After the heat and the rain

You can see the orchard is still green but the hills behind have gone brown very quickly after the 42 degree C heat on Thursday.
One of the peacocks on the front terrace railing.
The sky that night was red, red and redder, the other two sky photos were before the sun set and then we had thunderstorms that rumbled and grumbled for half the night and set fires alight across parts of the State. Not here thank goodness.
I was so tired yesterday with the cooler weather I did hardly anything and today has not been much better although I had to shop as I hadnt yesterday and go and feed Tabby's dogs and chooks.
Perhaps tomorrow while John goes fishing I will feel like doing something and not feel so tired and washed out.

Hot and a beach walk

I am not capable of doing much today, it is so hot I have found some sewing to do.
We did get out early this morning and had a lovely walk along the beach, the first in months, but even there it was getting hot.
Yesterday I was in the op shop and found this lovely book for $2. I would never have bought it at the full money but it is a lovely book showing Laura Ashley designs, fabrics, a bit of historical stuff and lovely looking English country rooms, with others as well. Made me want to do a make over except I dont have the money to do it!
Then last week after months of waiting this lovely little quilt that I had in an exchange finally after touring the world for 3 months turned up. It is by Pippa Coombs and I am so glad we decided to wait and see if it did arrive before she had to make another. I really love it and the ammonites she has used are just what I wanted, I wandered all over the UK trying to find or buy some but although I saw some wonderful ones in the Natural History Museum in Paris not one could I get so these are the next best thing.
As you can see there was a lazy wave on the beach this morning, lovely for walking in.
The River is blocked again and not flowing into the sea, infact when it finally opened its mouth this winter we were all amazed and a bit miffed as we couldnt walk the beach.
Not a shell to be found, in fact hardly any sea weed either so a lovely clean beach to walk on.
Bushfires out there, 42 degree C temperatures, now hot north winds and the threat of thunderstorms, and that could mean fires started by lightening.
What a country we live in!
Off to feed the dogs and chooks and water pots, and finally us, calamari for dinner tonight as John caught some the other week.
We hope for cooler temperatures to morrow and there is some talk of rain, I hope so.

The Valley this morning

As I drove back from shopping this morning I stopped and took a few photos of the big bales still in the paddocks.
It has been so hot that a lot are still out there, and a lot were left a bit late, ours have been done for weeks but then we have to have high nutrition levels in ours and our neighbours who rear a few beef animals are not so worried about them.
We are being told we will have a very nasty day tomorrow but then we were told that today and it wasnt nearly as bad as I thought it might be.
So far no hot northerly winds thank heaven.
today I spent a lot of the time, when not moving hoses, painting little dolls and sewing strips of material together, you cant see what I am doing yet, its not really terribly exciting any way.
Sorry this is so brief but it is late, I meant to do this a lot earlier but then the phone rang and it was a friend and we chatted and then John came home from Adelaide where he had been to a meeting and so dinner was organised and we have only just finished.
The trouble with day light saving at this time of the year, animals to feed, pots to water, and then it is late and I am tired.

Allotments

On India Flint's blog here she has a competition about allotments, on my other blog here I have written about my ideal allotment but here are some photos I took of allotments at Berwick upon Tweed. Usually I see allotments from any train I am in and they flash past so fast there is no hope of a photo and even a sketch is only what is imprinted upon my brain, and usually that is not enough.
So when we were walking and I found these I had to take some photos. The quality isnt terribly good as the sun was in the wrong place.
These are going into winter and I have written about a summer garden, most of the vegetables have been gathered and I suppose a lot are left fallow until next year.
They have always interested me and I feel that they are so important and there are now many inner suburban gardens where people live in high rise flats. Here in Australia high rise is only really just beginning and we have always had 1/4 acre garden block with vegies and fruit trees, now alas the gardens are much smaller. Adelaide was begun on some of the most fertile and productive soil in the state, such a waste to put houses on it.
I believe very firmly that the young of today need to be educated in how to have a pretty and yet productive garden but alas it is too easy to go to the supermarket and buy instead of growing your own.

Whitby

I will be uploading odd photos of our trip when I am feeling tired or have not much to put up.
I loved Whitby and I hope I havent done these before.
I was most taken with this shop in the old town, then the Celtic cross at the top of Caedmon's stair, we walked up the stair and came down the plod.
These gorgeous beach huts were being dismantled while we were there, I think they must store them for winter but I loved the bright colours.
Then a distant view of the Abbey, it was getting a bit late and the sun was in the wrong direction but I love the way it was against the sky.
Tired and have been busy today as it is cool before another onslaught of heat so trying to get done things we cant do when it is hot.

The wedding

My lovely youngest daughter re married yesterday in a lovely setting on their property, on one of the hottest days yet.
I thought I had these in the right order, but they are not at all.
The first is of the two babies, my great grand son and Tabby's grandson Mason and my grand daughter and Tabby's daughter Millie discussing things at the end of the day.
Then The Girls, these are the combined daughters of John and Tabby, Millie who is their daughter, Shannon and Brittany who are John's, Gaby who is Tabby's and Lanie who is John's. With John, the groom, the marriage celebrant and his parents by the dam.
Next Tab with her daughters and grandson, John, Millie and Tabby with the piper behind and the marriage celebrant
Finally the bride and groom, John and Tabby, she looked so lovely and as he is of Scottish decent the Gordon tartan was worn. Dont you love the meat clever used to cut the cake! An old family joke. It was hot hot but we all survived, even me who just about wore myself out doing the catering.
As you can see, it was definitely a home wedding but all the more lovely because of it.

Blogging friends

On one of the blogs I follow someone was talking about why blogging has become important to them. I thought about the people I keep in contact through blogs and those who I have met only through my blog. Here are two whose photos I found, there are others.
Of course these are in the wrong order, but at the top are John, Lauren and I at the Getty Museum and the view across LA, then John, Lauren and Hashi I of course took the photo, and I will talk about that one first. Hashi was part of the walking and sketching blogs that we set up and which is why I have my second blog. In early 2008 we were given the opportunity to go to America with a tour our dairy company was organising. I knew that Hashi lived in, near Los Angeles and that she had walked quite a few walks that were in a book she had. I duly found the book, and as we were to stay in Hollywood and it was a week end, Hashi very kindly offered to show us one of the Hollywood walks which she did and this was taken on that walk, she then offered to take us down to the La Brier tar pits which John was anxious to see and also to take us out to the Getty art Museum and garden which is where the second photo was taken. So although we dont always talk, I watch Hashi's blog and see how she and Lauren are getting on and are forever grateful for the day she spent with us.
Next is Julie's bluebell wood, in October this year, and then Julie and myself and her son Xavier. Julie set up the walking sketching blog and is a very good artist, I have a couple of her paintings and she was always talking about her walks in the bluebell wood so when we were in the Uk this year she invited us for lunch and to walk the walk with her.
It was fascinating, and as with Hashi it was really like meeting some one I have known all my life. I think I have know Xavier since he was about 2 and here he is today aged 6, and a gorgeous young man.
I find blogging is a wonderful way of seeing other countries, through the eyes of those who live there. The other bloggers I have met along the way, actually met, have been without exception the nicest people and are rather like old friends but not ones I have known since childhood, but then again almost! It is also a way to keep up with old friends around the world and keep in touch.
So thank you to blogger and I am proud to be part of that community.