Home Remedies Menopausal Issues

 Once the oestradiol cream did its work, I was told KY Jelly was my only option if my drying episodes recurred. I wondered what have women done for centuries? Suffered? Or came up with home remedies? Surely women in families have talked to their daughters and vice versa, for am sure not everyone has a lack of sexual health care within their homes. As I have said before my sex education and information about sexual health was nil until I studied as a nurse and even so there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm of this topic in cultures like that of the Indian Subcontinent. This is what got me thinking and writing in the blog.

I thought maybe I should ask my friends if they have some handy tips as they are in my age group. Surely someone has had this issue, got tips from older women in the family for self-care. Again, I was surprised to find the reluctance to talk about it. I got one who laughed and asked if I was being serious? She was done with menopause and of course, she had no problems and does not need any care.

Another asked questions which was helpful as she was asking the right things. This was more of what the problem could be but focused on problems maybe with infection of urinary tract. Another came back with the name of one commonly used cream but with a rider that she did not have personal experience but got the info from a gynaecologist.

One came spoke to me separately but the rest just ignored the message. This friend actually talked about keeping the perineum and vagina clean and using a special wash which also helped to moisturise the area. Some others I spoke to were not reluctant to talk as long as it was focused on my issues. There was not much contribution regarding remedies.

One of my friends came up with some good information and I was pleased. She stated these remedies have been used by the ladies in her family and that she tells her patients about these remedies too.

• Take a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds. Wash thoroughly and soak overnight in a small amount of water. In the morning on an empty stomach drink the water and eat the seeds.
• Take about 5 -6 almonds wash well and soak overnight.  These will have to be skinned and eaten. The water in which the almonds were soaked should be thrown away.
• Other vegetables which should be regularly consumed are fenugreek leaves, tindora (ivy gourd), moringa pods (cooked with lentils). These help in hydrating the mucous membranes. Moringa powder is also now available and a table spoon can be added to cooked food like lentils. I will have to check what other foods are useful too.
• I do know soya has a high oestrogenic effect but I am allergic to it and so have to avoid it. Soya and soya products if you can tolerate will also help during menopause.
• Apply a drop of olive oil which is thicker than coconut oil daily to the vaginal and perineum. When experiencing burning avoid using toilet paper, wash and dab dry with a small towel and apply the oil every time you pass urine.

So, I started the fenugreek seeds and almonds daily along with applying olive oil after shower and I can say it has been working well. However, a word of advice the fenugreek seeds can sometimes be hot for the body. Suggestions are to have them with some yogurt or not having it daily. I have reduced it to twice a week. Aside for the oestrogenic effect the fenugreek is good for stabilising blood sugar reducing cholesterol and blood pressure too. If a small amount helps with these other issues too then it is worth a try.

All these have been tried but one needs to remember that not every remedy will suit everyone. For example, soya is seen to be very helpful but I am allergic so unable to take it. Indeed, now a days most processed foods have some form of soya in it. So, try carefully, speak to your doctor if he /she is sympathetic and interested in holistic care.

A Tale of Dry Fanny Woes

 Connective Tissue disease throws new curve ball every so often and sometimes it is hard to discern symptoms that are from the disease or this is something totally unrelated that the body has dreamt up. This blog follows on from my Time to Talk About Menopause.  Post-menopause is a gift that keeps giving and one of them is dryness of the vagina and perineum. It makes for a painful intercourse and also if the dryness extends to the perineum it will burn and pain when urine touches it and when you wipe your self dry. Oh yes you might not notice till the dryness extends outside the vagina if you are not having sex…. For after all your libido is most likely down and you cannot be bothered to have sex. However, with connective tissues which is also another gift that happily keeps updating symptom list you can have drying of mucous membranes like eyes, mouth and of course vagina and perineum.

With is background information I tell my tale of dry fanny woes. I noticed this dryness of the perineum and wondered what happened. With some contortion and a mirror, I could see that the perineum as dry, in fact there was a white patch as it was so dry. I had been applying some tea tree cream as it is anti-inflammatory as well. It seemed to get better after a few days. This went on for a few months and then it would not help so started applying some coconut oil which again was not thick enough to last long and so continued the pain and occasional itching which also comes from drying of surrounding skin as well. Eventually gave in and went to my GP and as I described the dryness and a white patch he goes, ‘thrush.... get something off the pharmacist’ all without looking at my face let alone my fanny! Am like ‘but it is not itching or having any flaking or discharge’ and he says get stuff for thrush.

So now I am at the pharmacy asking to talk to the pharmacist and hoping to get more sense. She asks me more questions than my GP and says maybe you need something thicker than oil and why not try Sudocream and you can apply if a few times (well I could apply the oil too many times but…) So, I pay for a small tube to try out and see if it helps. So off I went and religiously applying this white paste and happy as of course now the urine does not touch the naked perineum. Oh, ladies have you ever experienced the contortions we can do when weeing to avoid the dribble of urine on to the perineum. Bending forward and raising your butt at the end is a useful way if anyone was wondering. This helped for a couple of weeks and then we were back to square one.

Return trip to the pharmacy and this time a different lady who again went through the umpteen questions by now I was getting adept at describing the symptoms. She comes up with - if it hurts have you tried something with a bit of anaesthetic? Then she picks up a tube of haemorrhoids cream. I am like, ‘are you sure one can use this for my symptoms?’ She says of course you can use it we do tell people it is safe to use. Now I was pretty desperate so I nodded and went of with yet another useless cream. A word of warning to people who are not up with their pharmaceutical knowledge the haemorrhoids cream is to reduce the size veins which are bulging and thus reduce blood flow and the anaesthetic acts on the nerve endings to reduce pain. Now these would have little effect on the dry mucous membranes whether due to lack of oestrogen or connective tissue disease. If ever any one gives you this for your fanny kindly refrain from taking it. All it caused was even worse burning on application.

