A Christmas Eve hiccup

Christmas Eve arrived and it was a lovely cool day. As we weren't expecting any visitors for Christmas the plan was to just make a potato salad and the traditional pavlova (as requested) later on in the day as the rest of the salads could be made up quickly before lunch the following day. So armed with my little point and shoot camera I took a walk through the very dry garden hoping to find a little bit of colour scattered here and there.

I was happy to find this burgundy coloured daisy flowering happily and liking its new home as I brought a cutting of this back from Mt.Isa as it looks quite stunning in my girl's garden. I would love a name for it though but Mr.Google couldn't help out with that.

He also couldn't help with the name of this very pretty plant but if Guida is reading this she will remind me once again. I have searched online but still can't find any photos of it there. It is very pretty but unfortunately these pretty shapes are growing underneath the leaves so they are hard to see.

 This little fellow is very tiny but came out well when I took a photo using the Macro setting.

 There are only a couple of Fuschia flowers at the moment. I think I need to pay more attention to my potted plants and give them some TLC.

 At least the Hydrangeas don't need much TLC and are always a delight at this time of the year.

 Other hardy plants that seem to thrive on neglect are the Day Lilies that spring up every year and add a little colour to the summer garden.

 

The recent week of heatwave conditions didn't do the garden any favours and it looks like we will see the New Year in with another heatwave at the weekend. I might have to move to Tasmania at this rate. 

 I think this orchid might be called an Oncidium. I am not all that keen on the colours but it is growing well on the macadamia tree which the CEO has decided to put a huge compost heap underneath. We have a few such heaps around the place.

Speaking of compost heaps, it is amazing what grows there like this Tamarillo tree which is probably the orange version which the CEO doesn't like and is trying to get rid of. I dare say it will disappear one of these days. When I was eating sugar I used to make a nice Indian Spiced Tamarillo Chutney so they came in handy. They aren't cheap to buy and I think they are over $1 each but I believe the red ones have a nicer flavour.

I took a photo of this cucumber to remind myself that I actually do have some veggies growing and am not a completely dreadful gardener. It seems that every seedling I have had growing this year has been eaten by something so actually having a couple of cucumbers get to this stage is quite an accomplishment this year. 

Mind you, if Hildegarde and her cronies didn't keep scratching around in the garden more plants might survive but I am still waiting for the new chicken pen to be built which it doesn't look like will be happening soon. It's unbelieveable how much damage chooks can do. 

Anyway, after I had a casual walk around the garden taking photos I thought I had better brave the shops as they would be quieter after lunch and I needed to pick up some fresh milk etc. as I don't buy the long life stuff. So there I was doing everything according to plan and was nearly finished with the shopping when my hip went 'out' and I had to limp around the supermarket hanging on to the trolley as I tried to make my way to the checkout.

However, I got home and limped up the stairs and headed for the bed. There I lay thinking of the two loaves of sourdough that were ready for the second rise, the potato salad that had to be cooked not to mention the pavlova which takes twenty minutes of beating with the hand held beater. A slight hiccup in the scheme of things but eventually it got done. Just one of the joys of getting older :-) I am not sure where my hip went to when it went 'out' but I sure wish it would come home again.

I hope everyone had a joyful Christmas Day.