We would be very lucky if we manage to get the house finished to be able to live in it before the end of the year so with that in mind we have decided to renew our rental lease for another 6 months. At the same time the renewal arrived for us to sign we also received notice that the owners are putting this place on the market! Fingers (and anything else spare) crossed please for everything to happen with perfect timing. Which I guess it always does anyway but at times just doesn't feel like it!
More excitement when we at last had some decent rain - hoorah - we have at last got a full rain water tank and have started drinking our own water. It still sounds funny to hear the radio presenter inviting anyone who was listening to let them know how many mls they'd got. Something which I cannot imagine happening in the UK.
Without going on too much about the gorgeous climate here the rain doesn't seem to last for very long before the sun comes out again, though of course this will probably change as winter arrives. Most of the veggies seem to like it the tomatoes in the rented house garden are ripening (at last) and the cherry toms at the block are now flowering. I'm still amazed everytime I see them. All veggies are doing really well expect the poor old beans they have turned an interesting shade of yellow and appear to have stopped growing though some of them do have flowers. Having consulted various oracles I made a yummy (for plants that is) solution of dissolved chook poo and applied that to the whole bed.
The weekend arrived along with a really cold damp miserable day, ok not cold compared to the UK but there was a very lazy wind which felt like it was cutting straight through you. And the start of the famous Naracoorte Swap Meet, Rick and I attended with money burning holes in our pockets excited about the possible bargains we'd find. Many hours later and trips to and fro to load the car up we felt we had exhausted all the possible bargains and ourselves. My favourites are the small raised veggie bed for $5 and a 1940/50s solid copper sterilising unit, in which once we'd got the lid off we found a very old Salter weighing scale. Oh and a very old housewives medical advice book, it's brilliant with pictures which fold out and all sorts of suggested cures for worms, dropsy etc etc. It even has a section offering advice on how to be a good wife, apparently if the advice is not heeded you'd never make it to heaven! We picked up many other things along the way all of which we hope will be of use.... perhaps one day.
I've at last joined the local spinning and weaving group, a really lovely group of very patient ladies. It was great fun and I've at last started to spin something which (for the poor sighted) might be mistaken for yarn. The two most experienced ladies have told me my wheel needs a lot more TLC before it will work properly and they are currently looking for someone who has the time to help me fix it up. Also the Alpaca fleece I'd been given to practice with was cut much too short to be of any use. I left the group with a borrowed wheel and a large bag of sheeps wool to comb and spin and a huge amount of enthusiasm that perhaps one day I might be able to master spinning.
I think I may have mentioned before how beautiful Autumn in Naracoorte is, I have even managed to find a small pile of leaves to scrunch through.... not realising before hand that I'd missed doing that. In contrast none of the native trees loose their leaves, instead some shed their bark leaving beautiful smooth almost ghost like trunks. And some have come into flower, much to the delight of all the nectar eating birds and insects. The buds, flowers and eventual seed pod vary enormously and I think look stunning.
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