Here Be Knitting

Australia Calling... Making Our Mark

G'day Shelagh

We spent last Sunday at The Block.  The day was beautiful, but cold. So cold, the extremities (aka the boobs) were aching.  I wore my hand knit Hedgerow socks, so my toes stayed toasty warm :)

Our Sunday mission was to plant some proteas and finally put a mark on The Block.  This wasn't quite as easy as it sounded.  Firstly, we chose proteas because they don't like excessive watering and as we aren't there to water during the week, this was important. Our three varieties are:  Pink Ice, Protea Grandiceps (Peach Protea) and Protea Longifolia:

Proteas like very free draining soil, so we chose a slope a little away from our house site:

The house will eventually be to the left of our little car there on the flat.

Our biggest problem are the natives.  We didn't see any on Sunday, but we sure knew they were around.

Kangaroos:

and Wombats:

Both of which are quite likely to want to feed on our proteas' fresh young leaves.  We were forced to:

Even this we aren't sure will keep the wombats out.  The kangaroos, we feel, will not want to take the risk of injury by jumping our fence, but this fence is not enough to keep a determined wombat out.  We are anxious to get back this weekend to see.  We want to begin to create our orchard.  We will have to fence this as well, of course, but we will do this on a bigger scale and fence the whole of the orchard rather than a few plants at a time.  Let's hope our experiment from last weekend works!

I was reminded on Sunday of what we so love about The Block:

Although The Block is not risk free:

We uncovered the scorpion when picking up firewood:

A friend who was once stung several times on her leg (the scorpion had crawled up her trouser leg and stung many times as she yanked those jeans off!) said it was worse than child birth.  Now... that is baaaaaaaaaaadddddd.....

This weekend, I've big plans for my knitting:

More next week :)

Enough for now...

Blog, What Blog....

It has been a long time.  I have thought about giving The Blog up.  I wondered, given the blogs already out there doing things so much better than me, what the point of my blogging was.  I'm a competent knitter - I'm not particularly fast, I don't knit things of exceptional beauty, I don't invent new patterns or bring a new perspective to what I knit.  I'm not particularly funny and my life is like most others - busy but not exceptional to anyone else.  I pondered these things for quite some time.  Two things occurred to me (finally!):

1 My doubts about my blog are really just more of a sign of my general malaise and that blogging actually helps me feel better.

2 I am blogging for myself.  To record my knitting progress, our block's progress (or not) and my life's progress in very general terms.  It isn't about anybody else.  Of course I want others (many others!) to read it, but it isn't the reason to begin a blog or to keep one going.  I decided that the blogging is something I.want.to.do.

I actually have lots of knitting, yarn, books and magazines purchased that I need to update here.  Tonight however, I want to talk about Our Block.

It has been a long time since I mentioned Our Block.  We have been so unsure of where we wanted to base ourselves and what our future was to be that Our Block had begun to feel like a weight around our necks.  A project too big for us to take on; a project not worth all that effort if we were not staying.  While away on our recent break we made the big decision to stay here in Canberra and to go ahead with Our Block. 

We had originally thought we would build our own kit home.  Another decision has been to give this away - we are too busy to build it all ourselves.  We have decided to get a builder to take our dream to lock up stage and we will complete most of the rest (professionals for the kitchen though!).  We are now busily looking through house plans trying to decide which one is "us".  Here are three on the shortlist:

1 The Bourke from Hawkesbury Valley Homes

And its Floor Plan:

2 The Carrington from Hawkesbury Valley Homes

And its Floor Plan:

3 The Brisbane from Hawkesbury Valley Homes (I think you can guess we like their plans!!):

And floor plans:

These are probably listed in order of preference for us (at the moment) and it will depend on what the builders say each will cost.  We like their layouts with each giving plenty of room for living and for our interests; they have higher than average ceilings and interesting roof lines; it is easy to orientate the houses to take full advantage of our wonderful views; and the cost of their full building plans are very reasonable.

We visited Our Block yesterday.  It was still, cold and starkly beautiful.  The drought has again begun to take hold and there were no new flowers or animals to discover.  There was still plenty to see:

Enough for now.....

The Block. Do Not Stand Still....

Danger Will Robinson, Danger. (I just lurved Lost in Space - although no prizes for guessing that one).  On The Block on the weekend, we made a rather gruesome discovery:

The Meat Ants (I didn't know they are also called Gravel Ants - learn something new every day) are making short work of what we think is a bee.  You really need to click on the photo and enlarge this one for all the gory details :)  The green is the poor fellows innards being dispatched at a rapid pace.  Interesting, don't you think....

