Spicy Persimmon Muffins

We bought a persimmon tree many years ago and it didn't fruit for the first eight years. The lady who sold it to us came with her father and they grafted a couple of branches from a fruiting tree on it to see if that would help. It felt like the poor tree was doomed as our son was staying for a few months and he had one of his pet goats with him at the time. Said goat quite liked the new grafting's.

Said friend came back again after our son moved on and tried another graft and between them all, something happened to the tree. The first year there were three fruit that survived to be eaten but the second year it bore a heavy crop. The next was poor but this year, there were bucket loads. 

So what to do?

I made jam, stewed some for having with muesli for breakfast and decided to attempt making some muffins. At first I tried a recipe I found through google but they were a bit bland. Using the recipe as a tried to tweak it a bit and after a couple of attempts that still didn't pack much punch I created this one.

Ingredients

1 ¾ Cups Flour 

2 tsp Baking Powder 

1 tsp Ground Ginger 

2 tsp Cinnamon 

½ tsp Nutmeg 

½ Cup Sugar 

1 Cup Persimmon Pulp 

100gr Butter 

1 Egg 

½ - 1 Cup Milk 

Preparation 

Grease a 12-hole muffin tray (or line with muffin cases if preferred) and preheat the oven to 210°C.

Combine the first six dry ingredients in a large bowl, and toss well together.

Measure out the pulp from ripe persimmons cutting firm flesh into pea size pieces. (I actually used over ripe persimmons so it was just a matter of slitting the base of the fruit and squeezing out the pulp). 

Melt the butter until just liquid, whisk in the egg, stir in the persimmon and add ½ cup of the milk. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry adding more milk if the consistency is too dry after 8 folds. (I don’t fold more than 14 times as muffins should not be over mixed and it is fine if there are still traces of dry flour) 

Fill the muffin tins to almost fill and place in the oven on a high shelf to bake at 210°C for 12 to 15 minutes. They should bounce back when lightly pressed and be slightly crisp on the top. 

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tins, then cool on a wire cooling rack.

You may want to vary the spices to your liking using more or less but I liked this balance.

I usually eat my muffins unbuttered but I found they needed a bit of a buttery taste while nice and warm!

Gratefulness

 After my experience of Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome and understanding how bad the undetected outcome could have been I was very grateful that ...

Something made me stop
That because the helicopter flew low over our house 
Harry came out to look at it and found me
He knew something was wrong and rung 111 
The medics were just back from a previous emergency so didn't take long to get there
They were experienced to note I had had a cardiac episode
Because I was stuck in triage for 6 hours the young doctor was on his shift by then 
He took the time to read my history notes and guessed what the problem was. 
He admitted me and the medical staff took care of the rest
and so I was checked, tested and had surgery to correct it

I believe that God had it all in hand and the circumstances were all part of His provision. I am extremely grateful for this. If I focus on the sad things that affect me (and I won't name any of them), I lose sight of all I have to be grateful for. 

Sometimes it can be very obvious, other times not so much and others might take a bit of thought to realize how blessed we are for something so that we can be thankful and grateful for it.

So I decided to make a grateful post every day on Facebook for a year.  If I keep it up for a whole year that will be 365 things. The year is nearly up and I will have to see if I want to keep doing it as many people say they look for my grateful posts each day. Being so grateful for so many circumstances on that day I realized that we all have a lot to be grateful for everyday, we just have to look for it.

If you are a "friend" of mine on Facebook you will have seen them and if not I don't have a public account so you wont see them. I know some of my regular readers are not on Facebook at all so wont have seen them so I am going to post a few on here.

