final wrap......

Well the posts didn't happen again until yesterday..........Thursday was a big day.........packing the car up and heading off..........I was to tired Friday after work to make sense of words.........

the gardens at Glenrose are beautiful............

you really can't see the cottages as they are tucked away in the gardens...........

love the old milk drums........

nearly forgot to add this top in that I made........I loved this panel and when I saw it at the shop I had to get it..........

there was mention of a Christmas tree farm and Christmas shop on the way home.........

so we met Susan and Maureen there and had morning tea on the way home...........

I've never been to a Christmas shop and it was gorgeous..........

it was a great week away catching up with friends..........

thanks for inviting me girls.....I had a great time and So did Miss Jules.......

Lynda, De, Susan, Me - Sandi - Helen, Miss Jules and Maureen

Toowoomba lookout............Also caught up with a girl friend at Laidley.........Love driving around those intense cropping areas......so productive...........

Since we had some quilt tops finished and he was on the road we stopped in and checked out Jacksons new shop.....He only had his official opening a few weeks ago in his new a bigger building..........House of Jackson...........We also caught up with Annette there.........got talking to much and forgot to take a photo..........

we stopped too much on the way home, caught every red light on the roads works and we were a bit to late but it was a great day...........Miss Jules pick up was not where he was supposed to be so 40 mins later I had dropped her off.......

It was just on 11pm when I crawled into bed..........but so worth the effort.........

numerous delicious food options and meals with friends........6 patchwork shops (some 2-3 times) and 1600kms later we arrived home and hadn't doubled over any roads...........

Catch you later...........

Chookyblue.........

Gardening.....

OMG girls 3 posts in 3 days........world record........

The weekend has been relaxing and busy at times........no visitors......couldn't go away as we have a heifer down that we are lifting........so it's been quiet....

I have needed some quiet time.....

Yesterday we started some gardening....its been terrible.......lost heaps during the drought that was never going to end.....its broken me......my love of gardening has been severely damaged.......

Finally i felt a little inspired to try and tame the garden......working full time in town now days hasn't helped either and a few times the weeds have gotten away...its amazing what you can fit even even when it's flat out here...but when your gone all day it can't happen....but as I'm trying to bring some control to my life I know I always feel better if the lawns are mown and nice even if the house is a mess.......so it's back to trying to get control.........lots of dead trees and bushes need to be removed.......even just to get that done is a big effort........but cutting back some hedges etc and making them tidier was a good start along with whipper snipping and mowing.........more to whipper snip today and all the dead things to remove still but I feel better already......

For the first time in a long time I caught up in blog reading.......some was skimmed and I didn't comment as much as usual but I got thru it........I just couldn't hit "mark all as read" 

Sunset yesterday.....

beautiful....

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue.....

drowned rat............

Found my first Jacaranda flower on the ground this weekend..............

You know what they.............

"when the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here Christmas time is near"

Its a line out of this Christmas carol "Christmas Where the Gum Trees Grow"

(another wild video by me trying to video and feed sheep all at once)

Lets rewind one week...........the Sunday 8th Oct I was feeding sheep and became a drowned rat.............only got 1/2 the sheep fed and down it came for a few minutes............it showered all day..........

AMAZING and GORGEOUS rain.............

We had our biggest fall all year 29mms of rain..........

With a few more bits I think we ended up with 40mms over a few days................AND we have good rain forecast end of this week so fingers crossed it does happen..........there is a green tinge but we need follow up............then a quick heavy inch to run some water into the dams.............

Now I feel like an ad for a body transformation cream/diet..........lol but the garden was looking so dead........I've got a few before (above) and after (below) shoots to see what the rain did to the lawn............

Some of the plants are still having there spring shoot............but I am a little worried about some not actually coming back to life..............

already have a few bushes to pull out..........

Excuse the guinea fowl wandering thru the photo...........

nearly lost my big rose on the trellis.......

It's still got a way to go but OMG 7 days difference in these pics...........

AND now  I have some extra regular bore water for my garden.......

doing cartwheels about that with excitement...........

Amazing hey.........

My reward for walking yesterday afternoon..........

nature is AMAZING.........

one day after the rain there are little green shoots in the paddocks.........

how can that happen so fast..........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.........

Sizzling......

Woo baby it's hot out there............the next week is hell basically...........42-44 now til next Tues at least well that's all I can see the forecast for...........hooley dooley........it will be worse in other places...........I was really hanging out for Feb to arrive with cooler weather and it's going to be way worse............

my poor garden is fried already.......

once the temps are over 40 things get burnt.........no matter how much water some things just don't like it...........my poor aggies that aren't in shade are struggling........I thought they may just survive but with this week it could be the nail in the coffin so to speak.............

I know they grow like weeds in many places but not here.............

Back in November things were looking good.......they had all grown lots since then........the zucchini on the left of the pic had grown heaps and was producing well until the 43-44's a few weeks ago........

