Gone bananas ..............

I just had to take a couple of photo's of my little veggie patch.
Shows our reserve outlook and check out the geraniums - they are amazing this year too.
 

I'll take a shot of some in the front yard in the next few days.
The little garden has been so prolific this spring that I am keeping the family and half the street in salad vegs and spinach (we keep all the rhubarb tho! - yum)
I don't know if it was the compost, the rainwater (we had a little tank put in) or just the season and my TLC.

I have put in more seeds than usual and have rocket coming out of my ears (nice look) and self sown oragano, basil and thyme coming up everywhere, even in the cracks in the paths and pavers!
The beans are heading for the sky so I will probably be overwhelmed with them - LOL - I have three varieties in. The capsicums and eggplants have been really slow so we'll have to wait and see what happens with them.
Off for a cuppa ....

Here's Harry .....

Our big boy is growing up.
Here's some shots from the weekend.
He's a such happy fellow.
Lee and I babysat on Saturday night and he settled really well and slept right through - well done.

Broken ......

I am off to Taree tomorrow to check on the growth of big Harry.
So, I'm getting in while I have an opportunity with a couple of 'broken' shots.


We got up one morning after a nasty wind storm to find this 'broken' limb from the gum tree out the front - it was very close to the window of Maureen's room at the front of the house but luckily all it damaged was the birdbath.
The SES came with a crew of at least 8 people with chainsaws and it was cut up and over the fence to await council pickup in just a flash. Well done SES!

The second shot I took down the coast last weekend.
It is a very interesting looking building and definitely 'broken'. LOL
I guess it was a barn sort of structure - there is a door at the top but no hoist or upper floor that I could see. Perhaps that's all lost in the ageing process or been removed for other use?
Maybe it was a hayshed where the bales were just stacked up on top of one another but they usually had open sides to allow for lots of air around the bales.
Also has sort of a 'lean to' addition on the side.

Looks a bit like a community hall but then why would the roof be so high.



It is quite close to the local store so I might wander in and ask it's history - one day.

Anyone for breakfast?

I've been a bit slack with my photo challenges lately but came across these FOOD photo's when I was looking for something else the other day.



Amazing aren't they? I think I had the last one - the BIG breakfast - enough for at least 3 people!



Makes me HUNGRY - I have been doing a meal replacement regime and have lost 4 kgs so far. I'm getting ready for Christmas!
Mind you I still have a life and can manage a few glasses of wine on the weekends!



These brekkies were served at a restaurant in Belmore basin in Wollongong.

Look what we found yesterday ...........

Our van park Bundilla at Durras North is right in the middle of the Murramarang National Park and there are easy walking trails through the bush and around the lake.
Yesterday we set out for a walk before we came home and look what we found!
I noticed a dark 'flash' in a tree and saw a male Satin Bower bird above us. Aha says I, I wonder where he came from? as you can see (or can't see really!) the bush looked fairly nondescript until I investigated further. I looked down and saw a blue peg - hmmm that's 'out of place' I thought.
I then peered under a Burrawang palm and saw this.
What priviledge to find his bower.
He has been very busy building his display 'vestibule' and lining the actual bower with saliva and charcoal mix - so the book tells me :-).
He has it decorated with straws mainly but also blue feathers, pegs and bottle caps. We found later that the park caretaker had thrown a blue peg onto the grass near the shower block when he was cleaning and it had gone when he went to pick it up - I wonder if it was the same one?

We see quite a few females down there and altho they are timid, they will come up on the deck for food. We don't seem to see the males, perhaps it's because they are too busy 'building' etc.
As you can see he wasn't too happy at us looking at his 'parade ground'.
It's so special that they build this close to 'civilisation'.
I just hope that the big goannas we saw later on don't find him.

A day out in Sydney ....

Last weekend, Maureen and I decided to have a day out in our beautiful Sydney.
We hopped on the train at Oak Flats - 5 mins away from home at 8.45am, paid our $2.50and away we went.
We arrived at Circular Quay at about 11am and wandered around to the Rocks - it was a bit showery but not cold. This gave a bleaker look to our harbour but there were still tourists wandering about. A young Canadian lass asked me to take her photo with the Opera House in the background and asked where we were from. "Oh we live her" says I. "Wow" she said - "Well how come you are still taking photo's of it?" My response was "Well, it's still beautiful!" And it is!
We walked around to Darling Harbour and caught the little trolley from the Aquarium to the main complex(to rest our legs!)where we had a nice lunch before walking up around the Maritime Museum and lighthouse to the ferry wharf to catch one back to the Quay. We had a great ride on the harbour and by now the sun was out to show it at it's best.
I just had to take another shot of the Opera House and Luna Park - the original shot does have the whole face but as usual Mr MosaicMaker cropped it for me! The building on the point surrounded by trees (for our non Sydneyites) is Kirribilli House - the PM's residence. Great view eh?
Then back on the train up to Central and home.
We got back to Oak Flats at about 6pm and had a GREAT day out just doing nothing except enjoying the day!
Not bad for $2.50 eh?
I didn't count the $4.50 the trolley ride cost or lunch and coffee - well they are absorbed costs - LOL