Hootenanny Pancakes!!
Hootenanny pancakes are very popular at our house at the moment! They’re very quick and easy to make, and there’s not too much washing up at the end. (Guess who does the dishes over here?)
These are so yummy that the first time we tried them (at breakfast), I had to make them again for lunch!
Mrs BBS discovered them because we had 5 dozen eggs to eat in a week. So we needed something that would use up a lot of eggs fast, and something different from the baked custard we normally have when we have spare eggs. 
We have eaten them with strawberries & cream, ice cream and maple syrup (YUM!!!), fruit sauce and cream with a dusting of icing sugar… all sorts of combinations. And since there are no sweeteners (unless you choose to ‘add’ something 
) it’s all good for you! (ahem… not counting the ice cream!)
1 cup milk
1 cup self-raising flour
6 eggs
1/4 cup of butter (please don’t tell Mr BBS it has so much butter – he’ll be sick, and we’ll be Banned)
Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C or 425 degrees F.
Beat your eggs while you wait.
Then add the milk.
Then beat in the flour. The pancake is actually fluffier if you sift your flour. Or you can just chuck it in. (like me! )
By now, hopefully your oven is hot. Use a large lasagne dish, and throw in your lump of butter.
Once it’s melted, pour in the batter.
The recipe I used said 25 minutes; since we have a fast oven, I only put it in for 20.
Watching it is fun – you can literally see it puff!!
Then pull it out of the oven and… Enjoy!
Scotland the Brave
What do you think of when you hear someone say, ‘Scotland’ ? It makes me think of the Winnie the Pooh poem, about snow and cold toes, tiddly pom! Mrs BBS says, “long service leave destination!” 
(but I’ll come too if I can manage it!!)
Legends? Here’s one I filched out of the cupboard;
The Scots King Alexander III routed the army of the Viking King Haakon IV at the Battle of Largs in 1263 A. D. Legend has it that the Vikings were intent on surprising the Scottish army under cover of darkness. Advancing barefoot, one of them trod on a Thistle. His cry of pain alerted the Scots, who fell upon the invaders, driving them back into their longships.
From that day the Thistle was adopted as the Emblem of Scotland.
That’s what our new potholder says, anyway. And it came from Scotland!
This is currently one of our favourite songs… Scotland the Brave. We hear it once a year on bagpipes, too, on Anzac Day, which is a treat.
Here are the lyrics:
Let Italy boast of her gay, gilded waters,
Her vines and her bowers and her soft sunny skies,
Her sons drinking love from the eyes of her daughters,
Where freedom expires amid softness and sighs.
Scotland’s blue mountains wild, where hoary cliffs are piled,
Towering in grandeur are dearer tae me,
Land of the misty cloud, land of the tempest loud,
Land of the brave and proud, land of the free.
Enthroned on the peak of her own highland mountains,
The spirit of Scotia reigns fearless and free,
Her green tartan waving o’er blue rock and fountain,
And proudly she sings, looking over the sea.
Here among my mountains wild, I have serenely smiled,
When armies and empires against me were hurled,
Firm as my native rock, I have withstood the shock,
Of England, of Denmark, of Rome and the world.
But see how proudly her war steeds are prancing,
Deep groves of steel trodden down in their path,
The eyes of my sons like their bright swords are glancing,
Triumphantly riding through ruin and death.
Bold hearts and nodding plumes wave o’er their bloody tombs,
Deep-eyed in gore is the green tartan’s wave,
Shivering are the ranks of steel, dire is the horseman’s wheel,
Victorious in battlefield, Scotland the brave.
Some books I’ve read about Scotland;
For Bonnie Prince Charlie, by Escott Lynne, which has some very entertaining Highland (and English!) characters, and Bonnie Prince Charlie by G. A. Henty. Bonnie Prince Charlie is a popular subject, it seems.
Also a good book, and one I just finished re-reading, is Two Penniless Princesses by Charlotte Yonge, which is supposed to come after The Caged Lion, also partly set in Scotland, but, ah, not as good…
See you later, and don’t step on any of THESE….
Cape Byron Adventure
Have you ever seen a Real Live Lighthouse?!? We have!
We went to Cape Byron in New South Wales. This lighthouse, the Most Easterly Lighthouse in Australia, is located on the Most Easterly Point on the Mainland.
It’s such a pretty lighthouse, and it was late in the afternoon, so the light made it glow.
Aren't the scrolls cute?
