As of today, there are no longer any children living in our home - we are all adults. Our youngest daughter Kati is now eighteen.I was talking with some friends recently - when we start having children, we're still young. We're then so busy and involved with raising children, that we don't really notice twenty years or so just flying by! All of a sudden (or so it seems) we're middle-aged.Well, eighteen years have certainly come and gone very quickly, and our baby (like her older sister Maddie) is now a lovely young woman. Happy birthday Kati - we're very proud of you!
Just to recap - 2 weeks ago.
1 week ago.
As of Friday.
Lars and his crew have worked a miracle in the backyard. We now have a spot for our outside table, plus a Pete's Veggie Patch-inspired set of four raised beds for growing vegetables. I got to work yesterday with newspaper, pea straw, soil, blood & bone plus some home-brewed compost and planted the first bed. I'm using this book as a guide for planting. So far I've planted a salad garden - lettuce, silverbeet, mizuna, mustard greens, spring onions and garlic.It's so nice to have a workable backyard again. I can almost see myself enjoying the long hot summer looming on the horizon. Oreo has found himself a new spot.
Of course, depending on the election result this may all be academic. If the Liberals win, we may just have to go and live in France....On a brighter note, here are some pretty things I found in the garden this morning.
Winter (or at least the season that passes for winter) is all too short in Perth. I look forward to it every year, but it really only lasts for two, maybe three months. This year, it's been quite cold but very dry. I'm really hoping that there is still more wintery weather (and lots of rain) on the horizon.
There are already definite signs of spring in our garden - the freesias are starting to flower and bees are buzzing around the viburnum bushes.
At this time of year, it's really very pleasant to drive along the highways and freeways in Perth where the median strips have been planted with Geraldton Wax. Although the foliage is insignificant, the pink and purple flowers in spring look very pretty. I have one Geraldton Wax bush in the front garden, and it's just lovely right now.
Lars the Landscaper (not his real name, but he is of Swedish extraction) has been busy in the backyard. The knee-high weeds have gone (hooray!) and yellow sand is being spread.
Our cat Oreo used to like hiding in the weeds - I'm not sure what he thinks of the sand, but he was assuming some very odd poses on it this morning!
No gardening this weekend - we took ourselves away to York. Apart from wanting to have a break, it was also a chance to test Smart on the open road. She acquitted herself very well indeed - the hills outside Perth weren't a problem, and getting up to 110kmh was a breeze. I even managed to overtake a few people!
York is a lovely old town - beautiful old heritage buildings and very pretty countryside. They wouldn't have us at this place - hmmm!
Instead, we stayed at the York. It's a grand old hotel which has been very nicely refurbished.
The York has a terrific restaurant - we had a truly wonderful meal there on Friday night, as well as breakfast both mornings. The breakfast is included in the price of the room, and has the be one of the most generous ones you'll get anywhere - and delicious!
There wasn't anything special on in York this weekend, which was great. We wandered up and down the main street and down to the river. We checked out a few op/junk/antique shops and Martin did some sketching.
We lazed around and watched mindless television. I read and knitted. We even managed an afternoon nap or two - I think the transition to old age will be a very smooth one!
This morning we tootled back to Perth (via Beverley - we somehow missed the turn-off to Perth!) All in all, a pretty well perfect weekend.
It seems that everywhere I look, I see weeds. The winter rain has made them sprout with glorious abundance.
The spot where our pool used to be now looks like this.
I don't know how many buckets of couch grass I've pulled out over the years, but it's still coming up where it shouldn't.
Because of my hippy (according to my daughters) views on herbicides, I can't bring myself to spray weeds. So that really only leaves pulling them out as a solution. I believe, or sincerely hope, that persistence will win out, and that the weeds will eventually just give up. Some weeds are really very pretty (and useful). We have hundreds of lupins coming up everywhere - I really don't know where they came from. Apart from the nitrogen-fixing function, they have lovely velvety leaves as well as the gorgeous blue flowers (still to come).
I can remember sitting on the grass during sport in primary school, drinking the sap from these flowers. I think they're called sour-sap, or something similar. Their flowers are such a bright cheerful yellow, it seems a shame to pull them out.
After reading The Wilderness Garden, I've adopted the Jackie French approach of throwing weeds on a pile where they can happily compost themselves. Perhaps this is why they come back so prolifically every year!
