What a difference a week makes

Last weekend was snowy, rainy, windy, squally, stormy, cold.

This weekend wasn't exactly hot, but it was sunny

These are views from the laundry door, the front door and dining room door.  We live in a suburban area in the semi rural outskirts of Ballarat.  I realised yesterday that if I am sitting on my couch and looking out the windows, all I can see is trees.  Jim, on his couch, can see the house next door, but no other buildings. We hear very little in the way of traffic and not much in the way of human noises (we do hear the children playing in our cul de sac, but you can't complain about happy noises). We hear lots of birds. The kookaburras and cockatoos are our noisiest neighbours - and they can be very noisy sometimes 😂 We are very fortunate to live here.

While I was at the mushroom farm on Saturday, I noticed the house across the road had bags of horse poo for $2 each.  I happened to have some change in my wallet so picked up some bags.  I took advantage of the pleasant weekend weather to tip a couple of bags into the garden bed I am planning to plant asparagus in.  That bed now has a layer of home compost, a layer of horse poo and a couple of layers of garden soil. I think one more layer of garden soil and it will be good for planting.  I have three minute asparagus plants ready to go. I think I might be able to fit two more in. The plants are really tiny so it will be a LONG time before we can harvest asparagus, but gardening requires a good seasoning of patience and the asparagus we grew in Tupton was always very much tastier than shop bought produce. I can wait.

Speaking of waiting, the lemons on our little lemon trees are nearly ready to pick. I use a lot of lemons. It will be good to have my own (small) supply. I am hopeful that one day the little lemon trees will grow into big, fruitful lemon trees - although the one I planted second isn't looking as happy as the first one is. 

Otherwise, things have been fairly quiet - as I suppose they should be under stage 3 lockdown restrictions. The days are getting noticeably longer (in terms of light, not perceptions of time). We are looking forward to some spring warmth. Won't be this week, though. The forecast suggests that winter hasn't given up on us. Yet.