I arranged for Syche to collect me to go to the Garden today where we caught up with the weeding and persuaded the children to mulch their gardens in preparation for the low-lying snow forecast for Monday, so that kept them busy and reduced the chaos somewhat, especially as we found that bringing the straw out in trugs avoided them going into the shed and hauling apart more than one bale.

My friend arrived back from Hobart complete with the brakes, and one pot of paint. The idiots at Bunnings (the same ones I had spoken to on the phone the day before who checked the base colour and price of the two pots I wanted) had told her that the second colour I had asked for did not exist. Still, at least the colour she obtained is the citrusy green I had planned for the inside of the shelves, so once it is on I can start shelving books - the outside can wait till I find a colour they do believe in and can convince them exists.

I concluded that what with the forecast for the next few days, and late notice, it was unlikely that I would be able to persuade anyone to fit the brakes for me any time soon, so I called our local mechanic to see if he could fit me in some time next week. He suggested i call over straight away so he could have the wheels off and check if there was anything else needed ordering in. Turns out the brakes were not in such bad shape that it was an emergency, but he did discover (or rather confirm what Motors had told me) that the rear brake cylinder on one side was leaking. He suggested both would need replacing as the brakes are replaced as the the different position that the new thicker brake shoes would force them into would rupture them due to rust. And then he added that if I was replacing those it would be a good idea to replace the wheel bearings while we were about it. Having added that all up to around $900.00 (and picked me up off the floor) he suggested we just replace the front pads as they would be easy. So we did. Seems that front brake pads have a tell-tale on them that causes a metal sound as the pads wear down to alarm you and have you go check things out. Once the front pads were replaced, voila - no noise as I drive. So at least I have time to save up for the rest of the work and don't have to face it now. With any luck I can deal with it in summer when the finances are a little more flush.

So I can now once again drive with confidence, and since i don't actually think there is anything wrong with the wheel bearings (the symptoms don't fit what I have experienced in the past), I doubt there will be any immediate need to act. Phew.

Once they had finished, they opened up the bonnet to flush away any brake fluid that might have landed on the inside of the motor (it is highly corrosive) and while they were doing that i noticed that one side of the head had a deposit of oil on it. On closer inspection I discovered that one of the 'lines' that run from the head to other bits of the motor was missing, so we sorted that out too while we were about it. I am more than a little annoyed about that one, however as Motors swore they had replaced all lines and belts the last time they serviced the beast. I think I will stick with Ollie who at least knows what he is talking about.

With a howling gale outside and a nice warm fire inside, it has been a case of musical beds here today.

 First of all Smidgen and Esther piled onto a stack of cushions, set aside to be washed.

 Then Sebastian dug out the cat bed that was part of the pile and made himself comfortable (albeit a little self-consciously)

 While he was not entirely sure of himself, Shadow was quite happy to hog the part of the floor closest to the fire.

 Of course, that could  not last terribly long without having to share. It's a hard life being a dog in this house.

Though the cat's don't get it entirely their way either. Sebastian, in between treating Smidgen as a chew toy, seems to be under the impression he is a cushion. Such a comfy spot!

The day started badly with a pair of missing glasses. I always put them on the bedside table, so their absence was disturbing. Hands and knees (ably assisted by Seb) and still I could not find them under the bed, under the dressing table, under or behind the bedside table, it was a crisis.

Finally resigned myself to semi-blindness and realised the book I am reading has relatively large print, so had breakfast, showered, walked the dogs all in a state of fog. The fact there was a real fog outside did nothing to assist the situation.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps i had taken them off at the foot of the bed, while preparing for bed, and left them on the bed itself. Fortunately neither I nor the animals had a restless night as there they were, cunningly invisible against the quilt.

Since i am presently housebound due to the state of the brakes (only going out for work, not recreational activities), I took to the loungeroom with the vacuum cleaner (having finally persuaded it to work) and moved stuff around, including isolating furniture for selling at the white elephant market. That is all in one place now, and hopfully I will be adding to it once the bookshelves are painted and i can access a few other parts of the house (having unpacked boxes of books), re-arranged stuff and generally had a purge.

I also did the washing since the weekend weather does not look any more encouraging than last weekend's and as for Monday - well, the less said the better.

So I am sitting in a clean, relatively tidy loungeroom, festooned with washing as the fog never did quite clear and the laundry is once again arrayed on various airers. Fortunately the sheets, at least, dried, though the pillowcases are also still slightly damp. And the bed is made up with clean sheets once more. Bliss.

