Goodbye Autumn

It is absolutely amazing the difference in the garden in the last 4 days.  There was little yellow color in the Pistacia and little color in the Mt Fuji Weeping Cherry at the front. 

The Mulberry tree was still green.......then all of a sudden it changed and leaves began to color so much more and then to drop.....a good time for compost.  I stepped out the door and instead of a green mulberry tree, I had a yellow one.  And on one side there was the winter skeleton quite visible.  I did try to avoid house shadows but am trying not to be out in the weather too much while I seek to dispel this cold bug and the sun was not super friendly for photography.  But for the record this is the Autumn of 2010.  This is a new little prunus elvins that I hope will grow and shade the hydrangea a little now that we cannot use sprinklers.  There is nicer color in the hydrangea this year than there has been for ages and I certainly have not been able to pink huge bunches for floral arrangements over these past 3 yrs.
It has just enough color to show that it may be nice in Autumn as it grows a little more.
The other burst of color that shocked me earlier in the week was the camellia bush on the corner which has barely bloomed over past years.   I had totally forgotten it was bicolor.

This is the Magnolia stellata well in bud with the Magnolia Nigra almost bare leafed beside it.  To the left of the picture...over the road is a flowering gum and the pink blooms are blowing all over the place.  In between the two is Cedrella sinesis which comes out with pretty pink leaves that change to green.  It suckers readily but I have quite easily kept it in check for 30 yrs.  We saw a few of these before we bought this house so was one of the early ones I found to plant.

The glory vine is fast falling to the ground while the lawn is carpeted with yellow leaves.

Smoke bush has also colored in the past couple of days and I must do some good pruning in this area this year.

It is hard to believe that by next week it will all be bare winter....but the bulbs are emerging....and it will not be bare for too long.

I had to go to the shed to get out the wheel chair to loan to someone and we managed to leave the light on.....so I had to sneak back out in the dusk...well almost dark.

I love these two....different night reflections.

A trifle hard to focus in the dark.  It was after that that I attempted to dead head a couple of roses, tripped on a hose and to my disgust, in trying to save myself from falling, which I manged......I pulled the fitting off the timer tap.....and the tap of course was on so had water gushing freely where I least wanted it.  And I thought I was going to have to ask the guy next door to turn it off.....WD4 to the rescue tomorrow and a job for my handyman on Wednesday.

Grateful I did not fall and I did at last get it turned off.  A little bit of maintenance on all taps may be in order.....and finally my Asian greens which I should have picked some of, and some lovely little violets.

 Finally the lemonade tree with bits of red pelagoniums in the background.  

They too will need a rather drastic prune and tidy up.  I can see a definite need to be outside with a pointing stick as the pruning sheers go into action.  

So in 1.5 hrs it is officially winter and we will be doing all the pruning and tidy up work in an winter garden.

Show and tell will be replaced by prune and tidy up.

Thankful Thursday

Isn't it good to be thankful.

I am thankful for the rain....so so thankful.
 
 


I am thankful for the renewed joy I am having from my garden and I am thankful for fresh vegetables growing again.





I am thankful that I live in a country where I have the Bible in my language and I can freely read it.....I can have several different copies, can have it on my computer.
I am so thankful for Christian music and teaching programs.
I am thankful that I can freely attend Church
I am thankful for medical help that is available and accessible
I am especially thankful for my Doctor's visit yesterday and the difference that taking antibiotics has made ...even in that short time.
I am thankful that I have a chemist who will deliver ..when they forgot something and I forgot to check but it was here tonight when I needed it.
I am thankful for retail people who listen and who express appreciation when you seek to help them rather than making you feel a pest.
I am thankful for these past two weeks at home and in bed, more or less, and resting.
I am thankful for a handyman to help me do the things that are now a bit hard.  To help in the garden....to plant my many bulbs, seedlings, trees etc...picking up these leaves for the compost bin.


I am so thankful for the colors of Autumn here in our fairly temperate area, yet they are enough to give joy.

I am so so thankful to have this crab apple tree that the birds have planted for me and finally I can see that it is the one I had to cut down....and now I have a huge tree that has grown from a seedling.
I am prepared to give some forgiveness to the birds for eating my grass seeds if they do lovely things like grow me crab apple trees.  Losing this tree really did break my heart as I had so much joy in those lovely red crab apples.
 
And I am so enjoying chrysanthemums flowering for the first time in around three years or so.  It was so hard to even keep the plants alive but they had not energy left to flower.  This year they have just blossomed ...It is as if they are celebrating the joy of having rain again.  And I love finding his cheese which is the closest thing to the one I have not been able to obtain for years.  I watch like a hawk for when it is marked down and beautifully ripe and I do not feel so guilty spending so much money to have it.  I can make it last quite a while.  I am so thankful to have enough of an adventurous spirit to try new things and find new joys when shopping.


I am also thankful for one of the ladies in Woolworth's whom I sometimes have at the checkout and she smiled and said "Hi, and would you like a sample bag.'