Now they are looking so sad.......some I have lost........others probably after this this week will also be gone......they just can't handle this extreme for so long........a day or 2 over 40 is bad but a week over 42 hell............the crepe mytles are flowering nice but also have some burnt leaves............and this is just one patch of the garden.........

I got some Lucy done on a car trip last week.........added the creams to the main block and got three fillers finished.......

my time is taken up with watering and walking in the morning.......but the mornings are closing in so now I have a little computer time until I can see daylight outside...........no street lights here so I have to wait until it is light......

working full time in town at present too...........

busy busy but all good.......

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Jacarandas......

So busy here..........confused with what I have and have not posted so hoping your not bored with more garden shots...........

Some of the big jacaranda trees in the garden.....

yes I did say I have 23 in the garden but I brought 2 more and got them in..........thinking of a couple more spots too but think I will leave any more planting until autumn (unless some rain is forecast) as this week is going to be another scorcher........

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.....

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Garden......

The garden had been getting a big pull into line lately....... It's starting to show.....thankgoodness,.....mind you it is a constant work in progress but if you can stay one step ahead it is much better..........when my lawn is mowed life can feel so much better.......... Still got some work to go but I love going out moving hoses early or late and pulling a few weeds, raking a path or tidying up a bush etc.........to garden out here is a labour of love but it is so worth it........

the moon was still up when I went out this morning.......

the Jacarandas are putting on a gorgeous display......What I went to do was take a pic of the one next to my "Snow in Summer"......

And for once 'snow in summer' is flowering with it..... One is usually finished before the other starts.......I do have an obsession with Jacarandas as I have about 20 to 25 in the garden actually went out and counted 23.......see told you I have an obsession..........Some are a bit younger but they are all flowering now......

snow in summer closer up..........so pretty..........

The Agapanthus seem to be early.... 

Although some are just putting up heads now in other beds.......
This bed needs hay down.........I have a bale at the end of the garden it just has not happened yet.........this bed also contains my zucchinis and button squash and a pumpkin.........

Actually just looking at this geranium but I think I need to move some of it into the aggies..........the colours would be great together........since they are flowering together............

this was a piece of geranium I got from The Vale on our sewing retreat..........with permission of course............it just keeps flowering and flowering........

one of my favourite roses..........ask if you want the name...........

its a "David Austin" Rose.......I lost a couple due to too much bore water on it so being careful in a new spot for this one and using the dam water too.......

Anyway I'm enjoying it so much out in the garden I'm having 'girls drinks' tomorrow night......It's a "neighbours thing"........

Mind you my neighbours stretch a hell of a lot further then yours would but we still call ourselves neighbours...... And that is very special......

Have a great weekend.....

hope it involved lots of secret sewing..........
catch you later...........
Chookyblue............

Keeping the love of blogging alive............

Gardening.....

This red rose is so vibrant............it's "Satchmo" a new rose to my garden...........

A big wilga tree fell down on the back fence in the wind on Saturday...........lucky the fence is not too damaged..............

The garden is looking good..........Jacarandas just starting to get a bit of purple.............aggies throwing heads up everywhere...........

Picked some mulberries for pies............

Summer is here the constant watering has started............

35 forecast for today..........

thats going to be a shock for the system........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Spring where are you?????

So glad you're sharing my excitement about my trip............thanks for all the helpful advice..........me in the city OMG i'm like a fish out of water..............

Some Lucy love arrived in the mail box this week.........i'm naughty as I have a couple to finish from the mail previously............

The chooks are laying so well at the moment............

love it when I have lots of eggs.........

OMG the weather....................the weekend sure did not feel like spring.............where did it go???? I went in search and found some flowers to make me "feel like spring"

some roses are just starting...first one on this young climber but lots of buds nearly ready........

the geraniums are flowering madly..........this one I have now broken a few bits off to spread the brightness around..........

button squash starting to appear..............

yellow gold rush zucchini bursting away too.........maybe eat tomorrow night......

one little sweetbite tomato...........few flowers on other tomatoes too.........

Cedar trees full of flowers and lots of little bush bees buzzing around...........

crimson bottle brush............

love the yellow tips on the ends.........

seaside daisy never disappoints............

a different type of iris to my usuals but it looks great........

Cecile Brunner has the most adorable fragrance...........

And the poor agapanthus have no idea whats going on.....really they are about a month or more early..............heads coming up everywhere..............

just starting to burst open...........

no pic but  I have a chrysanthemum starting to flower also that should flower in May.........

anyway I felt better once I found all these lovely blooms but gee it was a bit chilly...............and since we have cleaned out the fire I was not going to relight it but I did seriously consider it until I thought about doing the big end of season clean out and I saw sense........cool chilly Sunday saw me spend most of the day on the lounge as the hayfever has been knocking me around..........I go for so long then I need a stop day as exhausted.........

Anyway spring will be back tomorrow by the looks of the temps so i'll survive............

whats flowering in your garden this spring????

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.........

"Keeping the love of blogging alive"