The bookshelves I was given yesterday are pine ones. The previous owner has undercoated them, but not painted them. So I got online and selected a couple of colours from the Dulux colour chart and have added two sample pots to my shopping list for my friend who is going to Hobart. Unfortunately she is now going on Thursday so that will be another day of dubious brakes, but it will be exciting to get some paints to finish off the bookshelves. The colours are Indian Vine  which is a greyish green, and Lime Zest which is more of a yellowy green. That will go on the insides and the grey green on the outside.

Tonight's dinner, which is simmering away in the slow cooker is a neck of lamb done with Moroccan seasonings and an orange from the freezer cut into quarters to let me get the pips out. It called for Orange Juice and zest, so that seemed the easiest way to deal with it. The oranges in the freezer have a very thin skin so they should not taint the casserole with the pith flavour.

More wood was cut and some thought has been given to the bits of furniture I will be donating to the white elephant sales we are holding for the Hospital. I have already started stockpiling books, one of which will be the one I am currently reading - Neanderthal by John Darnton which is a a bit creaky around the edges in terms of accuracy of thinking and research, but a light adventure style book (with overtones of too much sex at times).

Now that i have thought of the sample pots (which go a long way, I have discovered) I may also paint the two pine chests of drawers that I brought back from England which have seen a lot of wear and tear in their day. A coat of paint will cheer them up and brighten up the bedroom as well.

Today started off nicely but rapidly went downhill with grey skies and drizzle, trending to rain occasionally. Not enough to be useful, but enough to make being outdoors unappealing, especially with the very cold weather accompanying it.

A friend dropped around to offer me another bookshelf, so I now have two of them in the loungeroom. This one is still empty as I am debating whether to try to sort the books into some sort of order as I shelve them. The last lot were easy due to limited authors and the mixed novels all went on the middle shelf as I will be discarding some of them as I go. Actually 'Hinterlands" is the only one I plan to keep so far - it is a three generational first-person account of early settlement in the US, starting in the 1700s and the writing style is excellent, and the yarns gripping.

Another novel was a huge disappointment as it stopped part way through the story (apparently the author is still writing the next episode). As it was rather a good rollicking, ripsnorting Indian Jones type of story I am gutted. The hero is presently falling down an apparently bottomless shaft and there are only three months left to save the world, lol.

Finalised the acquittal and sent it all off. I had been concerned as I seem to have mislaid a receipt for $671.00, but fortunately the supplier is better organised than me and was able to supply a copy electronically, so all expenditure is now accounted for. Phew! And now Eleanor wants me to complete yet another application for this coming round. Luckily this one will be for a one-off purchase so not so difficult to keep track of. We will be applying for funding to install special plastic sheeting in the glass house so it can be put to use, and since we broke (or never had) most of the panes as we moved it, and stored the glass, this will be a good substitute and a bit safer with the kids around as well.

For a day that was supposed to have a 90% chance of showers from late morning, it has been remarkably sunny. The galeforce winds, however, did not fail to turn up and I was greatly relieved this morning to discover I still had a roof. It also apparently snowed a bit last night, judging by the frozen nodules on the ute tarp.

The rain has finally arrived, however and seems to be settling in nicely. I hope it is a good rain as we could certainly do with some solid downpours for a few days. The on and off showers we have had have barely touched the surface and we really do need some good rain before summer arrives or we will all be in strife.

I defrosted a pork chop for dinner tonight. It has freezer burn so I chose a recipe that has strong flavours to cover it up a bit. It is simmering away in the oven as we speak (me having re-set the clock following yesterday's blackout.

I took advantage of the sunny weather to cut a fair bit more wood, so if they got the forecast right for tomorrow I will not freeze.

Finally balanced the acquittal and have printed it out for E's signature. Now all I have to do is scan it all into a PDF document so I can email it to Council this evening.

It was action stations here today with me getting up at 6:00 and getting some wood cut for indoors in preparation for tomorrow's wintery blast. Then the man rang about my friend's car and turned up soon afterward. Headed up to Jeans where he happily loaded the Skyline onto his trailer and went on his merry way while I stayed indoors with Jean and ate rock cakes and drank tea till it was all sorted.

Home once more and after walking the dogs I went to make a cup of tea. No water. Went outside and the lights were all out on the pump. It was positively crawling with harlequin beetles so I thought they had damaged it in some way. Oh no! Thinks me!! The pump has died. Checked the fuse box and discovered all the switches were in the right position, so went inside to call a friend who might know about pumps. No signal! It was only then I thought to check the status of electricity in the house and discovered we had a black out in progress.

The blackout lasted for some hours, but finally resumed service this afternoon so all is well at present.

