Gnarled Potatoes

Potatoes are fun to grow cause you can't see what is happening beneath the soil, so when it's time to dig them up its like opening a present from nature. In previous years I had planted Royal Blue potatoes in September however the renos meant the veggie patch was neglected until early November. The variety of seed potatoes at Bunnings was also limited. I couldn't find the Royal Blue so settled for Pink Eye variety.

Soon the leaves emerged however I wasn't very vigilant with hilling up the crop which apparently encourages more tubers to sprout. Towards the end of summer, the leaves begin to wilt and turn yellow, a sign that the crop is ready to be harvested.

And so the time had come to do some digging! s I carefully lifted the soil and watched the potatoes emerge. They were very bumpy with quite large eyes. The crop was definitely smaller than previous years however there are enough potatoes in the cupboard to avoid potatoe shopping for several months.

Talking about other veggies, our self seeded tomato plant located near the wood pile is going great guns. It has had the best and longest crop of tomatoes ever. We have also had good success with several roma type tomato plants. We had no zucchinis at all and relied on other peoples surplus. The eggplants did ok. Soon it will be time to replenish the soil with compost, sheep poo and plant green manure over winter.

More Favourite Things

Currently beading has become a bit of a thing in our house thanks to a quick crash course with Kelly and the donation of a no-longer-needed bead collection from Aunty Cathy. Ella in particular loves to create various pieces of jewellery from necklaces to bracelets to earrings. Often these are colour co-ordinated with her outfit for the day. As you can imagine one can spend numerous hours  spilling, sorting, arranging and rearranging ones beads.

When Katy isn't joining in on the beading action, she has taken to writing. She has created to do lists, stories and planning her talk time (as seen in photo). I love reading her work!

Translation - Good Morning 1RL. Today I am going to talk about where my famiy come from. My Mum comes from Perth. My Dad, my sister and me come from Australia. We celebrate birthdays and Christmas. Thank you for listening. Is there any questions or comments?

Scorching February

Summer left with a final sting a run of 5 consecutive days above 32°C in late February including a 38°C. Now I know all Perth people are probably rolling their eyes saying that's nothing compared to their consecutive 40+°C days. All I can say is at least you have the beach to cool off in.

However we discovered a little gem of a place here in Canberra to cool off at. After picking the girls up from school, we headed straight down to Lake Burley Griffin with the intention of swimming at the normal spot at Black Mountain Peninsula, however while driving down discussing this, it was suggested we venture somewhere new. Racking my mind for a great spot, I decided to try in Weston Park.

It was a risk as I wasn't sure about the swimming spots, BBQ's (I'd intended on cooking dinner there) and toilets. Anyway we arrived at a little bay on the eastern side of the peninsula, nicely shaded by the trees. I spotted a BBQ and toilets close by while the girls attention instantly zoomed in on the swimming area with two pontoons!!

Quickly everyone changed into swimmers and we headed down to explore. Amazingly we shared this beautiful bay with only a couple of other people!! The water was refreshing and we swam out to the pontoon together spending large chunk of time jumping off it. People seem to come and go with several swimming their dogs out to the other pontoon!

Eventually it was time to go back in. While playing in the shallow another dad and his two younger boys turned up with their canoe. It was like bees to honey with Ella and Katy obviously wanting to have a go. The family was very accommodating and soon the girls were paddling away.

It was finally time to cook dinner, a simple BBQ with salad and bread rolls before heading back into the water for a final swim before heading home!

I can honestly say that we had an absolutely awesome afternoon, one of the best that I can remember and it is definitely on the list of things to do next summer.

Paper thin

The European wasp nest has been removed, the wall plastered, sanded and painted again! Here is what was between us the the wasps. Yep a couple of layers of paint!! Fingers crossed that hopefully it's the first and last time we encounter them.

Bird Crazy

Recently Ella has become quiet obsessed with birds. Luckily for Ella Australia in known as the Land of Parrots, with over 56 species (from the 300 worldwide) residing here.Not sure where the interest was sparked but we now noticed birds whenever we are out!

This passion has edged it's way into school...this poem made its way into the school newsletter!

So as a treat while Andy was travelling, we made our way over to the Walk in Aviary located a short drive from our place. Privately owned, the walk in aviary houses approximately 400 birds from 50 species. On entry we were each given a tub of mealworms and tray of sliced apples to feed to any bird interested, Despite the midday warm conditions we had numerous (mostly parrots) eat from our plates except for the Golden Pheasant who was tucked up in the branches having a midday snooze! The girls even managed to convince a few to jump on their arm.

Meanwhile back at home after several nights work, we finished Ella's 1000 piece macaw jigsaw puzzle she got for christmas, Also we purchased some wild bird seed for Ella's bird feeder which had resulted in several crimson and eastern rosellas visiting our garden. They are beautiful to watch.

Not satisfied with that Ella has now begun suggesting that she is old enough to have her own bird.....what's wrong with the chickens I say!

Away, Away

After being home for the weekend, Andy is once again off overseas. This time it is a two week trip to the US. First stop - Los Alamos in New Mexico to work with a colleague who previously was at ANU. The second week was spent in New Orleans at the Ocean Sciences Conference. Sounded like hard work as you can see from the photos Andy sent to us!!

  

Meanwhile we kept up with the traditional sleepover movie night. The girls tested out the new lounge which magically transforms into a bed, well actually two and I got the prized mattress on the floor!

Let the Competition Begin!

Andy's most recent Phd student Kate, submitted her thesis and is off to Edinburgh to begin her Post Doc. As a thank you present, A fan of board games (although not chess!) Kate made this truly amazing chess set which according to her began with ocean themed creatures but morphed into others when she decided she really wanted to make a platypus! Anyway the animals are wonderfully crafted with each wrapping itself around a chess piece.

As you can imagine, it has become a very popular game in our house with Ella determined to beat Andy...which she did for the first time last night! As a result she had also declared that she is gong to join the lunch time chess club at school. So if you are visiting our place in the next few weeks watch out - you could be up for a game of chess!