Colour and tones...

I really like the effect of the Tulips in Spring against the rustic earth tone of the Heritage Sandstone Wall...

Macquarie Wall & Tulips

Wordless Wednesday #9 Avalon Waiting

Avalon Quilt Kit

wordless wednesday

Spring at work...

Well, Spring has arrived well and truly here at work. I had to go out to locate a Weeping Schotia tree, which I located on our database 'EMU', and I just had to take my camera with me. This tree is an amazing one, as it's common name is also the 'Drunken Parrot' tree, as a lot of the local Parrots and Lorikeets that drink the nectar become 'DRUNK'!

So, may I present to you, a 'Montage' of the "Spring Walk'!

Spring Walk, Sydney
1. Spring Walk Mixed Bed, 2. Spring Walk Tulip, 3. Spring Walk Wisteria, 4. Spring Walk Pathway, 5. Spring Walk Pathway, 6. Spring Walk Tulips Bed, 7. Spring Walk Tulips Bed, 8. Spring Walk Wisteria, 9. Macquarie Wall & Tulips, 10. Spring Walk Tulips & City, 11. Spring Walk Tulips, 12. Spring Walk Purple Flower

A weekend of activity!

This last couple of days have been somewhat frantic, so we are sorry we have not been about that much...

Firstly, the Circus came to town, or at least the park that is just around the corner from us. Of course, we took the 'hound' with us as he does love a walk...

Circus is in town

Then, Thursday afternoon I was on the 'table (Doctor's of course) as I was having what's known as a Chordal Epidural. This is for my bad back and is used to, rather than target the nerve root directly to alleviate pain by the sciatic nerve being compromised, it 'floods' the entire lower spinal region with a cortisol treatment, OUCH!

Then, on Friday night, L had offered to her 'next sister down' to come over and sit with the baby, oh and B will cook! The cheek of it all... So cook up a storm I did. We had, Creamy Chicken and Pasta, with an Asian Green Bean salad. Quite simple really, brown off some onions and some chicken (125grm/person), a splash of soy (to taste) and add a small tin of Evaporated milk. For about 3-4 mins, stir through pre-cooked pasta that has been lightly drained, as the remaining starch from it will thicken the milk into a sauce. Then, for the Asian Bean Salad, top and tail some beans, and boil so as they can still, snap. Put into a wok (or frypan) with hot, 4:1 of Peanut oil and Sesame oil and toss quickly. Now here is the twist, toss through whilst cooking, a cut of fresh ginger, finely grated, and about 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce. Serve and enjoy. Now, I think it is an appropriate time to say, I do NOT eat vegetables, but I am told that this is a great Bean Salad... Needless to say, that L was 'hogging' poor Riley, and he was sleeping like a ... well a baby!

Riley sleeping

Riley BW

Saturday, we were off to the Indian Bazaar, which is a school fete that raises (a lot of) money that goes to the missionaries within India. L's family have been going there for years, in fact, it is at the school that her 'favourite brother' went to! After this prestigious event, we had to duck off to an EVEN bigger event, my god-daughter's 2nd birthday! The day had started out so nice, sunny, but was going to change so the weather bureau told us. And change it did... It turned real bitter, windy and down right NASTY! Her dad made the cake, an Australian Wombat, which unfortunately for him, separated at the neck joint, but it still tasted great!

Breanna's Happy B'day Cake side

Breanna's Cake front

She had such a lovely morning, with lots and lots of presents, but on of the things she loved the most, was her sunnies!

Breanna's Shades

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BREANNA!!!

Breanna 2nd B'day

And for all of those who sent well wish's and prayers, L did read them all, and she thanks you. Each and everyone of you, for our recent loss...

Sticky post (for now): - UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!

