marijkasworld

. Cauliflower,Cauliflower

2010-09-10T10:50:00.005+10:00

Well well, a cauliflower in the hand is worth two in the bu...no garden.. This one was a beauty.. gigantic..Ros helped me in the proceedings of literally chopping it out of the ground..
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2010-09-04T20:10:00.009+10:00

Winter garden looking especially lush with all the rain we have been having in Melbourne..
The flowering plant is mizuna, loads of broccoli and an enormous cauliflower to be picked soon..cavolo nero, Italian cabbage doing extremely well, potatoes, broad beans. Garlic not so happy..

Same garden a few months earlier..April

The broccoli planted out at last..

The back vereandah in all its splendid untidiness..
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FROM the PAST

2010-08-25T17:49:00.012+10:00

Decided to add some more photos from January and February.. This is what the pumpkin garden looked like. It was no longer a patch.. They rambled everywhere and I tried to photograph them to show how absolutely gigantic they grew this year.. The photos of course do not do them justice..

The next photo is a couple of weeks later already starting to show signs of stress.
Adding a couple more photos from the past..It's April now and the garden is starting to look woebegone.
Some of the harvest.. My beloved pumpkins.. and there was more..

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A New Year

2010-01-07T15:19:00.011+11:00

Basket of goodies.. beetroot, carrots, the first cucumber I spotted this morning (I've been peering at the cucumber bushes every morning now for about a month), zucchini, parsley, sage, marjoram, garlic chives..and garlic...

So now for some grating of this beautiful cornucopia of colours..

Some cubed tofu frying with ginger and garlic...

The finished meal.. with a little bit of Omega 3 oil, and a dash of Verjuice and oh yes not in the photo, a few mini marinated olives. Memorable indeed.

Through the window.

2009-09-01T17:22:00.002+10:00

I became so excited.. Visitors. There were actually about five maggies. I coudn't get the camera out fast enough.. Yippee.

Can't wait.

2009-09-01T11:51:00.002+10:00

Just can't wait to see this flowering...The rocks came from Addis Point and the Banksia cone from marietta's garden.

Front and Back yards.

2009-07-21T19:20:00.008+10:00

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This has now become my favorite indigenous plant. A spreading everlasting daisy whose name escapes me at the moment..not flowering yet. Chrysocephalum apiculatum. had to look it up..The blue green of the leaves are so beautiful..

Front yard indigenous garden.. This has now been going for the last two years. Started off much smaller and I have kept enlarging it very incrementally.. Also totally water wise.. Only watered when planting out..Roz helped me get the mulch a number of times from the railway yard where a lot of it is left to rot..The branches keep appearing.. The large pine cone belongs to Steve.. I am so proud of this little patch... Stays in my consciousness a lot...

Worked up a sweat today weeding this patch in the backyard.. Indigenous plants rescued from weeds..Ugly bricks etc... but give me time...give me time...

More to be sweated over.
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WINTER

2009-07-07T08:48:00.005+10:00

Native Pond in an old pasta making bowl. Azolla plus Nardoo. Azolla came from Organ Pipes Park.

Salad bar still going strong... But who wants to eat salad at this time of year...brrrr...

Chinese cabbage with crocheted lacework. Have been out at night with the flash working torch to discuss the situation with the slimy crafters but they say it's their inalienable right to exist, and fortunately for them it's too cold to go out every night.. Sooo they win..

There's a cauliflower in there.. This could be a song..

Beautiful beautiful Broccoli. I'll probably just keep looking at it...well it is a flower head composed of loads of florets. I do not know of any rule that says you have to eat it.

But very nice though just lightly cooked then refreshed in cold water so it stays a vibrant green. Then a slosh of sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Maybe a hint of garlic..Never did like broccoli much till Rebecca cooked some at NCGardens..

Well Gaby there it is " Winter in Melbourne is cold and I'm growing ooolder"...(song)
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Autumn

2009-05-06T12:51:00.010+10:00

Well this is what I look like now... Not too sure why I have been left in the garden.. I'm definitely past my prime.. Still the birds have had a peck or two..

My leaves all withered and dry.

Leek going to flower.. looking beautiful...

Silverbeet catching the sun this morning... wouldn't let me get past.

My salad bar.

plus herbs, oregano and parsley..

The pumpkin bed as it looked after I'd removed the frost bitten and infested pumpkin leaves.

A couple of beauties seen through the dross.