On the way to the lighthouse, there are a few houses. They’re SO cute, and I took lots of photos. One thing about them that I liked was the amount of chimneys. Four! We thought it was very extravagant! We don’t have a fireplace in our house, so they’re a bit of a novelty.
four chimneys - lucky people!
This is the view we had, approaching the lighthouse. I like the bit at the front, the way it’s made to look like a castle.
Cape Byron Lighthouse
This one’s taken from the bottom of the steps…
this is the 'castle' part at the bottom
I tried to take a picture of the door – it was so beautiful! But I couldn’t get rid of the reflection.
the lion rampant
I just like this one.
through the lighthouse window
I couldn’t get rid of my shadow in this picture, so I decided to let it make itself useful, for once. The other, smaller shadow beside me is Miss 11, who wouldn’t get out of the photo!!
I don't know what this is for- any clues?
Daddy has a picture of himself, holding the top of the Taj Mahal. It looked fun, so I tried it with the lighthouse. It worked!!!
Holding the top of the lighthouse
After I’d taken this picture we had to go home, and everyone was cranky at me for making them wait while I took the last ones.
It was a lot of fun.
Yee-ha!
Isn’t this a creative letterbox? One of the things I like best about holidays is all the interesting mailboxes we see! :)
Pigs Might Fly
Recently we went for a drive, and saw this mailbox. It’s the second pig mailbox I’ve seen so far.
On holidays we go for very long drives, and often see interesting letterboxes. I like to take pictures of them and post them here as a tribute to the creativity of rural Aussies.
Woolly Adventures
These pictures were taken in a little touristy shop in New Zealand. The shop also had possum hats, jackets, rugs, and possum and merino wool jumpers and yarn.
I saw some hand spun wool here, and I just couldn’t resist taking some photos.
It looked so cute!
Here is some more yarn.
Fun in the Snow
On our last holiday, we visited New Zealand. We had LOTS of fun!!!
We went to the snow twice: once to The Remarks, and once to Coronet. These photos are from the second time. This is picture of my father about to SHOOT me!
We also had a go at building a snowman: he didn’t get very big, though – the snow was too hard.
This is Miss 7 with him.
After that my father decided it was nap time! Miss 11 and I told him he would fall off the edge and never be heard of again, but he was UNMOVEABLE. 
How We Dried Apples!
A few days ago we dried apples. It was great fun!
First, we filled a sink with water, and washed the apples. Then we cored one, using Grandma’s new apple corer, and watched it twirl around and around, making spirals!
We had a bit of a play with it, making it s t r e t c h.
Next we dropped it into a cup of lemon juice, so it wouldn’t get brown. We let it soak for a while, and cored another apple while we waited. After we thought it had been in there long enough (we’d finished coring the next apple), we took it and laid it out on a lemon juicer, and dunked the next apple.
After it had drained long enough for us to core another apple, we broke the first apple into rings, and arranged them on the dehydrator, being careful not to put them on top of each other.
When we finished the apples, we put the dehydrator on, and cleaned up. We like dried apples crunchy, so we left them on a little longer than the recipe said. They were delicious.
How to Make an Upside Down Telescope
This telescope doesn’t make the stars any bigger, but it is good fun for viewing things around you, and Miss 10 enjoyed making it.
What you will need:
Two magnifying glasses, the same size
Glue
A ruler
A pencil
Tape
Scissors
A large sheet of corrugated paper, construction paper, or thin card
Instructions:
Measure around the circumference of a magnifying glass, then add about 3cm.
Draw a line up the paper, making a large rectangle, and then cut it in half. Make sure you cut the paper in the direction it wishes to roll. 
Put some glue on the outer rim of a magnifying glass and roll the paper around the rim, where you put the glue.
Cut a small slot in the paper to fit the handle in. Place a piece of tape around the rim, then stretch a rubber band around the circumference to keep the card in place while the glue dries.
Put tape across the full length of the paper tube to keep the long ends together.
Let the glue dry.
Repeat the steps to make another tube; however, be sure that the end (which will slide inside your first one,) is smaller, so it will fit.
You can decorate the outer half, if you wish.
Slide the tubes in and out to focus on objects. If you want to view things up the right way, you can add extra tubes and magnifying glasses. Even numbers of magnifying glasses will give you an upside down picture, odd numbers will be right way up!
Astronomy, an Acrostic
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.
Stars are sealed up by Him, and the sun riseth not at His command.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork.
Revelation speaks of a star called Wormwood.
O, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Numbering the stars, He calleth them all by their names.
Orion, Arcturus, and Pleiades were designed by Him who created wonders without number.
Moon; appointed by Him for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Ye praise Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light!
