It's been a big year...

Merry Christmas Dhaaarlings...

The Empress and I would like to wish you all the very best for the 

Christmas Season...

It seems to have been a very difficult year for both of us with one thing and another.

The Empresses health remains fine apart from the odd bloodpressure anomally which is rectified with a review of he medications.

As for me i'm still struggling with Chronic Fatigue following a bout of Glandular Fever and recurrent chest infections. But I'm slowly comming good.

Me being unwell as you might imagine gets the Empress worried too...

On good days we are able to lose ourselves in the garden and for either of us on not so good days... getting out of bed is not the priority...

Finally last month I managed to meet with the theatre group director and after a four hour discussion have come to the decision that i will be taking an indefinite break from costuming... I figure that the stress and lack of support and the inability of the director to address any of my concerns over several years now is not worth persisting with. It is not good for my health and wellbeing.

So i'll be taking at least a 12 month break... Sadly she still doesn't get it and recently asked if I'd like to make just one or two specific costumes for the show next year!!!

Sweetcorn and Cucumbers

Tomato and Beans

In other news the Vegie patch is coming along nicely, harvesting beans, sno peas, Silverbeet, Lettuce, Zucchini and a variety of herbs. 

Fresh Peppermint Tea Anyone?

We have had some lovely pots of Peppemint tea made fresh from the herb patch.

The tomato plants are thriving along with the sweetcorn and cucumbers but are nowhere near harvesting as the days remain comparitivly cool... we need some extended sunshine to get them to colour up.

Yesterday i planted up a "New Bath"... (one of two recently procured from the tip recycleing shop for the bargain price of $20 a piece)... of Asian Greens, including Bok choy, Chinese cabbage so It might be a week or two before I can whip up a little stir-fry.
I've also put in two different types of Aubergine/Egg plant. I've never grown them before so am interested to see how they go...

In another Plant Nursery hunt.... the most recent of many over past months...  i finally had a win!

As you probably know... My most favourite rose of all time finally succumbed to the dreaded "Black Spot" virus. I've been searching every nursery that i manage to find in the hope that they might have a replacement and until yesterday i'd not had much luck at all...

But there hidden back behind a clumped arrangement of Standard and bush roses was the solitary beauty i'd been seatching for...

A  climbing "Black Boy" rose 

My heart skipped a beat... Then i noticed that the poor little darling had several spotty black and yellow leaves...
My heart sank... Bloody black Spot!

On making enquiries with the sales staff as to wether they would discount for a diseased plant... I got the reply from the spotty teenager behind the counter of...

 "No... cos...  all our roses have got a disease Mister"

 I asked to speak to someone more senoir so the manager was called over.
 I said... 
"Your young salesman here just told me that i couldn't get a discount on this rose that has "black spot" as he tells me that all your roses have diseases... I just wanted to check that this information was correct"...

 The manager looked quite horrified and whilst looking daggers at the young sales assistant... appologised profusely and immediately knocked $10 off the price... I thanked him for his business accumen.

This reduced it to almost half price and i figured that if i got the little darling home and gave it a  good treatment it might just survive it's ordeal....
And so might I!

So there you have it... I've a new rose for Christmas and it has been sprayed and fed and watered....
One of those bed bases looks like it may just come in very handy afterall..

Merry Christmas eveyone and Happy New Year! 

What! Take a Photo of Me?

Hello Dhaaarlings...

My recent adventure to the Melbourne Zoological Gardens was just delightful.

Everything was over priced particularly food and drinks as can be expected these days... I hadn't been to the zoo in over 25 years and was astounded by how much has changed... for the better i might add... from an animal welfare perspective. The enclosures are larger for the animals and a lot more natural with large areas of grass, soil and plantings of vegetation and waterways... but mor of that later...

For this post... I've decided to share with you some of the "more obscure" and "less famous" critters in captivity...

So here we go darlings...

Green Tree Frogs...

As you can see... I tended to focus on little critters... 

More frogs...

A fresh water crocodile...

A groovy green lizard...

A stealthy Chameleon... I assumed he was was alive... he didn't move his body at all... but I did see his eye madly wiggling about...

Angel fish..

An upside down Sea Horse...

A schoal of Whiting and other salt water dwellers...

Two sad looking "Fairy" Penguins... Oops... I'm not mean't to call them "Fairy" Penguins any more... Apparently the homosexuals amongst them took offence and now wish to be known as "Little" Penguins.... 

Had I been a homosexual penguin looking for a "Less offensive" name... I think I would have gone with  "Cheerful" "Flamboyant" or even "Well Hung"  Penguin... Certainly not "Little"

An endangered "Corroboree" frog

Some Iguana

Some sort of Python... Lets call him "Monty"...

And an adveturous dare devil tortoise...

And an even bigger daredevil... what a show off!...

A snake... But I didn't hang about to catch it's name...

Another lizard of some sort...

Looking quite regal perched upon his royal log... 

The tortoise race seemed to take forever...

A cute little bulldozer... or rather a Wombat

Another lizard...

A Kookaburra

And finally... a festering Baboon's arse...

So there you have it... Many of the little known attractions at the Melbourne Zoological Gardens...

Next time I might show you some of the bigger creatures that I also managed to snap on my adventure... Just for your entertainment darlings...

More Backyard Bloomers...

Hello Dhaaarlings...

Princess has continued to remain busy despite trying to slow down...