Tomorrow they are forecasting the most extreme weather conditions possible (for the West Coast, the rest of us are just getting the usual severe weather warnings), with something called thundersnow which is apparently snow storms accompanied by lightning and thunder. Better them than me is all I can say. We, on the other hand, are only expecting snow to 500m which presumably means I will get some flurries of snow and sleet, but will otherwise just get rained upon.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was chatting away with the nice friendly bloke who administers our grants through the Council about our acquittal. Today he is dead. Apparently he dropped dead of a heart attack last night. Young bloke, young (early teens) kids. Terrible.

I have to assume it was this event that caused our gravel delivery to fail to arrive today, but the sleepers did and I now have everything i need to do the acquittal bar the completed paperwork. I had sent him an email today requesting an extension till Monday, but I guess he won't be responding.

The deliveries were due 'after eleven' so I was there bright and early to take care of them. Unfortunately the sleepers did not arrive until two, so I spent three hours twiddling my thumbs waiting for them. Time I could have spent doing the acquittal. Oh well.

I was further hampered by discovering that, while i had brought the laptop, I had left behind the external mouse (a necessity these days as the sensor pad died some time ago) and my mobile phone, so had to dart home in a mad rush to get both, hoping no-one turned up in my absence.

The wild weather forecast for Sunday seems to be arriving a bit early as it has been raining on and off all day and the wind has picked up quite a bit now. Glad to be home with the fire going.

Amazing the difference a sharp chain makes to the chainsaw - whipped through a barrow load of wood in no time and have laid in a stockpile for the next couple of days. I will be needing to cut more come Saturday as we are expecting another plummet into the Antarctic on Sunday.

Took Seb for a longer than usual walk today as he has been a bit housebound this week and was showing signs of restlessness. Since it was a gorgeous warm, sunny day it was no chore and we both had a good time doing it.

I am currently reading Ngaio Marsh's autobiography - she had an interesting life and tells it well. She tends to get bogged down a little in theatrical details, but rather inspires one to dig out the 'collected works of Shakespeare' and have a read of some of his plays. I may wait till I get a new prescription for the glasses however as the print in mine is very fine (sort of printed on Bible paper with similar sized print).

Apart from that I have been busily finalising the grant funding (and ordering the last few deliveries) as apparently it must be acquitted by tomorrow (I would have sworn their last letter said the 27th, oh well, I had planned to do it over the weekend but will now have to scramble it together by tomorrow).

With galeforce winds sweeping the State the pyromaniac next door has apparently decided tonight is a great time to be lighting yet another little blaze next door. I have my own burning inside the heater which is just fine with me.

It was a wild and windy night last night and we even had the odd shower or two. Subsequently it was a little damp this morning so I donned my gumboots to take the dogs for a walk as I am tired of changing my socks several times a day to keep my feet dry.

It was nice to get into sewing and for a change we had a nice pleasant day, with people admiring my purchases and talk remaining on interesting but not contentious subjects. I made no contributions to the income of the Bargain Centre, having failed to find anything of interest, but was pleased to get home, take the dogs for a walk and settle down in front of the newly lit fire. I will call in in the hope of collecting my chainsaw when I go to clean the bank tonight. I do hope it is done as tonight's wood is most definitely the last of the viable firewood. Fortunately the weather is a little milder at present so big roaring fires are not entirely necessary.

Esther is distressed. A cat must, at all times, occupy the highest point in the room. Up until now this has been conveniently situated to take advantage of the window (to keep an eye on the world) and the heater (to stay warm, of course). But it has been usurped by the new bookshelves. What's a girl to do? At present she has given up entirely and gone elsewhere to think it over!!

I headed down early and found Barb's place entirely deserted - apparently she took my advice and has moved into her mother's house so she is not obliged to keep the house she is living in immaculate while also caring for a second house and working full time. I had come to understand the bookshelves were going to be left in the carport but they were not there. So I let myself in and looked around all over the upstairs area and found nothing resembling bookshelves, and downstairs there was just the one set. Fortunately these were the right ones (as we established by text message this afternoon) as they are the ones I loaded into the ute and took away. She now tells me there may be another set under the house, so I am living in hope, having all but filled these with the books i was given by my other friend that is moving. The Ngaio Marshs all but fill the top shelf, the sundry novels by mixed autors more than fill the middle one, and the PD James's half fill the bottom one. As I have a spare key to her house I have left it hidden in a place for her to find (if she follows my instructions) so that the new owners, when the put in an appearance, will not find strange women wandering in and using their loos when down from the country.

I managed to achieve all of my errands this time which made a nice change, and had the additional luck of receiving the parcel of stuff that I had ordered on line. I will take the relevant bits into sewing tomorrow for Jean.

It is  a howling gale at present so bits of the house are shuddering and knocking against each other with gay abandon. I shall ignore it all as I bury myself in Ngaio Marsh's autobiography and feed wood into the fire while eating the last of the curry.

