January 2017 – Page 2 – Head in the Clouds

Gardening at Ruby’s

Black dirt and its a dead giveaway that I was in Ruby’s garden today. Her paddock needed a mow – Jeff, the silly sausage, did it all with the hand mower as the ride on is still not working!

I forgot the ‘after’ photo, but it looks lovely and neat now.

Ruby proudly dragged me all about the garden to show me what she has been up to

I followed up her amazing weeding job by feeding the roses, mulching and watering for her.

Then to look at the bean patch where she had started pulling things up.

Honestly!! You can’t leave that woman alone for a second! She decided to move the rebar out of the garden BY HERSELF!! She didn’t volunteer the information – I asked because I noticed it gone and had a sneaking suspicion that she didn’t ask for help!! I am halfway horrified and halfway impressed – imagine watching an almost blind 100 year old tottering about the garden with one of those big sections of rebar!!!! Eeeep!

Stand there Ruby and look a bit guilty for me would you??? She did admit the job tuckered her out so she left the other two alone!!

I moved the others out of the way and weeded the rest of the plot.

I left Ruby to have a kip in the fresh air and got on with my weeding jobs

Poor potato patch. They got a bit neglected at the end of last year when they needed water but it was a tough family time so sometimes, things just have to be let go.

I cleared a lot of the patch and hopefully we will see a few more potatoes of better sizes coming out of the plot.

Jeff finally finished. We were going to scoot off as it was quite late and make a cuppa date for another day… of course we got inside and the darling had all the cups out ready to go and bun cakes on the table!! How could we say no!!!???
We couldn’t!

Back home I had a bit of watering to get done… and enjoyed a browse around the garden and hothouse.

In the hothouse I am really thrilled with my chillies! Especially the ones I have grown from seed – they are now showing fruit! Looking forward to making new batches of sweet chilli sauce.

These go through several colour changes before settling on red!

I don’t even know the types I am growing!!! 🙂

Very excited to see the first of my heirloom capsicum growing!

This marvelous jungle of green is a mix of chilli, basil, rock melon and a rogue tomato or two!

None of the rock melon have formed beyond this as yet.

The cucumber are now winding their way up the sturdy stems of the sunflowers!!

We put the Hippy Kids on the bus this morning – they made it back to Canberra safe and sound. It sure is quiet around the house tonight!!

Cheers!

Putting the Guests to Work

Last full day for Emma and Alasdair, so thought I better get my money’s worth! 😀
Lots of seaweed grass washed up at the moment, so we hitched up the trailer and went out to East Wynyard beach

I can’t tell you how much of a happy gardener I am! Four pairs of hands makes a massive difference! Glad I managed to squeeze in this job before they head off.

Looking forward to distributing all this around the garden where I have weeded!

Of course, then it was a quick drive around the corner to have a goodbye cuppa with Ruby & Margie

Raiding the lemon tree – my sister made a request for lemons!

Finally a nice photo with the hippy kids without them pulling weird faces!

Then a drive out to Penguin Beach to look at rocks – the tide was coming in and unusually there was seaweed everywhere!

It was still lovely down there, picked up a few new rocks (of course!)
All in all I think the kids have had a pretty good week! I know we have!

Cheers

Marion’s Lookout, Cradle Mt National Park – Part 2

Hello! I got a good nights sleep and woke up feeling not stiff and sore like I suspected I would! Winning!
To continue…
It was time to tackle one of the harder parts of the days trek – Up!!

At least there was a lot of places to stop and rest!

Then we got to the really fun bit – rocks with chain railings to help you haul yourself up! This part will be more of a challenge with a full pack!

Time for a breather and a selfie – the wind makes for an awesome hairdo!

Plants grow out of rocks up here! Tough as!

We were still not quite at the top, but the view was just getting better and better

Figured this was the perfect spot for lunch! We had worked up an appetite and it was gorgeous sitting there in the sunshine taking in the breathtaking views

There are so many different level lakes in this area!

