A chilly start to the day this morning seen in my Beanie wearing husband as he went off to do an installation for Care Alert.

For myself I rugged up in a fleece jacket, checked Google Maps directions to pick up two child’s Booster Seats.
The local Buy, Sell and Swap Facebook site is marvellous for all sorts of great bargains at a fraction of the price.
Not current style but still with all the safety features like side impact protection and extendable height headrest with lock.

Having purchased my seats I decided to drive past Bunnings as I was in the area thereby saving myself another trip for buying potting mix which will be needed later.

Thus I found my treasure trove free for the picking , actually snapping.

Everywhere I turned plants, leaves, blooms glistened in the morning sun with sparkling refractions from the still present heavy morning Dew. It was like being let free in a candy store…which way shall I turn first.

The heavy-headed large Pansy flowers like the drunken butterflies in their silken Kimono robes but frozen in flight
Variegated elegant leaves of the Cyclamen like lily pads
Cyclamen flowers in all shapes showing off a promise of more to come

Dianthus miniature Carnations with a perfect spherical glass like orb at its centre
Indian and tropical inspired miniature Bougainvillea with its veined coloured leaf flowers inviting the passer-by to purchase…but not at that price…ahem… $39.-

So passed a pleasant and refreshing time amongst nature free for all to see if they choose….and yes I did buy potting mix plus four big punnets of Heartsease marked down to .50 cents. bARGAIN!

Another treasure found today was to visit and share some time with the little Grandsons, especially for Grandpa as he sometimes misses out when he is busy.
So whilst he admired origami paper planes of all shapes and sizes which the boys proudly showed off I swapped some plants around in to different pots.
Free
Enjoyable
Precious

The day is as you make it.

For us it was a Treasure Trove.

Living in the moment.The ever changing scenes of a week gone.
A Diary of sorts

31 May being the last day of Autumn.
Remnants of Roses. A fleeting glimpse of Summer gone.

1 June the first day of Winter.
Braving the cold wind in the garden

2 June
Mending day with 60 year old faithful

3 June Saturday
Grey skies so I always go looking for colour in the garden

4 June. Sunday
Sharing Birthday lunch with family and friends.
Boys…Friends and cousins showing off their trampoline skills
Then hurrying off to fish in the dam over the hill

Driving home through the always beautiful countryside.
Worrombi and Cobbity- my favourites
Observing the low sun created shadows as it hastes to bed amongst the hills


5 June Monday
Taking deep into the soul brilliant blue skies and warm hued Autumn leaves
Finding sunny nooks amongst Winter shadows for a slow morning tea
Sitting in a warm sunroom before dusk approaches
Seeing a molten gold sun slip silently behind the western hills

6 June Tuesday
A mending, bed linen washing, soup making kind of day.
Starting off clear and windy for line drying but changing to cold and wet. Needing a cheerful fire and happy flowers kind of day recently enjoyed at our friends home.

7 June
My beloveds birthday
Wet and cold. Double bar gas heating start to damp morning
Boys in school uniforms to be picked up
Happy birthday to be sung to grandpa….we love our grandchildren. Big and small.

I love these sorts of weeks
The plain, the mundane, the grey, the ordinary mixed with the extraordinary
Find exquisite beauty where you can
However small or humble

Linking up with What Joy is mine

31 May, Autumn 2017, Australia.

The sun is shining its last golden rays.
Beams angling through the neighbouring trees.

Ripening Lemon crop illuminated on escaping skywards tree.

Our neighbour is ageing and not permitted to climb ladders anymore so the tree grows and grows. Certainly careful consideration needs to be undertaken as we age when gardening.

We don’t bounce like a child anymore.

Instead we creak a little or a lot.

Lemon fresh from the farm

The distant mountain range with its accentuated high points…Mount this and Mount that- I can never remember their names! I just know that they are part of the Blue Mountains and my eyes are constantly drawn to them.

So defined, clear and blue today in the cold crisp breeze.

Not Winter cold yet though.

*****

I am sitting in our Sunroom with large windows which in these cooler months is beautifully warm and light….only in the afternoon though when the sun shines. Then we open the connecting door and let the heat warm the Family room too.
The reverse in Summer though. Pleasant in the morning but once the sun peeks in there we close the door.

*****

How swiftly darkness has descended.
As I type by the light of my iPad I can feel the chill starting to creep through my jumper…time to leave this magic room and close the door into the house and turn the gas heater on low.