Hey there people,
Firstly, sorry about the chaos around here lately, you see, I thought that I would do a bit of maintenance around here, since I have a fotoblog and all...
L wanted to keep the same colours, and I wanted (needed) to convert our template over to the new xml version with all the widgets and so on...
I had this down-pat for L on Friday, as I was off, as the afternoon I had a Chordal Epidural and was on a recovery day.
So, in all of the working of it, it didn't want to have the comments, so, I am just going to have to start over again... BEAR WITH US (me...)!

POST EDIT: Ok, I worked it out, it is now 11:17pm, so I am off to bed, take care!!
I will fix the side nars tomorrow, it has been a long day...

wordless wednesday #8 Begonias

Begonia Island Gem

Begonia scharfii

Begonia & Grasshopper

wordless wednesday

Some Australian Fruits & Seeds

Australian Native Seeds

Australian Native Fruits & Seeds

A Rustic Bench

Last week when we were up at Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains, I found this bench, I liked it, so I snapped it...

MTBG Rustic Bench

oh please, be ready!!!

I had been asked, weeks ago mind you, to help a friend to move house. I did tell this person, that if I did I could only drive as I can not lift or shift anything heavy, and this was ok. I also told this person, that if they were to get a trailer, I had a tow bar and they can get the trailer. All organised? Nup!!

I had a call on Wednesday, asking for help on Thursday after work, sorted I will be there, BUT YOU HAD BETTER BE READY TO GO, as I do not want to be away from L for to long... Now it is a bit of a drive from home to the place, but off I went yesterday afternoon. When I got there, nothing, and I mean NOTHING was packed or ready to go, except the bed (Queen size) was in bits. I was not impressed and asked what the hell was going on? They were expecting to put it, the mattress and frame, INTO my car!

Now here is the crunch, I drive a Suzuki Vitara (Suzuki Sidekick) Station Wagon 4WD (SUV). It is small. A single mattress would not fit in let alone a Queen size one. And, as we had discussed weeks ago, if they were to get a trailer, it would make things easier, and this was agreed!

So, I left them them to it and off I went back home, sore from the drive in, angry that I had wasted nearly 3 hours driving in and back but I was now going to be late for seeing L as I would be driving back in the peak hour traffic.

So, please, if you are going to ask for help to move, BE READY!!!

Bristol 2004

Bristol 2004

In 2004, we were in the UK, and this is a shot from Bristol!

Japanese Gardens Toowoomba Qld

Japanese Gardens Toowoomba Qld

The Japanese Gardens are within the grounds of the University of Southern Queensland, where I am doing a Masters Degree... A larger version can be found here or if you like, in my Flickr account (with lots more)...

Wordless Wednesday #7 Purple Daisy

Purple Daisy
wordless wednesday

Dicksonia (Tree Fern)

Sunday, we went up to Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, and this is just a shot from the day. for a larger view, click here or have a look at my Flickr photo's!

MTBG Dicksonia, originally uploaded by burntofferings.

Mount Tomah Botanic Garden Waterfall

Over the weekend, we were very busy, and thanks to Sydney being the host to APEC, we had Friday as a public holiday (only if you lived in the Sydney metropolitan area).

Saturday, was Sustainable House Day, so L's team at work (well done C!) had organised a bus tour that we attended, and I was the (un)official photographer.

Sunday, we went to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, for the field day for my photography course, and here is my 'shot of the day'! (for a larger (not full as it was nearly 9mb) click here or go to my Flickr)

MTBG Waterfall

Fallen Tulip

Fallen Tulip, originally uploaded by burntofferings.

Silver Princess

Silver Princess, originally uploaded by burntofferings.

Polyanthus "Rosanna"

Kew Gardens Glasshouse

A sad, SAD day today...

Wordless Wednesday next post down...

As has been previously mentioned, we have been doing the whole IVF thing, and had an implantation done on the 16th July, which would make it now 9 weeks pregnant for L (7 weeks, + 2 weeks growing the Follicle makes 9 weeks).

After the initial blood test showed a positive for a pregnancy, a subsequent blood test (original Beta-hCG levels were lower than expected) showed it to be growing, all beit slow, so an ultrasound was ordered by the specialist to investigate as to what was going on.

