Life is slow in the valley

6.30 am this morning this huge truck rolled up, rattled its way down the gravel road, turned around then stopped just in the view of my kitchen window. Being nosey, I had to watch to see what he was up to, could have been a cattle rustler.  Hmmm, no, this other truck about half the first ones size rolls up, drives past the big one then backs right up to about a metre between them.  You gotta admire these truck drivers, they know their stuff.  To my entertainment they dropped a ramp between them and loaded cattle from the small truck onto the big guy, what a racket.  Then little guy goes away, big guy sits.  about 5 mins later little guy rolls back in again and repeats the process.  I am surmising the big truck was  unable to get to the yards where the cattle where and it took two loads to full the big truck up.

Very entertaining, as it was only dusk I had to lighten the photo so you could see the smaller truck, it had two trailers and if you look close you will see the white cab and dark colour trailers.

And great grandma with newborn little Amelia Joanne, just a handful.  The age I like them best.
Its 27 degrees today and very pleasant, I love anything below 30 and above 20.  No rain yet, forcast for Tuesday Wednesday next week, so its still bottle watering the fruit trees.
Life is good down in the valley
Jacky

Now the fun begins, tree removalists yesterday

 This is the block before the tree removalist's came in yesterday

 We have been working away at cutting this large rose back, there is a wisteria climbing through it as well we discovered.  Lot of dead wood underneath and old timber thrown there.  Jeff next door took the top off it after this photo was taken which made it much easier to tackle.  Still some dead wood and of course the cuttings all to be dragged down onto the bonfire which we cannot light until late May, but it is accumulating.

 John making a dash down from the top of the block before more branches came down.

 They where very persistant getting this Carob tree trunk and roots out.  Look at that wonderful soil, no more sand for me to plant in, yay!!!

 and the last tree standing that had to come down.  We got all the wonderful mulch, now to wheel barrow it all down into the orchard, the fruit trees will be very grateful as they havent had water for ab out two months, apart from the hand watering we have done taking bottled water each time we go.

 and timber!!!!

 This was fascinating, that green machine is a stump grinder and is being operated by the guy on the left by remote control, did such a great job.

 Looking up from the orchard

 and down from across the road

 Just waiting for our little house to be dropped in,  next step is getting the surveyor in.

These two big gum trees where the last to go and once they came down and all the debri cleaned up, opened things right up.  Will have to get more trees in once the house is built as a bit exposed on the Western boundary where the worst of the heat comes from, but that will be the garage and kitchen.  The guys from the tree romovalist's where absolutely great, such a clean job, would recommend them to anyone.

Living slow



Looking down onto the gardens from the balcony where we had coffee and cake.




Hows this for a great idea, on the edge of the balcony round pvc pipe made into a herb gardens.  Must store that idea for future reference.



Beautiful Balinese style courtyards, the mosaics where amazing.  Lots of great ideas.

We called into this idylic roadside restaurant on the way down to Kirup to get vegetables recently.  Called something like Berry Cottage.  The food was on the expensive side but the gardens where inspirational.

Battle for the figs

I am unable to add text to my blog other than as a caption to a photo.  In the garden I have been fascinated with these little birds, silver eyes, devouring the figs on the tree.  The tree is alive with them and they are not bothered by my sitting nearby taking photo's.



They scrap over who has the best figs.  I have to be quick to pick some myself.  We have had them with our meals and there are plenty for the birds and me.




I didn't realise that this one I zoomed in on was a baby silvereye in the camelia tree.



Things are starting to happen now in the valley

getting to know Donnybrook and surrounding areas

Hydrangeas

I think I have found the place to call home.  I am so loving Donnybrook and enjoying exploring the town.

Have found a great walk which takes me about 40 mins down one side of the river, across the weir and back the other side.  It is so hot here at the moment so I leave my walk until around that time, the wind has come up and cooled it down somewhat.