By now I was dreading passing urine and upending myself to avoid the trickle of urine that I was not quick enough to catch on the tissue. Time to go to the GP again and this time go to the wife of my GP who also works there. I say to her, I need you to actually physically look as I cannot diagnose what I cannot see properly. I said her husband had just said thrush with his head down. And so did my rheumatologist for that matter. Now this usual po-faced lady is giggling. I am like sure she is going to take the piss off her husband when she gets home. She asks about why I have had no smear test and I said cannot be bothered. (But that’s another story where they are not competent and appear to dig for oil than take a smear… and I am not bothered to find someone else.)

Then comes the well know lie on the couch and spread them. She gets a speculum out and I tense as she does not have a gentle touch. Says to me all the mucous membranes are red and dry. Her diagnosis is post-menopausal dryness and treatment is oestradiol cream twice a week for 3 weeks and then review. She does not like giving HRT so I am not to expect to continue this beyond the time it clears the dryness. Funny she never asked me about how did I not realise this extreme internal dryness as intercourse would be excruciating. She is a lady doctor who I have seen providing perinatal care and the serious lack of examining the sexual health and indeed the giggling was strange. She totally discarded my suggestion that it could also be due to my autoimmune disease. Well I was happy I got some medication and that would resolve my symptom.

So, oestradiol cream was duly applied twice a week. If you have never had to apply this maybe I should explain. There is a syringe which you screw on to the opening of the cream tube. Then you squeeze the tube to fill the syringe which is a fixed amount. Then you lie back and insert the syringe into the vagina and empty it. Hope you have a helper handy to take the syringe, wash it and put away as you need to lie flat for a while. The dryness seemed to get less along with less pain and burning. During this time, I had a migraine and had ibuprofen for a couple of days. Suddenly the last remnants of the symptoms vanished. Therefore, I think it was a combination of lack of oestrogen and local inflammation that caused my symptoms.

Went back for the review and po-face was back when I said I have ibuprofen and the last of the dryness went. Instead of showing concern and acknowledging there could be a dual reason she just clamed up and lectured me about how dangerous ibuprofen was and that I should take paracetamol before I try ibuprofen (all not necessary as I have been having ibuprofen for over a decade and am well versed with its effects and side effects). Ah she does not like being proved even partly wrong this one! So, after care was less amusing to her. I could have the cream for another week or so and then I should keep KY Jelly handy.

How very helpful and caring this whole experience has been … NOT. My problem though hard for me was actually not that serious and that as a nurse I had such a poor experience what happens to others?  I think we ladies should stop being shy and demand that we get support, care and treatment as required for our whole body and not just with bits that people are comfortable with. This lack of care from health staff leads to women being ashamed to talk about real and very traumatic reproductive organs diseases.

Time to Talk About Menopause

 

A few days ago, I was randomly turning channels on TV and came up on a programme talking about Menopause. Yes, I did use a capital for that word as we seem to hide this just as much as Periods and anything to do with female reproductive organs and physiology. The panel was made up of ladies only both young and older, health professionals and counsellors with a female host too. It was refreshing to see this openness and identify how we ladies too contribute to the hiding and shaming of our body parts and its normal functions. Fortunately, the subject of periods is getting frequent outings but that’s is the tip of the iceberg as other normal and abnormal physiology is yet to be even mentioned even thought hey can cause havoc in all aspects of a woman’s life such as polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis. But today I am going to tell you about my journey through menopause.

When I got ill with pain and swelling of my hands which subsequently spread to all over the body, I had a battery of blood tests. At that time, it was discovered that I was perimenopausal – that changes in hormone levels have been detected and that my menopausal journey is on. This news was provided to me in the passing by my rheumatologist. Since I was in a lot of pain it did not register strongly on my radar. Nothing further was said by the rheumatologist nor my GP as indeed he had the results of the investigations too. What was the discussion you ask about how to handle the symptoms that come from this journey? The plan of action? Support and guidance to deal with this major change?  Ways to deal with changing libido and its impact on my relationship with my husband? Well? Hear that deafening silence? Well yes pretty much the same amount of help guidance and information I got at puberty. The passing reference by the rheumatologist was actually related to maybe some of these symptoms are part of the hormonal changes. Oh, and what you going to do about it? Nothing as this is normal physiology…. Oh wow!

I was having hot flushes and excessive sweating with nightmares and there was a shrug from the healers. I was having primrose oil capsules from years for reducing the impact of premenstrual syndrome and I found that the herbalists actually prescribe that as a help for menopausal symptoms.  While I have polycystic ovaries and have accepted that I do not produce ova, it still takes some adjusting to the fact that at 45 my body was failing yet again as this was an early menopause onset. Well at least I think it is early for as you might have guessed the women in my family were not talkative about such issues.

So, I kept my own counsel and muddled my way through till the actual event at the age of 51. Thus, 6 years of misery along with undifferentiated connective tissue disease.  Fortunately, I continued the primrose oil capsules all the way through till couple of years after menopause too. Ladies, we need to talk about this as well, for all have varying symptoms of varying intensity. There is so much that happens physically, mentally and socially and yet we sweep it under the carpet, speak in whispers or indeed with that silly nasal voice, where we can pretend, we are talking about something else or indeed giggle and pretend we have come through it unscathed with our confidence, dignity and relationships intact.  

