What's happening today

spring freesias from our garden 

favourite nasturtiums on kitchen bar

this sleepy Dexter face on the couch

Having a lovely day here - after big storms yesterday!

cheers for now Wendy 

Unforgettable

Anyone with child/ren will relate to this I’m sure.  Or even those who don’t!

I wonder if you remember the first full sentence your child spoke?   I remember very clearly as our son was in the child seat in the back – “What’s for dinner tonight Mum??”

Now bear in mind that he was (and still) is our only child.  Of course it goes without saying that of course he was (and still is) the cutest, most intelligent, kind, loving helpful child on the planet ... yada yada!

I’m sure he was about two years old, give or take, and had been talking lots but had not actually strung a sentence together.  I can remember hearing that cute little voice from the back seat and being shocked to the core.   What did you say?  How did he know how to put those words together?  Amazing!  Say it again son, that’s fantastic!!   

Fast forward another 16 or so years. He is now 18.5 years old. He has a very much deeper voice.  Have a guess what I have been hearing nearly all of those 16 years – and even more and more of these days?

What’s for dinner tonight Mum?  He is on an extreme fitness curve and apparently has to eat every three or so hours.  Oh – and this is on a Paleo diet, so if I’m not cooking, I’m spending more and more time and money hauling carnivore type food into the house!

Before anyone gets too upset, he does cook at least 3 out of 4 meals himself.  He does clean up the kitchen. He does help unpack the car.  He is on Uni break and he and I seem to be spending more time together than ever before – and food and menu planning keeps getting mentioned in the conversation a lot.

 

However on the plus side, this time last year he was at Gold Coast Schoolies.  So I can only thank our lucky stars that it is all over.  Sending kind thoughts to any parents who are going through it at the moment.    Not good for parents well-being at all.  Anyway, that’s done and dusted and it doesn’t seem to have changed him significantly.  I think he was just glad to get home to some decent food.

Thankful too that our son has finished Year 1 of University - he has changed to a Business degree and it really fits him well.   I didn’t think that he was an Engineer somehow.  So many of his friends have dropped out from various courses, we are pleased that he has at least finished first year.

And this framed stitching is a pickup from the local oppy some months ago?  Still showing it's $4 price tag.  For some reason it ‘spoke’ to me, maybe it reminds me of myself.  Maybe it reminds me of the queue up in the kitchen sometimes. 

I got in touch with my latent creative side and painted and stamped the frame.  Not that it looks much better, but I’m so over brown in this ‘80s house that I change everything I can.  Not permitted to paint the walls apparently (according to husband)  though we do talk about it at times.

 

Just a couple of gratuitous snaps of Dex, just necause he is so cute and at least he still lets me cuddle him!

{  Jo if you happen to be reading this - I know that our son is getting closer and closer to leaving home, so I'll be back reading this post again then!}

Cheers for now

Wendy 

So retro

Keep your eyes on the prize.  That gorgeous retro stool
which used to look like this when we picked it up from a roadside collection spot.  Unwanted.

No - not that gorgeous (tacky)  flooring which has been on our floor since we bought the house back in 1991.  Actually it has possibly been on the floor since the house was built in 1980.

I guess I could have been creative and done something with it myself in my own amateur fashion.  However I bit the bullet and decided to get these two chairs professionally reupholstered.

Silly me - no before photos of them, even though they have been in my possession for a long time.  Came from my uncle's estate.  Think cream vinyl.  Not in bad condition, but since we had moved them out into the lounge I decided to get them fixed up all fancy.  I loved this fabric as soon as I saw the sample.  It is Warwick 'Gillespie Berry'.  Love it.

Dexter can look - but not touch!

We are really happy with the result, my local upholsterer did a great job - and said I could throw in the stool to the package - so I was even happier! 

Apologies for the bad photos - taken on my iphone at night.  Probably not a good idea.

... and the chairs fit in well with this chair that I wrote about back in 2011.

