Visiting old haunts.

Yesterday, Friday the 30th August, I took myself out of the house for a drive over to my old home town of Denmark (Western Australia).  I had a wee touch of cabin fever and needed to get out and see the world. The first place I went to was the beach and I took photos of the sand bar opening. It is opened most years around mid to late August when flooding of farmers fields and rivers leads to this bridging of the sand to alleviate the flooding of Wilsons Inlet. You can see the lovely green sea water pushing in to regenerate and oxygenate the inlet. Thousands/millions of baby snapper and adult fish that have been breeding and growing in the inlet congregate around the sand bar waiting for it’s opening so they can head off to the ocean for whatever it is they do out there (have wild parties and wake up in strange unusual places?) 😀

Here is another angle of the bar opening taken looking back into the inlet.

You can see the old Denmark surf club building perched to the left of the shot. The way the bar has opened, it has torn away most of the beach and dug out a huge big trench along the front of the club rooms.

The little black dots you can see here just out from the mouth of the bar opening are a bunch of dedicated surfers that wait eagerly each year for the bars opening to make full use of the new big waves that form here. Myself, I would be wearing wetsuits that don’t make you look like a seal as some pretty big old sharks like to congregate here waiting for the fish escaping from the inlet :O

In years gone by, I would come over to Denmark and take my Mum out for a meal. Just the two of us usually. Sometimes we’d be joined by my daughters and sometimes by my partner but more often than not, it would be me and Mum. Now she’s been dead these past 2 years, I haven’t gone back to one of our favorite restaurants for a long time. Yesterday, I plucked up the courage to go it alone and I had a most wonderful meal even if I did feel at odds with my memories. I had a wonderful bowl of Mrs Jones Gnocchi served with a basil and cream pesto, sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Such a heartwarming and delicious meal of little fat, fluffy potatoey morsels in a rich sauce with some lovely crisp potato skins on top.

Sorry it’s a bit blurry. My phone camera was salivating apparently 😀 I also had a yummy cappuccino to help me on my way.

I also lashed out and bought a “Trevatt” apricot tree and 3 potted Winter Lace Lavender plants that have bees buzzing about them already! I’m not allowed to plant out the Apricot till new year the garden guy said as he had just transplanted it into the big garden bag so it can grow new roots. I just soaked it in a good fish emulsion (Seasol) as soon as I got it back to Albany and the plants are looking mighty fine this morning. I’m hoping this apricot will be producing very soon and can be well established by the time my poor old other apricot finally dies.

 

The above group of pictures shows a few of my fruit trees, in order the Satsuma Plum and the double grafted Yellow and White Nectarine and my gorgeous blue Iris that are flowering or attempting to 😀

I leave you with another springish like flower that curiously likes to grow around the base of certain rose bushes in pots. I call it Bubbles Pussycatus 😀

See you all in the Spring!

Is that Spring I see on the Horizon?

This is the first blossom out on my Satsuma Plum tree. It is so amazing the joy I feel when I see these blossoms. I hope this poor old darling of a tree has a better year than it did last year. It was decimated first by aphids, then by a brown rotting mould that atacked all my stone fruits last year. I must get onto spraying an anti fungal/mould spray this week. It has been pouring with rain and very cold all this week and the ground is very damp and wet.

I am most disturbed by this fungus growing on a dead bit of my old apricot tree. All its fruit was damaged by fruit fly/brown rot last year and I have serious concerns about it now i’ve noticed this growing on it. Time to get me another apricot as a back up. I might get another year or two out of this one but I believe it’s on it’s way out. I wonder if the fungus is edible? Anybody know?

This is a delightful creeper that I was given a few years back for helping out with art classes at my daughters primary school. I think it is called Pandora but as I am only vaguely horticultural, I am happy to be told otherwise.

Here it is shown climbing all over a brick post next to it and what you cant see are the triffid like tendrils heading off towards the roadway. Looking for a lift elsewhere perhaps?

This is a native pea bush growing in the bush bordering our block. Very delicate little purple and white flowers, no scent but the bees love it.

This is called the Sydney Wattle and even though it is a pretty bush, it is classed as a weed bush here in Western Australia and we pull it out as it outgrows all our native species here and runs rampant.

Here is a photo of my first blueberry flowers. I love these little sweet fruits and enjoy picking them off the bush and popping them straight into my mouth whilst watering them.

I’m hoping my blue iris comes out in flower soon. I’ll post some photos of it when it does. Spring is on the horizon. I look forward to sharing it with you all.

😀