Productive Saturday

This morning I decided that some gardening jobs had to be done!  I went out into the backyard after breakfast, the day was so beautiful and warm, that soon I had discarded my track-suit top in favour of a t-shirt.
I had a corner of the garden full of pots of all sizes that my husband had planted with seeds a few months ago, and they were just standing there being an eyesore. Some of them seemed to be struggling to grow in the tiny pots they were in.

A very messy backyard

Pots galore...

So armed with some bags of soil and some styrofoam boxes I had been collecting, I set about re-potting the small pots.
First I made a few holes with a screwdriver in the bottom of the boxes, then broke the lids into small pieces to fill the bottom, I then filled with some old soil from the pots, added the new soil and replanted the small plants.
I had so many to do, that with the exception of a break for lunch and some occasional breaks for a drink, the sun was already setting when I finished tidying up.
Of course every time I would lift a few pots I would encounter either slugs, snails or roly-pollies. YUUUKKKK. I am terrified of any creepy-crawlies as harmless as they can be, and even though I hate killing any animals (pests in this case), I decided to boil a couple of kettles of water and just poured it over anything that moved. But where do these things comes from?

Roly-poly or Pill bug (they roll into a ball when they feel threatened)

I think you will agree the backyard looks much neater now and the veggie box corner looks good too.
I set the boxes against the side of the shed, but we have an old Hills Hoist rotary dryer that we covered with shade cloth, and once the sun starts to get hotter the boxes can be moved to that area to be protected from the heat.

Pot free at the end of the day!

The new veggie garden in boxes - lettuce, garlic, parsley, shallots, chillies, strawberries...

My husband has also started putting together some jarrah wooden beams to make a square box and that will go under that rotary dryer area and eventually we will be able to plant a lot more vegetables in there.

All in all I felt quite pleased with the result, it was a relaxing afternoon, although my back is a bit sore from all the bending and carrying....

Mommy playing with tree branches

This is the life!!! Snuggy relaxing in the sun.

Remembering a visit to Sydney

Harbour bridge from Circular Quay

While talking to a colleague who is going to SYDNEY next week, the memories of my last visit to Sydney came to mind.

The first time we visited Sydney was on our first trip to Australia in 2006 - the recognisance mission or reccie as the British immigrants call it. At that time we were in Sydney for a mere 3 days, just enough to get an idea what it was like. Mainly we had come to Perth to find out if this was the place where we would be happy living and if it was worthwhile make the big move from Portugal to Australia, when we were after all settled in Portugal.

So in January this year, while my husband was in Sydney helping out in a project for a whole month, I took 10 days off work and went to visit him and the beautiful city on the East Coast, about 4,30 hours flight from Perth.

We were lucky to be in a small hotel close to the city centre, 10 minute walk to Darling Harbour, 20 minute walk to the Botanic Gardens, Opera House and Circular Quay. Although there was a free city bus I only boarded it once when I was already far too tired to walk back. I walked, and walked, and walked some more, every single day from morning to early evening, but I think I managed to see just about everything I had planned to see with a lot of sore feet in between!
On those 10 days I managed to take around 700 photos, so there must have been plenty of beautiful sights, don't you reckon?

At the Tourist Bureau I found a pamphlet advertising a "Free walking tour" and I joined them one morning.
The tour was led by a young University student, who together with his girlfriend had set up this small business. They knew the city well, had studied its history and all the bits and pieces to make their commentary interesting, and in the end the tour guide gets paid with tips.
The tour lasted 3 hours departing from the Town Hall in George Street (across the road from the Queen Victoria Building) and ending in the suburb of "The Rocks" where the Sydney Harbour Bridge starts.

Another great place was the Botanic Gardens - you could very well spend a few days there to explore the various areas - there is even an open air cinema. Watch out for the bats!! And of course right at the end of the garden is the famous Sydney Opera House.

There would be plenty more to talk about Sydney, but I will leave you with just a few photos of the places I mentioned above. So start planning your trip!!

Queen Victoria Building in George St (now a beautiful shopping centre)

Inside Queen Victoria building (note the tiles on floor, the clock)

Beautiful stained glass window in Queen Victoria building

Opera House

Me sitting on the steps of the Opera House

Walk on the grass in the Botanic gardens...

Mrs Macquaries Chair, also in the Botanic gardens

Herb garden at the Botanic gardens

View of a lake in the Botanic gardens

Architecture - Old and new and Sydney tower

Customs House (across from Circular Quay) where you can see a giant Sydney model under the glass floor and read foreign newspapers and connect to free internet.

Customs House (can you spot the Opera House and Circular Quay in the model?)

Ibis picking some branches for the nest - these birds are everywhere

Happy Birthday Freddy Mercury and Happy Birthday to my husband

Today the world celebrates the 65th birthday of the very talented Freddy Mercury, who died in November 1991. His memory will live on forever through his wonderful songs...

As well as Freddy´s birthday, my husband also celebrates his birthday today, a little bit younger than Freddy would have been...53 only.

He is working interstate so we can´t be together for a celebration, but he is on my mind!
So Happy birthday my dear, and may you be blessed with lots of health, love and happiness. XXX

Father´s Day and Birthday weekend

Today is Father´s day in Australia, so a very happy Father´s day to all dads out there, as well as to my dear husband and to my Dad in Portugal, where I know it was celebrated in March.
Strange that all over the world Father´s day seems to be celebrated either in March, June or September, why not an universal date?

But today is also my son´s 25th Birthday, so it´s a double celebration in my house.
And tomorrow.... will be my husband´s birthday. Although because he works interstate and will fly out this afternoon we won´t be close to him to celebrate, but he will be in our minds.

Because I have had an extremely busy and stressful week at work, and the house is in a mess due to renovations I haven´t invited friends over for the occasion but hopefully next weekend I would love to have friends over, as a birthday celebration without friends or loved ones around doesn´t feel like a celebration!!

Today both husband and son will have to settle for a bowl of their favourite Chocolate Mousse!!

Michael with 6 years 

Weekend Word FUN

Here is my Wordle for today : )
You can go to the above website where you can make your own word cloud from your blog labels or any other words you wish.
I did this by entering my URL and hitting randomise : )
Try it, it´s fun!