Frost damaged.

Made Steve take some photos of me. Looking gorgeous in amongst the mess.

Steve managed to take a couple just like this, my face a dead sunflower.

In action.

The beret had to be fixed, sliding down the face.

More action.

Well a nice haul of spuds which I knew were hiding in the pumpkin bed.

So this is the end result so far. But loads more work to do..

Sunflower, sunflower

2009-01-12T21:46:00.006+11:00

All this sunshine yellow makes me feel giddy..

I have so many photos of me that I like sharing them.
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Moonlight and me

2009-01-11T10:46:00.003+11:00

As you've seen she's been photographing me in moonlight now..The first photo early evening when it was still incredibly light. The last two photos in the middle of the night..

Ah Sunflower

2009-01-11T10:08:00.011+11:00

Ah Sunflower

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

William Blake

Thank you Gaby.

2009-01-08T17:34:00.010+11:00

"Well this is what i look like now...
My petals are slowly drying and shriveling.. but my seeds are forming in great abundance. My garden keeps on looking fantastic. Both my keepers keep feeding and watering me... I'm extremely strong looking even though I am short in comparison to my friend and neighbour who by the way also self seeded itself. There is a fabulous photo of it...as a young thing...and hey I was young once.....and you can also see another five other sunflowers charging along..in the front. I'm in the background with my back showing. The one with the enormous leaves.."

New Years Day 2009

2009-01-01T15:05:00.007+11:00

New years day 2009...and my garden is performing beautifully... or should I say growing.. so far only a couple of 30 degree heat days... and I have enough water.. All my water from the kitchen, there are four buckets around the kitchen, Steve's hot water bottles during the day (he now uses 4) and if he has a bath that means a full bath of water.. and my every second day showers. Must take a picture of the set up.. I am so happy except it does mean I have to move the hose around every 5 minutes.. But hey. ...but as can be seen tomatoes, this lot some sort of small tom., are still predominantly green.

This looks very classy with the reclining deck chairs. Amazing what photos can do.. Chinese mustard gone to seed and tied around a stake..love the feeling of transparency and the colour...

My yellow petals or are they leaves? are starting to fade away and are drying up. But you should see my leaves...

Xmas 2008. I'm growing.

2008-12-25T19:56:00.002+11:00

What I look like today. The north wind is not too kind. My petals are getting battered but my two friends (the two legged ones) think I'm still lovely...

Life of a particular sunflower.

2008-12-25T19:51:00.003+11:00

Not in chronological order... The day after it RAINED...

i got a bit wet mum, hooray.

2008-12-16T18:40:00.009+11:00

Well well Well. I've been shamed into it. Not necessarily on purpose. But the queen of following blogs thinks I'm a bit slack. So here's one for you Gaby..

July 28 2008

2008-07-28T13:39:00.002+10:00

A hat I enjoyed making..more a child's hat but could be worn by anyone..

Thursday 17th July

2008-07-17T13:10:00.005+10:00

Well it is a very cold day again. I'm having trouble getting motivated to do anything. Went and mowed the lawn instead. So Roz and i have come up against a hitch. We are now concerned that having our woollen objects be they felted or knitted will not stand up to being out in the light be it sunlight or electric lights which are in the cabinets in which we will displaying them.. One solution is to only have them displayed for two weeks instead of four at both libraries... We shall see..

sunday13th july

2008-07-13T11:37:00.002+10:00

Have felted another hat and refelted and reblocked a couple of older ones as I was too sloppy the first time around.. What else is new? Sloppy because i am always so impatient to see a result.. Also have kept up with creating crochering more flowery sort of things.. and have now come up with the idea to incorporate shells of which I have an abundance. Nice to be able to do things with them than have them actually sitting collecting dust. But I do have an ethical? question as to wether I should actually take them back and reposit them back onto a beach....These questions are trying.

