Waiting for the rain

It's been so hot here - not even officially summer yet, and we've had several days in the high thirties. Yesterday it was very cloudy and it drizzled a little. We've been promised a storm today - it looks hopeful so far.

Other news :

Kati is flying home from Melbourne right now, having purchased 29 dresses!

Maddie is working hard on her thesis, looking forward to a trip to New York in January. (I can't believe she gets to see it before I do - I have wanted to go there for so long!)

I went with my sister Annette to see the Peggy Guggenheim exhibition at the Art Gallery. One of the high points was hearing a teacher explaining a Jackson Pollock to a group of kids who I swear were pre-schoolers - "...now this is abstract expressionism, children!"



There's lots happening in the garden - I'm still enjoying the roses.

We have something of a glut of peas at the moment. Some I planted, others came up by themselves from the pea-straw I used to make the garden beds. The tomatoes are also looking promising.



We're off now to see one of my all-time favourite movies - The Maltese Falcon. As it should be seen - in a cinema, on film, with all the crackly bits. Aaah, Humphrey!

Adelaide

Martin and I went to Adelaide last week. We left on Wednesday - it was threatening to be in the mid-thirties in Perth. In Adelaide it was 15 degrees!

We had a great stay. Martin was at a conference so I mooched around the city solo on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. I wandered around very happily, taking in the Rundle Mall, the Art Gallery, the State Library, the Torrens River and the Central Markets. The Art Gallery is a delight - I especially enjoyed the little Bloomsbury section. On Friday a friend of Martin's took us on a drive to the Adelaide Hills, Glenelg (the marching band was just for us of course), and then on to the stately homes of North Adelaide.





We enjoyed some wonderful meals - a very meaty one at an Argentinian restaurant, Swiss food at Alphutte's and Coffin Bay oysters & South Australian whiting (yum!) at a seafood cafe on Gouger Street.


On Saturday, we flew home. Just in time for the Alliance Francaise quiz night. For the second year in a row, our table came second (losing by just one point). L'annee prochaine, nous allons gagner!

Albertine

Just when I've decided that Rose X is my favourite, another one starts flowering and grabs the title. My Albertine rose is in bloom again - it only flowers once a year, so it's easy to forget about it.

I bought this rose in Coles about fifteen years ago, when they still had a nursery section. It has been moved around the garden a number of times - I've nearly killed it at least twice. It finally got moved to the right spot (next to our old gazebo), and immediately began to flourish (and flower). Now that the gazebo is no longer with us, I've had to chop the bush back to a shrubby shape as there isn't anything to support it. One day I'll get a rose bower built, so that Albertine and the nearby Sparrieshoop can ramble away to their hearts' content.

Anyway here it is in all its blowsy glory - I think it's worth waiting a year for these flowers!

Misc

I paid a visit to the local swapmeet this morning. I really could have spent hundreds of dollars if I had been so inclined - there was so much good stuff today. Everyone must be spring-cleaning!

This cute little bird-house caught my eye.

The seller also had a great old trunk which I was very tempted to get, but it wouldn't have fitted into my Smart car. (This is, in fact, generally a very good thing - curbing the inevitable impulse purchase!) Later, having had time to mull it over, I dispatched Maddie and Martin to see if it was still there. They returned with the trunk, and a parking fine! So here it is - rather more expensive than expected, but I love it.

I have been having a bit of a clean-up at work. I found a pile of tatty old de-commissioned picture books. I've had a great time this weekend cutting them up to make bunting for the children's area of the library.

I've also brought home some stray volumes from a superceded edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet....any ideas, Judy?

Rosy

These roses have been moved around my garden many times - I could never get them to do much. There's a Sparrieshoop, Buff Beauty, Oklahoma and one or two whose names I can't recall. I think they've finally settled in - they look just beautiful now.

Wednesday is my day off - it's just started pouring. A perfect day!

Overgrown

Our front garden is a little overgrown. A few years ago we decided to get rid of the existing plantings - the grass would never grow because of two large trees, and it was using a lot of water. We hired a landscape designer to design a garden which would get by with little or no watering. The resulting garden has evolved a little in five years - it is mostly native plants, plus some drought-tolerant exotics. As someone who has always preferred exotic, cottage-garden type plants, I'm surprised how much I've come to love natives.

For the first two years, I watered the garden 2 or 3 times a week in summer. Some plants didn't survive, so I replaced them with others. The garden really started to take off when we mulched it. Most of the garden now survives on watering no more than once a fortnight, and only in the height of summer. One side of the garden gets no watering at all, other than rainfall. It will be interesting to see how it all goes this summer, after such a dry winter.

Some of my plant choices were probably not the wisest in terms of general maintenance. I have five native wedding bush plants - who knew that these grow so quickly and to such an enormous size? (Probably those who do their research properly, unlike moi.) They do look stunning when they're in flower and have a lovely perfume, but they need to be pruned very regularly or they just take over.

Yesterday, I went to work with my shears and did some cutting back/trimming/tidying. The garden still looks overgrown...but I think I like it that way.

There's not a terrible lot that's been happening here.

Gardenwise, I have now planted the last of my four raised beds. It doesn't look like there's much planted - it's mostly seeds. There are several tomato varieties, zucchini and yellow squash. The other beds are going, as the picture shows, gangbusters.

I love the garden in October - everything is flowering, including the roses. Delicious smells are wafting as one walks around - wisteria, citrus blossoms, lavender and the lovely native wedding bush. Everything is looking rather schmick (a word used by my deck guy which I rather like).

I had a very good day in the op-shops in Fremantle yesterday. Although not in the league of some uber-opshoppers, I occasionally find some good stuff. Yesterday I bought FIVE pieces of clothing from one rack at the Anglicare Op-Shop - a black Sportscraft jumper, a Country Road cardigan, a long white beachy tunic/top, a great skirt and a fabulous black Jag jacket. All of these were on the "designer" rack, and therefore not exactly amazing bargains. I don't dare say how much I paid, as certain uber-opshoppers would no doubt scoff! I also found a book about Muhammad Ali which Martin actually did not already have in his very comprehensive collection.

The annual council bulk-rubbish collection is happening again. I have very fond memories of driving around with my sister Annette some years ago, loading up the car with good stuff other people were throwing away - I believe "gleaning" is the correct expression. We both still have lots of the things we picked up then. As I've driven past the piles of discarded stuff in the last few days, I keep my eyes peeled for anything promising, but it seems to be mostly old computers, barbecues and broken chairs. Why doesn't anyone throw away lovely rusty old garden furniture? Something like this will do!