Is anyone up for a chat?

Doolhof · ‎27-07-2015

Hi Everyone,

Sometimes it is great to have a place where you can just have a chat about something not related to your mental health. So here is the opportunity to have a general chat about anything and to maybe find a "friend" to help make the day feel brighter.

Occasionally I connect with people on the forums and a lovely friendship develops, but it may seem to others that they are not welcome to join in the conversation. This is not the case.

So here is an opportunity for new friendships to happen.

Maybe you would like to share your favourite holiday destination, or place you would love to visit. If you could have any animal as a pet what would it be? What is your favourite flavoured ice cream?

For me right now I would love to be somewhere warm! We have been experiencing some rather cold weather where even the chooks water is freezing over during the night! Somewhere with a beach and warm sea to swim in would be lovely!

My favourite ice cream flavour would be Jaffa in one of those crunchy cones! I would love to be eating one down at that tropical beach paradise followed by a lovely fresh coconut and maybe a beach massage as well.

I will be dreaming about this as I drive around today for work listening to Meatloaf. Maybe I should be listening to The Beach Boys instead, but I don't think I have any of their music on CD.

Hope you all have a great day,

Cheers from Mrs. Dools

Mangof · ‎15-08-2015

Good morning Mary,

i agree you're never to old for pets. I love cats and dogs and have two of each along with three chickens the cats help me relax and lately I've found I really love chickens lol who would have thought! They are amazing to watch and became quite a time waster for me when we first got them but most of all our cats win every time. I've always had a ginger and am famous now with my children I do think jealousy raises issues with them hahahaha

recently I went to collect a kitten and ended up with the mother and her kitten so typical of me. I just couldn't separate them. Now we love them to bits.

Cats are a lot easier to care for don't need walking and are self sufficient a lot of the time great companions and very sensitive hope you get one Mary 🙂

stay happy 🙂

Mangof · ‎15-08-2015

Hi BKYTH thanks for the reply.

wow sounds like you have done some amazing gardens. Japanese themes always look radiant. And I agree classical music is just beautiful .

chai tea, spices ,flavors sends my tastebuds soaring my husband and I enjoy cooking and the aromas in the kitchen is amazing at times you could close your eyes and be transported to any destination.

you are fortunate to have lived in the blue mountains sound wonderful. As for snakes in your nieces oven Lauren (shivers down my spine! )

I think my reluctance to exit the house would have been forgotten vey quickly! Leaving a dust trail behind me hahaha

stay happy:)

BKYTH · ‎17-08-2015

Yes it was wonderful in the Blue Mountains but you had to be on your guard for funnel web spiders. I encountered many in the years that I lived there. I never wore gloves when I was gardening and one day one wrapped itself around my finger but I reacted quickly enough to flick it off before it could bite me. I started to capture them and take them to the local barber shop where they were collected and sent to Katoomba Hospital so that their venom could be used in creating an antivenin. I've spent a lot of time in the bush and encountered snakes of all sorts. My first job was on a farm in Central Queensland and part of my work involved rolling up bails of hay. The hay was a good hunting place for snakes so you had to be alert at all times. One day I heard a strange sound coming from some hay I had yet to roll up and went to investigate. It was being made by a frog that was in the jaws of a brown snake. I managed to save it from its fate. Years later I saved a mouse from a similar fate. Philip.

Doolhof · ‎18-08-2015

Here is another animal story to share with you all.

One of my clients exclaimed to me one morning that she had seen the most extraordinary creature out on her front porch and believed it to have been the cause of the midnight raucous that had kept her awake in freight.

That creature was a possum, an animal she had never encountered before. Upon phoning the local council to see if they could provide a humane trap to catch and relocate the intruder, she was told, yes they could provide a trap, but the possum had to released 50 metres from where it had been captured!

Thankfully for the lady, the possum moved off on its own accord.

People I know had a pet possum for a while until it decided to rearrange all of their kitchen items as well as redecorating the rest of the house while they were asleep.

They are cute looking creatures, but you certainly don't want them inside your house!

Cheers all from Lauren

BKYTH · ‎07-09-2015

Where have all the flowers gone? I miss this thread and mourn its passing. Philip.

Guest_2350 · ‎07-09-2015

Hello Philip,

how are you?

There are many flowers now that it is spring. I love seeing all the pink flowers, the trees without leaves, but full of flowers - I never experienced that before I came to Australia. I love spring and I also love seeing all the weeds flower and even the tiny little flowers on the grass. It is amazing. And then I love the fresh green growth on the trees, another special in spring. Our garden is a sea of flowers in all different colours and forms. Often I stop and have a close look at the funny shapes of flowers in our garden. One of my favourites (but in secret I think ALL flowers are my favourite) are the wattles - I love the fresh yellow of the wattles 🙂

My orchids are also in flower. I have one orchid, which has 8 lovely white flowers on one stem and another orchid with 4 separate yellow flowers. Hopefully I will have many orchids flower this year, so far I have not been very lucky - my friend believes, I moved them too many times.