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I've jumped on the Bloglovin stand - not really sure how it all works, but time will tell!

cheers for now

Wendy 

cold and chilly for SEQ today

Well not as cold as other parts of the country today - or NZ for that matter!

However, it was a low temp day today - grey and bleak.

Dexter doesn't miss a chance to snuggle up that's for sure!

We had a lovely couple of days away, back home now.  Husband has the horrible cough that is doing the rounds and spent a nice day by the fire.

Hope all is well in your part of the world - and it's Winter Solstice isn't it?

Cheers for now
Wendy

Shake a Tail Feather

Well it’s been a long time between chicks - they are well and truly hatched.  Fifteen in total – 10 to creamy hen and 5 to little black/brown hen.  Sorry to have kept you all in suspense.

The eggs were all mixed up, so I think each has a mix from all the hens.  They are all going well, so well that they are now nearly getting close to a one month old and have tail feathers!

The funny part  is that hubby made me a temporary divider in the nursery wing.  Little brown/black hen used to be one of my favourites, and I’d often pick her up and carry her around.  However, now she has turned into psycho mama.  

Here she is giving me the eye, planning an attack.

I have to walk through her pen to get to the other one, and I have taken to wearing gum boots and gloves just to attend to food and water for them!  However, she is settling down a bit now that chicks are a bit older.  Just a protective mama I guess.

As indeed I am.  Our son  has almost finished Grade 12.  He had his last full day of school yesterday, and just 3 exams over the next 2 weeks.  Only has to attend school on those days.  Then final chapel assembly  on the 16/11...... then it’s over.  Sigh.  Big sigh.  I was only just getting used to him being in Grade 12 – and now it is over!!

 (Coffee trees in flower again).

The school Formal has been and gone followed a few days later by ....Graduation.  We were involved – but only in a small way.  Nice to see them all glammed up.

It just all goes so fast, that’s the problem!

And these two ... what can I say?  I'm tempted to caption this snap Dumb and Dumber.  However, that would be unkind.

... to Dexter at least.  His label would read I'm a Terrier and Cannot be Trusted near Fast Moving Objects (this includes chickens) and have to be tied up.



Angel however had just walked into Dex's lead where he was tied....... and stopped.  If she could have marched in place. she definitely would.  I leave you with that thought.

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cheers for now
Wendy

**Anne** - yes they are all cute when they’re little aren’t they?!

 

quinn – it all worked out in the end.  I separated the two hens once the chicks  started hatching.  She didn’t seem too upset about missing out.   Next time, I won’t let that situation develop though.

Coal Valley View – I hope you get some chickens one day Mel, I’m sure your kidlets would love them.

veggiegobbler – sorry to have kept you in suspense for so long VG!  A happy result in the end, apart from Psycho Chook!

Yellow

Linking in with Evi at Sister Sun with her colour theme.  This week it is yellow.

Yellow doesn’t seem to be my favourite colour.  I thought that I wouldn't have many photos taken in this theme.

However, looking through some older ones, I found these -

 

 This is our pedal boat in the dam. We have had lots of fun with this, although it has sunk a couple of times!

 taken at Roma Street Parkland some time ago


....and just having a walk around the yard I found these -

 

The toy belongs to Dexter (the dog).  One ear is noticably missing, but the rest intact.  Surprisingly he has had this since he himself was a puppy!

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Evi's post is lovely – uplifting and bright - hop over and have a look.

Cheers for now

Wendy

Still Around!

Thanks so much for the comments on the last post.  I'm still here, still around and still able to comment on other blogs - just not too much activity on this one.  We are limping along, hooked up to the old laptop which has limited abilities. ... which unfortunately includes not having a photo card slot?!?

So until such time as as old/new computer is up and running, readers will have to put up with the limited old  photos that were stored on the laptop.  All very basic I'm afraid!

This is Dexter aged about one year old I would say.  The double chinned wonder holding him is now incredibly tall, lean and handsome (you just have to take my word for it).  He would never be seen in a shirt like this, that's for sure.

