In Our Garden This Morning...

Had a crappy night's sleep so at around 6.30am got up and went for a meander outside. Look what I spied on our avocado tree...!!! Our very first tiny, wee, baby avocado...!!!

It's about 5cm long at this point, not sure what will happen with it and how big it will eventually grow, probably not huge as this is the first year the tree has fruited. Hopefully next season we will be inundated, we eat them almost daily at his time of year.

Also had a look at what has happened in the garden since our huge rain dump last week...over the course of the week we received around 400mm, quite substantial. John was outside in the pool shed a number of nights having to pump water out of the pool. Had it over flowed we would have had it in the house or worse, it would flow over the retaining wall into the neighbours courtyards, they are about 1.5m lower than us over the back fence.

We have tomatoes of a number of varieties going berserk, although some of them are quite watery after the rain, eggplant, beans, zucch's, huge amounts of self seeded salad greens (love the bitter, peppery ones), sweet potatoes and a feral garden bed of mint, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, thyme, lemon thyme, lemongrass, Vietnamese mint and basil. The front garden has a couple of passionfruit vines on the fence, olives, avocadoes, a grafted eggplant tree, mango and paw paw. We also have a kaffir lime, mandarin and grafted lemon tree in substantial pots on the verandah.

When we moved in to our home the orange and lemon trees had been somewhat neglected over the years and we (that would be John actually) gave them a serious prune and nurture. They are looking fabulous now and have the makings of healthy fruit on them. We did get a reasonable number of edible oranges this year but most of what we picked needed to be dumped.

I'm keen on the garden but more a fair weather gardener, John is the more passionate one, I like to harvest and cook the produce, he enjoys getting his hands dirty. In the scheme of things it's not a bad balance I guess.

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading The Household Guide To Dying by Debra Adelaide. Have had it for about 10 days now and have finally finished my previous book, Don't Call Me Ishmael (a young adult book that I adored, it has a laugh a page).

Verdict thus far...unputdownable...

Last night I stayed up with my book until 2.20am savouring the silence and peace of the house after everyone else had gone to bed. Okay, I probably really only read until about 1.15am or so. (...that much I do know as I got up at 12.45 to make a hot chocolate and finished drinking it so timewise that fits...). Yep, I fell asleep on the sofa...snuggled in a blanket, cushions behind my head, our smoochy Burmese cat Leo purring on my lap keeping me warm...hopeless I am, just hopeless. I woke quite stiff and sore, wondered if it was worth my while staying where I was or whether I should get up and go to bed...was almost too tired to do so. I contemplated this for a good ten minutes and felt myself slipping slowly back into slumber

In the end I opted for bed, knowing I would get more sleep there come morning. I was in luck, John had been sprawled across the bed, my side was still warm. I snuggled up to his back and slept again.

Feeling a bit tired this evening as a result, my eyes are a little scratchy. Had a lovely day out shopping today at Freedom Furniture with my cousin Joan,,,bought a new laundry hamper and a lovely shower curtain for the kids bathroom. I wasn't relishing cooking dinner this evening but Matilda has offered to cook Bean & Corn Enchiladas, the sweetheart...of course I said "Yes please..." She & Myles are busy in the kitchen now.

John should be home shortly, I feel a bottle of wine might just be liberated from the cellar tonight. Friday evenings are often relaxed and indulgent here...definitely an ice cream kind of night tonight. Enjoy yours wherever you are, I hope it's with those who love you.

Speaking of love...if you haven't already found Snickollet's blog from my blogroll, pop on over and read her news. Her husband and father of their two year old twins Riley & Maddie died of Pancreatic Cancer around 18 months ago. She has struggled in so many ways since John died. Just recently she has dipped her big toe back in the shallow end of the dating pool. She writes bravely and honestly...to hear her happiness is so heartwarming & contagious. Her blog is a favourite of mine.

Also Buddha Girls' blog entry for today, it brought me to tears. Teachers like her are diamonds.