The end of my beautiful gum.

Over the weekend hubby took on the challenge of chopping down a 30 metre tree.  It was hard work and he hired a cherry picker to cut the branches, it broke my heart to cut it but the base was 80% rotten and the larger branches were occasionally falling.

The house is two story so you can imagine the height and it's the tree at the rear.

He has started the pruning but this was the view from my bedroom window.  I had Magpie neighbours, their lovely chortle would wake me each day.

The cherry picker and hubby swaying about.

About half down.

My backyard.

Now we have to mulch the lot! Still more tree to come down, we ran out of time and the rest shall be done this weekend, I have plans for a dry creek garden bed plan for the mulch, very excited!

Amazingly it all missed crushing eldest child's Fucshias, sadly int he first 10 minutes of lopping my solar light was crushed beyond recognition.   I will miss this tree.   On the upside my clothesline that has been in the shade from 2pm everyday is in sunlight ALL day now!  The neighbours are a bit sad as their shade is gone too. It really will change the whole dynamics of my rear garden. The gutters will no longer get as clogged and I shall not have to rake 20 barrows of leaves each Summer as the tree gets more stressed. I am hoping the Maggie's move over to the next tree.

Around the garden In Autumn.

We have had a huge weekend around the garden here as we are lopping a 25 metre tree hubby and the boys have been on the cherry picker trying to get it all done in the 2 days we have the equipment for.  So I have pottered around weeding and planting seeds, and dodging flying branches as I do so.

Another beautiful Magnolia shot, seem to only get one flower at a time on this bush.

Eldest child's Fuschia garden.

I am getting lots of large Peaches but not going very Peach coloured as yet.

Eldest child's propagation area.

It's hard to get an idea how messy this shed was as I didn't take a before shot, I have removed 6 chaff bags of rubbish though, you couldn't walk in it prior so finally I have a workable garden shed.

All my tools hanging nicely.

Added some more Salvia's to this bed and mulched it.

Stay tuned as I have planted out some flower seeds in the hothouses, we have Calendula's Pansy's, Hollyhocks and Delphiniums. Should have a pretty garden in Spring!

My monster Pumpkin, grown from seed!

Fridays harvest, had to give away a lot to friends.

Begonia Festival

Last weekend the family decided to go and see the Begonia Festival, was lovely and I was in my element with all the garden happenings, we brought some lovely herbs and checked out the glasshouse full of Begonias.

We caught a tram in.

The family on the tram, yes the one at the back is mine too!

Some pretty Sunflowers.

My youngest doing some painting by numbers.

Saw some wildlife...

My Mum used to grow this type of Begonia.

Love this colour.

All so beautiful.

A great afternoon, we had a picnic by the wetlands prior and were lucky enough to see a couple of Turtles poking their heads out of the water. 

Pottering around the garden

A beautiful Autumn day today and we all got out into the garden and did projects, wonderful to be enjoying the sun and getting things done!

This was an old bench seat that my eldest child stood on and snapped a couple of pieces of the wood. It sat waiting for a long time....

So hubby and middle child got busy a fixing, it took a while and a trip to Bunnings was in order but they got there in the end.

All stained and finished the metal work had been painted too.  I love it when we can repair and reuse!

My youngest son sat and read the phone book.  Seriously. Not so much of a worker but he does love morning tea time.

My eldest son helped me rake out and gather some leaves and bunny poo for the compost, we also cleaned the rabbit hutches out and forgot to lock one with in 10 seconds the bucks were fighting and Monty the kitten out for play scampered quick smart!

After much looking we found him hiding in the sun in my herb garden.  He caught a mouse while I was cleaning those rabbit pens but I swear the mouse virtually had to tap him on the nose before he saw it. Then he played with it for a bit and it got away!!!

My Dad brought me these pots at Christmas, so time for a trip of my own to Bunnings to buy plants for some more greenery. We brought lots of flower seeds too.

We tidied up the potting area.

Neatened things up - cats in the background trying to get through the gate to photobomb the picture!

Jordan's potting bench.

Some plants he's potted up.  I really love that one of my children loves gardening.  Some people want Lawyers and Doctors for their children's future I feel a successful parent just to have a kid that wants to grow food and appreciate nature and gardening.  Makes me happy. They need to be kind and love animals too.  Then I've done my job as a parent when they get all that. So far so good!

This is an old wood stove door, we found it on the property years ago while cleaning up, we planted some Sweet Pea's in behind it so I think the effect will be nice as they grow through the opened part. I'm having trouble convicting the family it WILL look arty but I just love it sitting there now regardless!

We popped into school, did a quick water and brought home some wood that was a bit unsightly and unwanted so we could re-use to keep us warm in Winter then stacked it, by this time I needed to bribe kids with Chocolate.

My beautiful potted Magnolia, the scent is divine! First time I have had brilliant flowers.

Positives and surprises

Today my middle son had his birthday party it was a day of celebrations but a day I felt torn apart too.  My son is 11 and had a girlfriend incredible I know, she dumped him earlier this week and did not arrive at his party even though now they are "just friends" I was torn because I felt bad that she was sad when he was not at all effected, because he didn't give her the cuddles she needed and worried that had I brought up an emotionally stunted boy unable to show a caring side. I was sure I hadn't as this was a child who got up super early to raid the yard on Valentines day for the perfect rose for his girl. But he seemed so I effected by the break up.

Then he told me "Mum, I wanted to break up with her months ago, I felt too young to be in a relationship, I didn't break up with her though because I didn't want to make her sad and hurt her feelings". And my heat sung, I knew he was a special and caring boy. 

This is my special boy playing bubble soccer.

His cake, won't be 12 for a few days yet though.

Such fun was had.

I think this quote sums up how this child feels about life.

This is the quote I need right now, I struggle with change.  I struggle with my boys growing up. I don't want them to be hurt.  Ever.

This is relevant to my career, had I not had this middle child and been shown the way to bond to him, I would not be a massage therapist.

This child reminds me of this often when I get overwhelmed with the enormity of my dreams and goals, he makes it all simple for me and gets me back into focus.  I don't so much care for success in monitory terms, but I want to change so much in so many places. 

This is to make you laugh, it made me laugh, Monty of course jumped into all the birthday bags.