Reading them again

I haven't read the Chronicles of Narnia in years and I thought it was high time to enjoy them again. I asked for the all-in-one volume for my birthday last year, but hadn't started reading it yet until a few weeks ago. In the past, I've read them in the order in which they were released, but this volume is in "chronological order" as the events unfold in Narnia. I'm up to the third book which is A Horse and His Boy.

I'm sure that I've read these books at least twice through in the past, but I'm surprised at how much of the details I had completely forgotten. Everything is familiar to me, but I can't remember how the different storylines will come together in the end. I still really enjoy C. S. Lewis' humor sprinkled through out.

New post label

I've added a label to my list called "Tracy 101". I added that label to the posts I've written that tell more details about who I am so that new readers can quickly learn more about me. It can also come in handy for those who want to cram for the "Tracy quiz" on Facebook. :o)

Getting Serious

It's time to get serious about planning our Sydney trip in September. I bought these two books for us to get some ideas. The one on the left is by Eyewitness Travel and it's just a "down and dirty" reference with lists of restaurants, hotels, sights, etc, grouped my neighborhood. I thought it would be good to take with us when we are out and about. The one on the right is the Lonely Planet book which is more in depth. I liked it because it includes info about some good day trips outside the city as well as within the city.

We've decided that we're going to head straight for Tasmania upon arrival in Australia. I haven't booked our tickets yet, but we should be able to fly to and from Tas for about $200 each round-trip. While in Tassie, we'll visit the cyber-famous Mike and Christine as well as Pablo's devoted human staff members Kate and Nick. They've suggested that we go to the Salamanca Market on Saturday. We'll also likely visit some acquaintances in the city of Launceston which is just 2 hours north of Hobart.

Once we return to Sydney, Ruth has very sweetly offered to help plan our itinerary to maximize the time and what we can see and do. Here is our list of planned stuff so far:

1. Meet and have some sort of party/mixer with as many of the following people as possible: Ruth and family, Nixter, Craig, Ian (Rodeoclown) and family and Erin.
2. Attend church and hear AB preach.
   
3. Go to Toronga Zoo with Ruth and the kids
4. Take the ferry to Manly Beach (this ferry goes under the harbor bridge and past the opera house) and perhaps a ferry that goes deep into the bay.
5. See the Blue Mountains area
6. Visit "The Rocks" historic neighborhood
7. Wine tasting in the Hunter Valley

I hope that won't be too much to fit into 8 days. It is amazing how quickly a 2 week vacation can just disappear when you start planning all you want to do.

My Wordle

Thanks to Kristina for telling us about this website. This is the "Wordle" created from the RSS feed of my blog.

Did she say chickens?

Yes, I did say chickens. Denis and I have several friends with chickens and love getting to eat very fresh eggs from healthy hens. We have been thinking very seriously of getting some of our own. In fact, we've pretty much decided that we will do it... eventually.

Here are the steps involved:
1. visit your friends who have chickens

• ask them lots of questions
• examine their coop design
• ask about the breeds they like and why

We have done this step. We've picked the brains of my former next-door neighbors, my friend AMG, a family from our church and one of my coworkers who all have chickens.

2. research chicken coop designs
basic?
or fancy?

Knowing Denis, this phase will take quite a while... He is looking at all kind of designs online. I particularly like the AMG's advice to build the nesting part up at shoulder height so that egg collection and clean up are streamlined. Once Denis has figured out the precise design and how much material is needed we can move on to step 3

3. build coop in the area between our house and my mom's
Again, this is Denis' realm. Once he gets to it, I've no doubt it will be perfect. Part of the yard will also have to be penned in so that we can let them out to roam a bit.

4. decide what breed of chickens to get. Should we get adult hens? or chicks? AMG swears by getting adult hens. My coworker has an organic farm and gets chicks each year of all different breeds. They are so funny!

5. buy supplies and chickens.

6. collect and eat eggs!

Are you surprised by my thoughts about chickens?

More flowers

Is anyone getting bored with flower pictures from me? Above are our roses in bloom.

Below is our rhododendron that we planted last year. This is the first year that it's bloomed for us.
Here's a close up of the flower. I like it.

I'm getting some suggestions for a new post. Here are the options:

1. more about our plans for Australia
2. something about the cats
3. something that I've read lately
4. a movie that I've seen
5. a project that I'm working on
6. a friend coming to visit
7. my thoughts about chickens

So, what's your vote? What shall I write about next?

A very good sign

Our renters decided to plant a garden! They asked our permission first and we said, "go for it". They have plans to make some changes in the front yard as well. They've been mowing, watering and even offering to do some of the yard work that is not really their responsibility at all. They seem to be "putting down roots" so to speak. Ha! Pardon the pun.

Below you can see some more of their handiwork. The deck badly needed new stain. Denis was planning to just do some minimal prep work, so he purposely bought stain the same color so that it wouldn't be obvious. Well, then we thought, why not ask if they would like to do the work in exchange for a reduction in the rent for one month? They did, and boy a job they did. They sanded the entire deck and really did a good job. We're hoping they stay for a while.

I win!

Ever since I became a cat owner, I have not been able to have flowers around my house. I really like to have a cheerful boquet of flowers on a table top or counter, but whenever I do, curious cats always manage to get up when I'm not looking for a sniff. They don't stop with a sniff - then they have a nibble and before I know it, my beautiful flowers are not very beautiful anymore. Petals fall off, greenery disappears. Not only that, I'm not really sure what plants are safe for a cat to eat, so I worry about them

Well, I found this tiny vase at a local street fair a few weeks ago. I thought it was a rather ingenious solution to my problem. Last time I checked, my cats were not able to scale a refrigerator!

Future Veggies

Here is the new planting bed that Denis built this year. It is not up off the ground, but rather just an improved area in the grounds with the wood border around it. It's for our larger vegetables and the vines that want space to spread out.

Here is a close up of the corn, beans and green onions sprouting up.

One of the raised beds from last year is now occupied with maturing garlic. This is our first attempts at garlic and I'm so excited to taste and see how different it is from the stuff that we buy in the store.
The other bed has the old familiar folks from last year - tomato, carrots and lettuce, plus some new comers - radishes and broccoli. I also picked a head lettuce this year instead of leaf. A friend gave us a "ground cherry" plant. Apparently, it is a relative of the tomatillo but it's sweet. Should be interesting.

I didn't take a picture of our two strawberry plants or our raspberry plants that were put in last year. Hopefully we'll get some nice berries this year.

It's about time!

I added a few new songs to my music playlist and changed the order around a bit. Don't want you all to be getting bored by the music. I'm so happy to know that some of you open my blog while you link to others' so that you can listen. :o)