Another winter update - and probably no more till spring

Mum's funeral: was lovely. Really beautiful. Service, words, music, flowers, photos, family and special friends - all perfect. Since then there have been busy days, quiet days, good days, sad days, days of doing paperwork, days of doing not much at all. It depends on the day.

Enormously thankful: for many kind messages sent to us via various media and especially for many, many prayers. The best prayer that made this introvert's heart sing, and gave good courage for what was required, was for strength to do all the meeting and greeting and the facing of the masses.  This prayer in particular was and continues to be powerfully helpful.  A good one to remember for others down the track.

Decided: to cut and run on the Bible reading plan. At the last winter update the calendar date was the 5th July and I was up to the 20th June on the reading plan. It's now the 30th July and I am still up to the 20th June on the plan. Life has not been without the Bible. At times I have been falling into my soft spots. At other times I haven't opened the cover but drawn from what is locked away in my heart and mind. But it is time. A couple of days ago I was resolved to do double readings and gradually get caught up. Last night I decided that the 2nd August looks like a good re-entry point on the plan. In the meantime I'll read a few favourites until Saturday. One day of readings per day is enough at the moment.

Reading: a few other bits and pieces.  North and South is trundling along slowly but nicely.  One son asked, "So who's your favourite author?  Ms A or Liz G?"  Just beginning to nibble slowly slowly at a couple of other books - one in preparation for some upcoming Bible studies and one to finish where I left off a while ago.

Watching: Downton Abbey. It's wonderful.  (Except for Thomas the Footman.)  Where have I been?  Oh yes...hiding in the West Wing.  So glad to have found my way to Downton.  Good viewing for evenings on the sofa under a blanket with a cup of tea. 

Signing off: just for a little while.  There are things to do, quiet time to be had and my head is uncustomarily woolly.  I expect it will clear in time.  See you in the Spring.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

I had no idea - none of us did - when I wrote my Winter update on Saturday and mentioned being in a season of caring for our elderly mums, that on Monday my sisters and I would find ourselves standing at a hospital bedside.  My sweet mum passed away peacefully late Monday afternoon with her four daughters at her bedside. She drifted gently away with the words, "Heaven is beautiful" in her ears. 

 

We will sing this hymn at her funeral on Tuesday.  Its words echo all that we have found to be good, true and of comfort this week.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. 

 

     Great is Thy faithfulness!  Great is Thy faithfulness!
     Morning by morning new mercies I see;
     All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
     Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

 

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

 

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Words by Thomas Obadiah Chisholm 1866-1960

Winter update - 2014

Winter garden looking like Spring.

Winter: it is.  We have had some very cold days - cold enough to warrant the English winter-weight woollen coat - and plenty of rain.  Today it seems like spring - and thanks to a dear friend from church who spent two days turning our yard back into a garden - it's looking like spring too.  But there's another big storm forecast for tomorrow.  The gutters and downpipes are ready.  Again.

Drinking: a cup of tea.  Of course.

Eating: a Kit Kat - but just a small one.  Not the enormous one of the Autumn update.

Falling behind: with the Bible reading.  The calendar suggests it's 5th July.  My reading plan indicates it's 20th June.  I may have a chance to do some catch up reading in the next week or two.  And I'm looking forward to it.  This is not an irretrievable situation as yet.

Also reading: nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Since the last update I've read exactly fifteen chapters (approximately one third) of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  Miss Elizabeth writes with great elegance.  And I am glad to have this to dip into as time allows.  But time is scarce.

Am officially in: what is known in the trade as a season, hence the modest gains in reading.  As earlier posts this year have alluded, we are busy (and happily so) caring for my mum and my mother in law - both widows and both beset with the ravages of old age.  Most spare moments are now filled sitting with them or doing things for them and that is how it will be for a while.  God provides all we need day by day, sometimes in most miraculous ways.

The Philippians Project: therefore is currently on hold.  Head space is also in short supply.  But watching the tyranny of years at close quarters I am more convinced than ever of the value of getting on with this come a change or at least a settling of the current season.

Amassing: a list of books I'd like to read, come the day.  And wanting to say a big thank you once again to those of you who kindly do your Book Depository shopping via this blog.  I really appreciate it.  (By the way, readers from the US, you can now go to The Book Depository via The Key to the Door because they have changed their system. :-) )

Delighted: to have found the entire three series of "Gilligan's Island" on DVD.  I used to LOVE this show.  It's been fun to watch a few episodes again and our kids are loving them. 

