DO WE HAVE BLUEBERRIES?

Late last summer (about March I think) I planted two tiny blueberry shrubs into pots. No specific reason to do this except that I wasn't willing to pay the exhorbitant price for a tiny punnet of the fruit which was being sold at the time. I felt sure it would not be a short term exercise as having done some homework on the 'net' found it could be 3 to 4 years before these tiny plants were able to bear fruit.

Think I did the right things by making the soil acid for them and giving them 'treats' of seaweed tonics and the like and watched with interest as one of them in particular grew new shoots at a very quick rate. The notes on the 'net' which I'd consulted indicated that blueberries didn't mind a bit of frost in the winter so I knew they'd be OK being left where I had them. (Incidentally we've only had about 3 frosts so far this winter but we could get a few more into August).

I was rather surprised then to find little buds forming and the prettiest little pink 'bell' flowers breaking open all over the plants. Dozens of flowers and so tiny and petite. Saw a few native birds trying desperately to hang on to the flimsy twiggy branches to reach the nectar they obviously produce and wondered if the little shrubs would even survive the onslaught! LOL

To my great surprise on a recent morning when I was wandering in the garden having a look to see what was doing, I noticed what I think might be tiny berries. I guess time will tell - and because this is my first experience with growing anything in this line - but it looks at present as though there's quite a crop there. If they survive to ripeness then I suspect they will be ready long before the autumn season 2010 I had thought they'd be. In any event, we are looking forward to enjoying some home grown blueberries on our cereal if that happens.

Have a blessed day!

MEANINGFUL VERSES from Sunday

Meaningful verses I have brought away with me from attending worship at my church this morning.

Psalm 77 verses 11 to 15a

Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people.

Philippians 1 verses 3 to 6

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Sydney Harbour lighthouse

BIRTHDAY BOY

Family birthdays can be such fun. Last week our littlest grandbaby turned 4. Such a big boy now!

We helped celebrate with a BBQ lunch yestereday. A beautifully sunny day with a temperature of 20 degrees. Perfect for winter bbq-ing!

What did he want to decorate his cake? Spiderman or Lightning McQueen! Well Grandma chose the easiest one.

Pure concentration to blow out candles. Wonder what his special wish was?





Wonder why little boys love the creepy crawlies? This remote snake was not given by his grandparents. LOL

JUST FELT LIKE KNITTING

The last two months of almost inactivity for me kind of 'got to me' a couple of weeks ago and I felt like doing a bit of knitting. I thought that even though I was sitting so much, I could get my hands busy. I don't really mind too much if I don't get enough squares to finish a rug this winter - that's the beauty of knitting squares isn't it? Doesn't matter how long it takes, eventually if you keep it up, there should be enough to put a rug together. I'm thinking I'll need at least 35 to make a smallish size but I'd prefer to do one a bit bigger than the last one I finished a couple of years ago. So... I've finished 12 with another more than half way done. The squares measure 10 inches each way (15 cms) and are so very easy to make.

With double knitting yarn (I think in the US that's Sports) and my needles are 4mm. Start with 1 stitch. Next row increase into that stitch then knit those 2 stitches. Turn. Increase into first stitch and knit across the row. Keep increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until you have 60 stitches on your needle.

then

Knit 1, slip 1, k1 and pass slip stitch over (psso). Continue knitting till the end of the row. Turn and repeat until you are down to 1 stitch again. Cast off.

See? Easy Peasy as the kids say (or used to).

I can't say I'll post a pic of the finished rug yet as I'm not sure if the warm weather will turn up before I've got enough squares done (I don't knit much in the summer). But here's hoping that at least by the end of next winter I'll be able to show the finished product.

Have a blessed day!

WHALE WATCHING

Is it really a week since I updated this journal? Come to think of it - it was a rather busy week. You'll remember I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it was DH's birthday. To celebrate we took a trip last Sunday afternoon to (hopefully) see some whales out of Sydney harbour. Because it was a Sunday afternoon, we thought it was probably going to be fairly tight getting into the city after our church service so instead of taking the train as we had originally planned, we drove to the Opera House parking station which is only about 10 minutes walk from where the boat was leaving from. We did get there earlier than we thought but it was rather nice being able to sit on a seat in the sun and watch the ferries and other small craft coming and going.

We boarded the vessel with quite a lot of other people and there was a kind of aura of anticipation amongst us all - would we see any whales or not ?? (The company operating the vessel offers another free trip if no whales are sighted on the day) There were about 100 people on board.

The weather was brilliant inside the harbour - sunny but quite cool with a bit of a breeze. It took about 10 minutes to get to the 'heads' and once there, the boat began rocking and rolling big time! Outside the entrance to the harbour the swell must have been at least 3 metres and everybody was hanging on tightly to avoid falling.

