Graduation- Where Did Those Twelve Years Go?

I finally realize what Mum was talking about when she said, "Enjoy the children while they're little as they don't stay that way for long".Here is a photo of my dear little Isaac when he was at kindergarten. How on earth could he be old enough to have just finished twelve years of school? But that, he has.

Last Wednesday night was formal night for Isaac. The lead up was quite exciting- buying Isaac's first suit, arranging flowers and a cool car, choosing just the right shoes. He was quite certain that he wanted to get everything just right for his lovely girlfriend and date, Chiara.

Photo: Toowoomba Chronicle

Chiara looked very beautiful in her exquisite dress and her hair was
amazing. They looked so nice together.

Such a happy and fun occasion. There were so many pretty girls in beautiful dresses, dashing young men in stylish suits and flash cars. It almost felt like Hollywood.

Then on Friday, Isaac had his graduation ceremony. He has done remarkably well at school with surprisingly little effort and is going on to do an IT degree.

We are so very proud of him as he is also a very caring, affectionate and responsible young man who has an incredible imagination that keeps life interesting. As a little boy he was very well spoken from a very early age and would go out of his way to speak to anyone who had an ear to hear. I use to have to allow more time whilst out shopping as Isaac would often spend a lot of time talking to elderly gentlemen. Everyone who new him said he was an old soul. His doctor thought that he would end up in politics. As he has gotten older though he has become more reserved and isn't the chatterbox he once was.

Congratulations on your graduation Isaac, you have done so well!Love to you and may your future bring you all the happiness you deserve, Mum and Dad.

I Did It!

You may recall a couple of posts ago my hesitation at chopping off these beautiful artichoke buds to eat. Well....I did it! I did however leave the largest, most juiciest bud to flower. I just HAD to.

Now I am looking forward to cooking these up in some garlic butter and serving with some feta and spinach pie.

I'll let you all know how it goes. I've only cooked artichokes once before and they were delicious, so here's hoping! *Bon apetite*

Shabby Find

Wandered over to our local markets yesterday and found this wonderfully pink, shabby, cane rocking chair. The stall that I bought it from (should have a picture!) is full of all manner of shabby things in the prettiest colours. Beautiful old tablecloths, china and pieces of furniture. I could honestly say that I love everything she sells.

I spotted the rocking chair from afar and was immediately drawn to it. I didn't have to think twice when John said, "Do you want to get it?" YEY!

It is going to live on our little back, shady deck but we are in the process of painting it so I thought it would be lovely to sit in up in the top garden....AND it sure was!

Garden Sanctuary

Garden Sanctuary
You who walk,

Maybe with troubled thoughts,

Come, enter here and rest;

And may the sweet serenity of growing things,

And the heavenly,peace

Be mirrored in they soul.

-Doxis M. Palmer

There are certain times of the day when the garden takes on a SOUL of it's own. You know what I mean? A quiet calm comes over it. A stillness. Even when there is a gentle breeze. It's usually in the late hours of the day or the first few hours when the sun has been up just a little while and before the sun's rays are getting a little too hot just before midday.

It's these times that I love most in the garden. Only too happy to take the long way around back to the house after getting my first load of washing on the line for the day.

Sometimes it's good for the soul to take the long way.

Good Rain and Gardens

I'm sure that everyone knows by now that once spring comes AND we have had some good rain, I can't help but post about the garden.
Everything is starting to flourish now. We had just started to get very dry here and I was starting to get a little sad about my poor plants trying to push out their new spring growth with no moisture to support it. Some years the new growth has been scorched off....VERY SAD!
It seems by these photos that I only grow pink flowers but you can be sure that I have a garden full of every imaginable colour.
Down in the picking garden, the globe artichokes are starting to look very architectural with their deeply cut large grey leaves. It so exciting when they start to bud but I must confess that I find it very hard to pick the main bud to eat as the flowers are so miraculous. A giant purple thistle!