Loving: being a basketball mum.  Both boys are playing competition basketball this year.  They've been doing junior drills and skills and mock games for a few years but we've reached the big comp now.  As my two boys make up a third of our team I thought I'd step up to be the manager, novice as I am.  How hard could it be?  Collect the game money each week, help out if there is an injury.  Oh, and score.  They didn't tell me THAT bit when I signed on.  So I started the season asking my fellow score keeper from the other team, "So tell me, what actually is a one pointer, a two pointer and a three pointer?"  Just as I was getting the hang of the paper and pencil version of scoring...it's not just a matter of keeping a tally of points, you know... they told me it was going electronic.  I've been feeling the synapses connecting all season.  We're currently third on the ladder.  Yay for us!

Bemused: as to how "screen free" in our house morphed into not including television.  Screen free = no computers apparently.  But you can watch as much TV as you like.  How did that happen?  But not anymore.  The screen free police have arrived and we now have Monday to Thursday totally screen free for anyone still legally classified as a youth (except for homework purposes) and it's going really well.  It feels calmer, we get stuff done and we're scoring more shots at basketball because of all the practice that's taking place.  Of course now it's school holidays and I imagine the screen free police are on holiday too...

Enjoyed: the ABC Classic FM "Baroque and Before Top 100 Countdown" a few weeks back.  I was listening mainly in the car, but seemed to be in the car a great deal that week which worked for me.  Interestingly I prefer to perform Classical music.  And for my annual visit to the symphony with a dear friend of mine, I always choose a Romantic programme.  I absolutely cannot wait for this year's outing...Elgar's Cello Concerto and Bruckner's 4th Symphony - I actually can't imagine a better line up than that.  But for driving music it seems to be Baroque - and for one happy week the listening was divine.

Anticipating: Holiday Bible Club.  Next week.  We have two wonderful speakers presenting a wonderful theme - a Bible overview in a little rhyme reminiscent of This is the House that Jack Built.  We have some great craft activities prepared and some fun games ready to play.  I'm praying for a wonderful week with the kids - that their hearts will be drawn to their Father in heaven.  And for fine weather just between 9:15 and 9:45am each day when I'm running crazy outdoor games.  It can rain the rest of time as much as it likes.

Signing off: because it's time to turn "Gilligan's Island" off.  Far too many episodes have been viewed during the writing of this post.  See you in the spring.  And hopefully before.

A letter to my friend

Dear Deb,

I know I have mentioned this before but every time I pull my slow cooker out of the cupboard I think of you and smile as I remember your public declaration that slow cookers are not for you, coming a week after I got one for my birthday.  I was quite struck by your post, in part because I value what you have to say and also because it followed my efforts of splitting my corner of the facebook community in half as they debated the merits of slow cookers over slow cooking in cast iron - and also the suitability of a slow cooker for a birthday gift.  Well, dear Deb, we are about six months down the track so I thought I would let you know what I think the old slow cooker now.

First up, the slow cooker is not for the most part, in my humble opinion, a time saver.  Where we all I went wrong ten years ago was thinking you could just throw everything in it in the morning, turn it on and come home to a delicious dinner.  That was a recipe for bland, broiled meat.  Blah.

When I use it now I take the time to brown things and get the sauces going.  As I like to cook in bulk where I can, it has taken up to an hour of preparation, frying off and creating at least the beginnings of delicious sauces before I reach that point of lobbing it all into the slow cooker and turning it on. So for the most part I look upon it as an electric casserole dish.  I do like that I can cook a casserole slowly, over eight hours, turning cheap, tough meat into something glorious.  And I like that I can leave it on all day.  One could argue that you can just slow cook like that in the oven or on the stove top.  For me, I don't really like leaving my oven on and unattended all day.  But I don't seem to mind leaving the slow cooker unattended while I leave the house to do other things.  

I got my men to get me a big one in order to do the bulk curries and casseroles.  Consequently it is a big item.  It takes up a lot of room in the cupboard.  It's heavy.  It's a bit unwieldy to clean.  I confess that I do have to pick my time and psych myself up to use it.  But when the time is right, it's a great thing.  I have used it maybe ten times in the last three months.

