Melbourne cup

Here in Victoria we have the race that stops the nation. 

It’s always the first Tuesday in November and slowly it became 

A holiday  

Now being Aussies  we all just take Monday to off as well  

Monday night baby girl and son in law had a function so the girls were dropped off 

Here  

We had a movie night. They were all snuggly warm under blankets with their water and popcorn 

It’s so easy having them at this age. 

They go to bed when they’re tired.  Usually not late at all 

I don’t have to remind them to brush teeth or organise anything 

They have their toothbrushes that stay here, and they know they sleep in the double bed 

In the spare room. 

Today they slept in. Bonus 

Grandpa cooked them breakfast and they ate and did their thing. 

Obviously we had some painting time. 

And they also practice some cheerleading moves 

I did tell them that they were giving grandma a heart attack 

To which they replied that they did want to do that.

Brianna told me to not worry as they are professional cheerleaders 

They then asked me to video all their moves and send them to their mum  

Just after lunch their mummy and daddy arrived to pick them up  

Once they left, the house seems so quiet  

It always does when the grandchildren leave  

I hope they have fun while here and continue to want to come 

And stay, as they get older  

I didn’t have a flutter on the race. haven’t for years 

I’m sure I’m way in front, saving the money rather than gambling and hoping to win 

Potatoes, tomatoes

Well I asked the google machine and it said, no. 

I cannot plant tomatoes where I just harvested potatoes 

It also said that both those crops are big eaters

So after harvesting I added some of this 

I rarely use any fertiliser, but I do add some of this every other year 

I decided to plant corn. 

These are glass gems. They grow very colourful 

There wasn’t enough seeds for the bed so I did add some Hopi blue seeds 

Corn this year will be like a rainbow 

Planted , mulched, and covered. No birds eat my heritage seeds. 

I hope they sprout and grow. The girls will love them 

This is the last of the potatoes from this wicking bed. 

There’s a whole raised bed to harvest next 

Everybody’s getting spuds for Christmas this year lol 

Beltane

Yesterday was Beltane for us down south. 

Which means the growing season has now well and truly begun. 

I’ve planted butternut pumpkin seeds in here this morning. 

The cover will stay on until the seedlings are well on the way to growing. 

I’ll let the vines sprall everywhere.  It will help kill the weeds, and keep the ground cool.

That should hopefully help the fruit trees that have survived 

Next autumn I’ll plant the orange and lemon trees I saved and have been growing in the pots. 

Now I’ve got the extra protection from the rabbits  

This wicking bed had the potatoes 

I’ve half harvested so far.  I’ll harvest the rest when I’m ready to plant 

I think more tomatoes in this one. I’ll Google and see if it’s a good idea to plant 

Tomatoes in the same soil. 

They do come from the same group, so maybe not. 

This is all part of learning. Thank goodness for Google 

The weather today is lovely sunshine. 

Everyone is out mowing.  

More rain is predicted, and lots of places have been put 

On flood watch. 

I did have to get rid of ants in my kitchen yesterday, 

I believe them before I believe the weather man 

They have never been wrong. 

Finally sorted.

I have finally got the mosaic crochet working 

The graph with the complete photo is almost an A4 size and the little squares are tiny

So hard to read. 

So they also give you the graph in four sections  

These two are the first your suppose to use 

It’s the bottom half of the cow split into left and right  

I think that’s where my issues may have started  

I’ve got a stitch marker where the first complete pattern ends and the second starts  

I’m doing two cows next to one another  

I’ve also got these yellow stitch markers to show where the pages end  

So I have to work the two pages and then work them again  

I hope that makes sense 

It makes it Nice and wide.  

I think I might have to then do two more cows to make the blanket longer than it is wider  

But that’s an issue for later  

Right now I’ve progressed way further than I had before ripping it all out  

I’m not rushing, I’m going nice and slow with many breaks  

Just to keep me from zoning out

It helps that hubby isn’t here talking to me. 

Honestly. I’m sure he waits until I have to constantly count before he decides he

Wants to tell me all sorts of things I really have no interest in at all. 

