Tuesday 15 September 2009

Dorothy is right, There is no place like home..


Unlike Dorothy after my days away from home, I do not have to find my way to the wizzard, (even if I do live in OZ..lol which is what many call Australia).  Nor do I need to go on a quest to  find Glenda the good witch and be given her red glittering shoes, as you can see my red shoes do not glitter.
and click my heals, and say the words, "There is no place like home and be magically returned, no hour long drive.
I am sure the feelings I experience as I turn into our driveway, see the house with its warm lights, smoke coming out the chimney, the door opening the rush of delight as the wonderdog, prances and wags his whole body in welcome. DH finally suceeds in  getting through the vibrating circling dog,  embracing me in his safe and loving arms, finally weaving his way between all our legs and paws meowing his welcome, or is that he has not been fed yet is chokie face the cat; is no less a welcome than Dorothy and Toto's on their return from Oz. Ohhh the welcome of Home!  Nothing compares.

It is amazing how much can happen in the course of two days in the garden, especially if it has been warm 20degrees C, and warmer nights.  When I took the wonder dog out this morning for his walk, after some heavy rain overnight, it was to a cooler gray clouded sky, so once again the fire is lit.  I have just put the left over bones from a roast lamb in a pot to simmer in water, from this I will make a curry.  Sigh  just the thing to warm on a cool spring evening.

Tulips in pots that have not flowered for two years have this year quite spectacularly
and whilst I am not a real lover of tulips; mainly for the shortness of their flowering and the difficulty I have found growing them. They are a intense flower and on mass look spectacular,.  When I lived in Canberra, the Floriade Exhibition every year was incredible using mass plantings of spring bulbs. It is usually held early in September.

 We had lots of rain overnight which is good as it has meant my new trees that I planted on Wednesday were watered well, (I was going to do this, this morning). One less job to attend to.  I am not a woman for jewelery at least not diamonds and pearl kind of things.  I mean who needs to have diamonds when you have this..

Strings of perfect droplets, on a thread so thin and so strong. 
Cob webs are such truly incredible achievements from spiders not only for their incredible beauty, but the design concept, the engineering of the attachments to hold them in place, also the strength of the silk threads that the spider makes.  When spiders make webs massive amounts of protein are required to manufacture the silk. So much energy is expended that spiders will often eat the webs to recoup the protein and restore energy for more spinning.  The other issue it that over time the cobweb begins to loose its stickiness which reduces the chance of food being caught.  So the eating of the web often on a daily basis; and I would imagine particularly if no food has been caught is a way of ensuring that their webs remain in good working order.



The tensile(how much pressure it can have exerted on it in a curve before damage occurs) strength of the spiders web is greater than the same weight of steel with much greater elasticity and according to Wikepedia

 "Its microstructure is under investigation for potential applications in industry, including bullet-proof vests and artificial tendons. Researchers have used genetically modified mammals to produce the proteins needed to make this material."[2][3][4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_web

Nature is incredible.  I love that through a man made creation The World Wide Web...(spider connection lol)
is connecting me to many people who have a love of nature.  Actually I love how the WWW is broadening my horizons and letting me travell the world meeting people generally.



My lemon tree has several flowers on it, that look like they may actually develop.  Now if only they will be pollinated and the fruit hang on.  One of my great desires this year is to be able to pick a lemon of my own tree.  What an achievement that would be.  lol  No wining world class medals for me, promotions in the work force.  My biggest achievement, the one that would make me very happy, and proud is to be able topick a lemon..lol.  Now is that the simple life? 

The daffodils are coming to their end, the iris's are still going well, and my jonquils are beautiful.  One thing is my fresias have not flowered as yet.  Where as normally they have flowered before my daffodils.  They do have flower heads on them. We are talking about springtime, and the pansies are delightful if a little nibbled,and weathered.
 There are also many native plants flowering now. Lovely bird and bee attracting Grevillia, 

The plant below I am unable to recall or find the label for it so it's name I do not know.
 
 
This is a native Salvia.  It is a small but spreading shrub.  It is truely beautiful in full flower.


















6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those tulips are stunning. I love them however I am too lazy to do the whole, dig, chill, plant, dig out and store stuff, so I admire from afar lol

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

I feel much the same when comming home to me :-) But the smoke in the chimney wount start until I put a fire in my stove myself :-)

Now You have spring, my favourite season of the year, but we still have the violettes :-)

Oh I would love to be able to pick my own grown lemon :-) But they can´t grow outside anywere in my cold country and the Grevillia is seen as a rather difficult pot plant here, very unusual too. But I love them.

I´m not a big fan of tulips eaither, but it is something special when they comes up from the ground, it´s spring!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Life's poetry said...

Yours is indeed a glorious testament to your declared lifestyle. This is my first visit to your website and it won't be my last! What a feast for the eyes! I am living on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, so the idea of spring happening at this time of year is not something I have thought much about. You have made me truly realize that spring is always happening somewhere. We are in the late sumer/early autumn phase, so I feel truly rejuvenated by your shots of familiar spring time flowers. We on the other hand, are preparing for winter. Brrr! Altho' ours is fairly mild compared to other parts of Canada. Every season tho' has its redeeming features.
I grew up on a Canadian Prairie (Alberta) farm, so I understand the simple life. Somehow living in a small city, it just isn't the same.....Lucky you.

Nicole said...

I would also love to pick my own lemons but for 3 years in a row, all the fruit has dropped off before getting any bigger than a pea.
Any ideas on what's wrong?
Cheers
Nicole

Aussiemade said...

Molly I actually have never dug them up. I forgot they were there. We are fortunate that we have cold enough weather that chills them for us.
Christer I too usually light the fire but first thing in the morning, my husband is retired and he does not generally get up when I do especially at 4:30am lol so I light the fire and he tends it. Though if it is warmish day one of us does it in the evening. Often me if I am home as he is usually in his workshop.
Life's Poetry thank you for your gracious words the best part of my life is that I know I am lucky and very fortunate, so I try not too take it to much for granted. :)

Nicole I am grinning at you as I am most certainly not the person to be asking about lemons..lol. My lemon tree is about three years maybe four now and I have yet to have one lemon form. This is the year I am hoping. Mind you at present I only have two flowers on it, one on either of the different grafts.

Anonymous said...

Hi Nichole
Your lemons will drop if there has not been enough water or uneven watering. They are thirsty plants.