My Bright Field

As we slowly emerge from our coronavirus bubbles my gardens are doing the reverse, starting their annual winter shutdown. Yes that is a fly at the top left corner of my shiny clean window.  Did you notice there were a LOT more flies this summer?  It is something to do with it being warmer and wetter this year.  The good news is that with the arrival of winter they will die down. Likewise my gardens are dying down for the winter. At Rose Orchard Haus I was pleased to see the tree dahlia in flower this week.  While I enjoy these flowers this is also usually a signal that frost is on its way and the plant will soon be a black mess.  We have in fact had our first frosts but only managed to singe the leaves thus far.  The lovely lush lawn is browning off quickly now. But the prize for the best seasonal shutdown has to go to Burnbrae, our Blue Mountians Garden, which was turning on its beautiful autumn display this week.

I know we are all looking forward to restrictions being eased to brighten our lives.  I've brightened mine already,  I've cleaned the windows! Not being a lover of housework this chore was at the very bottom of my isolation checklist, but it shouldn't have been because it is so much nicer to view the world through clean windows. How about this, I have also planted some vegetable seeds to contribute to my brighter future. I was waiting for the drought to go away before trying veges again. The jonquils have started to flower, and will do so over the coming months to brighten the dreary winter garden. And a final bright spot, the sunsets are often spectacular at this time of year. The other day it was lovely through my shiny clean windows.

Autumn is a wonderful season, though a little melancholy in anticipation of the weather turning cold soon. Rising to increasingly chilly morns, mist is usually found settling in the valley. Out in the garden heavy dew (not yet frost) settles on the remaining flowers. And the trees are gently turning colour (Rose Orchard Haus doesn't turn on a big splash of Autumn brilliance). And inside the stove is warm and cooking up a storm.  I have just had it refurbished with new fire bricks and seals.  The oven is now cooking wonderfully well and using less wood so I am very happy. As we all #stayhome what is delighting you in your world at the moment?

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?

A month or two ago we moved more of our furniture from our mountains house to our Kandos house. For example, we moved this old kitchen cabinet which matches the table and chairs I showed last week.  This however has left some gaps at our original home which we want to be furnished when we put it up for sale. Moving things about I was able to make everything look acceptable except for the space left by this cabinet.  Then I had a bright idea, my husband had another one down in his workshop which he and his father used for tools and other man junk. I wrestled it from him, painted over the 1950s green and a lovely new cabinet emerged, perfect for filling the gap and even the glass matches the colour scheme. There is another wall that is a bit too blank.  I am busily doing the quilting on this  top that I made 25 years ago to fill that space. You might have guessed I like old houses and eclectic old furnishings - especially those with memories. ...

Here are three stories from this week that had me thinking of things in the past reflected in my today world. Bygone trees At the moment there are lots yellow autumn crocus popping up in my Kandos garden.  The ones in the lawn whisper of past trees that they used to circle. A Father's Patience This old scrubbed pine kitchen table was in my childhood home and for the past 28 years has been in in our kitchen at Lawson. Whenever brothers and sisters have visited we have enjoyed gathering around the table reminiscing. Even though we are downsizing it's too special to be discarded so has become our dining table at Kandos and I have been giving the paintwork a spruce up.  While painting I noticed the many running repairs done to the two chairs on the left.  It made me think of my Dad fixing chairs on the front verandah and the countless number of times we children were admonished for tipping the chairs because they would break. As the family grew bigger the ...

Waves of grass rather than ocean waves.  There is a section of my garden at Rose Orchard Haus that I don't mow because I like to watch the seed heads flowing in the breeze, I have a good view of them from my kitchen window.  I just hope they are not serrated tussock or some other nasty grass that we are meant to eradicate.  If it is please let me know. I was thinking of waves because of a book I have been "reading" recently The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle.  I am much more of an inland person than a sea person but I nonetheless enjoyed this book. Grace ( from Perth Daily Photo ) commented on a recent post suggesting this book to me so I checked out whether the local library had a copy.  It turned out they had an eAudio version which I downloaded. It is a long time since I listened to a book so it was like a new experience.  I find it's a very slow way to "read" but quite relaxing, perfect for travelling on the train or doing some calm house...

OK it's another blog post about the weather ...  but the transformation with the rain is just too exciting to miss. After the big rain we have had continuing showers one of which delivered this spectacular light show during my customary sunset watch as Rose Orchard Haus. And look at what has happened to the grass - remember it has been brown  for many many months. The roses that steadfastly refused to flower all summer have now they burst into life. It's so nice to have them on the hall table again. And I had given up hope of having any oranges this year because the fruit created by the spring flowering all fell off the tree.   Now nature has delighted me with a second flowering. I said to my husband, all we need now is bees and they turned up too.  Talking of bees and orange trees here is: A book I have read recently I loved Melissa Ashley's debut novel The Birdman's Wife so was immediately tempted by this new one I saw in the bo...

One of the delights of living in the country is the variety of animals we get as neighbours. At Christmas time I was surprised to find this brown hen in our garden at Rose Orchard Haus.  She had flown over the fence and would not be persuaded to go back home so stayed for a couple of weeks before choosing to go on another adventure - we don't know where. This week I heard a rooster crow and looked over the fence to find this new neighbour along with a couple of ducks.  Those feather "boots" must make walking difficult. And here's the other neighbour I love to watch from my kitchen window.  I believe her name is Francesca. And all of these reminded me of the various neighbours at bush block at Whistlers Rest I have shown over the years.  I had fun digging through the archive to find some of them. An assortment of cattle. A pony Sheep and goats And occasional native animals.

We drove over to Bathurst from Kandos yesterday to take a long drive in an air conditioned car and then go to the movies as a way to beat the 40C+ heat.  It's nice to see a little bit of green in the grass over that way.  And it's great to see clouds forming in the sky on a regular basis at the moment. I have become a keen skywatcher of recent months.  When we are out at Kandos I head to my dining room window at Rose Orchard Haus to check out the vista. The sun is now tracking back to the north, having reached its most southerly point to the left of that tree at the end of December. And for several nights earlier this week the sky was wonderfully pink and blue. I love a crescent moon.  It's is now much higher in the sky at sunset so not possible to get a shot like that now. Despite the implied promise the storm clouds didn't reach us this week.  As you can see some local farms were getting good falls which is great.  We all need wh...

New path I laid beside our desk at Rose Orchard Haus Happy New Year. I hope have had a lovely Christmas, are safe from the fires and the New Year finds you eager to enjoy all that is in store. Here the grass is as  dry as it was in winter/spring  so there has been no mowing and no fruit either (the fruit shrivelled and dropped). This has meant a very relaxed, hot, dry summer because even the weeds are not growing.  The bushfires have been keeping their distance thus far. The closest is to our bush block at Clandulla where we have put in a lot of effort cleaning up the dry grass, leaves and sticks in case things get close. During my blog break I have been thinking about what to do and have decided to take a new path this year.  Instead of this traditional blog I will be posting regularly to Instagram with perhaps an occasional post here.  Maybe I will see you over Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/mybrightfield/

I must confess to enjoying my recent blog break so will be going off the air for an extended period while I decide what to do. In the meanwhile enjoy the roses which are now flowering in great abundance at Rose Orchard Haus.