There would be around $10 in value there.  The Cheesemite is almost $5 and I use it and the Carnation soy milk will be interesting to try.  Seasoned salt, a Mars bar, some soap and skin cream.  Also some color catcher for when I next get a quilt fabric bleed in the wash on me.
I am thankful for a new series of Amish books by Beverly Lewis which the library got in to fill the blanks in their collection...it was nice to be thanked and to be told that they sometimes do not realize they are missing.
 
I am also thankful for the nice bundle of magazines to catch up with while I have been in bed. 

I am oh so thankful for this camellia. It has barely flowered in the last few years and I had forgotten it was so full of blooms and it was a bicolor.  I saw it when I came home from the Dr. yesterday and picked  a lovely stalk to bring inside and enjoy.


I am thankful for opportunities to go out this week end if I am well enough.....

and maybe one of the special things I am thankful for, in God's wonderful created world is my loving little furry paws who just wants to be with Mummy no matter where Mum happens to be.  Who delights to throw things on the floor when she crawls up on the cutting table and who ends almost every day on my lap in bed, purring her little heart out.
And yes....there she is, in a hole she has found on the window sill where I began to clear deep down at the back of the table and lifted a basket out to make a space.....and lo behold.........we have found the space!







 

WORD FILLED WEDNESDAY

The Living Bible

Matt 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”

Poor Moggie gets to be the subject again

.....it has been two weeks of almost just Moggie girl and I as I have tucked myself up in bed with a wog.....of the flu variety. 

That statement could be misinterpreted in this country as a couple of generations or so ago many of our immigrants were of European origin, many being from Italy or Greece and for reasons not really known to me they were called wogs.  In my day it was not a particularly derogatory term but now only people from those nationalities can have TV and stage programs and call themselves wogs. 

So I do need to specify that my bed companion was only Moggie and whatever bug/wog had got into my system.  I honestly did not have the energy to get myself to the Dr till this week and to see the Dr I wanted it had to be today.


Did I get my paws smacked.  Why did you not come here two weeks ago?
Even the receptionist gave me a locum card and said 'do not do that again'!
So duly reproached and with a course in antibiotics to start I headed for the Chemist/Pharmacy/Drug store.

While waiting I did a little shopping, which since I had been out of it for a while, turned into a bit more than I had intended, so by the time I collected scripts and made a necessary drive to the Plaza and the library and a slightly naughty trip into Kmart where I expected the bulbs to be all marked down I was very tired.

They weren't marked down, and I was not amused, so very nicely asked if I could speak to a manager...so the lady on the checkout did and told him they were shooting already.  So the two bags of hyacinths that were shooting were reduced by $3 each and the other couple of small bags were the normal price.  

I drastically pruned and thinned out an area of garden just outside a window so despite planted a multitude of bulbs already....I needed some for that purpose made spot.

By the time I got back to the car I was a very tired baby indeed but somehow managed to call in on a friend who has is more ill than I and gets lonely when she is alone too much.........so grabbed myself a hot drink and pain killers and gathered strength to get home.


Then of course there was no frog prince to unload the car......so after doing that I collapsed in a very tired overheated, on a cold day, puddle of perspiration and thought......hmmmm, maybe the Dr had something when he said no gym or exercise for at least a week.  We tend to forget that shopping etc is exercise.....at our peril.


So I have been sitting here listening to Christian radio and singing along with some of the songs and somehow Moggie always comes in when I start to sing,so I picked her up and we had a good rock the baby cuddle.

Then I started to realize it was Wednesday and thought.....oh what shall I say...and I started to look through Picasa and found this photo and it just said it all, the perfect peace of total rest.


I love to settle down into bed at night and have that lovely sense of settling into the loving care of our Heavenly Father.  Of course I tend to have a furry companion at some stage of the night if not immediately.

Somehow the complete rest of my baby brat in this photo just speaks to me of the total rest and peace that is God's plan and purpose for us.

Tonight my tiredness is physical, sometimes it has other forms but Jesus still says "Come unto me, all you who are weary...and I will give you rest.
Have you a heavy burden to lay down tonight.


I was so relieved when I finally got all my physical burdens in from the car..not all are put away but the necessities are done.


Jesus waits to offer us rest..........
A gift has to be both offered and accepted.
Accept His rest and be at peace.  He is gentle and humble...His burdens are light.
He is the good shepherd.

Trying to find hearts

Two of the online quilting groups I belong to have the practice of sending a cream 6.5" square of fabric with a heart on it.

I actually used to be much better at this and would play around with crazy quilting and more normal hearts.

I made a lovely quilt up for a lass overseas from hearts that someone gave me when clearing her stash but I cannot find a photo of that one.

Not mine...they are so pretty.

I always made sure I had some already made up and able to send straight away then somehow over the sleeping years I lost the mojo and more often the heart templates and gear I used to make them with.

So tonight I decided it was long overdue that I dug through the debris on the cutting table.........It is quite amazing what you find...a whole heap of diaries from the early to mid nineties.  Then at last i found something like I was looking for.  Threw heaps of tiny pieces of scrap in the bin...even for me it was too tiny to be useful.