The boat was in touch by radio with 'spotters' - some on the cliffs above the ocean and others on boats already viewing these mammals. We were all so excited by the news that there was quite a large pod about 1 1/2 miles ahead. As we made for the spot, I went up on to the top deck (3 levels in all) with camera in hand, woollen beanie and thick jacket - oh was it cold and windy. I could feel the wind trying to jerk my beanie off my head, despite it being pulled down well over my ears. With camera in one hand and hanging on to the rail with the other we came upon our first sight of these magnificent creatures. There were about 11 in the group and they were swimming north at about 5 miles an hour. The boat kept up with them cruising slowly parallel to them. Because there were so many in the group, there always seemed to be two or three up on the surface. Apparently they dive deep and are down for around 7 minutes before coming to the surface for 4 or 5 'blows' from their blowhole - then off they dive down again.

We are so fortunate here on the east coast of Australia to have the annual breeding migration in our winter, from south to north and again during our summer when the whales return to the south with their babies. They pass our coastline so closely which gives us the opportunity of viewing them frequently. They are seen from the shore quite often but of course seeing them so closely from a boat gives the opportunity to just how large they are.

What an awesome and exhilarating experience to see these wonderful hump back whales so close in their own natural environment. The boats by law must stay at least 100 metres away from the whales but on one occasion when we had moved to another spot, two of these massive animals surfaced just about 25 metres away from the boat - on the side that I was on. Wow - they are so huge. They were simply about their own business and apparently had decided to change course. They just kept swimming away from us - but oh what a moment!

All in all, this was a wonderful afternoon, despite the cold wind and the 'bumpy' ride, we were just so wonderfully blessed to see God's creatures so close. Isn't He wonderful?

Have a blessed day!

CALLIGRAPHY CLASS THAT WASN'T!

I feel so silly! I got all my bits and pieces ready and left in good time to catch the bus. Although the bus was running behind time at our destination but I got to where the class was being held OK just a few minutes late. On being shown the room being used, I was surprised to find nobody there. I thought they were probably running late like me! LOL

After waiting for nearly 30 minutes I was convinced I had gone on the wrong day. The receptionist seemed to agree with me and felt sure their previous class had been held last week - it's held fortnightly.

So I got back to the bus station and waited 20 minutes for the bus home. Got inside the house and went straight to the class schedule to find out what I'd done wrong. Well - it was the right day - just the wrong time. I had gone for a 1pm start and it actually started at 2pm. I just wish I'd checked that schedule this morning before I left for the bus!

Unfortunately I won't be able to get to the next class as I've a post operative appointment with the Professor that day and as of yesterday, another appointment on the same day to have a DVT scan (deep vein thombosis) - to check for any post operative problems in my leg veins.

So now I'll have to wait another month to go to the class I was so looking forward to today. I guess these things happen - and in fact as I'd taken my knitting with me I got quite a lot of rows done while sitting on the bus. It's not anything terribly exciting but I'll get a photo of what I'm doing when I get a few more squares finished towards a blanket I've decided to make. I made one about 10 years ago and DH loves to snuggle under it if he gets up to watch any sport on the TV during the night. It's still OK but won't hurt to have a 'back up'!

Have a blessed day!

A GOOD 'FIRST DAY OUT'

Last Tuesday was my first 'big day out' since my surgery. I wasn't at all sure how I would cope with all the walking I knew I was planning to do but guess I just 'stepped out in faith'.

I have been interested in joining a U3A class or two for a couple of years now but have never found any within a reasonable driving distance that had vacancies in the areas I was interested in. It seems that many people who join a particular class, never leave but just continue on year after year - which means there are rarely any vacancies within that group. Recently I saw a small advertisement in one of our local papers for classes in an area which I could access by bus, so I phoned and got a class list sent out to me. Wonder of wonders, I have found two classes I am interested in which have a vacancy. One is family history and genealogy and the other calligraphy. The first class I could attend was on Tuesday (genealogy). I made up my mind I would go and see whether I felt comfortable joining that group.

Meanwhile on Monday a dear friend who is visiting Sydney from NZ phoned me to ask if I could meet her and her DH for lunch on Tuesday. Since both her suggestion and the class were in the same area, we made arrangements to meet.

I walked from home to the bus stop and got to Parramatta with time to walk to the restaurant. Had a delicious lunch of veal schnitzel and mushrooms with the added bonus of great company!

Walked to where the class was being held and found it quite interesting. I'll go back one more time before I decide if it's 'for me'. When it was over I walked back to the bus station and after being dropped at my nearest stop, walked home again. I was totally pooped from the most walking I'd done in weeks!

Today I'm attending the other class I've chosen - calligraphy. Again I'll do a 'try out' session and see if it's what I want. I'll be catching the bus again into the same area but won't have the extra walking to and from the restaurant that I had on Tuesday! However, I do feel I'm improving each day and am hoping it won't be too much longer that I'm altogether 'back to normal' - if one ever knows what normal really is.

Have a blessed day!