. March has always seemed more like the beginning of a new year to me than January. Maybe it's because I was born in March or because of the Spring. Either way I'm happy to discover that it has significance in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The Summer will be ending and Autumn will finally arrive. I can't tell you how happy that makes me! I love the heat and sun, but enough already! The last few days have been cooler and rainy, and I feel like one of my garden plants, sucking in the water.

The change isn't dramatic like in Indiana, we'll still have pretty warm, sunny weather most of the time. But there's a different smell in the air. And there is definitely a green haze over everything. My tomatoes are growing every day and I swear you can almost watch them get bigger. We've had our air conditioning off two days now and it's wonderful to be able to hear the outside world. Even if it is arguing neighbors and those bloody crows that love to torment Ken. I woke up this morning and just laid there listening to the rain outside. What beautiful music the world makes!

Last night I was lying in bed reading the novel, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. It's a beautifully written book, told completely in letters. I recommend it to anyone looking for a lovely read. Anyway, I was lying in bed reading this story of change and finding "home" and it hit me how incredibly changed my life is in so short a time. In a couple of weeks, I'll have been here a year! Part of me feels like I've been here all my life, because I feel so right and at home. But then it hits me what a huge transformation this has been. And honestly, the realization of an eight-year dream. How fantastic is that?

My knitting is getting better and more fun every day. I'm still leery about trying new patterns or knitting anything other than scarves, but I am proud to say I finished a tea cozy for myself and even though it's not perfect, it's mine. Last week, I started a scarf for myself just to practice rib knit and I just love it. It did get ripped out a few times, but I needed to practice for a very special project I'm getting ready to start. The yarn I'm practicing with is a beautiful cotton and as I don't have enough to make a scarf, I'll have to go back to the yarn shop and buy another skein. (Oh darn!)

Ken and I doubled the size of our 'farm' this weekend! We now have lettuces and snow pea and cucumber. The cucumbers are a Crystal Apple variety and will be little white balls of sweetness I hope. We had a pretty productive weekend, but still plenty of time to be lazy. Perfect in my opinion! Ken built shelves to store the homemade beer/cider and that opens up a lot of cabinet space for me to spread out in the kitchen. YAY! My job today is to organize those cabinets now. Not a fun job really, but will be so worthwhile.

While I'm doing that, you can look at some pictures of our trip to the bay last week. Even though we had some major train drama, it was a nice afternoon out. We had a picnic on the bay and a great walk. There are some beautiful waterfront homes here - if you have a spare couple of million dollars.

Have a great week!

Rae's Resort

Well, what a way to spend a weekend! Sun, surf, family and wine, wine, wine - what more could a woman want? Ken's sister, Lynn, and her partner, Eddie, picked us up on Friday afternoon and we drove to their sister Rae's home at Bribie Island. The five of us seem to get along so well, and I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to have been accepted into this family.

Rae's home is so pleasant and relaxing. There are chooks (chickens) in the backyard "Chook Mahal" that Eddie built. And her giant dog, Missy is always entertaining. A table on the patio overlooking the pool was a great spot for afternoon drinks and snacks before dinner. And an evening dip was very refreshing for us girls.

Saturday was a full day of eating (at least 4 times!), swimming in the surf, and much conversation and laughter. Rae, Eddie and I went into the surf and there were some pretty big waves for this Indiana girl! One knocked Rae off her feet and there she lay under the water for a little while. I was terrified! But when I finally saw her face and realized those were tears of laughter, I loosened up a bit. It took us a while to get her back on her feet with both of us laughing, but jeez what a fun time! We also got my favorite picture of Ken and me ever. Thanks Eddie for taking it!

Here is a picture of Ken and his three women on the beach.

And one of Rae, Lynn and Eddie.

Bribie Island is a lovely little place, only an hour away from our house. What a beautiful part of the world I live in! Notice the Glass House Mountains in the distance?

I introduced the gang to "real" Mexican food the Indiana way on Saturday night. Fresh corn tortillas with Mom's taco recipe, fresh salsa and bean and corn salad. It was yummy and I think they really liked it. Or at least they were hungry and ate a lot! There is such a difference between the homemade corn tortillas and the ones we used to buy at the store in Indiana. It makes me so happy to make them too!

Mom sent me a package of Christmas goodies and I'm so glad I received it right before we left on Friday. My new green purse is just the best ever and got me many compliments! I've already finished one of the books she sent and will get started on another tonight. Thanks Mom!

Well, I need to do something productive today. Probably just knit but at least that's producing something! Even if it is a teacozy for myself!

Love,

Court

Merry Christmas Mom! (finally)

After working my short little fingers to the bone for almost 3 months, I finally finished Mom's Christmas present and got it in the mail. Next year, I'll have to start before November! The pattern came from Mary Jane's Farm magazine and Mom gave it to me while I was in Indiana in October. I couldn't wait to get back home and buy the yarn and get started. Since Mom isn't really a fan of a lot of wool, I went with a smoky blue acrylic that is soft and cuddly. Here's a picture of me wearing the sweater shawl:

It's a terrible picture of me, but hopefully it'll give you an idea about the shawl. It feels very warm and cozy, thank goodness Indiana still has so much winter left so she can use it. (Those of you in Southern Indiana may not appreciate that as much as I do.)