Winter is on its way

Walking past the Grandchildrens play area I ready the house for days closing. I peek out the windows for one last glance and see the twinkling lights on everywhere in the distance. All the way up the hill and moving as cars wend their way home in the darkness.

*****

It is mesmerising watching the sky changing as it prepares for night….colour, brightness, dazzling touches, brilliance….
Then plainness as the light show disappears and is gone abruptly.

Sunset over Largs Bay , South Australia

Sunset and Moon rise

Is it morning yet!

*****

The heater’s warmth has created a light beautiful Rose perfume. Some end of season roses stolen from my garden.
It was a hard choice. Leave the roses on the languishing bushes for a bit of colour or bring them into the kitchen to enjoy!

My Roses last lingering scented gift of colour

Whilst I sit here in comfort I know my man is sitting out the peak hour traffic somewhere till it thins out and he will wend his own way home.

*****

Are there not many blessings and comforts in life?

I rang my dear mother in another State to keep her company over her evening meal.

As we chatted about the nice warm heaters and warming blankets over her oil heater for the coming nights rest she commented how blessed we are…down the road there is probably a person saying “oh how cold it is, and how can I keep warm”

Everything is at our fingertips.
So easy.

May we never forget our blessings.

Autumn leaves in Wagga Wagga N.S.W.

“>

Memories of a recent school run whence I picked up and drove home two of our grandsons

Question – Bailey, are there puddles at school after all the rain?

Answer – Yes, a big one on the Basketball court. But last week is was REALLY BIG!

Question – Bailey can you climb into your car seat without stepping in this big river of water in the gutter?

Answer – Look Grandma, as he carefully dips the toe of his shoe in the water…the water goes around my shoe.

Boys and water are attracting poles on magnets.

Boys of all sizes loving the Beach!

~*~

So on we drive through the country

“Grandma, did you know it isn’t Summer anymore?

It is”. ..pause…

I help with the starting syllable, Au…

“AUTUMN” is the response

“I have to look at our house for the coloured leaves ” was the wise comment from Mr5yr old who has just started school.

~*~

Having completed my grandma love errand and remembering Bailey’s words I then made this observation.

It being March 2nd, the leaves on the Manchurian Pear trees not two minutes from our house are changing colour to the brightest red and falling.
What beauty surrounds us if we can but see it

We had heat wave maybe a week past then cool change.
Presently sunshine, grey skies, rain and humidity

Poor nature is so confused

Lawns are growing so lush and fast they look to be on steroids.

Maybe the rain will ease enough for the lawn mowers to go out to work…it has been very quiet on that front in the neighbourhood!

A note for hubby. Buy fuel for the mower before the can is empty and lawns are humungeous . He discovered this for himself having gotten changed into gardening attire ready for action.

But a feast for the eyes is the greenness everywhere on hills which would normally be brown.

A benefit too is the fact that there is no need to water the garden…the postman delivered our latest water bill …need I say more?

Even though our Australian summer was very hot and dry I could not starve the garden. I love being out there too much.

Thankful for our beautiful surroundings which creates food for the soul.

Joining Our World Tuesday

Look no further!
Go visit your local nursery for a free lift of spirits

Free you say!

Yes definitely because no money changed hands.

By letting my mind be refreshed and calmed on a hot hot day under the misting sprinkler.

I remembered …
Lavender cutting/slips growing under some greenery
Hibiscus cuttings/slips slowly growing roots in a glass jar
Red trumpet creeping vine cutting/slip started in a pot
Big Red geranium growing lushly from a cutting/slip

It was a stepping back in time of how old gardens were created.
Networking and sharing.

How to best utilise what I have at home in the garden…..just a moving round and swapping positions. Or repotting with large recycled pots from the neighbour’s hard rubbish clean out.

There was no instant gratification costing $$, just some methodical or random planning and a little patience.

Have you ever done this?

Blessed

Joining Through the Garden Gate

Joining Frontier Dreams

Happenings in the space of an hour

Plan to go out to run some errands

Discover it is raining a little but we head out anyway

Follow the iPhone Maps App lady’s voice to the recycling facility

Told, Oh sorry, we don’t collect these things.
You will have to wait for your Council Dangerous Goods Clean up day.

Hmmm…Council HAD advised us that the recyclers would take our old Fluero tubes

Note that now I have muddy shoes so place a large Aldi shopping bag on the car floor to rest my feet on

Stop at the Woolies shop because we are driving past. Might see if there are any reduced price goodies….found a few

Push shopping trolley and prepare to return to car…it’s raining properly now

Wait under cover til rain eases somewhat and discover a spider dropping down on a very fast and long web just where we are about to step. I try to swat it with the small rolled up shopping docket and step on it.

