Spring 2024

What a blustery start to spring with more rain and hail!

An update on the TAFE inquiries, they never did get back to me so I called again to the main office and was reassured someone would call me from one of the Perth TAFE campus. Two days later Balga TAFE called and reassured me someone would contact me in regards to my query.  I’m still waiting!  But in the meanwhile I decided I would enrol into one of their Information Technology courses on web design starting 1^st term 2025 and was accepted.  I have no idea if it has the course I’m looking for on payment gateways or if they can put me in contact with someone who can teach me.  I’ll just have to wait and see.  I’m excited to be learning more about IT programming and hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew!  I’ve also contacted the teacher for the course I’m in rolled in to ask if this would be the right course for me or if I should have applied for Certificate III instead.  I’m still waiting for his response.

By the second week of September the Lord provided us some magnificent spring weather, warm sunny days and cool nights, just what I love.  The problem was I was incapacitated with a dreadful dose of the lurgy for over two weeks.  I had a hacking cough which I just couldn’t shake which put me in bed for several mornings, having tossed and turned all night.  Praise the Lord I have lovely friends including Rene from church who brought me some Chinese takeaway food which lasted me most of the week. Then my lovely neighbour Kath who picked up some shopping for me. I sometime wandered around my lovely garden longing to have the energy to do stuff.  I have seen all my bobtails in different parts of the garden.  I’ve removed the barricades so they now have free roaming.  I pray they keep to the garden beds and not wander over the driveway.  My garden is such a lovely place at this time of the year but it also reminded me of all the jobs needing to be done there too.  I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was back out doing what I enjoyed.  It took over 10 days before I was feeling well enough to start jogging again.  I started slow, then built it up.  It certainly exhausted me but I felt better for it.  I still wasn’t game to go swimming with the cough lingering and difficult to shake off.

As I began to recover, I started with a few little things, even venturing out to Bunnings to get some things to replace the old curtain rod for my bedroom.  I had put up with the old fixture which wasn’t designed for the old curtain which had hoops.  Replacing the brackets for the new rod wasn’t as easy as I thought because the rod was right next to my wardrobe.  Even though I had sliding doors I had to make sure the rod wasn’t going to move, obstructing the doors. This meant I needed a pillar end and a rod bracket at the other end so I could feed the curtain loops onto the rail. With all the parts I needed I then chose a morning to tackle the task.  I drilled my first hole into the brick wall, all going well, then the second hole I just couldn’t get the drill to go further than about 20mm.  This wasn’t going to be deep enough! Praise God the first hole was at the top of the pillar end which meant it should hold with a smaller screw at the bottom to keep it in place.  I had the same problem with the bracket at the other end.  Praying for the Lord to help, I just didn’t have the strength to push the drill in at the angle over my head.  I then had a thought, I could use a nail to make the hole deeper and then the drill bit to widen it.  Praise the Lord it worked.  I put star plugs into the holes and screwed the brackets into place. I should have redone the shorter hole but because it seemed to be holding, I left it.  Putting the old curtain back up I knew the next step was to replace that too.

That wasn’t as easy as I thought either, as most of the readymade curtains were not wide enough.  I only use one curtain, not two on this window, making it easier for the breeze to enter where the window opens at one end.  I hunted online and even in several stores but without any success till my neighbour asked if I wanted to go shopping with her and stop in at Spotlight en route.  I had looked online but thought it a good idea to take a look instore too.  My friend Lorna had also suggested I take a look in store and even to get a set of two curtains and sew them together.  One place we stopped along the way said it wasn’t blockout but blackout that I needed. I think that was just their name for it as Spotlight didn’t have blackout only blockout. There definitely wasn’t the size I wanted even the quality I wanted was difficult to find.  Eventually I did find two in the colour I wanted and when sewn together and cut shorter would suffice.  Praise the Lord they were on special as they weren’t cheap!  But they were very good quality and the same density blockout as the curtains I already had.

The following morning I measured and cut a strip off the bottom of both curtains then with great difficulty sewed them together.  The top which was four thickness I had to hand sew after breaking the machine needle trying to get through the double layers.  IT was then ready to hang.  Praise the Lord my friend Jess came around the following morning and was able to assist me hanging it.  I’m praying it will now last till the Lord calls me home.

