Good News

Geoffrey rang this afternoon and said that Edna is doing very well and will come home from hospital on Monday. She is sleeping and eating well and walking around quite comfortably. She is happy in herself and pleased with how everything is going.

Thank you once again for your prayers and good wishes. It's wonderful to have this support around the world.

Update on Edna

I just rang my brother who spent 8 hours with Edna yesterday. He said that everything is going well, although she was a little depressed because she still felt tired and a bit weak. This was not unexpected as she has not been at all well for the past six months. However, all the 'vital signs' are good and she is out of bed and walking around and eating a little more. She may well be coming home at the weekend.

Once again, I deeply appreciate your prayers, support and good wishes from around the world. Thank you, thank you all.

Request for Prayer

My sister-in-law is to undergo open heart surgery at 8.00am tomorrow, Saturday (Eastern Australian Summer Time), which should take about 3 hours. Please, could I ask you to pray for Edna and her immediate family. Thank you so very much. I will keep you posted on her recovery.

Saturday Afternoon:
I have just spoken to Edna's daughter-in-law who said that the operation went well and doctors are very happy with the outcome.

Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. I really appreciated your support.

Stuart's Meme

Stuart has devised a new Garden Meme with a few tricky questions, and I've been tagged.

If I was only allowed to keep one plant in my garden which would it be?
I think it would be our Canadian Maple (October Glory). They are terribly easy to propogate from seed so, hopefully, within a few years I would have a veritable forest, beautifully green in the spring and summer, and a riot of red in the autumn.

If there was only one thing invented in the past 100 years that I was permitted to keep, what would it be?
This one is a bit tricky in that so many things rely on a whole range of others things in order to operate. My first thought was that I would keep my sewing machine, but then I would also need electricity to run it. Since starting blogging I may be inclined to say the computer so that I could keep in touch with blog friends, but again I would need electricity and telephone line. Probably a refrigerator would actually take precedence when it really came down to making a choice. If I could go back beyond 100 years I would suggest a good sharp knife and a never-ending box of matches.

Name 3 animals you saw yesterday (excluding cats and dogs).
Magpies, sheep and cows - none of them mine but I still enjoy seeing them.

Which season do you like the most?
Autumn, which is stunningly beautiful in Canberra and I also love the relief of cooler days after a long summer.

Name the person who inputed the most wisdom into your life?
I'm not sure that I have any wisdom, but if I do, then it was probably my mother. I may not have recognised it at the time but many of the things she said, in an almost offhand manner, have stayed with me to this day.

Predictably I will tag Tanya and ShellyC and Kerri.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ...

Tanya ...

... and Richard ...

... TODAY.

I hope you both have a wonderful day.

With lots of love from Frances/Mum/'Alice'

( Tanya is nursing (holding) Michelle's daughter, Zoe, about 5 years ago.)

HOMEWORK!

Further to Calidore's posting about homework, this item appeared in today's Canberra Times:

A new government school in Melbourne's south-west has banished traditional homework. The 820 students at Point Cook's Carranballac Prep to Year 9 College will be encouraged to spend more time with their families, playing board games, gardening and learning how to bake cakes and sew. College director Peter Kearney said it was "absolute rubbish" to give prep students daily homework, as recommended by the Education Department.

Do I hear a resounding three cheers for Mr Kearney?

At Day's End

What a colourful day it has been. It began with brightly coloured hot-air balloons, and ended with a glorious sunset.

Up, up and away ...

Canberra Week is held in March each year and one of the attractions is the hot air balloons. The cooler mornings are perfect for a 6.30am lift off, with anything up to 50 balloons all firing up on the lawns near Lake Burley Griffin. The two in the photos drifted by our place this morning, to the accompaniment of many barking dogs.













... and down.

Flickr and I are not Friends.

Can someone please tell me how to change the photos on my Flickr Badge without deleting them entirely from Flickr? I have deleted them as a Set but they still appear on the badge, to the exclusion of all other photos. Before I loaded those photos, I had two sets which intermingled on the badge, but it doesn't seem to work now.

Update:
Thank you Kerri and Calidore. I finished up reloading the photos just before I received Calidore's comment. I now seem to have copies of copies of copies everywhere. One day I'll actually clean it all up. I'm not sure why I keep them on the computer after I've loaded them to disc. I guess it's just the convenience.

The photos I have reloaded were taken on 29 October (mid Spring). The garden doesn't look quite like that now!!!

Goodbye Summer - Hello Autumn

Like most of us, the garden also gets a little tired of the heat towards the end of summer. It hasn't been as colourful this summer (I bowed to pressure and removed the centranthus/valerian which Richard hates with a passion - but it is colourful when nothing else is), but with slightly cooler weather heading our way (hopefully) everything should freshen up - even me!
Salvias

Salvias, miscanthus, fennel

Gaura

Gaura, helichrysum, camphor laurel, penstemons, miscanthus

Miscanthus sinensis

Pennisetium

Sedum, gaura, grass(?)

Dill seedheads, chinese lantern

Cherry tree (background)

White petunias, blue scaveola