FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - STARTS WITH "S"

Linking with Astrid for this Fridays word photo hunt.

 I am a bit early, but on Friday I have to attend a hospital appointment for a minor procedure, so thought I'd do this on Thursday afternoon.  It is a little photo heavy, because I kept thinking of all sorts.

The letter "S" stands out for me, as all of my names begin with this letter, so I am "SSS".................

SILO.

One of the many painted silos here in Victoria and  now other states in Oz too.

SOLAR PANELS.

The solar panels on the roof of our home helping us be a little green.

SEASIDE

I could have used many photos, but chose this looking out to sea over the beach huts at Mornington.

SWANS

A paddock full of black swans on the east coast of Victoria.

SHEEP

Sheep & some beautiful lambs, taken not long ago when we had a rare break from being in lockdown.

SPIDER

A huntsman spider on the wall of the Superintendent's Home at the Quarantine Station on the Mornington Peninsular which was another rare day out in January when we actually got to see DD and family.  We had a lovely day and another would be rather nice.  

SHELLS

A few shells I've collected over many years.  Taking a photo this afternoon was difficult once again with very cloudy skies, with little light coming into our house.

SEWING & SKATES.

Sewing, particularly my quilting is keeping me sane and the little quilt above was started many years ago as a mystery QAL, but running out of 2 of the fabrics at the beginning meant I put the few blocks I'd made aside.  Early this year I did some sorting & weeded out a few old projects & put them together as small quilts which I'm giving away as baby gifts.  My old skates which I've had since my teenage years haven't been used for a long time as my feet have changed shape & they don't fit anymore.  I was last on the ice in 2018 with my granddaughter & had to use hire skates.  It was great to be on the ice again.

STUDIO.

Something I miss is my old studio, which I'm showing below in its very messy state, as I've no other photos.

Most of these photos are from my archives and I'm sure I could have found many more, but as I'm a little on the STRESSED SIDE (um...a couple more S's) I have hopefully fulfilled this word hunt.

OK, that is my lot for today and if someone can tell me how I can get these 2 photos to go side by side, I'd love to hear from them as I've spent at least 15 minutes trying.

Thanks for reading if you get to the end.

Take care all, stay safe and hugs from down under.

Susan.

GARDEN & CRAFT CATCH UP.

 Over the last month I've lagged on blogposts, but have still been taking photos, doing "stuff", as in a bit around the garden(weather permitting) & our crafts, plus walking, which will come in another post before the end of October.

Let's start with the garden & few favourites.

Dutch iris in the front garden.

The snowball bush in full bloom with the banksia rose on the trellis.

The hydrangea with a wayward flower out of season.

The concrete planter surrounded by violets & filled with what I call pink bluebells.
Maybe I should do a little research into what they are really called.

Some of the work we are attempting is also shown below.

Hubby is trying to extend his shed and he is this far now, but due large amounts of rain the progress has been slow.

The excavation work & a pile of soil building up behind, which I've used to fill some pots ready for summer flowers., as below.

My late brother's ancient wheelbarrow with pots ready for, maybe, some petunias.

We've also moved about 200 bricks from here...................................................

Can you see them peeking through the fence from next door?  They were starting to push the fence & we approached the neighbours who didn't even know they were there, at the back of their wilderness & unaccessable to them.  We took some palings off & between DH & I, managed to move them, which was a backbreaking job, but they are now ready & waiting for a project in the near future.

We are going to pave this corner, maybe put up a triangular pergola & have some seating & pots to make it all very pretty.😊

A couple more pics of how steep our garden is & why we need to make it "old people" friendly.

Erosion

Looking up to the shed.

Looking down.

More dirt slipping away here too.

It was supposedly landscaped professionally, but I've never understood steep sloping flower beds & we need to remedy it this year if at all possible.

Another few pics of the garden & my late birthday gifts.😍

The corner of the verandah is starting to look quite colourful.

Looking across the pond, through the pergola to the far corner where we intend to pave.

A little cutie I nearly destroyed, thinking it was a slug in between some agapanthus leaves.
As soon as I realised I was disturbing a little frog, I left him be.
Isn't he the best?

My presents...........An electric lawnmower so I can help do the lawns again.
I cannot pull the starter string on a petrol one anymore & miss mowing.
The other is a wee greenhouse which will be up near the shed, once we've leveled a small spot beside the doorway.

