Things are looking Up!

A few tentative steps outside the front door this morning, harnessed up the dog and stepped  into a world exploding with spring colour.

Two weeks in a hospital ward leads to a kind of 'white out' or sensory deprivation I guess. All sensations are heightened,sight, smell (yes I did pick up the dog poo) and even touch. The highlight of my small excursion was the four leafed clover I found. Is this a universal sign of good luck? As I said, things are looking up!

Tender mercies

I'm Baaaaack!
12 days in in a private room, a view over the city, all meals included, sounds like heaven right?
No internet, lousy tv, plenty of books a few bunches of flowers, more sweets than are good for me  only made bearable by the ministrations of the wonderful girls and guys on ward F2 (my home away from home) and the physios, not all bad. Mercifully no photos.
All good.

Birthday, smirthday

Well, my birthday has come and gone and I can say that it was the worst yet.
Sorry  to be a downer but the news that I am going into hospital for a "tune up" of an ongoing problem is not the best gift to get. It is particularly galling because spring has come with a vengeance and I will miss it.
See you when I get out.

Three days to go.

A fun morning at the local Girl Guides' clubhouse where they are having a "Trash & Treasure" sale.
Just went to support my granddaughter's troop. The money raised will help pay for their insurance for the coming year, a necessity nowadays.

Last year I had a stall but not able to this year besides, I have donated most of the succulents I grew to the children's  school which is currently having a remodel of their gardens. The plants do look nice in the ground, shall post a picture when they get established.

Snooping around my damp (yes again!) garden this AM these two beauties caught my eye, first a bulb which is I think a hemerocallus, a spectacularly flamboyant producer of stamens (very butch!) and the white plant is the common Australian native rock orchid which has a heavenly vannillary scent.
Winner in the olfactory stakes though at this time of year is surely the gorgeous freesia, an indescribably lovely perfume with undertones of cow manure LOL. That's how it seems to me  anyway, just a little counterpoint to the nice notes rather like a base note.
The other  thing about freesia perfume is that when I smell it I am 17 years old again. My Birthday party that year was a biggie (why am I thinking about birthdays?) and was made memorable by the bunch of freesias I got, plucked from his mother's garden, by the latest heartthrob.
Smells are very powerful in pulling out those long forgotten memories or is it just age that makes one remember the past so vividly and forget the last thing you heard?

Six days to go

Six days to go to a BIG landmark birthday. I mean BIG. Let's just say I could collect the pension after the 7th of September.
Am I unhappy, you betcha, then on the other hand I never expected to reach this age, I  expected not to reach the millennium so it is all good.
Onward into the 21st Century and we are installing solar panels on our roof to generate electrickery.
 As usual there is a hitch, the frames will go on the roof but no panels. The scheme to encourage installations has been so popular that installers cannot keep up with the workload or the materials.
No use getting upset but delays are so frustrating.
Just a glimpse into my riveting life LOL.

Spring?

I know, I know, boring to talk about the weather but it has been such a fabulous day, 18C and sun, sun, sun.

Ate breakfast on the verandah today and this was on my table
These orchids often have the tattiest looking foliage and then from bare sticks, kapow!

Things that amused me today.

Maybe I am easily amused but this amused me.
Recently I have been following this blog http://etegamibydosankodebbie.blogspot.com/ and decided that I would try out the elegant art of Etegami. This lead to a trip to the art supply store in search of a bamboo pen.
The thing that amused me was the barcode on this ancient instrument, 100% bamboo , which has managed for centuries without a barcode.! Almost you could say an anachronism. Anyway, looking forward to trying it out and being frustrated at not being able to do as well as the inimitable Debbie. (Still looking for the washi paper postcards though.
Just to be going on with here is an image of my latest drawing,?collage? for my greeting cards. Hope you approve.

It's a pink day!

The sun is shining after a couple of very gloomy months and the garden is showing it's true colours. To celebrate this happy day I searched out some of my beautiful pink succulents which have coloured up beautifully in the cold. Okay, so some of them are a little more on the mauve side but they feel pink!
The top one is very much larger and more vigorous than the others and is I think my favourite.
Another reason to celebrate: I have sold some of my cards and a monkey today, all in a good cause.
With Spring approaching I will have to get serious about having a market stall somewhere to sell off all of the things I have been making this winter.

A green day.

Not much happening here today at "Casa Chaos", just mooching around my very damp garden and noticing the shades of green. Green flowers don't get the recognition they deserve, I love them and I found a couple  to photograph as well as some interesting greenish-white succulents. The first is zantedeschia "Green Goddess", a very robust and welcome addition to my pond where it sucks up the fish poo and grows like a weed! Of course it is not a true flower but a modified leaf. Thanks to Jan's friend Alan for the cutting.

The second rather snail eaten beauty is a common old orchid which I have had for years and which is the sole survivor of the the virus attack of a few years ago which destroyed all of my other orchids.

Moving away from flowers we have the variegated version of the common old jade plant or 'money tree' of Feng shui fame...hasn't worked for me I'm afraid and I have both kinds as well as all their cousins!
Lastly this is an image of an aeonium which turns this very pale shade in the winter giving the impression from a distance of greenish flowers. The rain has been constant this winter and on the days it doesn't rain it is gloomy, can't wait for summer.

Everybody needs good neighbours part 2

Recently I have had my darling mum staying with me. Normally she lives in the bush but she is having some big health issues at the moment and needs tests done in the big city.  We are all hoping for good news but in the meantime, bouquets to my neighbours who have been kindness itself in their concern.
Betty,( who alleges she loves animals more than most people) came by the other day and gave mum this retro style jacket she knitted and is suitable to be worn as a bed jacket if she has to go to hospital. Many hours of work have gone into it and we really appreciate it, thanks Bet.

Another friend and neighbour Cathy  gave her some nifty socks after she complained that it was hard to find the type she likes and Jan (remember Jan who bakes? ) and her mother have been a great support to me with their concern (and lamingtons!). My daughter in law has also been keeping us in bunches of beautiful roses for her stay here and these have cheered her up heaps.
Modeling the jacket is my granddaughter

Yesterday we had a lovely afternoon tea with these great people and the three granddaughters entertained them with a hastily rehearsed "Three Little Maids are We" from the Mikado as they served tea in their kimono. Lots of fun and giggles, not too serious but  hopefully just what the doctor ordered.
The table decorated by the girls and I looked lovely, (sorry about the quality of the pics) oh, the
pretty napkins we folded into origami cranes were another Jan gift, what did I tell you? they are super people.