SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT 12.15PM

Hello my lovelies!

Do you like this embroidery?  I just love it.  Apparently it's the group badge of the folk who made the Great Tapestry of Scotland.  HERE'S a link to some more photographs of the various blocks they have made.

All well this end. Papa and I have had a fairly relaxing morning reading the Saturday papers and doing a few chores.  I stripped the bed and the sheets are now hanging on the line in the sunshine and Papa did some more work on our grass at the back.  Have I already told you what a mess it's in?  We're not sure if the top-dressing a few months ago was full of weed seeds but we've had a hard time of it trying to stop the grass becoming one huge weed bed.   In the end, Papa scraped most of the grass away and has re-sown parts with new seed.  New grass is starting to appear but it's a bit patchy to say the least.  The other problem could be that we have too much shade what with the leopard trees taking over.   Papa is going to work on the grass for a while yet, but if the worst comes to the worst, we shall have to put our thinking caps on and decide where to next!  All ideas will be gratefully received.

We have been watching a fabulous programme on Netflix called LOVE YOUR GARDEN with the presenter and gardener Alan Titmarsh.  It's been a wonderful series - about eight episodes.  The programme starts with Alan talking about the family he is going to surprise and off the cameras go with him down the street to the house in question.  He rings the bell and waits for the owner to answer the door.  It's hilarious seeing them open the door and the look on their faces when they see Alan and the cameras.  After they get over their initial shock Alan says "I hear your back garden needs some work."  The families who have been chosen have been recommended because of some difficulty in the family;  for example a member of the family may be confined to a wheelchair and can't get out in the garden because it's such a disaster.  Anyway hopefully the series will still be on when you get back HOME! and we can watch it together.

Papa's just calling me for lunch so I'll away and have my sandwich.  I'm on cooking duties today so I'll set to and make a nice stew in the afternoon.

Love Nanxxx

IN THE GARDEN TODAY

Hello my lovelies!

I dragged this pot which is full of gorgeous smelling herbs around from Papa's 'pot garden' this morning.  I thought this little corner needed a wee pot.  Doesn't it look fab?

Here's a photograph of how our Pittisporums are going on the northern boundary.  We planted these after the builder finished next door and they are doing their job beautifully.  Almost up to the roof-line of the house next door.  I imagine too, the filtered light from the trees on the window must be lovely for those inside.

I'm just getting ready to head to Kerrie's for quilting.  The other Kerrie is picking me up as Papa is at his U3A class this morning (Shakespeare).  I'm taking the Hebridean quilt as I still have some finishing off to do.  I'll take the blue log cabin along with me as well just in case I finish off the Hebridean bits and pieces.

I imagine, as it is a beautiful autumn day, that we will be sitting out on the back deck while we quilt, chat and get some exercise going to the coffee machine now and again :)

Love Nanxx

GARDENING

Papa Smurf working among the potted herbs.

Love Nanxx

CHRISTMAS IS A'COMIN'

Hello my lovelies

Christmas tree is up.  As you can see I've put it beside the back deck.  Sinead, Finn, Oscar and wee Emlyn decorated it when they were here a week or so ago.  They did a great job.

Nativity on my lovely wee blue cupboard.  Do you like the frame on the cross-stitch?  The purple really picks up the purple in the letter.

...and the garden in December.  Look how tall the Leopard trees are!

Love Nanxx  PS  That's Papa under the hat!

GARDENING CLUB

Friday wasn't just a 'quilting day' with Robyn, it was also the final Gardening Club get-together for the year.  I arrived at Robyn's around 9.00am, left at 11.30am for the Gardening Club and then after lunch, I headed back to Robyn's.

"Have a cup of tea and tell us all about your lunch!" said Robyn.  And so, I drank my lovely cup of tea and ate the gorgeous little star Christmassy biscuit and began to tell the ladies all about the lovely lunch.

I've been to this garden before and know the lady quite well as she helped us when we had our Open Garden at Summerfield a few years ago.  As you can see, she lives in a lovely old Queenslander and has a simple but beautiful garden.  When I arrived at the front door, a little late, I could see down the hallway that everyone was chatting away outside on the back deck.  So, I opened the door and made my way through the house, putting my bag and cardigan on a chair on my way.  When I arrived at the back deck Rhondda was there to welcome me and asked if I would like white wine or Champagne?  Well of course the answer to that one is always "I'll have the Champagne please."  Off I went with glass in hand to meet up with and chat to the ladies.  They are a lovely group and all love gardening.

