Christmas is coming

Some signs that Christmas isn't far -

From 2011-11-10

The West Australian Christmas Tree  near my work has been flowering for some time now. You don't see that many of these trees in suburbia. This is quite a small one, but I love seeing the yellow flowers against the blue sky when I walk back to work after my lunchtime shopping. It always reminds me of holidays by the beach.

From 2011-11-26

Everywhere you look, there are jacaranda trees in bloom. The flowers fall and leave gorgeous carpets of purple - the photo just doesn't do this one justice. I was very disappointed when my neighbours re-did their backyard and had a jacaranda removed. It used to look very pretty from my kitchen doors!

From 2011-11-27

And of course, agapanthus is flowering happily away everywhere. I do love the humble aggie.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet except send away for one book online. I gave up being organised about Christmas years ago - it seems to make the year go so quickly if you're buying Christmas presents in September. I suppose that I must start giving the whole thing some serious thought soon.

I watched Paul Keating being interviewed on Lateline on Wednesday night. How delightfully refreshing to see a politician (former in his case, I know) answering questions so intelligently and authoritatively. He even stops and thinks about his answers before speaking - something you don't see much anymore. Come back Paul - we miss you!

Some things which have pleased me lately

1. The weather - it's late October, and we've only had one hot day so far. There's also been lots of rain, which always makes me happy. The garden is looking great - I've even taken time to stop and photograph the roses.

From 2011-10-26

2. I saw Crazy Stupid Love a week or so ago. It was great fun, but how have I managed to not be aware of Ryan Gosling for all this time? I've since discovered this, which I think is just brilliant.

3. I'm reading A confederacy of dunces by John Kennedy Toole. What a mind-blowingly brilliant book. I can't come up with words to describe how good this is.

4. Gardeners are such inventive people! I've been reading a lot about productive gardens lately - I love this rooftop milk-crate farm in New York.

5. I know that Apple has some questionable business practices, but I'm a big fan of their various devices - I think their 1997 Think Different ad is one of the best pieces of advertising ever.

6. We went to see QI Live last week. The world would be a better place if Stephen Fry was in charge, in my view. 

7. The Occupy movement - it's very heartening to see people questioning  the rampant capitalism that's been a religion in some Western countries for way too long.

8. And finally, this gem. Not much more to be said, really!

There's lots to do in the garden at this time of year. Even more so in our garden, with wilderness areas to clear, and really tall weeds (some taller than me) to pull out.

I'm on a quest to find ways to eat broad beans. Ours have done really well this year. I was never a huge fan of broad beans until I grew my own and discovered how delicious they are if they're picked before they get too huge. Martin is still rather indifferent to the whole broad bean concept, so I'm trying to win him over. 

From 2011-10-02

Obviously the snails don't need to be won over!

More promising signs - the fig tree already has baby figs. I remember the label saying that this variety (Black Genoa) will fruit in early summer and then again in autumn. This is the first time this has happened, so this fig-lover is very happy...

From 2011-10-02

I've been enjoying this book and am now thinking about growing more edible plants in our front garden. We already have three small Kalamata olive trees out there, but I'd like to gradually replace some of the native plants with drought-tolerant productive plants. I've ordered a Natal plum and a caper bush from the Diggers Club - we'll see how they go.

If all the doom-predictors are right, backyard (and frontyard!) food production may be a small step to dealing with these problems. It makes me wonder what all the people living in McMansions which take up their entire block of land will do. Some of the houses which have gone up in our suburb in recent years are huge, with no garden to speak of at the front, and probably just a paved courtyard at the back. I was relieved to hear that the average size of the Australian house has now peaked and that the trend is for slightly smaller houses. Hopefully smaller cars, too!

Finally, some more pretty plants flowering right now...

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

September

I don't look forward to September - it signals the beginning of spring, which of course is usually just a brief prequel to another long hot summer. It also seems to me that once September has sprung, it's just a downhill rush to Christmas, and the end of another year. They pass far too quickly these days!

But even I must admit that spring is a lovely time of year in Perth. The nights are still pleasantly nippy, and the days are usually exceptionally clement, as Jeeves would say. And I really love seeing all the new flowers in the garden every day. Here are a few from this morning...

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

Unwinding

After a very busy time leading up to Children's Book Week last week (plus the week itself), I'm taking a week and a bit's break to recover.

My idea of unwinding is not to lie on a beach or by a pool, although that can be very nice, I'm sure. My idea of unwinding is to spend time pottering around the house and garden, doing whatever takes my fancy. It helps to have a list of projects to attack if motivated, and it's obligatory to have a large pile of books and magazines to get through.

So far, the week is shaping up well - I've done lots of gardening (mostly pulling out thousands of weeds which have sprouted luxuriantly after all the rain this winter).  I've also reclaimed a little more of the wilderness beyond the veggie garden and used up some leftover pavers to make a little stepping-stone path which I plan to surround with thyme, mint and various other low-maintenance herbs and flowers. Yes I know, there's a long way to go!

From 2011-08-31

I've also re-invented our coffee table (pine, with a yellowy varnish which was looking really tired). I've used Volvox enamel paint and varnish - I can't stop raving about this paint! No fumes, water-based and it dries in an unrealistically quick time - I used to say that I'd never paint anything again, but since I discovered this paint, I keep looking for things I can give a new lease of life.

From 2011-08-31

As far as reading goes, I've been enjoying Julia Stuart's The Matchmaker of Perigord (very funny) and Edmund De Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes, which is so beautifully written and a fascinating story. Next on the list, a little more Scandi-noir.

Finally, more garden photos. Spring is definitely on its way - I love wandering around the garden in the morning, seeing what's flowering - not the broccoli yet, unfortunately...

