Month: June 2009

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See whats at the bottom of my garden

Every country has its own authors who write for children – here in Australia May Gibbs became famous for her children’s stories and her use of the native flora and fauna as an inspiration for the characters in her books

My children weren’t raised with May Gibbs but there are many Aussies (young and old) who remember the stories about the gumnut babies, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

This ‘nasty’ looking character is the Big Bad Banksia Man who is one of the villians in these books

This is my Banksia bush at the bottom of my garden
From recollection its a Banksia spinulosa and has the most beautiful candles
to see these best click on the photo to enlarge
The poor old thing has led a troubled life
When we rented the house out in 1994 he was quite big, as tall as the fence and really healthy. However the renters’ children seemed to think its branches were great to use as a step ladder to get over the fence so when we came home in 2002 he really needed some attention
We cut him down nearly to the ground and he is just coming into his own again
You might like to see what his candles look like
I haven’t removed any of the old candles so you are able to see them
From fairly young fresh ones


Through the different stages

This is one thats maybe from a couple of years ago and is drying off

This one is a year older and the seed pods are just becoming visible
See the resemblance to the drawing above

This is a clearer view of the seeed pods

And now one that’s nearly ‘naked’ cept for the big pods

And heres one that I love
All those pods are ready to burst

So even if it appears there isn’t much life in my garden – it turns out that if you look here and there you might get a nice surprise

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Garden surprises

Its that time of the year when the winter jobs have to be done and pruning the roses is one of them
We’ll be going off in a couple of weeks and won’t be back till the middle of September, it will be too late then to do some of these jobs so for the best part of this week I’ve been busy outside
Snipping here and snipping there – giving a (sometime) silent yell when my arm or leg or any other part of my anatomy got snared by the thorns
Then the thrill of tossing ‘mature’ manure and choock poo all over the ground so they will can have a little feed before they really close down for the winter
I covered the top bed with some of next doors oak leaves but if the high winds that are forecast arrive they won’t stay there for very long lol
Come Spring and they start shooting it won’t look quite so flat and bare. Plus I plan to replant Salvia again to fill the spaces in the lower bed.
Took a photo looking up and down the side fence.
These shrubs are all deciduous, close to the house I recently (in the last 3 years) planted a Forsythia and Weigelia which are just finding their feet and filling a gap between the two large bare shrubs
Flowering Quince aka Chaenomeles, one with white flowers and the other a pinky red.
They flower on the bare stems and are great to cut and have indoors when theres not much else around.
Like the back garden it can be a bit sparse looking at this timeof the year
but once they start to leaf up that fence line is a blaze of colour


But guess what I saw peeking out of the branches as I walked down past the first bush
There were flower buds and the first had started to open

And down below the first of the Bergenias had started to bloom

All is not lost – where there is colour there is a good feeling

don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge
Even tho I thought there was nothing to see I did find few more things in flower
But that post can wait till another day

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Lavender round the washing line

In the comments recently somebody mentioned the Lavender growing round the washing line
Nostaligia aside the reason I planted it there (and it could have been anything) was to form a barrier between me and the pole that holds the line up:)
I have a habit of walking in to things and this was an idea I’d used elsewhere to make me aware of where I actually was putting my feet. I’d used the idea in another form in a different house to make little grandchildren aware of the post and not run into it
This photo was taken back in 2004 when it was quite young.
We actually had green grass in those days lol

 

As you can see its grown quite tall and bushed out lots

I used some old bricks to form a circle a distance a way from the pole
Filled the circle with a few bags of potting mix
and then planted some tiny tubes with established cuttings
and hoped for the best.
That particular spot was a hard place to get grass to grow so I used some big broken slabs of concrete I came across
(courtesy of our council when they were digging up a pathway)
and put crazy paving in the plcae I stand to hang/peg out the clothes
Its just visible in the left of the next picture
This is the side away from the light which doesn’t do as well as the other
but I do tend to keep it bare in that spot so I can get in to do a bit of weeding and clear the oak leaves away so the rain can penetrate
In the early spring I give the whole lot a good haircut and a drink of Seasol and wish it luck for the rest of the season
It thrives in a hot summer like the one we just had and the flower heads at the moment are really plump
I love the look and smell of it when its in flower but
funnily I get annoyed if the washing actually brushes against it lol
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Theory of Intelligence

