Scientific Name: Turdus merula What's that the common Blackbird

Late afternoon and early evenings are my preferred time of day when I can relax, contemplate and listen to the melodic voice of the Blackbird.In the mornings I wake to the beautiful song of the male blackbird. He wakes all the other birds, doves with their incessant cooing, sparrows with their chatter, chatter, chatter, then the Butcher Bird and warbling magpies. Music that is only found in nature.

Well birds do have to have nests to breed --- Do they not ???

Hmm! Yes --- However not where I read the paper , on a specially designed table able to take The Age newspaper and my coffee cup.

Let the photos speak for themselves.

During the late autumn and winter the Blackbird is largely silent. Our resident birds can be seen scurrying around looking for worms, and if I leave the lid off the compost bin the think it is a feast day. If they are disturbed they will fly off suddenly, giving a harsh warning call .

I looked up Blackbird Turdus Merula and found that I may have to have morning and afternoon tea inside for a while.

A basic overview only.
Roosting nest: No
Nesting months: September to January
Nesting receptacles: Build a cup shaped nest. Will build a nest in a low bush. Will build a nest on any ledge wide enough to support a nest.
Nest: Built a large cup shaped nest out of grasses and assorted plant materials held together with mud. Nest is lined with soft fine grasses. ( I like this their nest is being lined with the coconut fibre from MY HANGING BASKETS)
Who incubates the eggs: Hen / cock / both share.

I do enjoy their song, so a little inconvenience is not arduous and look at the benefit We may have more voices in the garden.

Footnote --- Which bird is eating the berries from the Lilly Piilly and splattering purple blobs in the carport ???

Charms & Tripping around

Last Friday the 6th November we left Geelong at 9.15a.m. and after travelling over 300 kms we arrived back home at 6.20 p.m. It was my birthday so I decided we would have a day out in one of the places in Victoria that I had never been to. Our mission was to go to Maldon, I heard that the craft and Antique & Collectibles shops there were especially interesting .( I bought a charm pack and turned some of the 5" squares into this table mat.)We travelled through Ballarat and stopped off in Creswick

Creswick Lemon Tree Cafe and Crafts. Where you get the best Vanilla Slices and the coffee was pretty good also. They stock all the threads from Cascade House

Then on to Maldon

The opening lines on the Maldon site state. Maldon is Victoria’s best preserved gold rush town with its carefully maintained colonial buildings and historic precinct. In 2006, the National Trust awarded the "Most Intact Historic Streetscape" title to Maldon. The town has 21 sites listed on the Australian Register of the National Estate. Its 19th century streets showcase an eclectic mix of galleries, collectables, handcrafts, old pubs, cafes, provedores, restaurants and more.

I stopped off at the Village Patch and bought two charm packs one I used part of in the table mat above and a piece of creamy patterned material to do a stitchery on. The staff were very friendly and comfortable with me taking photos.

I ca not move this photo into the correct spot so a small digress. I have been making this Continental Fridge Fruit Cake for over 40 years, I have also seen it called American Christmas Cake . Recipe

1 and a 1/2 cups Brazil Nuts

1and 1/2 cups walnuts

8 ozs dates

2/3 cup mixed peel

1/2 cup EACH of red cherries, green cherries,and raisins

3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tbl spoon brandy

M,ix all ingredients together into a stiff mixture with all the sugar and flour combined with the eggs.

Bake in a slow oven 250 for 2and 1/2 hours, let cool in tin wrap in foil and try to keep in refrigerator until Christmas.

Now back to Maldon and some of the heritage buildings

This faded sign was for Rego Flour The Ruling Brand.

Love the Bushells tea sign , these signs are original, they must have made paint to last in the 1950s.

Well that's it for Today Take Care Margaret

"We shall remember them"

In Flanders the poppies blowBetween the crosses row on row,That mark our place, and in the sky,The Larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce hear amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.
Take up the quarrel with the foe;To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn flanders' fields.
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
Poppies are the perfect symbol for Remberance Day, which as always November 11. From time immorial they have been regarded traditionally as flowers of slumber and forgetfulness, but now they have become a national emblem of Remberance.

A card sent to my grandmother from one of her nephews. Herb Douthie came back from WW1.

These letters are from my fathers cousin to his parents, Herb was killed in WW1. These are a very small edited few .

