Drifting through life

and when that happens, something is clearly wrong. Began the day unable to eat breakfast, this in itself is a most unusual occurence. I had my current book open in front of my porridge, but couldn't focus the eyes properly. Another disaster. Then my eyes kept closing with my head drooping towards the table. What the heck is going on here? I was up too early anyway, so decided to lie down for a while. Fell asleep. Woke up to find that "hit by a truck" feeling had returned and brought with it a feisty little friend who seemed to be taking great pleasure in stabbing my innards with miniature red hot pokers. I phoned work and said I wouldn't be in, then fell back into bed. The rest of the day has been spent sleeping in between record breaking speed dashes to the bathroom. At one point I seriously considered padding the toilet area with pillows and quilts, maybe adding a bookshelf. Might as well get comfy there, right? Clearly, I have a virus. Me! I never get sick!! Damn, ...

I've been seeing the nuffnang logo on many blogs lately. I'd like to know more about it. What is it exactly? An advertising system, yes, but for what? How does it work? Should I jump on the advertising train? How would I do that and would it be worthwhile? Or would it just take up space on my sidebar? Detailed information would be helpful and appreciated. Following on from yesterday, I'm much improved, although bloated and queasy from the amount of painkillers I took. Lots of water, lots of sleep and I'll be fine. All that's aching now is the usual arthritic joints. Neck, hips, one knee, lower back. A few other minor spots, nothing I can't ignore.

....daydreaming of christmas trees and pretty things and massive lotto wins, my body took advantage of my inattention, walked out to the busy street, got itself hit by an 18 wheeler barreling down the road at 3000 miles per hour, then calmly walked back inside and reattached itself to my daydreaming mind. ( anyone who believes I'm serious is nuttier than I am ) How else do I explain the level of aching I'm feeling right now? I'm downing pain relief tablets by the handful, ( not really ), and hobbling around like I was 87. Which is a distinct improvement on hobbling around like a 95 year old, so things are looking up..... I woke up this morning, feeling fine, ready, willing and able to go to work. I watered the veggies, had breakfast, went to work. No problem. Once at work though, the troubles began, even though I didn't notice them at the time. Up the stairs, down the stairs, up again, down again, repeat, repeat. Offices, locker rooms, toilets, all upstairs. Add carryi...

I had a lovely Christmas Day, with my family, with this delicious white chocolate snowman making a sweet ending. From Haighs of course. Boxing day? Well, a garden is a never ending task. There's always something that needs doing. Seedlings that have grown too large for their starter pots need to be moved into more permanent homes. I put these mortgage lifter tomatoes into the same tub with the lazy housewife beans. I didn't expect the tinier seedlings to survive the move, but they're standing up well. The beans haven't broken through the soil yet, but I expect them to any day now. Here's a closeup of the strongest one. Another week or so and the bottom leaves will be removed to stop soil borne diseases from splashing up onto the plant when I water. This one is the yellow peach tomato that I bought from the community garden. It's almost tripled its size in those few weeks. The small seedlings to the right are mini rockmelons. I didn't separate the seedli...

The great mince pie bake of 2010 is over. At last! Finally! Finito! My kitchen is a wreck. I love mince pies and I don't mind making them, mostly because I get to eat the ones that turn out wrong. The cleanup is the worst part. Because I make these on the dining table, there's usually flour and sugar tracked between there and the kitchen, which means cleanup means vacuuming as well as all those dishes. I quite like washing dishes. But vacuuming sucks! Sigh. Better get started......

Just look at what I was given today! Everyone got one, it's the staff Christmas gift from management. See the tag printed on the front? Isn't it nice when management says thank you? I'm taking this opportunity, and this tag, to "personally" say thank you, thank you very much, to all my lovely readers and commenters. I've enjoyed interacting with all of you, I've enjoyed seeing new people pop in and clicking over to see what their blog is all about. Thank you too, for all the encouraging remarks about my photography and my not-so-gifted- words. I have a lovely four day break ahead of me now, on one of those days, I'll be attending a family Christmas lunch, which promises to be the lovely day it always is. On the other three days, I'd love to say that I'll be sleeping late, sitting around with my feet up, reading books instead of blogs, but that won't be happening. There's shopping to be done, gifts to be wrapped, mince pies to make, a...

I've transplanted tomatoes, mini capsicums, mini rockmelons, even 3 heirloom carrot seedlings. Carrots don't usually transplant well, if you don't get the roots down nice and straight, they'll grow all twisty. That's what these 3 will probably do. I also planted more carrot seeds, yum, along the edge of the tubs with the newly transplanted tomatoes, those carrots should grow nice and straight. I planted more beans too , bush beans this time, not climbing, so they won't need support and I'll have lots and lots of beans to freeze. Beans are one of my favourite vegetables. I had a little potting mix left over, so I moved the borage seedlings into bigger pots and gave them each a stake for support, because once they flower they shoot skywards. Once I know they're going to survive the move, I'll position one at each end of the garden to bring the bees. Hopefully, I'll have male and female flowers on the pumpkin and melon plants at the same time...

This is what has brought them in. My borage cuttings are flowering. The flowers open as pinks, and gradually turn purple, before becoming bright blue. The bees love them. I also have this old planter tub filled with potting mix and compost, which I planted today with lazy housewife beans. Along the side of the house, under the shadecloth, there are 4 recycling tubs filled with the same mix. These will be planted with seedlings that I started in small pots and now need to be moved. Like these seedlings of miniature rockmelons. I love mini rockmelons, each one is about the size of a tennis ball when fully grown and ripe, so I can eat the whole melon at once and not have cut melon sitting in the fridge getting forgotten. These are butternut pumpkin seedlings and heirloom carrots. They'll be staying in this large pot, it's raised off the ground so the pumpkin vine can spill over the sides, there's plenty of room. The tall stem you see is a frangipani cutting. I have tomato...

This is the brochure available just inside the Gatehouse. Once again quotes from this will be in italics. This is the Teahouse, (Chasitu). The tea ceremony originated in the late 13th century and aims to create serenity and calm in the hearts of its participants. The elegant plainness of the Teahouse has always contributed to this ceremony. Built of classic materials, (timber and thatch), the Teahouse is represented by an open pavilion, like the porch of a zen temple. Here is a long view of the Teahouse, you can see there is a bench seat built along one side, while the other side is plain wall. Here is a closer look at the seat where I sat and waited for the latest rain shower to pass. (I don't like the camera getting wet). It's a simple wooden bench, with no adornment whatsoever to detract from your contemplation of the Sea of Sand you are looking at. This is a little greenery just beginning to grow on the plain wall of the Teahouse. Here is the roof of the structure, I gla...

Today I thought you might like to see Adelaide's Himeji Garden. I took so many photos here today, this will be a divided post. Part two tomorrow. I will be quoting directly from the brochure ( in italics ) picked up just inside the entrance, also called the Gatehouse. (Mon). THE GARDEN The Adelaide Himeji Garden contains features which are of profound religious significance to the Japanese people. It contains features designed to recall the beauty of nature. The Garden blends two classic styles. The first is the " senzui", (lake and mountain garden), where water and the imagination create images of vastness and grandeur. The second is the "kare senzui", (dry garden), where rocks and sand evoke the presence of water, even the sea itself. HIMEJI On 19 April 1982, Adelaide and the ancient Japanese City of Himeji became sister cities. Himeji is located 650km west of Tokyo and 8050km from Adelaide. With a population of more than 450,000, it is a major port and...