Category: Ruby Tuesday

Hello!
It was time I updated you on a few things in Ruby’s garden. I haven’t been doing much there – rain, shoulder, more rain, cooking a million plums…
Anyway, I made myself popular with Ruby & Margie by taking down one of the choc-raspberry-ice-cream-bites for them to sample.
It was well received indeed!

Ruby has been doing a LOT in the garden. She was really keen to give me the tour and show me. So off she charges – then had to come back for her ‘walking stick’ (you know, whatever is at the back door handy – this time an umbrella!)
And then charges back up the garden path

At less than half her age, am I supposed to be running to catch up shouting ‘wait for me!!’ ???

She has been busy sitting on her milk crate pulling up literally a few barrow loads of weeds – mostly the ones lining the pathways

I got her to stop long enough to pose with one of her barrow-loads full of her handy work!

‘Walking sticks’ are handy to point out all the places one has weeded! (In this case – see all the bits that aren’t green?? That’s the parts she has also cleared!

Pausing to admire the runaway pumpkins. All these have grown from Ruby’s haphazard approach to composting.

Ruby also has a bit of a seed collection hanging in one of the sheds. Broccoli and lettuce.

I shooed her back inside so she could have lunch with Margie while I tackled the remaining potatoes in the potato patch.

With all the family upsets towards the end of the year, the watering got a bit neglected and the potatoes hadn’t done as well as they could have… but there is certainly enough to keep Ruby going for quite a while.

I was also trying to pull the seedy grass and get up what oxalis (mumble mutter grrrrr) that I could

One little quirk of Ruby’s that makes me chuckle is her obsession with making sure her rubbish bin is full to the brim for collection day. Since she pays for this service via her rates she feels she needs to get her moneys worth every week and a partly empty bin is an opportunity wasted!
Since she doesn’t really make enough household waste herself – she is dead set determined to fill the bin up with garden waste!!!

Lovely potatoes. I brought Ruby out to show her and she was extremely pleased! What I don’t have is the photo of her helping me take them into the shed!
“Here – you take the black bucket and I’ll take a side of the green one”
!!!!!!
So, hands full and (nervously) watching Ruby carry half a bucket of potatoes I was unable to get what would have been a sweet action shot!!!

Of course, when all is done and I have washed off a ton of dirt, I get to come in and have a cuppa and a natter

I picked the right day! Ruby, not only weeded everything in sight, but also baked bikkies!! (Biscuits) (Quick translation for my North American Readers. We call crackers and cookies, biscuits. What you call a biscuit is a scone to us.) 🙂 (I love translating English into English)(I could go on with jumpers, peppers, the boot of the car, lollies, daks, cozzies & fairy floss etc but I would be here all night)

Anyway…

Ruby was telling me about a couple who came to visit Tasmania quite some time ago. They had a little girl with spina bifida. Ruby said she would take care of the little girl and her brother while the parents took a rare break and had a little trip around Tassie.
Apparently the travel agent didn’t do a very good job of booking them into sensible places for an efficient and comprehensive look around in the time they had.
Boy, did Ruby sort them out! I was laughing so much hearing how she got them to cancel the bookings and reorganised the whole thing! I interrupted her to say “My gosh Ruby, you were such a bossy-boots!” She had a really good chuckle at that. I looked at her and said “Actually you still are a bossy boots you know!”
She cheerfully admitted it but also fessed up to not being as good at it anymore!!
I love our afternoon stories and laughs! (not to mention the fresh baked biscuits!)

I hope everybodys week is going along fantastically!

Cheers

Hello! Thought it was about time I updated you with Ruby and her garden a little bit! I have really neglected things with all that has been happening recently, so it was good to get back in and start sorting out weeds (never ending!)

Ruby’s big paddock out the side of her house was pretty weedy and unkempt, so Jeff came along with me today to tidy that up a bit

My aim in life is to have a hydrangea bush go this mad. Its magnificent!

My job today was to tackle that oxalis and other random weeds in the patch where Ruby’s beetroot, carrots and dwarf beans are

It seriously takes forever!

I was pretty filthy by the end of the day!

Glad I dropped off all that seaweed grass the other week. I can now mulch as I weed – slow them down somewhat!

Ruby wandered out partway through my job today. She was apologising for having a Nanna-Nap instead of being outside helping! Bless her cotton socks!! 😀
She stayed out with me for a short while. Her foot is a LOT better these days. It gave her grief almost all of last year. Good to see that has eased up a bit.
She has chairs strategically set up around the garden so she can plonk herself down when she needs to. And she can also do a bit more weeding while she sits there too!

Mind you she is there for about a minute before she is up and off again ferreting about for things – this time it was scissors and string to tie up a tomato

“What are you doing?” says Ruby, not too deaf to hear the click click of my camera? “Taking photos of the Old Girl??”
I tell her I have to get action shots for my readers and she chuckles away!

