Jacarandas......

So busy here..........confused with what I have and have not posted so hoping your not bored with more garden shots...........

Some of the big jacaranda trees in the garden.....

yes I did say I have 23 in the garden but I brought 2 more and got them in..........thinking of a couple more spots too but think I will leave any more planting until autumn (unless some rain is forecast) as this week is going to be another scorcher........

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.....

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Garden......

The garden had been getting a big pull into line lately....... It's starting to show.....thankgoodness,.....mind you it is a constant work in progress but if you can stay one step ahead it is much better..........when my lawn is mowed life can feel so much better.......... Still got some work to go but I love going out moving hoses early or late and pulling a few weeds, raking a path or tidying up a bush etc.........to garden out here is a labour of love but it is so worth it........

the moon was still up when I went out this morning.......

the Jacarandas are putting on a gorgeous display......What I went to do was take a pic of the one next to my "Snow in Summer"......

And for once 'snow in summer' is flowering with it..... One is usually finished before the other starts.......I do have an obsession with Jacarandas as I have about 20 to 25 in the garden actually went out and counted 23.......see told you I have an obsession..........Some are a bit younger but they are all flowering now......

snow in summer closer up..........so pretty..........

The Agapanthus seem to be early.... 

Although some are just putting up heads now in other beds.......
This bed needs hay down.........I have a bale at the end of the garden it just has not happened yet.........this bed also contains my zucchinis and button squash and a pumpkin.........

Actually just looking at this geranium but I think I need to move some of it into the aggies..........the colours would be great together........since they are flowering together............

this was a piece of geranium I got from The Vale on our sewing retreat..........with permission of course............it just keeps flowering and flowering........

one of my favourite roses..........ask if you want the name...........

its a "David Austin" Rose.......I lost a couple due to too much bore water on it so being careful in a new spot for this one and using the dam water too.......

Anyway I'm enjoying it so much out in the garden I'm having 'girls drinks' tomorrow night......It's a "neighbours thing"........

Mind you my neighbours stretch a hell of a lot further then yours would but we still call ourselves neighbours...... And that is very special......

Have a great weekend.....

hope it involved lots of secret sewing..........
catch you later...........
Chookyblue............

Keeping the love of blogging alive............

Oats......

I took these pics on Friday on my walk.............this is our oat crop...........lost of weeds as from once it started to germinate it was very very wet for months..................so wet one paddock was flooded 5-6 times and very little oats came up.............this one was in about a week earlier............and in a slight slope.....well for extremely flat country it was a slope...............

a tunnel of oats................

It's amazing how tall some of it is........Boy Wonder is 6'6 and some parts are taller them him...........I would get lost in there.........it's very tall........

see the patch in the front of the pic didn't come up..........

some oats i rubbed out of the husk...........

the problem is secondary growth and lots have the same problem...........

it is pretty much ready to strip except see those green stems............

see the green heads in this pic............causes problems stripping..........

You need it all to look more like this and the grain comes out of the shell much better and stores better...............the silos in town will knock you back with too many green heads.......and too much moisture...................

On Friday it was 34degs Sat 35 yesterday 29...........today it has struggled to make 18 degs,.,............I am working in the office and on the UHF radio I can hear some header drivers and one of them just said it is the first time he has had the heater on while harvesting......I'm surprised it was even going for them....sometimes crops just won't strip well when it is too cool...........

I've had jeans, long sleeve top and a vest on all day and socks.........just warm enough..........very bleak cloudy day for sure......

Won't last for long.........30 and up from Wednesday............35-36 on the weekend again............now that's more like harvest temps.........and that will bring on the green heads to ripen.........

have a great week everyone............

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.....

'Keeping the love of blogging alive'

Chookshed emergency averted.......

Enjoying a bubbles with my friend Kylie...........

Calm relaxed...............Kylie knitting and me hhmmm fiddling probably...........anyway we could hear a branch rubbing on the roof...............funny as I had not heard it the day before..........oh well must get Mr Chooky to cut that branch down it's a little annoying........

A few hours later we went out and discovered it was the whole tree leaning on the Chookshed.............

OMG DISASTER!!!!!!

Its a big tree.............

It shades over lots of the Chookshed roof..............

and it's a big heavy tree..............

At 3am I was panicking about the storm that came thru if the tree would actually fall on the the Chookshed.............i had moved machines inside just in case.........but as we found this on dark and Mr Chooky didn't get home til almost then it was to late and dark to do any climbing on the roof to chop down a tree...............

Amazing this morning it was about a 1-2cms off the gutter...........but Mr Chooky and Boy Wonder got up and cut it all down...........I wasn't taking a risk..........

A pile of it went to the other side of the shed into the ute to take away 2 loads.....but this is the huge pieces Mr Chooky kept cutting off in slices to keep them lighter...........

