Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2012

Today: the day that was...


Today was one of those busy days where I simply didn't have time to stop and think. I got to work and ran and ran and ran. People to see, emails weren't sending externally, clients were unwell and needed urgent attention, tensions were increased all around. Lunch was a sneaky half packed of raspberry flavoured m&ms I really should have shared, with a banana scoffed down as a second thought. But when life gets like this, you just get through - don't you.

Running, huffing and complaining don't help. Snapping at a colleague is unhelpful also. Stressing about emails - why bother?

What does help? What was my life line today?

Only answering the phone calls coming in if paged to do so. Or during a designated half hour time frame twice during the day.

Eating those m&ms and enjoying them.

Getting a job application in and feeling proud!

Cycling home at a leisurely pace.

Playing netball and whipping our opponents.

Having the fella make a stellar healthy dinner of chicken soft tacos.

Watering my garden, taking time to smell the tomatoes and zucchinis.

Gosh, if only all challenges were so easily solved. If only all days were fixable! But tomorrow is a new day, more work to be done, feeling calm and having space to have another dose of perspective.

Speaking of perspective - what a view? Using a super ap which knits together images to create panoramas, this phone is sunset over the beautiful country side of Scone in rural NSW. We travelled to the area for a friend's wedding, and had the absolute privilege of staying on the bride's family farm overnight. Their property looking out over the hills, the sun was setting and the sky was fluid, mesmerising and seemingly untouchable. What a beautiful end to a day.

Hope your day has ended well, perhaps with a cup of tea (or gin and tonic).

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Musings...




Loving: riding my push bike, getting my lunch daily from pickings in the garden, using the fella's mac, holidays at the beach
Making: a Thomas the Tank Engine knitted jumper for a stellar nephew
Drinking: english breakfast tea with milk and half a vanilla sugar
Wearing: clothes for the hot Melbs weather, and my lovely new Gorman sandals
Hearing: the chooks brood in the backyard
Doing: job applications - looking at applying for a senior job
Enjoying: the Australian Open
Sweating: not the small stuff! Rather on my daily bike ride in the super lovely summer weather
Anticipating: the end of my current read - 1Q84 by Murakami
Wishing: for more time to craft

How about you?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Cozies completed...

Knitting is winding up. Getting a little sick of the tea cozie. More just needing new projects. So I've been cooking and enacting my domestic goddess skills - sour dough bread, olives soaking in brine, hot cross buns. And planting in pots on the balcony - sweet peas, lovely tasty peas and some spring onions. It has been really thrilling to see the shoots pop up a week after the seeds were sown. I find it so encouraging and a little touch of a miracle to see the plants growing. Give it a few weeks and we will be eating freshly grown spring onion tops - a.k.a garlic chives. Then a few months more and we will have peas! What amazing things can be grown in a pot with regular watering and a little sun shine.

Here is the final lot of current cozies... But perhaps I still have two more to make. One for the sister-in-law's birthday, the other for maybe a birthday for a particular bloke. And there is a sweet pattern of a mushroom covered cozie. I'd love one of those for me!

Maybe these finished projects will encourage me, and you too.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Lemon delights...

With the amazing weather in Victoria recently, I think my lemon tree has grown overnight! Hurrah! I was quite apprehensive about buy the tree. After all, the poor thing would have to live in a pot and be exposed to endless exhaust fumes from a busy road. I also worried about the amount of sunlight it would receive, and whether its owners would be consistent in giving it some regular water and fertiliser. But oh, how I love lemons. Lemon butter, lemon slice, lemon cake, chicken and lemon, lemon in guacamole, in a white lady (that refreshingly sour cocktail), roasted with root veggies... Oh, I could go on.
No fruit so far, but new shoots which make me smile. Yep, those little redish brown shoots are new growth! They are my lemon tree getting bigger. I'm thrilled, and very surprised that it has not died. Any tips around growing successful lemons would be much appreciated.
A little tree dweller.
By the by, how sweet are these little biscuits? Ikea had some gems of cookie cutters, and who could resist a squirrel biscuit with a cup of tea? Or fantastic Mr Fox even? Perhaps iced in vibrant orange with a chocolate sprinkle tail...

Friday, July 3, 2009

Saturday business

Today was a to-do day: clean the car parking space, go to the tip, have sushi for lunch with a friend, finished off some swaps, get enough sleep, wash the clothes, pack the dishwasher of hand wash the dirty dishes...

Some of these things go done. I went to the tip and discovered the tip shop. So exciting. I've been checking out the many before and after shots on the design sponge website, and felt so inspired to salvage something and repurpose it. Alas, not today. We currently don't have the space to work on big projects, and I just couldn't choose what to rescue. There was an appealing telescope that tempted me. As did some bronze light fittings. I found what could have been a perfect sewing chair, and a sewing/craft storage system. There were too many possibilities... The most exciting thing though was the free plant I picked up from the item disposal bins. In saying that it was free, I then went to the hardware store and spent almost $50 on a perfect pot and premium potting mix. Perhaps it was a more costly outing than I anticipated! At least the plant was free.

Today the weather is perfect in Darwin. I was perusing my photos, attempting to create space on the lappie and found this beautiful image. It would be perfect in Darwin - if only you could swim in the ocean. Oh well, Melbourne boatsheds and Darwin dreaming...

Happy weekend