I popped out in to the misty air ...

... to hang out some towels, 100% linen towels as it happens, but more about them later.
I went out and thought I'd just check on the taddie annex. We'd moved the first crop of taddies to a larger pot, with more sun you see. Leaving the first pot empty.
And then it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rain, and that small pot filled up with beautiful, clean rain water.
Frogs it appears, like nature, hate a vacuum and so we are the proud custodians of two tadpole nurseries.
Anyway, I like to check in on the little swimmers, so I did, only to find a fully-metamorphosized version peeking up at me.Cheeky begger. I have a horrible feeling he wasn't visiting but snacking on his little brothers and sisters (or, perish the thought, children!).Still, I finally had a chance to photograph the bugger and confirm, for myself, our back yard frogs are indeed Striped Marsh Frogs. (You can click a link to hear one singing in that link.)Finally having the chance to get a proper close up look also made me realise how much like my Omas Milord Bronze Arco our froggies are in colouring. I knew there was a reason I was drawn to that pen.

I like moss ...

... I love it's colour and texture and other-worldliness.I carefully keep the moss in our 'dunny lane' alive through summer, welcome it on steps and in the garden.There is nothing quite like walking on cool, damp moss with bare feet on a hot evening. It's even better than cool grass.So, I brought a bit inside, in a terrarium, a little earthship.I'd been drooling over the terrariums over at sprouthome.com for quite a while now (except for the little figures and whatnot, what is up with that?). Obsessively looking up plants and wondering if I'd order some of those nice vessels. And deciding, in a moment of frugal sanity, not to. I figured I could make one myself.Now, the only real-life experience I've had with a terrarium (that I remember) was one we had in Canberra, with an open face. I came home one day to find Small, I'm pretty sure it was Small, had pulled out all the plants, scattered them around the house and then dug out all the dirt for good measure. So, clearly, an open terrarium was the only option.Dirt, charcoal and stones were obtained from a local plant emporium.Moss was sourced "locally", as was a small piece of native violet runner. I went in for a little tree shaping with the violet, to stop it touching the sides, a no-no in the terrarium world I read (for good reason, touching the side may cause rot if there's any condensation).Cobbled together with a little help from the Internet, and voilà, a dainty moss garden.
No, I'm not planning on cooking it.

Frog watch day 6 ...

... I was preparing myself, at 1:30am, to post some sad news of the nature-is-a-bitch variety.
You see, I woke at 1am because of pounding rain, it was in sheets, literally a deluge. A mad, half-asleep, rush was made to close all the windows. Too late, it had poured in, wetness abounded. And, as happens every-so once-in-a-while, water made its way into the dining room, down the wall.
Once the mop-up was done, damage control under control, I worried about the tadpoles that hatched only yesterday. So much water was pounding down on the pond, they were sure to be washed out, into the garden.
It was too wet and too dark to go see and there'd be nothing I could do to save them anyway.
But this morning I found that NO, they had survived! They, or a great many of them, managed to stay put and are wriggling most delightfully.
Nibbling at algae and, I suspect, the remains of their spawn and possibly their unfertilized brothers and sisters.Mr Brown has agreed to set up some sort of bird barrier, as we now suspect the other tadpole crop may have ended up as avian snack food.Not this lot though, not if we can help it. I want to hear that gentle "bok, bok, bok" for years to come.
In other news, our next door neighbours, those of the painting and path sagas, told us yesterday that they'd sold their house and were moving.
They were made an offer they could not refuse, an offer of $1.2 million dollars.
I am gobsmacked. Truly, if we moved here today we simply couldn't.

Worrying about the bees ....

... there's not been very many of my little blue banded buddies around this year. Not many bees at all really. We'll continue with our plans to increase our floral output, making the garden more bee friendly, but unless all the neighbours do it too, it may be to no end.
I don't know why people want to live in sterile, tightly formal, flower free gardens, but they do. Around these parts anyway.
But this afternoon, after a little gleeful froggy dance, I spotted a loan boy in a bright blue & black striped jupmer, pootling along from flower to flower. Gathering nectar while he may. The next shots couldn't be called wildly sucessful bee pictures but look how his wings twinkle. I guess they show how, sometimes, Rupert thinks it's more important to focus on the flowers, not the bee. Or the dew on the flower as it happened.Oh, yes, there's a bee in that last one, really.

A little while back ....

... I saw a tweet from The Morgan Library & Museum.
Street banners from former exhibitions were being offered for sale.
Not only that, they'd ship to Australia!
Visiting the Morgan and failing to get a T-shirt to commemorate the visit was one of the great disappointments of our New York jaunt.
And so, I ordered one, one that celebrates the Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves exhibition.
I chose it because the demon reminds me a little of our Library Dragon.On arrival it was, of course, thoroughly checked out by the Brown-Mouse-House safety inspectors. Which led to a little high jinx. And some messing about.Now all I've got to do is get it up on the wall, safe from naughty paws. MINE!

