gardening

remember this ?

same picture

 part of my front yard is under construction, with the cosmos being removed & seeds being planted of zinnias & silverbeet, parsley & alyssum & violets, hoping they will all come up. the silverbeet i'm planting about 6 at a time, as soon as they come up up i'll plant another 6, etc, have 5 different varieties! reds, rainbows & greens.

this actually looks awesome in life, camera isn't doing it justice here

 this duranta is in need of a good pruning, but it's as bright as the sunshine, pity i couldn't get it to show in the photo, it is also covered in flowers again with lots of insects humming around them

Bromeliad logs

this is the bromeliad & logs that i would like to extend & make bigger, might even try to put a shallow dish here for water (short version of a bird bath) for the critters. will post pictures when i do more to it, there are still some cosmos near here that need to be pulled out & a few plants pruned (African daisys for one) 

white grevillea  has just started flowering

last but not least this flowering beauty is down the back near the chook shed on my west side, the trees here have all been in close to 2 years now & the last lot of rains have really given them all a good boost for growing as they have all literally doubled in size since xmas & they are all looking really good.

just a few works in progress from my garden.


thanx for visiting

on the weekend

had a wonderful weekend with my eldest girl coming up saturday arvo & staying over, we chatted about all things homey & frugal & also about her new salon, she will become her own boss! more on that another time. 
i gave her, her crochet books i had purchased from amazon, she was absolutely thrilled! seeing the look on her face was priceless! like a toddler at xmas. forgot all about taking photos, darn!
i made a variation on anzac bikkies, muffins with no sugar, golden syrup or wheat. DD liked them also. even though they got a little scorched, my oven sometimes cooks hot, they were still delicious. 

managed to get a bit of knitting done before DD came up, halfway round my YDs collar for her cardigan.

getting the collar done

 the cardigan is almost done, just one sleeve to sew in & the collar to finish & sew in as well. 

first sleeve has been sewn in

front bands are also done, the colour has gone an awful wash out here

should be finished this week with any luck & hopefully the buttons will have arrived also. will post photos when it's all put together.

                                  *        *        *       *        *

we had some much needed rain on the weekend with thunderstorms saturday night. sunday it rained too, my neighbour must be kicking himself right now, as he has a new tank but didn't get it hooked up before he went away for the weekend. was watching him earlier sorting his down pipes out & putting them up.
a sun shower has just started as i finish this post

well i hope everyone had a pleasant weekend

thanx for visiting

short lists ...

the toilet is now clean, not as good a job as i did on the bathroom as i soon discovered i was extremely tired about 10mins into the work but i got it done non the less, ceiling, walls, cistern & bowl are now clean. had to stop frequently as i think i put a little too much of the oxi bleach in the pot   >..<
tomorrow i think i will just sweep the floors & finish washing the pile of clothes & manchester that was clean a few months back (winter garments) they all just need the dust washed off. (not a lot of storage here). then i might treat myself to a spot of gardening.
next week or this, i need to work out some form of 'routine' for my cleaning, have never worked to a routine but would like to try this time round. will have to rustle up those PDFs i got from the DTE simple living forums & write my 'work list' out, this isn't going to be easy as i've always just gone with how i feel & what i 'feel' like cleaning but seeing as i have barely done any in the last few years i think a list might be a good idea, any ideas are very welcome too.

thanx for visiting

routine for cleaning or not ... ?

not one who puts thoughts to paper very often, so it is for this blog as well, many write about their passions, i don't seem to have any one passion, or rather i'm not passionate about any one thing, there's no 'to die for' item/s or crafts. i like a variety of things. so, there is no description for my blog, there might be one day in the future but not today. it's just plain old simple. it was started as a learning curve about blogging as i've never done one before.

                                     * * * * * * * * * * * * *

getting it back to a routine

i've gotten out of the habit of routinely 'cleaning' my house, it's been this way for many years now, probably the same year i became ill with the depression (about 2006) i did less & less. sure, the dishes got washed, food was cooked, benches were cleaned, bathroom wiped down & floors swept but no major cleaning was done. while the kids still lived here it was 'cleaned' but never thoroughly, the breeze blows & the house fills up with dust, fur, leaves, usually straight after sweeping...
i've become worse with my cleaning since being on my own, just couldn't be bothered with it, didn't need it, it will still be there tomorrow & as we all know 'tomorrow' never comes. well, on the weekend i declared, 'enough is enough selina' time to get back into a routine of cleaning, starting on monday (today) i would do the bathroom & the toilet.
well, woke up late, still with the mindset of cleaning the bathroom & toilet (this is good) when i was making brekkie my sister text & wanted to Skype, (okay there's goes my cleaning) so we chatted for a couple of hours, while chatting i did manage to do a few loads of washing.
well, after getting off skype i decided i still wanted to clean the bathroom, so i put some hot water in tub & threw in a spot of bleach (vanish oxi bleach) & got the dust pan brush, cause i don't own a scrubbing brush, first with the broom i brushed down all the walls, too many cobwebs & spiders. then i scrubbed the lot, from the walls to the skirting boards & the door & frame, took over 3 hours scrubbing & still didn't look very clean! we have hard water here & get calcium build up on the walls, this does not scrub off, i started scraping it with a knife but i think if i keep up with doing a clean once a week i might just get it all off by the end of the year! honestly, i'd rather be knitting or gardening but seriously my poor house needs some TLC from me & i have to start somewhere... 
have been reading jennys' blog & like her idea of 'gentle domesticity' thought i might give it a go & start with just one or two rooms at a time & slowly just bring it all back gradually, if i try to go all out & do all of it i will lose interest again & nothing will get done. the bathroom was all i could manage today, when i went to put everything back in, i did notice it was cleaner & it did look much better too! that made me feel good. not sure when i will tackle the toilet, was thinking i'd do it tomorrow but will be out at my market gardens for most of the morning, perhaps i will wait & see how i feel when i get home.

