Big Cook, Little Cook

We changed our Foxtel plan a few weeks ago, which gave us period of access to channels we hadn't seen before- including CBeebies, the BBC kids' channel. The boys don't watch a lot of TV, but for Big Bro the novelty of new programs has taken over what was his iPad time. His favourite has been Big Cook, Little Cook, a series in which two cooks (Big and Little by the magic of television) cook appropriate dishes for the characters who come through their cafe- a zucchini plane for a pilot, a traffic light sandwich for a police officer, and a hairy spaghetti for Rapunzel. BBC seem to have been keeping close hold of their copyright, so most of what appears on YouTube isn't a good representation of the real show, but here is Big Bro's favourite part (usually minus the signing!):

We've cooked a couple of the recipes, or variants- they're not too bad in the nutrition stakes, with plenty of vegetables appearing. And each episode features a "how is it made?" segment where the preparation of one ingredient is shown- in one case inspiring our alfalfa growing. Yes, it's television, so I won't get too excited about its virtues, but as far as TV goes, Big Cook, Little Cook is definitely at the better end of the spectrum.

Salad Season

It's not really been salad weather- maxima of 12-15 degrees most days and rainy periods (not that I'm complaining!) are soup and casserole weather in my book. But it's perfect salad-growing weather- my lettuce always bolts at the merest hint of summer! Here are a couple of versions I remembered to photograph:

Lettuce, radish, grated beetroot

Lettuce and alfalfa

All homegrown!

Voting tools for parents... and other time poor electors

Australia operates a preferential voting system to elect 6 senators per state at each election. Voters have the option of voting "above the line" where you chose which party's (or independent's) preference ticket your vote will follow. But we also have the option to vote "below the line" (BTL) meaning we chose our preferences, by numbering candidates 1,2,3..... In Victoria this election I will be numbering each box from 1- 60. It's no wonder that the proportion of voters voting BTL is (roughly) inversely correlated to the number of candidates standing for senate election. And apart from some minor exceptions, if there is an error in your numbering of preferences then your vote will be declared invalid.

I always vote BTL out of principle- I worry that one day some bright spark might try to eliminate it, if noone uses it! However, the prospect of wrangling the two boys (in partnership with B, to be fair) concerned me that my BTL vote could be invalid if I am distracted by the boys somewhere between preference 52 and 58. Antony Green's blog (now in the side bar, until the election) referred me to two tools- http://belowtheline.cc/ and https://www.belowtheline.org.au/ that allow me to use a drop-and-drag list of candidates online to prepare my BTL vote before the day, at my leisure. This generates a mockup of my ballot which I can print, so in the booth all I need to do is transcribe the numbers onto the official ballot.

Big thumbs up for this from me!!

Spring sampler

I'm not usually a cut flower person when it comes to my own flowers- I tend to prefer them to be au naturale- but I made an exception for these jonquils.

The frilly erlicheers at the right have the most wonderful scent. They bring back memories of my grandmother's garden in Launceston, which was packed with spring bulbs. We would often go to visit in the September school holidays, and return with a huge bunch of daffodils, jonquils, hyacinths and freesias wrapped in a damp rag and foil. So the scent of jonquils brings back memories of sunny afternoons driving through the Tasmanian Midlands. Strange but true. :)

Snow day

I've been meaning to say.... a few weeks ago, we headed up to Lake Mountain to let the boys see some snow. Lake Mountain is Melbourne's closest alpine resort, with dedicated tobogganing slopes and cross country trails and- as we found- an easy day trip from Melbourne. Despite the advertising, snow in the Victorian Alps isn't guaranteed so I was impressed that there was a good 20cm coverage when we visited- plenty for the boys' preferred activities:

sliding (sans sled- hooray for waterproof pants!)

and snow man construction.

It was overall a good day- Big Bro keeps asking when we will be going again- but for the adults it was also memorable for the sights on the way up.