Apart from flowers I also enjoy seeing a lot of baby birds. In my local pond there is a swan family and the baby swan is just starting to get some black feathers, I try to visit them at least once a week 🙂

How is your garden these days Philip? Take care, Yggy

BKYTH · ‎08-09-2015

What I meant by "where have all the flowers gone" I was referring to all those who had been making posts here. Spring is certainly here and so many plants have dressed themselves in their finest attire for the occasion. Some dare you not to look at them with their extravagant display while others peep meekly at you in quiet repose. My favourite weed has the somewhat unfortunate botanical name "Cirsium Vulgare' amoung others and is commonly called Scotch Thistle. When I was studying Horticulture one of our assignments in first year was to collect weeds and to write an assignment about the ones we had selected. I have seen it in all parts of Australia and often see it in movies I have watched that were filmed in various countries around the world. It is not a plant which invites you to touch it but I find it an utterly fascinating plant with such a variety of interesting characteristics. Where I live I am unable to have a garden so I am confined to growing plants in pots. I have a variety of seedlings started at the moment and am waiting for their true leaves to appear so I can identify which particular plant that they are. I don't know if you have grown plants from seed but if you haven't the first two leaves that appear are not indicative of which particular plant that it is but the second pair of leaves are. I grow as much as I can from seed, especially open pollinated traditional varieties as much as possible. Open pollinated seeds are pollinated by natural forces such as insects, birds and wind etc. I am constantly delighted by the many shades of green which one encounters. In fact if the space were available to me I would build a garden designed specifically to highlight that feature. Azaleas have a very rich green to their leaves which I love and I find their shape very appealing. In fact you could build a garden highlighting the contrasting shape of various plants. The possibilities are endless. The garden, if you build it from nothing, can be a blank canvas upon which you can evoke a wonderland of moods which will, for the rest of your life, enchant you as it absorbs you into the boundless beauty which is inherent in nature. I wish you well because you seem to have eyes that don't just look but see. Regards. Philip.

Doolhof · ‎08-09-2015

Hi Philip and Yggy,

I was only thinking of this post yesterday. I have not spent much time on the computer for the last couple of weeks. I'm back now and hope to be posting more frequently once again.

Thanks for refreshing this thread Philip. You beat me to it.

As you have both mentioned, spring has definitely sprung! A lady I know has some delightful tulips growing. I am amazed by the different colours and how bold the flowers appear.

The Scotch Thistle certainly is a very attractive weed in its own right. I remember being amazed by them as a child. When we moved into our home here in the country, I discovered some curious little plants growing and wondered what they were. Their leaves looked so delicate and attractive. I later learnt they were Salvation Jane!

Some of the hills in our region are covered in them. The scene is spectacular with the gorgeous purple spreading amongst the gum trees surrounded by vines and paddocks of green.

Another view I have been admiring is a vivid yellow canola crop, nestled amongst the rich green of grain crops. The other day the sky was a stormy black with the sun breaking through the clouds and highlighting the canola crop. It was so spectacular. I wished I had a camera on me so I could have captured the image.

Our fruit trees are in bud so I am hoping we actually have some fruit produced this year.

One of the towns close to us is lined with tree that are in full bloom. The wind was howling down the street, causing the blossoms to fly off the trees looking like a huge mass of confetti. It was so pretty.

Ah. It is a lovely time of year! I would just like an army of gardeners here to help with the weed eradication process! Ha. Ha.

Cheers all from Lauren

BKYTH · ‎12-09-2015

Salvation Jane aka as Patersons Curse must have made for a spectacular sight as you observed it. Of course there is no such thing as a weed but rather plants that can create problems, both large and small, when they grow in large numbers where people would wish them not to. I am involved in a coast care project where I live which means helping to eradicate(or restrict) certain invaders from threatening coastal plants which are natural to the area. Unfortunately those 'invaders' will have non of it and mock you at your efforts. Many more hands are needed but we do what we can. I have a certain respect for invasive plants (weeds) simply because they have the ability to flourish in such a wide variety of conditions - Of course I am not raising horses or cattle in paddocks flush with Patersons Curse. There are some plants which would flourish if grown in nuclear waste. I also like plants that thrive on neglect as they are able to look after themselves in most circumstances. One such being Nasturtiums which will produce large leaves if you fuss over them (fine if you want them for salads) but will produce few flowers. If you want a good flower display they are best left alone. Many of the plants in the garden at the local senior citizens hall are being watered too much and are struggling because of it. I keep quite about it as someone there had the job of tending to it and I don't want to offend anyone. But if you examine its location (which is at the bottom of a steep slope) it is obvious that the water being absorbed by the soil on that slope when it rains will work its way down into the garden for weeks of no rain. It provides a kind of reservoir for the garden below it - With gardening its just as important to know when to do nothing as it is to know when to do something. More of the seeds that I planted are announcing their presence to the world each day. It doesn't matter how many times that I have experienced that it still amazed me. Each pin head of green that emerges from the soil is a testament to the very genesis of life itself. The world can never lose its 'wonder' but people in their rush toward "what next" can lose their capacity for a sense of wonderment. Philip.

Doolhof · ‎12-09-2015

Hi BKYTH,

I have spent a great deal of time today out in the garden eradicating "plants" that I do not appreciate encroaching on my specially selected varieties that I hope will flourish!

Some plants are very resilient and do well as you mentioned while others struggle if not planted in an appropriate area or zone.

Apart from the neighbours dogs barking at me, I had a very pleasant time in the garden. There were a couple of black birds pottering about in the garden near me and I heard what I presume was a large lizard scratching around under the leaves. I didn't investigate in case it was a snake slithering about, feeling like it needed to sun itself.

I let the chooks out for a while and placed their eggs in a pot plant ready to take inside, but I forgot to do so. When I went to retrieve the eggs one was missing altogether, one was about 3 metres away from where I had left it with a hole in it and the third was half eaten. I presume it was crows that ate the eggs. I have learnt my lesson and will take the eggs inside straight away next time!

A couple of our borrowed sheep broke into the neighbours yard yesterday. I was at work so my husband had the job of rounding them up and trying to get them back into our yard. It would have been very comical to watch and to have participated in. He has since added more chicken wire to the fence so the sheep can not crawl under it again.

Considering the size of a sheep, it amazes me that they could actually squeeze under the fence in the first place!

As tomorrow is going to be glorious again, I might spend a little more time pulling up unwanted plants!

Cheers for now from Lauren