There is lots of food happening. Like with most everywhere else this season – things are late. Ruby’s peas are almost done. She has had a lovely time picking and podding. As you saw above, her runner beans have just started producing. There are a few potatoes, small carrots, cucumber, lettuce and a few ripe tomatoes (she is such a show-off!!)

 

I also redug and planted some parsnip seeds. Ruby has done it twice already and nothing came up!! We are not sure if its the seeds or weather, so we are just giving it another go.

We are all eagerly awaiting the plums! I hope there will be enough for me to pinch a few to make my plum Worcestershire sauce! I have run out and I am sad about that.  They also make superb jam!

Jeff had finished up so it was time to come in for a drink and a chat. We opted for cold drinks today instead of a cuppa!
We really hadn’t seen Ruby since before Christmas when Jeff went on nights and I caught a cold!
She was telling us funny stories about one of her brothers, Col. He was a bit of a larrikin when he was young. Around the Christmas Holidays all the young people would get together at a swimming spot in the river. This particular day they swam across and noticed Col hadn’t followed. Apparently they saw bubbles and figured he was under them, so a rescue got underway!!!
Luckily his sister (Ruby) had just done her nurse training and was able to do all the right things. Meanwhile one of the other friends went haring back to their home to blurt out to Ruby’s parents “Call the doctor – Col’s drowned!” Eep!! As Ruby said – not much point really, as being in the country, you have to mostly help yourself as the doctor was a tidy distance away.
Before Ruby’s mother could have a complete heart attack the call went out that he wasn’t drowned, as they dragged him up to the house. He still had to go to the doctors!

Then, fully recovered, Col and friends wanted to get up to mischief and play tricks on New Years. That entailed daubing the local grocery shop with some spots of whitewash!! Apparently that was the second year that had done that and the second time earned them some buckshot in the backsides!!!

Ruby had heard of these shenanigans up at the hospital that she worked at and took it upon herself to write a very stern letter to her brother to tell him to pull his socks up! She went as far as getting a fellow nurse to address the letter so her mother wouldn’t recognise her writing as usually her letters were read to all the family.
Ruby’s family had suffered through the death of her sister, Sylvie, who had been ill with some complicated form of epilepsy, and young Syd went off to war and was the first casualty from Tasmania.
Ruby wanted to remind Col to be mindful and careful as their parents didn’t want to have to suffer through any more losses!

But she did add with pride that Col grew up to be a very good person.

Anyway – time to take my slightly aching arms to bed – not sure if it was the brick moving from yesterday or the 5 hours of weeding today!!

Cheers!

 

I popped out to see Ruby and dig up a few weeds today. Mind you – she had been pretty busy in the garden before I turned up!!

I think Ruby’s weeds are growing faster than mine – if thats possible!!

Its so slow going trying to clear the Oxalis! I am trying to dig under it enough to get a lot of those little seed balls that explode everywhere!! I am getting a lot, but missing a lot too!

I want this patch cleared so we can spread out the beetroot and also some self seeded pumpkins that are growing in clumps!

One of Ruby’s grandsons, Simon, is still here in Tasmania and has been working like a demon around the property – clearing rubbish, building fences and fixing things around the houses of both Ruby and Margies.

The back fence really has stayed up more out of stubbornness than anything else!! Simon has been pulling things apart and rebuilding things

The back gate also now has a working bolt – so the brick that kept the gate shut is now obsolete! 🙂

We had a bit of fun talking about Ruby’s early nursing years. The time when she was made acting Matron – almost immediately a couple of staff fell sick (and not just sniffles… appendicitis for one!!) which was quite an issue as they were already badly understaffed.
The young nurse going into theatre was in tears, so Ruby gave her a good talking to – how she was lucky she was about to get fixed up and how important she was to get well again because Ruby needed her! 🙂

Ruby also told me that the same day she went into a shop wearing her uniform and was served by a young lady that recognised her Launceston Hospital badge. It turned out that the young woman was a trained nurse and Ruby asked straight away “What on earth are you doing behind the counter in a shop??” Apparently the lady couldn’t work the hours offered in the hospital and was stuck doing shop work instead. Ruby immediately asked her to come up to the hospital to see her and work something out. They were so desperate for nurses at that time!
She not only managed to sort out suitable hours for this young woman, (who was thrilled to have a job in her vocation) but also a friend of hers who was in the same position!

Nurse managers/Matrons had a bit of a juggling job to make sure they could get all the staff they needed!

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Cheers

Hello.

I had a very family orientated day… accidentally catching up with various cousins, which was really lovely.

So I must admit, I am very under-prepared for ‘Ruby Tuesday’ I’ll get a nice photo of Ruby sometime during the week, since I failed to do that today for you today!! 🙂

I did get a little bit of much needed weeding done in her carrot/beetroot & bean garden yesterday

As you know, I enjoy sitting down with Ruby having a cuppa and listening to stories. We sometimes go off on wild tangents to where we started – but that’s the nice thing – different memories get triggered when we talk about this and that.