Kensington Camp


4/10/1914


My Dear Mother

Just a line to let you know that I am OK. I am in the infantry and am getting on pretty well. When we go we will sail on the “Euripides” she is a fine boat. We have been supposed to leave several times now but have been delayed and don’t think we will get away for about a week now. I sent my rug and suit home sometime ago did you get it? My bag is at the railway and I will send it first time I can get. We are always shifting camp and parade and march from 5.30 in the morning till after 9 at night so we don’t get much time to write. There are a lot of men here I know. Answer this soon as we do not know when we might be going. I will write a longer letter next time.

Herb.
Address
H.N.Daws
C Coy 3rd Battalion
1st Infantry Brigade
Aust.I.E. Force

Mena Camp
6/1/15

My Dear Mother,
I suppose you have found out before this that we are in Egypt. I had 2 letters that were written before I left Aust. the other day and they had been to England. We landed at Alexandria and came up to Cairo by train. We are camped on the outskirts of Cairo about 10 miles from the railway station A tram line runs out here and the famous Pyramids and Sphinx are on top of the hill about 200 yards away while the “Sahara Desert” stretches away to the west and north. The Nile is a fine river. It was very interesting coming through the Canal. Of course Egypt a British protectorate and our 3rd Battalion received the honor of being picked out to protect the new Sultan on his drive through the streets. It was a great sight. Cairo is a big city but it is morally rotten. It is inhabited by Sudanese, Arabs, French, Greeks, Russians, Assyrians and several other tribes with a smattering of English. There are beautiful hotels Shepherds, and the Grand Continental. I am an expert Camel and donkey rider now as they are the chief modes of conveyance. I have been on City Piquet 6 or 7 times arresting all our chaps that break camp and get “shickered”. The Lankashire and Manchester Fusiliers are in the Kasr. El Niel Barracks here. They are terrible weeds. I hope to get some letters from home soon. I have some curios to bring home, some pieces of alabaster that are chipped out of the old temples of the Pyramids and a souvenir medal of our new Sultan. I have been all through the Pyramids and Sphinx. We expect to go on to Germany in a month or so time and I think I will be home for next Christmas. They are giving us a rough time here now. We go out on the Desert at 7.40 and go out about 8 miles and divisional training and trench digging and defence making and come home about 4 o’clock and have dinner when we come back. Tucker is very short here and we only get bread and jam before we got out and a bit of stew for dinner and bread and jam for tea. I can assure you our pack which weighs 80lbs gets very heavy about 3 o’clock. We have formed double companies and our company is now D.

What sort of a Christmas did you have? We actually had a Christmas pudding & some rotten wine that we could not drink,. I will be able to tell you yarns for a month without stopping when I get home. . The Indian troops are garrisoned all along the canal. Are you getting the money alright. Best love to all at home.
Herb. Address
D Comp
3rd Battalian
1st Inf. Brig

San Stefano Alexandria
10/5/15


My dear Mother,

Am in hospital got knocked over with a shoot. Have just been operated on and bullet extracted.

He says he is progressing quite well and sends his love.

H. Daws
· This was written on behalf of Herbert

My Own Dear Mother,

Just a scribble to let you know that I am still hanging it out. I am having a terrible time. It is now over 3 weeks since I was hit and I have been here about 2 weeks. I hope you can read this as it is the best I can do. I got hit in 5 places with a “Shrapnel” shell. I have been operated on twice and they have got the bullets out of me now but I am terrible weak. I have to stay in the one position as I can’t move for wounds and I am getting bed sores I expect to have to stay in bed for about 3 or 4 months yet I suffer terrible agony I will scribble a note when ever I can but it is very hard. We have English sisters here and Indian orderlies also some French orderlies 1 French Dr 1 English Dr and upstairs Indian surgeons. That is for this ward only. It is full of Australian and French wounded. I am afraid this war is going to last very long time. It is terrible cruel business right through. I do hope that if I get through we can all get settled down together again. Of course you never know what is going to happen. How is Maude getting on. I will not do too much writing for a while. I don’t think but I know you will all drop me a line. How are things getting on at home? I hope everyone is quite well and that you are keeping the best of health. Best love to the girls and yourself. Your loving son, Herb.


