absence explained

I've been away for a few weeks.  The reason was to persuade this bump to come out and introduce himself to us!

and he came - dear little thing - all 4.5 kilos of him!

Dear little Billy - what a special person you are

a very welcome addition to our family

 and we are so proud of mum and dad

After a few days Daddy took him home

The first Great Escape!!!!         to be continued.........

How to spend $1200 and be happy about it!

Excuses for my garden looking ragged:
1.  It has been raining solidly for about 4 months, interspersed with hot sunny days so everything grows
2.  I work full time
3.  I am over 50(!)
4.  I am going to get a new hip in August and the old one is very sore

So when I heard that the brother of the man who mows my nature strip had been retrenched from his job at the Harbour I asked if he would like to come and help me for a couple of days.
This is the result:

Everything has been clipped and weeded........

And the path down the side is now visible for the first time in about 6 years!

The possum scarer I paid $80 for has done it's job and I even have a passionfruit.....

He worked for 11 hours over two days and took away 5 huge bags of rubbish in his ute so I think that $500 is quite reasonable.

 And the balance of the spending ($700) went on a new back fence which is looking very raw but will be rather nice in a few months when I get some more soil and plant some trees along it.

So I'm on bread and water rations for a while but will enjoy walking around the garden eating an apple!!!

Girls Night Out

Last night we had thirty ladies here for a night out to celebrate Suzanne's forthcoming nuptials.  F themed the party in pink - roses and other sorts of greenery.

here is a visual:

I shouldn't have my photo taken when wearing glasses!!!

Fairy lights, cup cakes, lollies etc.  and masses of flowers and hanging things....

The waiters arrived in tracksuits but then changed into their uniforms - pants and the cuffs of shirts.....plus what looked like a lot of body oil!

 The bride to be and her mother and sisters

The female side of the bridal party.  I think by this stage, the cocktail machine had been working overtime!

and the party was for Suze.........

and the next morning, down it all came!

Sunday in the gardens

On Sunday. the day after the baby shower, F V and I went to the Melbourne flower and garden show in Carlton gardens.  It was a lovely day of about 27 degrees.  I enjoyed the show but found that it was a bit spaced out and I thought it would have been better to have had all the show gardens together etc,

 you can see us in the mirror in this garden......

and the garden below featured the iconic Skipping Girl from the vinegar factory in Richmond - it looks as though her rope my have caught fire - or in the rain!!

 I don't know why this stall had an F and a V hanging up - they must have known we were coming......

 I loved these espaliered lemons - and on the other wall, which I didn't photograph, they had espaliered pomegranates!

 Here is the baby saying "hello" to it's auntie

The perfume and colour of the hyacinths was beautiful

I would have loved to have brought home some of the bromeliads but I don't think border control would let that happen!!!

This dinosaur was roaring away in the bromeliad garden - I think he was meant to make you want to buy!!

When surrounded by nature - who buys fake flowers.................

The showering of the baby

I went to Melbourne for the weekend - partly just to see my children but especially to attend the baby shower for my grandchild who will be making his or her way into the world in about 4 weeks.  It was a lovely day on Saturday - not too hot and the promised afternoon showers were just light sprinkles.

 Here is the gorgeous mother to be - looking wonderful (although feeling a bit tired)  We don't know if it is a boy or a girl, although most bets seem to be on a girl.

and here (below is part of the decorations and the magnificent spread!!!

All put together by R and F.  My contribution was the bunting!

Eve and Nick's beautiful baby Harry came to his first party and was much loved by all

Angus was the only big boy brave enough to come

Fortunately, there was a helper to open all the presents

and these three all look gorgeous

as do these two!!

Goodnight baby tossntom xxxxxxx