rosy

it's funny how when i'm feeling tangled up in the messiness of life, i instinctively head outside to my garden. i dig dirt, i pull out weeds, i plant seeds or cuttings that have been waiting patiently for me, i admire the changes in the plants- who's flowering, who's growing, who's going to die of thirst soon if i don't give them some water. my garden is my own little world. its just me and them. i could, and sometimes do, lose myself out there for hours. and then i come back inside and whatever the drama was, it seems just a little more insignificant.

today i wandered around a nursery with Amelie. there were lots and lots of nice flowering plants. and some interesting herbs too. i oohed and aahhhed and could have taken many of those plants home with me, but in the end i came home with a rose bush.

funny i know. i never buy rose bushes. but this one, it smells like some heavenly place. oh my god. and its pink. and every time i look at it, it makes me smile. she was just what i needed. so i have planted it right near my front door. we will pass it at least twice a day, and hopefully after the smell of the manure i put around it dies down, we will smell those divine flowers. my farmer boy...he is another story! when i said excitedly...come and look at the present i brought myself today. he saw it and swore! not a flippin rose bush! he detests them! hahahaha....probably something to do with his childhood and the fact that his mum loves them and had magnificent gardens, with roses. but thats just my silly assumptions of course... and he doesn't like the thorns. but really. just don't touch them. instead close your eyes and inhale! and i also told him it's a reminder to stop and smell the roses. it already had him laughing, lovely rose bush!

i've also got some more bulbs for the kids to plant....they are loving the garden too. well the younger two are. it's autumn, she's so kind and mild and calls us to be outside. now if only the billions of flies would die.........

i highly recommend giving yourself a present. something you love. something that will make you smile.

x manda

oh gourd.

I have a gourd plant growing outside my kitchen window. It winds itself around anything within reach and is growing like a triffid. did that movie scare the pants off you too? Its giant leaves fill my kitchen window with green. I love it. especially with afternoon sun. I'm excited to see if we get gourds growing on it... and im wondering whether it grows and then dies or if its a permanent plant that is going to take over our house... annuals/perennials i never know which is which.

growing

planting trees makes me happy.
we planted this weekend : : :
nectarine < plum > almond < apples > apricot < cherry > and some crepe myrtles for their blossom :)
i can't wait for spring.
i do like the warm fires of winter. and the bare branches of the trees at night in the moonlight. i like having a burning hot water bottle on my feet in bed. and i like that i can drink hot coffees to make me feel warm. and i only take my ugg boots off to go to bed.. and to have a shower. i like that i can see the birds on the bare branches. and i like the warm sun with the frosty air.
but i look forward to spring and the sprouting it will bring.
imagine* a photo of my hyacinth bulb that is miraculously flowering after being in water for only a few weeks. not sure how that happened...magic on my kitchen windowsill.
you have to imagine because im out of time.
manda x

spring flowers

flowers picked from my garden for my mum. it was her 73rd birthday yesterday. she had 9 children and mothered another 4 little ones from my dads previous marriage. she really is an amazing lady. last night we went out and had a delicious dinner together. she really deserves all the magic and love in the world.

today im pottering around thinking i love saturdays. the kids and i decided that school should be two days a week and weekends five days. dont you think?

and today what is making me happy is the jacaranda and the silver princess that i planted awhile ago, that have both lost all their leaves and look like dead sticks, ....well i have been living in hope that they are just resting ....they have sprouted new little leaves. hooray for all the magic rain we have had.

theres a clearing sale in toolern vale tomorrow that im tempted to go to. last night i found a listing for the 600! lots that will be auctioned. could be fun.

i'll let you know what i find, if i go :-)

sunny days are here.
strawberries are growing.
3 0ut of 5 raspberries are growing.
blueberry is flowering but is bonsai size. thinking we may get 5 blueberries.
went to the park with kids and my mum.
i was in bad mood should have stayed home.
in the afternoon fixed my bad mood by talking to a nice boy and fixing a problem for farmer boy at the same time.
now im happy but doubting whether i really did fix the problem or did i just imagine it.
because if i did....i am awesome.
tonight thinking i will get takeaway thai because im happy.
and farmer boy will be outside until the moon is shining, making hay bales... or really they are little rectangles of cut grass wrapped up to make little sileage parcels. sound delicious dont they.
so the farm will soon go from being green to being the colour of straw. i like green.
two days before school holidays start. the kids stayed home today and are now pleading for the holidays to begin now.
im undecided. am i ready for them? they have so much energy. and its crazy energy.
we will go see ponyo on saturday. i hope we love it.
and then i will wear my yellow silk dress that i am scared to death is going to be eaten by wardrobe dwelling creatures...fat little caterpillars ewwww..... to an engagement party on saturday night.
i really like being able to have all the windows open in our house to let the spring air in.
and i called telstra to come fix our phone line. its near impossible to have conversations on it. and i need to have conversations.

garden and printing

nothing

this is maybe the 20th post ive written and then which i later backspace and delete the whole thing. so many things to say. but also nothing to say. because sometimes words dont work.
so lets just look at some photos from the last few days.

im planting a forest

yesterdays gardening has left my right arm so sore. so much digging and lifting. i planted mums new magnolia. and mowed her lawn which was probably guilt driven. somehow i got their old mower to work. i didnt do it in the neat rows like they do. im more of a freestylin' kind a gal. probably resulting in my mums horror when she sees it. at least she still has some grass will be my response.

her old salvaged magnolia , i took it home and it sat on the gravel for awhile.. . not knowing its destiny... then i knew where to plant it. it now lives near my dads apple tree in the backyard. my dads apple tree has never been happy where it is. now they are happy together. seriously. they are.