Hospital Camp a5
San Stefano
Alexandria
Egypt

Chatby War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt 6
Daws, Pte Herbert Norman, 899 3rd Battalion Australian Infantry. Died of wounds 1st June 1915 Age 21. Born at Broadford, Victoria Australia.
Son of Thomas and Beatrice Louise Daws,
Myrtle Villa,of Piney Ridge,
Grenfell,
New South Wales.
L. 144
Burial: 1 June 1915, Chatby Military Cemetery Alexandria Grave 1011

Poem: Armistice Day, 1933 by C.J. Dennis

By Perry Middlemiss on November 11, 2006 9:38 AM

This we have said: "We shall remember them." And deep our sorrow while the deed was young.Even as David mourned for Absolem Mourned we, with aching heart and grievous tongue.Yet, what man grieves for long? Time hastens by And ageing memory, clutching at its hem,Harks back, as silence falls, to gaze and sigh; For we have said, "We shall remember them."
"Age shall not wither. . ." So the world runs on. We grieve, and sleep, and wake to laugh again;And babes, untouched by pain of days long gone, Untaught by sacrifice, grow into men.What should these know of darkness and despair, Of glory, now seen dimly, like a gemGlowing thro' dust, that we let gather there? -- We who have said, "We shall remember them."
Grey men go marching down this street today: Grave men, whose ranks grow pitifully spare.Into the West each year they drift away From silence into silence over there.Unsung, unnoticed, quietly they go, Mayhap to rest; mayhap a diademTo claim, that was denied them here below By those who vowed, "We shall remember them."
"We shall remember them." This have we said. Nor sighs, nor silences devoutly plannedAlone shall satisfy the proud young dead; But all things that we do to this their land --Aye, theirs; not ours; of this be very sure; Theirs, too, the right to credit or condemn.And, if the soul they gave it shall endure, Well may we say, "We have remembered them."
First published in The Herald, 11 November 1933

Melbourne Shrine of Rememberance

Brownies, Christmas Cake,

My Santa swap parcel should have reached its destination today, yes I am a tad early, seeing that I was only posting to N.S.W. I like to be ahead of myself, just my nature.

The Christmas pudding is made so on to the Christmas cake - mixing DH took the photo I ask him to hang around as my arthritic fingers have trouble lifting and pouring the cake into the tin.

Tra rah! 4 hours later cooked cake. Now are you wondering about the newspaper ? Well for the last 40 years I have placed the cake onto a tray with about six pages of The Age newspaper folded over on it and tied two pages folded down to the size of the tin around the outside, never had a burnt cake since.

Ray Theron has a great offer .He says, If you are anywhere near Melbourne and would like to join me on a photo shoot be sure to email me at ray.theron@yahoo.com or visit my Facebook photography page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ray-Theron-Photography/155024444188For $20 per person you will have access to all the experience I have acquired in over 40 years of photography and have a lot of fun too! Photo shoots are normally on Sunday afternoons and typically last for two to three hours, although you will be free to leave at any time.

Dzintra Queen of the Armchairs has a very nice Brownie recipe so I thought I would share mine. well it isn't mine the recipe comes from the well known and loved Brown's Bakery when it was in Toorak. The shop has gone but thanks to Epicure and The Age the recipe lives on the baker at Brown's was Phil Mutton it is his recipe.

150 g butter
150g plain flour
250 g castor sugar
220g chocolate
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
90g pecan nuts

Grease a 25 cm square pie dish. Preheat oven to 180 deg. Melt choc, and butter together over a double boiler. Take saucepan off the stove and stir in the sugar, vanilla and eggs, flour and nuts. Stir until all combined.
Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25-30 mins until the mixture is set but not dry. Don't overcook. The top should be soft on the touch but the brownies will firm up as they cool, yet remain moist and fudgy inside. Leave to cool in pan cut into squares and enjoy.24 slices when 25cm sq pan used.

I made this recipe as a sweet for 120 people once for a luncheon to raise money for cancer.

I did the mixture 1 .1/2 times for a 15inch X 10inch tray.We made a few trays.

I made this sauce which was a ring dinger hit, most of the plates were scrapped clean, but all wished they had never started to eat the dessert. I cut the brownies larger for the dessert. This is the sauce that was poured over the brownies, we added a dollop of cream and a couple of mint leaves.

Sauce

In a small bowl over simmering water place
100g dark chocolate
60g butter
115g firmly packed brown sugar
300 ml cream
1 tbs cocoa

stir all the ingredients until smooth and melted.
Ah Heaven must be like this.

Margaret