This, That and Every Other Little Thing

It's been quite some time since I have done a random post of odds and sods, so now's as good a time as any, seeing I have downloaded all the photos from my phone.  

Where to start?  I suppose the garden is as good a place as any.  It's been a shocking season, what with the heat and dry weather.  Mind you, compared with so many others ours hasn't been too bad.  There have been a few flowers to delight.

The tiger lily, or "triffid" as Mick likes to call it, back in January.

One of our dahlias is now finally flowering, after all previous blooms have withered to nothing.

The bees and lots of other bugs are enjoying these flower heads on a succulent.

There has been a distinct lack of bees this summer, however, in the last couple of weeks, as the weather has cooled a little they are back in the garden.  I even saw a blue banded bee the other day.

Our zucchini has not been producing either, with the fruit not being pollinated, but, once again, in the last couple of weeks we are now picking every day.

Tomatoes not ripening has also been a common problem around the traps this summer.  We get just a few little ones each day.  The thing is, these little round tomatoes are supposed to be Grosse Lisse!  The Romas are more normal in their size.  However, there is definitely no glut to use to make sauce and relish.  Just enough for general use.

See this tangle in our back yard.  Well, last year we discovered that our raspberries are an autumn fruiting variety and that you cut them back to nothing over winter, rather than leaving them for the fruit on the second year canes.  It's amazing how quickly they grow.  The bees are loving them at the moment.  

We are getting a couple of handfuls each day now.  Yummo!  There are big bunches hanging everywhere.  So far, we are getting more than the birds.  I think we will have plenty to freeze, or maybe we will just enjoy them as they come.  I just love the way raspberries squeak when you eat them.

Who needs to go out for brunch when you can sit down to banana pancakes with yoghurt, raspberries and maple syrup on the back verandah.  Best of all, you don't even have to get changed out of your jarmies.

We are also roasting our tomatoes and zucchini with other yummy veges and fresh herbs from the garden.  So good.

Mick is never one to be idle, so he has decided to tidy up the garden around his trailer parking spot.

Before

Before.  There is a grevillia, box and raspberry taking over and looking very untidy.

Behind the garden there is our little potting shed, which I never got around to blogging about, and our potting shelf.  In a nutshell, there was a large bottle brush in this dead end corner of the yard next to the shed.  It died in the severe frosts and dry winter we had in 2017.  Mick offered to build a chook shed and get us some chooks, but I declined and suggested a potting shed.  It is only the height of the fence, so can't be seen from out of the yard.  It really tidied things up.  Back to the garden....

That looks better already. A couple of plants were moved and an area marked out for another water tank. A stepping stone path and step has been made for access to the potting shed.  We are just waiting for our tank to arrive before progressing further.

It looks like he has the garden building bug.

This is on the southern side of the house and will have a small weeping cherry and loads of daffodils, so should look good for spring. This was taken this afternoon, so there is still a bit more work required.

The weather is being rather varied, as is usual at this time of year.  On Sunday we had our first fog, and what a pea souper it was too.  Quite surprising, seeing that it is so dry.

We are still four weeks away from the end of daylight saving, and the mornings are getting very dark already.  This was taken at a quarter past six in the morning over a week ago.  Most mornings when I go on my walk now the stars are still very visible.  It is also fresh some mornings, with the temperature below 10 degrees on a few days.  I'm not looking forward to having to rug up, but that will come soon enough.

Mind you, we are still getting some days up into the thirties, so quite a mixed bag.  Rain has been somewhat lacking again, but then autumn is normally our driest season.

Don't you love this vege garden I walk past.  It is down the drive to a battle axe block.  So clever, and very productive.

I take a photo of the sky most mornings. 

I never tire of the different moods.

February saw the start of Swap Meet season and we had a stall at the Bathurst Swap at the beginning of February.  We forgot to take any photos, but we sold quite a bit more of our "stuff" and it was a nice social time to catch up with people.

The following weekend was the Swap Meet out at Newbridge, a small village about half an hour out of town.  We decided to take our baby camper trailer out behind the car and stay overnight.  It wasn't the best weather for camping, as it blew an absolute gale all night.  Mick had the camper tethered to a fence post.  It also got cold.  After days of temperatures in the high thirties, we got down to six degrees!!! We didn't pack a lot of warm bedding, but fortunately, we had a couple of crochet rugs in the back of the car, so were quite snug.  Others froze, as it certainly wasn't the weather anyone was expecting.  It did turn into a beautiful day for the Swap Meet.  We did OK out there as well, decluttering some more "stuff" and making enough to cover the costs of our weekend out plus a little bit.  That has to be a win.

We didn't set up our stall until the Sunday morning, rather we visited the local craft shop and bought some local honey and a couple of books and then went to the village pub for tea.  We were expecting to enjoy regular pub grub, but no, they had an Italian menu.  Apparently, a couple of Italian chefs come up every few weeks.  How lucky were we.  The food was delicious.  Not only that, when we were chatting with the chef, he told us that they were having a five course Italian night in early March.

Fast forward to Saturday night and a group of us ventured out to indulge.  It was so good.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere nice and casual.  There were about a hundred people there, but there were no delays or fuss.  I do hope they have another similar event again in the future.

So, that's about it for now.  It has been a busy time, but that is the norm coming into Autumn and will continue to be the case for the next little while.