THE EDIBLE RESULT!

Well, I am pleased to report that the loaf baked yesterday is, perhaps, not the most elegant item, but damn! it’s yummy!

I modified some things and ended up baking the loaf in a cake tin with a Pyrex pie plate as a lid. I’ll probably need to get a lidded casserole (mine went to the Op Shop ages ago!), but yesterday’s Heath Robinson arrangement worked.

Right! I suppose you want pitchers?This was the first, not very successful attempt.The recipe calls it, at this stage, “shaggy dough” and it did, indeed smell a bit like a wet sheep!

But I persevered…Here you see me shaping the dough into something that looks loaf-like.

No photos of the baked result! Perhaps I was a little heavy-handed in my shaping? I don’t know.

But I found another recipe and am quite pleased with this effort. Mind you, removing my modified lid was tricky!

The recent showers have had an almost magical effect on withering, dry gardens. The night-blooming jasmine, Cestrum nocturnum, will need some heavy pruning!

Now, I have an early appointment in town, which means I’ll be driving in school traffic. And The Man needs to use this computer as his has died. These wretched toys have a damnably short shelf-life, don’t they!

STILL HERE!

It is Spring in this part of the world. Not at all my favourite season! Why? Because our Spring is dry and often very blisteringly windy. Watering gardens becomes a bit of juggling act, especially if one does not have rain water collection tanks!

But there are one or two tricks to help…I cut the base off those god-awful plastic horrors and “plant” them, neck down with just an inch or so above ground. That way, I can pour water into the bottle and let it trickle down towards thirsty roots.

If you try this, please pop a stick into the bottle to aid frogs or lizards to get out.

We have a stack of bottles, saved for this, but still need to dig the holes. I shall have the gardener’s boy do that later…

And I must cut the spent flower stems of the Swamp Orchid and strike some new plants. The original plant is going to live a few miles up the coast and I’ll keep several potted plants. Two of the cuttings, now in good growth, will be packed in damp paper and consigned to the Post Office for a long journey South. (Sorry I can’t send any to you, Jon!)

A few years ago I snipped a branch from someone’s blood-red oleander (Nerium) and it’s currently in glorious flower. But I only see it when I drive up the street as it’s high above the fenceline and obscured by the ginormous tamarind tree. But it is lovely. Hang on – I’ll pop down the road with a camera.

Not the best picture, but I wasn’t game to go into the neighbours’ yard as the ankle-biter is a tad viscious.

But I wandered about snapping this and that and will see if I can push the right buttons to bung them up here. Why oh why do these monkeys have to keep tinkering!

Here’s a sweet wee flower. Soon, it will be a shiny red fruit and if I’m quick I might beat the birds to it. I forget its name. I just remembered! Eugenia uniflora, aka pitanga or Surinam cherry

The Bat Plant Tacca integrifolia is flowering again. Poor thing is looking a bit ragged after its leaves were twisted and torn in the windy weather. This is the flowering part, showing seeds.

b

This is the old stalwart, Fraser Island Creeper, Tecomanthe hillii

Trachelospermum jasminoides

I’ve had enough of fiddling with settings! I’ll have to talk to our Inexplicable friend and see how he’d like me to send him the pix and he can sort it out. He’s much better at this sort of thing and, he being a Bloggerite, my WordPress malarkey will probably muck up the system. We’re still terrified of the BIG PINK THING…

TODAY,I HEARD THE OCEAN

I’m near enough to be able to hear it, but today it was exceptionally quiet at 5am.The wind, which has been shrivelling gardens and fraying tempers for weeks had dropped. Even the cats were eating their breakfast quietly!
I stood on the front deck, listening to the quiet soughing of the tide.

And then I brewed some coffee and came in to do some work…

Ye gods and little fishes! A month since my last post! How can this be???

Well, I do have a better-than-usual excuse. We’ve been renovating! Oh! The excitement! The thrill of seeing glossy new floor paint, almost dry enough to move the furniture back. But not quite dry enough for a cat to walk on…

So, I’ll spare you the dreary details and show you some of the things that have survived the blustery wind.

Terminalia,the closest we get to fiery “autumn colours.”

Dendrobium crumenatum Also called pigeon orchid. A sweet little thing, only flowers after rain and blooms don’t last long, but such a sweetie!

Phaius australis, a native Swamp Orchid. It flowered for weeks and this is the best picture I managed, as it neared the end of its show!

I have several jasmines in the garden and have to say this one, Trachelospermum jasminoides is a cracker. Here, it’s growing from a shrub tub below the back deck and this year has extended several metres along the rail.I will have to give it a very severe “haircut” when it finishes flowering, but for now…we love it.

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Maybe I’ll get back to this sad old blog a little more frequently. But don’t hold your breath, m’dears!