Only minus one last night and apparently tomorrow night will be a tropical six degrees (tonight is around zero apparently). I took the chainsaw in and to my great embarrassment is seems the most likely source of the problem is a blunt chain. I have been industriously sharpening it, but apparently the file needs replacing ........... who knew?! Anyway Andrew will have a closer look at it while he has it and will (hopefully) give it back on Wednesday.

Meanwhile I spent much of the day sorting through the wood heap for bits that were narrow enough to be cut with the drop saw, but thick enough to burn for a reasonable period of time once they were inside the heater. These are now all stacked indoors, cut to size and seem to be working well. Since it was relatively warm (well, sunny) today it has not been that cold once we recovered from this morning's fog and frost and so it has been possible to just keep it going shut right down, with only one small piece on at a time. I will 'turn it up' a bit when I get back from cleaning the bank.

My culinary excesses last night included porridge made with apples and walnuts - not terribly successful - I will try throwing in some cinnamon tonight and see what happens. It needs either that or honey and I don't have any honey in liquid form right now (what is in the jars is candied and fit only for scraping out for a teaspoon full once in a while as a snack).

I will head down to Hobart tomorrow I think, despite the forecast strong winds, as it will a) reduce wood-use and b) restock the dog food, albeit a little ahead of schedule. I will also pick up the set of bookshelves my friend is planning to get rid of during her house move (everyone I know is moving house right now - I am getting terribly itchy feet!).

Since it was minus two by the time I had gone to bed at nine last night I was not surprised to discover there was no water this morning and everything was a frozen white mass. Driving up to a friend's place around noon I passed several dams that were still frozen, as was the Lake. Not the ideal time for the chainsaw to die on me, but that is what it has done. I have spoken to Andrew and he says it will be at least two days before he can fix it so I am rather hoping I have sufficient of the lighter wood to be able to cut some with the drop saw. Otherwise I will need to go to bed early and rely on the electric blanket (and Seb and Smidgen, of course) to keep me warm.

I do have the odd electric heater so I can get them out and limit the heating to one room to save costs and maximise efficiency, but i will be glad when the chainsaw is sorted out.

The friends I visited are the ones who gave me the feast of books that I am currently working through. Their sale has finally come through and they will be leaving in 20 days, so I thought I had best call in while i remembered. I returned with yet more books, mostly Ngaio Marsh (who knew she was so prolific!), Arthur Upfield and one or two other more random books, including one that is the history of the formation of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club (which I guess will make a nice Christmas present for my other friend's husband who repairs bikes for a living).

Then up to Heather's as it was some time since i had seen or heard from her. She is busy painting her new house and has installed a lovely linen cupboard in the loungeroom using the doors off the laundry cupboard that no longer closed once her machine was installed. Clever lady Heather. It looks a really professional job and the colour she has chosen to paint it is also very appropriate to the age of the cottage. I wish I had her energy!!

Shadow found a ball when we were on the oval yesterday so last night and this morning was a case of him guarding it from Seb. I have now hidden it as it was becoming a little too contentious. But first we took it down to the oval and he had a lovely time playing fetch with great abandon. It is moments like those i suspect he will live forever, but he really is getting rather old now - thirteen years is a good age for a Labrador or a Rottweiler, and since he is a mix of the two I guess I can not hope to have him with me for much longer, but while he is still ready to have games and run around like a puppy I think I would be jumping the gun to have him put down. The trick will be balancing between that and letting him get so infirm he is distressed, and I suspect when that happens it will be all of a heap. Hard decisions our babies put us through at times.

I will be having last night's curry again tonight as it was rather delicious, if not as subtly flavoured as I had hoped, or perhaps it is simply old age that does not permit me to enjoy such delicated flavours any more.

The forecast suggested that if I wanted to get the washing done, today was the day to do it. Apparently though their idea of 'mostly sunny' and mine does not coincide as it was mostly overcast. But at least the clothes are clean now, if not entirely dry, and we are back to having a chinese laundry in the loungeroom.

I popped some chicken bones in the slowcooker and they have been simmering all day to make a stock. I added some more after I had filleted the chicken drumsticks for tonight's dinner and so I will now turn it off before I go to bed, rather than nowish which was the original plan.

Dinner tonight was a new chicken curry which involves a wide range of very subtle flavours, including saffron and pistachio. I am afraid they rather got lost in the stronger flavours of cardamom, and the lemon juice in which the chicken flesh was marinated before cooking, but it was quite a pleasant meal nevertheless. Since some of the pistachios failed to blend in the blender they provided a nice little flavour burst as you eat the meal, as long as they don't turn out to be a cardamom pod.

