Here come the roses

Just in time for Melbourne Cup Day.

Yellow roses are always associated with Cup Day. Pink roses on Oaks Day and red roses for Stakes Day.

Of all the roses we grow here, only one is yellow and it was here when we arrived. We think it's the Peace rose but that has never been verified. 

My research tells me that 16,000 roses are laboriously tended at Flemington. 

I can't even begin to get my head around that!

Plenty of yellow in other flowers we grow though.

A smattering of blooms from our roadside flower cart.......

Our first trip out of lockdown was to see Mum. 

It had been over seven months since we had seen her.

She is keeping well and was very happy to see us.

Then finally, a couple of weeks ago, a trip to Nungurner to see Amy and Helen. Once again it had been over seven months since we had seen them.

Gumnut Cottage was even better than we imagined in real life.

And of course there was fishing....

They came here for the long weekend and went home with a garden haul.

Mind you, you would never know that any plants were gone.

We visited the Garden of St Erth near Blackwood and came home with more plants. 

It was so nice having them here again. Sam and Helen have obviously overdosed on Pepsi!

Amy built a bird nesting box to give Bill for Father's Day. Bill loves the little pardalotes that visit here every now and again and this box is especially designed for their breed.

They are the tiniest of birds, measuring only ten centimetres long, but they have a big voice. They will frequently use man-made objects to nest in. They are native to Australia. 

This photo is from Bill's book of birds that he has photographed at Frogpond Farm.

Sam has also been building stuff. Another special order birdhouse.

And the bride wore pink.....

Leesa and Andy got married!

They surprised us with the news on a family zoom time.

Originally, they had planned an engagement party that we were all invited to and sadly, because of Covid restrictions that just didn't happen. So they decided to go ahead with their secret wedding business anyway. 

We might need to do a re-enactment at Christmas.

We are all very happy for them.

We had snow!

And a cute little visitor that wandered up the driveway and checked out our woodpile at the front door.

A huge eucalypt was blown over on one of our recent windy days. It required some serious chain sawing and removal. More wood for our open fire.

Sometimes it's just about the name.

Can't wait to see what it looks like in real life. I poked about ten seeds in at random places in the rose garden. I had meant to mark them with wooden skewers but forgot, so now I wouldn't have a clue where they are. I'll probably think they're a weed and pull them out. Planting the seed straight into the garden is not my strong point! 

Amy has been in Spring racing mode this week with her Fashions on Zoom for work.

I suspect she can't actually see anything out of those glasses but I'm loving them anyway.....and that pink lipstick!

Have a great week everyone.

Gawking and gazing

I'm a gawker AND a gazer.

 In fact, some would say I probably do a bit too much gawking and gazing at times and not enough doing. I don't take any notice of that!

It begins with my coffee ritual in the Garden room every morning, staring out the windows and compiling a mental list of how the day will unfold.

Very lucky to be able to do that I know.

Garden gazing

Each day over the last few weeks, I've been out there on my hands and knees, looking intently for signs of germination of flower seeds. For me, the success rate of direct sown planting is very poor.

So far.....

Snapdragons.....6 out of a packet of 500.

Nigella....none.

Cornflower.....none

Bells of Ireland.....none.

Larkspur....1 out of 12.

Enough said.

I'll keep doing this from now on.

On one of the days of wandering around the garden path, I DID discover three burgundy shoots popping through where I'd planted a peony from a pot last year. It was a thrill. I'm hoping that three new shoots mean that one plant has turned into three.

Peonies are new to me as a garden plant.

 We have dozens of perennials scattered throughout the garden and they completely disappear over winter, so finding new signs of life is a joy.

The red wattle in the Ruby Garden.

 It has stayed in bloom for weeks and I adore it.

It gets admired every day......just by me. 

My gawking and gazing had me thinking I'd discovered a new type of bee when I spotted this in the garden one day....

Turns out it's a Common Hoverfly ( thanks Sara and Claire). They are nectar feeders. I don't ever remember seeing one before, so it's a new discovery for me.