Before lunch, Rhondda told us a bit about her garden, mentioning in passing that she was having trouble with her lawn.  She has planted a number of Capital Pear trees along the back boundary and the shade from them is inhibiting the lawn growing properly.  Someone from the group shouted out as she spoke that she should try a grass called........Oh dear!  I can't remember what she said.  It was something like Sleep Seed, or Simpering Seed or Seedy Seed.  If I remember I'll let you know for your future reference.

She also mentioned that mealy bugs were getting into her Agapanthus:(  I'm not sure what that looks like and I don't think I want to know because if she, with her beautiful garden has mealy bugs in her agapanthus, we MUST have them in ours.

After Rhondda had finished talking and everyone had a little say in a trip to a garden that is being planned for next year, it was time for lunch.  Lunch was just beautiful.

It started off with trays of ribbon sandwhiches being brought around.  Do you know what they are?  You use the softest bread you can find;  some white and some brown.  You lay out three slices and using one of their ideas, spread avocado on one of the white slices, top with a brown slice and then add some salmon mixed with mayonnaise and perhaps a bit of red onion and then on top of that one, you top off with the last white slice.  You then cut off all the crusts and cut what's left into fingers.

After the 'sandwhich' course, trays of fruit were brought round - all this while we stood on the verandah chatting and drinking our Champagne.  The fruit trays included, mango pieces, rock melon, strawberries, blueberries, grapes cut into little bunches...and for the last course, trays of fruit cake were brought around.

It was a yummy lunch.

Love Nanxxx

IN THE GARDEN YESTERDAY

Hello my lovelies!

It was such a beautiful day yesterday I just had to pick up my camera, go for a walk around the garden and take some pictures for you.

Love Nanxxx

VISIT TO A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

Well, yesterday the Gardening Club visited a garden not far from Robyn's.  The house was just a few houses down, towards Woolworths on the Range side.  As it was right on the Range, the block was a very steep block but the garden was just amazing, especially the hard landscaping that has been carried out.  Here are some photographs.

This photograph was taken from the patio area where we all had a delicious morning tea and a talk and demonstration on how to turn a little candle conifer into a topiary whirl.  The gardener who gave the talk is one of the gardeners for the Council.

Here we are making our way down from the patio area to the bottom garden.

What a surprise I got.  As you can see, all the Jacarandas are in bloom at the moment and make for a gorgeous backdrop to the garden.

The hedge that separates the top lawn from the bottom lawn.  Can you see the rose beds just below the hedge?

The top lawn.

The bottom lawn.

Stairs down to the fence line at the bottom.

As we were walking down the stairs, this small tree was hanging over the side.  Elizabeth the owner of the house and garden mentioned to me that this was a Forest Pansy and when it flowers, the flowers all appear up the stalks of the branches.  I've never seen this before, but I imagine it must look as though the flowers have been stuck on.  I'll see if I can find a photograph on Google.

Here it is!

I'm off to tidy up the sewing room.  It looks as though a bomb has gone off in it.  I am in the process of making ANOTHER log cabin quilt.  I'm loving the process.  This time I'm going for half in the creamy colours and the other half a mix of scraps - all colours.  

Love Nanxxxx  PS  I forgot to tell you - when I was walking past a small citrus tree, I could see a blossom and bent over to smell it.  I thought at the time it didn't smell very nice which is actually quite unusual as orange and lemon blossom have a beautiful scent. When I continued walking my eyes suddenly started stinging and streaming with tears.  A very naughty 'stinky bug' which are quite common on citrus at this time of the year had squirted some of its stinky stuff in my face.  When I mentioned to a few ladies what had happened one of them said "I thought I could smell something funny coming from you!"

THURSDAY AFTERNOON 5.38PM

Hello my lovelies

This photograph was taken a couple of weeks ago when Carol and Gerda popped in.  I did take a photograph of both Gerda and Carol chatting but I can't find it.  This one is Carol showing off the gorgeous dress she was making for one of her granddaughters.  Carol has three granddaughters:  Sophie, Maddie and Lexi.  

Carol popped in yesterday afternoon and we had a lovely old time chatting, quilting, drinking cups of tea and eating the chocolates which were left over from Sasha and Eleanora's visit on Sunday.

Greer, you poor thing.  You look and sound so unwell.  Make sure you rest up and get strong and well again before going back to work.  What a gorgeous pencil roll Liliane.  Looks as though it was a fun project.

Auntie Emma, Uncle Michael and the boys move this weekend into their temporary accommodation at Milton Mews.

Here's a photograph of the lounge room of one of the 'Mews'.  There are four bedrooms.

The renovations to their new home should be finished in around five weeks.  