Right next door (and I mean so close to the ants that we had to be careful that we weren't the next meal) was this beautiful:

Purple Wildflower.  Just beautiful.  We found another a little away and by sheer coincidence caught it with a native bee (I think)about to alight:

I hope you can see the insect (definitely worth clicking to make large).  There are over 1500 native bees in Australia and only 10 of these are stingless.  That's another 2 new facts for me - how many types of native bees we have and that only 10 are stingless.  Dangerous business this searching the web...

We found 4 other native flowers on our visit and I'll just show them off here - they need nothing more from me:

Lake George is a famous local natural feature that is believed to be more than a million years old.  Its having actual water in it is very cyclical in nature.  In July of this year it had water in it for the first time in quite some time. Go here for further information about our Lake.

The Block is about a 5 minute drive away from glorious views of Lake George.  As we have recently had a nice drop of rain, we took the drive over that way at the end of our day.  The recent rains have added a trickle to its dry lake bed:

Even almost empty, it is very beautiful.  And the light just takes my breath away.

Enough for now...

The Block. So Much to Show You (Part II)....

This really feels like deja vous.  I completed this blog last night (very late as usual) and as I previewed it my b***dy computer crashed and I lost the lot.  Here goes....

I am late posting my promised Part 2 of the flowers.  Life here has been very stressed.  The Girl has been very ill, Her Dad broke his toe and amongst it all I've been trying to work.  I found it really hard to get my head around sorting through all the photos we have taken of The Block over the last few weeks and then what I wanted to say about them all.

First up, some amazing birds nests we discovered on an old shed while we were out and about.  The birds were way too fast for us to photo.  But the nests are incredible, the two toned mud, the shape of the nests - beautiful.  At first we thought they might have been swallows - either Welcome or Barn - but it appears their mud nests are cup shaped.  Then by accident in my web searching I found the Fairy Martins whose nests I think these are.  If you know anymore, please (please, please...) let me know.

Aren't they just great - bottle shaped nests all jumbled together!

This last weekend, we managed to get to the far corner of The Block.  We found a wonderful bush gate between our property and our neighbour:

I wonder how long since it has been used? 

Our boundary fence is also interesting in parts.  It is certainly of no use in keeping stock in, but we don't intend to even try and use The Block in this way. 

  I think the best word here is "quaint", non?

This year, we haven't found very many scribbly gums. 

We wondered if this was due to the drought affecting the numbers of the little moths who "write" these scribbles or if it was just the time of the year in their life cycle?

Some of our Sundews have flowered.   Most did not - the dry weather we had in very early spring wilted and killed many before they had the chance.  Such a pity - they are delicate, white wonders.  It appears that Australian Sundews are used for Flower Essences.

The tiny wildflower from my first posting on The Block has seeds:

A lovely, strong statement of colour.

I know I promised some new wildflowers.  I've changed my mind for now.  They will keep for another blogging.  But, I can't go without letting you experience our sunset:

Sometimes, photos really do speak a thousand words. I think when I upgrade my TypePad account, it will be this photo I use as a banner.

And, finally, a photo of the offending toe.  Let this be a warning to all who might be tempted to go around "kicking" large rocks!  Look away now if hairy feet or horribly bruised toes are a problem.  Otherwise, you have been warned!  Enough for now....

Cool huh?!!

The Block. So Much To Show You....

I have been a bad blogger, it has been quite a few weeks since I last blogged on The Block.  We have been visiting and snapping away, but I just haven't had the time to go through all the photos and then to get my head around what I wanted to say.

The Block has been rewarding us with wildflowers.  Many, many beautiful wonderful glorious wildflowers.  This tells Her Dad and I a couple of things - the land has been fairly free of grazing cows and sheep for some time. But, more importantly, the flowers come at a price -  it is very impoverished soil (the Sundews from one of my first posts were also a dead giveaway).  This we don't mind - it is often one of the prices of living in Australia - we are a very old continent.  The irony that we have recently moved from the Darling Downs in QLD which is one of the most fertile areas in Australia to our poor block does not excape us.  Her Dad and I are keen gardeners, so knowing how impoverished the soil is helps us plan how we will garden - with truckloads of manure and compost and much (much, much....) building up of the soil. 

But I digress, what I really want to show you are the flowers.....

Again, what looks like a leguminous beauty.

This looks almost like a native Hyacinth (I didn't think to stop and smell the roses "hyacinths"!)

 

  I think this ones from a variety of tea tree. 

That's your share for today. I'm probably only about 1/2 way through the wildflower photos, but it's 1.00 in the morning and I'm finally tired enough for sleep.

More tomorrow....