From 2011-08-31

From 2011-08-31

From 2011-08-31

From 2011-08-31

Late winter in the garden

It's been a funny year so far (aren't they all funny years really?) - after a very dry winter last year and a really long hot summer, the fairly reasonable quantities of rain we've had so far this winter seem to be confusing the plants in our garden.

I haven't pruned all the roses yet because some of them were still flowering beautifully. The wisteria has only just finished dropping its leaves when most years its already thinking about sending out tiny new ones around this time. Some of our daffodils have flowered already while others (the same variety) are still a long way from doing so. But the orange tree thinks it's spring already - I'm sure it doesn't normally have blossoms before October!

Anyway, here are some late-winter pictures from the garden - to be savoured when the inevitable long hot summer returns.

From 2011-08-13

From 2011-08-13

From 2011-08-13

From 2011-08-13

From 2011-07-23

From 2011-07-23

From 2011-07-27

Wednesday

It's my day off, and it's raining outside. I've lost my voice - the combination of a throaty virus thing plus two hours of library school holiday activities at work yesterday. I've been trying to think of significant things to write about and have come up with nothing. So here are a whole lot of trivial things which have been occupying me of late :


I've just been watching Durham County (Series 1) with Maddie - what a great show. One more episode to go.

From 2011-07-16

I have succumbed to the lure of the e-book/magazine. While I don't think they'll ever replace the real thing, they're certainly very good fun. Especially when free - thank you Open Library.

I'm very much relishing the much-deserved troubles visited upon the Murdoch empire. Rupert really does look more like Mr Burns every day. I love this photo!

From 2011-07-16

Outside in the very wet garden, wintery things are happening. Mushrooms are sprouting

From 2011-07-16

< Rocket is growing everywhere

From 2011-07-16

and the nasturtiums are taking over.

From 2011-07-16

Our cat Oreo continues to amuse us. As Maddie said when I showed her this photo, "best $25 we ever spent!"

From 2011-06-11

Raining

It's raining outside, which is wonderful. We've had quite a bit of rain in the last few weeks, so all the weeds have sprouted with a vengeance.

Last week I went to Bunbury with Annette and Maddie to see my mum. We took her for her swim at Koombana Bay. It was really cold and windy - here is our 91 year old mother in the (freezing cold) water. You can just make her out in the distance. Needless to say, neither her daughters nor her grand-daughter ventured anywhere near the water!

Back on the subject of gardening - I really need to do a lot of work with the veggie garden beds - dying basil to pull out, seeds to plants, as well as the aforementioned weeds to pull out. I pulled out the rest of the beetroot this morning, and have a spicy beetroot soup bubbling away in the slow cooker. I'm trying to emulate a spectacularly wonderful soup I once had at this restaurant in Melbourne. The beetroot is from a punnet of Digger's Club heirloom seedlings. Who knew beetroot came in so many lovely colours?

It's stopped raining for now - I should get out there and do SOMETHING. But I'm sure there are lots more grey clouds looming. A cup of tea and a good book sounds like a much better proposition...

Another week

What I've been up to in the last week -

I've been to the football! Yes, me, at a football match! Martin & I were invited to last Sunday's Eagles versus some other team at Subiaco Oval. I managed to grasp that the basic plan is to get the ball to one end of the oval and then kick a goal, but some of the finer points totally eluded me. There seemed to be random cheers and roars from the crowd for no apparent reason. Still, the atmos was great, and so was the food & wine. Here are some photos just to prove that I'm not making this up.









We celebrated Martin's birthday on Wednesday. We had a very pleasant lunch and then went to the movies. (Potiche - silly, but very enjoyable.) There was, as usual, tiramisu for dessert.

My shoulder is still not completely better, so I haven't done a great deal of housey/gardeny stuff. Still, I have planted broccoli, carrots, peas, broad beans and cauliflower. Just in time for the promised rain - winter is finally on its way and not a moment too soon!

Finally, here's something great I found featuring the lovely Old Spice guy. There's also this one - both have been widely appreciated at work!

Plan B

I've taken a week off work - the plan was to paint the kitchen, do lots of gardening, reorganise everything...

Anyway, I've managed to injure my shoulder somehow, so it's a case of the best-laid plans, etc etc. So apart from some gardening done with Martin's help, I haven't managed any of the planned projects. Instead I've been reading, playing scrabble, watching movies and generally mooching around. I've also managed to knit a little more of the Debbie Bliss cricket sweater - what's a little shoulder pain when there's time for knitting?





A little enforced slothfulness is a wonderful thing.

Home again

Annette, Arabella, Maddie and I are back home again. We left Prague on Wednesday, and arrived back in Perth on Thursday night. (We won't talk of the 5-hour stopover in Dubai.) Susan and Fred went on to Vienna for a few days - they should be on their way back now. Kati flew to England (she had an invitation to the royal wedding, but declined), and will be back in two weeks.





It was a wonderful trip. I loved each and every city we visited - they were all very different, and I'd really like to visit each of them again. So thank you, Maddie, Kati, Annette, Arabella, Susan and Fred - for making it such a great holiday!

Prague

The final city on our tour - and a lovely way finish our holiday. It's no secret that Prague is a really beautiful city - it's often referred to as a "petit Paris".

There are some amazing old buildings and mazes of winding cobblestoned streets.

We saw the astronomical clock

and walked across the Charles Bridge and took in the breathtakingly beautiful vistas of the city.

We visited the John Lennon wall - some of us made a few additions!

After a restoring lunch, we visited the Estates Theatre, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni.

After that, it was a visit to the Palladium Shopping Centre - just like any shopping centre anywhere in the world, unfortunately.

Like all of the cities we've visited, there's far more to see in Prague than we've had time for. Maybe next time?