My Bright Field

I think we are all finding new ways to do things. Anzac Day Like many others I observed Anzac Day at my front gate this year, though I must confess to being a little too late to Light the Dawn.  The neighbour hung his Aussie flag to celebrate this special day. Healthcare This week I lined up at the drive thru flu vaccine clinic at the local hospital.  I loved this innovation, so convenient. We have also had telehealth appointments recently which are also a wonderful convenience. The first one was interesting in that I had been booked for the doctor's first appointment for the day.  As the morning dragged on with no call I realised there was some drawbacks to this innovation - you can't see who is getting ahead of you in the queue or whether the doctor is dealing with some emergency.  After waiting patiently for over an hour I rang the surgery.  For some reason the doctor's call hadn't connected through and I ended up getting my call hours lat...

Let me take you for a walk around the garden at Rose Orchard Haus.  There is a lot of yellow-orange about at the moment. Even the insects are getting into the colour scheme. The dahlias are going gang busters this year and looking ever so lovely with fresh green lawn. The Californian Poppies are flowering in the meadow (aka "the place I don't want to mow"). Other flowers are getting to the yellow-orange act too. But I've saved the best to last.  Look at the little yellow fluff ball I discovered when I looked over the back fence. What are your gardens up to?

Here are some of the sights and sounds of our Easter this year. We are missing the sound of children at play in the park opposite Burnbrae garden. The swings are tied up and the benches empty even in the lovely golden autumn sunshine.  There is still volleying at the next door tennis court - singles are OK, doubles banned. At Burnbrae we usually lock down in the house at Easter because the highway is too hectic to negotiate.  This year the sound of cars is muted.  We can hear trains still running to timetable - though the Indian Pacific no longer goes through. We had to return to Burnbrae from home at Kandos for my husband to make another visit to the eye specialist so it was a good chance to catch up with the change of season. We are still six weeks before the garden dresses in all its glory but the whispers are here.  The begonias come into their own at this time of year, the first violets are appearing and the sage is growing like a weed. ...

My husband quite regularly visits our aged neighbour for a long chat. These days "long" has a different meaning. There are many things I could do to fill my time when confined to home but my latest obsession has been restoring furniture so I thought I would share some my recent projects.   Occasional Table 1 This little table was lost under dark varnish and had a screw holding down part of the table top that was loose. My main objective was to get rid of that screw. I was delighted to find it had lovely grained timber  under the varnish - I think Silky Oak which was a very popular cabinet timber in Queensland.   Its story:  it belonged to my husband's grandparents, then migrated to his parents home and hence to ours.   Occasional Table 2 Before After I have been itching to do this one for years because I knew the marquetry would come up nicely. Its story :  It was given to my mother-in-law by...