I've tried soups but I don't think I'll persist with this method for soup preparation.  It takes a very long time for all that liquid to warm up.  I'm happy enough with my big pot and going a bit faster for soup.  I should say though that a friend gave me THE most wonderful pea and ham soup recipe for the slow cooker BUT when I served it up one up one member of the family loved it, one tolerated it and one thought he was being poisoned.  There was quite some theatre.  We haven't had a scene like that at the dinner table in months.  Maybe years.  It was almost worth it.  Almost.  The recipe is not dependent upon a slow cooker.  I could recreate it in my soup pot if I was feeling like some dinner time amusement again some day.  I think my clan prefer the minestrone style of soup.  It may be a texture issue with the blended soups...they're not that keen on pumpkin soup either.

BUT dear Deb there are three recipes that are to die for.  And the lovely Jane has put them all on her blog.  Three recipes that are delicious and have had universal appeal at our dinner table.  Recipes that had me inviting friends over for dinner the first time I cooked them, so confident was I of their potential for dinnertime happiness.

Pulled pork.   I have already given this one the three hip hip hoorays on this blog.  And research indicates that there are recipes out there for doing it from scratch but the bottle of marinade seems to do the trick very nicely.  And this is indeed one recipe where you can just lob the TWO ingredients in, press the button and go.

Lamb's equivalent of pulled pork.  Oh Deb.  This is glorious.  Not cheap.  But it is absolute deliciousness.  It could be done in an oven.  But it works really well in the slow cooker.  I browned the lamb when I made it.  Despite what I said about taking the time to brown things, next time I make this I won't be browning the meat.  And again, like the pulled pork, this is a throw it in and leave it recipe.

The third one is Jane's recipe for beef stroganoff.  It's great for a family dinner with veg or pasta or rice.  It's great for a church feast.  It's great for leftovers, for freezing and for giving away to a family in need.  It's great.

And so to the $64 question.  Given what I know now, would I still get one given my time birthday again?  Well, I think yes.  I would maybe opt for the smaller version next time, although that wouldn't allow for leftovers.  I don't use it all the time.  But when I do I'm pretty sold on it.  Which is in no way meant to pressure you into asking for one for your birthday.  If you don't have a lot of space in your kitchen or you don't like to have an appliance that you only use occasionally I wouldn't get one.  And be warned too - not all recipes for the slow cooker will be as delicious as these three.  I have had some epic fails as well.  I am learning to know what will actually work and won't end up tasting like broiled, bland blahness.  It's not my favourite thing in the kitchen.  But unlike the one I bought ten years ago, I won't be giving this one away.  It has earned its spot in my kitchen.

Hope you are well and that you have great school holidays. 

Love Meredith xx

Encouragement to share what you know

Like attracts like.  So I am pretty sure that you, dear reader, like reading your Bible like me.  That you probably know your way around the whole of the Bible.  That you know Bible reading isn't just a daily exercise one does to tick a box but something we do to deepen our relationship with God.  That the more you read the Bible, the easier it is to understand and the more you understand it, the hungrier you are to read it.

It occurred to me a while ago that rabbiting on about Bible reading here on this blog is probably "preaching to the converted" for the most part.  I like to keep you all ( and myself) encouraged.  But guess what??  I had a light bulb moment a few months ago.  There are people who I sit with in church week after week who find the Bible an enigma. 

Last year I got up in church during the notices section and started flapping my favourite Bible reading plan around - just like I do my virtual flapping around of it periodically on this blog  - explaining the options of doing the full plan or just a part of it (like following along the New Testament readings to start with, to help get into the habit.)  And at various points this year I've got up and given my three suggestions for those who started but ground to a halt or for those who never started and wished they had...

1. Start from where you left off and don't worry about the dates.  Don't be a slave to the dates.
2. Start from where you left off, do double readings as you can and soon you will catch up.
3. Cut your losses and start from today's date.

And in late May, just as the plan approached the section where the Old Testament becomes, shall we say, complicated...1 and 2 Kings...I ran a guided tour of the Old Testament.  It was a simple thing really.  It took an hour and a half over tea, coffee and snacks.

I spent ten minutes going through the contents page of the Old Testament explaining the three different sections and how the genres change, each requiring a different approach to reading.

