Where does time go to!

It has been nearly three weeks since I last wrote a blog, each day passes by very quickly and yet I seem to just float along, without achieving much at all.   Amazing how one can fill a day, without actually doing anything.  And then I wonder where the time goes to! 

Time to get moving!   The first item on the list was this blog, then two more blogs about our travels before we were all required to stay at home, or close to home.

Darren and I spent 10 days on a front garden makeover, and definitely I was very busy and involved in that.    I have also cleaned out our sheds, and washed the windows and patios..   I have weeded and pruned the garden, and then realised that enough was enough there.   I have killed all new citrus trees, through giving them citrus fertiliser when I should not have done so.   I must learn to leave well alone with some plants.  

I know that I should be focusing on fitness, strolling along with Piper does not equate to improving my fitness levels.   I tried an online exercise course, and hurt my foot, not seriously, but it caused me to lose interest.   I know I should cycle a few times a week, but have not done so.   It is going to be a shock when the U3A walking and cycling groups start up again, I will definitely not be the fittest person.

Travel wise.   We should have been leaving to travel to the Netherlands at the end of May, but that has definitely been put on hold for at least a year.   We were so looking forward to catching up with Aaron, Kylie, Mia, Abi and Raphy.

However, we are now allowed to travel within South Australia, and camping grounds have opened up too, so we are definitely planning to see some of the state, places like Coober Pedy and Port Lincoln.   Areas we have never visited when we lived here during the 1970s and 1980s.

Onto the photographs, some of them were taken last August, before disappearing into the archives.

I have cleaned our garage out, and put all our camping and caravanning gear up onto shelves.  Only my bike remains at the back of the shed, and so far we have not hit it with the car.   We put our twenty year old Honda in the garage, due to spending a couple of thousand dollars getting the rust cut out of it.   Instead of travelling we spent our money on the car!   And it looks good too, and there is no danger of the boot door falling off anymore.   Although old, it is a brilliant car, and a really good work horse type of vehicle.   

The caravan has been moved to the paving on the other side of the lawn.   Walter backed it up brilliantly.   I have lost confidence, as I jack knifed the caravan and hit the back corner of our Kia, and now it needs to be fixed.   I completed a caravan towing course in the UK but reversing a big heavy British caravan is quite different to reversing a light weight pop top caravan.   It should be easier I know.   But my brain does not accept this.

A photo from the past, last July in fact, when Darren brought all his pieces of watering equipment, and we laid it out on the benches.   So much stuff from Darren's garden business days.

I sorted all the smaller bits and pieces and put them into boxes for him.

And now they are in our tool shed.   And I have had a big clean up in here too.  It is all so clean and tidy.  For how long?

Last July we put dripper hoses through the back and side gardens, all put into shallow trenches and held down by hooks.   Hard work.

And then we covered them with a thick layer of organic compost.

One year later most of the plants are growing well,, except for killing three kangaroo paw plants, a protea tree, and recently a kaffir lime tree.   Mostly due to the area not getting enough sunshine, and a bit too much citrus fertiliser on the kaffir lime.   It has also taken me a year to realise that much of the back and side gardens are in shade for seven months of the year.

All our pipes are hooked up to the multi pipe connection which I brought from the UK.   And the automatic timer also came with us.   Both systems work brilliantly here.   Every three days during summer the garden is given water, without me thinking about it.   Love it.

And we found the sprinkler system which had been put into the grassed area, but no longer worked.   Now that we have replaced some of the parts, we have a fantastic sprinkler system.  And lovely green lawns.

Even if we cannot grow our own citrus trees (so far I have killed three lemon trees, and three lime trees) we have access to the most delicious lemons which hang over the fence.  I guess we contribute to some of the water that runs under the fence and ends up in the lemon tree roots. 

Darren and I had a clean up of pot plants at his house.   All looking spick and span there now, and happy plants with more space to grow.

Darren made a wooden box, so that Jay had some plants outside her window.

And while we are on the subject of houses and gardens, a view of Scott's block of land where he will have a house being built soon.    All very exciting.   Great views of the coast too.

And now we have shops opening, plus restaurants and cafes able to have people sitting inside and outside eating food and drinking coffee.   Limited numbers but still a great improvement.   I never got used to walking and drinking coffee at the same time.   Coffee needs to be sipped slowly in a relaxed way at a table.  Life is definitely getting much better.