Marching on ...

Since I've been on flickr, I've been such a lazy blogger! Grandchildren have been born, Shannon's wedding has come and gone and we've held our Open Garden.
I now have three grandchildren, with a fourth on the way! Oldest is the delectable Tamsyn ...
Then there is the incomparable Felix ...
... and lastly the flourishing Angus!
There's a new little Canadian on the way. I guess we'll need to make that trip to Toronto!

And lastly the garden - all presentable and admired.
Where do I go from here?

Gardening folly

Preparations for Shannon's wedding and the following Open Garden are gathering momentum. The big job was always going to be the completion of the stream between the tow new ponds. We've gathered river stones and pebbles and a new load of crusher dust for the concrete. Finally, in the midst of new toilets and wall washing, Ram and I got the chance to dig out the trench and the line it with plastic and trench mesh.

The digging was challenging. It was a rather warm day and I ended up with Japanese headband under my Japanese straw hat and Ramon wore his Bedouin headdress with great aplomb! We toiled and dug through solid clay and the remains of an old french drain. It was a real Time Team exercise for me as I wielded the trowel and removed a multitude of rocks and old plastic pea seed fertiliser bags which covered the drain. Finally we were finished, the plastic laid and the trench mesh cut up with bolt cutters and meted out. Today was going to be the BIG DAY for mixing and laying.

And today it rained ... and the power failed for several hours!

They say tomorrow will be fine!

Welcome Tamsyn!

I've been so focused on my Flickr project that I haven't had time to write about my first grandchild. She's now two weeks old and she's such a darling. She's a familiar baby - the same beautiful smooth head that all my children have had and that same delicious baby skin smell!


I found it quite an anxious day when Fer was induced. It was not that I was worried about her or the baby but rather that I was more or less imagining and following the whole labour process all day. It was a relief to get Ant's progress report and then, finally, Fer's phone call as she nursed her little daughter. We visited the next day for our first cuddle but hospitals are not the best place to get to know the new little person. So on Sunday we took the new change table in to Howick Street and had our first afternoon with Tamsyn. We might have had to share her with other people but who cares!

We've got the dearest little grandaughter!

A trip to Hobart (and return)

We finally got to Hobart! We have been trying to find time for weeks and once the barley and, baling were over, our moment came. We had a load of furniture, boxes and butterflies to deliver so we had a laden X Trail. We ended up travelling down through Cressy and on to Ross - the first time we had ever taken the Isis/Auburn road. It's quite an experience but much more pleasant than the Midlands Highway.

We delivered our goods and ended up buying a little picture by Keith Climpson from the Salamanca Collection. We stayed at Renee's overnight and walked up to Salt at Moonah for a fantastic fishy meal.

The starlings were gathering in Gormanston road!

For our return trip, we travelled through Bothwell and on to the lake country on the old Lake Highway. The countryside is so different that way with its sweeping plains rising up to sub alpine forests and moorland. We stopped at The Steppes for a break and our first look at the famous sculptures.

A circle of standing stones provide support for bronze plaques of wildlife. On the altar stone in the centre a wombat ambles.A path led through the bush to the old settlement of The Steppes, an old complex of cottage and sheds once used as bakery, school and post office and now preserved. We had a lovely prowl before returning to the car to complete our journey home to a pair of ecstatic cats.

A wedding in the sun

Since starting on Project365 I am having trouble finding time for new postings in this blog. By the time I've downloaded photos, edited and resized and then wait for them to load on Flikr, my time is up. Drew's always hovering to surf and the computer gets slower and slower ...


Anyway, I went to a friend's wedding on Saturday and it was so lovely! It was a second marriage for both so they chose the banks of the Trevallyn Lake for the ceremony. I must say that I love these outside weddings when the weather is kind. Even the speed boats slowed down during the ceremony - now wasn't that considerate!

Project 365

I've been busy this summer with the usual thousand-and-one things that make up a rural woman's life. I didn't make a New Year's resolution on New Year's day this year, either, but one came to me two days later. What better than try to take a photo a day to post on Flickr. So somehow it has happened.

I missed the first two days of the year but I've managed to do it consistently since and in doing so, I've started learning quite a few things about my new camera. I can't say I've mastered it yet and I often have to read up in the book before I can get a reasonable shot! But I'm starting to learn and my eyes are much more open for the interesting shot.These are a few shots that didn't make the cut! Here's the link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/23851662@N03/

The only problem is that I don't really have time to keep my blog updated! So here's to 2009 and 365 photos - well, 363 anyway!

The mystery thistle

I look forward each summer to the flowering of this thistle-like plant. I bought it several years ago before Bunnings took over the big building out Kings Meadows way and when the nursery section was overseen by Jo McIntyre. She had great plant taste and this is a great example of the unusual things it was possible to find then.


It's about 60-70cm tall and very thistle-like in its structure. The flowers are the palest shade of lavender and soft and fragile. I thought that it might have been Carlina acaulis but the petals fall away and are soft and not stiff. The foliage is a fresh green all over with no downiness or white hairs. The prickles are sharp but not lethal like a common thistle.


So if there's anyone out there in the ether with any suggestions, I'd be greatly delighted! It doesn't appear to set seed and it is reluctant to divide so it's certainly not a common garden plant nor a weed!