Picnics, Markets...Almost Springtime

The new look 2oz is here. The only content addition is my list of recently read books (by the amazing LibraryThing) under the clock in the left-hand column - everything else is as it was before (the archive at the bottom right has changed to the drop-down style, but all the previous posts are accessible as before). The three columns are pretty much full up already, and the idea, when I have time, is to keep the current look and feel but add a fourth column for links, photos, feeds and other content. By the way, I would love to hear from any regular readers (whether I know you or not) - the stats are showing several loyal readers in parts of the world that I have certainly never been to, and in which I don't think I know anyone - flick me a comment if you are one of those readers, especially if you have a blog of your own, and even better if you live somewhere more obscure than Nimbin!

Another long week, the second of four with 10 hours overtime. We headed over to Dunoon on August the second, and had a picnic lunch at Jonas and Tanya's. Their lawn is much less "bush" than ours, and the experience of sitting on a picnic blanket in the shade on a sunny day tucking into yummy food made me realise, that we don't really use a garden as we should.

We made it into Lismore on Tuesday, and went for our first skin cancer checkup. Australians have their skin checked like Europeans have their teeth checked - every 12 months is recommended, and sensible people go back to their skin specialist if ever they notice anything unusual. While in Lismore, we also finally got around to joining the library. They have a great scheme where the little ones get a free party-pack with book, DVD, and learning materials at at 4, 12 and 24 months, to make sure that they get the reading bug.

I have also, finally, started wielding the chainsaw to do more than just cut logs. With C's help, I cut down, and then cut up (" bucked" - see, I'm learning the lingo) two fair-sized trees that were blocking a lot of light to the raised beds in the garden. While digging over the raised beds in preparation for spring planting, we also dug up the potatoes that we planted a few months ago. It was hardly a bumper harvest - just enough for two portions of fried potatoes... but it was our first attempt and I'm confident we'll get 10 times as good a crop next year.

The weather in Northern Rivers has continued its run of perfect blue sky outdoorsy days (I am relatively confident that the end of this perfect run will coincide with the end of my overtime at work). This kind of weather makes it easy to dig the garden and cut down trees and sit on the deck drinking tea and coffee, but much harder to do indoor stuff - and by Friday, it is making desk work seem like torture. I will be gutted if the weather switches to cold and rainy just when the outdoor swimming pool opens in September.

Today we went to Channon market again, but much later in the day than we have in the past. The market stalls set up quite early in the morning, and pack away shortly after lunchtime. However, early afternoon is, in some ways, when things begin - drummers and dancers assemble around the chai tent, and by three o'clock the circle of drummers is 20 feet in diameter and there are a hundred dancers and spectators - it's an energising atmosphere, and something we should really turn up to every month. Maybe it's the trance-head in me coming out, but I still find that there is nothing as effective as an hour of repetitive beats to blow the cobwebs away and leave me ready to face the week.

Kick Out the (Mandarine) JAMs

July in Nimbin has seen several more frosty mornings. The silver lining is the complete lack of clouds - bright blue skies and warm afternoons in the sun. We have almost burnt through the $120 worth of firewood we bought in May - we wont make it to spring at this rate. Also, I've only noticed this winter, how very late it is that many trees lose their leaves here. I am too arboreally uneducated to figure out whether it's the native trees, or that European trees change their behaviour when planted here - several of the trees on our street lost their leaves in the last two or three weeks, which is the equivalent of mid-January.
More seasonally appropriately, the enormous mandarine harvest has continued; we have immune systems full of vitamin C, slight acid indigestion, an overflowing fruit bowl, friends politely refusing fruit, desperate (though tasty) inventions such as cottage cheese mandarine fool, and of course mandarine jam and half a kilo of candied tangerine peel.
Predictably, we didn't stick to our budget very well in New Zealand, so I've taken on an extra 10 hours a week for the next few weeks (which is a damned poor excuse for this update being four days late, but I'm sticking to it).
At the weekend we drove down to Bangalow market and met up with Jonas, Tanya and Otto. Otto is now crawling around like a little monster - it was a bit scary to see whats in store for us in the coming weeks!
We also got fairly constructive at the weekend, finally finishing off doing up the old meat safe - I won't be giving up my day job to renovate furniture, but it's slowly becoming a hobby I enjoy. Here are the before and after pics, showing it the day we picked it up, and now in it's place in the kitchen keeping our food safe from subtropical beasties.
I've also finally stopped procrastinating about the horrors of fixing up the utility room under the house. As well as talking to a bloke with a huge Bobcat (JCB), I've finally got off my arse and had an engineer round to provide a structural diagram of how an I-beam can be placed to hold up the utility room roof, got a builder lined up for the work, and in a fit of midnight studiousness, obtained my NSW owner builders' license - who knows, at some point some actual work might get started.