Today has been the first dry day for a while so this afternoon Papa and I got busy cutting back the beds near the small front gate.  We could hardly get into the place for the growth.  Papa and most of the neighbourhood also decided it was a good opportunity to cut the lawns too so there was a lot of activity in North Toowoomba this afternoon.  Tomorrow the forecast is for a late shower but Saturday we're back to wet weather.

Better go for now.

Love Nanxxxx  PS  Kerrie is now a Grandmother.  Her son David and his wife had a wee boy and have named him James.

VISITING A CARNIVAL GARDEN OUT AT HADEN

Hello my lovelies

Well here we are on the dusty road making our way to one of the carnival gardens which was open for visitors.  You can see how dry things are just now from this photograph.

We were glad to see this sign as we were starting to think that perhaps we were on the wrong road.

The cows, across the road from the garden in the shade of the old, old shed.

The garden!

What a miracle the owners of this garden have pulled off.

An opening in the garden where you can see the land beyond.

It's 33 degrees today and there's a strong wind too.  There are fires burning in New South Wales and if we don't get rain SOON, we're going to have fires up here too.

Love Nanxx

NEW TREES ALONG THE FENCE

Hello my lovelies

I thought you might like to see how the trees (Pittosporums) are growing along the fence.  We planted them a few months ago and I can see from this photograph that the house next door was still undergoing its renovation.

Here are the trees today.

A few months more and they may be as high as the gutters next door.  Woo hoo!

Love Nanxxx

LEMONS OR FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT 2.29PM

Hello my lovelies

Yesterday, after lunch, Papa and I decided it was time to take all the lemons off the lemon tree and tidy the tree itself.  Well actually, it was me who decided.  Papa was reading and after I washed the lunch dishes, I went into the garage and hauled out the stepladder.

Papa soon joined me.  "Oh! my goodness Connie!" he said.  "I wondered where you had got to."

So Papa got one of his strange tools that is designed to cut very high branches that you can't reach.

While he was doing that, I was using the secateurs to cut off the lemons.  The reason for cutting the lemons off the tree is that the tree is starting to blossom in readiness for next year's fruit and 'the book' says that now is the time to take off the lemons.  I just hate doing this as, as you can see, there are trillions of them and in a few weeks, we'll be having to buy them from the supermarket.

I've filled a glass bowl with them and this is sitting next to my kitchen sink.  Each time I fill the sink up to do a washing up, I slice up a lemon and squeeze the juice in and then throw the lemon in too.  This makes the washing up smell lovely and any grease just falls off the plates.

Some lemons for the neighbourhood.  The bucket's half empty today.

A few gin and tonics in this lot.

Love Nanxxx

TUESDAY AFTERNOON 4.03PM OR A DAY IN THE GARDEN

Hello my lovelies.  I took this photograph while I was having my morning cuppa on the front verandah.  I just love the view over to this house across the road.  It makes me feel as though I am in a Darcy Doyle painting.  Here's one of his paintings to give you an idea of what I mean.

After my cuppa, it was time to get on the gardening gloves.  I needed to clean out a couple of ground covers that had become very 'woody'.  After taking out a lot of old stuff, they look a bit forlorn but I'm sure after a week or so and some rain they will perk up and give us lots of enjoyment in the Spring, which, as I look at my calendar is only one month away.  After tidying up the small shrubs, I weeded the nature strip and was too exhausted to do much else after that.

Do you like this photograph I took this morning of the magnolia in the corner of the garden at the front.?

I think this must be the best flowering we've seen while we've been here at number seven.  Glorious!

The cumquat-in-a-pot is looking wonderful too.  As you can see, the cumquats are ready to pick.  I have found a recipe where you soak them in brandy for a few months and then serve them with ice-cream in the summer.  Watch this page!

As you can see from this photograph, I've pruned my roses to literally an inch of their lives.  I watched a Youtube video on pruning climbing roses.  One of the things they said was that in order to get a really good flowering it's a good idea to try a keep the canes as horizontal as possible.  Here I have wound this one around the banister on the stairs into the garden.  Again, watch this space!

And here we are with the tools all ready and...

cushions on the chairs for when it's time for a wee rest.  

I have now finished the gardening for the day and haven't managed to have a rest yet.  Papa is out this afternoon at his guitar class and is going out again this evening.  He, Andrew the minister and a few other men are taking themselves off to the cinema to see the film DUNKIRK.  I've heard it's very good and plan to take myself off to see it sometime this week.

I'll away and make a cuppa and have a sit-down on one of those chairs.

Love Nanxxx