Who remembers Cheers?
I really enjoyed that series all those years ago
I don’t know if this was actually part of script
but from memory it seems the sort of thing that would have been spoken by these two
Here via our Inbox is
the Theory of Intelligence
‘Well you see, Norm, it’s like this . . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo..
And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.
This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.
Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells.
But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.
In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
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Kev’s Patch

Several bloggers have collaborated after hearing about Peter Cundall’s remarks to the Prime Minister and are now lobbying Mr Rudd to incoroprate a Veggie Garden in the grounds at The Lodge
They have set up a new blog to publicise the campaign – Have a read and see what you think..

These are the bloggers involved:

http://green-change.com/

http://greeningofgavin.blogspot.com/

I always thought large establishments had a fresh food garden – obviously I was wrong
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Cold but sunny

We’ve had some really wintery foggy mornings recently
I really find it unerving to take a walk when it’s like that
So when the day dawns nice and sunny
I get the shoes on and head for the park I mentioned a while ago.
Yesterday was one of the cold but sunny starts to the day so I headed off just after 9am for a very overdue ramble up and down the windy paths
There was a hint of low cloud but nothing like the peasooper type of the previous days
where I couldn’t see one side of the street to the other lol
In the first two pictures you can see the sun just starting to shine through the haze
See the shiny wet grass and long shadows
Damp enough to keep you on the paths or risk getting very soggy runners


Got to the top of the hill and turned round
Even tho’ the shadows were still long it seemed far more sunny and inviting
Very deceiving ‘cose it was cold all day long

click on photos to enlarge
When I got home I stayed close and did clear up things
Ironed and put away and tidied cupboards
– you know –
all the stuff you should do to make the house run more smoothly
The stuff you don’t think makes any difference to that daily running
Until you don’t so it
Then you find out it helps if its done on regular basis. lol
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Something old is new again

You’re probably wondering why I would post a photo of a
well worn and used old wooden clothes horse!!

During the summer this one (and another one) live in the garage.

We don’t use a dryer so they come in handy when its raining and theres washing that I really need to do and get dry. The great thing about this kind is that they fold flat and take up little storage space.
Ignore the bag of cow manure on the deck, its not the usual decorating theme out there but I did some work in the garden on Sunday and as I was clearing up it was easier to drop it there and run inside to use the loo than walk over to the little shed and then come back again.

Yes like a kid who’se played outside too long and left it too late I was desperate lol
You’re probably still wondering why the clothes horse is on the deck

It certainly wasn’t there till this morning ‘cose even tho we’ve had some very foggy mornings these past few days, the afternoons have developed into glorious sunny dry almost warm enough to wear a Tshirt afternoons and any washing on the line dried in no time at all.
I’m trying to gather a few crafty things together to take away in a few weeks time and remembered the huge great woollen sweater I found at the op shop the other week
and had (over a few evenings as it was so big) unravelled.

I was planning on taking some of the wool with me to knit some slippers
And decided to give it a wash first

Only problem was I should have washed the garment before I unravelled it

I’d rolled it into balls and they don’t wash very well, if at all.

My problem then was how to get it into skeins ??
Winding it around the back of a kitchen chair didn’t work

The backs of ours have a wider backrest and you can’t lift the skein over it.
I know that ‘cose after a few rounds I tried lol
Tipped the chair on its side to try round the chair legs
Same problem

The chair legs splay and are set wider at the bottom than closer to the seat.
I tried that as well lol
So wandering round the house desperate to wash something
( well not really desperate but the sun was shining I wanted to get it done)

I spy the clothes horse in the garage doorway.
Yes!!