 

I then spent 40 minutes going through this road map, telling the story of the Old Testament that is covered in the history books.  Explaining how the kingdom splits in two is the key sticking point.

This diagram is from
Gospel and Kingdom: A
 Christian Interpretation of the Old Testament
by Graeme Goldsworthy, page 32.
(Published by Paternoster Press in 1982)
 

We had a break for a cup of tea and then I spent the last half hour showing this page from the IVP New Bible Commentary found at the beginning of the section on 1 and 2 Kings - a table of who was king - when and where - during the period of the kings.

 

Finally I gave them my notes from here about how the books of the prophets fit into the chronology of the kings, most of which I had sourced from the Lion Handbook to the Bible - nothing too complicated.  I didn't read through the notes slavishly but just ran through a couple by way of example and left it at that.  (Feel free to lift and use this - or anything else from my blog - if that is helpful.)

I'd been a Christian ten years, struggling my way through the Bible, before I met that roadmap.  What a revelation!  And as long time readers will know, it is only in recent years that I have come to grips with the prophets - and that in only a small way.  But now I've got a handle on that section of the Bible and it's making much more sense.

One of the women who came to the guided tour said that she had been in churches and in and out of the Bible for 60 years and this was the first time she'd had this stuff explained to her.  This isn't a criticism of the preaching she's sat under all these years.  You just don't learn frameworks during church sermons.  That's not what sermons are about.  She left encouraged to press on with the hard but rewarding work of Bible reading.

Maybe you don't know your way around the Old Testament yet.  And if not, these particular posts might be of help.  Maybe you DO know your way around the Old Testament but don't think you could possibly manage to do something like this.  That's fine.  This is not for everyone.  But I'm pretty sure that some of you could do this.  And if that is you, then can I encourage you to have a go at sharing the framework of the Old Testament with those around you.  (Or ask someone you know who could do this sort of thing to do it for you.) 

There will people you know - people who maybe, just maybe, don't read as widely as you might - who don't know how the Bible hangs together and whose lives will be transformed if you give them the basics.  I've been blogging about this sort of thing for years.  It's good to have shared it in person with some of those I meet Sunday by Sunday in church and I'm looking forward to doing it again some other time down the track.

Oh, and by the way, if you aren't using a Bible reading plan but wished you were, the beginning of July is another EXCELLENT entry point for this plan.  And I'll be saying that in church in the next couple of weeks too.

Age wearies and the years condemn, but there is hope

I've done a lot of observing of and being with the elderly in recent times. And what I've noticed is that there's a lot of grief for the one who grows old. 

The grief of watching your friends die - it's no source of glory to be the one who outlives your peers and it's very hard to be oh so frail as to be unable to attend their funerals.  The loss of one's driver's license.  Didn't downsize in time?  The grief of losing the family home and so many possessions as circumstances impose the downsizing upon you.  The move to a nursing home that reduces one's possessions to the barest minimum.  The grief of loss of capacity - mental and physical.  The grief of the transformation from independent, functioning, dignified member of society to one totally dependent, like a small child, except knowing of a full life lived independently.    

It was never meant to be this way.  But even in this world, broken by sin, God shows His love and mercy.  Very recently it occurred to me that God has timed the grief of aging perfectly - by putting it at the end.  I know that's a perfectly ridiculous statement to make.  Stating the obvious somewhat.  But let me explain. 

When I was pregnant for the first time I spent a lot of those months predictably concerned about what lay at the end.  The delivery.  And yet, by the time I was eight and a half months pregnant (and it seemed to be 40⁰ every day) I was ready to deliver that baby.  God's perfect design.  Six, seven and eight months was too short to be ready.  Nine months (and then ten days overdue) and I was ready.   That's the microcosm.

The big picture is the span of my years filled to the brim with the stuff of life. Learning, living, loving. And coping with suffering as well. I don't live in Eden and Jesus has not yet returned. The world is fallen. And so there is suffering.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:1-5

Suffering and grief help me to grow in faith and hope. I hope that I respond with a little more faith and trust in Him with each new grief. I have a lifetime to practice this. And so it occurred to me that God has placed the end of life, so filled with grief and suffering - and there is no way around it...sickness, aging, dying and death are terrible - so that when the span of my years is drawing to its end and I am faced with grief upon grief, I am ready to face it with grace and hope. I observe that you don't get to be a sweet, wise, godly and prayerful old lady (or gentleman) just by being old. It takes a lifetime of sweetness and growing in wisdom, godliness and prayerfulness to bear the grief of old age with grace.  It's not that it's any easier for the sweet ones.  They have learned to bear it well - with hope.

