Rest of Dec!

Well looking at photos taken but never posted starting from the day AFTER the blog ended is a rather overwhelming experience! There are a lot! In no particular order here is a quick run through of the rest of December 2016.
The sheep were shorn by our lovely shearer Barry.

 Always humorous to watch the confused state of the girls afterwards.

We filled in the sides of the big gypsy wagon (it's STILL unfinished even now but hey, you can't hurry these things!!)

 

Finished (to a point) and painted red........Perfect place for a glass of wine!

And a visit from beautiful Bethie...

 So many places to wine and dine now! Spoilt for choice!

Christmas (judging by my photos) must have been a complete non event! l think we had drinks on Christmas Eve and did nothing on Christmas Day which l would imagine from memory would have been quite nice!!

And the epic arrival on New Years Eve of the Almighty Toze Family. En masse from Queensland and the ACT. Descended on us on the very last day of 2016 for 5 wonderful fun days.

 What a good thing we finished the Courtyard just in time!

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Love

Not Poppy the cow this time but the real thing!!! l seem to have an enormous amount of poppies in the garden this year! Some we brought from our old house, some l was given as seeds. They certainly have taken over somewhat so l will have to be a bit more careful how many seeds l sprinkle next year and make sure l do NOT let them self seed themselves!!

 l love how they shed their petals!

l seem to have hundreds of these pink frilly ones!! All on stakes as they are so heavy and laden down they are falling over!

But the bees love them!!

 

There are about 8 hidden in these frills!!! The buzzing is tremendous!

And without a doubt my favourite! And he hasn't even opened yet!!! Check out this face! Isn't it best!!!

The worlds grumpiest poppy!!!

 

 

Patio Progress!

The past few days ,Geoff and l have put a huge effort and amount of work into the patio area we call the courtyard. Levelling out the dirt..............

Barrowing in load after load of rock dust to bed the bricks in..............

So we could at last start laying bricks!

Eeek!!!! A long way to go!

About 20 at a time was about my limit!

Which got piled up in neat little stacks as Geoff started to lay them down.

Now you might think that a brick is a brick is a brick! But trust me ........... that isn't so!!

We had four pallets all gathered at different times and places over the past year. Some are redder, some are browner, some  have paint on the sides, some are bigger, smaller, narrower, tapered, fatter , thinner............you name it...... it's in these four stacks!

So barrow loads had to be fed off all them at the same time to ensure the same bricks of the same colour didn't all end up in one row or corner!

10 down, 1590  to go! TWICE!!! Into the barrow AND out of it! My poor thumbs!

We had a few interruptions and escaped visitors.....

l think they approved!

And slowly they started to go down.....

Looking fabulous!

l soooooooooo can't wait to get flowers, colour and candlesticks (don't tell Geoff!!) in there!

Waiting for the sand in-between.....

The fun part!! Filling in all the gaps!

Then time for a wine to appreciate our hard work!

Two days in and we have about 400 bricks left to go down. Good job me and him!!!

Love......

The old bike slowly disappearing into the hedge

This massive pink frilly poppy!

My little Lilli with the floppy out tongue...............

The Hay Paddock slowly starting to grow..........

The view out of our bathroom window! So different from the old orchard when we arrived.

And this Clematis.. Daniel Deronda...........l think my love affair with this plant is only just beginning!

This crazy ugly cow!

And the garden............

So many things to love....Lucky me....