A Great Day

Its my birthday today, so I decided to take the day off and stay at home and reassemble my anchor windlass.  It was an excellent choice of day for a birthday as it was the most perfect day here in Adelaide - fine and sunny around 17 deg.

By the time Alex and I had enjoyed a lovely breakfast of fresh eggs  from the chooks, mushrooms and organic bacon from the market all on some lovely sourdough toast from Wilsons, followed by a cup of by Alex's excellent Italian style coffee, it  was time to head off for lunch!  We went to a lovely place called Muggletons up at Hahndorf in the hills with my mother and sister where we all enjoyed another lovely meal.

No progress on the windlass yet but oh well, there is still the afternoon, or some of it at least ...

Now, I've been worried about Kate's broad bean patch right down the bottom of our block ever since she left.  I've been so busy doing all those things Kate looks after when she is here that I haven't even had a chance to look over the edge and see if they look OK, let alone go down there to check them out properly.  I also know that Kate really wanted to tie them up before she left but just hadn't got around to it.  So when we got home I told Alex I thought I would go down and checkout the broad beans and see about tying them up.  He said he would help, so off we headed with Kate's trusty garden bag and an armful of droppers and pea straw bale ties.

I am pleased to be able to report that the broad beans are looking extremely healthy and although they were certainly starting to fall over and were ready for some attention in that regard they are all now beautifully tied up and can happily continue their merry growth towards full production for Kate's return!

       

Still no progress on the windlass but the day isn't over yet ...

As we walked back up to the top after admiring our handiwork, it was such a lovely afternoon that I thought "the windlass can wait a bit longer" and said to Alex, "How about a drink out here on the terrace before dinner?"  So we sat out there enjoying the view and the late afternoon light in the blossom chatting about philosophy and the ways of the world as one often finds oneself doing with Alex ... and generally having a lovely time.

While we sat there I noticed that the netting was still on the avocado tree and the new buds were starting to burst into life with the new leaves and fruit rapidly growing through the netting.  We could see that if we didn't get it off right now we were never going to get it off.  So off we both went again and managed to get it all off without damaging a single bud.

By now it was dinner time (Swordfish Pizzaola leftovers from the other night ... delicious) -- still time for the windlass after dinner.

But suddenly I remembered what it was I really needed to stay home for today ... I need to open all that mail that has been piling up ever since Kate left and pay a few bills before something gets turned off ... so off into the study.  Just a quick check of blog land I think to myself ... and here I still am after reading all about Kitchen Gardening in France and Olives and Artichokes, posting to Hills and Plains Seedsavers all about my own adventures in the garden!

What a great day of food and gardening I've had ... I think I'm starting to get it!