Why do the health care staff, both doctors and nurses, do not talk to their female patients? The whole area of sexual health or women is totally ignored and mostly likely only ever gets any mention when a woman is pregnant and that too most likely by the midwife. Why do we woman allow this health care neglect? It is time to open more conversations about overall women’s health and not for just parts of us.  We do not have to go through the change alone. We should support each other in keeping our self-worth and confidence. We need to be able to verbalise our issues within safe friendly environment where there is understanding and not ridicule for the anxieties raised by changing bodies and their impact on relationships. If you are with me on this maybe you can leave comments.

Onion Sambhar

 

Sambhar is one of my favourite dal. This is a South Indian preparation with as many variations as households.  There variations in the spices and ingredients and it always tantalises the palate. It is eaten with rice, dosa, idli or mendu vada.  Till now I used to use the ready-made sambhar powder and very much in the way I prepare most lentils that is boil them make the masala or add onions garlic ginger chillies tomatoes once the lentils have boiled and then temper it with different ingredients. For sambhar that generally mean tempering with mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida, a teaspoon of urad dal (black gram lentil), a teaspoon of channa dal (split chickpea) and a few curry leaves. It was good sambhar and have enjoyed it for years but recently I got some instructions from a friend about how to make sambhar and the use of freshly ground spices as taught to her by her mother in law. Now this is the kind of recipe that’s valuable and is passed down the generations.

Ingredients

• 150 grams of tuvar dal (split pigeon pea lentils) alternately you can also use masoor dal (red lentils)
• 15 – 20 baby onions (if you do not have these tiny onions you can use 1 large onion cut into chunks. I used frozen baby onions as that is what I had) You can add more onions if you wish.
• 1 table spoon of tamarind paste
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 table spoon of olive oil or any vegetable oil
• ¾ teaspoon of mustard seeds
• ¼ teaspoon of asafoetida
• 10 – 12 curry leaves

For sambhar powder –

• 1 teaspoon channa dal (split chickpeas)
• 1 teaspoon urad dal (black gram lentil)
• 8  small red chillies or 4 large ones
• 2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• ¼ teaspoon methi (fenugreek seeds)
• 1 pinch of asafoetida

 

Method

• Wash and clean the lentils. Put in a pan cover them with an inch of water and boil. You can also cook it in a pressure cooker. Once cooked put them aside.
• Put all the sambhar powder ingredients in a frying pan and roast the spices over a hot flame. Stir to ensure it does not burn. In a couple of minutes, you will smell the aroma of the roasted spices. Remove from the pan into a plate so that they can cool down.
• Add the oil and mustard seeds in a saucepan and heat till the mustard seeds start to crackle. Add the asafoetida and curry leaves.
• Then add the onions to the pan. Sauté it for a couple of minutes and add a cup of water, tamarind paste, salt and turmeric powder. Stir and leave it to cook for till the onion softens which should be within 2 – 3 minutes.
• While the onion is cooking take the cooled roasted spices and grind them in a spice or coffee grinder. It does not have to be finely powdered. Some coarse bits are good as they thicken the sambhar nicely. You will get around 2 table spoons of powder.
• Once the onions are cooked add the cooked lentils and the sambhar powder.  Add another cup of water and stir well. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Serve straight away or you can reheat and serve later so this can be prepared in advance.

Tips

1. As suggested in the ingredients you can use red lentils as well which is useful as they cook a lot faster than tuvar dal. I do not use a pressure cooker and find that it is easier to cook tuvar dal by soaking it in hot water. Leave for an hour or so. The check the water level and reheat the pan and bring the lentils to a boil. Again, leave it to cool while the lentil actually gets slow cooked. The third time I just cook it on a medium to low flame or 1 -3 on an electric hob till it is cooked. It takes about 30 – 40 minutes.
2. Also if you do not get baby onions you can use shallots or red onion as they taste sweeter than white onions.
3. I have it on good authority that you can make mixed veg – onions, beans, drumstick, aubergine, potato, gourd, muli (white raddish) or even pumpkin sambhar. The trick is to cook the vegetables before adding the cooked lentils and sambhar powder.
4. You can use fresh tamarind where you soak a handful and then squeeze the pulp for use or indeed use lemon juice. The sourness of the sambhar can be adjusted to your taste. Similarly, the heat in the sambhar powder can be adjusted to your tasted by increasing or decreasing the red chillies.
5. You can add coriander leaves as garnish on top.

Rava Handvo

Rava Handvo

I have always loved this typical Gujarati dish handvo, but have not made as it has been an elaborate recipe and required a specific utensil, the handvo cooker. We had one of these when I was growing up. My mother used to soak the lentils and rice overnight and, in the morning, it was ground in a stone motor pestle. Then the cooker was readied. In the picture you will see the small pan which is filled with sand and placed on the gas hob. The large pan which is shaped like a ring mould is placed on top and tempering prepared. Once the mustard crackles the handvo mixture which is fairly thick is poured in. The lid placed and this delicious mixture bakes slowly. Also, to make it soft my mother used to add some grated bottle gourd / doodhi.

Handvo Cooker

Now you can get a ready mixed flour where you add the water and any vegetables you want and place it in an oven dish and bake it. I have tried this once but was never convinced about it as there are many additives. So, when I saw a recipe where I can cook it on the hob in a frying pan and I did not have to soak and grind ingredients as well as without overnight prepping I was sold.