April 3

Today I am grateful for our bed. Its not a hotel room or something from a home magazine, but it is a place I love. I rest, get a good night's sleep as there is no TV or other distractions and the bed is comfortable. The colour green is restful and the bedding soft. I am grateful for my bed

April 4 

Today I'm grateful for hollow Easter eggs. They remind me that the tomb was empty

April 5

Today I am grateful for community. I couldn't think of a picture so this is our street sign. Today Harry has been splitting wood for an older neighbour as she couldn't do it herself. We have been putting out excess feijoas for free and today a lady gave me a handful of cherry tomatoes as she had extras, in exchange, not that I was wanting anything but we will have them for tea. A small community/street like ours just connect. I am grateful for neighbours

April 6 

Some of you may cringe .. but 

Today I am grateful for spiders We have a couple of big ones who take up residence. One in the kitchen (this one) and one out the front door. (Harry tends to feed that one) They make a web and catch all sorts of flies and insects and eat them. I think of Charlotte, from Charlotte's Web and let her be. I'm grateful  for spiders

April 7

Today I am grateful for empty changing rooms. Today I resumed going to Swimzone in Matamata for aquatics. After, I like to take my togs off and shower all the pool water smell off, and there are usually other ladies so you try to be quick and discreet. But today I was on my own in these rooms and so just got changed at my own pace. I am grateful for privacy

April 8

Today I am grateful for Harry's wood splitter. I don't actually use the splitter myself but today Harry and Daniel processed 2 Ute fills of wood for winter. They chain sawed the logs, split them into fire size pieces then stacked them under cover. I'm grateful for easy wood splitting

April 9

Today I am grateful  for Harry helping to pick up our feijoas. We have two feijoa trees and for years while the children were still at home we used to send them out to pick up the fruit and they really hated doing it. Last year Daniel was living at home while we were in lockdown for COVID and it was so nice not to have to crawl under the trees so much myself. This year its just us two and it seems since my little (big) hospital trip Harry has helped do things and one is to come out with me to gather them with me. We put the bags out the gate for people to take for free. I'm grateful for helping hands

April 10

Today I am grateful for surprise dates. Out of the blue Harry said would you like to go out for dinner and maybe catch a movie, you'd like that wouldn't you? Well yes - who wouldn't? Now those of you who know us (Harry) well, will know that's not a common thing in our lives, so of course I said yes! We went to Cambridge to Tivoli Cinema and saw "Then Came You", having hot drinks, cake and popcorn Then to The Good George for a shared taco platter and drinks I'm grateful for dates

April 11

Today I am grateful for Wesley McLay. Wes is from Tauranga and works within the Mental Health and well-being sector. Today he preached for us at the Tirau Community Church as our Pastor John is no longer with us. Today he preached from Psalms 23:4 showing that many people from the Bible suffered from bouts of depression and other aspects of Mental Health and called out to God in ways very similar to David in Psalms 23:4.Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (NIV) I was reminded of my low times and comforted by the reminder that I am never alone and others feel the same. I am grateful for preachers

April 12

Today I am grateful for warm Autumn days. Because of a few wet days and not always having a lot of washing the washing pile was getting big. I also change the sheets on a Monday. I always separate my coloured's from my whites and towels so today I had three loads to go out. I also go to aquaerobics on a Monday morning  followed by a chai latte with the ladies. I then got groceries so it was lunchtime by the time I got home. But today was warm with a bit of a breeze so I was able to get all the washing done, dry. I am grateful for dry washing days.

April 13

Today I am grateful for grandchildren. In particular the Stone family I went to Hamilton to look after them as Jennifer had parent teacher interviews after school until late. So we made blueberry muffins and had fun. I am grateful for family.

April 14
Today I am grateful for aquaerobics. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I go through to Matamata to the pools and join a group of ladies (and the occasional man) for 45 minutes of directed aerobics in the heated pools. I have very sore knees so doing these exercises in the water means less impact and pain on the knees. I'm in the process of waiting for knee replacement so this helps keep me fit but not in so much pain. Today I am grateful for water exercises

April 15

Today I am grateful for homegrown potatoes Harry has always grown our potatoes like his father did. It's a continuing experiment with brands and planting times. This is a Rua potato (and its was about 880gr) and is from his second plantings. We have been eating our own since before Christmas. The last time I brought potatoes was in October. I am grateful for Harry's potatoes