God is good, gracious, kind and wise.  Putting the end at the end was no accident.

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be...

Search me, O God, and know my heart,
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:16, 23, 24

This is the day

Last Friday was one of those rare days when I actually did my Bible reading first thing in the morning.  Occasionally it happens mid-morning.  Often during the afternoon.  Sometimes last thing before my head meets my pillow.  And sometimes today's reading happens tomorrow.  But last Friday it was first thing, and I believe that was by God's good design.  God had something to show me.  The psalm of the day was Psalm 118 - a psalm that holds a very familiar verse.

This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us be glad and rejoice in it.

 

This verse reminds me of Sundays - and of singing that chorus at church. You've probably got the tune in your head right now.  Whenever I read these words I find I am easily distracted -  singing the song (at least in my head) - and with dear memories of congregational singing in various church settings, the side effect being that I have come to associate this verse with Sundays.

Last Friday God had other plans.  My eyes fell upon this verse.  No tune.  No mind wandering off to churches past.  This time around these words found some traction.

THIS is the day the Lord has made.

 

This is THE day the Lord has made.

 

This is the day that THE LORD HAS MADE.

 

And so REJOICE.  Be GLAD in that.

I reflected upon those very familiar words all through the day (the one that the Lord had made) and it gave added joy and purpose to each of my tasks.  By late afternoon I began to imagine what it would be like to start each and every day aware that it was a day the Lord had made, worthy of joy and full of Kingdom potential.  Because this isn't a verse just for a Sunday chorus.  It's a verse for every day.

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

The Light Between Oceans

I read a wonderful novel over the Easter weekend.  I was hooked by the end of the first page.  A third of the way through I was racing though and I just couldn't put it down.  By two thirds of the way through I'd slowed the pace right down because I didn't want it to end.  It joins the genre that I've called the "gentle page turner" which has been defined elsewhere on this blog.

A book that moves along slowly and yet is a page turner.
A book that is quiet and gentle but not light weight by any stretch of the imagination.
Full of peace, compassion, deep love, honour and loyalty portrayed through clean, beautiful writing.
That is a gentle page turner.

It's the genre which includes Gilead, Crossing to Safety and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

This latest discovery tells of life after World War One - what it was like for those who didn't go away to war and what it was like for those who returned from the fighting to try and resume normal life.  It tells of the life of those brave men and women who were lighthouse keepers before it all became automated.  It's the story of a returned service man, his new bride and their new life as the lighthouse keeper and wife on a tiny island just off the Australian mainland.  And then there is the mystery of the row boat that comes to shore on the island with a dead man and a tiny baby, very much alive.

The Light Between Oceans is the debut novel for ML Stedman.  It gets five stars from me.  And I'd give it some more if there were more to give on the standard star rating.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

And lest you think I LOVE every book I read, after this (and I guess it was always going to be a hard act to follow) I started The Book Thief.  I got about a hundred pages in and have put it aside.  Despite the rave reviews that abound, this is not the book for me, at least at this time.  And so I have gone back to the classics.  North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I know every inch of the BBC mini-series.  It's nice to be reading the words now.

The gap is wider than I'd imagined

Conversation # 1

Speaking with a friend from school about church.  I explain what our services look like and about how we have kids' activities at each service.
Says friend, "How much does it cost for the kids' activities and do you have to book in for them?"

Conversation # 2

Friend speaking with another friend about church with kids hanging about the adults listening in.
Kid of friend who doesn't go to church chimes in with, "That sounds like fun.  Can we go this Sunday?"
Says her mum, "I don't think it is the sort of place where you can just rock up."

 

I was amazed, surprised and somewhat in despair to hear these conversations.  But when I think about it, the further we get from the 1950's when going to church was the norm (in Australia), the further we get from people actually knowing how church even works, let alone the content of our time spent together in church.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.  I was born in the late '60s (oh, that is beginning to feel somewhat old...) and even during the '70s and early '80s I was an anomaly amongst my peers spending my Sunday mornings in church.  I've spent most of my life hanging about churches, but most people haven't. 

