I wrote a while ago about the youth club my daughter runs had obtained funding to create an outdoor area at RAF Benson where they could grow their own vegetables and fruit.
The children were very enthusiastic about this and it has been a successful venture for them.
After the extreme weather last week followed by torrential rain they had to start to pick some of the fruit and veg before they lost them.
The picture is some of their first harvest of beetroot, radishes and some tiny tomatoes. The children were really happy with what they had produced.
… the heck is he doing!! Ive been away for a lovely seaside holiday with my youngest son and family. As you can see in the photo their lovely dog, Minnie, came too.
I just love this photo and the quizzical look on Minnies face as my son, Paul, yet again! lol, has to retrieve a light soft sponge football that was accidentally kicked under the veranda! lol
no, I dont mean Christmas. Im talking about the season for hurricanes. We are already experiencing the pre storms, in the form of thunderstorms. Time to batton down the hatch and buy water. I do love living in Florida, USA! Everything is drenched and so much more to come.
During the off season the weather is gorgeous, I think thats why we all stay :)
I have to say that social media has its pluses and minuses but what I love on the FB socials is the memories it brings up.
This photo popped up this morning and it brought up a few memories. Taken in 2012 it was me at Cirque du Soleil.
The bag Im holding is a Crafty Bob Bag I had sent to me. Back in the day they were available at the Craft Shows when Craftsuprint had stalls at them. Being I couldnt go to those (bit far from Aus to UK) I got a shirt and a bag.
I lost absolutely everything (photos included) a couple of months ago when my external hard drive crashed and nothing was able to be retrieved so to have things pop up in memories and the photos Id put up on my page is a blessing really.
I still have my Crafty Bob bag and although I dont use it I still have it as a memory.
At the end of last year my lovely next-door neighbour of nearly 12 years, sadly passed away. She was in her 90s and kept her home and garden beautiful. When her family cleared out her house, they offered me 2 of her matching plant pots.
I took them expecting to throw away the raggedy-looking plants and repot them with something new. But because of the shape of the pots, I couldnt get them out. So I gave them a good weed, turned over and added some new soil. As the summer progressed they started to look a bit healthier, so I gave them pride of place in front of the house.
Then last week, on the day my own mum sadly passed away, I noticed they had flowered. I wasnt expecting such a pretty flower to emerge. I have since found out the plants are Oleander and they are now even more special to me.
Finally we have some kind of weather which we can count as a bit of summer. Its been long overdue and although I must admit the higher temperatures are not for me, it is nice that we have some sunshine.
Of course my two grandsons are loving making the most of the weather and having a lot of fun in their large paddling pool, although it does look like it has a small puncture in one of the rings at least they are keeping cool in the pool while having a lot of fun.
Here we have one of the Qatar F15X Strike Eagle. They will be going to Qatar Airforce to protect!They displayed at RIAT last week unmarked, they now have their countrys makings ready to go home.
I caught this one at Lakenheath this week departing to Stanstead to pick up their Qatari pilots for their leg home, they are more potent than any F15 to date and are very agile Their colours are much lighter than ours too.
Well I say ours they actually belong to the US Airforce not us.
I designed the astronomical clock card without ever seeing it. While on vacation I Actually got to Prague and it is amazing. It is one of my most popular designs. I get a lot of ideas from my travels. Sometimes Im inspire by the stories I hear.
Or a popup card I purchase of a wonderful cathedral. Traveling can be rather inspiring. Ive started back to designing after breaking my shoulder. I hope to have some new products soon.
Im over the moon with this, I lost my dear sister last September from Cancer.. her eldest was going through IVF with his partner but they didnt have any luck with the times they tried.My sister was heartbroken as she really wanted to see them as parents before she left this earth, unfortunately that wasnt meant to be.She told us that once she got to heaven shed sort something out.
We yes she did. Im going to be a great auntie the last try of IVF and shes now expecting!!My darling sister would be such a proud Nanny.
Im just so sorry she never got to see it. But Im sure shes keeping an eye on everything from up above.
Last week I wrote about wanting spring to come early after some cold and frosty weather.Well I think my plants heard me.
The Gerbras are flowering as is the Crucifix orchids and some bromeliads. Most exciting is my King Orchids!
When we moved 3 years ago they not only got disturbed by having to remove them but they got knocked around a bit in our travels.
Ive been hoping theyd survive and pick up and although I had a flower spike last year it seemed they were still struggling.
I am so excited this year as between the two plants I have at the moment 9 spikes coming out.
There is the possibility of a couple more that Im not sure about at the moment but to have 9 so far is fantastic.
I will post down the track when they are all out as they truly do have magnificent flowers.
So I think with this weather and my wish for an early spring it is fantastic that the garden will be looking great even before our official spring which is not until September.
We finally had some hot days last weekend. So we made the most of it and took Billy and Sam to our favourite local beach. We went out nice and early before it got too hot. They couldnt wait to splash into the sea to cool off.
We threw stones for them to chase and Sam had a swim. The cool water looked so inviting that I was tempted to go for a paddle myself. We had a relaxing walk on the grass back to the car, looking at the houses and dreaming of living in one.
Then home for the boys to dry off in the shade.
Let us hope that we get a few more days like this.
… was our wedding anniversary this week and we had a lovely day out together, with a bit of shopping and browsing at a couple of garden centres plus a lovely anniversary meal out at our favourite restaurant.
This restaurant is in a fabulous area for walking with a number of trails meeting and converging in the area so each time we walk we can go a different way.
Our lovely pink rose bush is just outside out front door and is called Anniversary too! lol
The photo is my son in law Paul who is in the RAF. He has a love of sewing of all things. A couple of Christmas ago, for his main gift my daughter bought him an all singing and dancing sewing machine which is what he wanted.
He has a little area in their home for sewing and he really does enjoy it. If things need repairing or costumes to be made for the boys, he is the one to do it. The other day my daughter sent me this picture saying someone is very happy and he had purchased this vintage sewing machine, which still works.
I think this is going to be another thing of collecting. You never know one day it might be the Great British Sewing Bee.
We are in mid Winter here in Australia, but it is the perfect time to start sowing seeds for tomatoes, capsicum and chillies.
What you say, in winter? Yes, that is provided one has a heated propagator or heat mat.
If so, then this is the time to get those little seeds off to a good start and by doing so, come Spring you will have some nice plants ready to go out into the garden for this years summer crops.
Living in Victoria, this is exactly what I have done. I have sown several varieties of tomatoes and capsicum, but only one variety of chilli called Sweet Temptation. Heres to a bumper Summer crop!
Yes it is winter. Yes it is supposed to be cold in winter but our winters are mild compared to other parts of the world so when we get frost it is still something of an eye opener.
When the kids have been going to work in the morning theyve had to de-ice the windscreens on the cars.
Usually Im still nice and snug in bed but Tuesday morning I got up a bit earlier than I normally do and went down to one of the cars and wrote on a windscreen……Signed Jack Frost.
It was that icy that I had to get a stick to actually do it. Weve had frosts previously and just a fingernail would work to scratch the ice but not this time. Of course we dont get snow but also on Tuesday snow fell in Queensland at Spicers Peak about an hour and a half drive from here.
There has been a few places on the border that have had snow flurries at night so its a bit of excitement and I guess a bit of wishful thinking that snow might fall more generally.
A lot of people actually packed the car and drove three hours south where snow has fallen for a few days now.
They are saying we are in for more cold days yet so the fire has been kept going all day this week.
Our grass is dying off from the frost too. Roll on Spring.