April 16

Today I am grateful for Grandparents Day. Tirau school has it's day when Grandparents can come and join in with some class work and be with their grandchildren. Sarah and Carl have moved back close to Tirau and their children now go to Tirau School. It can be a bit hard to spend time with both grandchildren but their other grandparents were there so they ended up with double visits. Isla did a family tree and Sean did a grandparents poem and we helped with the decorating.  I am grateful for grandchildren

April 17

Today I am grateful for new gates. We have hens that we let out to roam around the section but sometimes they wonder out the driveway and up the neighbour's looking for bread to eat. The lady in the next house over used to drop her bread over the fence as she knew the hens would come up and get it. We have just got new neighbours and so they don't get cross Harry finally hung the gate Steven dropped off over a year ago. Now the chooks won't be going anywhere! Today I am grateful for gates

April 18

Today I am grateful  for homegrown beetroot. We have a vegetable garden where we grow most of the vegetables we eat. I don't have a huge success with it all but I keep at it. I often plant beetroot seeds and they come up with varying numbers. Last year after my dear sister died we helped a little at her house with her daughters and family to sort of empty it but also take what we wanted, and we took home all her seeds. She had a variety of seeds for each type of vegetable including beetroot so I planted a few to see what they'd be like. There were the usual red and some pinker variety. I had five come up and have now pickled them for salads and my homemade burgers Today I am grateful for beetroot

April 19

Today I am grateful for Road trips with Harry. We have finally gone on our Easter holiday to Wellington to see my Dad and Resa and family. I know, a bit late, but I wasn't up to it after my heart issue. But now we have driven down and I didn't do any of the driving. Its a 6 hour drive including a couple of stops for food, fuel and 🚻 but I do my knitting. I drive myself when I come down on my own but it was nicer not to have Harry drive. I am grateful for safe travels.

April 20

Today I am grateful for my Dad. Last year he lost his eldest daughter/child to bowel cancer. He also had his wife of nearly 68 years pass away at the age of 90. He still lives in their large home on his own with the help of a morning and evening carer visit and meals-on-wheels. My brothers and sister-in-laws keep a watch on him as well. Today we went into town to get some groceries and for Dad to do an errand he wanted to do. He can't drive now so I took him. He walked quite a long way and back, from the car on his own. He said he had a few people ask him if he needed help. He was quite proud he'd walked that far and so was I. This is not the best pics, but .. Today I am grateful (and blessed) for my Dad.

April 21

Today I am grateful for warm sunny rooms. We are spending a few days with my Dad at the family home of over 54 years. There are lovely big windows in the lounge and dining room so when the sun shines it gets really warm. We had a relaxing day just chatting in the warm. Today I am grateful for sunny spaces.

April 22

Ok so ... Today I am grateful for glass tumblers I know previously I posted about my friendly spider on the ceiling in my kitchen, but this one is different. Harry and I were just having a last cuppa for the night, when a rather large spider, about 4 cm wide/long decided to just walk across the floor at my feet. I couldn't believe the size! Fortunately we had an empty glass tumbler close by so Harry caught the under it and with the help of an old card and me opening the back door he was able to put it outside. Today I am grateful for glassware!

April 23

Today I am grateful for coming home. If you've been following along you will know we've been away for a few days visiting my Dad. Travelling home was awful with general traffic during the day, school holiday traffic and then its the ANZAC weekend which means a long weekend and so it was a very slow drive home. But home now and my lap rug is so pleased to see me she has settled in. Harry's lit the fire and although its not cold its cozy and it's home. Today I am grateful for home

April 24

Today I am grateful for YouTube. I know a bit different but with the presence of this I can watch all sorts of things in particular Shiver Me Tingles   This is my youngest daughter. Without going into details it means I get to see and hear her which, for those who know, is a real blessing. Today I am grateful for YouTube

April 25
Today I am grateful for ANZAC Day. On this day of 25th April every year in New Zealand 🇳🇿 and Australia 🇦🇺 we remember not only our ANZAC's but all those who went to war and fought for peace in WW1, WW2 and many other wars, especially those who gave of their lives, but also those who were blessed to return. Today I was the Lay Minister at Tirau's service of which there were over 100 people including adults and children. Some mentioned they had never been before. Today I am grateful for our ANZAC'S

