Jacarandas in bloom.  Even a row of random parked cars, a wire fence and a drain manage to look beautiful by association.

Training cones hiding in my combined basil and spring onion pot at the back door.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition.

These are my new high vis orange training cones that I’ve been using for my new found love of backyard (back street to be more precise) sprint training.  I got my set for $15 at Rebel Sport.  It’s a simple set up this sprint training business but I’m surprised at how I’ve taken to it.  I vary the way I position them – in a row, zig zagged, in a triangular formation and then I go for broke.  The half hour always passes so quickly and interestingly, I’m finding my treadmill sessions less tedious because of these sessions under the trees out in the fresh air

I was out finding bits and pieces for my work morning tea contribution yesterday and I found these new wave crackers.  Sure they sound and look delicious and I’m sure they’re a wonderfully sophisticated addition to a cheese board in the year 2016 but….

www.kaiserfoods.com.sg

there’s only one kind of cracker good enough to be served with my favourite Margaret River Club Cheddar

and they would be good old Arnott’s Jatz.  And not those imposter cracked pepper or 97% fat free (what’s the point) Jatz but the original plain ones.  How could you resist them in their special festive packaging?

www.barrossabaskets.com

While you can’t mess with the cheddar and Jatz combination, it is perfectly acceptable to go a little gourmet with a sliver or two of Maggie Beer quince paste sandwiched between your cheese and cracker.  I’m seriously thinking that this is all I’ll need to have on the table for Christmas lunch this year.

My first Hippo Blue order arrived this week in this beautiful tropical jungle themed envelope.

I’ve tried practically every iron on label brand available online in Australia and it looks like I’ve saved the best for last.  Hippo Blue get two thumbs up from me.  The labels iron on firmly with a hot, dry iron without any peel off.  I also like how the characters in some themes can be personalized right down to the hair colour of the featured characters.

My last burst of colour for today’s post comes courtesy of the pinks and reds that make up my recipe for Preschooler SSG’s favourite strawberry milk shake.  Frozen strawberries, milk and a scoop or two of spendy Sara Lee strawberries and cream in the blender and there you go.  Not pictured though is the teaspoon of wheat germ I sneak in for the fibre.

The resultant milkshake is so thick you need two pink straws to drink it and it gives you such severe brain freeze that you need to let it warm up a bit before sipping.  Which is why you need mum to give you an extra scoop of ice cream on the side to eat while the warming up happens.