The Block. The Day The Girl Got Injured

We went to The Block today.  It was a glorious spring day - about 20 degrees C, sunny,with only a hint of a breeze.  The moon, however, didn't seem to realise that it was time for bed:

So far, we have seen five birds from the parrot family:

Galahs  Sulphur Crested Cockatoos Eastern Rosellas Crimson Rosellas Gang Gang Cockatoos

We managed our own photos of the Gang Gang today.  These were clearly a mating couple, although we aren't sure if they mate for life or take a new partner each year.  The male has the distinctive red head while the female is busily breaking off and eating gum nuts:

Both lovely.  While they sat and ate, they chatted away to each other in what we think was a bonding ritual - very cute.

We hope our block will also have the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo visiting from time to time.  They are majestic (although noisy) birds!  There is also a chance that we will see cockatiels.  We have, of course, already seen our fair share of Kookaburras, Australian magpies   (luckily ours haven't started swooping yet which could prove to be a nightmare) and also the delightful and tiny Blue Wren flittering amongst some bushes - too fast for us to photograph!

As we travelled down a gully today, we saw a new wombat home (click on the photo - definitely easier to see "large") - unfortunately its occupant was beating a hasty and noisy retreat from the enormous threat that had arrived at its burrow!!

While out and about today, we also came across two new flowers.  One a beautiful new orchid (we think) and the other flowers looked very "pea like" so we assumed perhaps a native leguminous plant of some sort (although very happy to be corrected if anyone knows):

 

As we came back up to our house site:

The Girl injured her ankle.  Quite a nasty sprain and The Girl was in a deal of pain.  We elevated and iced and she sat for the rest of the afternoon.  Once the initial shock was over, she didn't really mind - she got out her game boy and whiled away the afternoon:

Poor kid!  Tonight it is quite swollen - not quite sore enough to stay away from school, however (The Girl was bummed about that!), although she will still be limping. 

Just 2 more photos to finish.  The sunset tonight was just too beautiful not to show you:

And.... finally..... some yarn porn:

Enough for now.....

The Block. Sunday 16 September

We went out to The Block on Sunday afternoon.  It was quite late by the time we got there - about 3.00 pm.  It was cool and windy and we immediately began with a fire to cook/burn (what's a BBQ without some charcoal) our sausages and to boil our billy:

You can see the wind mussing with the flames.  Our poor billy has blackened but faithfully gives us the best hot tea.

We came very close (not!) to some wildlife:

This hawk hovered over various spots trying to land a good feed.  We didn't see it catch anything, but certainly not from a want of trying.  He/she and two mates then spent a good deal of time fighting over territory, chasing each other off, loudly calling and declaring to each other, before eventually all seemed to lose out and they flew away!!

This is a wombat hole!  We have wombats... really!!

Go here for further info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wombat  Ours are the Common Wombats.  This is a mult-generational hole and is currently in use, although the occupant hasn't come up to say hello to us!  The closest we have gotten, to date, to one of our residents is the sight of a rear end scampering into the scrub!

A posting from The Block just wouldn't be complete without the obligatory photo of a wildflower:

We "think" it is a native orchid.  It is tiny (again) - only about 5cm tall.  Totally beautiful, very powerful yet so delicate.  This is is a strong pink while there were others almost white and some purple.  We thought it must be different aging in the flowers.  Breathtaking.....

As we were there so late, we stayed for sunset.....

Simply Beautiful!!

On the knitting front, I have finished the first of my gifted black socks.  At least now I have a pair, however mismatched :) :)

The purple mohair scarf (also now known as The Thing on the Sofa) continues along, every so slowly.

Enough for now.....

The Block - Sunday 9 Sept

On Sunday, we spent a lovely day at our block.  We arrived around lunch time.  The girl and her Dad collected some firewood and we got a lovely fire going - just right for the boiling of our billy.

We went for a walk to one of our little creeks.  It is very cute - a babbling brook amongst the trees.  The Girl could do no wrong this day - she CHOSE to wear her new knitted shirt (Ok, probably only because that was the last clean thing in her wardrobe, but heh, it was ON!).  She can be seen in her hiking boots amongst the rocks and the moss:

 

The light at this time of the year is fantastic.  Everything was shining this day - even the trees had a wonderful glow:

On top of our hill - where our house will eventually belong - are some beautiful sundews and wildflowers:

The Sundews are tiny - only about 4cm.  But they are very hungry!!  This one has at least 5 insects in its sticky tentacles.  Isn't it glorious!  The wildflowers are just beginning to appear.  This one is stunning - again tiny but so much detail and pure colour.

Tomorrow, I think some knitting...