Flourishing garden and a new friendship

Sage in full flower, beetroot ready to eat, oregano, thyme and basil.

My little vege garden is thriving and I'm going to plant out a few more seeds today.

Rosemary, basil and chives.

My gardening assistant is close by as usual.

Lemons to pick, green ones growing and also full of blossoms.  Rhubard is coming back into production.

Re-planted the strawberries after last season and the first two fruit are almost ready to pick. I wonder who will find them first Miss Ruby or the brush tail possum who visits every evening?

We've already had several feeds of asparagus and given away a bagful, this little patch has produced so much over it's first 5 years.

Roast beetroot for dinner tonight!

A little self seeded tomato is coming along well.

Purple King climbing beans are taking off up the trellis.

Time spent in my little garden feels good and we love the bonus of eating some fresh produce too!

I'm feeling inspired to get my garden into full production and grow as much of our own food as possible on our 600 square metre block.  

Yesterday I made a brand new friend in real life and she is an amazing gardener, crafter, home schooling mum and cook.  Pop on over to her beautiful fresh blog Country Living Beside the Sea and you will see what I mean.  I'm still in shock I've made a new friend when I'm almost 48 and we have so much in common.  We can't wait to sit and crochet or do a bit of gardening the next time we meet.  Strangely we met through social media and a yarn club we both belong to, amazingly we only live 15 minutes apart.  I have to send out a big thank you to Jodie from Jellyware's who brought Julie and I together.  Real friendships are a rare and beautiful thing.  I'm feeling very grateful today.  

Chicken, Brown Rice and Vege Soup slow cooked, so good!

A cold and wet Sunday at home alone and I started thinking about what to have for dinner with Dear Husband when he gets home from work.  Checked the fridge, pulled out a whole lot of veges and some chicken thighs, I can make a big pot of soup, perfect.  I often cook on my wood fire, and why not, it's there burning away beautifully and it's so easy. 

Brown Rice and Vege Soup 

I browned 6 chicken thigh fillets chopped into three pieces each,  softened 2 garlic cloves finely chopped and a chopped brown onion in olive oil in a cast iron pot. Next I added 1/2 cup brown rice, 2 sliced celery sticks, 2 roughly diced carrots and 1/4 of a butternut pumpkin diced into 1cm cubes and 1 litre of hot chicken stock. 

Then I slow cooked it on top of my wood fire heater for 2-3 hours, dish it up and top with freshly ground black pepper, grated Parmesan and torn Italian parsley from our rain soaked garden. Served with Turkish bread thawed and heated wrapped in foil on top of the wood fire. 

The woodfire also dried my clothes on the clotheshorse and the house smells fantastic with dinner simmering away through the afternoon. 

A hearty winter meal in a bowl. Enjoy

So happy to be home

I've started to sew again,,........that's a good sign.

Spring is coming and my garden is starting to burst out with it's fresh coat of green.

It's been a bit neglected this year, I've been away for 7 months.

Our wood pile is still there, Darling Daughter just couldn't be bothered lighting the woodfire.  I love my woodfire and I have lit it a few times since I've been back and it makes our home so cozy and homely.

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A cheery little mosaic catching a bit of morning sun.

Our family sculpture from the year 2000, hand prints carved in stone...............a family lasts forever.

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Most of the potted plants have survived with very little TLC.

I think I could go into business selling Grandfathers Beard, it just thrives in our silver birch trees and on our fences.

Finished my Malabrigo Finito scarf from Jellywares, my first fine crochet project reading a real pattern and I did it!  Such a shame the weather has been way too warm to wear it.

The local possums still visit and they're enjoying feasting on the bottlebrush flowers at the moment and I hear them bouncing around on our tin roof at night so they can get to our strawberry patch out the back.

I finished the binding on the latest baby quilt for the shop and thoroughly enjoyed stitching these little wooden cross stitch pendants yesterday.

Not much in the vege patch yet but the asparagus is thriving.

I'm back living in our coast house and I start work again tomorrow at our local fabric store and I can't wait, Steph's is a very inspiring shop, mightn't be good for my pay packet!  Also going back to my nursing work at the local day surgery in a few weeks, a bit nervous about that, had too long away from clinical nursing but I'm sure they will be kind to me and I will find my feet very quickly.  

So good to be home and you can look forward to more regular posting once again.  It has just taken me a while to sort myself out and even feel like taking photos and to think about blogging.  I'm sorry for the long break since my last post but I just needed a bit of me time.  

A reminder of our coast home and family

A bit torturous for me but they look beautiful in Dear Husbands tiny freshly painted windowless office in the subterranean level of the local hospital.  He asked for some photos of our beach and kids to brighten up his four white walls.  These have done the trick and they get a lot of comments from his country living staff.  Mostly "why are you out here".

We both miss our coast home but it is there waiting for us whenever we get the urge to drive 500km and put our toes in the salt water.  We both miss our young adult kids being in our home with us but we really enjoy the times we have together more than ever now.  Life will never be the same but it's still good, just different and we realise how lucky we were to raise our kids beside the seaside in a sleepy coastal village. 

I can feel a coast visit coming up in the next few weeks.  Winter is nearly over, time to enjoy all that coastal living has to offer...............kayaking, beach walking, exploring rock pools, checking out the high tide line finds, fresh healthy air...................can't wait.

We are good friends........really

not happy

that's my comfy and warm cat bed

i'm sulking

i fit in here perfectly

not happy

so comfy and warm inside

Busy bee

 

I've always been a fan of a good macro shot and an action one is even better.  Took this a few weeks ago in my front garden, lucky to not get stung!  A few years back I did a month of macro shots, might need to give it another go.

Our new house............and new mortgage!

 

 

 

 

These are the set of photos from the real estate agent, I haven't managed to take any others yet.  I'm not trying to confuse anyone who does know my family, one of the sellers children has the same name as one of our children.  The house was meant for us it seems.  Actually we only viewed two properties and the other was a unit. 

 

I've only been out to the new house once when we moved in the most basic of household goods so Dear Husband could have a little bit of comfort.  We are setting up a retro/mid century style home, which means lots of great solid timber second hand Australian furniture.  

 

Dear Husband has started in his new position last week and we have now been living apart for 13 weeks and I've hated every minute of it.  The end is insight, Darling Daughter has 3 more exams to complete her Higher School Certificate and then I have no more school children and can start thinking about moving 500 km west.  Yahoo!  The kids are going to look after our coast home and we plan to spend as much time as possible back at the coast over summer anyway.

 

My next task is to work out what I need to take to set up my new studio and office in Princess's nursery.   

 

 

 

I've just found these 4 photos on the web from a previous sale  mid 2009.