For Caitlin

Finding the time to post on the Back Shed seems a little hard these days. Usually Nicky asks me when I'm going to put something on here but this time it was my friend Caitlin who says: I need some more pictures and stories of back home! Itś all just red dry dust, clear blue skies, hot days and wallaby tracks up here! 
So here you go Caitlin.......................................................
I have been trying to remember what has been happening since I last posted. I spent Easter at Lakes Entrance with family. There was far too much going on to take too many photos, we had a lovely time. I think life was pretty much routine for the rest of April. 

Not so happy news first.  Sadly Rev passed away at the beginning of May. He put up a mighty battle against his failing heart but eventually it was just too hard for him. 

A couple of the last few photos of Rev.. Really miss our sweet old man. 

In the garden the struggle for life goes on. I managed to catch this praying mantis eating a cricket.

Just about done.

My latest Op Shop treasure, a gorgeous Willow sifter. 

I really haven't been taking too many photos in the last month or so, just too busy or lethargic, take your pick. Anyway I have gone out this morning and taken a few just for Caitlin.

We cleaned the wood shed out this week, piled up all the rubbish we raked out of the shed and Dave has a fire burning out in the paddock.  There have been quite a few days going out and getting wood to keep the fires burning so we can keep the cold at bay.  I've even learnt how to use the wood splitter. Lots of soup being made on the combustion stove already, Pea and Ham is  becoming a favourite. 

Missing the hills, Caitlin??

Only another day or so and Autumn will be over. The Japanese Maple has put on a beautiful show for us again this year. I will have to go out and rake leaves at some stage I guess but at the moment they look  pretty on the lawn. 

The garden out the side of the house is well and truly established. More leaves to clean up out here as well. It is a favourite spot to sit and share a pot of tea on warmer days. 

I hope that satisfies your need for green and hills and everything you don't have where you are now Caitlin. Missing you too. x

Creating

Lots happening here at the moment. Last weekend I painted the bathroom and gave it a bit of a tidy up. It was so nice to have an extra day to get things done. 

This week we have jumped on the current trend of creating pallet gardens.  I was in charge of design and my son David was in charge of creating the picture I had in my head.  This is the first one, planted with Primulas.

When I came home from work yesterday there was another one completed all ready to be painted and planted. Lots more shelves this time for all my rusty bits. I am really loving how they turned out and they look wonderful against my rusty tin fence. 

Outside the house there are four helicopters taking off from the airport, fighting the fires at Tom Groggin. We have had them flying over for a week now.  It is really hard to get a photo with all the smoke around at the moment.

A little better.

As usual Fred was right on hand to help me take the photos although he is looking just a little bit grumpy. 

The other bit of creating happened today.  I always look at the amazing recipes in Country Style magazine and think to my self that I really should try some of them. Today I finally got around to dragging out one of the latest magazines and trying out a recipe that looked really good. Potato, Rosemary and Onion Bread which I was a little bit hesitant about making because handmade bread usually turns out like a rock for me. It turned out beautifully. We had an amazing dinner tonight. 

Look up!!!!

Found this little fella just hanging around yesterday evening. Wasn't really looking for him, I'd gone outside to try and get some photos of the sunset. So many amazing cloud formations happening.

All taken within a half an hour or so. There are lots more but I think you probably get the idea.

All sorts of Treasure

Regular readers will have woken up to the fact a long time ago that I get a lot of pleasure from my garden. A garden will stimulate all the senses everyday, whether it the sound of a bird in song, splashes of colour among the foliage, the heady scent of roses and the Port Wine Magnolia  on the evening breeze, the bite of the first tomato warmed by the sun and the feel of warm earth or the softness of a petal.

 I planted Buddleias along the side of the house which have grown very quickly and are a constant source of new and amazing things.  

Last Summer I was overwhelmed with the many different butterflies, insects and birds they attracted and spent many hours just watching them coming and going collecting nectar from the flowers.

Just when I thought I had seen pretty much every insect that could possibly be attracted to the Buddleia flowers a new one has appeared. It was a very strange creature and quite large as insects go and I immediately had to Google it and see what it was. 

So these strange creatures are a Clear wing Hummingbird Moth and if you look closely they do look just like a Hummingbird. Amazing what you find.

Last night it was very noisy out there so I headed out to see what was going on.. It was really hard to see what was buzzing around in the dark so I grabbed my camera living in hope that a photo just might turn out ok.

Lucky for me my camera came through with flying colours and the source of all that buzzing was revealed.

Remember these little bees from last year? They are back into the Lavender again.

I ducked into the Op Shop today and found treasure of another kind, I nearly passed it by because all I could see were the orange flowers in among a lot of linen. 

An amazing array of embroidered and lace doileys all folded into the very unattractive cover.

The intention is to get enough to put a quilt top together but I am not sure that I will be able to actually sew them permanently into a quilt when the time comes. 

I heard a very ugly bird cry outside a minute ago and was excited to realise that the Dollar Birds were back for the Summer. They have been coming here for many years now but for some reason didn't turn up last year. More information here  if you want to know what they are.
The only other visitor we have had here has been the brown snake I mentioned in my previous post. Unlucky for us it was a female and the outcome of that visit has been lots of baby brown snakes in the yard. They are one baby I do not find very cute at all.