Friday, December 31, 2010
Goodbye 2010................
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Of Flowers and Feathers......
My friend's gift to me, is one of her beautiful paintings.
I barrowed loads of cow manure into this garden bed and I think all the effort has paid off. One of the plants is well over 2 metres high.....
Friday, December 17, 2010
Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? To See The Polkadot Dinosaur
Talking about nests and feathery things. No 1 pointed out this little nest that has 'appeared' in a Silver Birch tree in the 'Wild Wood'.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That.............
They look a little like crocheted jelly fish, with all the ends still dangling..............
Any idea what they are?
They're Feijoa flowers and they are just gorgeous with their red 'bristles' with little yellow spots on the end.
Feijoas are a fruit, for those who have never heard of them.
Also known as the pineapple guava, they are a green fruit, shaped like an egg and about the size of an egg.
They were discovered in Brazil by a German explorer.
They taste, somewhat like a cross between a strawberry, lemon and a passionfruit.
Not every ones cup of tea but we all love them.
With loads of flowers on the bush, hopefully we will get a crop of decent sized fruit this year.
I spied these gates, right next door to where we are staying..............
There are alot of very creative people living in the area.
I would loved to sneak down the driveway and see what other wonderful creations were hidden behind the fence, but I restrained myself .............
Another favourite destination in Daylesford is Cliffys cafe.
An older style building, it's like stepping back in time.
Quite dark inside with shelves and dressers brimming with products and vintage kitchen ware.
It's quite crowded inside but very popular and the staff wear lovely retro aprons, just like your mum or grandma wore.
I bought my hubby some locally made 'apple pie' muesli, sounds rather scrummy doesn't it?
Shall have breakfast there next visit, they have a lovely little corner in the window with couches, just the spot to while away an hour over coffee , the papers and maybe a spot of crocheting!
Am I game enough?
Yep, you bet..........
Well, another lovely visit to a favourite destination comes to an end and it's back home to washing, cooking etc. etc. etc.
I have some more crochet flowers to make this evening in colour combinations that I have been itching to try, so we wont' get too serious about the boring 'housey' stuff until the working week starts..........Monday!
Just wanted to show you a pic of where Mrs Kafups likes to spend some of her day...........
This is the underneath of the Wisteria.
She's in there, if you click to enlarge the photo you can see a little, green eye, peering down at you.
She blends in very well, doesn't she?
Just another little interesting fact for those of you who live in Victoria.
The bakery in Lancefield sells the best Vanilla Slices in the state, according to a sign out the front of the shop.....................
So, of course Big Sis and I had to buy one.......... to share.
Really didn't think we needed one each.
It would have to be one of the best I have eaten and I have eaten a few over the years.
I did buy one for No. 1 Son as well.
It's sitting on the kitchen bench taunting me................arrghhh I wish he would just eat it!
It's nice to go away, but even nicer to come home.
Hope you've all had a good weekend, whatever you did.
Thanks for dropping by , love reading your comments, so if you have time, please say 'hi',
Until next time, take care,
Claire X
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Of Droughts and Flooding Rains...................
Oops slight interruption... don't you hate it when you are in the middle of a blog post and hubby calls out "there's a cow in the house yard.".. someone has left the gate open, grrrr.
Head down another nearby road and it's worse, pretty sure this house had water through it.
This bridge had just been widened this year, to allow trucks to cross it. The water washed away huge chunks of the road side.
The council were out early this morning, clearing trees off roads and working on the bridges. I can still hear the trucks driving along the roads as they try and repair the damage and it's 7.30pm!
We are surrounded by creeks, so until the above bridge is repaired we will have to detour through town and out the other side.
A little of what my yard looked like.... the rain flattened the Lavender and there was a river running through it, gardens flooded and the shrubbery is half the height it used to be....
On a much happier note, may I present to you Dorothy and her little chick.
Mum and bub are doing well, she still has a few eggs under her, one of which has a chick in it, so fingers crossed for another little fluffy bundle, of adorable, cuteness.
Dorothy is taking her role of mum, very seriously and she won't let you near her bub, but it wanders around cheeping and I have to keep going out there and checking to make sure that all is OK......
Well, another week almost finished. I am heading away for the weekend to a family get together which should be alot of fun.
I hope your week has been a good one, wherever you are.
If not, don't forget to count your blessings because you will very quickly realise that despite your problems there are also alot of good things going on in your life.
One of the good things in my life, is the lovely comments you all leave, so thankyou very much. I love hearing from you all.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
In the Summer Time................
We have been having alot of tropical type rain recently and it has sent the garden into overdrive, which means there is plenty of weeding and pruning to be done.
The Lavender is in full flower and fortunately hasn't been flattened by the storms.
The Wisteria is sending out tendrils, which, if you stand still for too long, threaten to envelope you!