We are heading down to minus four tonight which will be crisp - it is already pretty darn chilly outside, but that does not appear to discourage Seb who is quite keen to head out the door once more. I suppose I will have to take him in case it turns out he really needs to do something, but I suspect it is just the interesting noises associated with activities outside. It being the second last night of school holidays I assume that the kids are getting the most out of life right now.

It's been trying very hard to snow for much of the day. Our temperature peaked at five degrees for a brief moment at 11:10 this morning but has been struggling to reach three degrees for the rest of the day. And that is before you subtract the chill factor which has resulted in minus degrees all day in terms of real experience.

Needless to say our day in the garden was cancelled as neither Syche nor I could get excited about being outdoors in such conditions, so we each stayed in our several homes and kept the fire going. I managed to dart out during one of the sunny spells that have interrupted the sleet and cut some seriously sturdy wood so that I had something to keep things going (I had not anticipated the need to keep the fire going flat out all day), and am now secure in the knowledge I will not freeze tonight, despite it going down to minus two.

The dogs and cats have spent much of the day in a pile in front of the fire - one on top of each other, so that getting my foot between the carpet of animals to gain access to add another log has been an exercise in skill and patience. We have one more run to get through before we settle in for the night, and I am not looking forward to it at all. Even less to the prospect of heading out to clean the bank. Thermals are not enough in this sort of weather!!!

Time for a new format methinks, so I have had a look at what is available that this was my choice. A library full of books is an important part of my life so it seems to fit very well to me.

It was a bit chilly this morning, more than minus three, so the taps were still and the chooks were very pleased when I added boiling water to their dish to thaw the ice and warm things up a bit.

I had a cottage to clean today and it turned into a bit of a saga as the telly did not work, and I could not find out what the problem was. Basically there is a central signal box in the main cottage, but strangely there was no electricity there, so I had a bit of a battle working out why. A phone call to the boss elicited the information that there are in fact two fuse boxes (I had been looking in the wrong one), so that sorted that out. But the phone call diverted to 'what do we do about David's resignation letter?' with the result it was over two hours before I finally got home to cut some wood. Fortunately the day was quite gloriously sunny and fine so that was not really an issue and some wood has been cut in preparation for tomorrow which will apparently be five degrees with showers. Since it is also our day for being in the Garden it does not look promising. But I guess we can always call it a day and not go.

I ate the last of the curry for lunch as I needed sustenance before wielding the chain saw. As a result tonight's dinner is pizza from the freezer, and the chicken for the next curry is sitting thawing out in preparation for tomorrow.

All I can say is it will be a long time before Prince Charles pops in to admire the handiwork on my place, lol. Castles in the Air is a lovely book if you can lay your hands on it - the author's style is dreamy like I imagine she herself is. How two such unpractical people achieved what they did is beyond me, but achieve it they did. Well done them.

I finally pieced together the quilt I have been working on on-and-off for some months now. Having done so I can spot several blocks that are in the wrong place, but will only bother about one of them where there are two identical blocks side by side.

The overall effect is pleasing, though since it is made from all the fat quarters that I least liked, it is probably destined to be a spare bed quilt. I will add a couple of borders before I get Caroline to quilt it together for me.

And no, I won't be making another one like this one, lol.

Things seem to have settled down once more and the person who threw a hissy fit at me last week was back to her usual lovely self, so I am pleased about that. I don't feel it would be helpful to raise the subject with her, so will just let it drift I think.

Curry for dinner tonight and I will be early to bed as it seems to be settling in for the frost they have been threatening for a few days now.

Another Ngaio Marsh under my belt and I am currently making headway on a book called 'Castles in the Air' which is an account of a young couple who bought a 45 room derelict castle in north wales and set about restoring it - and i thought I was brave....

I froze the rest of the paprika chicken and made a beef curry for dinner tonight. It is another of Delia's recipes from her book 'one is fun', but I think she must have had a rush of blood to the head as it called for 500 g of meat which is clearly way too much for one person for one meal. I doubled the recipe and will be able to freeze some meals as well as the big one I had tonight, and probably dinner tomorrow as well. Very tasty it was too!!

I tackled cleaning the oven today - not my favourite job - but it is now gleaming clean and shiny. Now all I have to do is remember to take the bulb with me next time I go to Hobart and see if I can get a replacement as it no longer works. I will have to find the manual so I can work out how to access it I suppose.

You can feel the chill coming down tonight as we head for another minus degrees (but only one degree tonight), but the fire has been going all day so it is quite cosy indoors for all of that.

Looks like Winter has settled in with a vengeance. Our overnight temps for the next six days will be below zero, and our day temps in single figures. In preparation I industriously cut even more firewood and should be good for a couple of days at least. I expect I will need to cut even more tomorrow as I will be out on Wednesday for much of the day. At least this time I will ensure the chainsaw comes in overnight. I left it out in the last deep chill and found it took quite some time to get it to run on idle as it stalled after each log, due to the frozen state of its innards.

