Sunday in the garden

It's only a few days away from spring, and time to get back in the garden. It's all mad planning and planting and digging around this place. The fact that the local nursery had a big sale on this weekend also helped inspire us to get out there.



After doing his last spraying of the nectarine tree for leaf curl the Mister discovered this spiderweb, all pretty and sparkly from the blue spray.



I had to dig out all my old strawberry plants from one of the wine barrels a couple of weeks ago as they were finally slowing down after years of solid production, and the barrel was infested with cooch grass and lilac suckers. I've replaced them with a different type of strawberry (and I've improved the soil and removed the weeds) , and I'll be interested to see how it goes.



And for the first time ever, I remembered to build a supporting structure for the snow peas before they were planted. Let's hope our local possum doesn't take a liking to my little pea seedlings tonight, as I totally forgot to protect them with wire netting. Whoopsie.

After all our little jobs in the garden were done, we popped over to our friends' place up the road to have some morning tea and "inspect the property" (as we say around these parts).



Bindi the dog is auditioning to be Australia's next top model. She's just so beautiful and she loves the camera (and the camera loves her!)



Magnolia stellata. I think I want one of my own. But where to put it?



I've never been attracted too much to Euphorbia before, but I may have changed my mind after seeing Susan's.



This is Susan's Pieris japonica. We have a few of the cream form at our place but they are nowhere near as old or majestic as Susan's. I'm looking forward to ours growing more and flowering as spectacularly as this one.



These are the chooks. They used to roam free around the garden until a fox attacked them. So the three that survived are safely behind chicken wire. I long to have chooks but I'm losing that battle with the other gardener in this place. Some excuse about responsibility and barely remembering to feed ourselves at times, let alone living animals, apparently. He may have a point.

Seeing gardens like these, and constantly planning our own makes me so glad that we made the big step four years ago to own a bigger block of land so we could have a garden. We spend so much time out in it and it gives us so much joy and back pain. Oops - did I say that? But seriously, I'm looking forward to spending time outside over the next few months, feeling the soil in my hands and picking lots of produce for the kitchen. Just so long as those allergy shots work.

My creative space - waiting

Half past eight in the morning. I'm dressed and ready for work, but I'm also waiting for the electrician to turn up and determine cause of death of the 34 year old creative space in my kitchen - my stove top and oven. Nothing else to do except crochet some of my latest shawl (my tenth!) at the kitchen table until he arrives.

The good news is that the oven has been brought back to life with some nifty work on the circuit board, and the stove will have it's two blown elements fixed by the end of the week. And here I was thinking it was terminal. So relieved, as I haven't been able to cook since last Friday and I was more than a little lost!

Kirsty has all (and I mean ALL) the creative spaces in the world at her place.

My creative space - recycled

Most of my creative space at the moment seems to be on Flickr, where I am still busy downloading photos from my trip to Central Australia. But since I've been back I haven't enjoyed being on the computer too much, so I've been spending time planning and making a new cardigan.



You may recognise the yarn. Yes, it's from this.



I decided I couldn't, and didn't want to fix it. So I ripped out the yarn I could salvage. I found a better cardigan pattern, made from the top down, and I'm happy with it so far. It's fairly slow going, but for someone who has recently made nine shawls in five months, and seven beanies in a fortnight, it's the perfect project.

And speaking of crochet, head over to Kirsty the crochet queen for more fabulous spaces!

Desert songs

My trip to Central Australia was wonderful, heartbreaking, beautiful, harsh, and astounding. Even after a week of being back, I still haven't found the words to describe my experiences because they are in my heart and head, and I don't think it's anything I can, or will, be able to share with anyone who wasn't there with me anytime soon. Instead I'll let my photos tell some of the story.

We based ourselves in Alice Springs but by day two of our trip, my friend Helen and I were at Uluru.





On day three we embarked on an OMG O'clock sunrise walk of Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas). It was warmer than we were expecting - t-shirts and shorts, not thermals and polartec jackets.





We never got sick of seeing red sand.



Or spinifex, for that matter.



I'm a bit of a nerdy geographer, and Central Australia provided lots to be fascinated about. All that rock and sand and the birds and the plants, oh-my-giddy-aunt, the plants. On the fourth day I walked along the creek at Kings Canyon to see things from down below, while Helen walked up on the rim to see things from up above. One day I may have to compare the photos we both took in a post. If you too are a nerdy geographer, you will love them as much as I do. But in the meantime you just have my photos.



There was a massive storm passing overhead while I waited for Helen to return from her walk.



We went back to Alice Springs and met up with our friends Susan and Julie, as well as Anne and Barbara and Colleen and a few other surprise friends we knew from Fiji, in Todd Mall. As you do.

And then we drive out to Ross River for a few days of singing in the desert. Except it was green and a little bit rainy, and finally, cold. With about 90 of our newest friends, we sang in one of the most amazing places on earth - Trephina Gorge. Afterwards we took our shoes off and waded up the gorge. Getting frozen feet was totally worth it.







There was a gobsmackingly beautiful sunrise back at Ross River.



And when the singing was all over we danced a crazy dance, even though were were really, really sad to be leaving.



We headed back into Alice Springs and I unexpectedly ran into extended family in the hotel. As you do. Amongst many other things we did while back in Alice Springs, Helen, Julie, Susan and I checked out Desert Park where we happily spent 6 hours there photographing, walking and being constantly amazing by the birds, plants and views of the West Macdonnell Ranges.





And then it was time to come home. The End. Or is it? I'm already my planning my next trip ...