TREE update...

Overnight, we had a lot of rain and wind gust's up to 107klm/hr! This worried me a lot overnight, and so, I did not get a lot of sleep... I think I was checking it every hour or so!

Syd Radar 2082010

I was checking the Internet, and I have found a replacement for the OLD Hills Hoist. They are very close, they are even Galvanised Iron like the original ones!

So this morning, I was able to clear access through the garage and remove a small temporary fence I had installed to stop Macc and the neighbours dog going at each other under the MAIN fence. And sooner than I expected, I had a knock on the door from the tree loppers here to do the job; or at least, make it safe! They trimmed the fallen branch, and then proceeded to remove some of the other branches that were now in danger of falling down onto the neighbouring fence and garage.

Leaning Tree

Tree Workers

Pole trimming

Mulching1

So now I have it safe for now, and they will be back later in the week to complete the rest of its removal. I am now about to order my line and make some lunch!

Hoo roo for now...

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Crafty Tree!!

Well, it has been a tough couple of weeks lately, mainly as I have had a pinched nerve in my right arm, which has been extremely painful... But, after treatment late last week (x-ray, physio and acupuncture) and a nerve conduction study today, next week if symptoms persist. Physio will continue tomorrow, so we will see how it all goes!

Anyways, I wanted to post this last week, but was unable to type, so here it is now... Years ago, when L started to follow crafty blogs, she got to know and purchase some items. One of her first purchases was from Kristen. Well, recently she (Kristen) was featured in the Sydney Magazine. I found this out after tweeting about my passionfruit vine and I delivered some to her. Over coffee and a chat, she talked about the photo shoot. The article was great, and as it turned out, part of a feature showcasing three crafty bloggers... L was following ALL three of them (but I have only scanned Kristen's page)!!

Sydney Magazine 29072010

If you want to read the FULL sized scanned article, read here!

And so we get to this morning, after a WONDERFUL nights sleep, which was relatively pain free, I came out to get ready for breakfast, coffee blah blah blah, and when I looked out to see Macc, this is what I saw!

Golden Cypress

Now the old 'Hills Hoists' are just about indestructible... That is, until they meet a Golden Cypress that is!

Hills Hoist

So I am now calling tree loppers, Council for approval to remove the remaining tree (leaning at around 10-15 degrees)... Oh, I have also moved my NC Study, and physio so as i can be home to get these done!

Cypress Down to house

Hoo roo for now...

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Cubby rebuild...

Over the last couple of months, the cubby has been getting much more of a lean... It was about to fall over! So, I tried to take the roof off to brace it up a little, but as I touched it, I quickly found out that if I was to try and lift it off, the whole house would simply fall! The previous owner of the house, had a little girl, and I think it may have been a rush job to build it many years ago, as some of the joints were... well... not that good!

So on the weekend Christmas break, we dismantled it, and I built two new side wall frames. The back yard looked as though a cyclone (tornado) had gone through it!

Cubby 30122008

Cubby II 30122008

Cubby III 30122008

We also did a 'new' floor, as the old one was just chipboard on a couple of bricks! Great for ALL sorts of bugs and stuff when kids are inside!!!

Cubby Floor 30122008

Now, yesterday afternoon, frames were finished and the rear cladding was nailed on. Right hand side cladding and window were also installed and then the cubby was placed onto the new floor. Whilst L was off getting dinner (it was too hot to cook anything, and that is a story in it's own right that I will tell you later...) the cladding and window were completed on the left hand side.

Now, as I said, it was rather hot and as I was busy, L said that she will do dinner, But as it was hot, we were busy so she decided to go to Alpacino's Pizza & Pasta house nearby. She left and dodged her way through traffic at a nearby intersection where a motorcyclist had an accident and later died. When she got to Alpacino's, it was closed! She left and then called me and it was decided to go to the local Lebanese bakery, where they have the BEST, woodfired pizza's. Sounds good? NUP, it was closed as well!!!!

By this time, somewhat deflated, she came home and defrosted some stir-fry beef, cracked open a bottle of Vietnamese sauce and cooked some rice. What a disaster! This dinner was so hot (spice), she could barely eat it! I had one bit of the beef and some rice, and I swear that it took off the lining of my mouth!

So, here I am, at work on New Years Eve (NYE). Outside it is a lovely day, where we are expecting a top in the city of around 30 degrees C. Our site is one of (if not THE best) the best sites for the NYE fireworks. Fencing has gone in and will not reopen until 10am. There is already thousands of people out there waiting. These are mainly backpackers (UK and USA to name a couple), and have already started drinking as grog is not allowed inside. It is not even 9am! We will be at home tonight, with family, having a BBQ, enjoying the spa and having a game or two on either the xbox or the PS2.

Your turn: What are your plans to see in 2009? Have you made a resolution yet, and will you?

Have a great night everyone, and stay safe. See you in 2009!

Colourful time here in Sydney...

I simply love this time of year...

The days are getting longer, and warmer with a top of 35 C expected here today... There is also the colours of spring/summer happening everywhere. From some spots in Sydney, you look over the city and you can see the purples of the Jacaranda's, reds of the Brachychitons and the yellows of the Grevillias.