Hear Hubby’s comment, you missed the spider and it’s racing back up to the high ceiling…it was a plump red back spider .

Note to self. Keep an eye out for that rouge spider.

Load the car with rain dripping down our necks. Quickly slamming down the boot/trunk as we had forgotten we had fragile recycles in there.

Errand list remains very incomplete

But our Senses were rewarded

Extreme summer heat of yesterday and the days before
When all that the lawns wanted was water
So I gave them water

Today the air
Super charged with Ozone from the Thunder and Lightning

Hypnotic rhythmic rain gurgling down the drain pipes
Hills and mountains shrouded in secrecy by rain clouds

Our own Coffee Club enjoyed in the back verandah
Crackers and cheese and comfortable chairs
Savouring too the abounding greenery lit by that special light during rain

Then stillness as the rain passes and leaves droop silently
Not a movement
Silent

Now I can hear our clock ticking the seconds away

The birds too gradually come out celebrating a refreshed day

So too the garden
It breathes deeply

We see
But what do we see?

Take a moment, be kind to yourself

Impressions from my sister in law.
Memories of 1978.

#farmergetsawife
Agriculturalists gets a wife
City bride new to the country
City spouse new to the country
City girl marries her farmer
City miss weds her rancher

All of the above are depending on from where you live in this world.
Different expressions….same meaning

“I married my beloved farmer or rancher as the Americans say. A young lady who lived nowhere near the country but by the sea. Near Semaphore in Adelaide, South Australia.

Well all this came to nought. No happy catch up time. No time for chit chat.

Country life line

Rather, a call had been received from my parents in law asking that we return to the farm property immediately for my husband to help with the grain cleaning. In those days you needed to wait having made a booking for a man to go to your property or ranch on a set day to do this job …well that time slot had come early!

There was no new bride to be carried over the threshold. I ventured into our stone cottage myself.

But I love our life here. Over the years we’ve lived in a few different houses. First was that stone cottage.

Cycles of family life.

Alexa back here again.
Our cycles of life
The years roll by
Silently but ever moving

Our family visiting the Farm

Now I must search out that pastie recipe from an old school book when we did Home Economics at High School. My sister in law bakes an awesome one.
Best eaten on a cold day which is the opposite to what we have here presently in Australia. Summer heat waves. Yet I guess you could eat it with a salad.
I think I will wait though so that the oven does not over heat the already warm house.

What a pity I did not keep my copy when I culled all my books during our recent move. The modern copy is rather pricey now.
Live and learn.

Recipe of pasty…….
Page 7 of 8
“Cookery the Australian Way” 50 some years old and still serving and teaching our young.

Memories are the threads of life
A tapestry in the making

On the first day of August
Which now seems light years away

It being the last month of official Winter in Australia.

I was wishfully speeding the approaching Spring on
to valiantly burst out of Winter’s very tight coat

Apple blossom finally bursting from its tight winter coat now in October

So,

I took a stroll with one of the grandsons
A quick walk before the early winter darkness encroached
Because little boys need to wind down for sleep soon

Hand in hand for a run up the winding path to our little park

Quickly a swing, a slide and another swing

See the street lights are flickering on
Time to run back

But wait, what a find

Usually all finds end up in little hands

Look at this leaf

It is mine

I carefully hold it by the stalk
and selfishly do not give it to my little companion

It is mine

Much too precious to share
Brim full of the essence of life

Then that very night
Photographed under mean kitchen lights
A fluke of a picture

The rivers of life
Days and nights of weather encapsulated in one single leaf
Alone on the path

Leaf

“I study the leaf veins
they are little streams of life
yearning for the sun
static trees stand sentinel
watching our brief lives go by ” A Poem by Andy Brookes

I sit here now enjoying the afternoon sunshine after this mornings grey gloominess.

The Simple Life.
So easy to find.

May your week be Blessed

#messageinaleaf #momentintime #whatdoyousee #considerthelilly

Preparing for evening

Today the sun does shine beautifully here in Sydney.
Contrast to yesterday when the same sun was out but the wind nearly blew one over. Even sitting here in the kitchen I could hear the wind gusts roaring through some tall gum trees at a park over the road.

I know in some parts of Australia we are expected to receive some bad weather today with flooding that has already been going on for days with its associated heartache.

