Friday Fertilizer

G'Day,
My Friday fertilizer entry for this week is a bit of a cheat because the flowers are not mine. I do still have some flowers around me at this very late stage of summer but yesterday I went to the Canberra show and I took some pictures there to share with you, so here they are.
Being late summer here, there was not a big number of flowers at the show, which I found a bit disappointing because where I lived before at Junee the show was on in mid spring and there were lots of flowers to look at. They were my main reason for going there each year. I won several awards for my roses and other bits and pieces at the Junee show in the years that I could participate due to work commitments. But that is another story, another life. Anyway.
The first pic, above, is of the display put on by the floral art guild. The next pic is by the same group.
A table full of naked ladys. Amaryllis is their proper name I think.
The flower entries consisted of almost only dahlia blooms. Some of them were lovely. I used to grow them but ditched that idea after leaving them in the ground for too long and they formed huge clumps that were very tough to dig up and separate, you look after them all year to get one flush of flowers and that is it, they are nothing much for the rest of the year, so I thought they were a bit of a take. The little bi color one in the picture was very cute.
Big yellow cactus style dahlia. Pom pom style at the back, they remind me of big heavy headed drum sticks.

You can see from the pic above the flower display was rather sparse. The display at the back was fruit and veges and looked great. The ones of these at the Sydney Easter show are really a sight to see.
Horsey dressage.
Big animals and little. On the way back to the car there was a little girl on these camels screaming her head off "I want to get down, let me off" which is exactly what I would have been doing at her age if I was put up there on a camel. I always liked my feet planted firmly in the earth.
Piggy wigs.
Aren't we just ducky! Children's farmyard. My aunt used to keep ducks, I always thought they were cute when they were little but when they grew up they were stinky and dirty. My neice Cassie used to have a pet duck called Balthazar when she was in her teens and it was nasty and aggressive, but she loved him.
Cute little chickies. I do miss not being able to have my own chooks were we live now. I loved my Junee chooks. I had a little family of silkies amongst them and they were lovely, plus some cross breds which gave me the best eggs. Home grown always tastes better doesn't it.

Last but not least. Here are some little button wildflowers I found growing in the park down the road from me the other day. Not many wildflowers in suburbia but some of the tough little guys like these ones manage to survive.
The flowers around my yard at the moment consist of the faithful old oleander bushes. They have been flowering happily since late spring last year. I also have a couple of gardenia flowers, heavenly if you walk outside at night time when they scent the air, and my ivy geraniums which have not been without a flower on them for 4 months or more. I have discovered a small clump of autumn crocus have popped up under a tree out the back, but they are not flowering yet.

Sunday scribblings "When pigs fly"

G'Day,
I hope all is well in your world. weather etc not treating you too harshly.
Here is my try at Sunday Scribblings for this week.

Karrie walked around her space. Loving it. The fresh smell of the furniture polish, the gleam of the expensive crystal bowl with fruit in it on the mahogany carved coffee table. She sat down on the lounge and sunk into it's soft warm cushions and stared at the big screen television in front of her. Should she switch it on. No she knew it would be such a shame to break the spell that her perfect lounge room was providing her. It was so warm in here, so comfortable, a space she could be proud to have as her own. She got up and walked into the bedroom area. That quilt cover was so pretty and the sheets freshly changed and new, as were the curtains. The other sheets were put away in storage and she was enjoying the new color scheme and atmosphere in here. Nothing but the best for her high tastes.
Oh the kids had found her and she had to go and referee their antics again. "No Simon, no, don't touch the crystal bowl, it might get broken, Oh Celia come here while I wipe your nose again. Slow down, don't run around like that. "
Her spell was broken. It was so cold outside, not good for Celia's health with that cold she was suffering at the moment, that cough, oh lord.
Simon, he was tough, could handle anything and owned the world. He ran on ahead skipping and bouncing. Past the people rushing home, leaving work. It was quite a walk back to her tiny, dark, damp, apartment. The landlord would be waiting for the last of her welfare cheque, for his rent. Pancakes for tea again tonight and if the kids didn't finish them all she might get the leftovers.

We all want something. Pigs might fly.

Bye
Love Linda.