I finished 'Raise the Titanic' by Clive Cussler (I am so glad they didn't actually do this in real life as the lack of respect indicated in the novel would have shattered my soul), which was a thundering good yarn, and am now wallowing in a rather amusing Ngaio Marsh which is set in New Zealand for a change (good thing too as she is a Kiwi herself).

The Chicken in Paprika sauce is rather tasty on the second time around, but I think I will freeze the rest as there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I bought some yoghurt tonight, so will do a beef curry tomorrow for a change of pace.

It's been raining on and off all day today, though not terribly productively. The last I checked there were four mm in the gauge.

The mouse saga ended unexpectedly with Esther, who had been benignly watching the efforts of Seb and Smidgen, leaping down from her box and grabbing the mouse while the other two were at the opposite end of the couch. She sat there looking bemused for a few minutes then gave it to Smidgen who she still considers to be her kitten (they are not related). Smidgen played with it for a few minutes then passed it on to Seb who seems to have drowned it in saliva. The corpse was cremated.

Then Seb was taken outdoors for a last minute pee, but was distracted by two possums running along the top of the fence. He leapt forward and let out a very odd noise - sort of a high-pitched 'wa-oooooooooooooooo' as he stood in his hind legs as tall as he could go and danced around. I persuaded him to come back indoors and that was the end of that.

Apart from getting a bit more wood cut, and doing some embroidery my main achievement of the day was converting some frozen chicken drumsticks into chicken in paprika sauce which is another rather tasty meal from 'One is Fun' by Delia Smith. The main problem with the book is that it really does provide recipes for one meal for one person, so it becomes necessary to bulk up the ingredients as I would not contemplate wasting electricity to cook a single person's meal.

It was rather tasty, served on buttered noodles, and will make for several more meals. But since last night's dinner involved paprika, and so did tonight's I begin to wonder if one can have too much paprika for one's health. So the remains will probably get frozen for later on.

The porridge I made yesterday is particularly nice. I added dried apples, cinnamon and almonds, so it tastes a bit like apple pie. I generally add nuts and dried fruit when making it, but this was one of the more successful combinations. Apricots and almonds are also very nice.

The rain arrived this afternoon today, so I managed to cut two barrows of wood to bring indoors before it started. Most of it is pretty light stuff, kindling and so forth so I will be cutting more tomorrow, weather permitting. The washing is almost dry but still festooned around the loungeroom. Smidgen has a mouse (I hope it's a mouse) behind the sofa in the middle of all the building materials stored there, so he and Seb are rather restless, while the other two are fast asleep.

I cooked those Hungarian Baked Pork Chops again tonight and very tasty they were. I once again failed to save one for tomorrow, but I expect I can cook something else instead.

Another Ngaio Marsh bit the dust and I have just embarked on yet another. After that I will move onto a different author for a break. So many books - it's like a feast!!

Then plans to finish off the washing took a bit of a beating when it started to rain heavily as soon as I was  back indoors from taking the dogs for their morning walk. I checked the forecast and concluded there was no point in deferring the inevitable so did it anyway, festooning the loungeroom like a Chinese laundry. Between downpours I darted out and cut a load of wood and was just settling back - job done - when the sun came out. Sigh.

I decided that putting the washing outside was going to be too much hassle so settled back to finish the Memoirs of a Geisha, which I have to say is a remarkable book - the more so since it was written by a man.

Cleaning the bank took but a moment - it seems the girls are back now and the toilet seat was down, the floor a lot cleaner, and no-one had been reading the newspaper at the side desk! What a difference it makes in terms of getting the job done when you have neat clients!

Yesterday started a little grimly with minus five to greet the dawn. In the absence of a water supply I had to resort to a cat wash in the basin to get me going. Pity as I really needed to wash my hair, so I was not a happy camper for much of the day. Things did not improve when I went to sewing and one of our number had a hissy fit at me because I had suggested she might like to learn how to send private messages in Facebook (she had started chatting about a proposed quilting trip in the comments section of a post about a child starving to death...) She threatened to storm out while I was still sitting there wondering what it was all about and then everyone descended on me for upsetting her (apparently the fact I was upset was not of concern). Fortunately I received a phone call shortly afterwards from a friend who was in town and wanting to join me for lunch so I left and went on to happier things.

Lunch was lovely (a Reuben Sandwich at E-sence) and we then wandered around some of the more high-end shops in town browsing over garden delights, antiques and fabulous designer clothing (yes, we do have some very odd shops in Oatlands).

