That time of the year.

The weather doesn't seem able to make up it's mind but either way it is that time of the year; the garden needs some serious attention. I have been busily reefing out what's left of the winter crops & replanting for the summer. I stuck to the things I know we grow well: beans, silverbeet, tomatoes. My one indulgence was rockmelons. On the other hand Liddy thought me way too practical & indulged in cucumbers & a red passionfruit. I am eyeing the nectarine askance. Zillions of small fruit have already appeared. I have mulched everything till it disappears beneath a mound of cattle cane but it is the only way to keep the soil moist & cool till the worst of the summer fries everything.

I am emptying leaves out of gutters preparatory to the fire season & raking up piles of leaves to be thrown on the gardens as mulch. Every morning I dash out to battle the sandies as I water the garden & fill the bird bath. Between sandfly bites & a bad case of hives, brought on I suspect by having to change washing powders to accommodate the new machine, I am like to tear my skin off!

Oh, & somewhere in there I have been trying to get a grip on the school stuff. Ditz is being reasonably co~operative. I have taken pictures of last term's work & managed to e~mail it all through to where it has to go. I have rearranged all Ditz's work for the week into a single folder so I know at a glance whether we are ahead or behind. We have hit the term running with a new Sonlight core & some good ideas for Ditz's project on WWII. So far so good.

Ditz & I are supposed to be entering some art in a memorial exhibition in November. Ditz has a thing for doing dotty Aboriginal artwork. How she can I do not know! It makes me cross~eyed. Not quite finished but you get the idea.

She seems to have gone red but it seems to be effective. She threw this one together in about 10 minutes. Oh, to be that good!

I am leaving her behind tomorrow as I need to go birthday shopping for Liddy. As she is earning enough to buy anything she really wants she has become impossible to buy for & I was at a loss for ideas but Ditz is good that way & supplied me with plenty of ideas as we wended our way up & down the hill to flute today. It is always a long wait for the boat home & today was hot & windy so instead of sitting in a biting wind on the jetty we detoured into the island restaurant for iced coffee & iced chocolate because no way was I giving Ditz caffeine! It was a small treat on a day that tends to be woefully long.

With better weather we have again been plodding along with the verandah & finally, finally are down to the last few jobs before screwing down the boards & sitting back in the breeze through the summer heat enjoying the results of our labours! Dearest can only work for very short periods of time so what is essentially a very simple job has dragged on for months & months to everybody's frustration but we are nearly there! We had 3 acidents with the bearers being pulled down so that the job had to be redone; a job that was causing Dearest huge amounts of pain. He was not a happy man & will be very glad when we finally get this project finished. Issi thinks it's all being done just for him & is already lording it over the planks.

I am eyeing off the area around the fire pit which I haven't been able to reach for 12 months or more itching to get in, clear the weeds, rake the leaves & tidy things up before the Christmas heat is upon us as sure of eggs there will be a swarm of kids through the place for the break, all heading down the hill to the water & returning laden with stinky stuff that can be cooked outside on the fire.

Busy, busy & it will only get worse as the end of the year approaches.