Around the garden

House sitting again in Daylesford. Feeling very moochy and not very inspired. I always imagine that alone in the country I will become a powerhouse of productivity but it never really happens that way, not that surprising really as productivity never just unfolds effortlessly like a filmic montage, it takes effort.

I spent quite a lot of time watering earlier this week as it was so hot and I find watering soothing and contemplative, I also 'accidentally watered myself a few times to cool down.

Prosecco with raspberries from the garden (I must pick some more before the birds get them all).

Pan in the evening sun.

Champagne with campari and wild strawberries with a geranium for matchiness.

I let the dragon join in on cocktail hour.

Another view of Pan.

Blackberries.

General garden view. Such a lovely garden, I feel so lucky to get to stay here now and then.

Poppies!

Artichoke flowering.

Weekend Snaps

I did almost nothing on Saturday. I don't think I even left the apartment. I did sort some papers, well I put them in piles, and then into different piles. I haven't actually put any away yet as it just became too boring. I also found I had a huge pile of paper used only on one side, much more than I could store. Luckily mum needs some scrap so I will give it to her. I have a lot of articles to put away as well but I want to double check they are all on my Endnote library first. YAWN.

On Sunday I went to Warrandyte with Mum and Dad, there was a festival on but we sort of bypassed it and went for coffee at the bakery.

We read the Sunday Age and I was reminded why I don't buy it.It seems that to be a columnist in Sunday life you have to have the Awkward Lean down pat.

(God Mia Freedman is obsessed with weight loss. YAWN x a million)

I was mystified by the attraction of labelling outfits as 'Stepford Style'. How empowering... not. Mum asked why I was taking a photo of it and I told her it was so I could be rude about it on my blog and she heartily approved.

Then we guessed the weight of the pumpkin. I don't know how heavy it was but as I haven't received a congratulatory phone call I think we can safely say it did not weight 26.25 kilos. 

Then we had lunch at Mum and Dad's and I checked out the vegie garden. This is the Cavolo NeroI planted, going well except some of the leaves have a kind of aphid on them.

My Jerusalem Artichokes. Hard to distinguish amongst the green jungle; they are the tall leafy things in the middle. I planted them years ago before I moved out and they grow well most years, but this year they have been taller than ever, about 3 metres tall.

They are flowering now. They are a member of the sunflower family and when I first planted them and they grew so tall I expected enormous flowers, but they are just like baby sunflowers.

Bees on the fennel.

Hamish eating his bone.

 Belladonnas, they always pop up around now and look very cheery.

A pink cyclamen.

 

Figs. Hoepfully mum gets time to net them so we get some fruit before the birds/possums/fruit bats. 

 Some strange native pea that grows separately at the top but is joined together at the bottom.

Garden Snaps

I'm going to miss having a garden to wander around every day, especially this garden. My daily wander often takes me about 30mins, by the time I de-head some roses, prune some geraniums, attack some blackberries and play with the cat.

 The artichoke flowered, not sure I had ever registered an artichoke flower before, very pretty, definitely worth forgoing an artichoke for. It is always interesting to let vegetables bolt and flower. In this garden there is no vegie patch, the edible plants are just part of the general bedding. Also see this blog for some musing on flowering vegies.

 I was pleased with my fly photo, not sure what kind of fly it is, not a regular blowie or housefly, it kindly sat and let me take it's picture.

Hello kittycat! This cat is very practised at looking adorable, he especially likes to look through the branches of trees. He looks docile here but in reality five minutes earlier he was hanging upside down stuck up a tree.

Bits and pieces

Having a productive week this week. Yesterday I sent off the final draft of my thesis to my associate supervisor, which means it is basically done. At the moment I am doing lots of tidying and editing. I still need to chop some words and I am pruning the footnotes. I am also cross checking my footnotes with my bibliography and it is INCREDIBLY TEDIOUS. Argh. So much of the work I have been doing lately is very dull. Things just take forever when it is such a long document. But anyway mostly it is exciting to actually know I am finally handing it in after sooo long. I have been dealing with the tedium by watching movies while I do the mindless tasks. Especially the image formatting. I had to make a pdf document with 293 images in it. Seriously. Most people I know have had from 8-50 images. I think it is partly my topic, gardens often mean lots of different angles, and several different representations of the one object or garden. 

The weather has been lovely in the country this week. I have been enjoying hanging out with the cat and snatching moments in the sun to read books and drink tea and eat pancakes. I have been refreshing my head by going out and dead heading the roses and weeding the raspberry bed and attacking the mammoth blackberries that seem to have appeared out of nowhere.

