MEDLARMAGHEDDON

It's been a while since I've done a food-related post but this year for the first time, I had the dubious pleasure of dealing with what was a) a fruit I knew practically nothing about and b) the inevitable immense harvest.

If the title wasn't obvious, I'm talking about the ancient, obscure, unusual and astoundingly delicious medlar fruit.

A GARDEN IN THE VALLEY

It's coming up to a year since I moved to my half-acre block in Tasmania's glorious Huon Valley and I haven't done much writing since...mostly because my average day off involves wandering out the back door a little after a leisurely breakfast and being distracted by a series of tasks that seems to take me until late afternoon.

I've enjoyed taking my time with developing the site, and where to put structures, and beds, and paths and plants. I've sat on a lot of decisions for a while before realising they were a bad idea and I've been putting into practice my old habit of just looking at a space until inspiration hits. Some spaces have needed more stare-hours than others...

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH - APRIL 2016

April has been a beguiling mix of warm, clear (and frustratingly rain-free) days with the occasional sudden dip in temperatures to remind us that winter is just around the corner, and the occasional spike to remind us that summer still wants to play.

IN THE GARDEN:

Last 3 strawberries of the season...

WORKING LESS FOR THE PLANET

As part of my most recent life overhaul, one thing I wanted to try out was a reduced work week, so that I could investigate that mythical beast called a work-life balance. Luckily, as well as getting a job offer very quickly, it was also a 4 day a week position.  I guess I imagined the eternal 3 day weekend giving me more time to relax and read, garden, get to the end of my to-do list (who was I kidding? It's huge) and go camping and exploring more often. But, as it turns out, there's been more to it...

To me, the life of a 40+ hour week seems to lead to a slow but steady feeling of being consistently flat. Not always exhausted exactly, but a constant feeling of wishing there were just a few more hours in each day. The kind of feeling that has been pretty much normalised by modern society as just 'getting older' - but is it actually normal?

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH - MARCH 16

Time to get back on track with the earth-loving, slow living posts, it seems like I've been talking about nothing but travel and vague plans to move on for ages! I'll try out regular monthly summaries to keep on track with where I'm at, and as an encouragement to keep progressing.

DYNAMO BREAKFAST

I'm a week into my sugar free month and, apart from probably eating a bit too much fruit as a coping mechanism, plus one mistakenly ordered mocktail over the weekend, I have been doing pretty well all up....considering that in one week, there's been an influx of gourmet chocolates from a returning work colleague, and an afternoon tea to welcome new colleagues that stretched over two days due to excess cake (I'd like to say this was an anomalous week at work, but it's a pretty common scenario).

SHADES OF LUNCHTIME

One of the upsides of working in the city is I can go for a stroll by the waterfront, the park, or wander round the mall. One of the downsides of working in the city - at this time of year - is that it's stinking hot, and a casual wander generally turns into a casual browse in an air-conditioned shop, which often leads to the casual purchase of a casual item.

Not shopping is super easy when you don't go to the shops, I've discovered (call it a eureka moment) - but when the beckoning CBD is a useful and healthy excuse to get out of the office, then what?
So as an alternative to casual consumption, I've decided to do mini photo-walks instead. Whatever I can find and shoot in half an hour, give or take. At the absolute worst time of the day for photography. The added bonus is that it will hopefully kick-start my photography mojo, which has been flagging these last few months. And, as I'm waiting on a new (secondhand) battery charger for my DSLR, I'll be using my neglected point and shoot. I've never really clicked with it (no pun) so it'll be a good time to figure out if we're going to get along in the long run.