April 26

Today I am grateful for 'lost gardens ' I know strange post but yesterday I spent some time working in our vegetable garden. Over the last 16 months with stuff going on in our lives both emotional, spiritual, physical and all the things going on around us, I didn't do a lot of gardening. I'd pop out for a bit and do some planting or weeding but not like I used to and I was late with things like tomatoes, capsicum, pumpkins and cucumbers so there's not a lot going on out there. I decided it was time to get out and see what had survived. After the weeding I was pleased to find a few vegetables and others still coming on. Today I am grateful for forgotten gardens

April 27

Today I am grateful for leftovers. Because I worked in the garden most of the afternoon yesterday we decided to get takeaways for tea. We didn't quite finish it so it got put in the fridge. Today I wanted something warm for lunch so I heated it up with some other bits and had a yummy 'sweet and sour' lunch. Today I am grateful for leftovers

April 28

Today I am grateful for chooks. Harry has been cutting some firewood from a friends place and there have been lots of huhu grubs in them when he splits the rings. He saves then in a tray and when there is enough for sharing he gives them to the hens ... and they have a party. Someone somewhere would probably say they'd eat them and they taste like peanut butter but we'll let the hens decide! Today I am grateful for the hens

April 29

Today I am grateful for my clothes dryer. I have had my dryer for over 40 years and it's still going strong. I haven't used it a lot as I normally dry our clothes outside or undercover in the garage or on the drying rack by the fireplace. Sometimes I finish off the damp things on top of the hot water cylinder. Today the washing got dry outside but the towels were a bit stiff as there was no wind, so I popped them in the dryer for 15 minutes which makes them nice and fluffy. Today I am grateful for dryers

April 30

A few years ago now, I spent some time at a lovely place called the Titoki Healing Centre. They have beautiful gardens as just one of the many things that make the retreat a wonderful place to rest and heal. The Burgundy Iceberg Floribunda Rose caught my eye and I bought myself one. It's doing a last flowering before the cold of winter and when I see it flower it makes me smile and long to go there again. Today I am grateful for Burgundy Rose

My WPW Syndrome Expereince

Saturday 20th March 2021 I was weeding and tidying up our driveway garden. This runs from the gate by the footpath to a point halfway up the side of the house. It usually takes me a couple of days as it involves a lot of bending, pulling and emptying bins of weeds and pruning’s, so I would have to rest.

The classic comment from Harry would be, 

“You’re not over doing it are you?” to which I would respond, “Yes”, so he would tell me to go and lie down. 

I hated this, but knew I had to and after a good half hour or so I was able to get back up and go back outside. 

On this particular Saturday I was determined to get the whole garden finished and so went out after tea at about 7.00pm for about 20 minutes. As I was nearing completion, I noticed my vision was a little blurry and checked to see if I had the right glasses on. At about the same time the fire siren went up which for our town means the volunteer fire brigade are called down to the station and go out, more times than not, to an emergency or medical call rather than a fire. 

I started to tidy up and as I finished, I was feeling very fatigued again. Coming up to our back deck I felt exhausted and wanted to get up he steps to go inside, but all I could manage was to lean and sit against the steps. I was desperate to sit or lie down but just couldn’t. I felt like I was going to collapse and I was shaking and sweating. 

A helicopter came over the house meaning the fire call was quite a bad medical emergency. Harry came out to see where it was landing and saw me. 

He looked at me saying, “Is that helicopter for you?”! 

I said “I think so” I was sweating, finding it hard to breath and really not fully in control of what I was doing. He asked if I had been over doing it again and I said I was awful and then couldn’t talk well. Harry looked at me and said, “I’m calling 111”

 

The siren went up again and then because the emergency services were still out for the other call they were around to our house in no time.