Dove Lake is where we have often gone to take visitors for a walk. If you missed my post about Cradle Mt click here to take a peek.
It was fantastic to see it from a whole new angle!

Once lunch was done, we decided we had time to walk on a bit further to see what was over the next rise.

It was very regretfully at this point that we decided to turn around and start to make the trek back.

Beside the track there were countless areas of mosses and tiny flowers, small bushes and other interesting bits of nature to admire.

The boardwalks in a lot of areas over yesterdays walk are a really good thing. People are not encouraged to leave the paths and trample over everything in sight. Its a way of helping us leave less of a footprint. Its such a popular place for hikers, that this really makes a difference to the vegetation up there

Naturally going back was a lot speedier than the trip up… gravity was more on our side! Seemed in no time we were back on the grassy plains

And to round off a fabulous day, we met a wombat!

Just ambling at the side of the track with not a care in the world!
Even better, although quite tragically I have no photo, on the drive out we saw a mother wombat crossing the road and trundling up the hill followed closely by her fat roly-poly baby and it was the cutest thing we had ever seen!!! Note to self… don’t put the camera away when driving… haha

Hope you have enjoyed the views! We certainly did!

Cheers

Marion’s Lookout – Cradle Mt National Park (Part One)

Hello! We have had the best day – and I am preeeeetty tired now. Thought it best to break this up into parts.
We drove down to Cradle Mt National Park today to try out a new hike. I mentioned in a recent post about our plan to hike the Overland Track, which is a 6 day affair – carry in all food and camping stuff etc.
The first day is billed as the toughest so we thought we would walk part of the way to see what the fuss was about

Well of course the boardwalks at the beginning are a doddle.

Tiny streams wend their way all over.

Despite driving through lots of rain squalls and fog to get here, the weather today was just divine!

Lots of tiny flowers were out in bloom on the bushes

Trail starts to go up – you can just see where the people are

Suddenly the track veers into mossy rainforest-like areas flanked by waterfalls

Looking back to the boardwalk and carpark!

Back out in the open following the falling stream

We came to a lake about halfway up, complete with old boatshed!

Love the water colour! Its also cool and fresh!

Rickety pathways with overgrown tangled trees

After a lot of ‘up’ we reached a spot where we saw a lot of ‘straight up’ !!

Just before I retire for the night… here is a shot looking back down from halfway up this section –

This was reasonably testing – will be more of a challenge with a full pack!
But the views at the top were worth every drop of sweat!
I must say it was a wrench to turn back today. Cannot wait to do the full walk!
Will be back tomorrow to finish the story!

Cheers!

Sunday Activities…

Hello Beautiful Sunday!
Well… it wasn’t raining or blowing a gale, so in my books – beautiful!
I actually managed to get sunburned at the markets today despite it being rather heavily overcast!!

This afternoon I took Emma and Alasdair down to the river and set them off to paddle for a couple of hours!

The wind made it hard work going up river, but coming back down was a doddle! And at least no-one fell in!

Meanwhile I thought I would do some more therapeutic weeding. Most satisfying

As always, my little crooning fanclub kept me company

Got some more sprawling tomatoes under control

Decided to put in round two of the lettuce

Bit of shelter while they get used to life out of the hothouse.

Pulled up the last lot of garlic. Now I have a large plot free to put to good use!

I am enjoying the few flower patches that I deliberately planted… I haven’t done much of that in the past… the flowers had mostly been put in before we moved here and we just get the pleasure of them.
But the ones I have done this season are a real patch of cheerfulness at our back door and is rather inspiring me to get on and continue developing the back yard into a mass of cottage garden plots. Something to entice the bees and look beautiful as well.

Sweet peas have done a great job climbing up their frame

Marigolds are so easy – easy to collect their seeds and easy to grow.

I never imagined this patch would be so successful!

Enjoy what is left of your weekend and have a fabulous Monday!