Over the weekend it was the motor racing

I got to use my mum face lots of times while starting to yell out numbers 

It really is the most annoying thing. 

Back to school

After reading all about U3A. In 

https://sparklingmerlot.blogspot.com/?m=1

I decided I needed to do some research and discover if we had one here   

We do. I hopped into the website and found they had a calligraphy class

It’s on every second Tuesday

I filled in the form, paid my membership fee and yesterday had my first class

There really wasn’t enough students to warrant a class so the have extended it to encompass any craft or just come for. Chat. 

There was one calligraphy student but wasn’t present

So I got all the teacher’s attention 

My teacher is 90 years young. Her arthritic hands can’t write with the nib pen anymore so she uses a thin texta to show you. 

I picked up the pen and I was instantly back in primary school. This is the first pen I ever used. We had the ink well and blotter paper. 

I didn’t “ know” how to use it, but my hands and fingers did. 

It was quite a bizarre experience 

Anyway I got given practice pages 

The first two on each line is the example. The rest are mine 

She was very impressed with my A’s. 

I still to this day write my A’s like that. So they were really easy. 

I wasn’t learning.  I was remembering 

The two hours flew and it was time to finish before I even started to get bored with writing letters. Although the last few pages did have words to practice 

So now that I know I enjoy the class. I’ve ordered my own set of calligraphy pens and ink. 

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to write fancy messages on all my Christmas and birthday cards. 

Doing so much typing and so little actual writing these days , my hand writing has deteriorated. 

This should help reverse that. 

Outback dinner

Well dinner from our backyard 

Potato salad. It’s simple no mayo. 

Potatoes, onions, Italian spices, oil and vinegar 

It’s yummy. And we snack on it straight from the fridge 

Potatoes and onions from the garden 

Potato and leek soup  both vegetables from the garden  

It looks way more yellow than it is  

I added some of this 

Just to give it a taste boost. 

The weather took a nosedive Sunday. It rained all day. Not much we could do outside.  So we had a rare stay inside and watch telly days. 

Hubby watched motor sports, while I tried to work out what the bleep I had done wrong in the mosaic crochet. 

Today I pulled it all out and started from scratch 

Please l pray for me in this trying time 

Grrrrrrrrrrr

In the garden

it rained last night and today, although it’s warm, is overcast 

We decided to go work in the garden 

Hubby is trying to get the reeds out by digging them up  

It’s a hard job and pretty useless as the come back up again  

But he’s a truer  

Meanwhile I took the cage off the capsicum plants  

I weeded  and staked the ones that had survived. I cut off the really damaged parts and then in the space that was left, I threw in more seeds 

In the box next to it I pulled out the broccoli plants weeded and planted stringless bush beans. They don’t need anything to climb on 

I also harvested some of the silverbeet( chard) for dinner tonight 

Those eagle eye readers might notice some chicken wire in the first pic. 

It was in this wicking bed. But 

It bit me, twice!

I finally got angry and clever enough to just pull it out  

It’s in the back, ready to use if we need it  

Personally I don’t want to see it again  

Horrid thing 

I uncovered the tomatoes and staked them  

I had mini cauliflower growing in the back. 

I pulled the plants out, they had been harvested but left in so as to feed the chickens fresh greens  

They got them, and the broccoli plants today  

I’ve planted bush cucumbers.  Do you see a theme?

They too do not need anything to climb on.

I’ve got the covers over the seeds to not only protect them from birds feasting, but also to remind me to not plant anything there  

Because you know, my memory isn’t what it used to be  

It’s very humid out there, so by the time I did all that I had to come in  

My glasses were fogging up, I was dripping in sweat and honestly I found it hard to breath  

I’m having a wee rest, with a fan blowing straight on me. 

I’ll get up and clean the silverbeet and prep it. Then I’m going to have a shower 

The rest of the day I’m going to continue my crochet. 

That’s a whole other story there, which I will tell you about in a post of its own. 

Seriously it was quite the adventure