They light up my life......

Just as the purple hyacinth begins to slowly die off, the other two bulbs have come into full flower.  One is a soft, pale pink and the other is a pale lilac.   These are all glorious colours and I'm thrilled with them. 

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The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la .......

I'm thrilled to see my first hyacinth open.   IT'S PURPLE!!    I can't see what is the colour of the other two but I don't mind, now that I have one in my favourite colour .   It has a wonderful perfume.

I went to the monthly market today and bought 2 punnets of Johnny Jump Ups and 2 of a little blue daisy flower which will be shared between the garden bed and hanging baskets.
I hope that tomorrow when I plant them will be as beautiful as today.

The SES and the crop dusting pilots took advantage of the lovely weather to practise their bush fire techniques.    The crop dusters flew in (over our caravan) at app 20 second intervals and dropped a red substance, (pretending to be fire retardant), at the airport.  Then they flew off in a circle, returned to land at the airport and filled up with more "fire retardant."    This went on for about 5 hours ---- by which time it was no longer interesting!!   Although we appreciated their efforts to improve their skills.

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My marvellous mat.

Doesn't this mat make your mouth water???       Oh well, maybe not ......... but the colour sure gets my blood pumping.   I can see red or green or blue, but I feel purple.    I feel it in that part of my chest where I have felt homesick; where I feel the sad twinge of missing my Mum and Dad and the little babies who didn't make it.  It begins with a delicious bubble, a wobbly feeling like jelly on top of a trifle;  then it changes quickly to pizzicato on a violin string.

And that reminds me ----- I was 14, in Year 11, writing a review of a poem, written by either Byron, Shelley or Keats.   I thought it was a poem with great contrasts of colour and emotion, so I wrote, "These words are like pearls on black velvet."  

When my report was returned, marked with a C, my little gem was crossed out with a heavy pen and written above that desecration was, "Don't be so fanciful.  That won't get you anywhere.  It is meaningless."  I felt one of those twinges at that moment but it wasn't purple!!

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HAPPY JULY 4TH AMERICA

Confused

It rained; the sun shone; the hyacinth bulbs have burst through. 
And along came the hibiscus flowers.  I thought that they bloomed in summer??  That's when I see  their flowers in Melbourne.

These photos are taken through my kitchen window.

The hyacinths, in pots, amuse me.  The first sign of them coming through is a little mound of dirt.  The mound gets bigger and bigger as more of the shoot penetrates the soil, and is soon tossed off.  It looks like some little creature below is busily pushing. 

My Grandmother Garoni sent me home with a large bunch of hyacinths and grape hyacinths every Spring.  They grew together in the same part of the garden, with the grape hyacinths making a border.  I don't know if she left the bulbs in the ground from one year to the next or if she planted them each year.  Whatever it was, they were always in the same place, or so my memory tells me.  

Many of the memories and stories about my Grandparents are associated with plants and perfumes.  I've tried to make the same sorts of links for my Grandchildren and have been successful with the last two.  They are both interested in plant propagation and growing.   Indy has a thriving collection of herbs and flowers. Jemma is a great little tomato grower.

~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~-  HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY JEMMA   22.6.2013~~--~~--~~--~~--~

Thank you

Thank you to the many kind people who wished us a Happy Anniversary.   I know that I "invited" it by publicising the event, but people didn't have to respond.  As I told my daughters, I don't really expect them or anyone (except Steve) to remember our anniversaries.  We regard our wedding anniversary as more of a private affair, to share with each other.  We had to buy a card this year,  This is because I forgot to bring the card from home.  We keep dating and writing on the same card and passing it back and forth to each other!
It was particularly nice to receive congratulations from some people who were at our wedding.  I recall the celebrant saying words to the effect, ....."You are all here to witness the marriage of Steve and Laurie.  Your role is to continue to be their friends and to provide a network for them in years to come, as they do for you."   Well Debbie, Margaret and Roger and Dianne...... you sure have filled that role and we're very happy to have you as our friends.
Despite saying that we generally keep wedding anniversaries private, it is still nice to be wished happy something.  We don't do enough of it. 

Have a happy day!

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June 12th 1982

Today is our 31st wedding anniversary.   We might delay our celebrations as the weather is looking a little wild.
Whenever I think of our wedding day, I hear the girls saying, "Oh those awful knickerbocker suits."  I thought they looked lovely and I anticipated that the suits would come in very handy for future wear.  Although they didn't complain at the time, they have a lot to say now!!   I rather think that the main problem was that knickerbockers were new and expected to become very popular but it didn't happen!   Dom was happy with his clothes but no one noticed what he wore because he was on crutches from a football injury.
It was a casual, relaxed wedding and everyone had a good time.  We wrote our own vows and kept formalities to a minimum.  I made a Madeira cake because Steve didn't like fruit cake at that time.  I dried jasmine flowers and painted them pink and blue, for decoration.
My dress was floor length and all the colours of a rainbow; it looked as though it had been painted.

How the years have flown since that wonderful day.

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Marjory

Meet Marjory.   She is my new wireless mouse.

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