Today the start was a little less chilly and the minus two they had predicted completely failed to eventuate, so I was able to have a proper shower and get two loads of washing on the line before heading out to clean the cottages. Afterwards I called in to see one of the sewing ladies as I recalled I had not paid my dues the previous day. We had a lovely chat, a cup of tea and cake, and a brief discussion about the previous day. I had considered simply not bothering any more with the group as they do seem to be the source of many an upset, but she convinced me to try once again, so I will go next week as if nothing had happened.

While I was out yesterday Seb stole half a large block of dark chocolate and consumed it in its entirety, so I was rather worried there might be unpleasant side-effects, what with chocolate being bad for dogs, but apparently he has a bullet-proof stomach and there is no sign of any undesirable results at all. All very surprising, but there you go - a good outcome.

I was greeted by a light smattering of snow when I took the dogs out for their last pee of the night last night. This morning it was marginally thicker, but a pretty half-hearted effort all up. I did, however, feel it advisable to delay my departure for Hobart by a couple of hours to let it clear off the roads before I set out.

My main mission today was, of course, the cats' prescription diet from the vet at Montrose, but I also wanted to get a magnetic board with strips that is apparently the best thing since sliced bread in terms of keeping track of where you are up to in a counted cross stitch. I was assured Spotlight stocked them (and so they did, ten years ago) but they were no longer available. So I went to the Needlewoman (now Threads) and they didn't have any either. I was resigned to my loss then thought of the shop in Sandy Bay (A Stitch in Time) so, since I was already in the depths of urban living, I headed down there also. Having once again struck out, I returned to the frozen north via the new Bunnings store (strange how such a new store could have toilets that already look well-worn), concluded it was all too much and headed home.

Having done my best to support local businesses I resorted to ebay and found what I wanted on Amazon (but not ebay oddly enough). Sigh.

We are planning for minus five tonight so I have lit the fire and am burning it full roar at present to raise the temperature indoors to an acceptable level before turning it down a bit. The dogs, having had a bit of a walk around the oval, have concluded going outside is a mug's game, and we are all preparing to hunker down with little further ado I think.

I finished the book I was reading (Blackbird) and I am afraid it all came out in a rather predictable manner with the villains all getting their just desserts and the goodies all reaping the rewards of their honesty. Sigh. Light trash, but I guess it passes the time. Tonight I will be starting Memoirs of a Geisha which I am rather hoping will have  little more intellectual substance to it.

It's a bracing three degrees right now (feels like minus .6) but fortunately still and therefore manageable. The wood cut today was of the lighter, smaller variety so the house has been cosy all day (the faster burning wood seems to chuck out more heat), though supplemented by larger bits as required.

I have so far given up on Plague Dogs (Richard Adams) and the Autobiography (all that boring hobnobbing with upper middle class Brits got a bit wearing), and have embarked on Blackbird which I had hoped would be an insightful look at the treatment of Kanakas on the cane fields but seems to be a moderately researched historical novel about a family with more money than taste and another family (half-caste Chinese, runaway Kanaka dusky maiden, nice welsh housewife caretaker) who are at loggerheads from time to time in a low key kind of way. Still, it is about the level of intellectual stimulation that I can handle right now, so will probably be read to completion.

Apart from cleaning the bank tonight there seems little has been done all day, though I did save myself some paperwork by making a few phonecalls instead. I am toying with a trip to Hobart tomorrow but the weather does not seem terribly encouraging for long-distance driving, so I probably won't.

It was a bit of a rush this morning to cut some firewood before heading into the Community Market as they were forecasting rain from late morning. Not sure which morning they had in mind as we are still waiting. Still, I got a barrow load in which will tide me over today and much of tomorrow, but tomorrow night's forecast minus three suggests I should probably cut some more. I think I will get the drop saw out for some lighter wood also as that seems to help building up the room temperature rather than the slower burning larger logs.

The Market was a bit grim this month with only four indoor stalls (two outside for sheep poo and large blanket boxes), and only one of them selling food. Still, I purchased a tea cake and a tray of chocolate brownies (with walnuts and sultanas in them), and scurried home once more.

It has been one of those still, overcast, damp-feeling days that make it feel a lot colder than it actually was. So much so that I have four layers of clothing on top and track bottoms at the nether regions. Now the dogs have had their last walk for the day (other than two short visits outside to pee before bedtime), I also have my uggs on. I actually had to shut myself into the lounge to build up anything resembling a tolerable temperature - it is 8 degrees in the bedroom now the curtain has been shut!!

Woke to the sound of rain on the roof, which was the 'clearing showers' they warned us about. Since they showed no sign of clearing I didn't bother starting the washing, but then they did. So I started to get organised and the wind picked up and I decided not to bother. Then the wind dropped but by that time it was midday and by the time the load was done it would be one and washing really has to come in by two at this time of year if you want it to be dry, so I still didn't bother. Probably a bad decision as it will be raining for the next several days, but you know what? I don't care.

