Learning Curve

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 The other day at work we were discussing how to cut onions.  Can't remember how we got there but never mind.  A couple of us cut the top end off first, leaving the root end intact, then cut vertically in half and peel.  The next step is to lie the half flat side down and chop from top to bottom, perpendicular to the rings, without chopping through the roots, then chop crossways, parallel to the rings. This way the onion is held together until you have finished cutting, making it quicker, easier & safer (my fingers don't get in the way as much). According to one of the participants this also reduces the amount of crying because the most potent store of the aromatics is in the base of the onion, she could very well be right.
Now it is fairly recently (in the scheme of things) that I learnt this method, but once you have learnt it you wonder why it took you so long, it seems so obvious.  And this is how another participant felt, she had never come across this method before.

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 To reassure her that she isn't the only one who doesn't recognize what later appears to be blatantly obvious, I had to admit to planting whole bulbs of garlic without separating them into cloves!

Netted & Patched

The day after I last posted Mr Skivvy did come over, first thing in the morning, to help me put up the net over the vegetable garden.
And a good thing too - on a second look the Brush Turkey had done even more damage than I first thought.  I will have to replant a considerable amount.  Hopefully, given Brisbane's climate, it isn't too late.
When we put the net up we discovered that it wasn't quite big enough to fully enclose the ends of the frame - bad move thinking I could get away with the slightly smaller standard size of net and save money.  I will definitely not be fruit fly proof - but I'm not planting a lot of susceptible veges anyway.  And it will be safe from possums and turkeys and chickens.
Especially as a week later Mr Skivvy donated the remainder of the the net from their mango tree, which they had cut down for their vege garden.
With this I was able to cover the frame over the potatoes - becoming more tempting to chickens & turkeys as they poke their green shoots above the surface, and the open ends of the large vegetable enclosure.  I used baling twine from all those straw bales to 'stitch' the ends together.
And here is the result.

 I haven't had much time to sew - but I did manage a couple of repairs.
J4 had put holes in the knees of three pairs of trousers - so I had to patch them.  But no reason to have boring patches.

I patch both inside & out to make them stronger & longer lasting.  I use iron-on applique webbing on both the inside & outside piece of fabric, then zig-zag around them.
Here are a couple of earlier trousers.

The boys are really happy to wear them.  Might change when they are teenagers though!
Ravs