How beautiful I thought….browsing some blogs recently I Stumbled upon an old world style drawing or painting of a Rose which made my heart sing.
Can you imagine its scent…I can!

A visiting reader to the above made this comment…

“this wild roses image is the Alberta Rose. It was adopted by the province of Alberta as their flower emblem in 1930 and is still today. They start blooming in May and will bloom till August and have a wonderful soft scent ..

This particular native Rose is quite interesting as the Rose hips were used by the natives in their natural remedies

Can’t you just imagine this rambling old style Rose growing freely, tangled in the hedge rows and undergrowth.
In meadows, fields, mountains and forests.

A Google search for information about the Alberta Rose funnily enough led me to comments and photos left on Tripadvisor by travellers to the Canadian Provinces

~*~

Then I thought a bit deeper and remembered.

The Rose if left untended produce seed pods called Rose Hips.

From there my thoughts went wild in many tangents…and this was going to be a brief post just about a beautiful drawing!

Rose hips are full of Vitamin C being prized by Herbalists and Naturalists.

A quote from Chemist warehouse catalogue online

“RoseHip is known to be one of nature’s richest sources of
vitamin C and has been used for countless generations in
European herbal medicine for the relief of joint pain arthritis and rheumatism…”

Rose hip is infused in oil too as a very expensive under eye ointment which I recall from many years ago.

I would not be surprised if doTERRA oils uses it too in its specialized pure blends.

Thereby hangs the tale of the Alberta Rose
found at The Graphics Fairy Clip Art

Joining I Blog on Tuesdays

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.

“>

The beginning…

Recently I came across a link for a dream laundry.
It isn’t posh, instead, it is quite simple and streamlined.

Something to spur me on with our laundry.

In the beginning…

Out with the dead chest freezer languishing in the Laundry

Hooray we have a council Clean up…quick, what else can we find to fill that precious 3Mx1Mx1M area!

Our spacious laundry had multiple shelving in various sizes and randomly attached to the walls with Ramjet hooks by the previous owners.

Doing some Google research I thought I knew it all to remove those metal thingit studs. Finding instead that they create an ugly big mangled hole in the wall!

So a halt in the proceedings until one of our friends who is a great handyman can remove all those painful pieces of metal and plaster them up for us.

A collection of shelves

Most of the shelves removed

Look closely and find the mangled hole in the plasterboard above the PowerPoint

Needs replacing. We need a small shelf and then hooks below it

So….watch this space for our budget clean up.

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