moving forwards towards spring

25.7.2012

We are definitely moving towards spring. The wattle blossom has turned numerous small trees a startling shade of yellow and the daffodils are repeating this performance at ground level. Luckily we have red hot pokers, huge white arum lilies and trails of purple native wisteria to add variety to the colour scheme.

The lucerne trees are also in flower and this year the seedlings on the bank above the ruins look lovely as a backdrop to the rest of the garden. We have ordered more vegetable seeds and hope to produce more of our own food this year now that the main building effort is over.

It is Al’s birthday today so Edd and I drove over to his place and spent the day moving his furniture into his new home. Both the houses involved have the sort of entrances that make moving anything as difficult as possible. The town is in a steep valley so there are height differences as well as tiny doors in stupid places. Just to keep us really on our toes the floor boards were missing just inside his new place and one had to be very careful not to fall down between the beams! It was a miracle we moved everything with out breakages or accidents!

The big news is that Josh has now completed his masters’ degree and started work as an audiologist. I was hoping that I could now say all my children were now done with education but Wayne is half way through his qualification as an arborist so I am not quite out of the woods yet (so to speak). It is quite possible that we will always have at least one family member studying something, so perhaps it is unwise to delay celebrating.

I have been painting ceilings again, but not very enthusiastically. I am really over it with house construction. The better weather has encouraged outdoor work, and Edd has started repairing the slasher and measuring up for stockyards. The electricians have been back to do the wiring in the tools shed and we have now connected the new house to the solar panels. I have dug over two of the vegetable beds and planted one out with garlic and onions saved from last year. We have also planted out two new trees and cleaned out around the feet of the first chestnut tree. All very enjoyable work now that the sun is shining again.

I am totally unimpressed by the process we have been shunted through as our community tried to get money from the bush fire funds to help people still struggling. After a huge effort to talk to people in the community and address their needs we have been shunted off into endless meetings and then find ourselves pushed away from what we first hoped to achieve. At least I now understand how the committee running the community centre probably tried as hard as we have and ended up with everyone annoyed at them. I think that at this stage I will withdraw from the process and spend more time with the goats who are close to kidding.