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.

The Long Paddock

These stunning autumn trees are part of what we call The Long Paddock.

It is a sweep of land that runs down the eastern side of our house  and adjoins the orchard at the back of the property.
It has been used for football matches, a place to ride motorbikes, a golf hole (par 3 according to Sam and Amy...terrible rough though apparently!), a riding track for Clancy, a speedway for The Moke or just a nice place to stroll around the farm. It also provides access to the woodman who dumps a load of wood up there each year for Winter.

 This is how it looked the day after the fire. The tracks have all been made by vehicles of one sort or another that passed through our property that day. It's quite weird how the trees all seem to look okay. 

This is how the long paddock looks today.

The brown of course is not autumn colouring, just dead. Plenty of green though.We will get our mulching people back to mulch up the stacks of dead material that Bill has made. That way we get to keep the valuable mulch to use on the garden beds.

This is looking back the other way towards the pond.

And today........

 We will always be in awe of how nature works. The largest and  smallest of trees are all showing new signs of life and we couldn't be happier about that. 

Thank you for the buckets Jo. I love them. I dug up 3 huge clumps of daffodils and plan to put them around the pond. Bill has tried digging some patches there for me, but even his brand new fork wasn't up to the task. Thank goodness the trusty crowbar survived the fire because I think that's what we (Bill, that is) will be using!!

Lavender walk and figs

This is the photo that I chose to use for my blog header ( blog speak apparently ! ) I think it was because it all looked so lush and green and pretty and I probably needed a dose of lush and green and pretty when I started this blog. It is the lavender walk....such a quaint name for a row of lavender either side of a pathway, but I love using the term just the same.
My cousin Judy gave me most of the plants that she had taken as cuttings from her English lavender  and I continued to add to that. 
Mind you I have never had any success at getting both sides all looking gorgeous at the same time. You will notice in this photo that there is only one lavender plant on the top left side instead of the eight I planted....case in point! Who would know what happened to the others. They would have all been planted at the same time ........they probably drowned truth be known!!!

And now.......

And no matter how closely I have inspected them, there is not the slightest shade of green or grey to be seen. 

There's a bit of lopsidedness going on here too, even though they would have all been planted evenly.

And now.....

And on a happy note....
we have had 12mm of gentle rain overnight and today 

and these little figlets decided to hang in there after the fire and carry on. They were delicious.... the only fruit remaining in our orchard.  I am quite amazed that they have hung on and ripened.

Dams, daffodils and frogs

 When you drive into our place, one of the first things you will see is the dam, also known as the frog pond. 

It was originally a dam..... hand dug ( or so the story goes ) for supplying water to the deer that lived on the property inside a  high fenced deer enclosure. 

The deer had been removed when we bought the property 20 years ago, but the structure remained.

At some stage, we (probably me ) decided to make the dam a part of our garden and encourage water birds to visit..... so the fence was removed.

This was in 1998....the middle of winter by the look of it!!!

We even bought some ducklings at the market ( Amy's idea) and Bill constructed an enclosure for them to be safe at night. They were gorgeous and would happily wander around the garden.

And of course there were all the other little creatures that love to inhabitat such places too.

This little wildlife warrior loves to spend time around the dam looking for frogs and yabbies and tadpoles and lizards. 

Two nights ago Bill spotted this little froglet just outside the window where I  have a collection of roses and plants in pots that people have given us. 

And then much to our delight he appeared again last night.
.....our little frog population has returned. 
These are some  photos that Bill has taken in previous years.This is an eastern common froglet...

And this is a spotted marsh frog .....

We are so lucky that this is a healthy habitat for them and we will try to keep it that way.

This grim photo is how we found the frog pond after the fire on February 9 later in the evening....

 And this is how it looks today.... the blackness has gone but it remains dry.

We hope that one day it might once again look like this.....