I recently started picking flowers again for my little roadside farmshop.

Food for the soul. It certainly is for me anyway.

Fabric gazing

They've been rearranged and looked at every single day since arriving in the mail last week( thank goodness for online shopping I say).

Some blue and green bits just waiting to be turned into something beautiful.

Sew and Sew

Two completed Quilt tops.

The Stay-At-Home-House-Quilt.

And the Crossroads Quilt ( blocks still need to be sewn together in this pic ).

I'm going to give this one to the girls.

Bill's father passed away on August 23. He was 92. He had been living in an aged care facility in Geelong since having a fall at home and hitting his head early last November.

We celebrated his life at Eaglehawk cemetery on August 28 ( with Covid rules in place). It was a glorious, sunny day. 

Grandsons........Marcus, Will, Sam and Jamie.

 He will be sadly missed by all of us.

Very grateful to have photos like these taken just a couple of years ago.

Amy and Helen have been in their little mudbrick cottage near Lakes Entrance since the middle of August.

They are in the process of painting and recarpeting the bedrooms to give the interior a fresh, new look.

 They have shared the whole process with us which makes us feel as though we are all part of it too. Covid restrictions have meant that we haven't been able to visit them nor them us, for months.

We can tell from all the photos they send and the stories they tell us that they are loving it there. Their neighbours have been most welcoming too are very happy that the girls have moved in to their little patch.

They have visited them bearing welcome gifts.

Flowers, pancakes and a poem....

Fillets of freshly caught fish....

Birthday cake......

I can't help thinking that they're the ones who are lucky to have the girls as their neighbours.

Bill has been doing a few jigsaw puzzles and lots of reading when it's been too cold to go outside..... and we've certainly had our fair share of those days this winter.

Mmmm, look at the preparation involved!

He's already sown some tomato seedlings for his vegie boxes.

The broccoli has been a treat. Not such a big haul of anything else though ( I think the seedlings might have been planted too close together, but I'm not saying anything).

And the Ruby Garden has some new fencing extensions to keep out the rabbits, thanks again to Farmer Bill. We have 17 pots of bits and pieces ready to be planted in there in the coming days.

The Every Seven Days project is going gang busters all over the world.

I have missed a few lately but will eventually catch up.

Theme....Lines

Theme.....Curly

Theme.....Water ( that's my morning coffee in the Garden Room. Must have been struggling to come up with something!).

Theme.....Pattern

Theme..... Five Things

Our older folk must find it so hard to fathom the events of 2020.

I can't imagine how Mum would be faring if she were still living by herself at home. We are so grateful that we don't have to have that concern.

She has been keeping well and is quite happy with the daily routine at Allambi Hostel in Dimboola.

Dennis has been allowed to visit her ( Covid restrictions) but he has been the only one. We try not to think how long it's been between visits and just give thanks that she is being well cared for. She has a private phone in her room so that makes it easy to keep in touch.

They had a Flannelette Shirt Day a few weeks ago.....

I have no idea where this one came from....maybe Dennis!

I picked these hollyhock flowers for Viv.

She has been experimenting with dyeing and printing.

She used them, along with some rose petals and sour grass petals.

This is what she made for me using recycled silk and cotton fabric.

Such soft and pretty colours. Thanks Viv.

Something to put a smile on your face.

Bill tested the Comment section here for the July blog because a few people had said they couldn't seem to work out how to get it to work.

This is what he came up with.

You first have to log in to your google account.

If you don't have one, go to google.com.au and click on the sign in box at the top right hand corner of the screen.

The next box should have a " create account" link for you to follow.

Good Luck.. but don't feel obliged.

I have an Instagram account too. Posts on there are a bit more frequent than I blog! #frogpondfarm_countrygarden

Enjoy the days of spring to come everyone. 

Stay safe and well and Covid- free.

Hope you get to do a bit of gawking and gazing over the coming days.