i also planted some birch trees which are a new found love of mine. my boy doesnt like the mess they leave behind..(virgo) ..but the kids love throwing the seeds at each other. (kids) today i went to the supermarket with birch seeds in my hair. (feral. a bit .) i know. or pretty?

annnd i planted a definitely pretty nectarine tree that is flowering in pink blossom with new fresh green shoots. it is beautiful. it minds my front gate entrance now. the bees love it and i love it each time i see it. trees. they give me energy.

and in the last few days, quite sneakily, our amazing wattle tree has burst into flower. im happy my sister will get to see it flowering this year. its very very beautiful. i think i will stick pieces in her hair. lots of them.

now if i could just work out how to find the pieces i need for a dress out of my new japanese pattern book, i would be able to sew the dress i want to sew. hmmm let me see how many days until my japanese interpreter aka sister arrives? um 9. how exciting.

just what i needed

my boy surprised me today with these, gently presented to me from behind his back. . .just when i was considering fleeing to nigeria. he pulls out something that couldnt be sweeter. (i wouldnt really flee to nigeria. ) ( india maybe!! ) he picked them from one of our paddocks and brought them home for me. a bunch of fairy wishes he said.

flowers save the day

little miss echinacea
pretty miss bottle brush
wow.
yet to bloom and cant remember her name right now. she will be pink and furry.
and my favourite, miss red velvet rose , from my girl Veda.

after talking to my sister. and whingeing my head off. because the world of people sucks, you know. she suggested i go outside, into my garden. i scoffed at the idea... for the garden is annoying me too. i need to mow the lawn. and couldnt be bothered.

but eventually i did. and i found a new button on our camera .. it stopped some of the blur i usually get in every second photo. how unbelievably amazing is that banksia flower.

hey baby

17 days i will be in japan. its lucky im so busy doing everything else that i dont have so much time to anticipate what might be. i guess that may be why im having weirdish dreams. i dont need to anticipate anyway...i know its gong to be an amazing time.. hanging out with my sister and her gorgeous sparkly daughter in tokyo :-) equals so. much . fun.

so in the mean time... the making has been in the garden. i have a new hate. irises. which kind of hurts to admit...because i do like purple irises in a vase, but cream irises in my garden, well they spread like .. butter? they often dont flower (from lack of water i guess) ..and make it near impossible for me to dig a hole where ive pulled them out becasue of their bulbish roots. god. i had a workout yesterday trying to plant my new (pink) magnolia. and this was at 7.30 am after i was awoken by my sweet (wet) amelie. lovely. in my bed. :-)

i went on a bit of a tree shopping binge (sorry melinda i know im meant to be saving for japan...) but buying trees doesnt feel like im buying for some reason. its more like adopting.

so i have two crepe myrtles a hot and pale pink, planted amongst some eucalypts...which is nice to have some colour there...they are looking very pretty with their frilly flowers dancing in the (wild) wind.

and ive got two giant ash? trees that will be brilliant red in autumn. these grow dinosaur size so they will be outside the fence line im thinking...wisely . often i dont think and just plant. which is not often a good thing to do.

and ive got a few beautiful natives like a banksia and protea and red devil.... and they are all flowering of course... i always buy flowering ones just to make sure they work, and at least i get to see them flower before they possibly die from my poor gardening skills .

so there went all my energy before midday.

but..in the afternoon i managed a new gocco print of baby babushkas. i wish i had some plain tops or some cottton or at least some nice card to print on.. instead i grabbed whatever paper or fabric i could find. . but.. i do like the print on this old floral fabric. im thinking it will become a bag soon. when i get out of the garden.

and to finish the day off we had jamie oliver oops i mean my little brother.. cooking tea on a fire outside. aaaaahhhhhh so nice.

too hot

i know i know..another flower photo. but magnoliaaaaaa how i love your flowers.
on monday i got the calling from the op shop.. come to me i have something for you. so i did come, with a heavy sleeping child in one arm, over my shoulder, and with the other hand i found this old patchwork quilt. nice. ..... im torn between chopping it up or not. it stays whole, for now .
there are some really nice old squares mixed with some old ugly squares, but together, piece by piece, somebody has hand made this quilt and i like that. . . but it makes it hard for me to chop it. i must be feeling sentimental. or mental . ?

february begins with...

outside and in

i planted a red flowering gum tree a few years ago. i didnt know if i would ever see it flower. red gum flowers are amongst my favourite. and then.. afew days ago my boy told me it has a flower. firstly i didnt believe him. and then i saw it. just one, perfect flower. against a bright blue sky.

and then tonight, he takes a photo and brings the camera for me to see. the sunflower i had just picked ( it was a small one...not one of my sunflower people)...well its leaves are magic.

my garden is keeping me from losing balance and falling over. . today i planted my gingko that has lived in a pot for many years. she looks very happy in her new home.

i got 6 metres of black cotton broderie anglaise type fabric today from the local farmers market. strange .. i know. for $6. perfect :-) i have a dress in my head that i want to make with it. if only there was a button i could press .........
and now it is holidays for the 5 of us this week. i wonder what we will get up to.

bits of this and that

such nice green i took the veda babushka gocco screen to some calico i had. now what will i do with them? i might first wash them and see whether they disappear ..or not. my little rainbow girl on a grey day.
the clearing sale on our farm this week.. look at the men.
strange creatures.

it is so addicitvely fun to burn rubbish..and wood..and anything else that

gets in your way .