Finished another Ngaio Marsh and started another. This one did not appeal from the outset as the cast of characters was altogether too 'antic' and it seemed like it was going to give me a headache, so I set it aside and started a partial autobiography by PD James called Time to be in Earnest. I had no idea she as as old as she is and her childhood reminiscences are a delight, as are the glimpses into her day to day life that the format provides. She writes it as a daily diary so you get to hear where she is going that day, and then she muses on about some aspect of her life. Very engaging reading.

Cut a load of wood (after running into town for some chain bar lube), and piled it inside - it will not tide me over the forecast damp and chilly spell, but at least it will give me a good start. I mean to go to the Market tomorrow, after which I will hopefully concentrate on some paperwork I need to get done. Meanwhile I will reheat last night's pot roast (which was very tasty) and fry up the veges as bubble and squeak.

Last night was not all that chilly considering they were forecasting minus two - we didn't even get a very impressive frost. All very odd. Today was lovely sunshine but still rather bitterly cold, so it was a good thing we had a short day in the garden. Despite it being the last day of term a group of kids did come over and made themselves very useful barrowing our new pavers into the garden and stacking them neatly for us near where we propose to use them. They were three short, but whether that was at the delivery end or our end i don't know (the plastic wrapping had been partly removed so possible someone pinched some). Any way, three is neither here nor there so we will not make a fuss about it. Where they are they are not visible from the lane that runs alongside the garden so hopefully no more will go walkies in the mean time.

I put  a pot roast in the slow cooker this morning and it seems to be going nicely. I will turn it up to high while I am at the bank to finish it off for dinner. Have just popped in some potatoes and peas to join the carrots, parsnip and onion that are already in there. It smells delicious, so I am rather looking forward to having it for dinner.

I also splashed out and bought two pizzas to go in the freezer for when this meal is done. With a bank to clean this evening I will be quite worn by the day's exertions, but at least I will be coming home to a cosy house.

It tried very hard to snow today but without success. It was certainly cold enough for it. I have had the fire chugging away all day and so it is nice and cosy indoors, but outside it is a bit of a horror show. The Ice practically cuts off your nose as you leave the house.

Tomorrow should be a tad warmer (after minus two overnight) but I am rather glad that Syche and I agreed not to bother to get into the garden till one in the afternoon for all that.

Two more cottages today, seems to be rush hour right now. Both nice and neatly left by guests who even did their own washing up. I tried a new way of making the beds up that my alter ego has adopted. It is disconcerting as I usually tuck the end in first then do the hospital corners and work my way down the sides to the head of the bed. She tucks the sides in first and does the hospital corners the other way around. The first bed did not go so well as it has a foot on it, but the second attempt worked. I have to say it does look rather more luxurious, so I will try to remember to do them that way in future.

I finished the Mary Stewart which turns out to be a very sympathetic telling of the story of Mordred and Arthur, with Mordred rather surprisingly being cast as a nice bloke. Well worth the read. It is called 'The Wicked Day'.

Today was all a bit scrappy. Woke to a foggy morning with frost on the ground and set off to clean the cottages once all was sorted at home. I had cut a barrow of wood, but didn't bother to carry it indoors as I didn't want the dogs all worked up with my comings and goings.

After the cottages were done (one blocked toilet, one tap falling off), I headed over to sewing and made a bit more progress on the counted cross stitch. Not much today as it was backfilling gaps in some of the work already done, and the next bit would involve the very complicated four-shades-of-gold work on the ear of wheat that I had already started some time ago. I balked at starting that when I was surrounded by interesting conversations and had lots of stuff to sort at home, so off I went, via the shop for a few basic supplies.

Home once more the dogs were walked, the wood brought indoors and the fire lit. I also picked up the clothing that someone left at the cottages over a month ago but has not claimed, and have added the shirt and teeshirt to the washing, while the padded sleeveless jacket is hanging in the cupboard awaiting a suitable occasion for use.

I called into the bank to inquire about the fate of the money I found but there were two blokes serving and I had no idea who they were (I had wondered why the toilet seat was being left up, now i know). They told me it was in the safe in an envelope but they neither had any idea what the appropriate protocol was, so I left them to it. I will be in again this evening to clean once more.

Since we are apparently expecting snow tomorrow I have made the place secure and will sit back and wait for it to happen. I do have a cottage to clean, but I expect any snow will hardly prevent me getting in to do that. Just bracing myself for the winds that will be bringing it up from down south. There is a solid line of precipitation southwest of Tassie right now, showing heavy falls across the centre of the band, so I expect there will be some strong winds to bring that up for our pleasure!