Mystery Tree Part 2

Not a maple... maybe an oak...

This fantastic botanical insight from http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Shumard_oak/shumaoak.htm and yes I am looking forward to herds of white tailed deer :) but its gonna freak out the girls big time!!!!

Foggy Mornin' Coming Down

[Foggy Morning Ttriptych]

This is what it looks like from outside our bedroom window on a misty morning. (Click on the images to get larger versions.)

[Far Right]

[Right]

[Left]

[Far Left]

Mystery Tree

Can you identify this tree? It was so bare and lifeless that we thought it might be dead. Long after the plum blossomed, lost its blossoms, and sprouted leaves, this one remained steadfastly bare. But now …

[The Tree Canopy]

[The Leaves]

Success & Failure

It took just two weeks after moving in for this Euphorbia to curl up and die - FAILURE

It took just two weeks for this Sydney Rock Orchid to flower after waiting 4 years - SUCCESS



Our New 70s Tea Towels

I bought these "2 linen tea towels" "by François" off eBay for $14 in August: brand new, in their original box. But this is all the box says; it does not tell us who or what François is, where she/he/they/it were based, anything useful in fact. The towels themselves only add that they are "Colour Fast" and "Designed in Australia".

Looking online I found a few other linen tea towels and scarves signed "Francois by Neil": with eye-wateringly clichéd themes, and self-explanatory titles like "Wildlife of Australia" and "Kangaroos" or "Australian Aboriginal" and "Australian Aboriginal Weapons" etc.

So, we scored a pair of brand new vintage Australian 70s tea towels with a really bright, cheery design. And they work really well. And they look great in the kitchen too. Awesome.

Add cool seventies stuff, remove weeds

It should be "add cool seventies stuff, remove ugly naughties stuff"—but removing ugly naughties bits from this house (pukesome tiles [see third picture below] and light-fittings, curtains etc.) will be a lot more difficult and expensive than removing weeds, so we have started with the weeds.

So, what cool seventies stuff? How about this jump-suit? M. got this outstanding flower-motif orange jumpsuit from our local retro-Atomic cafe: The Soda Tree Cafe

[M. was reluctant to model her new outfit, so I suggested that she photograph me in it … a suggestion that amused her greatly]

This will be perfect for a house-warming party …

Below is a 1972 toilet set that we discovered when we moved into our last place (which was almost pure 60s, but had had a few things added in the 70s, like this).

[1972 Selfix Inc. toilet-paper roller]

We—very kindly I thought—replaced it with a brand new set when we moved, and got to bring this gem with us. And the hole it left in the toilet door really wasn't that big …

[1972? Caroma toilet brush]

The brush and stand were made in Australia by Caroma; the toilet-paper roller was made in the USA is by Selfix Inc., but if they were not designed to go together I'd eat my head.

And here are a few sadly-necessary bits of 2010 ugliness that we had to add …

[a compromise between 70s purity … and death by asphyxiation (if you are lucky)]

Another Domicidal Limb

Here are a few pix of another homicidal limb—or domicidal, since it was attempting to destroy our house. Since it landed at 4AM, the noise of branches landing on the roof woke us up, and completely freaked out the cats.

Fortunately, it actually landed right on the edge of the house, shattering all the little sticks at one end on the roof (1st picture, taken at the time), and shattering a few plants with the main branch at the other (2nd, taken in the morning). (That is my new lime tree you can see knocked over, it was a very welcome house-warming gift: thanks Leonie and Pete!)

Looking up at the tree, (3rd) you can see where the limb fell from, and you can see the limb that was dangling next to it, which was threatening to come down as well.

Since there was not a breath of breeze about when the first limb descended, we were a little worried that the slightest breeze would bring down this other—bigger—branch. So, I tossed a bit a rope over the branch with a noose around then end and pulled it down (4th) …

I then cut it up for firewood (5th). The branch was 5 meters long and fit perfectly into one of our firewood boxes!

I hope the tree was watching very closely: this is what we do when you throw a branch at us. First the noose, then dismembered and the fire! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.