Sunday Scribblings "Ethics"

G'Day,
Back again for Sunday Scribblings weekly writing prompt. The prompt makers, Laini and Meg want us to say something about ethics. Mm, I had to pause and think what I could say about that. Not a creative piece of writing here, just my own personal views on ethics, my ethics. Ethics are subjective I guess to everything that makes us ...us. Our genes and our experiences and our upbringing.
If you have been bought up within a religion, be it as a christian or other religion you've been taught personal rules to live by. That is what the bible is, rules to live by. Ethics that help us get along with others (well hopefully) and have a place to fit and belong in our respective societies.
If you haven't been bought up to learn about a religion you have learned how to get along with others in your society in a similar fashion from people who do follow a religion. Or maybe you just learned from trial and error, either way what you learned was via religion in some way. The christian religion has holes in it due to each era's interpretation of it, same as other religions and cultures. I think now days...this era.... people are learning to take this with a grain of salt and choose their own personal ethics to fit in with their own beliefs.
There are ethics for the workplace , ethics for friendships, ethics for family and relationships, our own personal ethics that we follow.
Goodness my mind is rambling on into so many different areas. Mmmm ethics.
Take for an example the ethics in a relationship regarding fidelity. Males seem to see this issue differently to the female partner. He wants someone to love, so does she, but different views on fidelity are sure to make the relationship crumble.
Or is that a cultural ethic?
Or am I just looking from the female point of view.
Ouch. That is bad isn't it.
Or....... are those differences human nature, a part of our genetic make up, or differences between our genders. I dunno I dunno.
My ethics. Keep control of your emotions. Be honest with yourself and others. Cause no harm if possible, it costs nothing to walk away from someone if you know you are right, even if they think they are the ones in the right, let them think they have had a win and they go away happy. Don't be greedy, you only need to get by, not be a world beater. Look after the environment you live in, your house as well as what is around you including the species (flora and fauna) other than your own. Teach, learn, love, laugh, live. I wrote that on one of my pottery pieces a while ago:). Give. Don't try to influence too much, let others live and learn for them selves and don't preach about what you believe if they don't want to know it.
Mmmm, this isn't easy is it.
Bye
Love Linda.

Friday fertilizer

G'Day,
Hope all is well in your part of the world. It is raining here. Wonderful, wonderful wet stuff dripping from the sky to give life to all. My country is known as the driest country in the world and the rain that we are having today here in Canberra is purported to be the most significant rain we have had since 1980 something, or so it said on the radio this morning. Yippee! Keep it coming. They have even predicted flash flooding. That will help maintain out local water storage.
Yippee, then we might not have to feel so guilt for using h2o.
Anyway... here are my latest pics, "flowers in the rain" taken just minutes ago.
The first picture above is of the begonia cutting my Uncle Bill gave me in November last year when I last saw him. I have been nursing it carefully on my kitchen windowsill. It is starting to get a bit leggy and I have pinched out the central shoot but it hasn't put out any side shoots yet so I reckon I might have to raise the blind on the kitchen window to allow it some more light. The cutting is from a plant that originally was owned by my maternal great grandmother Collis. She was gone long before I was born. Special eh that I managed to get a bit of it growing. Not a great picture but you get the idea.
This is the cane begonia that belonged to my maternal grandmother Trennery. She died when I was 5 years old. It is happy outside under the trees in the back yard at the moment where it is, and has put on a lot of new growth this season, but I will have to bring it back indoors when the frosts start again.

These are my first two ripe tomatoes for the season in my kitchen windowsill.One is an apollo and the other is a grosse lisse.The apollo plant has a virus that has spoiled all the new growth.
Above...Zephranthes, rain flowers in the rain. I made that pot years ago when I was still in Tafe.
Below is ....well I am not sure if this is garlic chives or onion weed, I have been told both names. It is a bit of a pest though and keeps popping up in my potted plants every year. But it does flower so it can have a place in here. hehehehe. If you know the difference between the two please let me know.
I went shopping this morning. It was quite amusing watching people carrying umbrellas ad scuttling about to get out of the rain, while I was sauntering along enjoying it falling on me and thinking "People what are you worried about it is just water, the same stuff you drink, and stand under in the shower each day. Life giving stuff". I bought 2 nice black shirts from sales racks that were greatly reduced in price and I am quite happy with myself. One has gold bead embroidery. the other is a sort of peasant style with long sleeves. Also got some other odds and bods and my dear hubby's valentines day present for tomorrow, a 1 hour Chinese massage.
The rain is falling heavier now, as predicted, beautifully, joyfully, Cheers!
Bye
Love Linda.

