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Snapshot Sunday: Apple Blossom Time

The apple tree October 2018
apple blossom
bluebells under the tree

The apple blossom never seems to last long, October is often windy and sometimes it’s gone almost as soon as it has arrived.

In May I planted some bluebells under the tree, I honestly didn’t know then if I would be here to see them flower as the house was on the market already but I thought that they would look nice and be a parting gift to the house.

They flowered this week in time to coincide with the arrival of the apple blossom and it does look nice.  If I am still here in the autumn I’ll try to plant a few more. A mass of them would look beautiful next spring.

 

Good Times

I decided to reblog this post which I wrote in 2016 because it has been three years now that David has been gone. I like to remember the good times we had.

Our Other Blog: Two Sisters and Two Points of View

David at Port Huon 2014 David at Port Huon 2014

One of the things that David and I enjoyed was going for a drive together. Sometimes we had a plan, where we would go and what we would do, other times we just picked a direction. David always carried a camera in the car, he was old school and still using film cameras long after I’d switched to a digital camera.

After I started this blog I would sometimes ask him if we could go for a drive so I could take photos of something or other. Every year for about five years we would go for a drive along the Channel Highway when the scarecrow competition was being held and David would stop the car every time I spotted one I wanted to photograph. When I said that I wanted to photograph the apple blossoms he happily drove me around the orchards till I…

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Snapshot Sunday: Fire Engines

Hobart Fire Station
Two old fire engines.
A vintage fire engine at Hobart Fire Station.
Vintage fire engine in Hobart.

On Friday I had to go to Hobart to pick up a parcel from a shop just outside the CBD. As I walked back down Campbell Street I noticed that there was some activity around the open roller doors at the fire station. When I saw vintage fire engines, of course, I had to grab my phone and take a few photos.
We do have more modern fire engines for actual firefighting though 🙂

Life of a Hedge 2018

I first posted this in November last year although I have posted a photo of the hedge every spring since it was put in. It is starting to get a lot of new growth now that spring is supposedly here so the other day I took a few new photos to add to the timeline.

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The Photinia hedge was planted in October 2014 to enhance the front of the house. This was long before painting, paths or any other work was done. I chose these plants because I see a lot of them growing around here so I knew they would suit the conditions and also because I like the red colour of the new growth. I have tried to take a photo of the hedge each year . It’s been slow but now it is finally looking like a real hedge even though every bush seems to be growing at a different rate. The ones at either end are smaller. I think they get too much carbon monoxide from vehicles stopping at the letter box and in my neighbours driveway. A couple got nibbled by possums or possibly wallabies who visit the garden although I have never seen them. One was taken out completely either by the postie or the neighbour and just died but the rest are going strong.

Snapshot Sunday: Location, Location, Location

The lone Photinia
Photinia Hedge 2018

Four years ago we decided to grow a hedge to screen the house from the road. I chose Photinia as it is a commonly used hedging plant locally so I knew it would have a good chance of growing and I like the colours as the new growth is red. Jason and Brodie, the “garden guys” got the plants for me and Jason suggested buying an extra one and planting it in an out of the way part of the garden in case we needed a replacement.

Over time we did lose a couple of the plants but the hedge was dense enough that the gap did not matter too much so the odd one was left in peace at the bottom of the garden. Some people do grow Photinia as a tree it is not only used as hedging.

Well today it has well and truly overtaken its hedge based brothers and sisters and is now taller than I am while they have not quite reached five  feet.

I was chatting to Jason about this recently and he suggested that it is all about location. It rains a lot here as you know and in summer I water the hedge in dry spells but the soil is relatively dry there compared to the bottom of the garden which in winter is so damp that I nearly got my foot stuck in the mud when I went to the compost bin one day recently. I water the other garden trees but never that one. It has thrived on neglect.

The hedge has been trimmed a few times but only to tidy it up as some plants have grown faster than others and it has not been trimmed for a couple of months. The back yard tree has never been trimmed in any way. It looks untidy because Cindy broke a branch when she was jumping and barking at the neighbour dog who had chewed a hole in the fence.

Snapshot Sunday: Cartela

Cartela in Hobart 2009
The interior of the MV Cartela September 2011
Front page of the local paper.
MV Cartela-Port Huon Wharf- July 2014
Cartela in Franklin 2018

I was wondering what to do for today’s photo when I read an article about the restoration of the MV Cartela. She is about to go into a specially made dry dock for further restoration before being reunited with her original steam engine.

I looked amongst my photos and discovered one I had forgotten about from 2009 when she was still based in Hobart. This was taken during the Wooden Boat Festival of that year. The interior photo two years later when we were fortunate enough to cruise on the Derwent with her.

Then she came down to Franklin via Port Huon in 2014. That is one of my favourite photos.

Recently while on our “Yukon” trip I was able to photograph Cartela from the other side.

I hope that I’ll be able to photograph her fully restored one day and enjoy a trip from Hobart to New Norfolk.

Links:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-24/bold-plans-to-restore-the-cartela-to-river-derwent/9898216

 

Snapshot Sunday: Down in the Garden Shed

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After three wet days the sun finally came out for a while today so I unpacked the box of bulbs I got in the mail the other day and planted them in pots ready for spring. A handful went under the apple tree as a gift to the garden. While I was out there I decided that it was high time that I cleaned up the garden shed so I did. I was proud of myself for completing this chore so I took some photos to celebrate.