They do taste good though done in garlic butter. Oh the dilemma!

Yesterday I finally managed to mulch the vegetables to keep that lovely rain in the ground for a little longer. It really makes a difference especially when the temperature starts to soar.

The young bean plants are getting a real grow on now and the herbs are looking nice and fresh.

Back to the garden for me. Have a happy week, A.

School Holidays

We have been enjoying school holidays the past one and a half weeks. Late nights, catching up with family, sleepovers and the odd outing. AND best of all, NO SCHOOL LUNCHES to make. I don't know why I dislike it SO much but I do. Could be something to do with the fact that I often skip lunch so having to make everyone else's....yuk. Sounds rather pathetic really.

We had a bit of a snow storm, or should I say, blossom storm on the back deck one evening. It was such a pretty sight. There was a mean wind during the night and we awoke to snow and mist swirling about the garden in a very magical way. The sun was starting to come up so all the water droplet lined spider webs were like jewelled nets throughout the garden....PRETTY!

We had mum and dad's new little dog, Ellie, stay with us for the first week . She's such a cute little thing but obviously felt very guilty about sleeping in one of my little gardens. She's also a little camera shy which didn't help. I had such a hard time getting a photo of her. I managed to get the meter box painted with the chalkboard paint. Unfortunately the day was hot and windy so the paint was drying too fast and now there are a few blotchy bits in it. Oh well, it will do. Next time I think I'll wait for a better day. Live and learn.
Happy days, Angela.

AAAHHHH Spring!

Well spring has arrived so Poppy and I have been enjoying as much time outside as we can. Fortunately, this has amounted to quite a bit of time as I have mostly been at home this week and the days are now longer. So much better than in winter.

This is a little screeny sort of thing that I made (with John's help) to hide some of the workings below the electricity meter- never a very pretty place. I'm actually considering painting the actual front of the meter box in chalkboard paint so I can write some more of my favourite quotes on it as it is in the area of my new loveseat. What do you think?

I will gradually add more things to the screen as appropriate and I'm sure that it will soon be just right.

Happy Spring and Autumn, Angela.

Spending Time in Boxes

Isn't it nice to have one of those weekends when nothing is planned and you just let it unfold and take it as it comes? Sometimes I think that we are making our lives far too busy and tend to miss these sorts of times. It seems so very easy to clutter lives without even trying and to nurture a feeling of, "I MUST be doing something." I often feel that too many things are planned for children and then their lives are totally consumed by it. We have tried so very hard not to clutter our lives too much. Kids need to be able to spend time playing, lying on blanket under a tree, sitting staring into space....they need alone time. They need to be able to spend time in a box if they want to for no good reason at all other than it's fun. Sam did just that for a couple of hours this weekend. Oh he wasn't just completely idle in the box. He was hand fed cereal, consumed a small bottle of milk and had a much needed sing-a long to his favourite requests that his very patient mother played on the computer.

The hole in the box that I had to feed him through was not this big- I WISH! It was about the size of a letter box slot! This was just before he had exploded out of the box like the incredible hulk!

The best thing about this box as far as I was concerned is that it had an iron love seat in it. On dusk about a week ago, I opened the back door only to find a sheepish looking John with a very large box. He was about to hide it when I caught him in the act. What a nice surprise!

Now I have something else to play with in the garden.
I've always wanted a loveseat.
I have decided to have a "love"theme in this area of the garden and I found this wonderful idea on another blog....if only I could remember where I was at the time. They had painted a terracotta pot with chalkboard paint and written the name of the plant on it. I have used mine to write a verse from Shakespeare's' "Romeo and Juliet",

Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!

For I ne're saw true beauty till this night.

A happy week to everyone, Angela.

Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood?

My lovely neighbour Sonja stopped by the other day with this beautiful bunch of roses for me in appreciation for taking care of one of her little ones (she has five) for a couple of hours. How nice is that?!

