Stella's frangipani (a departed friend, whose cutting we cherish)
Hello new year! 2020. I didn't mean to be away this long, but life kind of happened. Like recovering from Christmas, then a stomach bug which took me and our youngest out, for a bit. In early January I pulled my trapezius muscle, from my neck all the way down to my shoulder blade. Typing was not an option. I'm much better now though, and both kids are at school for another year. So like our pink frangipani, life is just blooming along.
December 2019
Christmas was hectic, like legs on a millipede. Only because we were hosting and the millions of jobs it brings. We finally had a proper eating area outside. If only temporarily. The gazebo was taken down, before the second lot of rain moved in.
The first lot came on Christmas Eve. When we filled both our tanks again. How long has it been since that happened? It was so good to smell rain again! The kind that soaks the ground. We also breathed a sigh of relief, that we'd have plenty of water for our guests on Christmas. It was voted the best Christmas present, EVER!
January 2020
We were treated again, in the middle of January, with even more rain. Our gully finally flooded, for the first time in over two years! It was a minor event, but great to see water entering the heart of our landscape nonetheless. They're predicting even more rain coming. I'm hoping the gully will flood, good and proper this time.
For those who don't know why we would be so excited about flooding, it's an indicator of how hydrated our land will be. A fully flooded gully, more than once, tells me our land is going to be less fire prone. Especially, with all the ponds and swales we've put in, to hold the water back.
November 2019
Remember this dusty pond I updated about, last year? Well, it looks a lot different, after some rain...
January 2020
We still have more work to do on this area. Like remove more trees, dig some more dirt - you know how it goes! But I've also had my indoors plant collection, growing too. The sanctuary I created in the house, during the dry, did wonders for my itchy green fingers. I still fuss around them, every day, to make sure they have everything they need.
Something new
I put these floating shelves up before Christmas, for holding decorations. But I've always wanted to do something more with this blank wall, anyway. Because I hate wasting, good vertical space. After I took the decorations down in January, I decided to start displaying my plants and art. More has transformed this area, but I'll share further when done tinkering. Who knows when that will be?
A succulent, inspred by artist Georgia O'Keeffe
I've started painting again. Whate else, but plants of course. If you can't grow them in a dark corner of the house, why not add colour with paints instead. This particular painting, was part of an online course I completely recently. I've got more art stuff coming up, but probably won't share it here. I'll link to my art blog, or my facebook page, where I'm intending to set an art challenge, for myself.
Hoping to kick that off, by the end of the month. First comes a few home projects. The list is never ending.
Spoilt for choice
In the meantime, this slightly older Joey, is eating green grass for the first time. Great to see! The mower has been getting a good workout too. So has David. There's a chorus of mowers, regularly up the street now, as everyone attempts to tame the onslaught of grass. I think that's a good problem to have though. Lovely green grass.
Here's hoping the weather has been kind to you, and your region. I'm now off, to see what everyone in my blog list, has been up to! May the new year, be an enlightening one for you all.
You have been in my thoughts often, the silece had me hoping you were not caught up in the fires. Sp oleased to hear you had loads of rain, it's never enough, but as you say the ground will suck it up and water reserves underground will help everything grow. Love your plants inside, the numbers of my inside plants are going up, I love they are in fashion again, gives me more choice. Your artwork is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteHello M! You're the first commenter for the new year. I'm sorry to have left it so long before updating, re: the fire situation. We're good now the rain has drenched the ground. Summer is meant to be our monsoon season (usually) where we get inundated with rain and mud. I'm glad to see it back, after two years absence.
DeleteI went over to your blog recently, and admired all your lovely indoors plants. Collecting indoors plants, becomes quite the addiction. Along with collecting the various containers to display them in. Op shops are great for acquiring unique containers. :)
I'm thrilled to hear your rain news! What a blessing. I hope more is on the way for you. Lovely to see your baby pond.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you're better after a rough patch. Being sick or injured is no fun, especially with our lifestyle! You sound like you're feeling good and becoming creatively productive again.
And is that a TARDIS I see under your end table?????
HA! Good spotting Leigh. I'm impressed by your Whovian radar. Yes, that was a Christmas gift to my husband, from a relative of his. Many years ago now. He also acquired one (unknowingly) for our daughter, that same Christmas. So we now have two in the house! It's meant to be a DVD storage cabinet. My son however, stores some of his toy collection in the one in the picture. Our daughter stocks hers with gaming gear. Very handy little cabinets.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if I had one, it would be stocked with all my bulk, dry-herbs jars, lol. Thanks for thinking of us, and yep, looking forward to more rain on the way! :)
So pleased to hear you're OK. I've been wondering if you were either in the path of fires or torrential rain.....glad to see it's the latter and the swales and pools are filling. Isn't it lovely to see water in the landscape again? We've had good rains here too.....twice January's average for Melbourne and it's been very humid, which lessens my ever-present worries about fire. The 3 dry pools have filled again as has the tank, and (so far) only 2 days with the temp above 40, each one followed by a cool change so no extended heat and the house is able to cool down. Most of the plants made it through with only a few burnt tips.
ReplyDeleteI love the new bookshelves....great way to fill a blank wall and the plants look terrific. And good to see you're painting again. I just haven't had time for anything other than keeping the bush free of fire fuel, and after a day at that, I'm too tired to pick up a pencil or a paintbrush.
Took me a while to reply. Sorry Bev. Still having problems sitting at the computer for long. I appreciate you thinking of us, and we're so very grateful to have fallen outside the crossfire of both flood and fire. But to have received enough rainfall to hydrate the ground again, is delightful!
DeleteThanks for sharing your situation too. It's nice to hear you're tracking towards beneficial growth, in the landscape, despite some initial challenges. I was hoping the rains you had mentioned before Christmas, were holding in your landscape. So you wouldn't have a tinderbox, coming into summer. It's more drier in the south, traditionally, during that time. Although I think SA is testing the boundaries, with floods at the moment. Glad you're well and thanks for dropping in. :)
Chris, am pleased that you got rain too as it was patchy. We had a shower overnight and it is drizzling at the moment. I just hope our farmers are getting some rain too.
ReplyDeleteToowoomba was cooler and foggy in the morning, over the past few days. I even had to put a jacket on yesterday, when I ventured into town. Makes a lovely change. Glad you're getting a good drink out of this cloud cover too. I recorded 16mm in the rain guage, over the past 24 hours. So I imagine Toowoomba received a little more. I know predictions were this rain would reach some drought affected areas. So fingers crossed for farmers.
DeleteFantastic that ypu have received rain for your landscape and you! Your floating shelveslook great. I have been considering putting some up in our study. Where did you buy your shelves from? Meg
ReplyDeleteThanks Meg. I'm loving all this wet stuff at the moment. It's been several consecutive days of cloud cover, and intermittent rain. Beautiful! I actually found the floating shelves from Bunnings. Mine are 900cms. But you can also buy them in 600. The weight limit is 5kgs for both. So there are some restrictions on how much you can load them up with. It's working well for me though. :)
DeleteSorry, my mistake. That should be 900 millimetres. Not centimetres. :o
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