mosaic road

Tour Starts Here

Today is the day, no more sleeps. By midnight tonight I will be winging my way to Africa, to Casablanca in Morocco. If you feel like doing this trip with me then just keep watching this space as I will be posting snippets and photos as I go on my 9 day cultural walking expedition into the Atlas mountain. I am presuming the internet will be  good most of the way until my night in a Berber tent and then I will be cut off from the rest of the world, gaining the utmost from my experience. Last night was pretty much a sleepless night for me as I am always heart sick leaving my family and pets. No matter where the destination or how much trip planning has been done I am always beside myself as the departure looms. Once on the plane, excitement will kick in !!

Appalling Behaviour

 

 

I love my dogs and I will even let them use my bed as their daybed but I draw the line totally about bones inside the house, let alone on the bed. The Cocopop is not one to accept my boundaries, she sees them as a challenge. Here she sleeps like a baby, total innocence NOT. The damning evidence is beside her but not for long. I stealthily removed it and offered it to Lucy. A beloved bone chomped up by another dog is a labradors' nightmare !!

Birthday Doggie

Lucy turns 14 today and she has been loved and adored everyday since we got her.

I watched her getting bigger and bigger in a pet shop cubicle. All her siblings were gone and she was alone and in a bid to be rid of her, her price was reduced. We already had 2 dogs but I could not bear to leave her another day in that place.

She was sold as a border collie cross but in reality is a greyhound x golden retriever but if lounge lizard was a breed of dog then that is her, to a T. She has spent most of her life on a bed, usually mine, snoozing. She may appear in the kitchen if you open a packet of cheese but has no other real interest in food and has been spoon fed on more than one occasion.

 

Three walks a day are offered, the lead rattled loudly, but she usually only comes on one. Her trusty canine buddy, the Cocopop, is her opposite and eats everything not nailed down and has to be first out the door on every walk offered. They co exist very happily and I often find them curled up in the same bed at night dreaming sweet little doggie dreams together.

 

Happy Birthday, gorgeous Lucy.

 

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New Diagnosis

I  have been to see a rheumatologist about my shoulder, she is known as a guru in this area. She said I had calcific tendonitis. All pretty similar symptoms and aetiology to a frozen shoulder, similar cure and recovery time frame too . The blob of calcium sitting in the joint made the diagnosis straightforward. Slowly it will dissapate. Luckily the pain has pretty much subsided and my movement range while not 100% is slowly improving so I have put the cortisone injection on hold for now. Thank heavens for anti inflammatories !!

Going Green

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We will be doing just that due to the bumper crop I have of silver beet. Luckily it cooks down and freezes well. As I picked this big bucket today I spotted a few snails having lunch. They will have to dine elsewhere tomorrow.

 

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"I Don't Like It"

As parents we dread these words at mealtimes but hear it a zillion times as our children grow up. We eat a lot of yogurt in our house and try to avoid the sugary fruity ones. I bought two two big cartons last week of good Greek plain yogurt as requested. Then I heard the dreaded words. I think it was a textural issue. As I hate waste some reinvention was called for before the use by date.  A Baked Yogurt Custard was the answer. So  two eggs, a smidge of sugar and vanilla was added to the yogurt then baked for 35 or so minutes till firm. The textural issues disappeared and a breakfast/dessert dish was created and enjoyed by all.

 

Pain in the... no not Neck but Shoulder

For the last few weeks I have had a really bad shoulder . I have headed off to the physio, had it strapped up, done my exercises but it has only got worse with pain and aching day and night. I can't brush my hair, shut the car door, put on my safety belt, get dressed, get undressed and so on. I saw my GP today and had an Xray. The diagnosis is a frozen shoulder. Ugh !!! So I am spending my weekend on pain killers and anti inflammatory medication. I think the cure is either wait and see or head off to have a cortisone injection.  I think I will wait and see this week but then given I am going away so soon the cortisone may be the answer.

Cheat's Cherry Crumble

It is Choctober for me and while not eating any chocolate has not been the problem I thought it would be I still hanker for a sweet alternative. As usual time is short and a crumble is quick to make but the cheat's version is quicker than quick. I opened a jar of morello cherries and put them undrained into my baking dish plus added a generous handful of blueberries. A plain vanilla or butter cake mix is sprinkled over the top, then over that goes chopped almonds or other nuts if you so desire or there are no nut allergies in your household. Lastly 100mls of melted butter is poured over the whole lot and then into a moderate oven at 160C. Yum !!!!!!!! And not a solitary cocoa product consumed .

 

 

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Trialling Another New Product

 

None of us can escape going grey and the necessary and constant trips to the hairdresser get costly. This week I bought a little magic wand that covers up my greying hairline and does it successfully too. I had heard about this hair mascara and bought one in dark blonde online. The colour match was excellent and it actually did a great job. I will still have to make those trips to the hairdresser but may be now  I can stretch out the time between visits.

Trialling a New Product

I think the egg gets a bad rap. I eat eggs, both yolk and white but lots of people including my daughter toss out the yolk . I spied this new product and  bought it for her.  It sat in the fridge, lurking, unused. So I added a couple of whole eggs to the mixture and some more spinach plus diced ham for a frittata. She loved it , so did I but for different reasons. She got to eat something with  the amount of yolk reduced and I got to eat something with a bit of golden colour. Scrambled egg whites and egg white omelettes look so sad and insipid and after all we eat with our eyes. I would not buy this type of product again as with any sort of premade thing I ever decide to try I end up doctoring it. I purely used it as a jumping off point and could have created the same thing from scratch.