Diabolical Clay

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Biiirthdaay dear Veronicaaa

Happy Birthday too yooou

And in honour of my gorgeous daughter, she of the sleepless nights and busy days. The erstwhile inventor of the fantabulous word schwacker. She of the mousecepades and indoor ponds and how could we forget her vibrator reviews.

I present three photos of the birthday girl herself…

Tadaaa….

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I hope you have a lovely day.

Yay for Lotus.. This is all her idea so you should really go over and join in the fun as well..

I was playing around with the mirror effect in my photo programme and I really like the next two shots, the third photo is the original..

Harry the dog is looking into the shed window, he is trying to get Jeff to come outside and throw the ball for him.

This next photo is especially for Kelley because I know how much she lurves crocs. I didn’t realize how grubby the mirror was until after I had taken the photo..ooops

I love love love taking photos of the fire. My chinese astrological sign is the fire horse.

Well that is all for this week. cheers Kim xxx

As promised here is my post revealing the mystery item. I asked you what you thought this was.

Your answers ranged from, water over rocks to poo.. In a moment of weakness I gave everyone a hint, saying it was something to do with food.   Alas no-one even came remotely close… *sigh*

It was of course a piece of nori..Yes the stuff you use in sushi..yum..

cheers kim xxx…

Yes you read correctly… The main tumour has shrunk by more than half… Can we have a Woohoo! A Yay! and a thankyou to whichever Deity, God or Goddess you believe in.

The main tumour has gone from 23×26mm to 16×9mm and the smaller secondary nodules (that weren’t targeted by the radiation) have also shrunk from 7mm to 5mm and 7mm to 6mm.

I am so unbelievably happy at the moment and relieved.

*skips away*

Oh and I will tell you what the Mystery item is tomorrow.. But I will give you a hint now.. It has to do with food…

What do you think this little mystery item is?

Yep that is me, very easily distracted in fact. I sat down to write a post this morning  and ended up reading other peoples posts instead. I also lurked for a bit on a few random blogs and generally avoided doing any writing at all.

Tomorrow we get an update of what is happening with Mum’s tumours. We are going in to the Doctors appointment together. Veronica, Mum and myself. Between the three of us we should be able to remember what the doctor has actually said. I tend to zone out when I am stressed and then I realize that I have somehow missed big chunks of the doctor’s monologue conversation..

Also my lovelies does anyone know what this tree is?  My pop grew it from seed and gave it to me about 15 years ago. I have asked my Nan but she can’t remember what it is. You can click on the images to make them larger… I hope someone knows what this tree is because not knowing its name is giving me the shits..

I haven’t felt like posting any photos today for Weekly Winners. I don’t know why. I just feel that I am in a photographic rut and that I am just posting the same photos week in and week out. I don’t know if it is just me feeling flat because I have been expending a lot of creative energy in other areas.  dunno…

Yes that is right folks, this week there was a winner.. YAY!!!! Marylin was the first one to correctly guess that this weeks mysterious item was in fact prunes…

Julie also mentioned prunes in her answer as did Bendy girl…Jientje talked herself out of guessing prunes and went for dolmades instead.Taz also guessed that the ever so mysterious item was Prunes. So this week it is a great big *Yay* for the girls.

:- and because so many people mentioned dolmades here is a recipe for them..

DOLMADES aka STUFFED VINE LEAVES…

250g (8oz) onion, minced

410g (13oz) short grain rice

150ml (5 fl oz) olive oil

1 tablespoon dill, chopped

1/2 cup mint, chopped

1 tablespoon salt

40 small vine leaves

150ml (5 fl oz) lemon juice….

METHOD

1. Mix the onion,rice.oil,herbs,salt and lemon juice in a bowl.  Boil some water and cover the vine leaves with boiling water and leave to soak for 15 minutes.

2. Put the vine leaves into cold water and leave for ten minutes.Drain and  dry them flat on kitchen paper or a tea-towel.

3.Place one tablespoon of the rice mixture on the vine leaf and wrap like a parcel.                                   ( use less mix if the leaves are small)

4.Place the stuffed leaves in a sacepan and cover with boiling water. Add 50ml(2fl oz) of lemon juice to the water. Place a plate over the top of them to keep them submerged and simmer for an hour.

You can use silverbeet or chard leaves if you dont have any vine leaves.

Cheers Kim

But still very very mysterious… What do you think this is???