Now onto a bit of crafting.  I'm sure we've done more than this, but a little to show that we've not been                                                                                      idle.

DH made me this beautiful "patchwork" bowl and it's gorgeous.  He did one attempt with some less favourable glue, which is going to become a receptacle for a pot plant, but the one above will definitely be used inside.

DDs quilt has been quilted & is awaiting for us all to be able to visit again, but we aren't holding our breaths.

                                              A photo shoot for 2 recently finished quilts.

Panademia on the keyhole tree.

Gee Whiz on a friends veteran car.

The last one has a bit of sun on it, on an amazingly sunny day which has been a rarity of late.

This one which I've called Luv from Oz, is waiting to be posted to UK for a blog friend's new baby boy.
Designed, pieced, quilted & labeled in Sepember/October, so has kept me busy.
I'm waiting to receive the address, then it will be on it's way.

                                       I'm ready to put this one onto the big machine today.

I'm sure you've had enough of my waffling, so will end this now and hopefully be back with some local walks we've done recently and taken my camera with me.  I'll part with one last photo of our murky grey skies of late, taken from our backyard.  This has been our weather for nearly all of this pandemic, with possibly a handful of nice sunny days.  We even lit the fire over the weekend, as temperatures were very low & the wind has been icy, though the garden, hills and farmers have appreciated the rain.

Thanks for reading my blog all, take care, stay safe & huggles from down under.

Susan.  xx

JUNE PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - 2020

That time again!

Linking with  the lovely Kate at I live, I love, I craft, I am me, to find photos to go with her list of words provided each month.  I am ever so grateful to her for keeping us blogging & focused on the beauty around us, even in these difficult times.  THANK YOU...😊😊😊

1.  MY GARDEN.

OK, this is my old garden at No.4 which was looking very pretty one Spring.  Ours at the moment is quite bare, so popped into the archives.
2.  FLOWERS.

I picked this bunch from the garden yesterday.  My first hellebore flowers & snowflakes, along with ti-tree & diosma.  I find that diosma, although not a pleasant smell, seems to be in flower nearly all year.  And where did I place these.

                                                       On the chest in my sewing room.
3.  INSECTS.

Witchetty grubs

DH found these two lurking in the wood he'd been chopping for our fire & called me out to rescue them.  I picked them up & put them in the garden amongst some leaves.  I took the info* below from the web & they had named a few of the moths, so I was surprised to see that one of them was the Emporer Gum moth, which I'd taken a photo of at one of our Car Club outings & shown on the blog last year.
*The witchetty grub (also spelled witchety grub or witjuti grub[1]) is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths

Emporer Gum Moth.

4.  SUNRISE/SUNSET.

                              A photo taken back in 2017 from our driveway & not edited at all.  It was                                                                                               amazing.
5.  SOMETHING WILD.

Butcherbird on the left, Rosellas bottom right & King Parrot top right.

Last weekend whilst sweeping the verandah, I could hear my Butcherbird's call & looked up to see him sitting in the leafless tree behind the shed, along with to my amazement, 3 Eastern Rosellas & a King Parrot.  Flew inside to grab the camera, put on my big lens, hoping they'd still be there & voila, a photo.  Please click to see it full size.  I didn't dare go any closer as they'd have flown off.
6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

A nursery at 4 Elms in Kent, UK.

I just loved this nursery with both plants & old ephemera plus a cafe.  I could see so much of this being used in a gorgeous garden.  Wasn't sure what to put for my own choice this time & kept tossing thoughts around, then thinking about gardens & what I'd like to do in one with odd bits & pieces.  Not going to happen any time soon, as we  may be in lockdown again soon with a spike in cases happening again. 😣

OK, my lot for this month & hopefully July will bring a slow down in this virus & we can slowly find a new normal, but of course never the same as we've known most of our lives.

Take care, stay safe all & huggles from down under.

Susan.

WORDLESS WEEK - THURSDAY.

A Rosella on our back lawn early this morning.
(click to see).

A very interesting insect on the wall near the clothesline.
Don't know what he is, but looks quite metallic.

The rotunda near Chesterfield Estate wetlands on one of our shorter regular local walks.

Looking over the wetlands with new housing appearing on the hill.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles on one of our stranger days, but still doing OK on the whole.
Susan.