Merry Christmas

From my home to yours

Merry Christmas to you and your family and may 2018 be full of love, laughter and contentment.

Wrist update

Thank for all the kind comments regarding my recent operation. It's been two months and I'm very slowly gaining the use of my fingers. Typically everything was not straightforward and I ended up with a 2cm bone graft, a plate, lots of screws and the tendon on my thumb released. Needless to say it has taken quite a while to get some feeling back. I'm doing lots of exercises and having hand therapy weekly which is really helping. When the slab cast come off I was quite depressed as I had so little movement. Now four weeks on, I can wash my hair and hold light things in my left hand. During this time we have received help from Blue Care. I don't know how we would have coped without these lovely ladies. They have been coming in to cook one and half hours a week. I then freeze the meals into serving portions. Unfortunately PH has very limited kitchen skills and we ate a lot of pizza before this service started.  They also vacuum and wash the floors once a fortnight which saves PH's back. You just don't know what help is out there until you do some research.

We've had some very hot days here on the Granite Belt. My poor plants are really feeling it. Luckily even though the dam is very low our tanks are still quite full. We try to be as economical as possible with our water use.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post but hopefully I'll be back to normal soon.

Here are a few photos of things around our home.

Our first beetroot crop

These are the flowers of a succulent. (one of our mystery plants)

Our pumpkin, zucchini and rhubarb in our refurbished bed.

Rain at last

I'm not sure if other people feel the same way but I'm certain the closer we come to the end of the year the faster the days go by. It's almost four weeks since I broke my arm, yet it feels like only a few days. Admittedly it's been a very busy few weeks with everything I do taking at least four times as long. Planting my spring veggies has been a challenge with one arm covered in a blue plastic bag while I try and hold up the little seedlings and backfill with the other. I've worked out that by putting my foot on my gloved hand I can get the glove off without asking for help. Amazing how such little things can give you a buzz.

 My new strawberry bed

Silverbeet & onions

Two weeks ago my dear friend Christine took me away for a beach holiday. It was lovely not to have to think about cooking for a whole week. We laughed and talked for hours on end. Christine and her husband Leo live in Ballarat so we don't get to spend much time together. We try to meet up for a few days every year. As I grow older I treasure the time I spend with my family and friends.

Lots of laughs with this girl 

We couldn't stop laughing at our bibs 

 Beautiful Pool but no swimming for me

 Loved all the tropical flowers

Beautiful gardens

Beautiful gentle rain has been falling for the last few days. Our house tanks are two thirds full and even the dam has come up a couple of inches. What a difference it makes. PH and I have been fertilising and mulching our fruit trees and working on getting the weeds out of the in ground garden bed. One thing I can do is pull weeds.

PH taking out the rubbish bins in his raincoat and ugg boots

Unfortunately my arm has not healed properly and I will need an operation this week. The orthopaedic surgeon at Toowoomba told me they need to shorten the bone and insert two plates. Hopefully that will give me near full use of my wrist and hand. The only thing I don't love about my new life is the distance to specialist medial practitioners. It's a two hour drive to Toowoomba and I will need to stay in hospital overnight so PH will stay in a motel that night. It gets very expensive. I'm  looking into travel allowances to get a little bit of money back. As they say "you can"t have everything" and I truly love our little paradise.

I hope you are all enjoying some of this wonderful rain. Spring is such a magical time here on the Granite Belt. Let me know how spring is in your part of the world. I'd love to read your comments.

 Leaves on our new apple tree

New growth on our old vines

My Contented Life

The past week has been filled with the wonders of spring and family visits. It has been a busy time but so enjoyable. Every morning when I go to check my trees and vines there is new growth. If we get rain I'm sure the whole yard will be a mass of blooms.

Our little home 

The last of the Camellias

It was so nice to have our daughter and her family here. Our son in-law helped PH moved the last of the rocks from under our fruit trees. It's amazing how much a young person can do in a couple of hours. It would have taken us days doing one tree at a time. He also helped construct a rock wall out the back. I feel I get to spend more quality time with them now we live further away. They really enjoy our area which makes me so happy. Our granddaughter loved driving the ride on mower. 

Big smiles

We are so lucky our neighbour keeps bees

Unfortunately before they left we were outside looking at the night sky when I stepped backwards and lost my footing. I now have a broken wrist. PH took me to Stanthorpe hospital and the very kind Doctor realigned and put a cast on. The staff were all lovely and I was home within two hours. They will put a new cast on tomorrow. I'm now just frustrated that I can't cut up my food and do the everyday jobs around the house. This is not my first break so I know the pain gradually goes away and I'll be able to do more before too long. In the meantime PH has taken up the slack and keeps me happy with nice cups of tea.

We both feel so happy and contented here in our little patch of paradise. It's wonderful to have finally found a place to call home.

As I was sitting at my computer this morning there was a thump on the window. I rushed out to see this little fellow lying very still. I grabbed a shoe box and carefully put him inside. He started to come too, so I sat it on the table out on the patio.

After around fifteen minutes he flew away. I was so happy he was ok. The only other time I've seen one of these kingfishers is on the day we moved in. They are such beautiful little birds.