Frog noises and gumboots

The frogs have returned!!  We haven't heard that noise for such a long time. These two little men are especially delighted. The wildlife warrior ( in the  brown boots ) gave us all a lesson on the life cycle  of frogs....... 

The heavens have opened and they don't seem to
have a turn off tap. We have had 40mm of rain over the last couple of days. 

I meant to use this photo of how the kitchen garden looks in my last post. The lemon verbena is fresher than ever. I adore the fragrance from the crushed leaves.

Another play with my granny squares.... block number 2.

Beautiful rain and lovely gifts

My  rounds of the garden were carried out in the rain tonight.......and it was wonderful!
The smell of the garden after rain is one of my favorites and I had almost forgotten what that was like.
The frog pond has water again and the horse paddocks look amazing. We have never seen them like that before.
We have had about 20mm overall....beautiful, steady, soaking rain. And the ducks thought it was Christmas!
I am hoping that Bill can finally get the fork into the ground around the pond now. I need to throw in  plant three buckets of bulbs I dug from a clump in the front garden bed last week.

 Up until a couple of days ago, the trusty crowbar wouldn't even make an impression.

A few years ago I received these little garden implements for Christmas. They are perfect for keeping in the kitchen garden which is just outside the laundry door. Somehow they remained untouched during the fire even though the laundry pipe nearby was blackened. These were the only small garden implements  we had for sometime after the fire.

There they are in the corner.

Today we received these.......

Bill is thrilled with his spade....something to do with the sharp, flat edge apparently. And I love my new little trowel and fork. Merrill knows me well....she also gave me the green handled ones! The knee pad was on our  "must get" list and one can never have too many gardening gloves.
Thank you for your kindness Merrill and Kevin.

And as if that wasn't enough in one day, these boxes of gorgeousness arrived crammed with herbs and beautiful little plants. I adore them.
Thank you Viv, my lovely friend.

This sweetly fragrant rose was planted before we arrived . I think it may be "Blue Moon".  I took this photo tonight. It looked so beautiful in the rain and evening light with bulbs popping up all around it. I am not that fond of the color but the perfume is divine. We can now start putting away the Australia Post tubs that had been left out for the birds and animals (thank you Amy). We have no idea how they remained untouched by the fire.....just another mystery.

We mustn't have taken a photo from that angle after the fire but the tub is still there and you can see the position of the birdhouse......

Love this!

Irises and April Showers

Our rose garden needs tough plants and these gorgeous  strappy irises fit the bill perfectly. When we first planned the rose garden,

Bill's sister Jo gave us a  bag of rhizomes that she had taken from her garden. They grew like crazy and we had huge clumps of irises everywhere.

...and I loved them!

And then Bill's Aunty Betty gave us some lovely ones that she had trouble growing at her place. She seemed to think that they didn't get enough sunlight. So they went in too. 

Add to that, the ones that have been given to us by friends and family and we have quite the special collection.

I especially love this cream one but I don't seem to have seen it for the last couple of years.

I took this photo a couple of days after the fire. There are several patches of irises in this bed.

And this is how they look today ..... one of the patches showing lots of new life. There are some old rhizomes in there though that will need to be discarded.

We have thrown them on the bonfire in the past when there have been too many.......and they still survived!

I have no idea about the names of many of them, but the ones that my cousin Judy gave me are called..Pass the Wine (got to love that)

Collage

and Berry Bliss....I hope they all survive.

I couldn't resist this little charm pack from the patchwork shop......we had 4mm today. Yay!!!

Sunsets, pomegranates and orangey things

A Wimmera sunset. 
Unfortunately, my Mum and Dad who are 86 and 89 are struggling at home at the moment. Mum is waiting for a hip operation and is finding it hard to walk and do the things she wants to do to remain independent. It is also difficult to see her in so much discomfort. We have spent the last few days with them to try to make things easier. We hope her operation can take place very soon.

