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I found this last Sunday.
A little broken dead butterfly. It was stunningly beautiful and I felt privileged that I was able to look at this fragile insect up close. This was the only photo I managed to get before the wind blew it out of my hands. I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up again.
I got some mini croissants from the supermarket the other day because they were reduced (classy right?) and today I was itching for a delicious snack. I got my croissants out of the fridge, sliced them open, grilled them until they started to crisp up a little bit, popped a slice of a soft cheese (mine was Tasmanian Heritage’s ‘Red Square’, which was also on sale) on top and sat them under the grill for a moment until the cheese just started to melt. Then I put them on a plate, ran outside and got a sprig of parsley from my garden, garnished my super complicated morning tea and was ridiculously pleased with it. It was delicious. I’ve run out of croissants now, but if I had any left I would have ben gorging on them all day! And also, I’d forgotten how delicious parsley is. It’s amazing. And my plants are also beautiful! I think you get an emotional connection to any food or herbs you grow and then you’re biased to think it tastes fantastic. It’s fine by me though!
In other news, I’ve spent the morning weeding my parents’ garden. I spent a good two hours weeding, put about four very full wheelbarrows of weeds in the compost and discovered some forgotten plants. I found some parsley that no one could remember when or where we planted it and a whole bed of stunted kohl rabi and plenty of icky toads. As much as the toads give me heebie jeebies I think they’re keeping the grasshoppers and caterpillars under control. We had a pretty terrible wave of pests in the garden after a very wet hot summer and lots of the leafy greens and herbs were decimated. Anyway, after all this weeding, I’ve really only done about a tenth of the entire garden. Did I ever mention how big my parents’ garden is? Very big. But because it’s so large, some unused garden beds are inevitably gobbled up by weeds. Anyway, I’d better get back to it soon…lunch first, then back to the garden!
A BEAN TEEPEE!! Oh dearie me, I’m getting so excited. Look at these links! This one tells you all about how to make one. And this one has this picture from the 70s of an awesome one. I love that one. I like that it’s not quite a teepee and it seems very spacious. Perfect play area. Step by step instructions? Right here. And if you rent you can even make one with container planting! Doesn’t it make you want to garden? Look how big this one is! I want to make one big enough to seat a few people, either on a picnic blanket or some chairs…and a table? It’d be great for kids too. Imagine sitting in there looking up to see this beautiful view. Maybe I could grow all sorts of climbing plants…beans, peas, sweet peas or some other flowering vine. I even read about cucumber vines, and I guess you could make one with chokos or passionfruit. Oh the possibilities! They could be perennials or annuals. I’m getting ridiculously excited right about now.
I went away for a week to a family bible conference but that’s a story for another post. I just have to show you my garden now…I am in awe of how much my tomato plants and tomatoes have grown in one week! The plants are now of gargantuan proportions and the tomatoes! Oh the tomatoes! Some are bigger than tennis balls and they still haven’t got a hint of a blush of ripening on them. I was thinking that if I have some tomatoes by the time the local show comes I will totally enter a tomato in it. Hahahaha! I never would have thought I would be doing that. But this will only happen if I can still keep them grub free. I’m going to start investigating the process of making neem dust to add a a preventative measure. I’ll let you know how that one goes. But now I’ll show you what I know you’ve been waiting for…the photos!
It’s a terrible phone photo, I know, but you get the point. Those plants are MASSIVE! I even had to stake up some of the branches. I have these two wooden stepping stones I use to get in the middle of the garden bed and before I went away there was enough space for me to comfortably step in and survey my tomatoes and now it’s a bit of a squeeze! I sat in there yesterday and just absorbed that amazing tomato plant smell and imagined my next garden adventure that I will have there. I am thinking it will involve some sort of legume to refresh the soil and an elaborate trellis structure that will create a little private cubby of sorts. I have always wanted to do that. But it will be a while away yet because my tomatoes haven’t even begun to think about ripening…
Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll be around when I get to harvest some and I will make some delicious bruschetta or pizza and we will eat it and love it (you don’t get a choice with that part). These ones aren’t even the biggest – they just made the nicest photo.
I have many more photos and moments to share so don’t you forget about this little blog over the next week!
This whole new world being the world of kids. I have been volunteering in a few local schools in prep to year 3 for the last few months and because of this I have been privy to some fantastic conversations. My two favourites are from some prep kids. I just have to share them.
Let’s set the scene for the first one. I was with the teachers having lunch and the kids were outside playing and this little girl comes tearing up to the classroom (I won’t use real names here, let’s call her Talea and her teacher can be Mrs Smith).Talea starts exclaiming very loudly, “Mrs Smith! Mrs Smith! My hat blew off my head into the sky!”
Mrs Smith asked, “Did you throw it upwards?”
“No! The wind blew it off my head into the clouds!”
“Did you look for it? Is it on the ground somewhere?”
“No, because it’s up in the sky!”
Well, it turns out that she left her hat in the office and had gone back down to the playground without it and when she realised that her hat wasn’t on her head it led her to the most logical conclusion!
Now for the second story. It’s another preppy story. There is this adorable kid in this prep class named (for the sake of this story) Tom and he’s one of those exuberant little guys who is a lovely boy but not a mummy’s boy and he has the most fantastic cheeky little grin. At this school I am known as Miss Rosie because my mum teaches there and there would be a little confusion over names. As it happens there is still confusion of names for me. Most of the time the children call me Mrs Rosie and I always remind them that it’s Miss not Mrs because I’m not married. And thus my story begins…
Tom was drawing a picture and he wanted some help. He saw me and said, “Mrs Rosie? Can I have some help?”
To which I replied, “Tom, remember it’s Miss Rosie not Mrs Rosie. I’m not married!”
And with the most earnest little face he asked without a beat, “Why aren’t you married?”
“Well, I just haven’t found a boy who will marry me.” I said.
And then came the obviously logical response, “Why don’t you just ask one?”
I told him I’d try that next time. I’ll let you know how it goes!
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