Flaneur

Yes.....that would be me.

No such strolling today though. It is bitterly cold out there and blowing a gale. A perfect chance to blog.

More birthdays to celebrate.

It was Leesa's birthday last Tuesday.

 She turned #{%€£.

I think she'll probably keep making it up from now on!

Bill turned 66 yesterday and Joanne joined us for lunch.

Pumpkin soup, bruschetta and carrot cake.

"

Remi turned one ....so the girls spent the weekend with Helen's family.

She is a little sweetheart.

And then it was off mushrooming.....

There's something so exciting about rugging up on a cold day and heading off in search of those little white fungi circles with a knife and a bucket.

That's dinner taken care of.

Joanne and I spent ages looking at everything in the patchwork shop.

I came home with this cute little charm pack to sew something for Olive.

And a bit of Kaffe to fussy cut may be ....or just because......

Jo didn't come out empty handed either *roll eyes*.

She has a beautiful new grandchild to sew for. Vincent. 

He is adorable. Congratulations Will and Jacq.

Around the garden path.

There are two pallet beds of liliums now.

It's so much easier to plant them this way. Place them on the dirt and then shovel the soil over the top.

I expect the bigger bulbs to bloom in summer, but the smaller ones may take a few years.

In my little farmshop.....still picking an odd bloom. Amazing really.

We have sold three of Sam's bird houses. He has had to build up his stocks.

I can't imagine that anything is still upright out there today, but I still noticed a customer at one stage!

Sam and Amy 

Our littlest babes.

Books from the library just in time for a cold, wet weekend.

This is me too......

I'm really looking forward to getting back out there next week.

It will probably involve some flaneur-ing as well I expect.

Come to think of it, there's a fair bit of that that goes on here every day with me!

Have a great week everyone.

Turning ninety and turning one

Mum turned ninety last Friday.

And we all got together on Sunday to celebrate this amazing milestone with her.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect so a last minute relocation to the backyard took place.

Leesa created the most gorgeous crafty bits.....

And the piffle board.......( one of Mum's  made up words that she comes out with on a regular basis)....was a highlight.

Darling little girl.

Jake is rapidly catching up to me now!

Dennis has decided to do some repairs on Dad's hand made tin fishing boat. This is the boat that followed the original Queen Mary. As far as we can remember it doesn't have a name, but I'm sure one will be forth coming in due course and we'll plan a celebratory launching on the river when the time comes. 

We'd love to think that we'll all be back here celebrating again in ten years.

We visited the Botanic Gardens at Melton a few weeks ago.

The gardens are quite new and were officially opened at the end of 2017. 

It's a dry land garden of 10 acres with the first eucalyptus plantings in 2011.

They showcase the kinds of native plants and others  that will survive in locations that receive only 450 mm of rainfall annually. 

One eucalyptus tree in particular had me intrigued.

It is called eucalyptus rhodantha.

Photo credit....Australian seed company.

We sourced some seed and Bill is going to try to get it to germinate.

Our annual rainfall is normally about 100 mm more than required but we're going to give it a try anyway. 

These trees were in flower and looked beautiful.

This little poppet turns one today.

Happy Birthday darling baby girl.

We adore her.

And so do her big brothers.

Farmshop flowers......even in Winter.

Proteas bought from the protea lady's buckets and mixed with bits and pieces from here.

Sam built some bird houses for me to sell in the farmshop.

He used some old fence palings and pieces of tin capping that we found in Pa's shed. I love them.

Those little green "things" in the wire basket are feijoas that fell from one of the trees that are growing to provide a hedge of sorts in the orchard. Small but exciting to get the first fruit from them.

He also completed and flat packed the farmshop for delivery to its new home. It will be used to sell proteas and other farm grown goodies in season.

It's huge and looks fabulous.

Around the garden path today.

If they really are Billy Buttons, I'll be beside myself. Last year's attempt was a big failure.

Bill has been cutting back the ornamental grape vine. 

I fashioned the canes into loose wreath shapes and tied them with black garden twine to hold them in position. As they dry out I'm hoping they'll retain the shape. I've made seven so far and might use them at Christmas with some rusty tin stars tied to them ( or not......)!

Thank you for this gorgeous card Mima.

Have a great week everyone.