I've gotten a good start on my next project - a little red tea cozy. This will be the first thing except for dishcloths that I've ever knitted for myself, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product! It's also the first pattern I've ever used that was fairly complicated. "Real" knitters will probably laugh if they saw what I think is complicated! But I'm definitely a beginner, so anything beyond knit every row or purl every row seems complicated to me. After my tea cozy is finished I'll be starting another project to send back to Indiana, hope it'll be done before it gets too warm also!

I can't feel too guilty about just getting out Mom's Xmas present, because it's definitely something that runs in the family. My box of goodies for Xmas from Mom still hasn't arrived at my door, even though I anxiously await. I have no idea what is in this box, but it'll be so wonderful to get mail from Indiana. It's been a really hard couple of weeks here in the city for me. Ken has been sick with a chest cold, and I'm just a bit witchy (or is that a witty bitch?).

Reading Stori's blog is always wonderful, but it just makes me miss her so much! I end up crying every day there's a new post. We are both experiencing these HUGE life changes and for the first time, we're experiencing them apart. That is so hard to deal with sometimes. We are lucky in that we know nothing will ever change our relationship, not even being on different sides of the world, but it is hard. Seems impossible that I haven't even met Chad and Ian yet! And she only met Ken once, years ago.

In other news, our "farm" is going well. The lettuce is just not thriving in this heat, I'm going to try again later in the 'fall'. But the tomatoes and bell peppers and herbs are thriving! We have two baby tomatoes that just double in size every day. I go out in the evening and water them and have a little pep talk with them. Ken calls me the crazy Indian woman, but it's relaxing for me, and can't do them any harm. Our capsicum (or bell pepper) is full of babies and a couple that are getting the right size. It's an heirloom plant that is miniature and yellow. So they are just tiny little things, but will be so sweet! As you can see in the picture below, one is orange and we watch every day for it to turn just a bit more yellow so we can eat it!

Bella is in school now every day, but we pick her up once a week or so to help out. She really enjoys school and looks so adorable in her little uniform! The highlight of her visits (for me at least) is taking her out and watering the garden. She is such a good helper, and loves to sneak bites of the basil. Thursday we went out after she changed from her uniform, but she had to get an apron from the cupboard to put on over her clothes. It reminded me so much of a picture Mom has of Mackenzie and Shayla in her front garden wearing old aprons. We've come full circle in a way, haven't we Mom? The funniest thing is that it's probably the same apron! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of her, but I'm sure I will another day. She loves wearing the aprons and has already put in an order for what her baby sister will want. We don't know what Aaron and Julie's new baby will be, but there will be an apron waiting. And hopefully, some knitted goodies too.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the day with my knitting. Or at least until Ken comes home from the boat. Hopefully with good news! Here are a couple of photos I took earlier this week on my walk to Spotlight:

And one from earlier this morning out my bedroom window:

Love,

Courtney

The garden - two weeks on

I know you are all dying to hear how my little container garden is going, so here are some pictures I just took. Today is two weeks from planting my babies and they are doing great! I have three bell peppers coming up good. A new one popped out overnight! And the tomato has pretty little blossoms coming on. I tried to get a picture of the flowers but it didn't turn out. The bad news is that I found a caterpillar in with the tomato! I knew something was munching on them, but couldn't see anything. Today I caught it red-handed! So I carefully took it out and smashed it with a leaf. Tonight I'll spray my new homemade garlic spray on all the plants and see if that works to kill everything eating away and keep new ones from munching. Unfortunately, the apartment smells a bit rank with the 3 bulbs of garlic I chopped and put in water last night. It was in a closed container, but when I opened it to strain - WHEW! We had to open the doors and windows, light matches and spray room deodorizer. Good thing tonight is pizza night - the garlic will fit right in!

We're still a little worried about our lettuce, it doesn't look like it's spreading out, just growing tall. But I'm trying to be patient and let nature take it's course. If you have any better suggestions, please leave a comment.

Ken and I are having a quiet weekend, just enjoying each other's company and reading, watching silly alien movies, and playing Wii. The new Wii Resort that Aaron and Julie got us for Christmas is just the most fun! We have become very competitive at the Frisbee Golf and Sword Showdown. Sometimes we worry that we've become a couple of teenagers playing video games, but then our backs or elbows act up and remind us of our real age. Nothing worse than bursitis caused by flinging a pretend frisbee!

