Bells of St. Clements

I have a very healthy and productive lemon tree growing in my garden. For a few weeks now it's been dropping fruit all over the garden and me being me, I hate to see them go to waste. So I've been making squash instead of buying it. It's remarkably easy and tasty.

Lemon Squash

Ingredients
1 pint of water
500g of caster sugar
1.5 pints of lemon juice

Method
Dissolve the sugar in the water, do not let it boil.
Allow the sugar water to cool
Add the juice and stir.

Add water (still or sparkling) to drink, sparkling water and you have lemonade.

I've started freezing the mix now as I have over 10 pints. It'll be nice in the summer :-)



Now I have to figure out what to do with the darn mandarins and oranges.


The Bells of London

Gay go up and gay go down,
To ring the bells of London town.

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clements.

Bull's eyes and targets,
Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's.

Brickbats and tiles,
Say the bells of St. Giles'.

Halfpence and farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

Pancakes and fritters,
Say the bells of St. Peter's.

Two sticks and an apple,
Say the bells of Whitechapel.

Pokers and tongs,
Say the bells of St. John's.

Kettles and pans,
Say the bells of St. Ann's.

Old Father Baldpate,
Say the slow bells of Aldgate.

You owe me ten shillings,
Say the bells of St. Helen's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

Pray when will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

Chop chop chop chop
The last man's dead!

My Favourite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright crimson high heels and feelings of smitten
Being outside watching veg grow in spring
These are a few of my favourite things

Listenin’ to music and wild meeting doodles
Fresh warm bread smells
And laksa with noodles
alpaca that run with the herd, what that brings
These are a few of my favourite things

boys in white t-shirts with blue demin flashes
Make up and costume that match fake eyelashes
memories of childhood and all that, that brings
These are a few of my favourite things

When the cat bites
When the bell rings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don't feel...so bad

Sing to the tune of My Favourite Things from the The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Poetry Helps!?

A week or so ago while in the office I heard Sally’s’ boss (she sits just over the partition from me) say ‘well done Sally, it’s so nice to know you know what you’re doing’.

My immediate reaction was to flick her a quick one liner saying, ‘Ohh my god, how condescending was that?’
We’d been talking rhyme only the day before and I got back, ‘tis not just you, i felt it too, we did not misconstrue, on the conclusion we drew. I might just say, that it happens every day!!’

I was felling silly so I responded and before we knew it I could hear chuckles coming from the other side of the wall and then the email came

‘We could call this couplet therapy’ Sally said after the 10th email. For an accountant she has a great sense of humour ;-)

Over the past few days we have exchanged such gems as the following four;

why don’t you have a little rest
so when you wake you're at your best
for me ill stay awake
as i have to watch the snake

I had a rhyme for now,
but it seemed the sow
and the odd cow
didn't cut it some how ;-)

off the cuff
is exciting stuff
i'll take her guff
til ive had enough
lets go again
my rhyming friend!

What a witch,
with an itch
who will snitch
to that bitch ;-)

A Trip to Cutesville

A brief visit to Taronga Zoo today resulted in me seeing a somewhat rare occurence.

A koala awake!

Koala sleeps well
awake for only sixty
then asleep again

Tour Guide Extraordinaire – Day Two

The day started earlier with me meeting H and C at their hotel again. Our destination of the day was Bondi Beach. The weather was divine, but due to a little bit too much exposure on Saturday I was required to ‘go granny’. The high necked shirt, long sleeves and hat. I had even worn sunscreen!

We got a cab and arrived at the beach in time for lunch. So we choose to dine at Nick’s on the Beach, a seafood eatery with a great view. The sands that stretched out in front of us were white and covered in bodies. Some were brown and well able to handle the souring heat, but others where quite clearly from red headed stock or far northern Europe and where rapidly becoming the colour of the lobster on the platter we had ordered. Ironically enough, despite the faces pulled at dinner the night before, the oyster were the first things eaten.

After lunch we went for a walk on the surf line. At the end of the beach we sat on rocks and watched the seagulls fishing in the shallows. H and I didn’t feel the need to constantly chatter as we had covered so much the day before and we sank into a restful, comfortable silence.

We wedged ourselves onto a bus for the trip back to the city before H & I went up the Centerpoint Tower. C stayed on the ground and waited for us to come down. We then walked through Hyde Park, down Macquarie Street and through the Botanical Gardens, where H took full advantage of walking on the grass.

Our day and time together ended where it had begun, the City Extra 24 hour café for a cuppa tea.

It was quite sad to wave goodbye as she and her hubby walked through the barriers to the train. I walked back to Oxford Street slowly (two blocks from the flat) for dinner alone and wished, no, reflected for the first time in a very long time that I could get back to the UK more often to see my family. Then I got a text message from my Hubby telling me he was having dinner in Lone Star with his parents and I was glad I didn’t get back to the UK that often, ‘cause I’d have to see them too!

(394 words)

UPDATED : 12.34 22/2/07

I wrote a poem today about H's visit.

Swimming 15

I finally got to the pool at 11.20pm tonight, I did a measly 23 lengths in 20 minutes. I stopped when my legs had sunk so low in the pool that I hit the bottom with my toes. Oww! But then I suppose that's better than nothing.

After a rub down in the shower with my Lux Reflects and Illuminates (the purple one :-) I was inspired to write these.