sorry to bore you all with my cleaning inability but i just had to write it down somewhere & i will probably bore you all with the next room on the agenda too cheers 

Purple Moon

thanx for visiting

bugga

you ever have one of those days when things don't quite go right or you feel off all day? my day wasn't totally off til after lunch, am trying to remove the grass with the mozzies & wasps help, they are a definite hindrance, so i give up go inside to make a cup of tea, put phone on table & next minute i'm looking at a pile of broken china on my floor.
i stand there just staring at it, with a wave of emotions welling up but still just standing there staring at the broken teapot

it was a beaut little 2 cup pot

thought i was going to cry, i stood there looking at this mess for a good 5 mins at least, i must have barely touched it as i didn't remember touching it but there it was on the floor, in pieces. bugga.

finally got myself out of the stupor & went grabbed the dustpan & broom & swept it up then piled it neatly & took this shot, thinking that i didn't want to throw it away, so...
i went looking for more teapots to replace it with & found these two

these were brought out & washed

the little star one has better pouring abilities, so the other one went into the cupboard for now, am enjoying a nice cup of tea finally.
i even washed up the broken pieces thinking i can find a use for them, who knows, i've seen broken china used for all sorts of things, just can't think of any right at this moment.

hope you all have had a good week


thanx for visiting 

R.I.P. B.B.

for the 22nd February 2015

B.B. sleeping on a hot afternoon 2014/15

it's been a week & one day since i buried my little friend, she went downhill extremely fast late saturday arvo, & i knew her time had come to leave me/us. by 8pm she was down & never got up again, her breathing shallow & her eyes had glazed over but she kept breathing, & really thought she would pass any minute, i was teary eyed by this time. between 10 & 10:30pm she was throwing up blood & passing it at the other end too. rang the vets but there was nothing they could do, they couldn't get here, (gympie was cut off) she said it sounded like she was hemorrhaging & to make her comfortable, as that was all i could do, i was a mess, am thankful vets are so understanding, she spoke to me for over half an hour. 
i cleaned up some of the mess though i was having trouble seeing, put a towel over her as she had started shivering, it was like she had already gone in spirit but her body was hanging on, so i went & showered, then checked her & went to bed & cried myself to sleep.
when i woke i seemed to be still crying, was feeling so heavy, went out to check on B.B. & hoped she had passed away & she had, must've been soon after i went to bed. i sobbed, spent longer than i needed on the loo, as i was crying so hard even the old man came in meowing his compassion to me, which was so unlike him, made me cry even more. 
i was a total wreck, fed the cats then went out to start digging a hole, thought it might be nice to bury her next to Teddy, who we lost some years ago to snake bite, she mourned him every year. 
the damned hole kept filling up with water, tried several times to dig it out but it kept filling up, that had me sobbing hard all over again.
my daughter rang me, (had sent a text to the kids letting them know she had passed away earlier) i was sobbing, it was hard to hide as i was on my way inside, she made me promise to ring a friend to help dig the hole, i didn't want to as have had him help with all the dogs here but had to admit to myself i just couldn't do it on my own, probably take me a month of sundays & in the meantime poor B.B. would be decomposing in my lounge room! so, i did ring him & he came over, he bought the 2 young chooks i bought off him over as well, we put them down in the chook shed in the cage i had set up for them, silver lace wyandottes(will post about them later). then i found a spot on the western side where my row of trees are, had lost a tree there & the hole didn't fill up with water. he had a crowbar so that made it a lot quicker to dig. 
i said my goodbyes again, (cried) wrapped her up in her old towel mats, then we buried her. 
i decided to put a jacaranda on her. then we came inside & i made a pot of tea.

  R.I.P.  B.B. 15yrs old    2000 - 22/2/2015

so, have been very sad this past week, barely been on the computer, my eyes are sore & dry from so much crying but i think i'm OKAY now, still get a little teary even though there isn't any tears anymore. 

have been knitting most of the week, it seems so soothing, have almost completed the sleeves on my daughters cardigan, it will be finished soon.



hope everyone had a good weekend


thanx for visiting