Ingredients

For Dough Mix

• 1 cup rava /semolina (I have used coarse as that’s what I had but you can use fine one too)
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 cup water
• ½ teaspoon Eno fruit salt or baking soda
• 1 large courgette/zucchini grated using large grater
• 1 inch of finely chopped ginger
• 2 green chillies finely chopped (adjust according to taste or even leave it out)
• Handful of coriander finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt to taste

For Tempering

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 10 – 15 curry leaves
• A big pinch of asafoetida
• 1 – 1 ½ teaspoon of white sesame seeds

Method

• In a clean large bowl put the rava and yogurt. Start mixing with a spoon. Add water slowly and till you get a good thick batter.
• Set it aside for 10 – 15 mins as the water will get absorbed and further thicken the batter. Add a little more water to loosen the batter so that it can just be poured into the frying pan.
• While the batter is resting grate the courgette, chop the ginger, chillies and coriander.
• Once prepared add the vegetables and herbs to the batter. Stir well and add a tablespoon of oil plus the Eno fruit salt and table salt to taste.
• Heat the oil for tempering in the frying pan with mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds begin to crackle add asafoetida and curry leaves. As the leaves begin to fry add the sesame seeds. Swirl the oil around so sesame seeds get coated.
• Pour the batter into the frying pan and shake it to ensure it is evenly spread. Turn the hob to low gas flame or minimum on the electric hob. Put a lid on the frying pan so the handvo cooks in the steam that is generated.
• This slow cooking for about 20 minute allows the bottom to crisp up and the edges to come away from the side. The top is also set but not completely.
• Slide the handvo on to a plate and then flip it back into the frying pan so that the other side can be cooked.
• Cover the frying pan with the lid again and leave to crisp up for another 10 – 15 minutes.
• Slide it into a plate (tempered side up) and cut into slices like a pizza.

Tips

• Serve it with some coriander and chilli chutney or ketchup or any other condiment that takes your fancy.
• The texture of the inside of the handvo was pretty soft as the courgette had melted totally. This makes me think addition of slightly firmer vegetables will give a crunch as well as thickness to the handva.
• If the yogurt s slightly sour it gives a nice tang to the final dish.
• You can use vegetable to peanut oil instead of olive oil. You can omit the tablespoon of oil that goes into the mixing of the batter to reduce the fat content.
• After this success I will try adding other vegetables too. Grated carrot, finely sliced or shredded runner beans, finely chopped onions, cabbage, maybe peas, capsicum can be tried. Some suggest even adding garlic but personally am not sure it will make a good match but feel free to try.
• This picture of the prepared handvo is what you get for the ingredient quantities stated and serves 2.

2 portions as a meal or 4 as a snack or starter

Strange Acquisitions

People do the strangest things and you wonder why? Most annoying thing is you never find out unless you ask. However, I do not think people will take kindly to questioning as one might be seen to be nosey and a peeping tom. Can one say peeping tom if you are not looking through windows at people going about their lives but just seeing what’s happening in front of their house? Surely if I live nearby, I cannot be called a stalker either. If there is a word besides nosey neighbour maybe someone can tell me.

So, one afternoon this large van draws up and parks cross the road. I did not pay attention as often the guys come home for lunch and bring their work vehicle along. But then 4 men got out of the van. They open the shutter, and one or two get in. Now I am curious. What are they up to? Then I see a chair being handed out. Its one of these office chairs with five wheels. I think oh they are getting some furniture. Then they set up a relay of 4 and start bringing out chairs one hands it out, next one takes it to the drive. The next one takes it to the front door and then the guys inside I presume is setting it where they want it. Now since I know there are 3 – 4 people living there the first 4 chairs were ok but then more chairs appeared. There was a total of 15 chairs that were downloaded and taken into the house. Who would need that many office chairs?

A few weeks later another van appeared and the process was repeated but this time with 6 or 7 filing cabinets. The cabinets however, were taken through the gate in the driveway to round the back. Are they being put into the garage that is being curtained off? What does one do with so many filing cabinets? Have not seen any of these items leave the house unless it was done on a day I was not there or after dark.

A couple of months back up drove another van and this time a garden swing made with rusty metal frame with a wooden seat is unloaded into the front garden. So, what is this for? Are they going to be swinging in the front garden? They are never out front unless it is to cut grass. Even that most often they do after it is dark. You wonder why you can hear a mower and then see this shadowy figure with a headlamp moving up and down the garden. A week later in the evening the men with tools were there undoing the swing. After that I think there was some polishing done as the next morning the metal frame was shiny without rust. Then the frame was left in the garden and disassembled seat and metal rods to hang the swing were placed on the veranda.

There they lay for a couple of weeks. Then one evening just as it got dark, I heard power tools buzzing again. I looked but it was dark and all I could glimpse from the light in the veranda that they were moving the tool up and down the metal bits. Next morning, we find all parts of the swing pained green. I have been watching paint drying since then! Wonder what comes next?

Truck Meets Telegraph Pole

One afternoon we were cutting grass in the front garden. It was a sunny and pretty warm day so was well covered with long sleeves and sun screen, hat, sunglasses and gloves to protect from the sun. We had reached the middle of the garden where there was a tremendous bang heard loudly over the lawnmower’s noise. I looked to see if something had gone wrong with the mower even though the sound was well above that of a mower dying. So, we stopped the mower and moved to the footpath to check up and down the road.

There was big 40 tonne truck across the road with the cab pushing over the telegraph pole which was at the corner with another side road. The truck engine was still running but there was no driver. Now on the same side of the road as my house, in the next block are a number of warehouses and trucks constantly arriving and departing from there. There is a huge drive and gate to this business area. The perimeter is closed with a fairly strong and high wire fence. The land inside the fence is a slope as we are on a hill. The road inside the site is higher than the road outside the fence. What happened was pieced together with comments from some neighbours and local news as well as seeing the site the next day when I walked past it. This truck apparently had been parked on the road inside the business park and the driver stepped out without engaging the handbrake. This truck somehow rolled literally sideways down the slope and through the fence across the road and slam into the telegraph pole which has major electricity cables. All power down hill from that pole was lost. We could see live wires trailing to the ground.  