Two weeks ago, the ultrasound showed everything that should be there, except a foetal heartbeat as it should have been there by this stage. His words were that he did not expect this to be a viable pregnancy, but I will re-scan you again in a week. The 'pregnancy sac' was underdeveloped at just 4 weeks...

A follow up scan show that there was some development, which surprised the specialist somewhat, and that the pregnancy sac had indeed grown to the size that it should. Heck, there was even a foetal heartbeat this time! But still he remained sceptical about the situation and wanted to do another scan in around 10 days. Problem was, he was leaving to go to France for the Rugby World Cup (I can now see how they can afford such luxury's with the way they charge and the return visits)!

So this morning, after staying over at L's parents place as it is close to the clinic, we headed off for hopefully the last scan not to mention some good news. L was now getting pretty sick of dropping her pants for men other than me. The procedure used is an internal ultrasound where a condom is placed over the scanning tool and inserted. Almost as soon as it was in, I could see what was about to come. All I could see, now remember that I am a mere Greenkeeper, was the uterus wall and a black 'hole' if you like in the middle. Last time, there was a flashing heartbeat in there, and this time, there was not...

Needless to say, that L is devastated. She was quite stoic whilst in the clinic with the specialist, and even to the point of driving to her car (it was parked elsewhere so as we did not have to find two car parks near the clinic which is very rare), but as I started to leave, I could see that she was upset, so I went back and caught the tears...

So, what next? She is booked in for a cruet, hopefully next Monday, and we will start the whole process over again. The time however will have to be calculated out, as we are in the process of booking a trip over to Auckland Botanic Gardens for the Ellerslie Flower Show. I know that this will cheer her up, we had a great time last year, and I know that it will be that way again. She needs to simple stop, rest and de-stress!

Sorry for the long post, and cheer up L. I love you...

Wordless Wednesday # 6 Aloft

Aloft

Aloft

wordless wednesday

Grevilla, Australian Native

Grevilla is an Australian Native plant. I personally do not like them, but when in a mass planting and they are all in flower, they do look impressive...

Window view...

This is our 'Study Place' and it is also the 'Cat Entrance'...
I wonder what she was thinking???...

Australian Fathers Day 2007

Today, we have spent te day with family. You see, its a family thing to do on Fathers day. I did not have a chance to get to see my dad today, as his grave site is a little way away. I did think of him during the day though...

So, today we spent the morning painting the new screen dors for the back of the house, the door frames and the French doors themselves. I will take some photos of that soon and post them! After this, we (very) quickly got all cleaned up I cooked some Asian Greens Bean, photo here at my fotoblog, and off we went to L's favourite brothers place. We had to go to the chemist first to pick up some medications first (and some aftershave for me!).

When we got to the 'party' all was cooked, refreshments being served and close behind us were the baby arrivals of Rosie and Riley. Rosie was fast asleep, and Riley, after being handed around from family member to member, was getting a little unsettled and demanding a feed. Lunch was a grand event (as it always is) and then L ended up with Riley. He was somewhat unsettled, and handed him over to me, the baby wisperer. After about 4-5 mins, I handed him back to L for a hold sound asleep...

Rose now entered the living room, in all of her splendour in a very nice outfit, and she was clearly UNSETTELED! She was shifted from mother to grandmother to great grandmother, to aunty and then me. We had a couple of minutes of tears and cries, and a whisper to her saying that she is NOT going to win... I had her all but asleep when it was called for a photo time of all foour grandchildren, doh, her eyes were so heavy...

Four-Grandkids

After the photo was taken, it was now time to get a special Fathers Day photo of all the fathers and thier children. There is Pa,, L's dad, L's brother (with Max and Will), Ian (with Rosie) & Paddy (with Riley).

Fathers-and-children

Fathers Day Asian Greens

Fathers Day, Asian Greens...

Pink Eucalyptus