When I did finally get out in the garden after regaining my energy I made up for lost time.  Kath my neighbour said I was like an energiser bunny!  My garden had been on hold for quite awhile, with a growing list of things to do.  There were some large branches that needed cutting as they were shading one of my grapevines.  Kathy came up to watch me as I used another neighbour’s electric chainsaw while climbing on top of the pergola.  She cut them smaller to fit into the green bin and the longer pieces I placed together as a rustic fence near the road where there’s a gap from when the water board removed some of my hedging.  The following day using the hand saw I cut a smaller branch from over the shade house. I then asked a neighbour if I could use their green garden waste bin.  I couldn’t believe what was in it!  Household rubbish as well as lawn cuttings.

Kathy and I were on a weeding spree but unfortunately her help was more destructive than productive.  The native ground covers I planted under the street trees had struggled and one under the tree on my side of the driveway had died after being run over.  The one under the other tree Kath thought was a weed and pulled it out, fortunately I asked about it and she dug it out of the bin so I could replant it.  I’m praying it survives!  The other one I’m not sure what happened to it.  Some people are just not gardeners!

During this weeding spree I weeded two of my neighbours’ gardens too.  Matt’s garden where I’ve been planting Australian natives is looking so much nicer.  There are still a lot of the seeds I also sprinkled around including purple stocks which add a burst of colour at this time of the year. Then also his neighbours garden where I’ve pulled out a stack of weeds which was really only half the garden. Laura is wanting to have more succulents which I will gladly supply her with from my garden plus a frangipani which I’m needing to trim.  I tidied up Ann’s back garden too and was delighted to see the grapevine I planted there is growing well as are many of the other low maintenance plants.

As suspected, some of the grafts on the fig tree, that my helpful visitor did when he grafted on 10 different varieties onto my Black Genoa, didn’t take.  When I removed the tape from one graft, it confirmed my suspicion that this one and possibly others had not had the cambium layers aligned and therefore the graft didn’t take.  I was very pleased that at least one of the grafts I personally did has taken and is growing beautifully and what’s more it was a cutting from a fig I’ve really wanted since trying it many years ago.  The fig tree which I took the cutting from, grows over the fence along the track in the bush where I go jogging. I’m really looking forward to trying it when it flowers on my tree.  Oh, did you know that the fruit of the fig is actually the flower.  The plump stamens are the part inside the fig that makes it juicy.

My tropical pear has blossomed, as have my lime, orange and mandarin trees which were covered in bloom this year so I’m praying I’ll see fruit too.  I had an attack on the new shoots of one of my grape vine by the pink and grey galahs this year.  I covered the vine with shade cloth as a deterrent, only taking it off once the vine had more established leaves.  Both grapevines are growing well.  I’m thinking next year I’d like to graft a black seedless variety onto one of my vines.  Does anyone have a vine I can take a cutting from?  I planted out a heap of old Evening Primrose seeds, into planter boxes and pots, which have all come up.  I’ve also put up a wire frame so I can tie the dragon fruit on as it is getting very long.  I’ve still a few more things to do including tidying up the passionfruit vine but that will have to wait till after this lot of rains has blown over.

Some very sad news, Mum’s old dog Suzie who was being loved and cared for by her new family, my friends from church, had recently been put down after suffering from bladder cancer.  She will be greatly missed.  Unfortunately I was unable to see her before she went as this was during the time I had the dreaded lurgy!

I don’t think I mentioned I used two iron chairs, which a neighbour was throwing out, as seating beside the public footpath.  I put them together in my garden so that I or anyone could sit on them and have a chat to anyone passing by.  Well unfortunately someone must have thought I was throwing them out as they have disappeared!  The next ones I’ll have to put a little sign on saying ‘Please don’t take’.

Photos:   1. Bird of Paradise    2. My first successful fig grafting    3. Me cutting a branch off the tree    4. Orange blossom    5. Suzie’s last day

Prayer & Praise Points:

I praise God for my friends and neighbours helping me out during my time of isolation.  Praise Him for helping my recovery process and speedy healing.

I have seen the Lord’s hand at work in so many areas since my return for which I am so grateful.

Praise the Lord for Gayle’s safe return to Bali and she has now joined Joshua for his graduation in Singapore.  Please pray for their safe return and for Joshua’s health.

Please also continue to pray for Gayle’s ongoing health concerns, especially her eyes; for Anthony Higgs who will have a reverse shoulder replacement in October.  Pray also for Elsie and Ross Winchester as they continue their cancer treatment. Believe with me for the Lord’s intervention and total healing for all of them.

Continue to pray with me for world peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia, South Brazil, PNG and all countries dealing with major disasters, wars and the unbelievable hardships they cause.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering these events have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live in despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.