Happy Australia Day

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I made Passata tonight, found the link through Towards Sustainability, a great blog that I really enjoy reading. I had a false start with the recipe a few days ago, but burnt the tomatoes because I didn't pay attention to them. Had to buy more tomatoes today. Going to make a simple pasta dish with the passata tomorrow to take on our annual Australia Day picnic at a local reserve.

Australia Day commemorates the day the First Fleet first settled in Sydney Cove, our family event isn't that old. It started several years ago when along with David's mother, brother and sister-in-law we decided that we would spend the day at Parramatta Park starting with watching hot air balloons. We got there around 6am, watched the balloons for a while then decided to set up our picnic area. Wasn't long before the Sun became relentless so we started to put up a shelter only to be told that we weren't allowed to do that in the park. There was no way we were going to subject ourselves to the possibility of sunburn so we made the decision to head home, but on the way to the cars we decided to try a nature reserve right at the end of our street. We got there about 8 but didn't have the pick of the main covered picnic areas because they had reserved signs on them so we set up our covers, put a few tables together and invited other family members to join us. About 10am we noticed the ranger removing the reserved signs and were told that if the areas aren't claimed by 10 they were anyone's. We were happy with our site so didn't worry about moving, but noticed that the park was virtually empty. We had a great day, BBQ lunch, playing cricket, watching the Blacksmith before heading home for a nap and heading off to watch a free concert and fireworks at another park. It's now a tradition, hopefully one that will go on. The park is run by local council but their lease is up and state government want to take it over, there is talk of an entry fee as well as booking fees, hopefully that won't happen. We love that it is such a low budget day.

I wanted to share a great blog Eclectic Culture Farm I discovered today, it's making for interesting reading. It's about a family who are living without electricity (by choice) in an Amish community. I wondered if I could live without power, maybe I could but I doubt my family would - whatever would they do without their games consules? But then what would I do without my laptop, sewing machine and being able to sit up at night - I know a great way to save power would be to go to bed early but I get so much done when the house cools down at night.

Happy Australia Day