Picture essay...

 I have spotted some big butterflies in the garden, about 12-15cm across. I chase them with my camera like I was some kind of nature photographer. Mostly I have photos of blurry leaves but a few came out OK.

 

I ate lots of berries in early Jan, and there now seems to be a second lot growing. Knowing my luck these will ripen just after I leave. Mulberry above, blackberry below.

 Golden tree.

 Lavender

 Crazy evil-hand-shaped lemon. Tree also has normal lemon-shaped lemons. I am guessing it is insects that do this.

Croissants, sunshine, apples, shoes

FINALLY we had some weather over 20 degrees in Melbourne today, it was sunny, and I wore a t-shirt with nothing else! Well actually I did wear trousers as well, and shoes, and underwear.. but you get my drift. I finished another chapter on Saturday, and by finished I mean super polished, no unfinished references, to all intents and purposes, ready to be hand in. Now I am 5 down and 4 to go, but the final 4 are the longest. The next one in particular I am worried will be a slog, I need to chop out maybe 3-4k of words. I also have marking, I made a start today, I always forget how hard it is to get into the swing. This marking is also harder as it involves writing up to half a page of comments for each assignment. I am a great believer in comments and feedback, except when I have a blank page and an assignment and no idea what to write. I will have to get stuck in tomorrow and do the rest. Wish me luck.

A chocolate croissant and a slice of sourdough with plum jam. I bought both at Fatto a Mano on Gertrude. Delicious.

Close up croissant. Buttery goodness.

Tea and african violets.

I went to the market on one of the Melb Bike Rental bikes. It was fun as the ride is all downhill. I am just getting back into riding and I had forgotten how many pedestrians seem to think I am angling to run them down. By preference I ride on the road, but in some places there is just no space for bikes, plus for these bikes you generally have to ride on the pavement to and from the stand. I was coasting slowly behind a group as I felt it was rude to tell them to get out of my way, and I was nearly there so just coasting at walking pace. When they noticed me they grabbed each other out of the way like I was an express train and told me off for not having using my bell. Not that these bikes have bells (why not??), but even so I was happy waiting till they turned the corner. Argh. I am planning another post soon with my thought about these bikes.

Here I am on a walk later, having an apple, enjoying the sun, working the leopard print and listening to the Dave Gorman podcast, I love it, very funny. You can download it here and if you really should. I like to listen to funny things on mornings when I have to get up early and head to uni, cheers me up.

Isn't this car the cutest thing ever. I found it on my walk. So yellow and boxlike.

Today I went for a long walk to South Yarra and visited an open garden, and enjoyed the sun.

 Today's apple, so shiny and red, pretty much a cliche apple.

 My new white shoes from Target. They were dazzling in the sunshine.

 Mmm, this apple is tasty.

 Ohh look the new sports stadium near the river, looking like some kind of alien spacecraft.

The pool in the open garden. I have jealousy.

Saturday Relaxation

I headed over to Mum and Dad's on Saturday as Mum had offered to help me do some mending. I also took over some shoes as the local shoe repair man is incredibly cheap and incredibly good. He may well be one of the happiest people ever. He always looks at my shoes (which I tend to wear for that bit too long after they need repaired) and shakes his head and says 'how much do you love em? this is gonna be pricey." Then proceeds to quote something like $30 each for shoes that need the soles completely rebuilt and leather tears patched. Less than half what people in the city usually quote. I always try and explain that the shoes in question cost a lot more than $30 so that will be fine but he always looks skeptical.

I then found a pair of awesome vintage patent heels at the op shop. Only $10.

I drank lots of tea and had some pumpkin soup and did my mending. I think I did well, it wasn't too tricky but it really needed a machine and I don't have one. Also mum tends to encourage me to take care and do things properly rather than trying to just do everything as quickly as possible.

I also hung out with Hamish the Wonder Dog and Abby. They say hi.

I also checked on my Jerusalem artichokes. I originally planted some about, hmm, 8 years ago and they have produced bumper crops ever since despite mum's attempts to not encourage them. This year she moved them to a different position and they just grew in both the new spot and the old spot. Mwahahahah!

So in about a month or so I will probably have many many to give away. One of the plants is about 8 ft high. They are a type of sunflower but despite their height and enormous leaves only produce tiny little daisy-like flowers.

The top is up there somewhere but hard to see so Mum helped by giving perspective.

I also found a curvy zucchini. It is waiting to be cooked up.