 

As I said, I was amazed, surprised and somewhat in despair to hear these conversations.  But as I think about it a little more I see that it offers another way into salty conversation with our friends, asking people what they know about church and letting them know that they are most definitely welcome.



Easter Sunday

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 

 

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
Matthew 28:2-7

 
And the big question for the kids...why were the guards so afraid?

Good Friday

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 
“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Matthew 27:57-66

Adventures with the slow cooker

There are various topics that will comprehensively divide the Facebook community.  I did it once when I asked, tongue in cheek, if people thought it was OK for one's four year to drink tea.  (Leave no comments on this matter.  Truly, I have heard them all.)  And then there was the comment I put up at the beginning of January.

So, supposing I was going to suggest to my menfolk that they buy me a slow cooker for my birthday, any advice I should give them on brands, types, things to look for?

Thus began two debates running simultaneously over the merits of slow cookers versus a good cast iron pot (with a few people weighing in with pressure cooker comments as well) and also whether or not a slow cooker was actually an acceptable birthday gift. 

Eventually a brave friend gave me this answer.

Meredith I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to wade into this discussion but I love my slow cooker. I always brown everything first and use it endlessly in winter for curries and casseroles and mass quantities of spaghetti sauce. Would recommend one with low, high and keep warm settings and a heavy ceramic dish. Have heard lots negative about the new ones you can brown in - non stick surfaces that easily damage and leach funny taste/chemicals. Good luck and happy New Year! x

And so armed with that advice, off they went and on THE day I unwrapped one of these.

The irony of this post from Deb, appearing a week after my birthday was not lost on me.

So the new slow cooker sat there for a while and eventually I was ready to give it a go.  The first recipe?  Jane's pulled pork.  I sent a quick message to clarify what sort of BBQ sauce one would require.

Do I just use Masterfoods BBQ sauce? I couldn't see a BBQ marinade in Coles today...but it may be that I have whole new section of the supermarket to explore. What do you suggest?

Says Jane,

I'm sure Masterfoods BBQ sauce would be fine, but I've only used a BBQ marinade from the sauces section of the supermarket. I totally think regular BBQ sauce would work - just make sure you use about 375mls of it. The pork will produce lots of liquid throughout the cooking process as all the fat renders off - just let it drip on a wire rack over the slow cooker for a good five minutes before pulling apart and serving.


OK.  I have everything I need to know so off I go to the shop to find the marinade.  I walk up and down the relevant aisles and eventually I stop right in the middle of one and sigh a deep sigh.  The accompanying son asks what's wrong and I tell him I am about to have to go home and write a really silly email to someone because I can't find a bottle of sauce in a supermarket and therefore I am going to expose myself as a complete goose.

And as the word "goose" leaves my lips I see the marinade.

Anyway, to cut short what is turning into an unnecessarily long story, a few days later (because I needed to recover from the stress of the shopping trip before venturing into new recipe and appliance territory) I made the pulled pork.  And in my excitement with the ensuing aromas I invited people over for dinner.  New recipe.  New cooking method.  Throwing caution to the wind.  Outrageous.

And it was lovely.  If for this one dish only, I am sold.

Since then I have tried a beef dish that came in the recipe section of the instruction manual.  It was OK.  A beef casserole of sorts.  Too much thyme. Not really to our tastes.

Then I did a version of beef stroganoff very close to Jane's recipe.  I think Jane's addition of some tomato paste would seal the deal with this recipe.

And I am looking forward to having a go at this lamb dish - the lamb rival for pulled pork I do believe.

Somewhere along the line I worked out that the slow cooker is really just an electric casserole dish.  You can use it on high and it will cook in the equivalent time it takes to do a casserole in the oven.  And I am a convert to browning everything before placing ingredients in a casserole anyway, so this is no different.  The benefit is to be found in the slow cooking function that turns tough, cheap meat into tender deliciousness over a much longer cooking time.  So I am looking forward to trying out some of my tried and tested casserole dishes in the slow cooker and seeing how they go. 

And I have been told this is THE
slow cooker recipe book to own.

