Four Day Weekend, Again!

After the Easter four day long weekend i kind of got use to it and booked another one.  Truth is, i had accumulated time in lieu for overtime worked in March and so i thought I'd use the mid month lull to have some time off.  Who am i kidding, what lull?   I ended up working till 10pm Friday to have everything ready for Monday morning and then had to work like a Trojan to catch up when i returned on Wednesday. Was it worth it?  Absolutely.

I already posted about going potty in Tottenham on the Saturday morning so you know i had a new pot and some leftover Clivea to transplant.    

These front garden beds on the blind side of the house (usually this is just a strip but because of an easement we have 2-3mtrs width) were completely filled with clivea gone mad.

It was so beautiful when in flower but it had really overgrown the path and this is our only access to the back yard for a wheel barrow or bins.  I put an ad on Gumtree for free plants and i was inundated with calls. They came, they dug and they left me with a big mess which we forgot about because we couldn't see it - out of sight, out of mind.  Not any more.

I've removed the old fashioned shear curtains on all the windows and so we now have a view.  I  had better make it a good one as it really draws your eye when you walk in the front door.  We will have to sort out a privacy screen from neighbours as well.

My new pot and balls.  The balls add colour and interest and don't need weeding or watering.  There is about 5 clivea plants in the pot, so it wont take long to fill out.  

I'm thinking that the this path needs a good wash down with a pressure washer and then painting.  What colour do you think?   A shade of grey or do i go crazy and make it a shade of red?

Once i had done the bed outside the window i needed to plant out across the path because it was in view from inside as well.

You can see all that free mulch (still half the pile left) is coming in handy.   These wall pots were generously gifted from my sister Glenda when she moved house.  I've planted Seaside Daisies, Lobelia and Alyssum so they will fall gracefully and fill the view from inside.   The potted palm just got moved from elsewhere.  Do you play musical pots with your garden?  Doesn't cost a thing except a bad back.

So now both sides of the path are neat and tidy.  Oh dear, now the next section is looking worse for wear. After a few house of hard labour moving plants from here to there and repotting you can see it all coming together.

Oh no, the mould is really evident.  Wish i knew how to chop a triangle out of a photo.  Its looking much worse in the photo.  

As you can see, this garden is in full view of the dining area.  This is where i use to have the bantam chooks running around under the palms.   You can also see two things.  Its gorgeous but its also in need of a pressure wash.  Look at that mould.  This is the North side of the house and so this pergola has a fairly heavy shade cloth in "wheat" to give us protection from the Summer sun.  Its very effective, but as soon as it gets a bit wet, the mould arrives.

My beautiful pot is still waiting for its final resting place.  It could end up a water feature.  Perhaps i do have a pot fetish?

Today i found another bargain to add to this garden.  It was $60 reduced to $20.

The sign said woman praying but Rob thinks its a mother strangling a child.  Huh?    

So enough of gardens.  I did take some time to go for a drive with Tom.  Adding more hours to his 120hr target as a learner driver.  This Tuesday he will start with a professional instructor to finish off.  Its taken ages to find an instructor that will let him use his car.  Its what he feels most comfortable in and he will use it for the test, so he should learn in it.

We started out for Echuca on the border of NSW (big trip for one day) but he felt unwell an hour out so stopped at the closest town, Castlemaine.   Since having Idiopathic Inter-cranial Hypertension when he was about 10 he has suffered from occasional vertigo and feels unwell when going up and down hills and tight turns.  Just getting out of the car and walking around makes him feel better.

Castlemaine is an old gold mining town and you can see that in its time there was significant wealth in this small regional town.  Most of the dates on the buildings are around 1855-1865's.

Castlemaine - Link

You can see in the picture below the gutters are all extremely wide and made of bluestone.  Tom tells me that's because they carried a lot more than storm water in the past.  Ewww!

Sometimes it pays to look up.  What beautiful windows.  I would have loved to look inside.

For all my veggie garden friends, look here.  Its a kerb side veggie plot open to the public.

It would be great if the cities would follow the example of some of our smaller country towns.  It was full of veggies.  

Of course there had to be a lunch break.

The lentil soup was delish and i cant even find words to describe the almond meal and raspberry/cranberry cake. Tom wasn't so impressed with his gourmet meat pie (give him a plain $2 pie from the servo any day) but the custard almond danish revived him.  He felt so good on the way home, he sung me to sleep (ummm am i suppose to be supervising?  He has done 100 hrs)

So why was Tilly looking very guilty spread out on the back of the couch?

Because when i left, the bed was made, neat & tidy.   She's usually jumping up and down and being hysterical when i walk in the door but this is how i found her and my bed.   Hmmmm someone is a naughty girl.

Oh  i forgot to show you my other pot purchases from last weekend.

This white mosaic pot costs $5 and the ball 3 for $15.   The plant is Coleus Henna suitable for shade to semi-shade so I've got in the big pergola.

Those who know me know that i have a coffee addiction and so i couldn't go past this pot.

This oversized cup yet to be filled was $20

I am sure that if this didn't have a hole in the bottom of it, i would have been presented with this full to the brim with coffee for breakfast by either or both of my men as a joke.   Do you remember me saying what great service i received from the owners of the pot place.  I would have grabbed the outside plain one but she said "No, there's a really nice one inside and promptly emptied the shelf of these quite heavy pots to get this one out.  Lovely colouring.

Before you start think I've become Rockafeller, my entire garden makeover including pots, plants and ornamental lady came to $150.  I won $160 last week on Powerball with a ticket paid for from a winning ticket the previous week. Thank you Mr Tattersall.

Thanks for Visiting Living In The Land Of Oz