Garden

‘Garden’ is such a lovely word. Is that just me? Sounds soothing and promising at the same time. It’s a paradise. A place with fairies at the bottom.

Well, my garden is not a paradise, and I’m pretty sure the chickens would eat any fairies.

But it is quite nice at the moment. Not very edible – the squash is ripe but has mildew, everything else is either not yet ripe (tomatoes and potatoes) or gone to seed (leafy things). I’m hoping the new drip watering system will slow down both mildew (not on this one, it’s too far gone, but on future squashes) and seediness, as most of it came from underwatering on hot days.

Pretty squash flower with telltale signs of deadly overhead watering. It's gotten very mildewy since this photo, I'll have to pull it all out when it's less hot but I've already had lots of good feeds from it. I know zucchini glut is supposed to be terrible, but I will take all of it that I can get. Yum.

Lettuce gone to seed. I'm letting it, until I have other things to plant. The bees like it.

The tyres are full of potatoes - two dutch creams and two sapphire. The frothy looking bed behind is mostly potatoes, but the froth is seeding silverbeet. It smells lovely and sweet, and that plant was amazing. It grew like woah, and lasted a year before I forgot to water it in a heatwave, so I'll be saving the seed when it dries.

Sapphire potatoes. The stems are more purple and... nightshadey... than the Dutch creams.

But despite the lack of actual food in it, it is very green and pretty. The sunflowers grew themselves, presumably from the chicken food. I left them even though they are in inconvenient places because they are so beautiful. And will make good chicken food when they’re done.

There’s a certain time of day that I can’t resist hanging out in the garden, often taking gratuitousness photos. The light is just so beautiful. It’s about a half an hour before bird roost – the chickens in their dome, and the local lorrikeets in the big tree two doors down. These long summer days it’s a good couple hours before sunset. Just as the earth is starting to cool down a little. Everything glows.

Even the weeds.

It makes my scrappy little garden, full of weeds and overgown things, into a magical place to be.

Sunshine

Yesterday was not a great day.  I had to take my bunneh back to the vet for a X-ray and possibly more surgery.  The infection has gotten into her bone, which is very not good for bunnehs.  The vet was not what I’d call positive.  I also had to arrange getting there myself, which would be fine if I didn’t live with my sister who has a car (as I do not: no car or license) and hadn’t just done her a huge favour regarding our mother, which had stressed me out a whole lot.  I messaged my sister on Tuesday nigth to try and arrange her taking us to the vet and she was so vague about it all that I decided it was just easier to pretend that I live by myself.  And by ‘decided’ I mean, I cried for about 15 minutes because I am so sick of doing this by myself and for myself, or being the only apparent grownup in the room, and I really just wanted her to say ‘yes.  I will drive you to the vet.’ 

So I had slept horribly and I was a jangle of nerves. But Pie’s back and although the news is not great, it’s not horrible either.  her body is fighting back and she’s got weird boney growths, but it looks like her body is walling off the infected area.  So we’re keeping up the antibiotics (I’ve been putting them on sultanas, which are her favourite treat, because the process of squirting them into her mouth is just too traumatic for the both of us) and hoping.  Another checkup in a month.

 This morning I was so groggy and icky that I stayed in bed an extra hour.  Then I got up in a panic, thinking I was going to be late.  I got in to work at ten to nine.  When did ‘on time’ become ’45 minutes before I start getting paid’ in my head?  Well, I will be catching a later bus from now on, because it’s amazing the difference it made to my day.  Even though I thought I would be late, it was far less of a scramble to get out the door.  And I found out that my preferred bus route has changed just enough that it’s sensible to catch it.  Which is great, because the route – both the walk to the bus stop and also the roads the bus goes along – are through old suburbs.  And the roses are in bloom.  It’s glorious!  Sun shining, birds singing, flowers bursting out in wonderful colours.  I’ll try and bring my camera tomorrow and take sly photos of a couple of particular gardens with glorious flowers in them.  A much nicer way to start the day than a traipse through the semi-industrial (although atmospheric) half of the suburb and a rush accross a main road to get to the bus stop.

So the consequence of that is that I am looking forward to going home – the commute, not just the destination – for the first time in a long while.  Usually I find it frustrating and convoluted, which I’m sure it will be.  But it will also include roses and sunshine, so I’m ok with that.