Beauty lost

My Sunday drive took me past a wonderful old homestead. Years ago in the company of several other video enthusiasts plus a couple of actors in period costume, I visited this beautiful old house. It was open to the public and completely furnished as it had been left. At the time we were told that two sisters lived here up to the ends of their lives. After that the place was given a complete new coat of paint (It used to look like a haunted house!) and the interior cleaned up and made presentable. The caretakers of the place provided teas and scones in the large kitchen. The garden too had been scoured of rubbish and made suitable for public scrutiny. So you see, I have vivid memories of the place.

A typical fence made in the early days of Australia's white settlement was one made from native timbers and constructed without nails. The boundary fence to the property still stands as a testament to those difficult times and shows that there must have been a home here long before this two storey structure was put here.

The house still looks very imposing even though rust is showing through the paint of the iron lacework.

The garden is now overgrown and the white fence a bit the worse for wear but thanks to being able to zoom in on a photograph I can see that the original lace curtains still hang in the windows!

From the state of the lacework you can tell that it has been made of iron and not zinc or aluminium (as the lacework on my veranda is). This will be hand forged and most likely be worth a bit of money to someone who is restoring an old home somewhere!
It is a shame that once again this beautiful looking place is slipping back into a state of decay but the upkeep on a timber home is very high. There could be all sorts of reasons for it being left to rot.
I would not be at all surprised that the place is riddled with white ants and cursed with asbestos.
You can see it was once magnificent.
AJ
I have just found a story about Lisnagar Homestead and encourage you to follow this link to read more about it. This is an article written by a family member.

Keeping "at it"

The garden bug has bitten hard - I find that I just HAVE to get out there and dig!
The garden bed beside the front steps is always in shade so plants that suit those conditions have been put there and have done very well. So well in fact that the area was completely overgrown.
Over the top of my fleecy jacket (the mornings are still quite cool) I pulled on my garden shirt. This is a workman's safety shirt that was stolen from my son's wardrobe! It keeps me reasonably clean!
Fortunately the house is not on a main thoroughfare so no one ever sees me in the garden!

The aluminium plant is a good filler but it had become more than prolific - it had buried almost everything. There is a strappy leafed plant that has dainty little white iris-like flowers that also multiplies energetically and needed pulling out.
It was a bit like working in the "Secret Garden" - I was finding all sorts of plants underneath the overgrowth!

These are new Daylilies struggling to be seen. Now I know they are there!
By the time I had finished pulling stuff out I had a heap of rubbish to be turned into compost almost as big as the heaps I had created yesterday!

The wooden planter box was against the steps and contained a leafy climber but it the climber is too difficult to control so I scraped the tendrils off the brickwork and trust I have managed to remove it all! The planter disintegrated when I pulled it from the position it had remained in for years! (It had a black pot inside that contained the plant - you can just see it among all the rubbish!)
Now the garden has been cleaned up I can plants other daylilies to join the ones that are there already. There are also clivia and bromiliads and a couple of azalea bushes in there - oh yes, and a "prince of orange" which is quite showy when in flower. All shade lovers.
AJ

Creating a mess

It has been a while since I have added anything to my blog - so to rejuvenate things I have changed the appearance of it. I have become rather annoyed with the  black background and the small area in which the text is displayed. I hope that this new appearance is more appealing - both to you and to me!
Changes are happening in my front garden too. Everything grows very fast here in the subtropical area of Southern Queensland. Trees especially! I have plenty of shrubs in my garden that seem to have "taken over" and swamped the smaller plants and ferns so yesterday I went out with shears and snips and created havoc! Good fun! (I can hardly move this morning, though.)
When I stepped outside and saw the mess that I have to clear up I took my camera out with me. I can show you the disaster zone!

So you can see what I have to do this morning! The plant in the top picture was actually quite easy to prune - the stems or branches are easily snapped so I found it much quicker to put one hand at the place I wanted to break the branches off and with the other hand, pull the branch or collection of branches, towards me. It didn't take very long at all. Putting the stuff into rough heaps took longer!
We have a pretty shrub that is called a "snowball bush" that loves to be pruned and will grow thicker and much more attractive when cut severely. This is where the secateurs came into use and why my hands are quite sore today!
When plants grow so easily it does make me wonder why most of the gardens in this city are devoid of them! The majority of gardens have only lawn and a couple of trees or shrubs. I love colour and the best gift from a visitor is not a box of chocolates, but something I can put in the garden!
AJ

Home and hosed

It is so strange that now I am back home I have less time to write in the blog than I managed to find while I was away. The children came around through the day and I always like to find plenty for them to do. They are both computer savvy so I have downloaded a great little game that the seven year old really enjoys. It is called Easter Eggstravaganza and is a "hidden object" game which is exactly the right amount of difficulty for her age group. (I can't find some of the objects so it is too hard for Granny!)
The five year old was having fun with one of the on line games from ABC Games that required my presence over her shoulder. The attention span of five year olds is very much shorter than that of seven year olds!
In the evening we met and entertained a friend of my son's and finished up with Colin asleep in the lounge while I caught up with the one episode of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" that I had missed last week. (We have a Tivo that can be set to record any number of programs, I never miss mine!)
Today I will be driving over to pick up the little girls again. They are on school holidays and I have told them they can have two sleep overs together so they are quite excited about that! They will be clock watching because I also told them that I would be at their house at ten o clock and they were to be packed up and have their car booster seats ready for that time!
So no photos for today's blog but with the sun shining today I have no excuses! Except that I will not be putting any photos of the girls in the blog (at their mother's request). Its a pity because they are very beautiful little beings and I love them to bits!
AJ