I had numerous tests while still out on the steps and was told I had had a cardiac event and would need to go to hospital. I was supported to the ambulance, given relief and oxygen and we went to Waikato hospital in Hamilton. Arriving in triage at 9.20pm I was checked out and the trolley I was on was wheeled into a cubical where I waited to be seen in the Emergency Department. 

It’s a bit of an education to be there on a Saturday night! Six hours later I was seen by a young doctor who listened to my story, took some bloods and checked me out, saying, I seemed to be OK now so he would just write up a report and send me home. 

What seemed like over an hour later he returned to say there had been a change of plan. He had read up my past notes on file and saw that Wolff Parkinson White (WPW) had been seen before. I thought he meant some sort of specialist and wondered why I hadn’t remembered a man’s, name like that. He then explained it was to do with my heart. I told him about other times while working in the garden or going for walks up hill etc. He had spoken to cardiology and they wanted me admitted for testing and maybe surgery. I am so thankful that this busy ED doctor took the time to read through my notes.

Finally, later that Sunday evening I was taken up to the cardio ward and so begun three days of testing and monitoring and eventual surgery. I had a heart beat monitor attached to me at all times and it hung around my neck even when I was showering. I also had to have a treadmill test which was stopped before it went too far as it showed the WPW syndrome. 

On Monday evening the team decided that I was to have the procedure, an ablation, but had to wait as there were more urgent patients scheduled the next day so it would be Wednesday. I was told that once I had had “the burn” as they called it, I will be rearing to go like never before. 

Praise God for wise young doctors who read all your history notes. 

The surgery was done with just a local and although it took a few times for pain to be blocked it was successful, my heart stimulated to test it and then all was well. I went home the next day. 

I must admit it has made the world of difference but it took a few weeks to recover and really notice the improvement

Shelling Walnuts

We didn't know for sometime that we had a walnut tree at the back of our garden. It has been growing for sometime and I don't remember planting it but somehow it has arrived. It certainly wasn't there when we first bought the section in 1989.

Walnuts, like a lot of nuts trees take a long time to produce, hence the saying:

If you want to provide for your children, plant fruit trees; and if you want to provide for your grandchildren, plant nuts.


And it would appear that for us, that is true as it has only been the last few years that we have found the walnuts and it is the grandchildren who happily gather them. Quite a bonus as they  see it as a fun activity we do together rather than a chore.

A couple of years ago we had noticed the tree in amongst an area we had never cleared and as it was over grown we chopped out most of the dead or weedy plants leaving the tree and the big Rimu. It may have been the clearing out around it that helped it to produce, but it was then that we noticed its early fruit. I picked some and cut them open trying to find what kind of "fruit" it was even wondering if it was a quince.

Then one late summer we noticed the hens having a good old scratch around the base of the trees and saw the walnuts. So for the last two years we have been gathering and drying our crop.
It's been great having our own supply as I use them in a lot of my recipes, but it can be a long drawn out time cracking and storing the inside nut.

A walnut first grows as a green 'fruit' as it ripens the outer green skin splits and draws back over the shell and turns black. At this stage the nuts fall from the trees either by 'escaping' the dried up black covering or just coming off completely in tact.

It's best to gather these in the Autumn as soon as possible so they don't get too wet and succumb to rot or diseases, then we dry them in little plant pots in the hot water cupboard.

Then its time to shell them. We've found if you leave them in the shell for too long they still deteriorate.

Today I wanted to bake some of my Jam Muffins which have walnuts in so I decided to crack open the last nuts, so also clearing out the spot in the laundry where they had been stored.

With a cup tea and a few bowls for collecting nuts and then shells I sat out in the warm winter air. With the crack, crack sound, it didn't take long for the hens to come checking out what I was doing.
I had noticed in the past they would rummage around below the deck finding grubs etc and thought they also enjoyed the shells. Little did I know that it was actually the walnuts they wanted. (well of course - they were having a great time under the walnut tree before we knew what they were doing!)

I had already given them a few old crusts but they wanted more. To the extent that they would grab anything near enough. Then just when I was on the last few and Harry had come to crack the hard shells, they decided they had to get in or miss out!