And I found my collection of some that have been done when I last had a burst.  For a while I forgot about the cream and actually did some on white which was a trifle strange. I can only assume that was my mood at the time.

Then I found a couple of quilts made from hearts.  I have cut the owners out as I do not have their permission to include their faces.

The one with the green border was made for me from a chat group of quilters some years ago.  

I have a huge and wonderful collection of hearts that were given to me when my Mother died, which I must make into a quilt.  

The one above has a frog them and I put it together for the lady who put together the green one for me.

So hearts have long had a place as a means of showing that we care and I am relieved to have at last found my pile of goodies which I must put in a place where they are always readily accessible so that I can join in after being out of being a good heart maker and giver for the past few years.

Oh dear, what can the matter be?

I really have to think this through....I am looking around this room, and apart from touching the computer my Mother has not put needle in fabric for 11 days now....that is eleven days....I can see things to do and be done...what is wrong with that woman?

I have to give this matter very serious thought indeed.  Look at all these bags on the door......she likes them and she has half of 2 bags cut out...so what is the problem.  Let me think a little longer.  This chair is great for thinking.  I can hear Mum thinking when she sits in it.

You know....there is nothing else for it......here are the pieces she has made...and here is the rotary cutter.

I fear I shall just have to take up actual quilting.....not just lying on the fabric and messing it up.

Watch this space!

Sunday songs

I have borrowed the link for this lovely song which is the first music I have heard today. The lovely old hymn "Be thou my vision"

Ancient Irish hymn, possibly from the 8th Century, tr. by Mary E. Byrne

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

2.
Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

3.
Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

4.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

5.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.


My other favorite is "May the Mind of Christ my Saviour"

Words and Music by Kate Wilkinson



May the mind of Christ my savior
Live in me from day to day
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say

May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea
Him exalting, self abasing
This is victory

May I run the race before me
Strong and brave to face the foe
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go

Words public domain

Autumn ..Melbourne Victoria, Australia

This is the rather dilapidated door of my brick shed with the remnants of the glory vine.

The bit of green is a Hoya.

To the left are the bulbs coming up in the rose bed.

 

I love the variations of shape and color in these leaves and love to bring them inside to match them with rosebuds.

 

Glory Vine taken from the sunny side.
It is somehow not a great day to take the color and get the real glow of it.

I look at this out of my kitchen window and it makes Autumn a very joyous time for me.

Soon it will sadly be time to put leaves in the compost and prune...

We do not like the pruning process in our lives at times, but when we see the end result we can understand and
appreciate the need.

I looked at the medley of leaves along the centre of the back fence.  A number of these trees are self seeded and I had decided to give them a very severe prune this year.  However today I looked a little closer and while the crab apple grown from a seedling on the right has green/yellow fruit, I looked afresh at the one on the left as I saw glimpses of red crab apples in this photo.
I once had a beautiful crab apple tree outside my side sliding door but it developed mealy bug and the nursery lady and I attacked it over a few years until it became obvious that it was not going to recover.

So it was cut to a stump and I have a lime tree in a large pot sitting on the stump.  I just noticed it needed some water.  I ached over the loss of my crab apple tree and the year before last planted a small one down the back...it has not had fruit yet.
Then I found one with a glorious pink flower Malus ioensis 'Purpurea' and an almost folded bud and so in Oct '08 having seen it in flower, I saw one without a label in Kmart and grabbed it and planted it in the same bed that the other one had been in.
I have the wine leaf and flowered one Malus Eleyi along in the bed and it is large. It is the one pictured here and reminds me of one I loved in a friends garden and I have vaguely tried to espalier it by training it sideways along the fence.  It give shade to my Hellebore's.


.So I looked again with a sense of both trepidation and joy at these red crab apples I saw first in the sky.

I had a closer look and they are exactly the same as the one I had to cut down.  My kind birds had planted another one for me.

This really touches my heart to see the goodness of the creator in giving me back this bush as I really grieved having to cut it down.

I really could barely believe my eyes and somehow I looked at my pruning options rather differently.

I always want to polish these before I take a photo.

They just touch my heart somehow...I am unsure if they have touched my cooking gene yet, but I really should get them picked and make some crab apple jelly.

Anyone got a good recipe.
I love microwave jelly/jam recipes.
Maybe I will tempt some of my jam making friends with them as I only need a couple of pots.

So I am one happy and grateful gardener....almost still pinching myself to believe I have my red crab apples back.
Malus 'Gorgeous'
 I need to prune it a little and give an apricot tree room to grow and will prune whatever is on the other side a little more harshly to allow a little more sun to get to my centre back bed.

This is the glory vine from the side where the sun is shining through and you can see a little of the bricks of my shed and the window.  Yes my upmarket little shed has a window and is brick.  Wish it was lined.
There is a caveat on my land which says that sheds must be brick......shame my neighbors got around it somehow.

Funny but this is my most disliked color.....I shall blame the direction of the sun......it is really much more red!!
Almost "red delicious"  If I ever get round to making that lovely quilt.

The Pistacia Chinensis is just beginning to think about turning to Autumn.