What I'm liking, which is new to my limited cooking skills, is the pulled pork/sticky lamb sort of genre.  So here's the call out.  If you have a great slow cooker recipe that isn't a casserole - I can do them - something really amazing and wonderful, can you please share it with me?  You could email me or leave the recipe in the comments section below and as I try them out I will put them in their very own post.  Complete with scores out of ten from my family if you like.  You could opt out of that last bit if you prefer...they are pretty tough judges, this lot.  Anyway, please, please, PLEASE tell me your "go to/it's not a casserole" slow cooker recipe.

And as for gift suitability, this one worked for me.  I like a practical gift although not so practical as to be a lawn mower, iron or vacuum cleaner. There's a fine line.  They landed on the right side of the line with this one.   

Autumn update - 2014

Tasmanian autumn leaves from last year's amazing holiday

Decided: after I posted the summer update right on the first day of summer that I would wait a bit with future seasonal updates until we were actually into said season.  It does take a while for these seasons to kick in, after all.  And can I say that it was great to have some rain over the weekend.  I was very glad I'd cleaned the gutters earlier in the week. I've heard it reported that we received 19.6mm of rain in March, which happens to be the exact average rainfall for March.  19.6mm is also the total amount of rain that's fallen since 1st November 2013.  So yes, the rain was welcome.  And yes, the gutters did need a good clean before the rain fell.

Celebrated: the change in weather by cooking this soup.  The adults enjoyed it.  It was probably a bit too much to introduce paprika, cumin and lentils to the boys all at the same time.

Became: the manager of a basketball team on the weekend as well.  (It was a big weekend.)  So now I know exactly what constitutes a one pointer, a two pointer and a three pointer, I can find my way around a score sheet (you have to do a whole lot more than just keep a tally of the points it seems) and I can get those points transferred onto the electronic scoreboard.  Piece of cake.  Sort of.  And then after that little triumph they tell me the whole system is going digital half way through the season with iPads and all sorts.  Taking deep breaths.  One step at a time.

Reading: not a great deal at the moment.  But I do have a bookmark in GPS: God's Salvation Plan by Allan Chapple, which I hope to get back to soon.  I can't wait to tell you about this one. 

Keeping up: with my Bible reading plan and loving it.  Every year is richer and better than the one before. 

Philippians Project: is going slowly.  I am eleven verses in and that little amount is pretty shaky (although I do have a chunk of chapter two and a chunk of chapter four under my belt.)  I have an appalling memory but I am not discouraged.  When I do a bit of work on this it is pure joy and I'm not working to a deadline.

Drinking: tea.  Of course.  You knew that.

Eating: an apple slinky.  Prepared for me by my son.  The roles are reversing - he is cutting up my fruit now.  Hilarious. 

Pretty excited: while on the subject of food, to find one of these in the shops on the weekend.  How good is that?  A giant Kit Kat bar.  There is one in my fridge.  Yay.

Thinking through: the notion of the lazy diary.  I still love the idea and it turns out that, despite what I thought with my fairly over-scheduled life, I DO have a lazy diary.  I walked into this year with my time so tightly scheduled that I described my week to one friend as "gridlocked."  But since then some old folks close to my heart have needed some extra time, care and help all of a sudden and while my week is packed, because most of what I do is all voluntary there is capacity to shift and change and move and cancel when needs dictate.  And so there has been plenty of shifting and changing.  And also not much house cleaning.  But maybe that last bit isn't so different from normal...

Consequently: my days really are quite packed now and by evening I am pretty tired.  Blogging may or may not slow down for a while.  I wouldn't want to make a definite call on this.  I've done that in the past and then found myself posting twenty posts in twenty days.  But if it goes quiet (or at least quieter) for a while I am OK, just busy by day and sleeping by night.

Speaking of: the volunteering thing, I filled in a form (make that a veritable swag of forms) to enrol the child who is now able to make his mother an apple slinky into high school next year and on the line that requires me to list my profession what did I say?  Home duties.  Honestly, totally spineless.  In the heat of the moment, I thought the "volunteer" thing was just too I don't know what for my opening foray into a new school. Maybe next time. 

Loving: this little acrostic that turned up on Facebook during the week.  This could be very useful with the school holidays coming up.

Been creative
Outside play
Read a book
Exercise for 20 minutes
Do something useful

Signing off: with the words from Philippians currently spiraling around my head.  Some words to encourage those of you who have so encouraged me here in the blogosphere.  Thank you.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:3-11