Feijoa and Banana Loaf

 I do not claim this as my recipe. It can also be found on the food in a minute page

If you have to buy feijoas - I'm sorry
If you get given feijoas - enjoy
If like me you have trees and so many by now you are over them...
Try this. Its lovely and moist and I just have a bit of butter on it.
It would be nice served as a desert or just thicker with a hot drink and served with custard, whipped cream, ice-cream, yogurt or a combination.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp mixed spice
1 cup raw sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil  (I used olive oil as I didn't have any vegetable)
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)
1 cup chopped ripe feijoas (about 3-4 feijoas)

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C .
Grease and line the base of a 13cm x 23cm x 70 (6 cup capacity) loaf tin with baking paper.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and mixed spice into a mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl beat together raw sugar, oil, egg to combine.
Add banana in hunks and beat in.
Pour into the dry ingredients along with the chopped feijoas and fold in trying not to over mix.
Spoon into prepared loaf tin.
Bake for 55 - 60 minutes until cooked. A skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf will come out clean.
Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes before turning onto a cake rack to cool completely.
Cut into slices when cool to serve.

Wednesday - Kitchen Tidy

Well Sue as promised I will finish my week at a glance….

My kitchen before the clean

So Wednesdays are, what I call (echoes of Miranda there!) kitchen tidy days. No it’s not the rubbish, that’s Fridays; it’s when I spend an hour in the kitchen giving it a good spruce up. If it’s not already done, I remove all the dishes from the bench and sink and put them in the dishwasher. Filling the sink with hot soapy water I scoop out some of this in a cup and put it in the microwave. I heat it on high for about two minutes (sometimes it explodes in there!) and then let it ‘steam’ for a bit. Then I take it out and give the sides, roof, turntable and lastly the outside a good wipe.

Next is the fridge. Starting at the top, I wipe every shelf, one at a time, moving items from each shelf and biffing any ‘science projects’ – you know those things that are growing and you have no idea what they were originally. Actually now that I do this once a week there aren’t really any but there used to be before I got into this routine. The vege-bins get taken out and have a wash in the sink. Then the door shelves get cleaned last. Its surprising the dirt that sits in there where the milk containers go

Because of the plan of my kitchen the next thing I do is the stove. I take out the element supports and trays that go under them and soak them in the sink for a few minutes. They get a good scrub and get put in the dishwasher. I also put my dish scrubber in as well and by this stage I’m ready to set it off. I use homemade cleaning products so I spray and wipe down the stove top with my surface cleaner

By now the sink water is past its best so I empty it giving the sink a good wipe around as it empties and then re fill the sink again with hot soapy water. With a clean cloth I wipe down the whole bench moving items out from their spot as I work from one side to the other but not taking everything off at once. As I go I will wipe down the jug, toaster and other appliances and dispose or put away items that just shouldn’t be there. I take this opportunity to give the wooden shopping boards a scrub with the scourer and then rub a little cooking oil into them.

I keep an old tooth brush under the sink and use this to give the taps (the joins in the piping and where they come out of the bench) and all around them a scrub then shine them with a cloth. When I have emptied the sink the second time I scrub the plug hole with the toothbrush as well.

We keep our food scraps in a bucket in the cupboard under the sink (the go into our compost rather than the rubbish) so that part of our cupboards gets a good clean before I empty the sink again giving it a scrub.

When the dish washer is finished, I unpack it and then remove the filter system at the bottom and wash all of that. It can be quite gunky with food scraps and sort of wet fluff, so not a pleasant task, but great to know its clean when it’s finished. The door and seals get a scrub with a cloth. I don't use a commercial dishwasher cleaner but every now and again I run a wash with the machine empty but have  a sprinkle of baking soda all around and I always use white vinegar in the rinse aide part. As the sink empties again I give it another good wipe around and then actually dry it so it’s clean and shiny.
All the cloths, towels, my oven cloth and apron get put out to be washed even if they have been replaced recently and I set out clean ones.

