Hot hot hot

A couple of days above 40 degrees.

I found a shady spot to garden.

There is an old passion fruit vine taking over in here.

Puts me off grafted passion fruit!

Beautiful flowers on the root stock but

it would take over a forest in no time flat.

It has been some years since there were any fruit to harvest. 

Hard to see but,

 a wheel barrow full of weeds in the background .

And a lovely shady place for contemplation

This is looking towards the back door,

Pottery studio on the right.

This is my Desley Salvia,

it grows magnificently here in part shade.

I have been giving the slab roller a bit of a work out.

Platters.

The green glaze was falling off this one as I wiped it's bottom.

My satin mat glaze does not cope too well with other glazes.

Looks good but very hard to control.

It is making me nervous to see this platter 

hanging over the edge of the table.

It is a favourite combination of mine,

Tenmoku with Hyacinth blue over the top

This one is still in bisque stage. I was trying to disguise the

not so straight edge.

The butterfly will be totally blue when complete

Not overly keen on this style...but it will be interesting .

Where are my glasses?

Before I leave the house I always instruct the dogs to 

"Guard the house"

Today I went out to buy the newspaper from the servo

at the end of our street.

When I got back I could not find my glasses anywhere.

I walked around and around knowing I had left them at my computer...

I wondered if Luka had played with them?

I had not noticed his harness missing off the table.

 I had a bit of a laugh at his little stash on my bed

Harness, lead, ball and throwing stick and 

my glasses! 

Was he trying to tell me something?

He is not allowed on the bed.

I have noticed a few times when I have gone out that

he can look out the window from the bed.

I close the door but it is open upon my return.

He takes advantage of some freedom.

He sits on MSs' chair also...looking out the window

Waiting for me to come back.

He was a rescue dog so there is some degree of separation anxiety.

You have just got to love his priorities.

Jeans and Jumpers in January

Zinnia with purple and red Verbena

This last two weeks have been really cool..

Jeans  and jumpers in January?

It is cool enough to put some flowers out the front.

No takers so far but it looks good

when I drive in and out.

Like a portable garden....The afternoon sun can still

be pretty fierce. 

Our UV rating is always extreme,

even if it is cold in the shade.

Wow. We are up to Feb already? 

Schools in and so is after school pottery.

A few things out of the kiln today.

Pottery Club members have been busy.

Bob has made a set of bowls, 

Caroline's chickens on a bowl look great and 

the flower stamps on another bowl work really well.

I am loving the texture on this bowl.

Amy has transferred her cake decorating skills to clay.

I made a fish stamp and 

worked it around the edge of this platter.

I love it when the slab roller is working.

It wasn't quite right when I rolled this slab but I thought

the bumps in the middle were a bit like the sand 

on the bottom of the ocean.

Keep in mind I am a desert dweller and rarely visit the sea.

If I was reflecting the fish in the river...

the platter would be a different colour

It was good to catch up with Amilia yesterday.

Michael Sparkes

 

Goodbye good friend.

I will always have evidence your handy work

in my FC Holden.

You "gulled" parts from many a paddock wreck

to restore it to its former glory.

Not once but twice given Mr Gillardia's bad driving.

You forgave me when I cooked the engine taking a drive to Euston.

Again you got me back on the road.

This was my only car for many years.

I think you made me a heater out of a paint can.

You were very clever with anything, 

mechanics being the most obvious but you could sew!

Worked as a machine repair man at some stage and learned to sew.

There wasn't much you couldn't do.

You renovated the house and also made the curtains for it.

With a matching fabric covered pelmets.

I have pinned you to the studio wall...

Oh how I could have done with your help building it,

 and if it wasn't for your health I know you would have.

Thanks for the years of friendship,

and the odd high tea adventure.

It will be champagne and prawns for tea tonight!

I noticed these about to flower in the driveway.

Good thing too as they are so quick.

Beautiful. 

Such a delicate and pretty flower.

Perhaps it was that 2 inches of rain.

You have got to love a tropical low that delivers so far inland.

The paddocks certainly did.

As did the weeds!

I have found plenty of self sown Lemon basil

Regular sweet basil also.

I was thinking how we humans like to fast forward everything,

customers are looking to by basil to plant in September.

I try and explain the ground isn't warm enough yet.

Hard to live in sync with the seasons when you can 

go down to the nursery who has grown the seedlings on heat beds,

then sold them to the buying public who has to nurse them along until

the ground warms up.

Clearly the ground is warm enough to do the work for us now.

The circles are a little overgrown, weeds as tall as me.

This red Verbena does 

smother the ground to a fair extent.

Self sown tomatoes trying to take over the Zinnias

Luka has a lot to learn about the garden...

It is a dog no go zone. 

"Off the garden"

Paths are ok.

I am pleased to say this circle has been weeded.

It is a relief to type that!

Now for the mulch to keep it that way.

The Zinnias in this circle were self sown.

The rabbits ate all the Cosmos I planted here 

and most of the Zinnias. 

I am unsure as to how these ones survived.

Ripe for picking this week, Peaches, Nectarines, Blood plums.

Zinnias, Orange cosmos, last of the Gladdioli.

Not  much else. 

Dahlias are just beginning. Mrs Reithers purple Verbena,

and a few late Alstromeria

Dutch Iris from seed?

I wonder if my Dutch Iris seed will grow.

I found these seed pods the other day.

I didn't pick the flowers as they bloomed out of sync

with the farmers market. 

Oh well, might have been the best thing.

I harvested heaps of seed. 

Under that thick exterior, the seed looks just like a corn cob.

I did some research and most sites say to 

cool the seeds for some weeks before planting.

Most waited until the pods had dried before harvesting the seed.

I had one pod dry from the year before, and yes it was much

easier to extract the seed.

I was careful not to squash the seed. 

It was so plump with promise.

I thought I might do a series of experiments.

Plant directly, cool some for 6 weeks, 

plant some cooled ones after just 3 weeks.

My research encouraged keeping the seeds damp while cooling.

I wonder if that goes for dried seeds or fresh ones.

There is another two experiments.

If all of those seeds turned into flowers...wow.

Keep in mind, 

don't count your Dutch Iris before they sprout

Welcome Luka

Luka is a yellow Labrador

A boy!

We heard he needed a new home and

we had a recently vacated food bowl.

He is a very loving dog and will hold your hand for ages.

Full of life, 21 months old.

Very well behaved. 

We are taking two walks a day, swimming, fetching sticks.

He is not so good at giving them back...

I was trying to tempt him with a treat this morning but it only works for Stella

who gives the stick back anyway.

It is a bit scary when they both arrive at the stick

at the same time.

Here we had a major battle for the stick,

two dogs swimming vigorously in opposite directions.

I think it must have been this battle that lost Luka his new collar,

with an engraved name plate/ phone number

and the lifetime council registration tag that I got yesterday.

Stella won the stick.

The Murray River is very wide here at Mildura

We are just a few km's upstream from the weir,

so the river levels here are fairly constant.

Pool level, they call it.

I don't think I could dive for the collar as they were a fair way out.

A stick's throw in fact. Its pretty deep out there.