Cheers

Wild & Woolly Weather

The spectacular view from ‘The Nut’ in Stanley

The weather – especially the wind – was pretty crazy today! We went out anyway – the kids are only here for a week so we don’t have the luxury of ‘waiting for a better day’ to do things.

We drove over to Stanley, which is about 40 minutes west of us. Its a gorgeous little township with ‘The Nut’ the dominant feature.
Its a hell of a walk up to the top, but a really excellent walk around the top – once you have stopped hyperventilating from the intense climb!

(Photo from a while back so you can see what ‘The Nut’ is)

Its hard to take a photo of ‘wind’ but all the vegetation was bent sideways. The rain came in squalls and also sideways.

Alasdair and Emma trying to cope with the insane wind!

Supported by the wind – I was holding one hand on the railing to keep in one place to actually get the photo!

The wind was literally howling through those railings. The noise was intense as it hit the railings – kind of sounded like something you would hear in a horror movie 🙂

Pademelon tucked up against the weather (nose in tail! So cute)

There was a brief respite as we walked into the wooded area. A lot more shelter and we could walk along as if we were sober, as opposed to the previous drunken reeling (sans alcohol because I am a Responsible Aunt)

There was quite a group of pademelons in this area casually grazing.

Jeff (who woosed out of the climb) stayed behind in the cafe and met the captain of this tall ship. They were stuck here due to weather for a while

I really enjoy the changing views on the walk around the top of the Nut.

Feeling somewhat battered, we made it back to the bottom and indulged in some Valhalla Ice cream (Always a treat when we go to Stanley) and meandered home to cook up a Japanese style dinner – complete with fresh salads of course – and relax.

Here’s hoping the weather will be a LOT kinder tomorrow!

Hope your weekends are going wonderfully!

Cheers

First zucchinis!! I found a hiding cucumber too. Three eggs! Will have to have a small discussion with the chooks about their performance levels… And strawberries! 1.2kgs (2.6lb) was the pick this evening!! Champion patch!

Foraging – Advance Scouting Party

Hello! Here we are at the end of the week (again)! We woke up to rain. Not just normal pitter patter rain. We woke to bucketing rain. (of course)
Blah – and two teenagers in the house to amuse! haha
We managed to sloth our way through breakfast, then sorted out getting all the berries bagged up and into the freezer.
Had to put out a couple of containers and towels for the leak that reappeared upstairs before driving into Burnie for a little shopping.
Bad Aunty (that’s me) had completely neglected to sort out a Christmas present for her niece!! Not that Emma was at all devastated, but she thought one of my crocheted shawls would be cool!! (See?? In my 40’s and I do cool stuff according to a 16 year old!! I’m good with that!!) So we went to Spotlight so she could choose what wool took her fancy.

On to Ruby’s for afternoon tea, then we drove up to the nearby abandoned school to see how the blackberries were getting on this season.

Last season there were none. The total lack of rain made for very poor blackberry foraging.
But this season with all the rain?? The tangle of blackberries are incredible with lots and lots of fruit coming along.

We are hoping to keep an eye on their progress and return at the right time with buckets to help ourselves.
I am thinking blackberry jam and of course, trying out making blackberry ice cream!

The land & school are for sale – but it has been empty for years. Of course its par for the course to see smashed windows and graffiti.
Blackberries are a major pest plant and these ones will be no fun to remove. The canes are formidable!

If we see the start of a blackberry on our place, it gets pulled out straight away. They are really hard to manage.

We often thought it a shame the building has gone to waste. Would have made a fantastic indoor market. While the foreshore market is great fun, being at the mercy of the weather in Tasmania is tiresome. An indoor venue that lacks the wind and sideways rain is a most attractive proposition!

It was great to see the blackberries going so well this season… (From a purely selfish viewpoint) – with luck we will time our return correctly and get a bit of free food.

By this time it had stopped raining so we swung by Fossil Bluff to go for a walk, check out the fossils on the cliff face and look for agate.

