Where is She Now?

Hopefully, she is now safe and well in a plane somewhere between Heathrow and Sydney, and due to arrive tomorrow morning. After more than 2 months in Amsterdam playing hockey, Sara is looking forward to some sunshine and spending Christmas with her family before returning to the Netherlands in late January.

Self-portrait Tuesday!

'Self portrait' at the end of a busy day .... but come to think of it, it must be a portrait of Richard since I didn't drink any of it... yet.

I Should be More Careful...

Yesterday seemed like a good day to deadhead the Arctotis in this garden and also trim it back off the footpath.

But by the end of the day .....














...... it looked like this!



















I trimmed along the footpath then started trimming at the back, followed by thinning out, thinking I would leave a few small clumps, but then "Why don't we try something different?" So the 'something different' is now new compost and mulch planted with white Petunias, yellow Nasturtiums and blue Convolvulus. The latter is expected to cover the area soon/eventually. There is still a large clump of the burgundy Arctotis at the far end of the garden.

Wildlife Sunday

Calls from Richard to "come and look at this and bring your camera" found the following inhabitants in the garden.

Frilled-necked lizard.














Two stick insects. They were on the jasmine, where they were in grave danger of being pruned by the secateurs as they blend in with dead twigs. The larger of the two would be about 30cm long.

Back Home Again.

A very enjoyable few days at the coast. Wet and very windy on Tuesday but fine on the other days. Visited the very impressive Eurobodalla Coast Botanic Gardens (3rd time this year). These gardens contain only plants native to a 200klm radius of the area and all work is carried out by volunteers. An absolute credit to all concerned.

A trip to the coast isn't complete for us without visiting two other small nurseries in the area. One of them, Trunketabella Gardens, has a rainforest garden and a variety of other gardens, including a pavillion often used for weddings. As this garden/nursery is located next to a creek and a large dam, a prerequisite is frequent dousings of insect repellant. Even then the mosquitoes will try and bite through your clothes. The Bodalla Nursery is quite small and well maintained and we always manage to find several plants that we absolutely cannot live without.

Had lunch on the beach at Tuross Heads and spent quite a while driving around this very picturesque town, and agonised about whether we should or shouldn't buy a house at the coast. Back home now so we can safely shelve that question until our next visit.

In five days how come our garden at home either grew so much, died down, blew over, or kept on flowering regardless of neglect. So much to deadhead, cut back, tidy up, pull out, replant, or just enjoy. We also enjoyed the actual drive to the coast as the countryside is the greenest we have seen it for many, many years.

Illawarra Flame Tree at Moruya.


Jacaranda at Tomakin.


Smoke Bush at Mossy Point.


Eurobodalla Coast Botanic Gardens





Trunketabella Gardens









Tuross Heads

This is the Life.

Thursday morning at Moruya Heads, on the south coast of New South Wales. Now someone had to take the photo that's why I'm not in the water...lol.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...


They're coming in...


...Caught one!

Oh, dear!!

Only five days away and now there are sooooo many blogs to read! Can't a girl have a rest? Looks like I'll be up all night just trying to catch up on what's happening in blogworld. Perhaps I'd better just read the postings and then come back to the comments later. Oh, dear me!!

Gone Fishin'

Leaving for the coast now - be back on Friday. Hope you all have a great week. To all those friends to whom I owe an email, I promise I'll write next week. Cheers to all. Alice.

Sunday Stroll

Icebergs.


'Peter Rabbit' Paradise.


Even vegie gardens can be decorative.


Pyrethrum


Cercis (Judas Tree) 'Forest Pansy' - only small, but pretty.


Smoke Bush, with Silver Elm behind and Chinese Tallowood and Claret Ash in the distance.


Cornflowers


Pyrethrum and larkspurs.


Front 'lawn' where the grass and weeds are gradually closing the gaps. Might leave the re-sow until autumn now.


Penstemon 'Midnight'


Lavatera