I'll be honest when that calendar clicks over to March 1st I totally expect the weather to change.
Even though I live in Queensland I also expect trees to start changing colour and I even kind of imagine being that person that rakes a pile of autumn leaves into a pile then jumps on them, like they do in the movies!
Annnd this all starts on March 1st!
Reality hits... Its a 35 degree day with what feels like 60% humidity. Sweat is currently sitting on top of sweat. Pretty much like its been for last few days. We are supposed to get rain but we all know, the weather man has no idea how really how the week will turn out!
I try to enjoy the weather today because it wasn't as hot as yesterday. I try to write an amazing welcome to Autumn post on Facebook ... I try to be excited about my Autumn vegetable patch. I try to share the supposed Autumn hints and tricks with you.
As an Ipswichite I know that usually Autumn will hit mid April ... but this year who knows ... It's been a crazy year already.
Today I was wondering, what do I write to welcome us all to Autumn and I came across something I had written in 2007.
Feeling hot, bothered and frustrated, the sentiment I was reading really resonated with me. I do believe as I type this now my fingernails are the cleanest they have been in a long while! I'm not sure whether to blame the weather or life suddenly becoming really busy, since we got 'back to normal'.
The bundle of joy mentioned below recently turned 14 and he has a brother and a sister now. It's funny how life turns full circle on you. Today I had 20 minutes spare, in between a phone call and general mother/life/businessperson duties ... I gardened like no one was watching.... and I can tell you that 20mins today felt more like a accomplishment than I washed, dried and put sheets on everyone's bed!
Since the birth of my first bundle of joy things have changed. My fingernails got clean. For the last 12 weeks I’ve had clean fingernails. I hate it. In between feeding, changing nappies, singing mother goose nursery rhymes and pretending to sleep, I haven’t had the time to get outdoors and get dirty.
Things had to change.
So a hat, a sun shade and a play mat was brought and out we went into the wide green yonder of our backyard (well it’s actually brown at the moment). The garden was to big of a job to tackle on my first day of getting the dirt back under my nails, so my pots got a work out.
It felt great. Elbow deep in soil, surrounded by dreams of rain, and reality of watering cans and soil wetters.
An hour later, two pots were completed. I had spreading pansies, perennial primula, alyssum and a camellia. I had mulched, soil wetted and fertilised. My nails were dirty and I was the happiest person around.
My little bundle of joy had received his first lesson in gardening and I didn’t let anything stand in my way of gardening.
This season don’t let life and the weather stand in the way of you getting your fingernails dirty. We can still get out water and admire our plants.
Flowers and gardening bring so much joy to everyone. Isn’t it nice to drive around and see gardens that are well taken care of and full of flowers. Isn’t lovely when you come home from a hard day at work to drive in and see of bright pot of flowers at the front door. Doesn’t it make you feel good when you eat a home grown tomato.
I can’t believe how much happier it made me feel just by getting outdoors and tending to my pots. They say laughter is the medicine for the soul, that person must not have been a gardener. Flowers are definitely the medicine for my soul.
Everyone should get outside and get dirty!
Plant a pot of flowers,
Put in a crop of tomatoes,
Redo a small section of your garden,
Whatever it is remember that no one can take the joy and pleasure that gardening brings away from you …
Not even the weather man!
It’s amazing what some time outside can do for the soul.
I know I am looking forward to quality gardening time this Autumn, no matter what the weather or guidelines the Government brings in!