This morning, on my way into work, there must have been some back burning of the National Parks as there was a very distinct smell around and a smokey haze as well. Of, the summer is not far away now... Apparently, we have a very high to extreme fire risk with a lot of the National Parks have a large amount of leaf litter within the understorey of the bushland. Lets hope that it does not get away like it did back in 2003.

So here are a few of those lovely trees I mentioned. The Jacaranda mimosafolia:

Jacaranda

And the Brachyciton acerifolia:

Brachychiton

The garden is beginning look quite good at the moment, and the vege patch is especially so. I planted a few tomatoes and they are nearly 6 foot tall already! The Truss variety is doing the best, and has a few branch's of tomatoes on them already, so hopefully we will be having home grown tommies!

WW #27: - Under Construction, the Spa Pavillion...

Spa Pavillion

The 'de-nailers'

Spa Pavillion

wordless wednesday
And don't forget to view my fotoblog as well, for another WW hit!!!

The next project...

Now that the laundry & bathroom are complete what's next to do in the burntofferings house? Well that's easy, no resting that's for sure!!

Well, the gazebo we are doing for the spa (on order) is underway. We 'won' this wonderfull gazebo on an online auction website, and after an inspection on the day of it finishing, we placed our bid... Then came the fun part, the dismantle works began with the FIL on Friday marking ALL of the pieces of wook and the removal of the roofing and the BIL on the Saturday for the final dismantle of the structure.

Gazebo 'Before'

Gazebo 'Before'
These next shots are of the two day dismantle works...

Gazebo 'Roofless'

and a little further along...

Gazebo dismantle
Now, the question remained, that whilst we now have to dismantle the old shadehouse, what do we do with Wally?

'Wally' on Shadehouse

Old Shadehouse
So, we now have a spa, a gazebo and the old shadehouse removed, what else is there to do but to do a slab! A quick call to a concretor and an electrician saw a length of conduit installed and the slab down within 24 hours!!! WOW!

Slab formwork

Our SLAB
Now all we have to do is make sure both Jasmine & Macc STAY OFF!!!!

Our cat: - Jasmine

OK, I know it has been a while since posting, but here is our little 'angel' (NOT) sitting in the Mondo Grass, in our back yard.

New Zealand 2007

Well, as we did not really have a solid internet connection (or the time to really hook up onto the net with the ‘in-laws’ travelling with us (oh, before you ask, we had a lovely holiday with them. It just meant packing more into the day!!!!)), here is the first of probably around 14 ‘trip reports from our trip to New Zealand.

We were travelling again to New Zealand on Emirates, the same as last year. This year however, the flight was FULL. Not a spare seat was to be had. It was also the first time for the Father in law (FIL) to go overseas, and he was looking forward to it. So much so that a little Cellulites in his leg; a hospital visit two night before and a bag or two of IV fluids was not going to stop him from boarding the plane!

The morning had arrived and the brother in law (BIL) arrived promptly very early to take us to Sydney airport. Bags checked a quick look around the shops we went through immigration and into duty free heaven. FIL got himself comfy overlooking the new Singapore A380 sitting out on the tarmac (until about 200 people decided to come and have a photo taken in front of it) whilst the girls went shopping. I had a quick look around the camera and electronic shops for any bargains, nup!

Boarding was quick enough and we were soon taxing for a (rough) departure over the western suburbs, over our house, before heading out to sea and ‘over the pond’. Breakfast was served which was very scrummy. I had an omelette and chicken sausage, and L had the other which I can’t remember. Emirates in-flight entertainment was great with plenty of choices. I quickly decided and watched Hairspray, fantastic!

Three hours later, we were on approach into Auckland, and very quickly through immigration and at the hire car company. Paperwork was ready and walked over to ‘assess’ the car, thankfully! There was nothing mentioned on the paperwork, however, there was quite a large gash down the passengers side rear panel, see the pic. We quickly got it all sorted and on the road to Parnell, to our first of many accommodation, the Parnell Village Motor Lodge. This was looking rather different since last year, new owners, and was getting a lick of paint! The new owners, Helen and I can’t remember his name, were fantastic, very accommodating and friendly indeed. We recommend that if you’re in Auckland (Parnell) stay here you will not be disappointed!

After quickly unpacking we jumped into the car and to the Parnell Rose Garden, which was just packing up after the Rose festival! Had I know this, we would have travelled a day earlier!

So here are some pics of the car, some Iris’s and Roses from the Rose Garden

1. Nth Island Car, 2. Parnell Mini Purple Rose, 3. Parnell White Iris, 4. Parnell Rose, 5. Parnell Dark Red Rose, 6. Parnell Cream Rose, 7. Parnell Iris, 8. Parnell Pink Roses, 9. Parnell Red Roses

Wordless Wednesday # 15 Return from holiday to the 'Jungle'

Return to the 'Jungle'

Return to the 'Jungle'

wordless wednesday

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

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

Kew Gardens Glasshouse

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...

Pink Eucalyptus

Some more flowers and garden art (and a cat thrown in as well!)

Double white Hellebours

Resting Buddha, who resides under a Cupressus macrocarpa in the front yard.
A 'Red Tulip' we have in flower at the moment.

'Jasmine' our cat enjoying the winter sun...

My first post!!!

Ok, so here it is, my FIRST post, on MY blog!!!

I captured this at the Garden Australia Expo held in Sydney last week, I hope that you enjoy it!