Getting my green thumb on, city style

My how this year has flown by.  I seem to be more and more amazed at the swiftness of time these days but it's still a shock that we're bearing down on Christmas at a great rate of knots.

I'm so very at ease and at home again in Brisbane now - our time on the downs seems like a distant memory, if not a dream.  It feels like we never left.  The weather has been beautiful and I'm loving the longer daylight hours as we move towards summer.  Time to get outside and enjoy the world after work is done for the day.

The one thing I've been lamenting since we moved down was my lack of veggie garden.  This rented unit, while it has a courtyard, doesn't have much in the way of gardening space.  It was the lack of fresh herbs at the back door that started it all for me - all that missing my own patch of dirt to dig and plant and potter around in, the walk through in the morning to see what was out there and finding new fruit, new seedlings, fresh strawberries.....I've been missing that without wanting to allow myself to.

Strange how my outlook has changed now though.  Before we left Brisbane I had this idea in my head that to garden you needed space, lots of space, and all the equipment and tools etc to get started.  Gee I wasted a lot of time with that mentality - I could have had a ripper garden down here then like I eventually had out there!!

I'm glad I've changed my thinking - I've been waiting so patiently for the onset of springy days so that I could dig out the gardening gloves and get cracking.  I was about to go to the supermarket and pick up a few of those polystyrene boxes to use as planters when a sneaky birthday appeared and gave me some pots and potting mix with which to create my patio garden.  I  love a good gardening gift and Lucky Phil knows the way to win my heart is via dirt and plants (or a good book or something crafty!) :)

And so now I have it all happening.  A great selection of my favourite herbs - coriander, basil, parsley, mint, chives - and some veggies to top it all off - tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, snow peas, corn.  And I can't forget the flowers for a bit of colour - this time around some snapdragons and lobelias.  I even managed to keep alive some strawberry plants from my garden on the downs - they have really taken off since they have been repotted and mulched.

Pineapples that have been growing roots in containers on my sink for about three years now - finally in soil and they are lapping it up!

Tomato seedlings from the self-sown cherry tomatoes from our previous home

A Mulberry Tree that somehow  was sown, sprouted and survived in a pot that I brought down with me.  He much prefers the soil in this one.... 

I'm loving the greenery at my back door now - so much better than the stark tiles and concrete walls of before.  I'm out there a whole lot more now too - soaking up the view and taking in the 'outside-ness' of it all.  I'm just waiting now on the pumpkin seeds to sprout on the windowsill and get a bit of size to them and they'll go out too - into the wild garden bed for those, they'll be in their element.

The countdown is now on until I can be eating the fruits of my labours!  Can't wait!!

Happy Saturday Night

I love Saturday nights.

Middle of the weekend, sleep in tomorrow, life is grand.

Tonight the LOML is out doing his thing until dinner-time and I'm home alone.  Which means the music is cranking....(lucky the neighbours are two doors over)....and I sound amazingly like Adele herself ....I can't keep up with your turning tables....

...I have quinces on the stovetop slowly working their magic.  We ran out of quince paste, horror of all horrors, so immediate action had to be taken.  Considering how much I made last time and we've now gone through it, I should be thinking twice about doing another batch...

The fire is raging....is that the Ekka winds making an early appearance, signalling the end of winter (if early)?  I'd forgotten about all those gaps around the doors and windows, but hopefully they will blow away soon - the Mulberry tree out front is telling me that spring is not that far away now (the fruit starting to form, oh the fruit!!!).

The washing has been done and is now waiting to be hung up.  In winter it goes on the clothes airer inside because I'm not home early enough to get it off the line before the sun goes down.  Bring on Spring and sun-dried, warm-air-dried clothes.  Mmmmmm......!!!

And a loaf of bread is on the go.  It feels like forever since I've done any form of baking (in reality, 4 days.  Forever.)

In the meantime, a glass of wine is in need of a re-fill and plans for dinner have been made and are about to be implemented (tonight, a brussell sprout-cauliflower-bacon type carbonara al-a-Donna Hay Magazine - I made it last week.  It was so good I'm making it again.  yummmmm!).

Aaaaannnnndddd I've been playing with the photo editing apps on my phone - enjoy :)

Happy Saturday night!

And Happy Birthday to my friend Lady J!  I hope your night is as snug and warm as mine xxx

Wall Art

Photos in albums are so boring and not-looked-at.

I much prefer to laminate mine and stick them on the wall for an every-day reminder of all the fun times.

The only trouble is finding a wall free for the next lot of memories.

A new month, a new look...

For quite a while now I have been reading Fiona's blog with a rather serious case of blog-header-envy.  Not only does she take the most beautiful photos and write in a way that hooks me, but her header catches my attention every time and has made me try and try in vain for way too long on way too many nights to attempt to replicate my own version....

...until just now!  Playing around with a few thingys and whatsits, pressing a button here, losing an image there, and then suddenly I made it work!  Hooray!!!  Best of all, I think I knew what I did so that I can do it all again.  Magic!

So Fiona, in a modest attempt at imitation (it is the biggest form of flattery after all), I'm going to steal replicate your wonderful monthly changing header.  It's like having a big spring clean every month, moving the furniture, cleaning the windows, even wiping the top of the ceiling fan blades!

I think I may have started a new addiction for myself.  I am loving the collage look....I also just found photos buried on the hard drive that I forgot I had...it's like Christmas!!

If you haven't seen Fiona's headers, pop on over and have a look....I love them....and then, best of all, at the end of the year they make up a post of their very own - a photo gallery of sorts of the year that was...(http://cattle-kids-chaos.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/2011-year-in-blog-headers.html)....fantastic!

Thanks Fiona for the inspiration!