In a glazed daze
Canna Leaf
A new week, and a concentrated gardening week, please. In a big garden like mine it's easy to lose focus and wander around the paths and borders in a glazed daze, without one's spectacles on, swept away visually by patterns and shapes. Tree trunk silhouettes, the sun shining through the veined Canna leaves...
Oops. Shameless excuses for not doing nearly enough proper gardening. So this week I'm going down to earth in one area. I will not be distracted by re-blooming roses or lured into dead-heading dahlias - that's such a lightweight task, after all. I need some deep and meaningful gardening.
Sitting on the verandah of the cottage with grey cottage cat Minimus, sipping tea. There are definitely some rather delightful things going on. The Cannas in their pots on the pond decking are happy. How do I know this? They are flowering! In other years this hasn't happened until the last weeks of autumn, which is far too late. But - the largest Phormium on the edge of the pond needs a serious trim. And to do this I will have to wade in the water.
Slimimus Minimus!
Cat on a Diet!
And a word of encouragement for young Minimus - your diet is working! And how do I know this? Because you're continually waking me up in the middle of the night - if the paw doesn't work, then a gentle scrape with the claws on the face does. Annoying, but definitely smaller, so it's worth it, right? Slimimus Minimus!
Anniversary Plan...
Here's today's plan. After the dog park (we simply can't miss the dog park, the social highlight of our day) I'm off to the new house-build to (hopefully) watch the big crane start lowering the house walls into place. It's exactly the fifth anniversary of the day when the old double brick wall came crashing down (earthquake stuff, this). In the grand scheme of builders, cranes, and deliveries of building supplies, how spooky is that? At 12:51 we are going to give thanks and float some rose petals in the river.
Later...
Hee hee. We solemnly threw in flower petals from a posy the Grand-toddler had especially picked for us. We kept the moment silent - well, we tried to. But a gaggle of Canada geese floated quickly over. Food! Food? Yuk! There was much disappointed honking. How noisily life goes on!
Anyway, I'm back home now, and I've done a couple of solid hours, cleaning up gum leaves etc. from the garden by the dog kennels. Not necessarily inspiring work, but I did finish with a trot around with the camera and the dogs. Love those glowing roses, especially Kate Sheppard.
The Big and The Small...
I thought a lot about the new house build, too, and how quickly big machinery does big things. It's the comparison between my shovel and wheelbarrow and a big yellow digger and a bulldozer. And so the exterior wooden walls of the house went up - just like that. Hmm...
NGP and the dogs.
Quite a poignant day, really. I love my family so very much. And my dogs and cats and friends.
Tuesday 23rd February
The dogs and I have pottered around a bit today. I've had the hoses on and I've continued cleaning up the garden by their kennels. It's the season of leaf fall for the big Eucalyptus trees, and I choose to garden beneath them. Say no more!
Wednesday 24th February
Naughty. I didn't go to book group. But (excuses, excuses) the tree men were here trimming another of the huge Eucalyptus trees to make it 'safe' (reducing the so-called sail area). They use ropes etc. and climb quite high to cut. So I had to take them iced water and Bundaberg lemonade, didn't I?
The Pond
Anyway, I was in a dogs rather than people mood (sorry about that, book group ladies). After the dog park I started clearing up the pond gardens. It was hot, so I stood in the pond to trim the overhanging flax leaves. So refreshing! Then I launched myself underneath the Gunnera for a proper swim (the pond is deeper than me). Three alarmed, barking dogs appeared on the decking. Eek! Our dog-mother has fallen in!
Escher :- What a dog! Mister Brown About the Town Escher saves the day!
Big brown Escher to the rescue! In he leapt, dog-paddling purposefully over, then sploshing his large paws right on top of me. It would have been an interesting rescue. Dear dog. But I'd like to think he was worried. Meanwhile the collies stayed at the water's edge and barked. So if this was a dog personality test...
The tree men are still busy, but I've stopped my garden work for the day. The temperature has reached thirty degrees (Celsius) and that's far too hot for me.