Isolation with Mozart

To get you in the mood for a beautiful walk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhLO3qnLWR0

Piano Concerto No. 21, Andante (Elvira Madigan)  ...  much loved Mozart piece

Sirius Cove, the closest harbour beach to home, is the beginning of a fabulous walk around the foreshores to Taronga Zoo.  A walk such as this inspired 'Mosman Meanders and foreshore flavours' and still does, with its rich history and natural beauty.  

Our foreshores beckon

Child and dog-friendly - the beginning of the foreshore walk to the zoo.

Grey nomads on the road again - with Elvis

Hi Babyboomers
I wondering if you have been bitten by the nomad bug.  A few other friends have been on the move, touring around Australia and have survived - even enjoyed it! Being a grey nomad has not been a popular choice in our family where I refer to caravans as the "C" word. G keeps moving slowly but surely in that direction - buying a 4 wheel drive and then putting a tow bar on it (very subtle!)


Must admit our friends looked wonderful on their return and had some great tales to tell. Hmmmmmm.

We had a celebratory dinner on their return with the nomad theme, where much fun was had by all. We all dressed up as nomads, but I just couldn't do it, so I dressed as a female Elvis. Why you ask? Because the only way I could be lured in this direction, is if there is a purpose / destination of interest such as the Elvis festival which is on in Parkes this weekend.

Reluctant nomad
Clara
ps - I suppose I could still be a blogger.

To view or add comment, click on 0 comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au or visit my website at www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Relaxing in January

Hi Babyboomers
I hope you are relaxing and taking it easy. 

Had a lovely time but this is how I felt after Xmas

We spent a few recovery days at Nambucca Heads which is a delightful, relaxing coastal destination about a 5 hour drive north of Sydney. I'll let the video below take you there.   Click on the arrow.  Clara

To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au or visit my website at www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Chicken Chow Mein,Chop Suey !- Remember the first Chinese restaurants?



With a wonderfully wild freshness due to the overuse of
delicate herbs, this is a definite Clara favourite.

Hi there Babyboomers

We love Asian cuisine and Australia's multicultural immigration program lead to a diversification of cuisine, particularly under the influence of Mediterranean and South East Asian migrants.

Chop Suey

Remember the first Chinese restaurants?   So many of the dishes definitely had Chinese origins, but were modified to suit the western taste - I recall going to a Chinese restaurant  in US, which offered a side salad!   In Australia and US, an insipid menu by today's standards - Spring rolls, Dim Sims, Fried Rice, and Chop Suey which was 'assorted pieces of chicken, fish, beef, shrimp / prawns or pork and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as beansprouts, cabbage and celery, bound in a starch-thickened sauce and  typically served with rice.   Then there was Chicken Chow Mein, consisting of celery and onions in a whitish sauce with crunchy noodles, and  Sweet and Sour Prawns or whatever - great if the sweetness and sourness were balanced but more often, particularly re  the US version, consisting of an overly thickened super sweet sauce.

Most Australian country towns, to this day, have a Chinese restaurant where the food can be decidedly gloopy (or surprisingly wonderful)  but fortunately this is usually balanced by a Thai or general Asian restaurant.


The featured Asian herb salad recently got the tick with key players  where it went perfectly with the first course of BBQ chicken skewers served Asian style. See link below

The wonderfully wild freshness is achieved by massive overuse of delicate herbs along with an Asian dressing.   We've come a long way!
Clara
ps - is there any gold left?

Ingredients
250g / 8 oz rocket (arugula) leaves - (rimmed of excess stems (substitute any peppery lettuce)
125g / 4oz each of mint, basil, coriander  (leaves picked from stems, washed and spun dry)
30g / 1 oz chervil if available
2/3 cup canned bamboo shoots - (preferably already cut into matchstick)
Dressing
2 shallots, peeled, halved, and finely sliced
l tbsp rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
l tsp sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp mirin
sea salt and pepper

For the dressing, mix the shallots, rice vinegar, and sugar together in a small bowl and set aside.
Trim any excess stems from the arugula, and pick the herb leaves from their stems. Rinse and spin dry the arugula and herbs. Cut the bamboo shoots into matchsticks.
To make the dressing, whisk the olive oil, sesame oil, mirin, sea salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Stir in the shallot mixture, then taste and adjust the flavors.
Very lightly toss the arugula, bamboo shoots, and herbs in the dressing, and serve, with chopsticks.

Link for chicken skewers belowhttp://fitinyourjeanscuisine.blogspot.com/2010/10/skewers-capture-finger-food.html
To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au or visit my website at www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

'Drought, flood & bushfire - biblical constants'

'Drought, flood & bushfire - biblical constants'

Sheila, Australian slang for "woman"

They got her out -

she didn't last the night.

We feel for the livestock and

native animals trapped in the floods.

 
 
 
 
Clara - Stanthorpe Queensland - October 2002 Sheila in the Bog


A glimpse of bovine terror -
Rolled back eyes and flared nostrils
Showed your intense and overpowering fear

'Well done, men!  I knew we'd get the sheila out of the bog.

Of sinking further into the mud ...........

Dear Babyboomers

This is one of five posts you may relate to, as an Australian re flood and drought - but more so, as a universal citizen of Planet Earth. 

A general statement from Clara - 'So important to keep the receipts of the past - and now we are the elders of the tribe, our role is to ensure that they are kept.  We have the gift of experience.'  http://grannycircle.blogspot.com/search/label/flood%20and%20drought  - 5 short posts

Clara

ps - would love to hear your opinion

To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au or visit my website at www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Empathy for flood victims returning to devastated homes

Dear Babyboomers



Most tragic are the lives swept away in the flood waters of Queensland and northern New South Wales, but those returning to their devastated homes face loss of possessions, memories and hopes.
 Despite the generosity of Queensland Flood Appeal and the emergency response to the immediate physical needs of flood victims, there is a heavy emotional toll. Many people despair with the trauma and stress following a natural disaster as they rebuild their lives in the weeks and months to come.