It is always exciting to get home after being away.
I always look forward to seeing what has changed in the garden even in a short time. 
The paddocks around us now have a beautiful green tinge.

There is a freshly mulched pile of tree branches.

Sam, the hedge man has finished cutting back our banksia rose and fresh green shoots have appeared on the branches.

Thank you Raylene and Den for the gorgeous fuchsias and orange watsonia corms. The brighter pink one is exactly the same as the one that was planted outside my sewing room window next to the daphnes ( but I know you didn't realise that when you bought them ).

( the new wheelbarrow works a treat!)The fuchsia was next to the hot water tank....nothing remains of it.


I will plant the orange watsonia corms near this deep, rich orange rose called Hot Chocolate,  given to us by Zoe. It has a delicious fragrance too. This photo doesn't show the unusual colouring.

Thanks for the rose and the seeds Zoe. You are very kind.
And speaking of orange, this orangey, pinky rose in our front middle bed is blooming it's head off.

The magnolia tree looks very sad in this photo, but in fact it has new growth on the other side.



Bill sneaked some pomegranates from Dad's tree....I wonder if he has noticed they are gone yet??? I adore the shiny red skins and curious shape of them.

While we were away I managed to cut some more squares for my granny squares quilt.....I can't wait to play with all this gorgeousness!

Banksia roses and granny blocks

I was in desperate need of a play with colour today. 
This is the first block of a new quilt that is made up of granny blocks....somehow seems appropriate! I am going to use the left overs from Bertie's quilt with a few bits and pieces thrown in. 

Couldn't bring myself to show you the whole block...it's all a bit wonky. It was my practice block! My family would say....but they're always wonky!!!!!

We planted a number of tiny tubes of yellow banksia rose along the fence line of the rose garden some years ago now to disguise the outbuildings and tank. They served their purpose well and have thickened up beautifully. Bill usually attacks prunes them with the hedge trimmer whenever it takes his fancy. We have pruned them at all different times and they still continue to flower ....albeit just once. I have often regretted not planting them on all three fences around the rose garden to add that unifying element.....but no, I wanted one of everything so ended up with a bit of this and that. I am still learning.

And now....

They are going to be given a trim tomorrow to remove all the dead wood. I have already seen new signs of life so this might encourage even more.



Thank you Denise for the geranium cuttings and seeds. You are very kind.

And then there is this little man who makes our hearts sing!!!! When we have Facetime each week , he likes to put the ipad on his train and take us around the house with him. Amy is talking to him here as Sam is videoing.

Gardening days and things to plan

It was such a perfect day for gardening on Sunday.  I potted up some daffodils and hyacinths. The tulips are in the crisper in the fridge having their early winter. They will be put in my beautiful new pot in a few weeks.

 I used the remaining part of the old sewing machine that was in the gazebo as a potting bench. It worked a treat.
Joanne found a fabulous new idea for it which I love. It's the black one......

Perhaps a writing desk for our new room.
 We have decided to incorporate what was the old gazebo into an extension of the house, connected to the meals/rumpus room.

We would need to remove the wall between the meals and rumpus room and the outside walls of the meals/rumpus room. It would become one large space in the shape of the old gazebo...rather like a conservatory with a "pitched" roof.
The builder and the project manager were here this morning to talk about it all with us.
It may become stage 2 in the rebuild with the garage and sheds being part of stage 1.
Sounds amazing though!!!
 But of course there are all the costings to be done now. 

Bill had the trusty, rusty trailer on the job today collecting old bits of timber and wire.

And just to finish on some colour........

I love my morning cuppa time and using pretty old things including teacups and teapots.
 I have been trying to give up having coffee at home. Filter coffee and plunger coffee have all been given a run but none of them taste like I want them to (ie bought coffee) and buying coffee everyday just wouldn't get passed my financial manager, so it's been tea for me instead.
I do love the ritual of it all though whether it's tea or coffee.