With the rain comes flooding and it's amazing to see nearby rivers and creeks overflowing. I mean this is December, quite unusual.
As I was reminded by my BIL (brother in law) this was pretty much normal weather back in the 70's.
He is a few years older than me, but I do remember quite a few major floods back then, in the Winter time not Summer!
The first Dahlia of Summer, alot brighter in colour than the photo shows.
Last year they never flowered at all, so it's nice to see a few buds.
With the warmer weather a certain four legged, furry person spends alot of time doing the above.
Doesn't seem to matter where he is, he can close his eyes and be oblivious to the noise and commotion going on around him.
Wish I had that ability.....
Well, that's just a little bit of what's been happening in my corner of the globe.
Sewing and gardening are almost getting equal time at the moment!!!
This week I shall be trying to stay cool as the temps. rise, but there is more rain forecast as well......
Windows need cleaning too, so that can wait for a nice cool day.
Might rope No 1 in to help, certainly handy to have a 6' high fella around to reach those corners you can't.....
I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help out !!
Well, wherever you are and whatever the weather, look after yourself and thanks for stopping by for a visit.
Big thanks to all those that leave a comment, always lovely to hear from you and what's going on in your corner of the globe.
Till next time, take care,
Claire X
Monday, November 29, 2010
Weekly Wrap Up
The photos doesn't quite do the colour justice.
My weekend was spent sitting in the van between hubby and No 1 son as we travelled across the state to a music festival at Queenscliff.
All up, it was at least 8 hours travelling and that's alot of time one could spend, knitting or crocheting.
Well, actually, knitting would be tricky, as there isn't alot of elbow room, so I decided to start on this scarf I spied at http://thegardenbell.blogspot.com.
I am a little rusty with the crocheting, so this will no doubt be pulled out and restarted a couple of times, till I am happy with it, but it was nice to be hooking away and enjoying the time with my boys, even if it was a little squashy AND they were listening to the cricket.
I am not a cricket fan, but I am learning more about the game and their enthusiasm is rubbing off on me......
We stayed at a caravan park at Ocean Grove, a little seaside town we used to holiday at when I was a child.As soon as I got to the beach I would start shell collecting, filling up an empty jam tin with any treasure I could find.
Early Sunday morning, I decided to head down to the beach while the boys still slept. I didn't have an empty jam tin with me, just my camera and a hubbies windcheater I borrowed.
it was veeerrry windy and chilly too, but at least it wasn't raining.
There was mowing to be done, the rain has made sure the grass continues to grow at a great rate of knots.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Introducing Muriel
She's a little bit, hmmm, what shall I say here? Quirky, eccentric, zany, obsessive an interesting character to say the least!
She's a 'try hard', a square peg in a round hole, but that doesn't stop her from 'having a go'
Muriel is gracing the front of two book covers.
She's likes to think she's a bit of a trend setter, whether these trends 'take off' or not remains to be seen........
She decided to join the 'blue rinse' brigade, well before her time.
She thinks the colour suits her particularly when she puts on her new 'op shop' glasses.
She's planning on joining the local book club and thinks she will fit in nicely........
She also has a slight obsession with Peter Pan collars and puff sleeves. They bring back happy memories of matching candy striped party dresses her mum used to dress her and her sister in.
Harking back to her childhood, when she was carefree and happy and never worried about what people thought of her or if she fitted in or not.
Muriel will no doubt be making more appearances in the future.
I found these two photos on the camera when I was down loading and would like to share them with you.
I whipped up a new bunny for my stall at the weekend and sold it before I even thought to take a pic of it, doh!
Just had to make another as I rather enjoyed putting him together.
I wanted to post before I went to work so here he is not quite finished but you get the idea.
Using a recycled woollen blanket and some vintage style fabrics. Love the colours and his little Suffolk puff cotton tail.
As you can imagine with Spring here and bucket loads of rain the garden has been taking off along with the weeds.
I decided to check out what the cherry trees were up to and imagine my surprise and delight when I found these little beauties amongst the leaves.
Last year during the drought we had a measly 3 cherries on each of the 3 trees and then to add insult to injury the birds ate them, grrrr....
This year it's a different story and between the 3 trees there must be close to 100 cherries. BUT if you click on the pic you will spy some nasty, slimy little cherry slug.
Whilst they don't appear to harm the fruit they do damage the leaves and there's no way I'm going to spray this close to the fruit being ready to eat, even if I use something organic.
The trees aren't netted, so chances are we will be sharing some of the fruit with the birds. But I will keep an eager eye on them to make sure we do get a taste!!
Can't forget a little posy for the bedside table, rosebuds, lavender and parsley flower heads for added interest. The bees are loving the parsley at the moment and I love the shape and texture of the flower heads.