New House - New Life

I have been surprised at how quickly we have settled into our new home.  It is as if we have always lived here.

It is only 20 minutes from our previous home so we are still in the same general area but this is much more suburban compared to the bushland we were living in.

In practical terms this house is not as big as our previous one but it is spacious and well designed.  There are no stairs and the block of land is flat. 

We were on a quiet windy little road before and now we are on a main road with school buses passing by morning and afternoon.

We had possums and tall trees and mostly indigenous plants in our garden.

There were lots of beautiful birds too.

Our new garden is well established with lots of flowers and green lawns.

Fruit trees and bulbs.

I spend a lot of time outside in the garden.

I do love our new home.

Bugs and roses

 Today Ally (my granddaughter) and I went to the Mornington Botanical Rose Gardens for a bit of photo therapy.  

We have had a lot of rain and cold weather lately and a lot of the roses are showing signs of damage.  

 

There are also plenty of bugs around.

The  roses are still beautiful though.

We are really lucky to have these gardens so close to our home.

Amazing Cactus

 These are some of the cactus on display at Garden World.

There is a huge display which attracts visitors from all over the country.

These are such strange plants.

They seem prehistoric.

kookaburra in the garden

Today this young kookaburra
came to visit.  There were two of them flying around in the garden behind us and were being harassed by the magpies and noisy minas.  I am not sure what they were looking for but they didn't have a chance to settle.  Anyway I went outside to try to take a photo and one of the kookaburras landed on the veranda just above me.  It seemed to be quite a young bird and stayed still long enough to have its photo taken.  We often hear these iconic Australian birds in the early morning and at dusk but they are well camouflaged.  It is a real privilege to see them up close.

Garden World

 Yesterday I went to one of the biggest garden centres in the area.  
Garden World at Braeside is divided into several individual areas: there are of course the usual garden plants,  an irrigation 

centre where you can buy water tanks, irrigation systems etc, there is a small hydroponics area, collectors corner which has a wonderful display of cactus, orchids and other exotic plants. 
While I was there  I took lots of photos and so
today I will include some pics of my favourite corners.

My favourite section is the water garden area.  This has recently been refurbished, with new displays and a large fish pond outside.  I could spend hours wandering around there, looking at the fish and the plants in the ponds as well as enjoying the sounds of the fountains and waterfalls.

It was quite sunny so the reflections are really spectacular.

 I will show you some of the orchids and cacti in the coming days.




I hope you have enjoyed this little tour.

gardening days

 We are making good progress with the new sections of the garden.  This first picture shows little shrubs; westringia, correa, native mint, grevilleas.  They are tiny now but by the time the spring arrives they will be lovely. 

 The fish pond is in position now, we just need to do some landscaping and planting around it and then we will be able to plant some water lillies and add the fish.


I have the pump, the lights, and everything else needed to finish off the project.

 This is the garden which is right at the back of the garden.  More Westringias and other favourite plants including the Gordonia which is in flower.

 Our neighbours over the back and across had some of their trees removed and this large one was trimmed and cleaned up a bit.  I am so pleased they didn't take it all down.

Can you see the man in the tree?  He is up really high and well secured with ropes and harnesses.

You can see from this last pic that the tree towers over the house, it is three storeys high and you can just see the top of the roof and if you look carefully you can see the tree man up on the branch. 


There are some jobs you just wouldn't want to do.

images and imagination

This image is quite strange 
and mysterious.  I did have fun with this one.






 

As our disappointing summer comes to an end I thought I would take a few photos of the garden

The garden has lapped up all that extra rain and I must admit it has made gardening easier.

A few more really hot days would have been welcome though.

yesterday was particularly gloomy and grey as you can see by the picture to the left here.  

We often see the planes practicing their formation flying before special events or  air shows in the city.

 You can see the planes in these two photos - and in the one above you can see the  helicopter behind them.  I am not sure why the helicopter was there but it was interesting.

Oh and here is another one of our garden.

Busy days and a short month

I have been doing some babysitting for my neighbours lately: they have 5 month old twins as well as a 5 year old.  I pop in next door while mummy does the school run in the morning and afternoon.
This has given me the opportunity to work on some hand stitching and also to catch up on reading some books: there is always something to learn about stitching and related activities.  I hope to be able to tell you about one or two books I have recently bought:  I should have a little time to write a more detailed post during the weekend.

ARAWATA

The Christmas socialising continues:  today we visited some friends who recently moved onto a small rural property.

They have a lovely home on about four & a half acres:  Arawata is about one and a half hour's drive east of our home - in East Gippsland. 

The country-side is beautiful, with rolling hills, lush grass and cattle grazing.

It is an area that produces quite a lot of milk and associated dairy products.

Our friends have a couple of chickens and also allow their neighbours the use of the paddocks for grazing.  The gardens around the house are lovely, featuring kangaroo paws, and lots of other shrubs.


This is one area of Australia which has not suffered from the recent drought or the current floods.  


So many lovely places to visit:  I hope you enjoy these pics.

The Visit continued

 We are still on holidays and are back in Tweed Heads in norther New South Wales now.  
I have taken more photos than I can manage at present but I will include some each day if I think they are interesting enough.  
The plant featured here is a frangipani, a very popular plant in the places we visited.  Anyway I wonder if anyone can see the frog in this pic.   

I don't know the name of this plant but perhaps Laurel will let us know.  It is a really pretty little plant with gorgeous shades of blue.

The house and the formal garden are surrounded by tall eaucalypts and they form a truly Australian backdrop.  They also provide shelter to many birds and animals and tiny wildflowers.


Laurel & Neal have put in many hours of work building up the poor soil and creating wonderful areas of plantings.
I can tell that this is a labour of love and that although it is beautiful now, there is plenty more planned for the future.
The house is also a delight to see.  The verandas provide shelter from the heat and the interior is very inviting with lots of Laurel's needlework on display.
Sadly by the time I went inside my camera decided not to co-0perate so i can only show a couple of examples of her work.  I am sure you will agree it is beautiful.

Later I will share some more photos of our trip to Noosaville which is a little further north on the Sunshine coast of Queensland.

sunday already

 I have just a minute to write a few words: yesterday we visited our friends Laurel & Neal at their beautiful home.  they made us so welcome and we had lots to look at: their garden is so fantastic and the morning tea was excellent.

I will write a little more after lunch. 

THANKSGIVING

Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia I do think it is a wonderful opportunity to count our blessings and meditate upon the good things in our lives.  So much of life consists of bad news and challenges.

 In this wonderful age of the world wide web we are able to share and keep in touch with like minded people throughout the world.  Through the internet I have made some wonderful friends.
For that I am thankful.

We live in a country that is relatively peaceful, prosperous and beautiful.
For that I am thankful.

 I have great friends, neighbours,  daughters, grandchildren and of course my husband.
For that I am thankful.

There is so much to be thankful for and while we are on holiday I am taking time to think on these things.


I have added some pics I have taken during the past couple of  days.  The plants here are big and bright and beautiful.


This morning I swam in the surf at Greenmount beach. It is so beautiful to feel the power of the sea and to taste the salt.  I could have stayed there all day: there is something about the sea that always makes me feel joyful.


Tomorrow we set off for Noosaville: bringing father-in-law with us.  We will stop on the way to see some friends for morning tea and to catch up with chatter and take a look at their beautiful garden.  It is a about 3 hours driving altogether and we have a lovely new ford hire car to travel in.

I had better stop writing and organize myself for the trip.