The monthly market is great for plants and produce and I am thinking of having a stall just to let people know what I am doing and its a great way to meet and chat to people.  We visited the Busselton Market on Sunday but don't think I would do very well there and it would mean leaving around  6 am.  Will have to see if there is a more specialised fair for Art and Craft.  We are meeting up with the agent for Storybook cottages on Saturday which will be great, need to know what trees will need to be cut down, one large gumtree on the front will have to come down and I expect a couple on the boundary.  We will be able to start making plans.

Have joined a great art community that meets each Wednesday for 5 hours, this is exciting for me as I need to get back into my art, at the moment its like a treasure hunt finding particular things, gradually pulling supplies out.

Not a lot to share with you at the moment just letting you know I am here and happy.

love

Jacky

Happy New Year from the Valley

Hi family and friends, my new year wishes from the valley are a little bit late, as you know I do not have internet service at home for the time being and rely on updates on my blog at either the library, which is fabulous by the way, or as in this case from daughters home.
2014 crept in quietly, dancing around the town clock a way distant memory of seeing in the New Year, counting down the minutes, sharing drunken kisses with strangers (yikes did I do that).  House and dog sitting for daughter on the night and although I was still awake I was in bed and heard a few explosions from crackers being let off to know that another year had rolled over and an exciting new year had begun.
Back in the valley, we are still looking for things amongst the packing.  As this is only a temporary abode we are only unpacking the barest necessities, amongst that is my art supplies and hope to get into that when we go home on Sunday.

Now that the block is finally ours we need to hire a whipper snipper and get some of this long grass cut down.  Met the lovely neighbours and finally found out what the fruit trees where.  At the moment there are a lot of plums ripening on the trees, about 5 or 6 different varieties, one I am really excited about is the prune plum which is a long way off ripe.  love prune plums.  Apricots all finished.  Pears and apples with little green fruit on, Nashi among the pears.  The trees will need a good prune at the relevant time and neighbour has offered to show us how to do this.  They are also still watering the trees for us as our water supply has not been connected yet. Neighbours are really friendly.

Lots and lots of planning to do now, Storybook homes agent will be meeting us soon to get all the dimensions and layout of the block and we will need to supply them a list of what we would like our new home to be, within our budget of course.  The fifteen metre width is going to be a challenge but nothing that we can't work out, have lots of ideas.

In the meantime the delightful old house in the valley we are renting is wonderful, although certain aspects are taking a bit of getting used to.  The skinks scare hell out of me and I am learning to make a lot of noise when going down the side of the house.  While sitting reading on the verandah (went home a couple of days) one shot out from under the house onto the veranda, I swear it was about 20 inches long, seemed all fury, it was so quick and noisy I shot out of my chair calling for John.  We followed him, from a safe distance no less, he lashed his way through the woodshed under the wall into the shed then out the other side behind a panel of wood and presumably into the field where we lost sight of him.  Our next door neighbour the delightful Thelma informed me they are scared of humans and will run at the sight of us (wish they did it a bit quieter) and the scarey part is she said they climb up inside the walls into the roof cavity.  Hell, I had to get that fireplace firmly covered, didn't want one coming down into the bedroom in the night.

Another thing we city dwellers aren't used to is Huntsmen spiders, ewww, they are so big and scary. Don't mind if they are outside but I am ashamed to admit I cannot live with them inside and had to kill one that was watching me lock the door.  Out came the fly spray, took a lot to get rid of him too.

It is extremely hot here now and an expected high of 44 degrees is forecast for today and fortunately daughters house has a pool.

Now the pool lies another story.  Decided that as it was hot and no one around I would take a dip in knickers only (well this is the country and I had no swim suit) it was lovely.  Got myself dressed when I heard a noise next door and went to see what was going on (they where getting a new gas bottle fitted) when a huge removal truck pulled up outside.  Daughter had ordered a large outdoor setting which was to be delivered on Friday and this was Monday.  Yikes, if they had been 10 minutes earlier I would have been caught out.  Went and bought a cheap swim suit, don't want to frighten anyone that turns up unexpected now do I!!!!

Well till I catch up with you again, enjoy the new year

best wishes

Jacky