Drama on Christmas Day

I went to my brother’s house for Xmas Day.  All of his family and partners were there and after a huge spread for lunch, bro did a Santa Claus and gave out the presents.  Mine from brother Graham and his partner Carole was a bottle of Chandon which I will look into tomorrow when my daughter Helen returns from their trip to Queensland.   Right at the end of pressie time bro Graham dropped to one knee and called his partner to centre stage.  I could see some drama unfolding there.  Bro told her that he hoped that she would accept this gift...sighs from a few people and Carole opened the new ear rings and put them on.

As it turned out, Carole knew what bro was going to do.  Laughs all round. 

Great Danes

Daughter Helen has been looking after friends' dogs.  They are Great Danes....gentle giants; almost big enough to ride.

The Ford/Simca Vedette sedan 1960 model

Sorting through piles of photos and negatives I found this pic of the rear of a house that we purchased in 1975 whilst on leave from teaching in Papua New Guinea.  The pic was taken circa 1960 and I wondered what make of car was in the photo.  It has an American look to it.      Just yesterday I saw a story on line about French cars and recognised the mystery car as a Simca Vedette.  

The American style is because the first models were made in the French Ford plant and sold as a Ford Vedette.  The  French company Simca took over the Ford plant and built more Vedettes, the last model being as pictured below.

Birthday pressies

For my recent birthday I received a few great pressies.  Another one was from a wonderful ex-student of mine, Krissy.

She hand-crafted me a wall hanging, suspending a vase with a plant.  I am not really a plant person so I am unsure of what kind of plant it is.  I am more familiar with edible plants.

Krissy’s mother is a skilled artist and she is interested in illustrating a short story my late wife Joan wrote some 40 years ago. The story is named ‘Another Way Home’ and I believe it is well worth publishing.  It is loosely based on Joan’s farming family in country Western Australia.  

Green Almonds

A couple of days ago I heard very loud screeching from around 15 native black cockatoos as they demolished my neighbour’s almond crop.  I took a short video and sprayed them with water to send them off and yesterday at the local market I saw green almonds for sale. I have never in my 78 years seen green almonds for sale.  Come to think of it, I have never seen almonds sold in shells before.

Turn up your sound.

And so, Mr Google gave me a few tips for eating green almonds.  After I lightly fried them with a seasoning of salt and pepper, I consumed them tasting nothing but the seasoning.

Probably get a better result from lightly fried block soap.