Tag: Norwood

Saltire, Birds and strange “gifts”

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
I came across this yesterday. Do you think the someone is trying to tell me something?

I took Max home on Thursday morning after special arrangements were made. I did say that we used the garage and I did not come into contact with anyone in the process. Of course we talked over a distance. I have to admit that I kind of miss him although, to be fair, Benji does not. Friday morning, nice day and Benji and I went out on our morning walk. First time in four weeks we have done so. In was good to be able to get out and be able to walk at a reasonable pace.. In the past weeks with, rain, sun, heat, cold, rain, rain and then sun again, the weeds at the church have grown something shocking. Thankfully the gardener, who has been kept very busy, will be with us this morning. I’ll go down presently and open the gates for him to get in.   The weeding will cover two days. Today he will spray weed killer on the area. In a day or so he will come back and check and  clear up.

Strange thing happened the other day. I took Benji to the wetlands and had a good walk – also  photographed the Black Swans and their young. Got back to the car and headed for home.  On the main road I noticed something red on the windscreen, I thought it was just the Remembrance Day Poppy that I keep there, but that’s on the inside not the outside of the windscreen so no idea what it was.

The Cockatoo at the Ada Ryan Aviary

Since it was not obstructing my view I didn’t bother with it until I got home. When I examined it I found that some unknown person had placed a large Kabana  (Polish Sausage) under the windscreen wiper. I took it inside and discussed the issue with Annabell – where and when I discovered it. We believed that it was meant for Benji but  with no indication from where and from whom it came, the safest course of action was simply to dump it in the bin – which we did. We also discovered that  the package had been slightly opened so that was a concern. It had to have been done at the Wetlands, not here since Benji would have been barking and I would have investigated. Anyway, it’s done now.

We had a telephone call from Jim yesterday and we will not be having Yogi to look after. Jim is still going to Western Australia but he is now going for three months and he will be taking Yogi with him. Actually I am  glad about that. Yogi is old, has medical problems, is deaf and partly blind. I hope to be proved wrong, but I don’t think Yogi will be with us for very much longer and I would hate for that to happen whilst he is in my care. Selfish – perhaps – but I have enough to do worrying about Annabell without also worrying about a visitor dog.  However, in March, after the Flinders Medical visit, we will have Dougal staying with us for 10 days. Dougal is a very lively Maltese Terrorist and we can go out on walks as normal.

The Black Swans at the Wetlands

In the morning I head off to Adelaide  for two days. This should be the AGM but with covid restrictions still in  place and some people still using Video Conferencing – particularly those from the South East –  it was decided to postpone the AGM until May when we hope all the restrictions will be lifted. At the moment we are meeting in two places, the south East people meeting in one location and the Adelaide and the North people meeting in another location, with the intention to re-join  sometime in the future..  Although in my view I don’t think it will make a difference in the long run. We were two separate bodies before and I think that’s the way we are heading again –   as the hymn says ” In this world of darkness, so we must shine, you in your small corner and I in mine”.  Our weather is now heading in the general direction of 45c. That’s ok just as long as we do not have a North Wind – like last week. At the moment it’s  37c with not a breath of wind. That’s  fairly tolerable.

 

No roses here.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Have no idea what the meeting is about on Monday afternoon, but I do know ( by email)  that the venue has been changed and instead of using two venues – North Adelaide and

The Salt lake at Lochiel
The Salt lake at Lochiel

Norwood the entire Assembly will be held in only one venue – Norwood. Just as well the hotel I picked was at a halfway point between the two, although if  I knew it would be all Norwood, I would have picked something a bit closer, like the Royal Coach Inn at Kent Town. Still at least I will be well out of the way which feeds my Anti-Social tendencies  :o) I was doing some work out back and decided it would be a good idea to caress the thumb of my left hand. I thought about this and a hammerhead seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually I didn’t do it any damage and really, I only  “caressed ” it but  with some diabetics even the slightest knock is enough to cause bruising. Sadly I am one and although the bruise may look painful, it’s not. Did spend last night  finishing off the packing  now all I have to decide is what toys I am taking and what power cords I need  :o)

The Desert Pea with the Desert Rose in the background
The Desert Pea with the Desert Rose in the background

A lady blogger I follow ( a gardener) has recently moved house and she  did a post on the history of the house and the area . The house was built in 1885 and the history of the area was interesting. I have no such tales to tell. This place has only been standing since the late 1970s. I did say, I think, that the previous owner didn’t like gardening and everything is all concrete and gravel with only a limited amount of earth to play around with and even that is limited again because we have the feeling that he may have sterilized the soil before he put bark in the area. I have removed the bark and cleaned the area up, but it has very limited growth. I  put fertilizer and blood and bone without success I wanted a rose garden there and spent a small fortune on roses and without exception every one of them died. A friend has given me Frangapini  cuttings and I will try them, but I am not hopeful.  My successes are still the Desert Pea and the Desert Rose and I am really very pleased with the masses of flowers and buds. It’s interesting; I have loved these flowers since I came to Australia and have tried several times to grow the Desert Pea but without success, so I gave up. Last year I gave it another try and was rewarded with masses of blooms and the same again this year.

It rained a tad whilst I was  in  Adelaide so that, at least, saved Herself from trying to go around and watering the plants. The drive down to Adelaide was uneventful but on Monday evening it was so dark and the rain so heavy I took a taxi to Norwood rather than drive. A very interesting week which threw up some interesting problems one of which has reached crisis proportions, which will have serious implications for all of us.  My only hope is that when the dust settles after a meeting on 14th June, we will be able to live with the solution. Personally —- I’m not hopeful!

Fortunately the day I did leave Adelaide was a lovely day. No rain, no cloud, just sunshine all the way. To make matters even better, it was a lovely drive home. I had intended to stop in

at the Arid Lands Garden but since I had bought a  few plants during my stay in Adelaide I just  went home. I didn’t even stop at the Tin Man this trip, although I did have a ” pit stop”  at Port Wakefield.  It was good to be back home again and after greetings by Herself, I sat down on the floor with the dogs.

Inter-state National Highway 1
Inter-state National Highway 1

I keep saying that because of the gravel and concrete I only have a limited amount of space to plant things. However, I am in the process of removing some of the gravel so perhaps this might change. When we first moved here I accepted the concrete and stuff and decided pot plants were the way to go but although I bought good potting mixture I now have a plethora of unused empty pots – the occupants died long ago.