5 months later

2008-07-08T15:09:00.002+10:00

having just read in the Green Guide that it's healthy to blog which is obvious as so is keeping a journal, I have decided to keep up with my blog no matter what. So here are a couple of photos of what greets me at the moment, as I sit down in the living room to watch TV. The display of my knitted and felted hats and Roz's felted scarves and bags is coming up pretty shortly. September in Reservoir Library and then in October in Fairfield Library. I have fairly mixed feelings about it mainly due to the fact that knitting takes a long time but I have used crotchet to make a number of things and have developed a crochered bracelet. This has been a very interesting process as it definitely has come about by one thing leading into another. The ideas come as I am either knitting or crochering.

three months later

2008-02-27T16:56:00.004+11:00

well here's my teepee city a bit bedraggled now and the zucchini plants which had very beautiful leaves but not too many zoucks looking a bit the worse. they have all had to cope with some very fiery blasts and north winds.. and it is the beginning of Autumn. I was pretty pleased that my tent city kept them a bit protected. next year I will expand it I hope.. my sunflowers where a success and the birds thought so too... the minute the seeds were edible they were gobbled.

Water lillies and garden teepee.

2007-11-19T22:41:00.000+11:00

Water lillies in the gardens pond. teepee constructed yesterday..to provide a bit of shade...sunflowers, beans, both bush and climbing and zucchinis..I was pleased to be able to take home at least a kilo of my own potatoes..although my system of keeping water in the soil was a bit too zealous. some of the potatoe greenery was a too waterlogged and had yellowed prematurely...and rotted off... live and learn hmmmm... yes but when.... weather today was supposed to reach 37 degrees not sure of it did...but it was hot... tomorrow 36... summer is upon us...
i'm hoping i can keep this blogging up a bit more now that my obsession with redbbbbble mania has died down a bit... although not extinguished.. it is a great way to find 'friends' people who love photography and art...
thanks for the comments roz but I'm not sure i'm to be congratulated... i hate the font above the slide show and was not for the life of me able to change it...

2007-10-29T15:05:00.000+11:00

I have not posted for a month. Been very busy with RedBubble. This handsome duck was seen talking when on a walk with Marietta.. We were walking in Darebin park..

Bailey House Show Day

2007-09-28T15:53:00.000+10:00

Bailey House had a Show Day brought to them..Sandra the activities officer worked tirelessly as usual to make it happen and happen it did with a bang..There was an animal enclosure, there were showbags, there was fairy floss, there were knitted items for sale, there was a craft stall, there was a raffle, plenty of balloons and loads and loads of colourful decorations.. Plenty of visitors. My mother Anna had a ball.. Both cuties. Mama and a bantam.
Mama and a furry rabbit
Some of my favourites. Another three cuties, Patricia, Mary and Peggy.
Having a good time and that's without grog, Jenny, Sandra and Glenys.

Liu's birthday

2007-09-26T16:36:00.000+10:00

Liu wearing an owl mask greeting card. This is for you Gaby. I'm trying to get myself to actually finish a project. I'd like to make some sort of exhibit for Liu, Helen and John, but not quite sure how to show the series of photos I took at the party, wether a strip or panels..

About Time

2007-09-21T16:16:00.000+10:00

I made it. At last. A felted purse for Liu's Birthday today..Have been procratinating as usual. Couldn't remember a thing about how to actually do it. I figured I could wing it. And I did..Hooray..It actually looks better in real life. This is a scanned image of the purse so looks flattish..

Impatient

2007-09-03T10:16:00.000+10:00

Working on this image for Marietta. Still a small bit to edit have a trillion layers on the above file and have to squawk every now and again: "Steve what do I do now? This layer wont do what I want".
A Laughing Buddha from a Chinese temple in Katong, Singapore on a memorable walk with Gaby.

Pics I like

2007-08-27T12:05:00.000+10:00

Emma Shaw-Smith

"Christina's World" Andrew Wyeth

1948

"Anna Christina" Andrew Wyeth
1967

Brisbane Ranges (Victoria)

2007-08-15T19:18:00.000+10:00

Water ripples in stream.

Yesterday walked with a friend beside a stream (whose name I didn't even bother to find out) in the Brisbane Ranges. Stunning scenery. On one side facing west the steep sides of rock were covered in pale green lichens the other side of the stream, the mountain side was covered in green as green spongy moss. The stream kept gurgling over the rocks. Constant froggy calls. A couple of kookaburra kookaburroing. Loads of wombat scats the sight of which kept Angie extremely happy. A koala on a thin swaying gum.

The gums very thin stalks on this rocky surface. Sweet bursaria also very spindly as was the occasional Golden wattle. Rivermint went into a cup of green tea.

I kept photographing till I was too tired to focus. 268 photos to be precise.

Beginning

2007-08-14T09:38:00.001+10:00

Reflections. CommunityGarden's Small Pond.

Walking home from the gardens.
Spring appeared.