Think then Speak….

When your ’favourite’ gardening gloves start to look a bit worse for wear – and you know the next trip through the washing machine will probably be their last – it’s time to take action and make your way down to the nearest big green shed.

That’s where you will find anything and everything indoor/outdoor you thought you needed and much much more that once you see it you’ll think you needed it and wonder how you could ever have lived without it……. No need to ask me how I know that 😊

One of the reasons I’ve made do with countless numbers of tatty looking garden gloves (those above and more) is mainly because of ’you know what’….we’ve been so limited in where and when we could go over the past couple of years Bunnings hasn’t been top of the list of places I felt I needed to go – mind you Spotlight (for wool/yarn) which is right across the road might have been, but we won’t mention that 😊

So last week down the road we go, The Golfer came along on the premise he wanted to look at a ceiling fan….although I think he just wanted to chat with other retired oldies looking at tools and things they ’might’ need.

The ’shortage situation’ was evident there as well – I came home with some gloves, not the brand I was after, (sitting on the docks I was told) these are more suited for working rather than digging in the dirt…..but as The Golfer pointed out ”they’ll be great if you want to use your phone or iPad without taking them off” The black tips on some fingers allow that adhesion you need on touchscreens.
New clippers plus other things made their way back to the car and that’s when, along with one of this year’s encouraging phrases ’think then speak’ , this little meme flashed into my mind.

When we parked the car there were empty spots all around and I really didn’t look at what direction we were facing, was just pleased it was close to the entrance so it wouldn’t be far to walk loaded down with whatever took our fancy.

Scorching hot day – car is parked facing direct sun – even as old as she is Catherine is still fiery at times and was about to mutter something along the lines of ’why didn’t you park the other way” when she remembered someone else was hot and bothered as well…….and would likely return fire with ”well you can walk home if you want to!”

So as I wasn’t up for an all in slanging match in the car park ( or the imaginary 6km walk along Canterbury and Liverpool Road) I didn’t say a word….just cursed silently in my head, turned the car air con up full bore, then joked about the icy poles in the freezer being just what we needed when we got home.

It’s Monday again -gosh that week went by quickly didn’t it? – the month as well!
I’m pleased the covid numbers appear to be plateauing or even going down but am still cautious and wary of large crowds…small ones as well!

In the mean time I’ll just potter around the garden using my ’not as clean as they could be but much cleaner than they were’ tatty gloves until the docks are cleared of the backlog of all those things we didn’t know we needed until we saw them 😊

How about you – have you held your tongue over anything this week?

Linking to Life this Week. 
Why don’t you pop over and see who’s visiting Denyse today

#thinkthenspeak

Carte Blanche or do as I please….

”Complete freedom to do whatever” source

The day I talked about the blue agapanthus EC mentioned white ones – which reminded me there was a clump of white ones growing near the garage, right next to the dark pink double Oleander, which is near where I park my car.
I’m not sure if it’s because of the ’heavy’ days we’ve been having but this year the contrast in the colours has been quite striking. The composition of the flower heads is exactly the same yet there’s always something special about the white that definitely isn’t there in the blue

12 January 2022

Fast forward a couple of weeks and this is how they looked. Very tired and weary and bedraggled. The heat had certainly got to them. It was time to give them a haircut.

OK, so I was keeping that thought somewhere in my mind for an opportune moment, trying to remember if the green bin had enough room for more clippings (those seed heads are enormous) and looking round the deck wondering where all the stuff on the benches came from, when I thought I saw the blue handles of the clippers ….(that would be secateurs for posh people 😊) in one of the tubs over there.

The sun was shining….there was just a hint of a breeze….it’s a five minute job….’cept I was planning on doing something else. So I made an executive decision- I gave myself carte blanche to do as I wanted – which (as anyone who knows me) turned out to be an hours sit down with a cold drink and a new rather thick (600 pages) library book!

#keeplifesimple

A fun ’did you know’ for you….