The police arrived and road was hastily closed for traffic. The power company vehicles rolled in pretty fast and the engineers set to repair work. The power coming into that section had to be turned off so they went up the one in front of our house to disconnect the rest. This was the first time I had seen some of my neighbours as all came out to see the crash. There were pictures taken and one neighbour was videoing the scene. The cars coming down the road were diverted to the side road just before the crash site and of course people stopped to see what happened and some were u-turning and going back.  This happened around 3 pm and we were wondering how they would manage to get the truck off the road before dark. We were sure it would not happen till next morning. But no, they worked till late. They managed to straighten the pole, wires were reattached and last but not least the articulated truck with the cab at an angle was all removed and road reopened. That excitement was a talking point for a few weeks.

Mystery of the Broken Wall

In any neighbourhood people watching is interesting and neighbour watching is an edifying pastime. I can see how neighbourhood watch groups function now that I am home all day. I sit by the window and often watch the world go by. In my last home there was very little movement except for odd cars of people from the street as it was a side road and sometimes kids playing. Two of my homes have been on a fairly busy roads through the suburb.

One of the houses across the road is also a rent property, I think. There are a number of young men going in and out so it must be a shared living situation. I see a company truck and all wear some sort of uniform and so I presume they all work in some form of removal / storage company or warehouse. They hardly ever use the front door but use the gate down the drive to access the house. Now I know that from my house one can see all the way down their drive to the garage. They have some sort of drapes and screens to obscure the garage. Makes one wonder what are they up to go to such lengths to ensure privacy. Before the curtains were put on the garage, I think some evenings they were having barbeques with some music on but none of this was ever intrusive to the neighbours.

So, all in all they are peaceful guys who keep very much to themselves. One young man has a noisy motorbike which now and then he gets into his head to rev. One afternoon I looked over and saw that the end of the small garden wall with the letter box was broken and lying across the drive and garden. There was a car parked in the drive. To this day I have not figured out how that damage happened. There was no noise of a hit to the wall neither was there any damage to the car. Not that the drive is narrow or that car was huge. The guys were out and piling the bricks to the side, again none of the bricks seemed to be damaged. The repair was a lengthy process in that it was completed over several weeks a couple of bricks at a time. One weekend there was a crowd of there. About 4 young men who were watching / supervising 2 others rebuilding the wall and ensuring the letter box was fitted well. So was there a teaching of novice tradies going on? Excitement over!

How Not to DIY

People sometimes act as if they have a death wish. You wonder whatever got into the thing they call a brain for them to act in such a way. I will give you 2 examples and leave it to you to decide if I am right in questioning some people’s sanity.

First one is from when I lived in a house that had a straight chimney. This definitely was a weird one as most chimneys have an angle and this one was straight. The saga of what came down the chimney is detailed in my earlier post. Eventually after 2 years of complaining the landlord came to check what the matter was. Surely, he should have known about this as he was the owner and had previous tenants. Did they never complain about the offerings from the chimney? He tries looking up the chimney but it is actually hard to crouch in the grate to look up. Going out he came to the conclusion that the chimney was straight and hence the problem!! I think this landlord got so many eye rolls from me.. wonder I was not permanently looking backwards.

So, we had a discussion of what could be done. I pointed out that since it was an open hole it needed a cover of sorts. The easiest would be a piece of wood or a sheet of metal nailed down would be effective. So off he went and returned with a piece of metal sheet obviously from a scrapyard as it was like a lid with lip on all 4 sides of it. Now how was he going to get it up there? I stand indoors and watch as he backs his ute up into the drive which is on the chimney side of the house. Brings it close and then opens out his step ladder on the bed of the ute. Now I went out to see if he knew what he was doing. He climbed on top of the ladder which was in the back of the ute with that metal sheet in his one hand. Then he realises that it is just a little short of what he wants but goes ahead by standing on his tiptoes all the while muttering his wife would kill him if she saw him doing this. I was thinking well she seems to be the sensible one of you two then.

Now standing on his toes he swung the sheet up on top of the chimney and of course since he had no measurements the size was not right. He had been hoping to just sit that sheet into the chimney top but it would not fit in. Now he placed it face down with the lips just the bricks at the outer edge of the hole. The he came down for the tools. I receded indoor with fingers crossed that I would not have to call an ambulance. He said he had fixed it and left in one piece and I heaved a sigh of relief. Later in the week there was a storm with gales. I was looking out of the window to see the trees swaying and I saw something flicker past the corner of my eye and a big bang. Yes, you guessed it. The precariously nailed sheet had come off the chimney and flown down to hit into the metal fence and luckily not hit anyone. It only had to be at a slightly different angle to travel into the next-door garden or even the road – a perfect weapon to decapitate someone. Needless to say, the man was back and did a repeat performance of up the ladder in the ute and this time he nailed strips of metal from the metal into the brick on 2 opposite sides and it held.

The other example is when I moved into the current home the neighbour were moving out the same day. A couple of days later I heard voices next door and looked to see 2 – 3 young men. It sounded like they were doing some odd jobs but were they really? At one point they managed to knock the glass from out of the window frame onto the drive. It was wintertime and so it gets dark pretty early. After dinner while doing the washing up my husband said what is happening, I can hear clomping on metal. Looking out of the window on to the back of the house I could see 2 men on top of the metal roof that covers the portion of the drive where one can park a car. One had a camping head lamp on which gave out meagre light. By now it is pitch dark and I thought whatever is he doing up on the roof? Next a roar of the chainsaw and we look at each other with bewilderment as to what was happening. The man than climbed the tree branches that were coming over the roof of the house and the side of the house and started pruning the tree in the pitch dark by that dim head lamp. At one point it looked as if he was cutting into the branches right where he was standing. One slip could have taken his foot off. They could have had at least the light in the veranda on.  I must have prayed hard as neither injured himself and got of the roof in one piece.

