Beginning of my garden

It's taken a while, but yesterday I visited a lovely nursery a few kilometres from here and came home with some pots, white snapdragons and a pink geranium (this latter for Emma, who loves anything pink), to put outside my living room:

I also got another couple of plants that were unknown to me - one, a fragrant Mexican orange blossom, to act as a screen between us and the neighbours, in the only bare spot:

and a mandevilla hybrid called Sun Parasol:

I expect this one to climb the stairs, thus hiding the wire balustrade between the pool and the upper deck.


I will look at them every day and get all excited when they begin to grow!  I hope I've chosen things that possums don't like, otherwise they could all disappear overnight!  Maybe I should leave some fruit scraps out as a substitute.  I've never lived with possums before - we often hear them clambering about on the roof or scampering along the deck.


I was very taken by the gentle look in the kangaroo's eyes, Winifred.  It's a wonderful close shot.  Maybe it's mother and joey, both obviously not the least bit nervous of humans.

Another great shot

Christabel, do you recognise this photo from your blog?  I think it's adorable!  Like your father, I'd like you to put the names of the places you visit.  I don't recognise this kangaroo paradise at all.


I was quite surprised when looking in the atlas to see where Estonia is - you'll be surprised, Olga, that I only had the vaguest idea - to discover it is very close to Finland!   So you and Christabel must almost be related :-))  (I bought a globe a few weeks ago for Emma and me to share, but she took it upstairs straight away and I don't like my chances of getting it back!)  


This afternoon when I was at the park with Emma, we spoke to a 19-year-old German au pair with her 6-year-old charge.  It reminded me of Bianka, who came to Australia for her gap year at the same age.  I think it's a wonderful experience for young folk.  But I know how much I would have worried if my 19-year-old had wanted to go to the opposite end of the world.  Fortunately he didn't!  Well, not till he was much older, when he worked in Edinburgh for several months.

Another beautiful picture from Samir

Thank you so much, Samir, for your wonderful photos on Facebook.  I hope everybody will go to your address and look at the Nature section:  www.facebook.com/baralsamir.  It's hard to choose as they are all so delightful, but here goes for today:

How people can get up and make war or commit crimes when there are so many options is beyond me.  Human nature is impossible to understand.

Ohhhhhh, so very beautiful

Winifred, your photos are so, so beautiful and make me want to hop on a plane straight away!  Please keep sending more...UK and Europe have so many old things that we completely lack.  Michael, the photos you send are always wonderful, too.  Frank, please send me more - I love the baby pics, but some of the local area, too, would be nice.  Olga, do you have any of Estonia or Russia I could use here?  This invitation is open to everybody who reads my blog - maybe Tarja and Scott, you could send some of Finland.

Every Friday night I watch a double dose of 'Escape to the Country'.  For those of you who don't know, it's a British TV program about people selling their home in a city and moving to the country.  We get to see the inside of those quaint British houses.  I just adore it!!!!!!!!!!!  I have 'a thing' about houses, gardens and lovely views of the countryside.


About an hour later:  I'm still here at the keyboard, after getting an email message to look at Facebook.  I have to admit I find Facebook terribly confusing but I was delighted to find this beautiful pic from Samir in Nepal and then discovered he has albums of dozens of wonderful pics. I asked him if I can put this one on my blog but can't wait for an answer, as I'm sure he won't mind.

Then another friend, this one from Argentina, started typing away at me, so I had a written conversation with her.  Oh my goodness, the wonders of modern technology!!  Then I came across Christabel's blog with fabulous pictures of her first trip to Australia from Finland.  It's very interesting getting an outsider's view of our country.

I could stay here all day, in touch with people from all over the world.  Simply amazing...

But I have to cook a casserole as friends from Newcastle are coming for lunch tomorrow. Yesterday I had other Newcastle visitors so I made cupcakes!  They nearly all disappeared in an instant!

Learn something new every day!

Some time back I saw a beautiful Chinese film set in a boarding kindergarten.  The children all had split pants and when they wanted to go to the toilet, they squatted over a drain.  I'd never heard of such a thing, so of course googled it and came up with lots of photos.  Here is one:

Tell me, did YOU know about this?

Ordinary life

Ordinary life, is, of course, exactly what I want.  Even so, it's always busy, and just getting through a day is taxing enough.  I recently dragged out all my sewing gear to make this hat for Emma:

She loves pink and flowers, so this fabric was the obvious choice and the reversible side is different coloured stripes (leftover from the summer dress I made her last year).


Frank and Winifred, it's always good to find your comments.


I spoke to the Finnish lass and her grandmother this morning and am looking forward to meeting them both soon.


Am off to HeartMoves (exercise class) shortly, after which I'll take Emma and her hat to the  park over the road.

From the sublime to the ridiculous...

Yesterday I drove two friends from Hornsby to Palm Beach, as far east as you can go.  I loved the fact that ducks wander round freely, drinking from a cut-off milk bottle some thoughtful person has put there for them, at the foot of high hills sprinkled with million-dollar houses.  Check it out for yourself on this website, where you'll get lots of views as well:  
http://www.realestate.com.au/buy/property-house-in-palm+beach%2c+nsw+2108%3b+/list-1

The foundations of this round house amaze me - they look just like matchsticks!


There's no doubt about the ingenuity of mankind.

Spring brings out the best in us all

Had a beautiful weekend - Hugo's birthday on Sat, then lunch chez a friend who lives in a magnificent home overlooking the ocean.  We sat down at table at 1pm and were still there at almost 7pm.  There were 10 of us and we had to shout to be heard, the conversation was so animated!  Here's the view from the balcony of their three-level home::

It was a hazy day, so you can't see the ocean very well, but it's there!  This is where the Hawkesbury River, that begins near our house, runs into the sea.

Here's another pic by a professional:

Where does time go?

While I've been busy doing other things, this blog site has been updated, which probably means I'll get lost.  Anyway, here goes!

So far, so good.  This lovely pic of indoor geraniums belongs to Olga's aunt, who lives in a village in Russia.  I had never seen geraniums indoors before.  I'm planning something colourful for my place, but with little sun till late afternoon it's going to be difficult.


Olga was so impressed with my last blog, she came down by train to visit David Jones to see for herself, and I was more than pleased to go again.  Here are a few more pics:

Winifred and Frank, you've both won prizes for your flowers, but I doubt you have the thousands of dollars of DJs at your disposal!  I don't think anybody could beat this annual show.  I can't even begin to imagine how they do it!  The flowers were just as fresh on Day 10 as they were on Day 1.

Sydney in spring

Every year David Jones puts on a flower show.  No words needed.