Winding the wool across the top from one wooden section to the other made a perfect skein
And very soon they were soaking in a bucket of wool wash
When rinsed and spun I hung them over the hook of a metal coat hanger
Then hooked the hangers outside on the line so the wool could dry.
Now the huge great, what looked like a very rarely worn sweater
That cost me the grand total of $2
Has been transformed into nice sweet smelling clean yarn
ready to be knitted into other garments

Who says I’m just a pretty face – I’s got brains as well lol
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Sunrise Friday June 12th 2009

It was really really cold this morning when I got up and this was the view from the back bedroom window when I opened the curtains

So I thought you’d like to see what the sky looked like first thing this Friday morning
here in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne

This was taken at 7.15am
And the same view 2 minutes later
See how much more colour there was in the sky

This was times at 7.16am taken between those 2 shots looking in another direction

don’t forget to click on the photos to get a better view

What a glorious way to start the day

Now if you pop over here you can see that Joolz had a similar look at her house

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On a day like today

Well on a day like today I’d like to hibernate and not have to relate to anyone

Its cold – miserably cold – and wet – which I don’t mind as we need the rain

and I feel like poor Maxine

Then theres the demands from a paid worker from the charity

I do a great deal of voluntary work for.

Needing facts and figures I have already provided for them.

Feeling a bit cheesed off by her demands as I’m not a paid worker

and think she should be more in control as her position is quite senior


As she answers to the CEO I get the feeling she thinks along the lines of Maxine
in what she will do and what she wont.

And if there is someone else to do that work for her – well she calls that delegating.

Thats fine for any employee she has in her dept. but I get cross when she starts on me lol


And then there’s the waist line issue lol


Cold wet weather means no walking

Shouldn’t do but it does in my house

Fancy a 21 year old anyone – as long as he buys me a drink as well lol


Oh no – too many points and we are back to square one again

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The things you find on the internet

You know how you find an interesting crafty blog and then follow a link from there and then another link elsewhere and in the end you are miles away from where you started and 2 hours have passed since you first sat down at the computer

Well if you are familiar with that process you will know its amazing what you can find when its cold and wet and you have nothing to do (well thats not really true) but trawl the internet for interesting and amazing things.

This is a white plastic garden chair, usual variety, available for sale in loads of places

Many of us have them, they are handy to have and come in useful when the company decends on us and there aren’t enough of the nice comfy new padded ones that match the table.

They don’t absorb spilt soft drink (or hard drink either:) ) or get stained by sticky fingers and they stack which is great ‘cose then you can hid them away in the shed or the garage till the next time

Anyway thats not the amazing thing I found

This is


Whats that I hear you ask
Well that is one of those common and garden variety white plastic chairs
Complete with a knitted cover

Would you believe a student in London used the concept of knitting a chair as a project for her degree in product design

Have a look at these links and tell me what you think

http://knittedchairs.wordpress.com/

http://www.textilita.com/2009/04/knitted-chair-project.html

Its so unusual it even made me want to use up a lot of my very large stash of wool that is sitting around in big boxes out in the garage
Well – that was until I realised I would have to go outside in the cold to start looking through the boxes and also find one of those garden chairs to do some measuring lol
I hope she does well in her studies and that the show she organised that was on last week in London was a success
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The tale of two cold cats

What do we have here – a very nice warm fire


Oh I think I’ll go and see if there’s anything left in the food bowl

in front of this lovely warm fire


Is it alright if I sit here?


You didn’t say you were coming back


Ok I’ll share if I have to

But you have to lie still

Mum !!!

Oh, alright I’ll behave


Oops I think this mat has shrunk

Peace at last


Its cold outside so anyone with any sense will be lying on the cat mat

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Thought for the day

Oh dear all is not well on the Cricket scene

England was beaten yesterday in a 20/20 game by Holland, which didn’t go down too well with the crowd at Lords.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/cricket/s/1119305_england_humiliated_by_holland
I didn’t even realise they played cricket in the Netherlands but it would seem they’ve been at it for years.

‘Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century, and in the 1860s was considered a major sport in the country’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_cricket_team

Then of course Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds was sent home from the same tournament in England for drinking.