Now you know why I was questioning the logic of these guys who go into chores for which they clearly not only unqualified but have not even given it a modicum of thought to the damage they could have done to themselves and the property.

Tale of a Straight Chimney

I used to live in a house which we think was from the 1930s or 40s. It was a fab house as it had 2 layered brick walls which kept the house very cool no matter the heat outside. Even when temperatures outside reached 40C+ it never got warmer than 29C indoors. But winter it was really cold indoors. Maybe this why the builders had put in a massive fireplace. I loved the idea of this fireplace and a wrought iron grate to burn wood for the fire. While I was not going to build a fire indoors as I would not be able to do the work required to make a fire and then clean the grate and of course the smoke would have me wheezing in a minute, I loved the grate and thought I would do some dry flowers and foliage arrangements.

The first sign of trouble came when one day there was a big splat. I was sitting in the sofa next to the chimney, listening to music and reading when I was startled. It was taking me some time to get used to the various bird calls which were so loud as the front door was open, that I used to get up and do a quick round through the house to make sure no bird had got in. So, when the splat came, I jumped up to look around after all the sound had been in the room. There was a slight movement and I saw a long black lizard, the kind that is all over my garden, in the grate. I think it was dazed for it took a minute to breath before rushing off towards the door and escaping from under it.

Next happened a few days later. It rains on and off here and some days it is a mild drizzle which is what has been happening since I moved here. When I go to hoover the house, I would hoover under the grate too and could not figure out why there was dampness. Was some moisture coming down the chimney? Then we had a massive storm and next thing I know I hear the rain and think ‘wow even the rain seems to be in the house’. But better check it out so I get up and see this puddle on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. Then I see the rain pouring in through the chimney. Damn this is the first time I have seen a chimney that is built straight and so the pouring rain brings it right down into the house. I had a few words with the estate agent and got very little joy. I used to put papers in the grate and that would absorb the water when it rained. This drama went of for a couple of years before the landlord (who insisted on doing all the repairs himself) was forced to come to do something about it.

The last one was most mystifying. It was a cold grey day with rain expected later. The wind was blowing big gusts every now and then. I was quietly listening to some music and then I heard this sound that can be best described as something between a long moan and a cry. A long wwoooooooooohhhh……. It was such a sad and worry sound. By now I am tuned to run to the chimney the first thing. I stood near the grate and tried to peer up the chimney and got a full blast of that eerie moan. Now I thought maybe there is a bird trapped in there. That it may have flown in and could not just fly back out. How does one get a bird out of the chimney? Who do I call? The estate agent will probably shrug her shoulders. Do I call 000 and ask for firies to come for the bird removal? Or is it the RSPCA? I thought let me rattle a stick or the broom up the chimney and see. But if it comes inside the house down the chimney how am I going to get it to go out again?  But nothing happened except another big coooooooo. Yes, then I realised that a pigeon was sitting on the chimney looking down the hole and cooing. Did it want me to coo back? I had a chuckle and told all my friends about being serenaded down the chimney. It was back a few times over 2 years cooing at me.

Interesting things happen to come down my chimney. The current house has one but is boarded up and fortunately I do not think it is a straight one.

Neighbour Washing Car

Neighbours can be quirky and while I am a friendly soul have not been able to make friends with all my neighbours. Well a couple were friends but only one has lasted a move. One of my neighbours I actually spoke to on the day before I moved. Often neighbours shift and new ones come and you suddenly think oh when did that happen? As I have not seen any removal vans come or go. Then it dawns on me that recently cars have been coming and going frequently and loads of large bags and packages have been loaded in to the car which I caught a glimpse of as I passed the window.

Yes, so I missed the actual move of the neighbour and only realised when I started seeing another person visiting daily to check on an extension being carried out at the rear of the house. Now I always make an effort to smile at my neighbours when I see them outside. But the one who had vacated never returned the smile except once when he was cutting grass and was right in front of me.

The current observation is about this gentleman. It was a cloudy murky day and quiet. Then the expected rain arrived. I have seen that more often then not the rain is a serious downpour almost monsoon like. My husband has often made video clip of the rain which starts with a dance of huge drops of water and then they run along the road. As the wind picks up the rain is seen at a curtain of water flying along. The road becomes a river that is rushing to find a gutter and race to the storm drain.

So once the rain started it was heavy with visibility greatly reduced. I love watching the rain racing about hither tither with the wind so I went to stand in the veranda to take in this view. The sight that I was confronted left me open mouthed, literally. The man next door was on his front lawn washing his car. Now one can understand that since it is raining, he would be making the use of all this free rain water but no that would be too sensible. He was holding an umbrella to protect himself from the rain and using a garden hose to wash his car. Why? The logic still eludes me…. Have never seen this before or since but then never know what new neighbours and neighbourhoods will bring.

And Everything Comes to a Halt

The dependence on technology today is sometimes scary. Now I do not mean the communication, media and internet nor the machinery used across all aspects of human life. I am referring to the most basic of technology – electricity. In the past I have lived in houses and flats which had both electricity and gas supply. The appliances were split in the utilisation of both, with gas being used for cooking and heating and the rest using electricity. This meant that a power cut while inconvenient would not stop all aspects of life. However, in the houses now a days there is a trend for everything electric.

