November heat :-29 & 30 November 2014

Hot with dry grass, and humid air.  Another solo trip basically to water the poor plants.

I'd been told that it had rained earlier in the week, but you wouldn't have known it, as sadly expected, those little seedlings which David had given me had dehydrated into dust.

The fruit trees are still looking good, but the figs that I had been so excited about must have already been eaten by birds.  There was one left, which although small was relatively soft.  I picked it and took a bite - no good, wasn't ripe, so had to throw it away.

the lone unripe fig

I was also pleased to see that the 2 x pear trees have finally sprouted some leaves.  The frost had hit them hard, and then something had initially eaten their fledgling leaves. Fingers crossed that what ever it was won't come back for a 2nd course.

leafy pear tree

I was surprised to see some buds on the pomegranate tree that I had bought from Rodney this Winter. Who knows I night even get some fruit ??

2 x pomegranate buds in view

And the lilly pillys continue to cling to life.  They are all still alive, and I gave them a good drink each .

most alive lilly pilly

One new plant was an orange lily that I'd forgotten I'd planted.  It had arisen, and even put out a flower (that's obviously how I knew what it was)

somewhat stunted lily - with unopened flower

The vine on the front fence near the gate looks fabulous and must be very hardy as I don't water it at all

orange vine #1

orange vine #2

  
And the jacaranda looks better than last time, more flowers and more leaves

jacaranda

There are some patches of green grass still - basically where there is some shade some of the time ie behind the pile of bricks etc.  It's funny the green grass almost looks like a shadow for the brick pile

scant green grass

Given the heat and humidity, I didn't do anything else too strenuous, and retired to the veranda in the late afternoon to read the paper, and have a nice cold drink.  Had a simple dinner and watched True Detectives on the portable dvd player.  Justin has already watched this series and had recommended it to me.  Was engrossing, but I was tired and was falling asleep in the 2nd one, so I called it a night and went to sleep properly.

Given my early night, I woke up early - and so decadently watched the episode that I was falling asleep in.  I then read a little bit, and fell asleep again.  I was rather surprised and pleased when I awoke again at 8.30am!  

Did a bit of tidying up in the garden - cut back dead plants in the front bed, and yes pulled weeds, and also got rid of the weeds around the yuccas which was a job that Justin had wanted done.  I was careful around the rocks and rubble - as I didn't want any snakes to surprise me.

Had an odd assortment for lunch outside under the hoop pine.  A thick slice of my fresh home made bread, heaps of my tiny Inglewood olives, the rest of a jar of artichoke hearts, a bit of fetta, a tomato, and a fabulous ice cold beer to wash it all down

Sunday lunch

 Did a few more odd jobs in the garden, and around 2pm I decided to call it quits.  I was hot, a bit dirty, and didn't feel like doing any more work as after all it was pushing 37 degrees in the shade

Hot

I thought I'd have a shower and wash my hair - without turning on the gas for the hot water!  I figured I was hot enough, and I remembered from last Summer that the cold  "hot" water was actually pretty warm.

So, I gave it a shot, didn't linger as it was a bit cold at first, but then the warmer sun heated water came through and it was all good.  Felt great to put on some clean clothes again (after my well worn overalls)  In fact when I got back to Melbourne Madeleine had commented on how clean I looked... I don't normally shower before coming home, so I guess I normally look a bit filthy after a weekend working in Inglewood.

And after the shower, I guiltily  watched another episode of True Detective in the dining room.  Just one more to go now, I thought there were another 3, otherwise I might have watched 2 episodes, but I needed to get back to Melbourne by 6pm.

My rule of thumb when I'm by myself is to have everything tidy and ready to go before I start out in the garden in the morning.  So I was pretty much ready to go after the show, and did get home by 6pm,