Its been amazing weather lately. After the summer without sun and without drought, we now have the autumn with both sun and drought. The garden is bolting along due to me putting water on it, while the lawn is starting to burn off. They call it global weirding.
At lunch I sat outside, in the sun, alone. The others sat inside and talked to each other about impressively mindless things. I like to sit and chat most times, but I often go back to the class room more peopled out than I was at the start of break. I sat outside and soaked up the sunshine, and relaxed into the quiet. And went back to class, ready for the noise.
In fact, class was quiet last thing, as I tried to explain linkage to tired and heat befuddled year 13's. I'm not sure any of us made much progress. At least there is no school tomorrow, so we have a day to find and engage our brains. Then a two day teaching patch, 2 day weekend, 5 day teach, 3 day weekend. Its a strange term...
Oh, and today the exband got his payout, and I got a mortgage.
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Sunday, 8 April 2012
The third day
It's the third day of my holiday, and also the third day of Easter. We went to Mass tonight. Son#2 has to sit with us now and stay out of the crying room. He doesn't cry in there - it sounds like he is organising the super bowl though! yelling and banging.
The exband bought son#2 a length of fabric printed with sharks. I don't mind that part, but it seems it is my job to turn the fabric into something he can use. Which as I have a 'to do' list longer than I can actually recite I find his attitude ... annoying! He must think I don't have anything much to do with a full time job and full custody!!! But onwards.
I am pinning the fabric to polar fleece and turning a boring blue blanket into an exciting quilt. And I get to stipple the whole thing if I want to so should have big scale stippling sorted out by the end! Pinning it is really hard. The pins don't go through easily. Either the fabric is very high density - it sure looks tough - or pinning through polar fleece on an angle is hard because of all the threads. Dunno, but my fingers sure hurt.
Cleaned up the back yard today - swept, trimmed and weeded. Looks fantastic. Checked when to move the rhubarb and its June/July, so its a long wait to finish the final garden off. Ate first feijoa yesterday - feel so clever eating fruit out of the back yard.
The exband bought son#2 a length of fabric printed with sharks. I don't mind that part, but it seems it is my job to turn the fabric into something he can use. Which as I have a 'to do' list longer than I can actually recite I find his attitude ... annoying! He must think I don't have anything much to do with a full time job and full custody!!! But onwards.
I am pinning the fabric to polar fleece and turning a boring blue blanket into an exciting quilt. And I get to stipple the whole thing if I want to so should have big scale stippling sorted out by the end! Pinning it is really hard. The pins don't go through easily. Either the fabric is very high density - it sure looks tough - or pinning through polar fleece on an angle is hard because of all the threads. Dunno, but my fingers sure hurt.
Cleaned up the back yard today - swept, trimmed and weeded. Looks fantastic. Checked when to move the rhubarb and its June/July, so its a long wait to finish the final garden off. Ate first feijoa yesterday - feel so clever eating fruit out of the back yard.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Living the high life
When the exband and I separated, he decided to go and live with his parents a six or so hour drive away from here. At the time I felt a great deal of relief as I didn't have to deal with him except over the phone. So no fraught child exchanges on the weekend. I had my boys all to myself, and I liked that.
Today my boys went down to their friends, and when I went down there to ask if they could stay while I got the groceries, their mum said "Have a coffee as well", and I did. I very rarely get a break away from either work or the kids, and most times I don't mind. I do go to dancing while they have a baby sitter, but I am rushing home to save a buck then. Today there was no need to rush. I sat in a cafe and read a design magazine for a while, and then had a look at what was in the garden centre.
It felt absolutely grand.
So now I can see that if the exband was a little closer, there would be an upside. But you know, when I think about it, I wouldn't change my situation at all. Except for an hour off every now and again, when I don't have to rush. I'm sure that must be possible!
Today my boys went down to their friends, and when I went down there to ask if they could stay while I got the groceries, their mum said "Have a coffee as well", and I did. I very rarely get a break away from either work or the kids, and most times I don't mind. I do go to dancing while they have a baby sitter, but I am rushing home to save a buck then. Today there was no need to rush. I sat in a cafe and read a design magazine for a while, and then had a look at what was in the garden centre.
It felt absolutely grand.
So now I can see that if the exband was a little closer, there would be an upside. But you know, when I think about it, I wouldn't change my situation at all. Except for an hour off every now and again, when I don't have to rush. I'm sure that must be possible!
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Active
Today was the first ballet class of the year - W O O T ! Or that was how I felt till we started the tendus - then the lack of practicing co-ordination started to show, and my brain got fuzzy. But this is the start of Much Better Things, and it is always good to START.
The neighbour has decided he does not want his compost pile any more - his kids played on his rotary clothesline, broke it, and he is putting in a straight extendable line, with the post over the old compost heap. So we took the wheelbarrow over, and brought the compost back. Then I Pulled out the weeds:
This 'summer' has involved A Lot of rain, so the weed and other plant growth can be described as Luxurious.
It looked like this:
As you would expect.
Then I put the compost on and :
Notice the darker colour! Its about 25cm thick. So now I need to get the vegetables in there before the weeds come back even More luxurious.
After all that - I'm knackered.
The neighbour has decided he does not want his compost pile any more - his kids played on his rotary clothesline, broke it, and he is putting in a straight extendable line, with the post over the old compost heap. So we took the wheelbarrow over, and brought the compost back. Then I Pulled out the weeds:
This 'summer' has involved A Lot of rain, so the weed and other plant growth can be described as Luxurious.
It looked like this:
As you would expect.
Then I put the compost on and :
Notice the darker colour! Its about 25cm thick. So now I need to get the vegetables in there before the weeds come back even More luxurious.
After all that - I'm knackered.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
The joy of tidying up
Over the last two or three weeks, the boys and I have generated a large pile of garden waste. Today I borrowed the neighbour's trailer, and took the lot to the dump. The whole process probably took an hour. Now, every time I walk past that newly empty spot, I feel a smug satisfaction in the clean and the clear.
I should clean up more often.
I should clean up more often.
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