I went to the library on Wednesday and picked up a great bunch of books. Cookbooks, knitting, embroidery lessons, David Sedaris, and a Cottage Tales book by Susan Wittig Albert. If you enjoy Jane Austen, small English villages, and talking animals this series is for you. It's just so relaxing and innocent. I've read the first in the series, but couldn't find the others in order. Finally I couldn't wait any longer, and decided to just skip to whichever was in the library. I think this one is the 4th or 5th, but still just so enjoyable.

Well, I need to get my pizza dough started for tonight. We've been doing homemade pizza because it's so much better than delivery and not hard at all. I'll make enough dough for two pizzas and then just pop half in the freezer for an easy dinner later on. Ken does the shaping, assembly, and baking in our pizza oven. I make the dough and the sauce. What a team!

I've also included a picture from our picnic last weekend with Kerry and Brandon. We went to the Botanical Gardens and got a great table in the shade and by the river. What a perfect afternoon!

Love to all,

Courtney

Where has January gone?

I know everyone says time goes by faster the older you get, but come on, this is a little ridiculous! It's been a month since my Christmas post already? Where do the days go? Since I promised Mom there would be a post when she woke up in the morning, here goes.

It's really been a pretty quiet January, my favorite kind! The days bleed into each other - one just a bit hotter and more beautiful than the last. The weather still takes some getting used to, but I don't think I'd trade it in for Ohio River Valley weather anytime soon. The more my family talks about the snow, ice, rain, and fog, the more I love the heat, blue sky, and sun. It might get a bit boring with the perfect weather, but that's not a bad problem to have!

My worst fear did come true the other day. I went down to Brookside Shopping Center for groceries and got on the wrong bus! It's always been this huge fear and Ken even made me a list of time tables for trains/buses to and from all the places I go most often. Even with all that, I got on the wrong bus. How stupid can a person be? It started out okay, but then quickly went into neighborhoods I'd never seen. So I started to panic, just a little. But I thought, "No, it'll be okay. It'll come around eventually." And it did, sort of. I finally started seeing familiar streets and landmarks but still didn't know if it would turn down our street. And it didn't. But the bus turned into a train station one down from ours. I asked the driver it if continued on Pickering Street to the left (past our apartment) or to the right. He grunted (which I took as a no) and left the bus! Since I was the only person on the bus, I decided to be smart and just take the train. Ten minutes later my train arrived and home I went. I've never been so glad to see Ken! Tears jumped down my cheeks when I walked in the door. It seriously crossed my mind to never leave the apartment again without him. But after a nice bottle of cider, I had my courage back. Besides I wanted to go to a great yarn shop I've heard about...

American Yarns is just three train stops from our house. It is a really great little yarn shop that has just become my favorite ever. I went on Wednesday morning and spent more time there than I had planned. It's a small place, but a fantastic assortment of yarns at good prices. I picked up some pretty cotton yarn for a couple of projects I have planned. While I was out, I stopped in next door at the quilt store just for Mom. It's just her kind of place, and I can't wait to go shopping there with her someday. (Hint, Hint) Also ran down the street to a Vinnie's (St. Vincent de Paul's) and picked up a couple of gardening books for a buck!

Ken and I have started our little garden finally. Aaron and Bella were kind enough to take us to Bunning's (kind of like Home Depot) the other day and we picked out our containers, plants, and critter-proof fence. The way our unit faces, we've decided it'll be better to do container gardens instead of the traditional beds. This way Ken can pull them out into the sun every morning before I wake up, and they get beautiful sun all day long. Right now we've just got one tomato plant, one bell pepper, and some herbs. But we're already planning another container with beans and radishes. I've also got some lettuce growing in the front garden where it's shadier. Ken's been calling me "Farmer Courtney" because I'm a little particular about it all. He did a great job building the critter-proof cages around each container. We do have possums in the back yard, but I think these will keep even the smartest little guy out.

Ken and I took Bella to the New Market Swimming Pools this week. We had the best time! They have several pools for kids that are varying depths and have sprinklers, slides and all sorts of things. Bella and I had a great time swimming around and she went down all the slides while 'Poppy' watched. It was a beautiful day (of course) and we simply wore ourselves out. By the time we got home and had a huge lunch, we were all knackered. Bella slept all afternoon on the bed and I slept for a couple of hours on the couch. Ken even dozed off a time or two. I'd forgotten how exhausting swimming can be.

All of that is just fine and dandy. But the big news is: I have new shelves in the kitchen! It's amazing how two little shelves can make such a difference and mean so much to me. We were talking the other day about the kitchen and I mentioned that shelves would be nice. In less than a week they were built, painted and up! Is that a good man, or what? I couldn't believe it and literally jumped up and down when I saw them. I wanted simple and they are exactly what I wanted. I think they are just gorgeous. And the space it opens up on my benches! I can roll out dough without moving anything else! It's just perfect. He is the best guy ever.

Tomorrow we're having a picnic with our dear friends, Brandon and Kerry. We're going down to the Botanical Gardens by the Brisbane River and sit in the shade drinking, talking and eating the afternoon away. Oh what a life!

All my love,

Courtney