Category: Ruby Tuesday

Hello Friday!
I went over to Ruby’s and found her giving her hothouse plants a good soaking! She is so proud of how beautiful all her tomatoes and lettuce are looking so far! (Always worth a few barrowloads of mushroom compost!)

This was all over weeds knee high. Ruby has been working hard at clearing it out – handy chair on the right there that she worked from!
I got in and finished the last of the big clumps that were holding on.
Fiona also dropped in and started weeding one of the other patches too!

Over the other side Ruby has planted a number of pumpkins. They popped up randomly, so she relocated them so they can run wild here.

All tucked up in their little shelters while they get a hold on the world.

I made a start on clearing out the weeds in here. Plenty of parsley popping up which I left – a few potato plants too which I also left.

I really really need a few trips to the beach for seaweed!!

The Christmas peas looking fabulous

She has lots of broccoli plants in that are also doing well

Love that hothouse!

Ruby lost her marjoram… She was telling me she planted it somewhere and forgot where! By luck I found it today! I have never grown it so I wasn’t familiar with its look or smell. But it looked herb-like…. then I found the tag too! Ruby was very pleased! We put a little stake next to it so she can spot it more easily. It was also looking a little sad, so I dug in a few generous handfuls of compost all around it.

Then it was cuppa time! Ruby made us some pikelets (not a bad feat when you are blind! She did a great job and they tasted great and hit the spot!

Hope everyone has a super weekend planned!
Time for bed for me – its 2.30am!!! (I thought it was a good idea to go on a midnight hike to see if I could see the meteorite shower. Sigh… the bits of sky that were not cloud obliterated didn’t have any action happening!)

Cheers!

Hello! Another pretty nice day today – got myself down to Ruby’s and found her plum tuckered out!! Dunno where her spec’s were, but she was on her milk crate weeding as I walked in!

Look at her garden!!! The plot at the back left that she wanted me to fill, she weeded/dug and planted potatoes!! haha – I was too tardy getting back wasn’t I?
The bottom left plot she planted the early potatoes in I think (I’ll take credit for the digging of that one)
The plot in the middle has rows of carrots, beetroot and parsnip. I had that one covered in seaweed, so the weeds weren’t too bad in that one for her.
Ruby also finished weeding the top right plot where the peas are and has filled it with beans, broccoli – and I can’t remember what else!
She is a gardening demon!!!

I had brought down some excess seedlings that she needed. So we planted five cucumbers into her hothouse.
Also put 4 of the cos lettuce seedlings in here as well.
Her tomato seedlings and other lettuce are looking fabulous and she is pretty thrilled with its progress. That mushroom compost boost has done its job pretty well so far!

This side of the pea plot is looking good – the other side got a re-planting due to a snail attack!

My aim today was to make a good start on tidying up this plot and slow the spread of the grass seeds.

I found a frog and a bottle in the process…

I still have a lot more to do, but its not a bad start

Jeff came to collect me & we had a cuppa and a slice of cake before we left.
We had a chat about local show day (fairs) as this weekend was Burnie Show Weekend. There is a public holiday on Friday for it too for this area.
I haven’t been to it, but it has the usual side shows, along with agricultural displays, horses, cattle, craft, cooking etc.
I love country shows – I normally go to the Wynyard one in Autumn.
The Royal Shows in the capital cities are wickedly expensive to get into. I was just reading an article about the Perth Show lamenting lack of numbers. The almost 100% response was “We can’t afford it”
At $30 entry for adults, $15 for kids and up to $20 per ride before any food or showbag costs…
Ruby said the rides in her day were one & sixpence! Each child in her family was allowed one go at a sideshow stand and one showbag! I am pretty sure the showbags weren’t too pricey back then. I did see the Perth showbags ranged from $4 to $125!! I have to wonder who has the disposable income to buy the $125 one??!! Wow.
Ruby’s dad went off to see all the agricultural displays and once the kids had their fill of the sideshow excitement they also enjoyed going looking at the cows and other animals on display.
At some point Ruby’s mother “and her cronies” (haha) would find a spot to sit for a well earned cuppa and a natter. The kids would get some cordial and a bit of a rest all around.
Personally I like going to the country shows specifically to get a steak sandwich for lunch! 😀 They do especially good ones in the small country towns!
I have enjoyed putting in entries in the past – competing in photography, craft (as a kid) and a few vegetables (first prize for my eggplant I’ll have you know! 😀 )
Country shows have great displays of animals, horse riding, wood chopping and pretty much an endless variety of entertainment.
I don’t know about you – but a day at the show should be a fun outing. One to relax and enjoy.
Reading up on the ‘hints’ on how to do the Royal Show on a budget really took the joy out of it. So say 2 adults and 2 kids entry plus parking… goodbye $105 before you start having any fun.
Bring your own food – because a day out should mean a rest from organising meals – not lugging your own about all day.
‘Buy the cheap showbag and add your own toys’ Um – am I missing something? So a parent needs to pre buy some suitable toys to also lug about to sneak into the showbag? I suppose it would work… but again… its losing the ‘joy’
Showbags are never going to be good value, but as a kid there was nothing more exciting than getting one!
There was plenty of advice on working out how to do lots of free stuff, but it was like studying up for an exam!
No wonder the numbers are dwindling. I would have promptly dropped it all into the too hard basket and found something else to do!
Anyway – my thoughts are rambling away and I should be in bed!!
Love to hear about the local shows/fairs in your town!!

Cheers!

Out with the nice tea cups today!
Can you believe its a whole year since we had the big party for Ruby?
101 years old today! Amazing!

