Creatures in my life

I seem to have a lot of creatures sharing my life at the moment.  Won/t take photos of those that are flying around the house and garden doing all sorts of devilish things to my plants etc.

the elephant is still calling for a mate by the pool - we nearly had a flood that could have swept him away!

this possum doesn't seem to do much to deter his furry brethren

BUT the devil is better - the pashionfruit vine near him is actually doing very well!!

In this dark and gloomy palm, lives a poss and a rat - which one will win that battle/

I've put the baby elephant out with the big one in the hope that he will feel happier and put his trunk up - hasn't happened yet!

and here I am with the Peachester llamas!!!!!

celebrations and more celebrations

Great excitement here as christmas celebrations got underway!  We start the festivities with a celebration of our baby's birthday 28 years ago!  Who doesn't want a giraffe shaped kettle for their birthday???
Peter got off to an early start with his holiday shirt and santa hat

and then the following day we entertained 12 for breakfast (a monumental feat for me who doesn't like talking before 11am).

THEN came the presents:

and then, in case we hadn't eaten enough breakfast, we had 7 for lunch:

What a lovely couple of days - let's get back to WW immediately!!!

Floral tributes

I got home from a week in Melbourne to find that there were lots of things in flower in my garden (in spite of the weeds).  I therefore picked a bowl of agapanthus and red spider flowers

And then, when I came home from work on Monday - after a very hectic day, there was a LARGE bunch of flowers on the verandah from the RMC class of '51 wishing me a belated happy birthday.   There were so many flowers I had to put them in separate vases - and now my kitchen looks very bright!

Family

Where I live, I only have 'adopted' family members so I have just been south to Melbourne to see some of the blood and 'related by marriage' family.  We had a delicious lunch at Tosca's new home in Brunswick and here is the evidence:

I had a lovely lunch with Fi and baby Archer who was playing on the quilt I made him
:

and F and P also gave me lunch

Coming home for Christmas

My sojourn at Southport is over - the defendant is in the Southport watchhouse waiting until there is room in one of her majesty's prisons for him.  I think that is very unfair - no one deservesd to sit in a cell for three weeks - one shower a week and no outside exercise.
So I am now home and have swapped this view

early morning at main beach

FOR THIS - early morning in clayfield.....

BUT, astute readers will see that thete are some lights in the hedges and on the mulberry........
Christmas preparations are underway:

this is Toombul's effort

 

 

 

and this is mine!

this is what it looks like at night

and this is what is underneath!!!

There is also a new member of the Carrigan household - baby Archie

a wider view of a few weeks at southport

Week two of my sojourn at southport has now ended and it looks as though I will be spending at least the next two weeks at this place.

However, there have been some respites:-

Pete came for a couple of nights - we had some nice beach walks and she cooked  dinner! 

I went to the Oroton outlet and bought a chocolate coloured bag for 60% off

bought some summer shoes

saw some car races in the street below the apartment

my brother came up from Melbourne and we had lots of long chats (that's me in the mirror)

here he is walking along Main Beach

and then we came back to Briz and he pruned my hedges!!!!

and we let the new elephant out of his cage - he seems to be very happy!!!!!