I'd like to thank whatever lucky star was shining on me the day I approached my old boss to let him know that I was looking for work and to let him know that I needed him as a referee.  He emailed back to say that he might be able to offer some part time work.

Not really the exact work I've done before, but hey who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks.   Nothing like being thrown in the deep end and pretending you know what you are doing!!

So I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity and will just wait and see how it pans out.  The downside is that it is a 1.5hr commute each way (!?!?) but I'll be catching the train and catching up on my reading as well.  This situation may or may not work out, but at least it is throwing me back into the current workforce which will look a lot better on my CV.

Chooks, dogs and to a certain extent, family willl have to struggle on the best they can. It may be a wake up call for certain members of the family (not mentioning any names of course).

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We have a new addition to the chook yard in the form of a peacock.  Well peahen I think.  It just turned up one day and has made itself at home.  It nests high in the trees at night.  Does anyone have any experience with them?  Would it just be looking for company and/or food?   I've been giving it some grain and it has water access.  I'm guessing though that it is looking for a mate.  We only have Little Dandy the bantam rooster, sorry Ms Peahen.  

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Cheers for now - I think I will go back to commenting on comments, it seems more personal.
Wendy

Morning Walk (Part 2)

I've realised that I didn't continue the post about my Morning Walk - here is Part 1.

The first part of the walk takes in the 'rural' aspect.   I enjoy walking past our neighbouring acreages, most of them being between 5 and 10 acres in size.  Not a lot has changed in this part recently.  The ones who live on these blocks are seemingly like us - enjoying the natural surrounds.

Continuing this walk to the end of the street I can access the park.  It has a concreted track which is open at two street frontages, and it also loops around through the park.   It is (I'm guessing) about 10 acres.

This particular park however,  is a little different from most. 

This is what makes it different.  An innovated person in local Council some years back decided to do things a little differently.

Half the park is mown, with large groupings of native plants, heavily mulched and thriving.

Effectively in the middle, there are the usual park settings of swings and BBQ seating.

However, on the opposite side, land has been left to re-vegetate.  Of course, this area would have already been cleared of a lot of heavy timber many years ago.

 

 

 

The most exciting part for me is to see, over the years - how the natural area of the park has evolved. More and more birdlife is becoming apparent, along with other native wildlife.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that there are very few areas for little birds to hide when all the undergrowth is cleared from properties.  The little finches are just amazing, but of course I wasn't able to take photos - they are way too fast for me!

A few people I have spoken to on my walks have mentioned 'the lack of mowing' in this section of the park.  What about the snakes?  What about fires?  To my uneducated eye though, it appears that this section of the park is just how things should be in the natural balance of things.  

There is a low lying swampy area. 

Swaying grasses for the seed eating birds like eastern rosellas and others to feed on.

 a nicely undulating hill with scrubby trees like Black Wattle

Plus ones that have been planted to show what used to grow in the area before clearing, like this Blue Gum.

I guess we are pretty fortunate to live where I can enjoy this walk daily.  All in all it is a nice morning walk - a bit rural and a bit civilised.  Dexter likes it too.

I would encourage you to photograph your daily walk.... I know that not everyone has rural surrounds, but it is amazing how different things look when you take photos of the everyday.  I know that just by taking these photos, my eyes have been opened a little more.

Take some photos of your everyday walk and feel free to link back to here!

Cheers for now - Wendy

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saving for travel - I'd be happy to send the snake skin onto you SFT - if you can clear it with Customs first!

**Anne** - chickens are always so cute aren't they - just have to keep them apart from the snakes.  I think we have the pens snake proof (I hope!) now

Fi - I agree with the snake sentiment - &  I can understand why NZ is nice on so many levels!

Shaheen - thanks for the push about my other blog which I haven't started yet!  I will get onto it soon I promise.

Kim - I'm surprised your bantams aren't clucky Kim.  Surely it will happen soon?  when the weather warms up more maybe.

Gooseberry Jam  - yes, she's a very clucky hen and a very good mother too.  Sounds like someone I know!

muppy - yes - absolutely to both!