A tribute to home - "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in"..... Robert Frost
or "Home is where the heart is" or "Home is where I hang my hat"


Hugh Mackay - 'What makes us tick?'    "Shelter to protect us from the elements, to have an uninterrupted night's sleep and to keep our stuff secure. Shelter is so fundamental to our comfort and, indeed our survival - almost on a par with our need for food and drink." and " .....partly an anchor, partly a refuge, partly a stable reference point in a world that seems kaleidoscopic in the complexity of its shifting patterns."



Whatever the definition, we can but try to empathise how it must feel to suddenly feel that loss of home. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you restore your home and your faith.


Clara


ps - below is a link if you would like to contribute towards the cleanup


http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Lifeline

 To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au or visit my website at www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Flood Lake Eyre ...... Listen to the Patriachs.

Dear Babyboomers
Revisiting the 60's - by two nerds
R wrote  - Ah the 60's. In all honesty my current 60's are more exciting than THE 60's. I graduated from highschool in 1964 and went on to college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It wasn't till my senior year there that things really started to heat up. I can remember seeing the famous Bascom Hill lined with white crosses and watching the protests on tv from my apartment. But for the most part I made my way quietly through the whole thing. In all honesty, I couldn't afford the luxury of being involved. I was too busy going to class, studying and working to support myself. Nary a whiff of tear gas reached my nose. In retrospect we now know that a very small (15%) of the students participated in the protests, those being wealthy students from the east and west coasts who had the time and the affluence.




Clara - We just went on with our lives, regardless, focused on our future, me with teaching, you with Uni, as it needs to be for young people.  At the same time, however, our young men, were subjected to a lottery which decided whether they remained focused on their future plans or whether they went to a foreign land to fight an unpopular war.   Whether the decision to involve was based correctly or morally, is for the historians  to decide.   However, we needed/need to give total support for those who followed the directions of the government at the time, wherever that may have been and history must reflect that.

That was then, this is now - we are the matriachs, and have much to contribute as do the patriachs (our guys)  re following article, which I include (I know you will question the relevance).  G has always said that the answer to Australia's water problem is to 'Flood Lake Eyre".  I could not let him miss this  - he reads the SMH, the HUGE, size wise, serious one, from cover to cover so this is for you Darling.  And it so fabulously Australian - we have visited most of these places mentioned.

Re - A wide brown land - listen to your patriachs - they give you the gift of their experience.  Ignore at your/our peril.  They have been there and have the knowing.  This is where we need to return to, in order to find the answers to the future.
Passionately Clara 

Outback ready for good times to flow
By Nance Haxton

Flooding brings out waterbirds  Queensland floodwaters are slowly making their way to South Australia, bringing great excitement to outback towns.

Water flows to Lake Eyre
Floodwaters are also making their way to Lake Eyre down the Warburton Groove.The lake has filled completely only three times in recorded history; the last time was in 1974.

But even a partial filling brings great excitement, and as local pilot Trevor Wright explains, it also brings the birdlife.
"It's really caught me by surprise. I never expected that we'd have two years in a row like this," he said.
"I think with the breeding season they had last year ... this year we're going to have a lot more water birds than what we've had previously.
"Having flown around the lake this morning where the water is, that's one of the things - especially pelican numbers - that's really surprised me."
While some townships are cut off, others are enjoying the unexpected boon. Oodnadatta roadhouse owner Adam Plate says the economic boost has spread far and wide throughout the outback.

"What we have as a result of rain is quite a lot of road traffic, millions of locusts [which] have eaten all the trees to pieces and mosquitoes which attack us," he said.
"I guess we'll be affected by the fact that [the] Simpson Desert, which is normally crossed from around about now - it's open for travel from Birdsville east-west, which carries traffic up to Ayers Rock or through Oodnadatta - that will be cut because of the floods ... west of Birdsville.
"So people wanting to cross the desert are going to be thwarted until quite late in the year and I guess that's going to change the way [they travel].""I don't think they're going to end up in ... the middle of the desert, having to drive back 400 kilometres, but you never know"

To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email -
clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au
 or visit my website at http://www.babyboomerconnections.com.au/

Technology had to be the winner this trip

Hi Babyboomers
I hope you had a great festive season and holiday.

We are back from holidays spent motoring down south - Victoria and Sth Australia.

We live in a huge dry continent; driving for days on end with a few towns and small cities breaking up the endless 360 degree horizon. The open road has it's own charm and rhythm if only for it's vastness;...... and then the spectacular contrast of our coastlines.

Technology, though has to be the winner for me this trip.

I was behind the door when a sense of direction was given out, and am a super careful driver who admits to avoiding some traffic conditions. The last time I drove my son to Central Station was "Mother's Last Drive", after he stated that I shouldn't be on the road. I agreed with him - on that occasion - where I ended up in the wrong lane so many times it was embarrassing and dangerous.

However - do you know that even if your inner GPS never did work, that there is hope!

I got to know 'Gypsy', the GPS I gave to my husband for his birthday. He has such a natural sense of direction that one of my pet names for him is 'Tracker', but even he has embraced this technology. Gypsy tells you (after you have given her your destination) "Prepare for a roundabout in 100 metres - take the first exit", or "You are over the speed limit!" - or as often happened on this trip since this was familiar territory to 'Tracker',........ "Destination Recalculation" - where she becomes quite agitated, suggesting "Turn right then turn back where possible - Turn back - Turn back!" - then when he doesn't, she settles down and accepts the new route. Gypsy has the honour of being the only woman he obeys!

Cheers Clara