Some things have no explanation.
Our old apple tree has always been there. None of us remember planting it but I don't seem to remember it being there when we moved in 20 years ago. A chance seedling I think it's called.
It's in the middle of a native bed.
Every year it explodes into blossom and produces hundreds of apples.
The apples never grow more than the size of a ping pong ball, they taste very sour and they usually have brown bits all over them.
We let the parrots gorge themselves and knock them from the tree. They then become little shriveled up blobs that remain under the tree.
Yesterday on my afternoon wanderings, I came upon this.......
A solitary apple in near perfect condition.
It has a bruise on the bottom where it has hit the ground.
Weird!
Amy has loved being with these children over the last month.
As a little girl, I don't remember even considering any other profession.
They have so little in comparison to us, but just look at those happy faces.
I think that might be Amy's tuk tuk waiting to take her home.
Bill has been gradually working his way through sowing grass seed in all the bare patches. He is finally onto the last bit. He has had to leave little pathways of bare dirt so that we can access different parts of the garden.
I love those little paths. Might even leave them there.
This patch is so compacted. It's like concrete. It has required the crow bar and fork to make any impression.
The ants think it's Christmas.
The potting shed
We needed a more user friendly doorway to our potting shed.
Ahhhhh....that's better. No more bumps on the head.
That piece is now a door with hinges and door latch.
The garden
I love moving things around in the garden and apparently now is the perfect time.
I am determined to have large blocks of colour this year.
So with that in mind I started propagating some salvias and daisies.
You can also dig them up and divide them too but some of mine are fairly new and haven't clumped up enough just yet.
39 cuttings so far.
There will be more.
Up Parasol
I am also looking forward to having a play with these bits of loveliness.
The collection is called Up Parasol by Heather Bailey. There are birds and flowers.........*sigh* (not a scrap of black to be seen!)
In fact not even a parasol to be seen for that matter!
This worked.
The white petunias have loved it in that big pot.
I planted them before Christmas and they still look gorgeous.
Not so the grass that was planted behind the birdbath near the bricks and yet it was sown in exactly the same way as all the rest......go figure!
These fig tree plants were grown from cuttings months ago. I must plant them in the ground soon.
That worked.
These lemon seedlings were grown from pips.
That worked.
But these lilium cuttings were a definite fail.
I am going to try another way of propagating them in the next few weeks.
We love our library.....
........but it just doesn't seem to look quite right now that our garden room is finished( It was put up before the fire).
I had thought of painting it black and spent some time researching what paint to use etc.
(not a very good photo)
But in the interests of time management (?) we decided to do this.....
Still the top extensions to be put on yet, but a new look that seems to tie in better with all the pops of black we've got, both in the kitchen and the new room. Mmm.... carpet could probably do with a clean too!
Apparently Leonardo thinks it's the right thing to do too!
That must be where I got the whole black thing from!!!!
Flynn's announcement
Little Mario boy had an important announcement to make last week.
He is going to be a big brother in September.
It will be wonderful. Flynn will be 3 when the new baby is born.
Amy update
Amy is back at school today after almost a week of being unwell.
This little guy seemed very happy to see her.
Sadly, the children don't have access to dental health like our children do and their teeth are in very poor condition.
Got to love the pristine white shirt though!
The children are fed breakfast at the school to ensure they can have optimal learning whilst they are there, even if it is only an hour each day.
On second thoughts....
Our bookcase swap seems insignificant now........and I'm quite sure those children don't have libraries and gardens.
And yet they still find something to smile about.
I have no doubt that Amy brings smiles to their faces each day she is there, just like she does when she is here.
Can't help wondering what she said to that little boy.
We miss her.
