The frog

Perhaps I should title this "Adventures in mischief and dirt." My darling girls can find adventure in our yard without any effort at all. This day it was a frog. A frog that they were touching and wanting to keep. Nothing against frogs, but I am not as game as I was when I was a kid to be touching things like that!

I told them they could all get their photo taken with the frog and then they had to put it back. I don't think the poor thing would have survived if they kept "looking after" it.

Grey

The weather has been grey and cold. We have had sick kids and Tim has been feeling miserable too. We need a good dose of health around here. Esther and Ellamay are back to school on Monday after 2 weeks school holidays. I am glad to get back to routine again. I probably say it every time school holidays roll around. The girls like their school routine! So do I actually. Hopefully by the time the next school holidays come, we will have their bedroom finished. Tim is still working on their new beds and I am excited to see the finished product and get on with the fun decorating part.

I have been working on a few different projects lately, all of which I need to photograph and work on more. I am afraid I am still creating more mid-craft projects. I was trying really hard to resist starting anymore projects but have been unsuccessful. I keep finding all these fabulous ideas on the internet. How about you? Do you have that trouble?

Anyway, I hope to get a few more posts up in the next week. Don't hold your breath though :-)

Big sun, big moon

I am a bit late posting these pictures. Things have been busy one way and another. These photos are from March 19. The big moon night. We didn't see it in all its glory because it was cloudy and smokey from all the burning off that has been happening around here. Look how pretty the sun looks in this picture though.

And this spider just hanging around with some tumble weed in its web. We have tumble weed every where. That time of year I guess.

And here is the moon. It would be nice if I knew which settings to put my camera on. One day. Meanwhile, this looks kind of cool anyway, don't you think. Especially the lens flare off the moon. I do like lens flare.

That is all. Have a great day. I will be back soon with some kind of crafty thing. Or maybe just some kind of mid-crafty thing. :-)

Burning off

We are enjoying some lovely Autumn days here. Cool nights and warm days. The farmers are preparing paddocks for crops and burning off the dry grasses before the wet weather returns. This is in the paddock across the road from us. It is great to watch. The flames crackle and dance around as the grass all burns away.

The heat rises leaving a wavy horizon.

The vigilant farmer watches over the burn making sure it all goes to plan.

And the smoke floats across the paddocks and joins up with the clouds in the sky.

Tim in the garden

Tim is back to work tomorrow. It has been so nice having him around the last couple of weeks. He has been trying to get the yard looking nice because it has been neglected for a long time. We have had so much rain over the summer that the drought is over and we are now off water restrictions so getting the garden in shape is a priority again.

He bought a big garden shredder (which I am afraid of) and he has been pruning back all the trees and plants around the yard and making everything look tidy and loved. The girls think it's wonderful because it is carving out all kinds of interesting cubbies under the trees and Tim has got a massive compost heap down the back.

Tim planted a little row of hedge plants around the gazebo out the front. It is all mulched around now and they are growing beautifully. I can't wait to see it all grown up and needing a trim.

Outside

A lot of gardening has been going on at our place. Tim has been pruning trees and giving everything a good tidy up. The girls have been out there right in the thick of it (aka: in the way) trying to help.

Such little sweeties. They love to be around Daddy.

In the garden

You can see when kids have been around. Things start appearing in different places :-)

Still green and other things

Autumn is here and I am waiting for the leaves to turn. The weather has been so cool lately. Not at all normal for this time of year. We are still usually hitting 30 degree C days at the start of March but its been in the low 20's. Not that I am complaining. I prefer this temperature and I love autumn. The kids are disappointed though because they were hoping to go swimming once their ears had healed enough from the grommet operation.

I am so behind in my posting of stuff! I will have to get a couple more photos taken so I can post some actual crafty projects. I have managed some lately. The girls have friends with birthday's this month so I have been sewing like crazy trying to make something for them. And I am proud to say - I have achieved! I made some note book and pen holders slightly different to the ones I made for Esther and Ellamay's birthday's last year. Now that I seem to have hit upon an idea with them, I am going to (try) to sew up a couple more to stash away in the cupboard for birthday's later in the year. Won't I be terribly organised then?

It's been grand having Tim home on holidays this week. I am a bit sad that it's almost half over already. We went out together yesterday without any kids and investigated new heating and cooling options for our house. Might sound boring but it really was a nice day. And I did drag him around a few shops I wanted to look at too :-)

How's things at your end of the world?

Golden Orb Weaver

This is creepy cool. I hate spiders but love to photograph webs. This spider has been living on our front verandah and obviously enjoying life there too. I told Tim the web looked a goldy yellow colour and he didn't seem convinced. So I googled around to find out what kind of spider our little friend (or foe) was.

It is a Golden Orb Weaver, one of the largest spiders found in Australia. I think that it has a dandy web. Look at the intricate pattern. Amazing. I don't like bugs but you have to admit that is a pretty amazing thing. According to one site they like to eat locusts. Well, plenty of them around here! I read that their web is so strong it can even catch small birds and bats. Blerk, no thanks! When I first noticed the spider making a web out the front I left it grow because I wanted to see what the web would look like but now that it is over a metre big, I think it's time to go. Don't really want lots of little baby Golden Orb Weavers around. They grow into big ones eventually.

God certainly put creativity into all things.