Over the past few weeks the palais grounds have been snipped, slashed, pruned back, weeded, mown, raked, fed and watered, dug up and replanted to within an inch of it's life... and is now looking more like a garden again rather than an overgrown jungle of weeds and neglected plants...

Even Spot did some supervising...

It's been hard work but I'm feeling good and after 10 trailer loads of green waste have become best friends with the person on the gate at the local tip/green waste recycling centre...

Pots of colour have been splashed about and for some reason the Nasturtiums have gone quite mad this year and are a blaze of reds and golds... they are the biggest they have been in many years. They seem to be rampant self sowers and are turning up in places they have never been before...

At least the orchard is looking neat and tidy... even if the Apricot is struggling with fruit this year... We got pruning a little late...

The roses have been a picture... "Blue Moon" continues to climb over the arbour but sadly I lost my favourite "Black Boy" Climber. It finally succumbed to the dreaded "Black Spot" despite regular spraying... but it put up a valiant struggle right until the end... You can see what is left of it in the picture above with "Spot" the dog supervising... It will be getting dug out and replaced with another very soon...

The pink climbing rose "Leonardo de Vinci" has been a stunner this year but is somewhat shaded out by the Apple Tree...

The Vegetable patch had been very neglected and most of the bathes were only growing weeds over autumn and winter...
But now look at them..

Sno Peas Chard/Silverbeet and varieties of minuette lettuce

Many of the lettuce are self sown from last years crop going to seed and are also popping up all through the surrounding lawn areas... 

A bath full of Zucchini/Courgette with a self sown Tomato... Sweetcorn and  Lebanese Cucumbers in the bathe to the right...

The first of the Purple Dwarf Bush Beans are just starting to reach harvesting size... 

Sharing a bath with climbing string less beans that are engaged in a battle with the Wisteria for territory on the climbing frame... (Between you and me the Wisteria is in for a pruning tomorrow)

The bed base in front of the beans and tomato plants is one of two that I scored for free that were on their way to the tip.

I think they will make a terrific climbing frame for cucumbers or beans or Sno peas or cherry tomatoes next season

Zucchini with it's first crop of fruit not quite big enough to pick just yet but give them another day or two and well have fresh Zucchini Slice...Mmmm...

Sno Peas still manage to astonish me with the rate at which they grow. Pods that are too small to pick one day almost double in size overnight ready to pick the next morning...

I have had the same parsley plant growing in the same pot for about 10 years now... It has survived the worst of the droughts by growing smaller leaves and when water has been plentiful it takes off again producing large lush bunches of leaves... I walk past it every day but barely even notice it... 
Today I stopped to examine it a little closer and to see if it needed some more soil

I was surprised to see the size of it's stalk!
It is quite huge...With another offshoot about half it's size half way along... Now I know why the plant always looks so bushy... it could probably do with a top up of soil but now I'm worried that the shock might kill it!

This is what it usually looks like when just walking past it...

I've planted tomato bushes in both pots and baths this year, hoping to be able to harvest enough to preserve and or make sauce... we will have to wait and see... Last year we managed to bottle cherry tomato's which have been well used in batches of bolognaise and added to pasta for a quick healthy meal.
When they start to fruit I'll post mor pics...

Until next time darlings you know where to find me...
I'll be head down and Bottom up somewhere in the garden...

Backyard Bloomers.... and other challenging delights...

Hello Dhaaarlings...

The first "Peace" rose of Spring.

Princess here...  remember me?

 Last seen being chased (along with the Empress) by a humungous storm?

 Well... I can finally put my feet up for a little while and have a spell of some long awaited rest and recovery time.

The debutant ball for my niece went off very well although the remake and finishing of the frock took longer than anticipated... given that the whole front of the bodice was pearl seed beads and apliqued lace... Which all had to be removed and then re sewn by hand!... Very very time consuming ... but then I knew it would be...

We had a lovely night at the ball... but then it was straight back home the next day and on to the next urgent project "The Wedding Dress".

Fitting... reworking patterns and re fitting seemed to be the order of the project.

All very time consuming and demanding.

The bride was delighted with the outcome as were her family which is the main thing. Along with alterations to the grooms suit. 

I continued to sruggle on while fighting another dreaded lurgy.

The project was finally finished just in the nick of time with the gown being delivered at midnight the night before the wedding day!

So needless to say I now have some time to get back to health and recover.

I'm still waiting for a response from the theatre company and the longer it is taking the more focused I've become on not being available for next years production... 6 years of costuming has been a wondefully creative experience for me and I have loved every minute of working with the extremely tallented groups of teenagers over that time... but I cannot keep burning myself out in the process.. It has taken its toll on my health and I think that is what I need to be concentrating on for at least a little while.

So in celebration... a long awaited Spring has finally arrived and here are some lovely backyard bloomers for your enjoyment!

Double Delight with Mauve Flag Iris

Pale Lemon and Mauve Flag Iris

Purple and White Flag Iris

Self sewn Violas 

More Self sewn Violas

Daisy bush... Don't know it's proper name

Lilac

 It has been a long awaited Spring... and still we have 2 days of warmth followed by a cold snap that makes me feel like we are back to winter.

We had Snow in the hills at the end of October which is almost unheard of!

Anyway Darlings... The Empress has just informed me that the bucket of scraps is full and needs to be emptied into the worm farm... So I must away...

Life goes on as usual...

Bottoms up Darlings...