Having demolished the crumbling greenhouse that came with the house when we moved in, our intention was always to make use of the solid concrete base on which it had stood. So having previous experience of one particular brand of polytunnel in our previous garden it was not a difficult decision for us to spend a bit of money on another one from the same stable. These things are well made and designed to be anchored down to the ground to enable them to survive most storms.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Polly the tunnel
Having demolished the crumbling greenhouse that came with the house when we moved in, our intention was always to make use of the solid concrete base on which it had stood. So having previous experience of one particular brand of polytunnel in our previous garden it was not a difficult decision for us to spend a bit of money on another one from the same stable. These things are well made and designed to be anchored down to the ground to enable them to survive most storms.
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Scotland warms up
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Australia - Brisbane
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Australia - adventures
A couple of trips to Rainbow Beach to swim in the sea was quite an experience for us all too, the waves being a little too big for any actual swimming and it was really just about being bashed around.
The cooling off in a creek on the way back was most welcome though, surprisingly cool despite the heat of the day.With no time to recover from our island adventure, the following day saw us waving farewell to our younger family who had booked a two day canoeing trip in the Everglades, an area of rainforest not far from where we were staying.
This involved kayaking into the wilderness for a whole day, an overnight camp in a tent -hardly luxury - then paddling back the following day. Apparently there was wildlife a plenty but fortunately no encounters with large biting things.Friday, April 19, 2024
Australia - the language
a close encounter with a train,
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Australia - impressions
Monday, April 15, 2024
Australia - the wildlife
'Jet-lag' is the term we use to describe the after effects of moving quickly from one time zone to another distant one. It would have had no meaning before long haul flying became a reality but today it is commonplace and there are many ways that this affects our bodies. The physical consequences of being uncomfortably seated for a prolonged period of time whilst being subjected to constant vibration and the occasional shaking caused by air turbulence will inevitably have an effect on us. The body clock alone can take days to readjust but the strange sensations of vibration coming through my feet after landing did take me by surprise. Then after emerging from our first night of sleep with our hosts, ridiculously early (local time) on the first morning, we got our first sight of the garden birds attracted by our host's feeding regime.
It appears that most things flying things here are brightly coloured and since many are unique to Australia the first thing we have to do is learn all their names. The dingo shown here is not (normally) a garden visitor, nor would he be welcome. We saw this one strolling about in a local park as if he owned the place, which in many ways they do. The Aussie magpie is considerably bigger than what we see at home and has a call that is loud enough to be heard across the world.This particular chap is reasonably tame as a result of being offered food every day and he begins screaming for attention every morning as soon as he sees someone in the house is awake.Moving on...
... these fungal beauties caught our eye. They live on trees in the wooded areas near where we were staying, an area known as 'the bush' ('woods' don't exist here). Eucalyptus trees tower over everything else, their white trunks being devoid of bark and carrying strange zigzag marks made by tiny burrowing creatures.
All this in our first week of the holiday during which we explored the area, the beaches and the sand dunes. This was where we met the goanna and the white crab. The gekko, however, spends his days in the house catching flies and spiders whenever he can. Everything in Australia seems to be in one way or another different from what we are used to back home in Scotland. The wildlife, the climate, the cars, the accent, it is all part of the jet-lag adjusting process.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Australia - the journey
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Shrimper corner
Everything goes smoothly and on arrival at the boatyard Eun na Mara is lifted into the air so we can see what is going on with the keel. Once the inevitable layers of barnacles and worm casts are pressure-washed off the problem becomes apparent. From inside and from underneath the boat some distortion to the side of the keel box can be seen and it is this that is preventing the keel from dropping. Fixing this is not going to be an easy job and the busy boatyard cannot begin work for some months yet so once again we must wait.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Music
Friday, January 26, 2024
Out with the old
Friday, January 5, 2024
Seagulls & mice
We are well aware that we don't always follow convention when it comes to home decor. Nobody has actually told us this to our faces but we have noticed the expressions of horror, quickly hidden away, on the faces of those visiting.
When we started looking online for wallpaper to put up in our living room we were drawn to something we had tried in our previous house, a mural. For a time we considered painting the wall, something exciting, a work of art that might be visible from the street, but in the end we settled for this sunrise and its five seagulls, made to measure from strips of wallpaper. It is both unusual and quite dramatic, something more usually associated with a public space and therefore unexpected in a home setting. We do not follow convention. For the rest of the living room we have gone for plain colours and finally, at 1205 on Wednesday 13th December, we finished fixing the last strip of wallpaper. A big tick, job done.