Changing seasons and Doonas !

Winter is coming, in fact according to my diary it is officially due to start on 1st June!  To me being used to many soggy UK 'summers' it still feels like a beautiful summer here.  The wind has now got a bit of a bite to it and it has been raining but when the sun comes out it still has strength to it and there are still beautiful big blue skies.

With the changing of the seasons its time for the changing of the duvet... except they are rarely called duvets here.  After a few goes at explaining what I meant and with Ricks help and much laughter, duvet was translated into quilt or the more well known Doona!  I still have no idea where that word comes from... your guess is as good as mine.

Currently the sun rises at about 7.30 am and sets by 5.30 pm, so it's still dark when we get up in the mornings.  The other morning Rick and I ventured forth for our early morning walk and saw the most amazing moon, it was low in the sky, almost full and golden.... incredible.

Another early morning start we opened the front door and Rick heard a possum like scrabble, after a brief search we realised there it was... just in front of us.... funnily enough playing possum!  He didn't move.... not even a whisker for ages (I am referring to the Possum here not Rick).  We realised he hadn't taken too kindly to having his photo taken when he made a lurch towards us... that made my heart beat faster!  Poor Rick had to walk past him and 'Lurch' the possum went for him too.  They can be a tad grumpy and can give fairly nasty bites and scratches if they feel threatened so its best not to try and cuddle one.

'Lurch' the possum playing possum on our front path!

This poor little fellow was walking rather awkwardly and on having a closer look at the photo it looks like he has lost a toe or two.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the deciduous trees now and are fantastic to crunch through, I'd highly recommend it for any inner child.  Everything else is 'greening' up due to the very generous dollops of rain we've been having.  You can imagine the sighs of relief from the folk who rely on their supply of rain water for drinking, showering etc., at last their huge water tanks are filling up. The radio announced the other day that we've already received over half the rainfall of what was expected so far.

Even though the weather has been on the cooler side lately there are still loads of things coming into flower.    I'm amazed at how many UK summer plants are now putting in an appearance, Acanthus for instance are coming up, roses are still in bloom and more buds are forming.

Our citrus tree is covered in fruit, it is so good to pick a lemon you are just about to use.... delicious.  The rest of the neighborhood seem to be in agreement with us, quite a few people seem to be making special trips to help themselves, we even found a chap on the drive the other day picking fruit.  As Rick approached with a bag for him to use he made his escape on his push bike

Violets and Sour Sobs (a very pretty weed) are  in abundance, they seemed to have appeared almost over night.  As I'm sure some of you will know Sour Sobs are part of the Oxalis family and have tiny 'nodules' on their roots.  If you just pull them up then the nodules fall off and each one becomes a new plant.  So you can see why it's the bane of many gardeners...... very pretty though much like tiny daffodils.

Sour Sobs

The Digger club kindly sent me some free seeds when I joined them and I've finally got round to sowing them.  Inspired by our permaculture day at the Food Forest I picked up some polystyrene containers from a local supermarket.  Lined them with plastic, then about 6cm of tiny pebbles, a thick tube pushed down to the bottom of the container (for watering so none of the seedlings are disturbed) and then the compost.  I only started them a week ago and already the Savoy Cabbage and Broccoli are sprouting.  The Spinach hasn't put in an appearance yet but it is still early days.

 

Deep joy.......

Butterflies are still around and I caught sight of this gorgeous Monarch feeding from the Geisha Girl in the back yard.  

In the sunlight it looked like a beautiful very delicate stain-glass window.  This one was a little smaller then  the palm of of my hand.

Sunday was a beautiful Autumnal day, cool but sunny, so it was a great day to dust off the bikes and go for a bike ride.  We headed off taking the scenic route via the Parklands.

Some of the track in the park was sectioned off for this bike race.  It looked like lots of fun was being had by all

Back to our cycle ride.  For the first time in ages I didn't fall off of Betsy and at last my confidence is growing. We visited a friend for a much needed rest and a cuppa about halfway through the ride. It was the longest I've ever ridden and when we eventually got home we'd done 18km.... ok not far but a great achievement for me... and Rick was still talking to me by the end of it!  

Anzac Day

I've been meaning to tell you about Anzac Day which is on 25 April and declared a Public Holiday.  It is a day set aside to remember and reflect on the Aussie and New Zealand men and women who have given up their lives in battles since World War I.

They are nick-named Diggers, one possible reason is it was a slang term used for people who were prepared to dig in and complete a difficult job.  Though there are a few other theories too.....