Kitchen after clean

So now the kitchen is clean and tidy.













Today, being a few months later (than when I first started this week for you Sue) we are into the feijoa season, so I spent time gathering the fallen feijoas and bagging some up to leave out at the gate. We have done this for the past couple of years and people just help themselves to the bags. I am pleased that people take them rather than have them rot on the ground as there are always far too much for our family to get through.

I also prefer to gather my own so I get to keep the ones I like and also not have people walk all over them.

Monday - HBH

Mondays are my home blessing hour (HBH).

“What?” you ask.

Let me take you back to 2006. Our third daughter was getting married in the following January and we were blessed by some carpet from a family who were having their house re-carpeted but there was still plenty of life in the old carpet. Harry decided he would lay the carpet and underlay himself but as he was working that meant it would take a while. We moved all the furniture into the non-carpeted rooms and we had to live, work and prepare for a wedding around it.

At first I had thought it would be great to have the newer carpet especially for the wedding but once the place seemed to be tipped up-side-down I was a bit anxious – well probably 'a lot.'

At that time I also used to get a monthly magazine printed in Australia caked Notebook: Ideas for Living. They had an article that talked about a website with help in being organised, have good self-esteem and generally promoted well-being for women.
The magazine also had a forum that I was part of and quite a few of the women had started using this system and found it really great, so out of curiosity I investigated. The system is called Fly Lady – Finally Loving Yourself and is full of ideas, systems and encouragement started by a Christian woman in America called Marla Cilley 

I started the programme with the first steps she takes you through to put routines in place and I found through all the upheaval I found peace and order. She has many catch phrases and routines one of them being the Home Blessing Hour. Over time I have changed and adapted the systems to suit me and don’t receive the 10 or so emails a day but I certainly found her a huge benefit.

So Mondays I do a quick overall clean

• Change sheets 
• Clean mirrors and glass doors 
• Wipe down bathroom and toilet fixtures 
• Dust furniture with a feather duster 
• Clean around the fireplace and burn rubbish 
• Vacuum ‘centers’ of rooms 
• Mop

This actually takes a bit longer than an hour but I certainly go as quick as I can knowing it’s just a general tidy up type clean. Deeper more detailed and thorough cleaning is done in a different way (By this system) throughout the year.

So I went to work this  morning and had a busy day but not getting a lot done. I had phone calls and visitors - more so than I would have (one lady arriving just after 12.15pm and talking for over half an hour) so I just closed up leaving the place in a bit of a mess to carry on tomorrow. I work from 9.30am to 12 and most days I'm there until 12.30pm, but it’s just for finishing off.

Once I had delivered and posted the church newsletter around town to folk who hadn't been at church this week, after work, I got home to find Harry mowing the lawns. I hung the small load of washing thinking the day seemed fine after all, but - no - it soon started to drizzle but I did manage to get it mainly dry.

(Do you really want to know all this Sue?)

Yes those are our chooks following Harry around as he mows. As soon as he starts the mower if they are out they will follow behind pecking at the exposed bugs etc in the lawn.

I spent the next hour or so focusing on the HBH and as usual it took slightly longer than an hour.

I have managed to get it completed in an hour but I think I get distracted a bit and of course Harry wanted conversation between it all. And we had a cuppa while he watches "Tipping Point"

I harvested more vegetables from the garden and fruit from trees around the front yard for tea and to collect before the winds are due tomorrow. Cyclone Gita is passing over New Zealand over the next few days and although I don't expect we will badly affected here in the Waikato like other parts of New Zealand I do suspect we will get some strong winds and heavy rain.

I gathered all the fallen peaches from under the tree and later cooked them up topping them with some tiny meringues we got in a Christmas gift box to make a little pudding. I had roasted the chicken pieces, the potatoes and zucchini hunks for tea and popped the meringue topped peaches in the oven to warm through as it cooled down. I would have liked some whipped cream to go with it but instead we had some peaches and cream ice cream which complimented it nicely.

And the sunset – nope not today.
It’s raining.