You know how some trees have heavy wood and others lighter well his one is a heavy sucker............look at the pile to cart away beside the shed..............broke the top wire off the fence but that shouldn't be too bad to fix up..............

we still have about 7ft tree trunk to the right of the pic to deal with but this is not such a worry now.........

Here's the tree before the chop down.............

Here it is after..........the poor Chookshed looks bare............

it does give lots of shade..........all gone now............

Thankgoodness we found this problem before it fell harder onto the Chookshed.........imagine the disaster then.............

More storms floating around this arvo.........

Catch you later............

Chookyblue............

'Keeping the love of blogging alive'

Perfect Dolls House..........

Have you ever seen the most perfect dolls house yet.........I found it the other day........one of the bloggers I follow from Germany has created the most amazing quilting dolls house............Do your self a favour and go and visit Cattinka and have a look............make sure you leave a comment too........the detail.........I made the pics bigger but OMG........She did offer to tell me how she did some things but really its not something I would make myself but OMG I loved it.......... Cattinka in Germany......... It is so well done if you looked at the rooms on there own you would think it is life size the detail she has........but it is a dolls house........ take care til next time..... Chookyblue......... 'Keeping the love of blogging alive'

Yesterday.....

The day started with a rainbow.........actualy a double rainbow.......

We got a storm around lunch time...........we got 7mls........a few more storms floated about all afternoon........but cleared before dark.........

I had to duck into the Dr's again for the sinus right as one of the storms was coming thru...................still not cleared up so a different tablet now..........was feeling a bit better but went backwards..........

So it was a a good day to have friends sewing...............I have been working out handquilting............Sonia showed me how to start and finish.........

Had tried perle 8 but the Auriful 12 is easier to use..........

Robyn got this plus quilt cut out........

she managed to get the first 2 rows joined up............

Red, black, grey and white looks great......

Miss Jules got another dresdan drunkards path quilt cut out.........

dinner was by candle light as the power went out.........

came back on as I decided to go to bed............

no storms forecast for today but maybe tomorrow and Saturday.......

harvest is just about ready to go..........

visitors tomorrow night......

I was trying to catch up with all the lovely comments you girls left while I was away but I just can't manage........so i'll start again from now.......

I do love the comments it's what makes blogging fun interacting with everyone..............

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue.....

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Gardening.....

This red rose is so vibrant............it's "Satchmo" a new rose to my garden...........

A big wilga tree fell down on the back fence in the wind on Saturday...........lucky the fence is not too damaged..............

The garden is looking good..........Jacarandas just starting to get a bit of purple.............aggies throwing heads up everywhere...........

Picked some mulberries for pies............

Summer is here the constant watering has started............

35 forecast for today..........

thats going to be a shock for the system........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

Keeping the love of blogging alive

Finally home......

My last morning in Sydney saw me catching up with a cousin and heading out with Sonias crew also for breaky..............

This was heaven..........

OMG the food I have eaten this week............spanish, greek, korean, thai, pastries, cakes, BBQ's, amazing breakies..........so much different food I have loved it.............

beautiful beaches...........I hate the water and sand but love the view...........

the sun was glistening on the water.............

love driving thru the leafy expensive suburbs.....all except for this street the traffic was OMG nuts.............took me twice and long to get to the end of the freeway.............

seriously Sydney has development going on everywhere and the traffic is getting worse..............

once I got off the busy roads and onto the country roads the traffic was practically none..........love it that way........one of my favourite places to drive thru the Hunter Valley is near Jerrys Plains............the horse studs line the roads and they keep it mowed and neat and nice tree lines...........you really can't see the beauty so well in this pic but it is so pretty...............

I even had to stop for a very rare train..............it was really long............

gorgeous views all the way...........the country is amazing............it's why I live here and its forever changing..........

Stopped "Plough Inn to Cassilis" for coffee...........the roses on the side of the building were flowering beautifully...........

so nice to be home and back in my bed...........I have loved my week away and enjoyed checking out the city but give me the flies and dust any day over the traffic and busy people everywhere who have no time to even acknowledge you exist............

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.....

'Keeping the love of blogging alive'

More views.....

Sonia's jacaranda is looking amazing in full bloom.... hoping mine are starting to flower when get home..... no sign before i left but that was a week ago now.......

These gorgeous Angels appeared while i was visiting....... a few might have popped into my car for the trip home....... 

I love the big huge trees....... types of fig trees I'm pretty sure........ 

Friday I was starting to feel human again....... Went for a beautiful early morning walk along a creek..... Lovely tree ferns........a tunnel to go thru.....none of those at home........

Saw another cousin I had not seen for years....... Popped into Cottage Quilt Works and got a few treats......

Great experience of Sydney traffic...... the reason why I would never i repeat never live down here.....

Seafood dinner on the harbour..... Glorious weather.......

Some more stitching time........few more Lucy's that were part way in progress finished......

Ok best get moving........breaky by the beach with another cousin and Sonia's family..... then the big trip home......

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue......

'Keeping the love of blogging alive'