Tangle with W-I-R

I really enjoyed this week's challenge from Diane and Carolien. I chose Esther Piszeczek's tangle, Waax for W, Carole Ohl's Inapod for I and Jane Monk's Raindotty for R. For the string I did an oversize Waax. I feel like I've got more experimenting to do with these tangles and string.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #254

This week's challenge from the Diva is to do a Valentangle - a tile with a Valentine's flair. Here's a monotangle of one of my favourite tangles, Printemps. Perhaps I'm cheating a little as I actually did this one for the Square One: Purely Zentangle group on Facebook but it just seems perfect for this challenge too!

Finding treasures while I'm tidying up

I've been doing some de-cluttering this week. It feels good to reduce a little the amount of stuff in the house. As usually happens I have been getting distracted fairly often. Especially when sorting out old paperwork and making decisions about what to keep and what should go there are so many things that trigger old memories. One of the things I've been going through are my daughter's old books. Finding a few books reminded me of how, at one stage, she wanted workbooks so she could do some practice at home. I showed one of them to her and she noticed something that gave us both a giggle. On the front cover were some problems where she had to write the name for the female next to the male animal. For dog she had written 'nate word' Translation - naughty word. For drake we couldn't work out what she had written but just now I've worked out it was 'dot now' for don't know.

Something else I found while sorting things out was a long stitch of Bananas in Pyjamas. I made it 1999 when my eldest daughter was 3 and loved the Bananas in Pyjamas. I had planned to put it in her room but never got that far. I find it every time I tidy up but never have the heart to throw it out. It has such a lot of memories attached to it. Plus it's the only long-stitch project I've ever completed. My children are long past the stage of liking the Bananas in Pyjamas so maybe it's time to pass it on to someone else. Or maybe not just yet ...

This is a Six Word Saturday post. Go to www.showmyface.com to see how other people describe their week or part of in six words.

Tangle with M-B-Z

M is for Molygon. I enjoyed playing with this newly released tangle some more.
B is for Basketweave by Suzanne McNeill. Lots of fun and concentration.
Z is for Zuan Shi by JJ LaBarbera. I find drawing really straight lines a real challenge. I kept it smallish to help myself out a bit.

Here's my tile for this week's challenge from Diane and Carolien.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #253

This week's challenge from the Diva is to use the newly released tangle, Molygon.  It certainly is a tangle with lots of possibilities. I enjoyed my first meeting and kept thinking of those little banana lollies as I was drawing.

My neighbour gave me some peaches

Last Sunday morning one of my neighbours brought over some peaches from their tree. They are really big ones and I'm sure they will be delicious. I'm just waiting for them to ripen a little more.

Unlike my apricots a few weeks ago, the birds didn't manage to get many of the peaches. I'm not sure that these ones will last long enough to make a cake!

This is a Six Word Saturday post. Go to www.showmyface.com to see how others describe their week or part of in six words or why not join in yourself.

Tangle with D-N-E

My niece chose the tangles for me this week for Diane and Carolien's challenge. She chose DL Nebula by Donna Hornsby, Nipa and Efilys by Sandra Strait. It was fun putting together three tangles chosen for me. After doing one I thought I'd have a go with the same tangles a different way.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #252

The challenge from The Diva this week is to tangle within a tangle by drawing a tangle quite large and then tangling inside it.

I chose Miander by Mimi Lampart for my large tangle. I've been using it a bit lately as it's so much fun. Then inside there are Tipple, Gingham (by Margaret Bremner), Printemps and some tiny Miander.

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 24th, 2016

A few photos from my week for Shadow Shot Sunday today.

After my First Aid training session on Monday I went for a walk to the Botanic Gardens. I had hoped to see one of the Sacred Lotus flowers but there were none in bloom that day. I went into the glasshouse and there were some Blue Lotus of Egypt flowers in bloom and I got a few great photos. Here's one with a fantastic shadow.

Yesterday I found my cat sitting quite comfortably in the washing basket and thinking it looked like an interesting photo I grabbed the camera (aka my phone!). It wasn't until afterwards that I noticed the great shadows.

A bit of a change for me for Shadow Shot Sunday today. Usually I post photos of shadows around my house on the actual day. So, in continuing with that tradition, here's a cute little shadow from a coat hanger.

Go to www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com to see other people's shadow shots.

Nectarine upside-down cake - a new favourite!

I have a new favourite cake recipe. It's for a nectarine upside-down cake and I've made it a few times now. I came across it in the way that I've come across a few of my favourite recipes. I had quite a few nectarines just before Christmas and needed to use them up. As I was taking a dessert to share on Christmas day I decided to try and find a recipe to use them. A quick google search and I came across the recipe for nectarine upside-down cake. I made it and took it for lunch on Christmas day. Not much of it got eaten on the day; there was so much other food. I tried a small piece and it was quite yummy. I gave some away and took some home. The next day I had a piece and it was absolutely delicious. Even better after being in the fridge overnight. I bought more nectarines so I could make another one.

A couple of weeks later I had quite a few peaches so decided to give it a go substituting the peaches for the nectarines. Delicious again!

Peach upside-down cake

Yesterday I was given some lovely ripe nectarines from a friend's tree so I've just made another cake. I've just had a piece while it's still warm and I'll enjoy some cold tomorrow I'm sure. I'll be giving some away so I don't eat all of it.

A slice of warm nectarine cake

This is a Six Word Saturday post, the idea being to describe your week or part of in six words. My six words this week -

Nectarine upside-down cake - a new favourite!

Update: Thanks to one of my commenters I remembered I was going to put a link to the recipe. Another thing I love about it is that it is really easy!

http://recipes.coles.com.au/recipes/207/nectarine-upside-down-cake/