Checking out beach treasures – and getting a piggyback! lol

An excellent afternoon – fingers crossed for less water from the sky tomorrow!

Cheers

Visitors

Well… today did not go as planned! My niece Emma and her boyfriend Alisdair were travelling to Tasmania today to stay a week. A 4.30am start for them (and my sister) only to have the airline encounter some kind of staffing blunder which resulted in a FIVE HOUR delay!!
Clearly, they were not going to make it down here in time to catch the bus.
So I finished what house work I could in rather a rush and drove up to pick them up (4 hour round trip!!)
Luckily my lifestyle is mega flexible, so it was really no worries and lovely to be in the car for a couple of hours with the kids catching up and chatting.

While I finished preparing their rooms and making dinner, I sent them both into the raspberry patch to do the picking for me. Despite a LOT of raspberries eaten as they picked, they still managed to bring back 2.5kgs (5.5lb) to the house! Impressive!

Hopefully tomorrow its off to visit Ruby for a cuppa then we will choose a beach!!

Bedtime for me… feeling a bit weary now!

Cheers!

Tomatoes Secured.

Hello! Midweek already! I spent most of the day procrastinating my way through housework – Our niece Emma is turning up tomorrow, with boyfriend in tow for a week so I thought I should sort a few rooms out!!

It was so windy!! The chooks spent a lot of their time huddled up in protective spots while the garden got blown about. Thought I should secure some of the tomatoes that were beginning to sprawl in the duck yard garden.

I gathered up a bunch of stakes, a hammer and my roll of garden tie – which I love to death its soooo easy to use.

I found a number of tiny tomatoes while I was tying them back that I couldn’t see yesterday

End result was a lot neater, and will save them some stress by not being blown all over the place!

Looks like I might nearly have a zucchini! They are taking their sweet time this season!

Not lacking for flowers…

I might have to go back down to the zucchini patch with some romantic music and a paintbrush…

The one pumpkin that I could see has actually escaped into next doors paddock. Will have to climb the fence and retrain it back over our direction!!

The corn is looking healthy – but no fuzzy bits yet.

In other produce news the girls seemed to like their fresh new hay and presented us with 6 eggs. All laid in the middle nest which has not been used for about a year!! Funny chooks!

Anyway – a few more domestics before bed… and maybe some raspberry ice cream??

Cheers

In preparation for my raspberry-loving niece, Emma!! Good Aunty!!!

Saying Goodbye to our Plums

Usually by this time of year we will have picked buckets and buckets of cherry plums and I would be madly cooking & freezing.
Not so this season. Because the season is a good three weeks behind normal, the plums have only just started to ripen here and there -and the birds have found the trees and are stripping them bare. I am a bit sad about that – plum jam is my morning staple! My Dad loves it too and I enjoy keeping him well stocked up with it!

They have only just found this small stand of plum trees but I don’t think I can save them

All previous seasons I have had a good relationship with the birds. We get our fill, then the clean up crew come in and take care of the rest – even the mess on the ground!
Sadly they are eating everything in sight, and most of it isn’t even nearly ripe! Is it churlish of me to heartily wish them all a massive stomach ache?
I think I have one more frozen container of plums residing in Ruby’s freezer (leftover from when we couldn’t fit anything else in ours!)
I will just have to console myself with copious amounts of raspberries and strawberries. (I picked 2 & a half kilos of raspberries yesterday (5.5lb)) and this evening I picked 1.2kg of strawberries (2.6lb)

I picked a lot more of my garlic today too – I was actually out there bandicooting potatoes for tonight’s dinner but then got side tracked pulling up more garlic. Some small ones in there but mostly a reasonable size! I love having garlic again!

Day lilies a cheerful part of the garden

Hope your day was great!
Cheers!

Loving the flowers at the back door. The sunflowers are towering and the smell of the sweet peas as you walk past is divine!