A lot about a lot.

 

 

A friend's road in New York state

It's planning time.

 Planning a road trip to Melbourne that may be happening within the month and that means......warm clothes.      Now, where I live in Australia there is not a huge call for heavy duty warm clothes at all.
  I have some cardigans and a couple of jackets that are sufficient.   These damn clothes won't wear out!
I can't justify giving them away and buying new because I am the Queen of Frugal.  So, year after year I'm in the same ole same ole stuff.     Lucky I'm into the age on invisibility so it doesn't matter what I wear.  Well..... unless it is some gorgeous outlandish, beautifully bright gear.   I used to love my 'hippie' days.  * big sigh*

In the meantime life has been interesting.  Catching up with friends over coffee.   Some eating out has been done too.      Seeing long lost relatives.     Nursing a new baby.   Love a baby as long as it's not my responsibility and  thank god that can't happen any more.    Walking and exploring along our creek bank where there are interesting rock formations.  Two totally different types of rock are set as though in their molten time they were poured out of a few different containers and flowed in stripes.   I've never seen this any where else and I have been a rock hopper/ looker for years!  

Picking roses, picking fruit and not doing a lot  in the garden.  Buying a new battery for my car 3 days after we had to replace the battery in the old Toyota Landcruiser!    Not bad prices at $147 and $135.   We could not be bothered shopping around as we get all our tyre work done there and he doesn't even charge half the time for the ride on mower tyre patches or little jobs.  We appreciate that.

Visited my mother and discovered after her being there since December 2010 that they have a HAPPY HOUR once a fortnight!!!!!  Wine, beer and a cupcake paper with nibbles.  Who'd have thought?  I love it. 

  But, afterwards I had to quietly point out the dirt and spiders in her room that have been there over 6 weeks!   I got a phone call 5.30pm yesterday from the head health person to tell me how short staffed they are and that it is all sorted now.  I didn't carry on like a 2 bob watch as the old saying goes. Just mentioned it quietly as there's no need to embarrass anyone.   Now, I just have to keep taking out the magazines she hoards......

Another bitch...       (you can take that 2 ways )   my sister, the one that lives in Mum's home and only pays half the power and phone, no rent etc has brought in a framed photo of her and placed it in a prominent spot.     No other photos for Mum to see of her family.   Not the large collage that Mum did up of family random shots that she loves.  Nah.... .  I don't go around to check on the house because I don't want to be threatened again by the brother and if it was all good enough for them to be parasites for 5 years or so before Mum had to go into care, then  it's not worth my worrying.

  The sister did replace Mum's glasses that broke.  Well.... I think she did.
 Maybe it was some of the staff.

Life gets in the way of posting.

Where does the time go?  I get up early but spend too much time on the internet.    Like now!  I should have a load of washing on, out weeding a garden ready to plant corn and get some sewing done.




The day is cool and sunny and  it would be such a delight to be out in the garden.   Planting season does not wait.  So... this is short and sweet.

 
 I think I'm actually finding myself.   I do not want to be what my partner expects, nor do I have to be what my daughter expects.  I think this is why I love to travel.  I can be myself. No one knows me.
 I'm on a journey of more self discovery,   so wish me luck.   xo

Variety is the Spice of Life!

I hope this is gluten free!

I don't seem to get to the things I really want to do.  Why???    Because I do not have the discipline or the motivation, let alone passion,  at the moment.  I think this means, I've lost my mojo!

The list I have set myself in the garden and yard is slowly being worked through and I get great joy  running the pen through the listed item as it  gets done.  One item is burn the rubbishy trash.
We had a lovely fire yesterday of papers and scraggy weeds.    I can't have another little fire today because it's too windy for safety.


Yesterday I came home from taking Miss A back to her mother, dropped my bag and keys at the bottom of the steps and headed out to smooth off some of the driveway gravel where the car had scraped. [not happy]      That done I got stuck into pulling out all the fallen palm fronds in a little grove that hadn't been done since I got Ross River virus in May last year!!!
  I'm not saying anything!

  That will be my next fire as soon as the wind dies down. 

This morning more cleaning up of  Queensland Arrowroot and Tumeric, slicing and out to dry in the sun and wind.  Messy stuff. 

Notice the alien eyes of the tree?  This was a pre cyclone shot.

Then after a coffee and some damper I made yesterday, off to get this garden cleaned up a little more under a Mango tree in the front yard.  A  fern has taken over.   Sure, it's lovely and green but  uses too much space.   Most of my pot plants that I had put there for ease of watering when we went away once, were dead and gone.  I emptied the pots out to save the soil and tried not to be upset.  I lost a lot of plants when I was out of action.

I'm working away at it a little at a time but there is huge progress.  Three more hits and it will be ready for soil improvement.  Lots of lime, cow manure and sugar cane mulch will go there.  I think there will be veges planted there later.

Next on the list is paper shredding, sewing, sorting 'stuff' for the garage sale and cleaning out my darling old computer ready for giving away.   I'll do a little of each every day.


They say variety is the spice of life.   

80th POST!!!

Not a lot to write tonight.  I seem to leave my blog posting till later in the day and tonight I am tired.
Did a little gardening and that makes me sore.  Vacced and stored the rest of my dried fruit too. Tomorrow , it's get seed beds ready and plant seeds.  AND some sewing.

Beautiful France

THE  END

Hi Ho Ginger!!

A friend gave me some organic, homegrown ginger rhizomes to process.  Last time I crystalised them and they were yummy. We ate some as sweets and some went into cakes.
                                                     For this lot,    it's out into the sun to dry.

Freshly washed and dried.

All peeled ready for the knife!

Ready for their dose of Vitamin D.

Another day in the sun tomorrow and a top up in the oven should do it.  I thought I might grind some for powdered ginger and leave the rest to reconstitute when needed.    I've set aside some 'eyes' for planting.

Gardening Blogs 

I read some terrific gardening blogs today, mostly all based in the UK.  All neat and tidy with vegetables that grow just like on the packet and in the gardening books!

I felt so envious.

No whopping great grasshoppers, no humungous weeds that pop up over night!  Nothing appeared to have a bug hole in it.  It gave me inspiration to go out into the garden tomorrow and plant.  

I have  non- hybrid seeds from Eden Seeds but myself and two others had VERY little succes,  even getting them to strike.

  I'll try another company.  They weren't well priced either at $4 a pkt plus postage.

One blogger [amongst many other hats] is going to publish a book on 'How to Grow Potatoes'.
I think it will find it's way into my bookcase.

http://www.daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/