This and That

I was really surprised to find the Delphiniums flowering again, although much paler in colour

than last time. They look so dainty and perfectly formed.

I think they are very pretty flowers.

I have ever only grown kale in the winter months previously. Earlier in

summer Mum found a punnet of kale at the hardware store I think it

was. We didn't know how it would go, but thought it was well worth

a shot. Mum kindly shared half the punnet with me. Mine were slow

to get going, but once they started they were well on their way. Mum's

on the other hand were all gone within a few days thanks to some

very pesky bugs. This is a different variety of kale than what we 

usually grow, but it certainly has been nice having fresh kale throughout

the summer months.

The vegie garden has really suffered this summer with the intense heat,

but for whatever reason, the capsicums have been going crazy! We have

harvested so many. We have been eating them fresh in salads, giving them away

and I have also been dicing them up and putting them in the freezer for use

in casseroles in the winter. Quite a lot of them have been sunburnt on one side,

they are mostly the ones I have been freezing, just cut the sunburnt part off and

that goes into the compost or the chooks have been eating them.

It never gets old seeing and taking photos of bees hard at work in the garden :-)

The bottlebrush are just starting to come into flower.

I love this pink one and I noticed the little birds did

too early this morning, they were having a great time

going from one flower to the next.

The roses have done really well this summer coping with the heat and have looked pretty good

most of the summer. A few weeks ago they started to look the worse for wear,

but I noticed this  morning that quite a few of the bushes have buds on them once more.

About a month ago we found ourselves with four new chickens.

This one and the silvery grey I think are definitely hens,

but I fear the other two are roosters!

A little while back I bought a cheap blender. It is only a small one, just

big enough to make one  smoothie. I have been enjoying mixing up

different blends. This one is spinach, mixed berries and chia seeds

and tastes really yummy. I love going out to the garden and picking a

bunch of kale and whizzing that up with some spinach, apple, pear

and the chia seeds. They never come out the same in colour, depending

on how much of each fruit/vegetable is included.

The vegie garden and I are not the only ones that have had enough of this summer, BJ seems to have

struggled with the heat more this year than in the past. I suppose it doesn't help that he is a little bit

overweight. He will also be 13 in two weeks time, so he is getting on in years. Although he does have

his moments where he gives a good imitation of being a young pup again. But it must be all too

much for him and he has to go and have a sleep for the rest of the day to recover!

Five weeks since I was last here. Six weeks of school holidays gone in a blink. Not sure where the time goes or how it can go so quickly, in the blink of an eye. Both children went back to school last Monday, year 10 and year 12 this year. Suddenly I am feeling very old. I haven't blogged because honestly I felt like I haven't really had anything to contribute. Life or maybe it is just me is feeling very ho-hum at the moment. Work has basically dried up. The average seems to be about 2 hours a fortnight and it has been like that since about mid November. I need to find another job, can't very well live on two hours pay. There are no jobs in our little town which means travelling to our neighbouring town. I would love to move, but houses are not selling here. With the extra time on my hands I should be able to get so many more things done, but I haven't. Procrastination seems to be in full force. Having said that, yesterday I made myself write out a to-do list and although not everything was accomplished, probably about three quarters of that list was. So I am thinking I really should get off here and go and write today's list out, and then at least I will be achieving something, instead of wandering around wondering what to do as I have been doing for some time now. I might even find that by doing that I will have something to blog about! I really would like to be here more often and on a regular basis each week. Something to aim for!