A few years ago, I lived for the first time in an all-electric house. One afternoon there was a massive thunderstorm – a huge flash of light and a deafening clap of thunder and suddenly no power. My laptop was running on battery and that was all that was functioning. The phone line is connected into a modem and so without electricity there is not internet and also no landline. I also did not have a mobile phone in those days as I never really needed it. As I had no experience of power loss here, I was wondering what to do. Thought I should get a cup of tea and have a think. But oh! Without electricity how can I boil my kettle? The hob was also electric and so could not even boil a pan of water. So, I did a very Indian thing and went next door to check if they had power.

The young girl next door said they had a cut too but her mother had called to reassure the kids that it was ok. The call to electricity company had explained that a local junction box had taken a hit of lightening. I then walked over to my nephew’s house a couple of streets away. There I could ring the electricity company to lodge a complaint. I was surprised to find that when you called, they asked you to put in the area code and this gave a recorded message about the lightening hit and that power would be restored in 3 – 4 hours.  True to their word it was restored come evening.

This kind of outage happened once more but two other times it was planned outage for maintenance. I have to work out how to manage for the few hours and it was not so bad. But any longer than a few hours and it is hell. In the past few years, we have had massive storms and power outage across large parts of the city and suburbs which lasted several days. Life comes to a halt – freezer and fridge goods perished, no heating or hot water and no kitchen appliances could be used. Now with a trend to automate everything via Google or Siri or Alexa where even the opening of your front door is controlled by password or facial recognition what will happen if there is a power cut? You will either be locked in or locked out of your house. Is the fact that we have relatively very few outages making us forget to take that aspect into account when automating our homes? I enjoy technology but that is one step am not yet ready to take just in case…….

Buttermilk Scones

In the past we have tried different recipes for scones and none ever hit quite the right note. It would be a bit dry or crumblier than we would have liked or sometimes a bit dense. This time round we saw a recipe on one of the websites and decided to try that. Right from the word go we had plain flour and not self-raising, but then you can use baking powder to get the right effect. The recipe called for ¾ cup of buttermilk but when mixing the dough, it was too dry and crumbly so more butter milk was added. I like raisins in the scones so even though they were not in the recipe some were added. The scones turned out superb and light and just right.

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 40 grams of butter – chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 ¼ cups of butter milk  
• ½ cup of raisins

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220°C.
• Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
• Rub in the butter into the flour with your fingertips. It does not have to be perfectly mixed.
• Make a well in the centre of the ingredients and add the buttermilk.
• Start mixing with a spoon and finish with your fingers.
• Add raisins and knead just until it comes together but do not overwork it.
• Using floured fingers press the dough between the palms of your hands to form a round shape about an inch thick.
• About 12 scones can be made from these ingredients.
• Place on a lined baking tray.
• Brush the tops with some more buttermilk.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 10–15 mins or until lightly coloured on the top and bottom.
• Take them out of the oven and leave to cool on a rack.

Serving Tips

• Serve with butter, jam and clotted cream should you have some.
• Jams traditionally used are strawberry or raspberry jam. But since I had none in the cupboard we used just as wonderful cherry jam and quince jam.
• Also, to get a savoury taste you can have it with some cheese – cheddar cheese seems to work quite well.

Vendhiya Uttapum

I am getting adventurous and my friends are gobsmacked at my enthusiasm for trying out new recipes. I am not a very good recipe follower and I have to be careful and follow it to the T for the first time.  This one is a recipe given to me by my long-time friend and she was pleased to see my efforts.

Ingredients

• 1 cup parboiled rice or raw short grain rice
• ¾ cup of tuvar dal (pigeon peas lentil)
• ½ cup of urad dal (husk free black gram lentil)
• 2 tablespoons of methi (fenugreek seeds)
• 10 – 15 curry leaves
• 2 table spoons of chopped coriander leaves
• 1 finely chopped onion
• Salt to taste
• Oil or ghee to cook

Method

• Gather the rice, lentils and methi in a bowl. Wash thoroughly and discard the water. Then add fresh water to about an inch above the mix and leave to soak for 3 hours.
• Drain out the water into a glass and set aside for loosening the batter.
• Add the curry leaves to the mixture.
• Grind the mixed curry leaves, rice, lentils and methi in to a fairly fine paste.
• Remove it to a bowl and add some of that water to loosen the batter. The batter should not be too thick that it falls from the ladle as a dollop. Nor should it be runny.
• Add salt and coriander leaves to the mix and leave it aside to rest for 15 – 30 mins.
• When you are ready to make the uttapum check again the consistency of the batter and add a bit of water if the batter has thickened.
• Heat the pan and add a few drops of oil or ghee to coat the surface.
• Put two ladles of batter from the centre of the pan outwards.
• Sprinkle onions on to top of the uttapum.
• Drizzle some oil on the surface and cover the frying pan with a lid.
• Cook the uttapum in the steam generated till the edges come off the pan.
• Remove the lid and flip the uttapum over to cook on the other side.
• Check to see if it is done and remove to a plate.
• Serve it with coconut chutney or pickle or podi.

Tips

Original recipe did not have onions or coriander so they can be omitted. I like them so I added them. Maybe next time I will add some green chillies too.

I had the uttapum with gongurai pickle

Visitors to My Garden

Over the years we have so may birds in the garden.  Right from the oft seen Common Myna to once in a while seen herons.

Kookaburra

My all-time favourite kookaburra on my washing line. Normally seen to the electric poles and wires. Largest group was of about 11 which I think was a lot of young birds as I believe they were nesting in one of the large trees.

