Webb Park - Part 2

Look at this fine fellow. He just sat there as I walked closer and closer to get a good shot. Finally, he condescended to look at me. I grabbed my shot and left :)

How's this for a view? You stand a the top, and the park drops away in front of you. The play area in the foreground is one of the upper areas. Over the edge it drops down to the lower playing field/area.

Lower down, and looking through the trees. This is right on the edge of the range - any further, and you're just about falling off Toowoomba.

I think this was from another area of the park - halfway down?

From the top, the other side of the play area.

And again. Magnificent.

There's a boarding school right across the road from the park. Their boarding accomodations are located and aligned so that the boarders have an even better view out over the valley. Although I don't think you would want to be there if you were frightened of storms!

Autumn Colours

We didn't get much in the way of seasonal colour in Brisbane - it is a subtropical city, after all. Actually, the Japanese Maples would change colours twice a year - mid-winter and mid-summer - but that was really the only thing that would happen.

I have been meaning to take some photos for weeks - there have been some wonderful displays of Autumn colour - lines of large trees in the most spectacular reds.

But I didn't get those photos. Still I like these. Some nice contrasts in colouring.

We don't have any of these trees on our street. Not quite sure what we have, but their leaves don't change colour with the seasons.

Webb Park - Part 1

Would you believe this came out? All of it. Of course, the slope at the park is now totally denuded :o

You better believe it! I walked up that path twice! (What was I thinking?)

This actually was quite a slope. Even more so, I guess, from the top looking down.

There was also a play area at the top where we all retreated to after the children had had enough. (Or rather, we parents decided the children had had enough ;) )

There was also a flying fox.

Both girls had a go, though Gracey only went once or twice.

Poor Mark wasn't feeling well, so he didn't go :(

Crazy Woman Alert

Oh, wait... It's just me (blush) We went to the park on Sunday, and it was a little... blowy, shall we say. And cold. But the children had fun - we were there with a church group, supposedly doing box sliding, except that the slope, which last year reportedly had leaves several inches deep, was bare this year. It's amazing what Napisan Oxy-Action will get out!

Note to self...

Scones require leavening.

Making scones with plain flour and no baking powder means you *aren't* making scones. You're making biscuits, and I don't mean the fluffy American kind.

My scone recipe also needs some salt.

So, the way I *should* have made it was:

3 cups flour
1.5 tbs baking powder (2 tbs for NZ, US, UK or anyone but Australia)
1 cup butter
2 cups milk (thereabouts)
Flour for dusting
A whole heap of grated cheese
A good pinch of salt

See, a masterpiece of planning, etc. My recipe had 3 cups SR flour, but I usually only have plain flour, and then add baking powder. But the recipe didn't state how much baking powder (didn't even mention baking powder) so I totally forgot about it. Until a few minutes before they were done, when I was wondering why the scones weren't rising? Duh! Well, that's what permanent marker is for: adding notes to the laminated recipes.
Anyway, I probably added 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese. The process is: combine flour and baking powder; rub in the butter; dump in the cheese and coat it liberally with the butter/flour mixture; add in the first cup of milk, and stir together with a knife; add the rest of the milk a bit at a time, until you get a soft dough. I used 1 3/4 cup milk, and probably used a bit much.
Dump the dough out onto a floured bench, and knead very briefly (30 seconds, maybe) before patting into shape, at about 2-2.5cm (1") thickness. Cut into rounds, and place onto a lined (or heavily floured) tray, and bake at 200C (400F) for 20-25 minutes.

They actually turned out ok, provided you weren't expecting scones. The only ones left are the 2 that didn't want to come off the non-lined, only lightly floured tray. sigh... I guess that's what soaking is for.

Oh, and no photo because someone (naming no names) left the camera on, and the batteries (rechargeables, thankfully) ran flat.

If you look really carefully, you will see a little hand. Give you a hint - it's just above the Pooh Bear quilt, on the brown cushion cover.

See it? That's all I could find of my little girl. Obviously she was feeling the cold. And it's not even Winter yet! Oh dear!

And this is why you turn taps off before walking away...

Yep, she over-filled the sink.

Water play! Oh, wait... She's 12yo, and it's a sink, not a pool. hmm...

At least she took pictures *before* the water got mucky! I just wish she had actually emptied the sink a little. sigh...

Yes, we have a redundant, third tap, that doesn't even have a handle. And yes, the agency knows.