Have we really been on holidays?

We have been home for a week now and it feels like we have never been away.  It is amazing how we slip back into the same routines so easily.  For me, the first two days home were washing clothes and linen, cleaning the camper, more washing, more cleaning.  In between all that we made a trip to Port to shop some groceries as the cupboard was bare.  We decided to splurge on lunch as there was nothing much to eat in the fridge.  We chose Paddy Malone's as it was a terribly muggy day and it is air-conditioned.   We both chose seafood - Philip the seafood platter and I chose the fish and chips with mushy peas.  Would you check out the size of Philip's meal!  And he ate all of it!

It is very unusual for us not to have a feed of fish and chips when we are on holidays but this time, in our effort to make healthier food choices, we did not indulge even once.  After eating our meals at Paddy's we both had queasy bellies and we think that it was eating deep fried food.

This week was cattle work.  We arrived home to find our cattle being eaten alive with buffalo fly so it was a trip to Mareeba to purchase ear tags and the following day, with the help of our gardeners daughter, we tagged every single beast on the property.  It is so very satisfying to see, after just a couple of hours, that the cattle are far more contented without the flies chewing them.

I did manage to get two yoga practices in this week as well as a couple of morning walks.  Would you look at what I woke to this morning.

We had rain yesterday so it was inevitable that we would have fog this morning.

I am still trying to cook and eat healthy meals.  I made a huge batch of Broccoli, Kale, Couscous and Chickpea soup using a recipe that I had seen on TV, so that has been our lunch for most of this week. I serve it with a spoonful of yoghurt, parsley and a squeeze of lemon.  It is very delicious and even though soup is typically a winter meal, this one is so light and yummy that it can be made for any season of the year.  I did shake up our healthy choices (not) and made quesadilla's for a snack one night.  I had a lot of leftover bits of cheeses and some delicious homemade cucumber pickles so that is what went on the quesadilla and they were delicious with a capital "D".

Another day I made Jamie Olivers Sweet Potato Salad.  I was going to serve it is a side to some corned meat fritters but it was a meal in itself.

We have so many eggs at the moment.  My DIL loaded us up and our gardener's chooks are laying more than she can handle so I have many dozens in my fridge.  Poached eggs with avocado and Dukkah are always a good way to use a couple.  Talking about Avocado's, what is going on with them this year.  Everyone I open seems to be mostly brown on the inside.  I have tried leaving them on the bench for just 24 hours and then popping them into the fridge but nothing seems to help.  I can't wait for my own to ripen.

We had to go to Cairns yesterday to pick up some fuel and oil filters for the various machinery.  Just before we left, my phone decided to die.  I eventually got it working again, albeit - S L O W - so I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a new IphoneX.  Boy, aren't they expensive!  I hope that this will be my last phone for a long long time.  My last one lasted four years so I hope I get at least that out of this new one.  I played with it last night as it is a steep learning curve.  I love the camera and Philip was my portrait subject.  I intend to do a lot more practicing so friends.....be warned!

That's a wrap for this week.....