Considering the wind yesterday we caught a brief lull and managed a quick game of “Rugby” in the back yard with young grandsons. Let’s tackle grandma was the call to which I replied and acted, let’s TICKLE you!

Lucky that they are still only five and under. There will come a time when it’s time to stand at the sidelines and direct!

The sun with its awakening rays bring weeds and flowers alive together in abundance.

Joy for the soul at the mass of riotous colour from easy to grow Nasturtiums, hardy Calendulas, bright Geraniums and tough Heartsease.

Raised Garden

Easy to grow but patience required during the long dark days of winter with Roses in hibernation.
Note to self – plant some of the above earlier and and do an extra later planting too. I’ve had to prune some of the nasturtiums back a bit today….no pain no gain

As we have only been in this house for three seasons next year I will know how this garden grows and flowers. I am really hoping the Figaro Dahlias come back again from their corms as they were brilliant last year. I was able to cut them back twice and got Dahlias on Steroids as my daughter called them

Calendula and Heartsease

Heartsease thriftily divided , one nice plant into four and then again as they grew
Calendulas price slashed and nursed along from sad straggly seedlings. These are tough. It’s the first time that I have grown these.
Nasturtiums were grown from seeds
Geraniums from cuttings. As they grow I take more cuttings from the “Mother Bush”.
“Big Red” a much appreciated gorgeous potted geranium left behind by the previous owner. Fabulous for colour in the drab of Winter

Hedge Trimmer at work

The warmth brings the hedges out of their slow and dormant growth. Time for a green haircut by my man and his garden toys.

So too does the warmth bring out our little grandsons when visiting. They love to poke, prod, dig, cut and chop in the garden all under the supervision of either myself or grandpa dear.

We did miss them though with their chatter when we attended to some gardening chores last weekend.

“Chicken Heads”

The easiest of craft activities if little hands become tired of wearing disposable gloves just like Grandma for digging.
Fill them with soil instead and get Grandma to tie a knot. Instant chickens that do not need feeding.

Now the afternoon sun causes the kitchen to glow as it illuminates and makes the yellow Nasturtiums appear translucent in their vase on the window ledge. These are complimented beyond the window by the golden hedge on our boundary and a golden tree in its Spring coat.

Did I say that I love Spring!

Hope you all have a good day.
Find something to lift your spirit even if only briefly.
Pause a while.

Sun soaked Orange Blossom’s sweet perfume

What do you see
Your first impression
When you compare

First fleeting impressions hit the eye immediately.

How plain
How happy
How tall she walks
How sad they look
How harried they appear
How naughty that child

Wow, beautiful or handsome
Wish I had some of that

But that is only an impression
Not the true picture

Yet rarely do we say anything of people’s character
That they have a generous spirit
Are kind or thoughtful
You child are trying so very hard

These thoughts arose after looking through some photos I took recently of what at first may appear as junk, old, obsolete or old-fashioned….

“A gift to myself”
A visit to the country
Spending time to wander round
In quietness observe with a different eye
Sights and impressions not noticed in an everyday rush

The very first morning I hurried outside to make the most of beautiful weather not knowing what the morrow would bring.
I needed to savour these delights.

As the days continued I found more treasures to lift my soul.
Sights unseen on the ordinary day

Colours, combinations, textures, shapes, shades, forms, sharp, soft, lofty or insignificant.

Images of time
Of labour
Of life
Past

Yet in essence they were rusted drums, old tanks, fencing wire, peeling paint, weary old stone cottage with its silent walls and long gone school children and families.

It presented me with beauty, character and charm in a palette of rich colours.

Then as I attempted to choose which photos to use I observed another layer of impressions.

How many lessons taught to bring education to children in this cottage school house

How many throats cooled and thirsts quenched from the now empty and old, rusted rain water tanks.

How many Kilo-meters or miles of fencing put up over the years and repaired again and again

Those drums asked how many machines were serviced to provide food and sustenance for this and other households over the decades

How many litres or gallons of diesel used over the decades to to run a farm

These shutters spoke of shelter from the rain or cooling relief from breezes.

Old door
Battered door knob,
Big key hole for long shafted key
Sturdy lock standing the test of time

How many bodies have brushed through this door
Slowly and carefully carrying a heavy load
Or rushing headlong as children do with much banging
How much joy or sadness entered these doors
Now stealthily visited by critters

How many different views through this now empty window

If walls could talk

Look around you, what do you see. More than skin deep. See depth. A multi layered depth.

What story do you see around you, yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Till later

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