Late afternoon

This afternoon I went to visit family friends who live several miles from Mum.  On the way home I stopped to take these photos of the beautiful colours the late afternoon sun casts on the surrounding trees and landscape.  Such a beautiful time of the day.

This one needs to be done in oils.

Loving the contrast between the salmon and white gum tree trunks.

It's so good to be here enjoying where I grew up.  Just can't take the country girl out of me.

A lovely day

Today was simply beautiful with near perfect weather, sunny with a very light breeze, the best weather to finish off the spiral vege garden for Mum.  The soil I had available to fill the garden with is water resistant so it was important to add other things to help the soil.  I found some very old cow manure in an old milking shed which was rock hard and the outer foliage and roots from years and years worth of veges in an old wooden box from when Dad was growing veges.  It was compacted and hard but I was able to break it up to mix in with the soil.  With every layer added I watered well and the result is a garden with soil that still needs work but is much better than it was.  A bag or two of compost and some mulch will finish the job.

If you are interested in the benefits of spiral gardening (they're mostly used for herb gardens) have a look at this link.  As this is the first spiral garden I've built, I'm sure mistakes have been made but it sure was fun if not challenging making it.  It is the perfect style vege garden for Mum as she has limited mobility and will be able to sit on her walker and reach all areas of this new garden.  It is also raised which makes for easier gardening too.  Many spiral gardens at the lowest point to the ground incorporate a pond of sorts in which you can plant things like watercress etc.  Western Australia is so dry that it would dry up in no time so this addition wasn't made.

Very late this afternoon I went out for a quick wander around with my camera and captured these shots.

I might just have to paint this image.

An amazing flower on this cactus.

A beautiful sunset.

These colours are glorious.

Back with more soon.

Morning walk

Early this morning I had two choices, go for a walk or roll over and try and catch up on missed sleep after travelling to Western Australia.  The choice to walk won and it was a good decision.  There is nothing quite like that early morning light and the fresh smell that comes with an autumn morning on a farm.  Here are some photos from my walk.

A very noisy Butcher bird.

 Later in the day I started making Mum a spiral vege garden.  It's my first attempt at making one so I'll be interested to know how successful it is.

Late  afternoon light on the old house my Dad grew up in.

Shadows from a rose bush on the old bricks.

There will be more digging of soil for the spiral garden tomorrow and perhaps another early morning walk.

Heading west again

Sunday morning I set off for Western Australia again to spend time with Mum on the farm.  On Anzac Day it will be a year since my lovely Dad passed away and I wanted to be with Mum at that time.  I do so miss so much his cheeky grin and twinkly blue eyes when he was up to mischief.  Here he is at our place in Melbourne a number of years ago enjoying one of his favourite meals, a lamb roast dinner.  If I remember correctly I made him apple pie too which was one of his all time favourite desserts.

 

 

Mum and I will be having some fun while I'm there, a bit of a girly weekend away which I hope to share with you.  Mum will also be celebrating her 80th birthday while I'm there.   My sister and other brother who lives in the east of Australia will also be with her on the day, so she will have her four kids helping her celebrate as well as an assortment of grand kids and other family.

 

  My sister and I are secretly busy planning the day, Mum keeps asking questions, but we aren't telling.  :)  I just love keeping her in suspense, for just a little while because when I get home I will be baking and popping things in the freezer for the big day and she is going to see what I'm doing.  Mum, I know you are reading this!  :)

See you soon,

Anne  xx

Therapeutic walk

Today was the most glorious autumn day with blue skies and warm sunshine.  This afternoon I found myself in need of a therapeutic walk to take my mind of things that were troubling me and decided to go to Birdsland reserve with my Labrador Sophie.  I've shared photos of this beautiful and peaceful reserve before but it's worth sharing again.  Today there was a pelican on the water, something I'd not seen before.  A pelican doesn't usually hang around a place without food and sure enough after a few minutes observation, four meals of some kind of fish were had.  Here are some photos of my walk.

Farmland adjacent to the reserve.

The first lake.

The pelican.

Fishing

Eating

The small island in the middle the second lake.

You can see the pelican zooming of in the distance.  They can sure move fast when they choose.

Regeneration programme showing young trees growing after the bushfires of 2009.

More regeneration.

Heading along the path back to the car.

While I was driving to the reserve Sophie was making the most excited noises.  When she realised where we were, those noises increased in volume, she was so excited.  I don't often bring her here for a walk but she has been here a number of times with the family who baby sit her when we are away.  Obviously her memories of those walks are happy ones.

The fisherman returns

Yesterday afternoon I picked hubby up from the airport after his wonderful and successful fishing trip in Walpole, Western Australia.  He spent time fishing with my farming brother, my nephew and my brothers mate, a good all round blokey time was had by all.  Here are a few photos from hubby's time away.

Eric with a beautiful sea salmon.

These kangaroos roamed in and out of the caravan park.

Hubbies accommodation was the hippy van.

I think a hard working farmer deserves to lie down while waiting for the fish to bite.

Eric, Trev and Ben.

Sandscapes on the beach.

Cleaning the days catch with a friend who lives locally.

Eric with one that didn't get away.

After the fishing week was over, hubby drove back up to the farm to stay with Mum for a couple of days.  On the way he stopped off at the tree top walk.

Without question hubby enjoyed his holiday and would love to do it again.