December 1st. 2014
It is dry and hot again so I am back to
watering vegetables and trees. The loquats are covered with fruit and neither
I, nor the parrots, have made much impact yet. We are starting to get
strawberries and raspberries but they disappear very quickly. The mulberries
never did get any fruit. The frost hit them just at the wrong stage and they
did not attempt a second try.
My mum in the UK had her 94th birthday. I still phone her every day but we
sent flowers to mark the occasion as well. My nephew sent a lovely picture that
I will share here. Mum is not enjoying this stage of her life but we still find
things to laugh about most days. She tells me that she sleeps a lot now, which
we both think is a good thing.
Back in Australia my eldest grandson has
now done his school leaving exams and is working and partying whilst he waits
for the results. He is hoping to save enough money to buy a ticket to Europe
but has not earned enough yet. Eddy went over to look at the broken car and the
damage may not be as bad as Arj first thought.
The big tragedy is that my computer is on
the blink. It has been marvelous for 6 years but recently it has been
struggling to manage all the new forms of data and it is probably not powerful
enough to take the latest up grades. I am working on the little laptop Josh
leant us but I have no way of dealing with my photos. The answer is to buy a
new computer so we are saving towards that. Mean while things are a little bit
harder than usual. We use a computer a lot because it is a long drive to get to
anywhere and shopping, bills and everything else is much quicker on line.
The goats are still in full milk mode and I
am busy most days making cheese. The sheep and Zulu Warrior, the alpaca need
shearing and then there is the dreadful business of getting the hay in. Edd
usually organizes the hay and shearing so I am busy getting everything ready
for Xmas. I have done all the shopping except the food in two trips. The first
one took me right into central Melbourne where I had to get cheesecloth. I
stopped in at Ikea on the way back and they have achieved the impossible and
made shopping one stage harder. You now cannot get your car parking ticket verified
at the check out but have to take your receipt to a machine outside where there
is a second queue.
The idea is to put your ticket in the top
and scan your receipt at the bottom. Sadly this is difficult because of the
light paper on the receipt but as everyone in the queue is trying to get out everyone
helped each other. This was not the end of it. Once in the car some people
ahead of me had failed on the ticket business and got stuck behind the barrier
until a girl could arrive to rescue them. The whole business took ages. Luckily
my shopping trip last week with Bo was much easier. For a start she drove and
we stayed well clear of the city.
Now I am working on the house. I have
tidied up the indoor garden and put up the Xmas tree along side the plants.
Next I decorated everything in silver and white to create a snow effect. I am
not sure what my tropical plants make of this. But they have benefitted from
the attention.
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