Last night ...

... when Mr Brown and I went to bed it was 32 degrees C inside the Brown Mouse House.
We slept all night, shut up in our bedroom with the windows shut, the blind drawn and the door shut, with the Pinguino on, all night. Not particularly restful but cool.
Portable air conditioners are quite loud. For the last week our choice has been no sleep due to HOT or no sleep due to NOISE. No sleep due to NOISE being preferable as it turns out.
Tonight, as I drift down the hall to bed the temperature gauge reads 24, and it's dropping.
Tonight will be sleep, quiet, cool, sleep.

At certain times of the day ...

... times of the day I'm usually not at home.
If I'm lying in bed and I turn my head from say ... ... reading a nice, gentle novel under the cooling fan ... ... and look to the wall opposite the windows ... ... this is what I see.

Egg & Bacon Pie ...

... I've posted about my egg and bacon pie a time or two.However, it's always been eaten before the money shot could be taken.I've posted before shots (and do so again, you're welcome), but never quite managed the sliced shot.
I offer this, the slice and the pie.If you have not made this before, Mr Brown and I recommend it to you. It's no fancy french-ified quiche. It's a solid wodge of workingmans' pie.
Enjoy, in moderation.

So close ...

... I reckon these will be on Mr Brown's sandwiches-for-work by Tuesday.These, on the other hand, made a sumptuous Bruschetta, of sorts, this very evening.

When Mr Brown calls ....

... "Mouse, come quick, bring Rupert".
It's always best to drop everything and do exactly as he says. So far he's never let me down on the exciting-discovery-in-the-garden stakes*.
This morning he thought he'd found me a stick insect! It wasn't though, he wasn't wearing his glasses and closer, pointy-mouse-eyed, inspection revealed 8 legs, not 6.Still, what an amazing looking beastie!
A quick google and I think I've identified her, a Deinopis Subrfua, also known as a Rufous-Net-Casting Spider. Her 2 beady little eyes right at the front are the give away I think.Rest assured, I'll be stalking Ms Deinopis until I catch her wielding her net.
In other, spider-related, news a golden orb weaver wove her web in the best human-catching spot, just near the back steps. We never actually got caught because the web always had something in it, be it some Jacaranda flowers, or a poor desiccated xmas beetle.I'm forgiving the killing of the harbinger of xmas because, as you can see, she also caught one of those blood sucking little fuckers, a mosquito.

* Nor the cute-bebe-animal-on- TV stakes, or the freaky-person-doing/wearing-something-odd stakes either!

Rabbit Ragu ...

... most nom-worthy.
You will need:-
a bunny, chopped into bits (we prefer wild to farmed, the flavour is more, rabbity)
a carrot, grated or finely chopped
an onion, finely chopped
a few celery sticks, finely chopped
a clove or 2 of smashed garlic
a fistful of herbs (bay, thyme, parsley) all tied up with string
EVOO, flour, salt, pepper
White wine (dryish is best, certainly not a sweetie)
A lovely beloved who doesn't mind doing the icky bits.
The 'Method':-
Have your beloved remove all the organs from the bunny's internal cavity. Have a wee gag in the other room while this is done (I did try to do it myself first but lost the plot when I got bits of LUNG under my fingernails). Then toss the organ-free bunny bits in the seasoned flour.Have you heated the oil in you heavy-based pan? No, quick go do that, then brown the bits of bunny and put them aside.Now, all those chopped veg and garlic, into the pan until soft. Pop in the fistful of herbs (after carefully checking for small spiders and sundry other insect life) and top off with the browned bunny bits (I love alliteration, don't you love alliteration?).Pour over about 1/2 a bottle of the wine over and let it all bubble away 'til the alcohol burns off. Cover it over with a little paper coat and the pan lid and pop in the oven (180 degrees - preheated) for about an hour.Share the rest of the wine with your beloved and give the organ bits to your cats.Check for liquid levels, there should be quite a bit, if not add a little stock or water. Take off the paper, replace the lid and give it another 30-45 minutes, the meat should pull away from the bones.
Throw away the limp herbs, their job here is done. Ensure the string is also removed.
Hand your beloved 2 forks and let him/her remove ALL the bones from the meat, then shred it fine.
Meanwhile, you are reducing the veg/wine/bunny juice mix to a nice ragu consistency (thick).
Add the shredded meat to the sauce and let it warm through while you boil up some fat, flat pasta.
Serve and eat while singing Run Rabbit Run.
NO not that one, this one!