The day started early, I woke up and in my foggy twilight state I realised I could hear singing.  Dawn was breaking and in the stillness of the morning one of the day's many services was being held.  At the same time all over the country similar services were being held and poppy wreaths laid to honour the many lives lost at war.  It was a very moving start to the day.

I learnt from the radio shows that day about the avenues of trees.  These were started after the first world war when ordinary folk needing a place to reflect planted a tree for their lost loved ones.  Now all over Australia there are beautiful  long avenues of trees planted in loving memory of a life lost at war.  These places have a sense of calm and grandeur, a lovely place to sit and reflect.

 

In 'town' by the Botanic Gardens there is even a memorial trough in commemoration of the War Horses.  It is sobering and very moving seeing how everyone is now honoured.

Anzac Day is the only day in Australia on which Two-up can legally be played.  Two-up is a traditional Australian gambling game, involving a designated 'Spinner' throwing two or three coins into the air. 

Players gamble on whether the coins will fall with both (obverse) heads up, both (reverse) tails up, or with one coin a head, and one a tail (known as 'Odds'). It is traditionally played on Anzac Day in pubs and clubs throughout Australia, in part to mark a shared experience with Diggers through the ages.

The game is traditionally played with pennies – their weight, size, and surface design make them ideal for the game. Weight and size make them stable on the 'kip' (board)and easy to spin in the air. Decimal coins are generally considered to be too small and light and they don't 'fly' so well.

I promise the next 'post' will be more light hearted.

Wedding, UK and the weather!

Apologies for the lack of blog over the last couple of weeks.

We have just returned from a flying visit to the UK to celebrate my lovely step-daughters wedding and meet all the gorgeous new additions to our ever growing family.

Also apologies to everyone we didn't get a chance to see this time, hopefully next time we will have longer and the trip will be planned way ahead of time.

Where to begin.....

Well it was the first time we have traveled via Dubai to the UK (and back)  and for some reason it seemed to confuse our body clocks more than 'normal'.  The longest leg of the journey is now Oz to Dubai at about 14 hours, a very quick stop at Dubai (45 mins going over) followed by a relatively short flight (6.45 to 7 hours) to Heathrow.

It's taking us some time to get back into sync with our sleeping and eating patterns.  At times it's a huge effort to keep the eyes open but as each day passes we get more 'with it'.  Some people think that jet lag is all in the mind and some cope with the time changes very well.  As we're all unique I guess we'll each experience 'it' differently.  Studies have shown it takes approx. one day per hours difference to get back on track with your Circadian Rhythm so some time next week our 'CR' should catch up with our bodies! This is my excuse if the blog is a little all over the place this time... more apologies....

We arrived in the UK at about 5.30 in the morning, picked up the hire car and set off towards Crawley.  What a beautiful morning we were greeted with.  It was a frosty start combined with a beautiful sun rise which meant the hedgerows and fences steamed as they slowly warmed up and the fields looked like they were cloaked with lazy clouds.

The countryside had put on it's Spring clothes, blackthorn bushes were in full flower, fantastic bright green leaves on the trees and bushes, new lambs bouncing around in the fields.  It seemed that every where was bursting with new life.... such a contrast to when we last left in January.  England at it's very best.

AND it was warm, we hadn't really brought enough warm weather clothes with us, convinced it would still be very chilly.  We even came home with a sun tan!!!

The first week flew past in a flurry of meetings and greetings, catching up on news, lots of eating and a few drinks and many, many miles covered.  Our Aussie Sat Nav 'Roger' complete with the newly uploaded Europe maps did a stirling job keeping us on the right track (well roads).

And then, all of a sudden, the big day arrived.  May the Fourth, as Jim being a Trekkie fan thought he'd more chance of remembering all the following anniversaries if Lou and he got married on that day..... (may the fourth be with you)

It was a beautiful day, a little chilly in the wind but the sun shone.  I think the Bride could have worn a sack cloth and still looked gorgeous.  Lou was glowing with happiness, totally stunning in her bridal attire.  Jim and the rest of the wedding party looked gorgeous too.  It was a lovely relaxed day, food was wonderful, cake amazing, speeches moving and funny, lots of fun had by all.  Everything went very well it was lovely to see all the families, friends and to be able to celebrate such a special day with them.

The only blot on the horizon was my camera expiring before the happy couple cut their amazing cake.... hay ho.

The brand new Mr and Mrs A.

The beautiful bride.

The amazing cake or rather cakes... delicious

Time passed all to quickly and in fact seemed to speed up!  Before we knew it we were on our way back to Heathrow and Oz.  It was good to see everyone we had been able to and a joy to meet and finally hug the new little 'un's.

Till next time.....