Food for the soul

If gardening is food for the soul (as it is for me), then I have unashamedly been gorging myself over the last three beautiful days. 

It's when I see this native gorgeousness, that I sometimes think it would be good to grow more natives in our garden. This is a hakea called Burrendong Beauty. 
It's a bit of a sprawler but nothing that a trim can't fix. 

My propagating frenzy of a few weeks ago is showing amazing promise, especially since they have been placed in the mini hot house.
Look at this............!!!!!

I've been propagating, planting, re locating, mulching, potting up, potting out, digging up, digging out, weeding, watering in, re designing, thinking about, gazing at and wondering how all this will look in Spring.
I have been in seventh heaven in the sun and fresh air!

Bill has been out there too, soaking up the sun and  having the time of his life. Thank goodness there are always dead branches that he can attack with the chain saw or garden clippings that need to be mulched.
 Anything really, that involves starting a noisy motor! 

I collected these seeds from the lilium flowers that weren't picked and shoved them in a plastic bag in the potting shed. 
Lo and behold a few of them have started to shoot!
( forgot to take a photo in the excitement)
So I poked them in some potting mix.  
I can't believe that it would be that easy.......
Still nothing on the scales that were peeled off the bulbs a few weeks ago. 

It's been weeks since I sewed.

My little pile from today.

.......and then this arrived today in the mail.

On my bedside table at the moment....

Some more of Dad's creations.
I remember these being used as a child.
No open fires or ranges in the kitchen any more so they had been relegated to The Shed.
Bill gave them a spruce up and they now take pride of place in our lounge room next to our open fire.

And always not far from our minds.......
currently soaking up some sunshine in Bali with his Mum and Dad.

They are staying with some friends in a villa.
 They have their own pool ........and Flynn is contained.
We all took turns to chase after him this time last year! 
Hope everyone has received some rain. Our frog pond is filling as we speak.
Keep warm!

Soothing our souls

We have all been finding ways to soothe our souls these last couple of weeks.

There's been lots of comfort food.......

                                              ( thanks Heidi )

.....and wine.

( to be perfectly honest, we just like the label!!!)
No, we actually do like the wine too.

And just being together on Mother's Day while the boys cooked a beautiful roast lunch and Jake practised his skills at being Roof Man.

Amy has been planting some of Pa's seed collection.

And having cuddles with her little pooches.

I've been looking at what's been happening in my own backyard and being thankful for how the simplest of things can be so calming.

Dad made the watering can.
On top is a seedling planter, also one of Dad's cleverly crafted creations. 

Bill has been out in his shed......making things.
Another mini hot house, this time for Amy's seed plantings.   

We brought home some pieces of glass from the windows of an old van that Dad had fashioned into a mini hot house in the vegie garden.
We are going to use them in exactly the same way to get our seedlings going in Winter.

And of course there will always be flowers even when we think there is nothing worth picking.

Thank you for the potted plants Ruth and Ross. Can't wait to smell the rose flowers.

This little boy soothes our souls and makes our hearts sing.

 He is off to the toy room on his scooter to show us his motorbike and ninja turtle nunchukka (????)

We are bouncing around in the orange bag (on the ipad  having Facetime). 
Bless him.

From a Jack to a King

Our beautiful Dad was buried last Friday.

He passed away unexpectedly early on Thursday morning April 23 from complications resulting from a broken hip suffered in a fall the previous Monday afternoon.

We buried him in his overalls....his comfy clothes of choice each and every day. 

We gave him a  tuneful  rousing send off around the pianola on Friday night.

  

( The Queen Mary sits on top. Made by Dad with help from Uncle Bob Baker.)

________________________________________ 

******* Letter to Dad *******

To be perfectly honest we are all a bit nervous about today Dad.

You knew everything there was to know about digging trenches and pipes and site orientation and tree roots and all things plumbing really.

So we know you will be watching the proceedings of the last few days with great interest.

We think you will be happy with your final resting place.You can keep an eye on things from here and you are not far from your old mate, Frank Pryor. You two will have a lot of catching up to do and lots of yarns to tell.

We think you will be delighted to have had one final ride in your beloved work ute. Dennis has given the chrome a bit of a polish, but has left the rest just as you would have wanted. After all, we know only too well the consequences of moving things around without your permission.

We are pretty sure you would approve of the cuppa and refreshments at the Minyip Golf Club. Your favourite mug was a Minyip Golf Club mug and truth be known you had some of your best times in the shed when Mum was out there playing golf.  (Bill said that......just to let you know!)

We think you would have had a good laugh with Michael and Mavis. They have been extremely kind and obliging and you would have liked that. You would have referred to them both as being good scouts.

Dennis has checked the pipes in the roof for the leak and crawled under the house to jack up the kitchen door as per your final instructions whilst in hospital.

We will all take care of Mum just as you would have wanted. She probably won't want to participate in cleaning out the sheds though. However, we WILL let her hold the hose in the back paddock when we burn off the branches.....just as you wanted her to do a couple of weeks ago.

No rush though.

All in good time.

You loved telling people that if there were no fish in Heaven, you weren't going! Well, you'll be pleased to know that we have googled it...and apparently it's teeming with fish! You will have such a good time catching up with those beautiful Britten brothers and your much loved sister Gwen and of course your old fishing mates.

You had so many funny little ways that we will always remember...and even more that drove us to distraction!!

But our all time favourite was the nudge, wink and wry smile you gave us when you were about to say something mischievous .....usually to Mum!

We have made sure you are warm and comfortable.

We hope we haven't missed anything.

Cheerio for now our dear Dad.

We will always love and remember you.

PS   Let us know how we went today.

No hurry though.

All in good time.

He was our Dad (Jack) and our King.

We are still in disbelief.

Click on the link below to see Dad with his fishing buddy Bert, filmed recently.

Bert and Dad got together several months ago thanks to the kind and caring people from Volunteering Western Victoria.

Dad was a reluctant film star, but we will treasure this footage forever.

Jack & Bert - Gone Fishin