Lake Mountain is accessed through Marysville, which was one of the towns worst affected by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires (which also destroyed the Lake Mountain resort; rebuilding is underway). The town is rebuilding, but is still frighteningly empty: there were many driveways leading to an empty block, often with the remnants of gardens, and businesses operating out of shipping containers or temporary buildings, and burnt signs around the town. I couldn't take any photos there, but this is from the road between Marysville and Lake Mountain. Each of those eucalypt tree trunks is covered in new shoots emerging from the charred wood. If only everything else could recover that well.

Higher on the mountain the trees hadn't recovered as well, for whatever reason, making an eerie black and white landscape.

These are all pictures take from the road and I've deliberately left in a glimpse of how close the trees come to the road. This is a road leading down the mountains out of Marysville.

For all of us adults, seeing the closeness of the trees to the roads- and these were the major roads out of the region- made us realise how people were trapped in townships like Marysville and events of Black Saturday was suddenly more understandable, if such a horrible tragedy can ever be understood. The recently released Royal Commission into the fires includes a recommendation to clear zones along roads to make late evacuations a safer option.

Fourth sign of spring: white asparagus anyone?

A terrible photo- the iPhone camera can't cope with the high contrast of white on black!- but take it from me, it's an asparagus spear emerging. Vindication of the chore which brought me to the asparagus bed in the first place- a top-dressing of rotted manure.

Decisions, decisions

If you hadn't noticed- or aren't following Australian news- we're in the midst of a federal election campaign. To briefly explain for offshore readers, we'll be voting for a local lower house member, and six upper house senators per state. The lower house will be mainly contested between the left-of-centre Australian Labor Party and a right wing coalition between the Liberal Party and the National (country) party, but in the upper house there is the chance (or likelihood, if you believe the polls) for the balance of power to be held by minor parties or independents- at the moment the balance is held by an unallied group of four senators from the Greens (x2), the Christian Right Family First and a "No Pokies" (gmabling machine) senator.

A lot of people in real life and online have been expressing their lack of interest in the election- it was called in the shadow of the replacement of ALP Prime Minister by a more right-leaning politician, and since the last election, the major parties have backed down on a number of significant environmental policies. There has been a lot of comment that whichever major party wins power, their policies will be the same. And a lot of people commenting that because they live in a safe seat, their vote is irrelevant.

I agree with the view that the major parties are equally disappointing in some aspects, but rather than ostrich-like apathy, my response has been to research alternatives. My favourite election analyst, Antony Green of the ABC, has a very thorough blog on all things electoral, with as much information as anyone could need to know about trends, swings and other roundabouts, which has been more than adequate as a starting point for my research. The Tally Room is also good for summarising the key aspects of the contests.

In the lower house, we live in a very safe major party seat so as far as that goes my best hope is that a vote for a minor party will send a message about my disenchantment. Obviously that's not the case everywhere, and the implications of a such disenchantment would have actual outcomes in the inner city electorate of Melbourne (where we used to live) where the Greens are close to taking their first lower house seat (unless there is a swing towards the ex-Bush-Republican-campaign-worker Liberal candidate... hmm, unlikely?)

The senate, however, is where these feelings of disenchantment could be translated into outcomes. In Victoria, a minor party- probably the Greens- are likely to take a senate seat (probably at the expense of the Family First Senator). The Australian Democrats, a former force in the senate, also have a chance of distinguishing themselves from the major parties on several key issues. So I've taken this as incentive to research my senate vote closely.

In thinking about my vote, I have had to question what is important to me. High on my priority list are the usual things like economic benefit to my family and the community, and provision of community services like health care and education. Having children has also made me more aware of how my vote could alter the country that I bring my children up in (the never-ending Howard era may have something to do with that). I want my children to grow up in a rich, fair and diverse society, which values its people, its industries and its planet. So I have been busy researching policies on climate change, immigration and the environment.

I've put more energy into researching this election than ever before. Because in ten years time, I want to know in my heart that I tried my hardest to make my country the best I could for my children, whether the candidates I vote for win or lose.

So please don't tell me my vote doesn't count.

It does- to me.

Postscript: Interestingly, since I started writing this a few days ago, Antony Green has raised the same issue on his blog- Do Australian Elections Offer Voters a Choice?

And I have just realised that The Tally Room is run by an ex-Greens candidate so caveat lector. But it did teach me a new word: psephology.