The smell report

The tree loppers have been.

After they'd butchered the trees across the front to within an inch of their lives ( clearing branches from power lines....just doing their job really ), the mulching team arrived. Farmer Bill negotiated with them to dump a truck load of the most heavenly smelling mix of plant material you could imagine at the back of our place. 

A mountain of natural goodness for our garden.

Which led me to thinking what it is about certain smells that I adore, particularly those associated with nature....that delicious smell of freshness after rain ( our recent 15mm), the smell of coffee when the seal is first removed, the smell inside the bookshop, tumeric paste.....all recent " stop me in my tracks" kind of smells.

Apparently our ability to smell comes from 5-6million cells, high up in our nasal passages.

A rabbit has 100 million.

A dog has 220 million.

The human sense of smell a mere drop in the ocean in comparison. Nonetheless,  our ability to smell things is still very acute and is said to play an important role in our memory, mood and emotions.

I couldn't agree more.

We visited the red forest in Warburton recently.

What an enchanting place that is. 

I expected to see fairies and goblins and witches on broomsticks popping out from behind the trees.

The giant Californian redwoods were planted in the 1930's in a grid formation. Some of them are over 50 metres high. Fallen branches have been stacked into 1.5 metre tall " bird" nests that add to the magic of the place.

 It is heritage listed and a photographer's dream.

And of course, the smell..........

Helen caught a trout in the river here a few weeks ago........ 

........and we'd gone there for her to demonstrate how she did it.

Mmmm.........the intent was most definitely there, just an absence of fish.

Around the garden path.

We think they gather here to party each night. They seem to stick to the paths though so I suppose that's okay.

Pink Lady apples have just been picked and two boxes of Golden Delicious.

The lupin seeds in my fancy cardboard seedling pots have started to germinate. Can't tell you how thrilled I was to discover them. 

Even though it doesn't seem to look "lupinish" as yet.

All the bulbs have been finally planted.

Sam made some paths in the stick fence bulb patch so that I can see where to poke in all the bulbs that the birds have dug up around the trees.

This little patch holds the leftovers.

We had a family get together at Minyip on Easter Sunday and celebrated Dennis' birthday.

Marcia is glowing with health and happiness....

We can't wait to meet our new little member of the family.

And the Wimmera sunrises were stunning.

We spent a gorgeous afternoon on the farm at Dimboola.

Leesa and Andy stayed in their new campervan. 

We sat outside and watched Andy cook breakfast and pretended we were camping.

Amy and Helen's house in Kyneton is for sale. 

It is such a delightful little place.

Sew and sew

Framing and sashing going on......

Makes sense to me ;)

I'm about to tackle something I haven't made before out of these two bits of loveliness. It's a surprise.

Claire and Sara celebrated their engagement yesterday at Coldstream. 

Two gorgeous souls.

Our darling little Pilbara kids.

Note to self....be careful where you put the photos. I can't seem to remove this one now.....it'll have to stay.

Just funny....

Thanks Cheryl ;)

Have a good week everyone. 

There might even be more rain if we're lucky.

Plan B

Forget Domino. 

Let's go to Plan B.

Team Spirit. A deeper version of what we already have. Blueish/greenish/ greyish!

Inspired by this photo on Pinterest.

The red brick, the cream trim and the colour. 

There is every possibility that Plan C and D could also come into play. Don't hold your breath waiting for the final decision!

We are rejoicing in 5 mm of rain last weekend although you'd never know.

It will take more than 5 mm for the frog pond to be rejuvenated. I must say, we're starting to feel a bit the same way. The effort that goes into keeping everything watered when there is so little rain is exhausting.

And we have nothing to complain about compared to those that try to make a living from the land. 

There is something thrilling about finding this though....

I took some ornamental grapevine cuttings a while ago and couldn't believe my eyes when I checked them. They have now been planted across the front of the house ( and watered every other day) to climb the veranda posts. The ones we already have look so fresh and green all summer with very little watering so we're going to try to repeat that look across the front.

Our fig tree has produced an abundance of fruit this year. Bill made some fig jam which ended up a bit lemony but was still delicious on toast.

I bought a mountain pepper plant.

It's a native food plant that is purported to have amazing health benefits both in the leaves and berries. 

It's been a joy for me seeing these delightful little bees in our garden. For some reason they have a buzz that's different from the other bees so you often hear them before you see them.

The blue banded bee is native to Australia. It's one of just a few that perform " buzz pollination" so it's extremely valuable to our farmers. 

And then out of the blue I spotted this one.....

Not a good photo unfortunately and you might need to zoom in. It was too busy darting all over the place for me to get a clear photo. It's a cuckoo bee. I have never noticed them here before or anywhere for that matter. I discovered that they don't build their own nests. Instead, they lay their eggs in the nests of the blue banded bee. I've become fascinated by our bee population and all the different types. 

A portulaca.

I haven't grown these before but I'm hoping it'll be a survivor across the front of the house which becomes so hot and dry in summer.

Bill and Sam have been making stuff again.....

The girls have been fishing.

Jo called in to show us her campervan.

It's fabulous for her. She recently returned from a trip to Tasmania to see her little family and do some exploring.

There's been a Mitchell family reunion in Ballarat......Andrew and Kirsten are cousins of Bill, Sue and Jo. 

Repurposing is a family tradition here. 

I have a clear memory of Dad making a light shade out of a cornflakes box "to make it brighter" in a house we were living in at the time. Bill and I left it there and completely forgot it was even there. Goodness knows what our visitors thought!

So much of what we dispose of can so easily be used again.

I have loved turning these old cardboard tubes, including toilet rolls, into tiny seed starters. It simply means that the whole thing can be planted without disturbing the roots. There's also something very therapeutic about making them ( says me who has plenty of time to do so). 

I have fifty- four so far.

An early morning visitor called in for a drink a few mornings ago.

Poor things must be struggling for water too. 

Cyclone Veronica has been and gone in the Pilbara.

Very wild and destructive with the community having to remain indoors for several days until the danger had passed.

Some of the uprooted trees in Dampier........and those beautiful, precious kids.

How gorgeous are these......just reminding myself to get our tulips planted at the end of this month, along with all my new bulbs. I am waiting for it to rain properly before I start digging.

I keep finding beautiful pictures of garden beds with gravel/stone paths that I keep poking under Bill's nose. It would save him so much work mowing and edging........but he just keeps saying how much he likes seeing the grass paths. Amy, Helen and Sam like the grass paths too so I'm probably going to struggle with that one. 

We keep talking about a permanent pergola of some description too.

This was another picture I poked under Bill's nose. 

He laughed. I'm not sure whether it was a yes, we can do that laugh, or a you've got to be kidding me laugh! I suspect I know which one.

I have finished the sixty- four blocks for the quilt I have chosen. Now to arrange them in some sort of cohesive pattern and choose the frames and sashing. Still a way to go.....

And while I think about that, I can't help starting on something new. 

These blogs are starting to take on an "all over the place" feel. 

But it's been a while since the last one and it's the same old story.......

if I don't press publish now, I'll never get back to it. 

So have a great week everyone.

 Hope you get to enjoy something autumn-y. 

Those colours stop me in my tracks.