Our neighbours are some of the nicest and most interesting people that you will ever come across. We all get on like a house on fire. You know, one of those neighbourhoods where it's not unusual to get a phone call asking for a cup of sugar, or "do you have sage growing in your garden?"and the occasional, "I think I just saw your little Timmy (our Shetland) in Jay-Jays paddock....is he supposed to be there?".

I think because we are all on five acre lots out of town we all seem to be "doing" people who have come to the same conclusions about how life should be....raising a family on the edge of the bush with plenty of space to do things for kids and adults alike.

There's a fitter and turner and an engineer who are forever inventing and actually making whatever they dream up and want to have a go at. They are very successful at what they do. There's a physiotherapist, a retired English professor (I had better spell that correctly) and a retired panel beater who does up old cars and racing cars and is so fastidious that you could eat off his shed floor.....if you wanted to that is.
Then there are the gardeners. Almost everyone along our end of the street love gardening on a grand scale and so were drawn to the size of our blocks. The soil is friable and volcanic and the climate is quite mild. We often get more rain along this range than places just 10 kilometres either side of us. AND we get fog which also helps to keep the place wetter.

It's a quiet road where families meet up for barbeques or tennis and bike riding on the road. A place where happy memories are made. And its name? What else but....HAPPY VALLEY ROAD.

Market Days

Look at these beautiful pinks John bought for me at the Sunday market! Despite the day being rather cold, we ventured out quite early (while the kids were still in bed I might add) for a leisurely walk around the markets. Because of the wealth of fresh fruit and vegetables the place is just buzzing with people even from early in the day. It's also good for old wares/junk and plants. In fact, I think I've probably bought most of my plants at the market. Many of which are sold by little old ladies and gentlemen. These are the sorts of old-fashioned plants that you can't even find in nurseries.

John found for himself an old chair just right for at his little desk. It's an ex-government one and has a rusty old plaque on the back proudly boasting the fact.

Lastly, a quick snap of the oh-so-wonderful little laptop that I now have that has made blogging and life so much easier.

I also love to move furniture around and always did even as a little girl. It can take a lot of mental gymnastics to come up with a satisfactory change when room is limited and there's an unmovable fireplace in the way. So this is where my desk ended up and I hope one day soon to have an inspiration board on the wall above it as it is somewhat bare at the moment.

Bye for now, Angela.

Out in the Garden Again!

It's such a beautiful day once again that I feel I must go out in the garden.

A quick dash around the house first so that all is well when I do finally wander wearily back inside.

Every winter/spring I look forward to the arrival of polyanthus in the nurseries. They are such pretty, "happy"flowers and remind me that spring is soon to be upon us.

This year, I had this lovely little glasshouse ( a gift ) to keep my polyanthus happy. I think it may have helped when we had sleet last week. Sleet is not something that we usually have in this part of the world. Boy was it COLD!

Good Times

Yes, I am still here!

I'm sorry for neglecting everyone but I do have a good excuse.

My dear John has been on 4 months long service leave and it has thus far been quite a wet winter. Needless to say, I have been enjoying John's company maybe a little too much at the expense of time spent with my friends and I have also been in the garden most days.

Oh but what fun I have been having!

I'm afraid that I have been reading everyone's blogs but in my haste have not been commenting. So brace yourselves....any day now I will, in theory, have a lovely chat to everyone. Something that I have missed.

This weekend my oldest son Isaac will be turning 17 so I think I'm in for a busy, but fun, one. I always look forward to spoiling the kids on their birthdays and often do things that you would probably normally do for a much younger child. When I was putting some party things through the checkout recently for Sam and Erica's 13th and 15th birthdays, the checkout boy said, "A party this week hey? Let me guess....is it for a 7 and 9 year old?!"Oh well they don't seem to get embarrassed about it and they're only kids for such a short time.

Speaking of Isaac's birthday, I'd best be off and hit the shops.

Happiness to you, Angela.