 

Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

These roam in gangs and decimate trees in their path, screech and make a racket. The crest fan out when they are angry and in warrior mode.

Common Myna

These as the name suggests are aplenty. In one of the house’s I lived they had a permanent next in the partly broken guttering of the roof next door. Every year they had a couple of chicks and the racket started when they want to be fed. Woe betide if any ‘stranger’ came even in my garden. They would dive bomb it. That’s how I found my resident blue tongued lizard that I have got in the alter pictures.

Australian Myna / Noisy Miner

These were the fledglings of the noisy miner pair living in one of the near by trees. The chirping of these chicks is incessant and that’s is what drew my attention to them. Took me a while to find them among the leaves. From the hatching to the flying away took 3 weeks. They moved slowly around the couple of trees to test out their wings…. And last see on the wires before they left.

Rainbow Lorikeets

These are by far my most favourite bird. The colours and the sounds are just joyful I find. These were in the second house that I lived. The one after that had a lot of spider flowers and also bottle-brush trees which meant there was loads of honey and flowers for them to eat (. If the doors were open it felt that the birds were inside the house. It took me a while to stop going around the house to check if there were any lorikeets inside the house.

Blue-tongued Lizard

The first time I saw this creature it was in Melbourne. I was surprised to see such a large lizard and its blue tongue but before I could get a camera out it was off under the house. I never managed to catch it on the camera. But the second house here I was alerted to the sunning lizard just on the side of the house in the grass, by the screaming common myna pair from next door. They were trying to peck the poor lizard. I shooed them away and stood guard to let the lizard warm up. The second picture is of another blue tongue that lived in under the garage of the next house. Sadly, I do not seem to have one in this house… though I have seen one come from next door so maybe it lives there.

Wood Duck

No idea what it was doing here…. Am not that close to a water body. The river and duck pond closest is at Parramatta Park.

Ibis

This is seen everywhere here – parks, roads, city centres, gardens and called dumpster turkey as they are known to dumpster dive. In the first house I never saw any. But in the second one there used to be an occasional one. The next house there was a couple walking down the road. This house I have a large back garden and often they come and aerate my lawn by poking holes for worms. The best was a family of 5. The 2 large ones were of course the parents and the other 3 were smaller in size. Of course when I want to put up the picture those 5 can I find it?

Crested Pigeon

These are cute as they teeter about with that crest bobbing about. This one is well fed but usually they are not very big. They are also always found in pairs from what I have noted. The best memory I have of a pair was a courtship dance on the road. Right in the middle of the road the female was walking in front and the male kept coming and touching her. She shrugged him off and went forward. This went on for a minute of two. Her rebuffs were getting stronger and then she just turned and chased him, pecking at him down the road. I just wished I had been able to get that on camera. It was a funny site. I saw that courtship once again next year.

Heron

Now this is a stranger in the local area. Again, I got alerted when the noisy miners went berserk outside. This made me get up and walk around to all the windows to see if I could find the reasons for all this racket and of course I find the heron wandering about the garden next door. The second time it came over to my garden too.

Lastly, I point you to the last blog which had the rarest bird in the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo.

Birds in My Garden

There are a lot of new insects, reptiles and birds that I have come across around my house here. It is always a nice surprise to see the different creatures. Australia is pretty well known for the many dangerous animals it has and I remember a few friends warning me about them before I came here.

First, we lived in Melbourne suburb and it was a very quiet neighbourhood with a lot of greenery, trees and grass around. There were so many birds calls which were unusual to our ears which are now pretty familiar. One day we were walking to the bus stop along a small path that took us to the main road and the bus stop. Around that time, I was still not stable in health and so had to walk slowly and hence had the time to look around as I walked. Looking at the amazing variety of different flowers and beautiful gardens. We used to walk that road often to get to bus stop as any outing whether just for buying groceries or to just an outing on the bus to see places, bus was the only way to go.

Suddenly my husband said oh look there is something in the tress high up in front. Large black mass…. Could that be a monkey? He speculated. But surely there are no wild monkeys in the suburbs in this country? We walked towards the tree as it was right by the end of the lane where we turned out on to the road. The size of this creature seemed fairly big .. yes it was big enough to be a monkey. Was that its back we were seeing. But then we were almost up t the tree and this creature squawked. Oh gosh! This was a black cockatoo and it is enormous. Then as our eyes adjusted to the angle and the light, we saw there were 2 enormous Glossy Black Cockatoos sitting on the branch and making soft sounds.

We stood there on the road for a good 5 minutes watching the beautiful birds.

Once again, we had the pleasure of seeing these elusive and endangered birds when we were at Murramurang National Park. We were sitting in the resort and having a cuppa. Suddenly there was a commotion and rustling in the trees….. loud strange bird calls. Everyone got up to look up through the trees to see what bird it was… and out flew a flock of 4 large Glossy Black Cockatoos. Simply beautiful and made me smile happily for the rest of the evening.

More recently, I was walking in my house as per usual and heard some screeching from outside. I live on top of a hill almost at a corner and so when there are bird calls it hard to figure out the direction immediately. So I looked out the front, opened the front door and looked out on that side. After a few minutes I gave up and continued walked. This time the screeching was coming from the back garden. I stopped at the kitchen window to see if there was anything visible. Suddenly I noticed the bark of my large eucalyptus tree being stripped and dropped down on the grass. There was something dark in the tree, could just about see a black bit moving. I went out and stood under the tree, oh my it was a glossy black cockatoo all right.  Just as I stood watching thinking its too late to grab my camera it flew off… a beautiful large yellow tailed black cockatoo.