Is it wrong to want some ruffled sheets?

I'm not a girly girl. No not at all. I dress in sombre black, sleek lines, no frou frou touches my body. But I LOVE these ruffled linen sheets and pillowcases by Society of Wanders. On the wishlist they go.

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Dexter

Meet the newest member of our family, Dexter the sun conure. (Crappy photo I know but there will be more to come.) It's been almost 10 months since our boy parrot, Bubba, was startled and flew up into a tree. The problem was he didn't know how to fly down. That's him in that very, very, very tall pine tree in our neighbour's yard.

Try as we might we couldn't get him down and eventually he flew off into the big wide world. Heartbroken we swore we wouldn't get another. Our girl parrot Portia would get all our love.

That was until a friend asked if we would take her bird ... and we did. It's only been a couple of days but Portia and Dexter are getting along famously. Each has their own cage but they spend daylight hours out on perches and ropes in the stables only heading into bed at night. Most importantly they both have freshly clipped flight feathers. No more lost birds.

In the garden

Now that the house is painted it's time to work on the outdoor areas. I love gardening, well lazy gardening. I'm not one for formal hedges and lots of flowers I have to dehead. I'm more of a rambling rainforest look. When we first moved in the garden was a hot, barren mess. Thankfully we had two stands of golden cane palms but they were sad and neglected and a brick paved driveway that adds a little structure to the garden. Lots of plants, water and patience later and we have made some significant progress. We haven't spent much money. Most of what we have planted were pot plants I already had (plant liberation I call it) and cuttings from friends and from the plants we had established. We have found a wonderful plant resource here in Ipswich. The Salvation Army has a farm and nursery where the unemployed gain experience raising plants and selling them at bargain prices. Did I tell you I love bargain prices?

A little colour via the Salvation Army

Slowly we have worked from one area to the next, concentrating our efforts to make one section lush before moving on to the next. There is a long way still to go but what a change over 5 years. One of the first things I did after the house was painted was to move a table and chairs onto a small "patio" area we have just outside  the breezeway and kitchen. I ignored this area for so long because I hated the mismatched, flakey paint. The house looked so tired. Not anymore.The chairs are replicas but Kelvin did pick them up from a Big Brother house auction. The table is a vintage Vico Magistretti Stadio 120 bought from @katherinetheoldboathouse for a song. I still need to do a few things. Those security screens have to go. Who ever thought they were good looking in the first place? Yuck! I need more plants in pots to "lush" it out and a cover for the AC unit. The lightbulb needs to be changed out to something a bit funkier. 

Elkhorns on the palms. A friend had a large elkhorn they didn't want anymore so I chopped it up and spread it around. They are finally getting to a good size.

Training hoyas up the palm trunks.

A pre-painting picture. The bird cages have been moved down the back under the bamboo trees we planted and the area where they were is being planted out with elephant ears and walking iris. You can see some of the white chairs in their old home in front of the unused carport. That's one of the next projects. Needs a paint and big pot plants along the bottom of the cane blinds which screen Kelvin's workshop. We don't have a car so don't need it for that use. I'd like to make it a cabana but Kelvin says he needs the space for his tools etc.

A couple more shots pre-painting.

Looking back up the driveway before painting. You can see the compressor we used to power wash the walls. All of this was bare and blasted by the sun when we first moved in as you can see in the photo below.

You can see from these old photos of the stables taken soon after we moved in that there was little to no garden just outside. A lot different now ... as is this space which is serving as dressing room at the moment until we convert it to a bathroom.

The weather bureau is predicting a top temperature of 41 degrees on Friday, actual not "feels like". I hope my little garden doesn't get too burnt! I better make sure I keep the water up for the next few days to give it a helping hand.

Summer bedroom

It's a little difficult to go light and summery in a black bedroom. Here's my attempt at a little lightening up without actually buying anything new. (Note that I don't make my bed that often.) I'm thinking I might take up the flokati as the weather gets warmer.

And here she is

Ta da! So much better. Notice how the colour changes with the time of day.

Bottom two steps waiting to be fixed then they'll be painted. That ugly grey box is for our broadband internet service. Wonder if I can paint it? Here's one of the french doors onto the verandah in its new red paint.

And the front door while she was getting her first coat of gloss.

A shot while they were still painting the back section. Before they did the trims in the dark swamp brown :)

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