Ruby got to and baked her own cake!! Haha – she is such a crack up!

Isn’t that the best tea cosy ever?
It was lovely to sit in the warm lounge room and have a good chat and eat some savories and cakes.
I asked Ruby what presents over the years did she remember most as been the best ones.
Her answer?
Underwear!!!!
You know… the kind with long legs and ‘diddly bits’ (lace) We were chuckling so much!
I think presents were mostly things the needed for the house and were presented as birthday or Christmas presents – practical things like pots or kettles.
I said if Jeff got me an iron for my birthday he would probably wear it! haha (Not one for the domestics…Jeff however is sensible and knows I am more thrilled about T-shirts!)
We had a fun discussion about presents we remembered. Margies most special one was a poem from her daughter in law that announced the impending arrival of a grandchild.
Mine was a wedding card from my beautiful Nanna who had passed away years before I got married. She pretty much wrote it on her death bed and had my mother put it away until I got married. (And yes – I cried for three whole days after we got it!)

Macca completely pooped out by the intense celebrations!

My two favourite nurses!

I usually get photos of Ruby on her birthday under the beautiful Magnolia tree. However the weather was just too cold to drag a lady of advanced years out into the garden! But I snapped some photos on our way out anyway!

Even got a rainbow! How about that??!!

When the sun appears it really looks more and more like spring!
Hope everybodys week finishes up fantastically and you have a wonderful weekend.
Cheers!

Hello!
We finally got quite a lovely day today, so I trotted over to Ruby’s to start organising her spot for the Christmas peas! This is very important to her! Fresh picked peas on the dinner plate at Christmas time is essential!

Lots of fiddly little weeds to take care of first!
You can see where Ruby has been digging away – planted the whole side of the plot out with spring onions!

Ruby kept coming out to chat, then saying she was leaving to ‘not be a nuisance’ but inevitably I would catch her pulling up weeds having a lovely time in the sunshine!

She stashes plenty of chairs and seats around her garden so she can rest AND weed at the same time!

We had a little garden helper too – Ruby is taking care of this little fellow for family at the moment. He had a great time digging holes with me today!

He cracked me up by pulling up a clump of weeds and vigorously shaking the dirt off it! That kind of help is most welcome! (Pulling up the spring onions, not so much… hee hee)

I didn’t get the full plot weeded, but my main aim was to get enough done to put up the rebar and dig the rows over ready for whenever Ruby wants to plant her peas, which she likes to do herself.

Lots of flowers are starting to bloom around Ruby’s yard.

Ruby has also offered me a couple of plots to use for myself. (eep – my own garden is not nearly up to scratch yet! haha) But I was thinking I would love to put a lot of onions in – not sure if thats too late or not. I find onion a bit space hungry and they take ages… so maybe a plot of onions??

Even Margie was out doing some yard work! I have never seen her on the mower before! Good to see she was all rugged up – was still cold despite the sun!

Shock-Horror I didn’t stop for a cuppa today, although I would have loved it! I was dashing home as Jeff and I had enough sunlight left in the day to get a lap of Anniversary Bay in (Plus the tides were low). I’ll save my cuppa for a rainy day!

Here’s hoping for a few more sunny days so we can get a few more hours in the gardens!
Hope your weekends are going splendidly!

Cheers

Hello! The weather stayed quite nice today so I popped down to dig a plot and weed some stuff at Ruby’s!
When I got there she was cat-napping in the sunroom, so I said hi and told her I was going to work in one of the gardens.

I noticed she had been out and about weeding and spotted a basket full of strawberry plants and an empty strawberry bed.

I wasn’t long into my weeding when I heard the back door slam and Ruby coming up the garden path.
She was in a bit of a tizz because she had forgotten the one thing she really needed help with was topping up the raised garden bed and replanting the strawberries.
“Sure, no worries Ruby… I’m on it.”
Nope… by hook or by crook she was not going to let me carry those bags of compost from the shed by myself. I needed help!!
There was no way I was going to talk her out of that one and I was having kittens thinking about her tottering about helping me carry bloody great bags of compost to the strawberry patch!

I managed to convince her that we could put the bags in the wheelbarrow and she was happy to pick up and pass me handfuls of the straw – I ducked in and got the bags of compost as quick as I could before Ruby could!!

It was then a team effort spreading out the straw and topping it up with the compost & breaking it up over the plot. Basically the soil had sunk and needed to be built up a bit.

I separated the strawberry plants out and Ruby planted them in her garden bed.

Until the weather dries out we are hoping they will mostly look after themselves.

Ruby went off to put her feet up for a bit and I got back into the plot I was weeding

Up the other end of this garden is a lot of little parsley plants that I will weed next time and perhaps relocate.

Also on my ‘soon to do’ list is to get a trailer load of mushroom compost and top up her hothouse soil. Ruby has cleared out the hothouse so its ready for action soon!

Then of course to top off the afternoon work, its time to go in for a cuppa and a bit of a chin-wag.
We were talking about the demise of service. Back in the early days you went to a shop and asked for what you needed. A young boy would visit houses in the morning and get a list of groceries needed and they would be delivered in the afternoon.

In a small town where people left doors unlocked, Margies husband Des, when he was the butchers boy delivering the meat, he would walk into a house if no-one was there and put the meat into the fridge!
We self serve petrol, we now self checkout in supermarkets and my pet hate – photo booths to self serve and print photos! I would happily pay more for someone with the skills to take my files and print them properly but there is just not that option available.
I guess we are coming a little bit of a full circle that we now order online and have things delivered – perhaps that takes away a little bit more of the personal touch? Or delivers us from the necessity of having to deal with parking & crowds?