Sunday Scribblings "The Message"

G'Day,
The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is 'The Message"
Yesterday I ran away from home for the day. Rufus and I on our own. The picture above is my chariot.
This is the Warri bridge on the Shoalhaven river.

Bateman's bay from the lookout. Clyde river, looking towards the sea.
Just cos' I liked it.
My favorite beach there is at Tomakin about 20km south of the bay. I took my camera and some soft clay to make impressions of the rocks to play with on my pots. They will create wonderful textures for me. I have been going here to Tomakin for years and marveling at the patterns and textures in the rock at the northern end of the little beach and been meaning to take clay and my camera with me. Yesterday I did. I made some plaques with seaweed and shell impressions too. That blue board I took to lay the clay flat on, was a real pain to carry because it was very windy and the wind kept pushing the board in all directions making it difficult to climb over the sharp rocks with safety. I ripped a good size chunk of skin off my toes trying.

Wonderful little rocks and shells every where.

The rocks seem to be put down in volcanic stone layers with layered with sedimentary stone between them. Probably formed under the sea. Can you imagine the power of the earth to turn them sideways and the time that took to bring them to the positions they are today? Those big rocks smashed and pounded against the cliff wearing away the rock, making this cave and smoothing myriads of pebbles and shells until they are tiny like the ones in my hand.

These huge boulders are uplifted and turned on their sides, look at the wonderful strata and colors in them. Love it!
Rufus and I had a lovely day. He got to pelt up and down the beach and meet other doggies. He got very worried though and didn't enjoy climbing over the rocks, I had to go back to carry and rescue him several times, he is a very little doggie. I had fresh oysters and prawns for afternoon tea and bought a box of delicious fresh stone fruits from a roadside vendor. I dropped in on another potter who lives there and had a yarn with her.
Photos don't really do those colors justice.
Another spot on the cliff wall pounded away at and beginning to make another cave.
This one shows the area from further back.
This shows the strata on the cave ceiling.
The picture below is of the sea wall in the bay.
My Message is;

No matter how far you run away from home
You have to come back
where everything
EVERYTHING!
Will be waiting for you
Just as you left it
unchanged
.

G'Day,

Something in my head.

With the daylight came clarity.
The night held terrors
loneliness despite the attempt
to blot it out with chemicals.
A mind running away

Will the daylight
prove the terror
or become just
fear unfounded
a dream.

Piccies to share

G'Day,
Here are some pictures taken over the last week or so around home. So I can inlude it early for Tootsie's Friday Fertilizer prompt.
First one above is of a pot I planted with verbena just because I like them and they are pretty. Now they just have to grow and fill up the pot.
I found this flutterby in the netting on my swing in the back yard and put it amongst a collection of seed pods and lavender I have in the hallway. Callistemon, Shirley poppy and she oak pods.
My hairy son, Michael with Rufus our doggie.
Chillie hot.
Tomato berries, prolific & tasty little fruit.
The apple mint in flower.
More verbena, same pot.
Common chives.
Ivy geranium.
Mother Maggie. My untidy back yard. You can see in the background the swing which was my Christmas present. I made a tent to cover it and now I call it my cubby hole. It is nice to sit out there and have a cuppa, and read or do my crossword puzzles.
Mother Maggie. These are very tame and they watch for me to come outside to see if I have any tid bits for them. She takes bread out of my hand and comes with her 2 babies who she is teaching that some big bipeds give you nice things to eat if you make friends with them.
Fever few flowers. These originally came from my uncle Bill's house and they self seed easily, maybe a little too easily, I have had them popping up in the last 3 houses I have lived in.
Our computer has been offline for a few days an so I am not participating in Sunday Scribblings this week. I have been a bit down and can not think of somthing positive and nobody wants to hear me whinge so that is that.
My cousin's son has moved to Canberra to go to university and stayed here for a few days before settling into shared accommodation nearer to the uni. That was nice and he is good company, or was he just being kind to a silly old lady.
School holidays finished at the end of last week so back to regular work for me. Also back to cleaning the two houses I do.
Had take away pizza last night for tea, trying to diet again after my Christmas naughtiness, all I ate yesterday was salad for lunch so the pizza wasn't too drastic a lash out. I have lost a few kilos.
Junee poker run is on next weekend so I will have the weekend at home by myself. There is an opera by candle light thingy on in the park on saturday, freebie, I might go to that.
Ah I am so boring.
Bye.
Love Linda.