Shivery Grass.

 I don't know what you called this grass when you were a child, but we often called it Shivery Grass because of the shivery little seed heads. I recently came across a lot of very large heads and decided to press them for future reference. Today I took them out of the press and I was struck by how like trees the heads were, rather like Eucalypt trees with their sparse foliage.

I photographed and scanned all the different heads of grass and made them into Photoshop brushes which I played around with and came up with a couple of fun ways of using them.

                                    I'm going to have fun playing around with these images!

Success!

Well, I think that we can say that the heavy duty pruning of the tree fern was a success! It's looking so pretty now with it's almost unfurled fronds all a lovely bright light green. Before we know it, it will be up across the window again. I wonder if it would take a second cutting of the trunk......

Almost Finished!

The Kitchen is almost finished, with just a few finishing touches left to do. It is now usable, although the fridge will be not be re-installed for another week or so.

Here is what the kitchen looked like a mere 3 weeks and 1 day ago.

 

The Early Bird gets the Bargain?

 I have no idea what this beautiful King Parrot was doing perched on the Op-
 Shop sign, but he was in no hurry to fly away.

 Isn't he beautiful? The females are almost all a deep green, so when seen together they make a wonderful sight.

We were lucky enough to have a small group of them fly into our garden a couple of years ago, so of course I took lots of photos.

Don't Walk on the Floor!

Another step in the kitchen renovation story, but please don't make that an actual step! The lovely old floor boards have been sanded and sealed, but the sealant has to dry and cure, so after this week of drying we have another week of curing before we can move the fridge and dishwasher back in. The under cupboards kickboards will go back when the floor is ready and we are still waiting on the flue covering for the range hood which had to be specially made as it's much longer than is usual and also has a right angle bend in it, but we're nearly there! The surfaces look rather pink in this photo, they aren't, much more of a mushroomish colour.

A Little Bit of Sewing.

 Having collected up little bits and pieces throughout the year for the small Grandchildren, I found I had quite a lot of things to wrap and take over to their place on Christmas morning. Just little things like a dinosaur shaped money box, some 'little girl' jewellery, puzzles and books.

 I decided to make a couple of 'Santa sacks' from some of the Christmas fabric that I had stashed away. What better use of it anyway?

I used some old multi-coloured braid for the drawstrings and here we have 2 slightly different bags all full of goodies for Christmas morning.

Looking Good!

I'm finding this opening of the tree fern fronds over a few days quite fascinating. Back to creative pursuits in the New Year I hope when things are not so busy.

Shade for the new Tree Fern.

As was pointed out in the previous post, ferns need shade, especially brand new fern fronds. We've rigged up some shade for the whole area, so although they still get some morning sun they are protected from the hot afternoon sun.

Growing Progress.

Another photo of the tree fern after a few days and it's beginning to look like some weird sea creature with tentacles.

What a Sight!

 

 Some months ago we decided that the Tree Fern we had planted many years ago had grown so big that we had to do something about it, partly because it had grown taller than the house and in the hot summers all the fronds were getting burnt and dying off, and partly because we couldn't see the fronds any more to enjoy them. This was the base after we cut the top off.

We replanted the top (it had no roots of course) into a good bed of compost and waited.

 

  

The top has grown beautifully with lots of new fronds emerging.

 
Each new frond is just so beautifull!

Spider-Kids!

                                              A couple of dare devil climbers aged 3 and 6.

Getting Closer!

                Here we are at day 5 of the renovation, with a working sink, cook top and oven.

Day 4 of Kitchen Renovation.

After only 4 days the new kitchen is really starting to take shape. It's amazing how quickly it's all being put together. The last kitchen renovation 30 years ago took 3 months, so this is super fast.

Not the Best Timing!

 The first week of December isn't the best time to start a kitchen renovation, but that's the way it has worked out. Above is the old kitchen which was about 30 years old and I always hated the hanging cupboard above the counter to the right. Standing at the counter I couldn't see anyone on the other side, so I had to either bend down or walk around to the other side.

                    The stripped out kitchen, looking very forlorn, but the hanging cupboard has gone!