June 2017

June......definitely Winter. Still a rose, but with ice frosting on it by the looks of it!

And bird feeding time to keep the little Silver Eyes going over the coldest months..

And STILL l had hollyhocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But not much else.............as along came Mr Frost!

And over night my Nasturtiums went from this..............

To this..........but at least it meant l could finish the lattice painting!

l thought l didn't fill the pond till later but it looks like it all happened in June.......

I used bidum to underlay the pond ( a very strong weaved fabric they use in drainage systems) . This was to stop stones piercing the pond liner when the weight of the water fills every nook and cranny.

And then in went the pond liner and in went the hose! Scary! All that work and you don't quite know HOW it's going to turn out!

And the WORST thing was I had to keep getting in to pull a crease out here, or nip and tuck a bit there.......and it was June.......and it was cold...........no, it was FREEZING...........and I remember wondering why l didn't do this in the warmer months......

And then around went the rocks............

And it was done!

Then the gravel arrived.......

And the gravel paths got laid..............

With excess biddum used as weed mat... 

And it finally all came together!!! And it looked brilliant!

Then it froze!!!!

But it did look beautiful and l was very happy!!

As the Sun DOES always shines at SOME stage in Winter......

And it is all so pretty....

And it's bonfire time!

Fires get lit up in every corner of the place . Piled up from the Summer or the Autumn before..

Made easier with our brand new ride on mower!

Which Lilli thought was quite exciting!

But not as comfortable as her new bed she got in June to compensate for ALL  the attention the poor old cat was getting!

WHO incidentally was NOT impressed by her new June  forced exercise regime

 Have YOU ever tried to take a cat for a walk????   

But for June she got to go outside. In some huge elaborate cat run we made her on the front veranda.

It worked a treat. She got to sit on the veranda and watch the birds.......

And walk a bit

And walk back..........

And forth...........

And then curl up on a cushion in the sun until it was time to come in at night.

She wasn't really impressed but it sure was better than the month before!!

 

May 2017

May and the weather starts to cool. l built a sort of return for the duck shed in the corner of the Pond Garden. Just a wooden wall really...

With a window.....Looking out...........

And looking in............

 And painted it dark grey. Still a bit scruffy at this stage.........

The trees began to really put on a show and seeing these photos make me look forward to the next month or so very much! l do love Autumn.

 

And unlike this year, last year we were still awash with hollyhocks! This year they faded away months ago!

 And lots of other colour..l think these got killed in the frost too! 

And this!!

So beautiful.............

And such fun mowing the lawns this time of year!!!!

The ducks looked like they really enjoyed the month of May!!!!!!!! I do wonder about them sometimes! They have ponds, creeks, rivers and grassy paddocks galore to sit in and they choose this??

And someone who definitely DIDN'T enjoy May was poor little Pushka who got hung up in a picket fence (we assume) and very badly tore her cruciate ligament. Operated on and then cage confined for a month (then room confined for two more months!). This photo was taken by the lovely surgeon who sent it to me on my phone the minute she woke up from the anaesthetic.

So the rest of May she spent in this......

The cage ended up on a table so she could look out of the window. She was such a good girl and was remarkably patient and calm the entire time.

And to commiserate over the enormous vet bill l obviously went out and bought THIS !! Which l do absolutely LOVE!

So an expensive month but worthwhile Pushka has made an excellent full recovery and shows no signs of soreness or lameness . What this Winter will bring though we shall wait and see. No doubt she will be spending a lot of time keeping warm in front of the fire. 

 

 

 

April 2017

Beautiful April... A lot colder and more advanced last year maybe compared to this year. We are still having relatively mild mornings and nights.

This particular Maple Tree is not even hinting of turning this amazing shade of red yet.........

And the shrouding mythical mists we love so much have yet to eventuate...

The Pond Garden took on the look of a construction site as the bridge (well it's a pretend bridge really) went in and l tried to determine what way to put the rails....

 

This way won!

As these guys looked on..............

This stunning row of Salvias were absolutely magnificent until a heavy frost at some stage came along and completely killed the lot of them in one fell swoop! A good lesson to learn for me about putting all my eggs in one basket as far as plants go!

This year the same flower bed ended up a riot of colour, filled with Nasturtiums, Lupins, Poppies, you name it....l found a seed l chucked it in!

It has been fabulously colourful all year...and hopefully (unlike my poor Salvias) most will reappear next year!

Talking of colour........The Walnut Tree started to shed its harvest........... leaves........

And Walnuts galore !

And it was April that l obviously decided my garden wasn't big enough and started on the driveway........

 

Both sides..............

THEN decided THIS side wasn't big enough............

 

And made it bigger.........

And l definitely remember planting a tree (a poplar) and wrenching all these rocks out of one very tiny hole!!

l hope the tree appreciated it!!!

The Forestry Fires began and the sky (as it is this year) filled with smoke.

And turned everywhere a slightly surreal shade of orangey pink

Horrible but always pretty at the same time.

And THAT was April!!