Seems he was bending his arm in the wrong place – should have been with a ball on the cricket pitch and not with a beer glass in his hand

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25589016-601,00.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/symonds-sent-home-by-australia-over-drinking-1696782.html

Perhaps I should offer these two budding champions to the selectors

They are a bit older now but both front up for their local clubs in the summer

They had their preference even that long ago, the one with the ball is a pretty good bowler and the one holding the bat is a pretty good batsman lol

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Band time again

It doesn’t seem that long since I mentioned my ‘musical’ granddaughter and her new love – the School Band
Well its half way through the school year and time to show Mums and Dads and other interested parties how well they are going
So thats where Dh and I went on Wednesday evening
If you click on the photos they enlarge and you will get a better look

She has really taken a liking to the Clarinet and seems to enjoy learning and playing
anything and everything

Here she is (the redhead on the end) watching one of the older more experienced girls

Taking it all in and learning

Now you should see this huge great thing she has started to play

I’ve forgotten the name but it takes up all her lap

Look at that girl blow

Sorry its a bit out of focus but my feet were tapping in time to the music and I moved lol

Not sure what she will do in later life but she really is having a great time at the moment:))

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Has Winter arrived?

This weekend in Melbourne is The Queen’s Birthday Weekend – a Long Weekend with a holiday on the Monday – the opening of the Ski Season – and a time for the seasons to really change.
Here in Australia our seasons change on the first of the month
not the 21st like in the Northern Hemisphere

Officially our Summer starts on January 1st
Autumn on March 1st
Winter on June1st
And Spring on September 1st
From what I can remember the reason for those dates was something to do with the soldiers of the NSW Corp that came with the First Fleet changing their uniforms on the first of the month.
Summer to Winter June 1st
Winter to Summer December 1st
Some years the look of the garden doesn’t always reflect the seasons
Looking at these photos taken yesterday you wouldn’t think it was officially Winter
Looks more like late Summer with all the roses blooming
Because of the terrible heat they didn’t bloom like that at all during the Summer

Even the Lavender round the wash line is blooming again
Its just the scattering of oak leaves round the base that gives away the time of the year

I took these next photos looking out of the back bedroom window yesterday.

Doesn’t that sky look black and ominous??

These were taken just before 2pm and yet all the morning there had been sunshine and beautiful blue skies and a light breeze, sufficient to get two loads of washing dry.
But apart from the changeable cooler weather we have had
I have a feeling that Winter has arrived – want to know why?
I popped down to the pet shop in Montrose during the morning
and what did I see
(but didn’t get a photo of)
The beautiful yellow blooms of the Wattle trees in the Kinder carpark lol

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Nice surprise on Sunday

Close to the footy oval where the game was on Sunday there is a trotting track. Not your usual sight in suburbia but its been there as long as I can remember and is used as a training track

During the half time break’ in the footy game I saw a horse and sulky out of the corner of my eye and wandered over to have a look see

Not the only one with a curious nature either


Got these two better ones as he came past a second time

click them all for a better look
I have no idea if his ‘style’ is correct but it was great to see something different and out of the ordinary without making the effort to seek it out
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Sunday afternoon at the footy

Here it is Wednesday again, I have been busy again this week – lots of run of the mill type things as well as clearing up the last of the aunt’s belongings which have meant no time for blogging – but I must tell you about the footy game I watched last Sunday.
One of those lovely sunny winter Sundays, a bit chilly but no too cold, just right for standing around in the fresh air. One of the grandsons was playing ‘at home’ (not with our local team tho, he plays with another from a suburb close by) so dh and I took time out and watched part of the game.
I love to watch these youngsters (under 14’s) not long out of Primary School, in their first years at High School, who are still ‘young and skinny’ but on the verge of shooting up and filling out as they approach manhood. They want to act like the Senior teams but still seem to be part of the Juniors with the pack attitude to the game.



Did have to check his ‘colours’ before we made the mistakeof barracking for the wrong team tho’ lol
Here’s some of the faithful near the scoreboard end of the clubrooms
If you click and enlarge you will see the home team on the top weren’t having a good game – they were well and truly defeated by the visitors
Love the chap in the chair on the fenceline, looks like he’s asleep but it was so sunny he used the paper to shield his eyes
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