Because (in my mind) the year ’proper’ hasn’t begun yet

There’s Tennis on the telly – Australia Day is yet to come – the kids haven’t gone back to school yet…..some of us continue to eat and drink like it’s going out of style 😊

Here’s some fun bits of interest for you

  • We’re still in the first month of 2022 so here’s a little something to figure out….

If you take the last 2 digits of the year you were born…then add them to the age you will be this year…

It will equal ….122

  • Australia is wider than the moon. The moon sits at 3400km in diameter,  while  Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4000km. source 1source 2
  • Australia has more than 60 wine growing regions The majority of which are in Victoria and New South Wales source
  • Lemons float but Limes sink. Safe link below 👇 if you’re interested in why.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks, laying low, staying close to home, enjoying the summer weather, watching the beginning of the Australian Open and the ending of The Ashes. Lots of hopes and expectations dashed in both – but then that’s sport for you…….nothing is ever ‘a sure thing’ where that’s concerned.

Never one to just sit ‘watching tv’ I surprised myself by finishing two green adult beanies and reading two books on my ’to be read’ A-Z list of authors.

Both set in post war periods (WW1 & WW2) with main characters who have ’served’ – both storylines involve murders – both with secondary storylines dealing with the result of war service. I’d’met Elly Griffiths’ Brighton Mysteries characters before but this was my first time reading about Inspector Ian Routledge and I’ll certainly be on the look out for more of this series.

And here’s something else I’m looking forward to seeing again….next summer.
But first…..Development of the level crossing in Mooroolbark meant I I have been using the library in Montrose – and seeing their landscaping with new eyes. I’d been used to just driving by on my way elsewhere, now I walk by on my way to the front entrance

Just look at this magnificent small flowering gum…..not too tall with the most stunning orangey red flowers. Corymbia Ficifolia (Baby Orange)


* Flowering gums are grafted eucalyptus trees. By grafting plants onto specially selected rootstock you get trees that will grow happily in a wide range of soil types and have greater resistance against disease. It also means no surprises when it comes to flower colour and smaller sized trees*
source:- https://www.flowerpower.com.au/garden-advice/gardening/flowering-gum-trees/

All through the summer season you can see long flower buds forming, then bursting open into these huge clumps of bright blossoms that slowly fade in colour before dropping off and leaving the little nut casing – all this going on simultaneously in different parts of the tree.

Those little nut shells left after the petals drop grow into these enormous ’gum nuts’.
A bit like me in that as I shed my youthful me and grew older, the more gnarled and bigger in the beam I became 😊


Linking to Life this Week. 

Pop over and see who’s visiting Denyse today – it’s always worth a visit.

#keeplifesimple

The young wife and the snowplough 

While down here in Australia at the moment we’re battling fire and flood and constant high temperatures I’m wondering, if after the last week or two of winter weather and all the inconveniences it caused how many of my readers in the Northern Hemisphere will smile at this one

The Young Wife and The Snowplough

One winter morning a husband and wife were listening to the radio during breakfast

They heard the announcer say,

We are going to have 8 to 10 inches of snow today.

You must park your car on the even-numbered side of the street, to allow the snowploughs to get through.

So the good wife went out and moved her car.

A week later while they are eating breakfast again, the radio announcer said,

We are expecting 10 to 12 inches of snow today.

You must park your car on the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snowploughs can get through.

The good wife went out and moved her car again.

The next week they are again having breakfast, when the radio announcer says,

We are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today.

You must park….

Then the electric power went out.

The good wife was very upset, and with a worried look on her face she said,

Honey, I don’t know what to do.

Which side of the street do I need to park on so the snowploughs can get through?

With the love and understanding in his voice that all men who are newly married exhibit, the husband replied,

Sweetheart, why don’t you just leave it in the garage this time!

Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind

A Blue Blue Day…

Things might be getting a bit hot and frizzled out there

Things are getting past their prime – the ‘look at me’ factor is not working anymore

People just pass by oblivious to the beauty that once was

But have no fear – the blues are back in town

Sometimes Faded, Never Jaded,

With the occasional leaf burnt to a crisp

Love ’em or Loathe em – you definitely can’t miss ’em

They are the sign of Summer in Melbourne

They are of course the Big Blue Blooms of Agapanthus

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapanthus

Did you know

Just a few things that might interest you today

  • If you replace W with T in What, Where and When….…..you get the answer to each of them.
  • If you look at the word ’swims’ upside-down, it’s still …swims
  • 100 years ago just about everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars……today just about everyone has a car and only the rich own horses.

Now here’s a little thought for you…..

  • It doesn’t matter how long that packet of jelly crystals you discovered lurking amongst some other boxes in the pantry has been there – the one you sort of knew was there but had never got round to using – the one with a very out of date ‘best before’ date
  • because ….seemingly a sealed bag of powdered gelatin and sugar has an indefinite shelf life. On the hot day I was looking for a cool dessert and decided to make it thinking ’in for a penny in for a pound’ it actually set!
    Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo to show you☹️

Generally, powdered gelatin, both unflavored and its derivates, comes with a best-by date. The date is there usually for legal reasons, not because the product will spoil or lose potency. So you can easily use dry gelatin for months or even years past that date. And if you scoured the Internet looking for the actual shelf life of dry gelatin, you would find quite a few places claiming it pretty much lasts forever:- source

Monday has arrived again…… we had a week of very hot, then very hot and humid days accompanied by thunderstorms and flash flooding over parts of the city and the state – but not in my suburb ☹️
Dry thirsty ground – dark stormy clouds – the rain fell….for 5 minutes…then went on its merry way elsewhere.

Wednesday

The BOM is telling us it looks like we’ll have another warm/hot week with possible rain – hopefully we’ll get a drop to drink this time.

I did manage to sort out one problem during those sticky ‘stay indoors with the cooling on’ days.
The blogger/blogspot commenting on my iPad (Safari) issue has been driving me bonkers – I fixed it early last year (or so I thought) only for it to reappear so had resorted to my phone. What a PITA situation!

Back to the all seeing all knowing Mr G (again) he who has the answers to all the things I don’t know or thought it would be interesting for me to know even if I hadn’t shown interest before😊
It seems ’cross site tracking’ was the culprit, the box has been unticked, and so far I haven’t been inundated with all sorts of nasties, have been able to leave comments here there and everywhere (when I’ve had time) and also appear to have fixed the clickable link problem as well.

~ ~ ~ ~

Gosh I’m ready for another cup of tea, all that talk has made me…to quote a very old friend (as in age and friendship) ‘dry as a pommies bath mat’. not doing too well at the cricket are they😎.

How was your week – Wet Dry Sunny Cloudy Warm Cold ?

Did you fix any long standing problems?

Linking to Life this Week. Why don’t you pop over and see who’s visiting Denyse today

🧶 All change….

Was it only the beginning of last month when I mentioned my craft group’s ’beanie drive’…..gosh it seems much longer than that. After all my hoo-ha about not enjoying knitting them, once started I actually discovered (like with a lot of other things) they weren’t so bad after all

Thinking the initial stripy two didn’t look too bad, 4 more made an appearance

Original two

Then it dawned on me…(lightbulb moment)…adjusting a stitch here and there I could come up with a way to use up lots of those scrappy left over tiny balls of wool in a far more decorative way

Simple 1x 1 fair isle….. I stitch main colour – 1 stitch contrast



Six on the table…..That’s enough for the time being I thought.

Trouble was during days when I wasn’t able to do much physically I kept seeing main colours and contrast which meant the needles kept on clicking. These below are what I finished off on Wednesday….

Job definitely done I thought!

Guess what was in an email from ’our leader’ yesterday morning

This photo….and the desire for us to make one of these (or similar) in time for the Christmas in July function! Adult size – Any shade of green – Any design…she said.

Source – Unknown

There’s an awful lot more stitches in an adult size compared to a toddler size……..hopefully I’ll have at least one done in time 😊

Shamrock green anyone??