I asked Ruby what invention had the biggest impact on her in her amazing 100 years.  Very quickly and decisively she answered “Electricity”

She thought it made life for the farmers – especially the dairy ones – so much easier. Machines were developed and made that took so much of the load off peoples shoulders.

All the work that had to go into making a cup of coffee if you didn’t have a fire going – where we walk into the kitchen and flip a switch!!

Entertainment changed from standing around a piano for a singalong to sitting by the radio – or in front of the Giggle-Box as Ruby still insists on calling the television!!

Eventually inventions followed electricity – like the iron and the refrigerator. Bliss to have ice cream in the house!

Can you imagine in one lifetime going from no electricity to a world where we sit at a computer and talk to people we have never even met by the internet??

Can you imagine how you might cope if suddenly all that was taken from us? How many of us would adapt and survive or know what to do?

I’d like to think we could, but I would sure miss the worldwide connections – and ice cream!!!

I thought I would ask if there are any questions that people had for Ruby to add them in the comments – it might be interesting to get some different ones to make her ponder upon!

Anyway – here’s hoping our weather does something nice tomorrow… got plans that include not being inside!

Cheers!

PS occasional extras on my facebook page.

Hello!

Today I took Ruby to see the Doc – just a dressing change on her troublesome foot (not that it seems to slow her up much)

I stopped in for a cuppa & a chat, where we talked about our gardens and had a small whinge about the never ending wind! 😀

After our drinks, I said I was going to whip about the garden with my camera. Well, Ruby wasn’t going to let me go alone!! She practically bounced out of her chair, grabbed her walking stick and off we went.

All the essential plants are in – mostly.

Ruby has spent some time weeding and clearing out bits and pieces in the hothouse

This is the lettuce that she raids a couple of leaves off each night for a sandwich! Ruby likes to cook herself a lunch, then she has something light for dinner.

We have a couple of decent days coming up – may be able to get a few hours done in Ruby’s garden – take care of some weeds and plant out the zucchinis.

As I mentioned above, Ruby is really happy with her first lot of potatoes. She gets up here and runs a hoe through the rows now that they are big enough she can see well enough to know what she is doing.

The strawberries are starting to flower

The Christmas Peas are trundling along well

Everywhere you look there is colour and garden activity

Ruby said she was convinced she was going to lose the big Gilder Rose tree – the wind had it bent almost double!! But no, it hung on and there are even some flowers left.

Despite being 100 – Ruby still reckons that if you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. This bowl of flowers for example.  There was another plant in it not so long ago. It got some disease and died. Ruby, afraid it might spread, decided it had to be emptied into the paddock compost straight away.

This is a heavy container full of dirt – but she managed to get the wheelbarrow around, then manhandled the pot into it, before emptying it up at the compost! Sometimes I am a little horrified that she just doesn’t ask me to do some of these things – I am in every other day!!  She just grins and does what she wants!!

Have a lovely day everyone!

Cheers

 

 

Hello! I am a bit all over the place when it has come to keeping my Ruby Tuesday schedule… We have been back and forth a lot more, dabbling in her garden while the weather has been kinder.

Earlier this week you saw we filled up her new raised garden bed – naturally as soon as we were out of sight she was back in the garden digging up strawberry plants and getting them in! I really hope she enjoys using this newfangled garden!!

Last week Ruby’s potatoes looked like this-

Yesterday while Jeff was chopping wood and filling the trailer, I attended to a few garden issues, like the potatoes

Lots of colour everywhere. I really like the way Ruby has so many flowering plants in among her main vegetable garden. Its productive AND pretty!

After some advice from a reader, (Thank-you Amy) I went and asked Ruby if I could collect some nasturtium seeds, as I plan to try to grow them among the pumpkins and zucchini

Oh course, a visit is not complete without a cuppa. But this time the nurses got together to… nurse! lol  Jeff needed a BP reading for a doctors appointment so Ruby was delighted to get out her blood pressure cuff and sort him out!

Therein ensued a very nursey talk about how things were done in the old days, equipment etc.  Jeff was saying he was so glad he worked in the time of electronic thermometers!  But Ruby loved the old style thermometer… simply because it took some time to register and get a reading, she said it was the only time they got to sit and rest!

Next on our list when we go to collect more wood is to juice as many lemons as possible and freeze! Look at how wonderful her tree is!

Hope you have had a great day!

Cheers

PS occasional extras on my facebook page

 

 

Hello! I managed to drop in to Ruby’s today for a cuppa, a catch up and a bit of a look to see what the garden was doing!

My sister Michelle had asked me to get a photo of the guest book she & her husband Tony had made (also from my parents). They did a beautiful job – Ruby now keeps it handy on the coffee table for other visitors to sign in case they missed out doing so at the party

 

I noticed Ruby had gotten into the garden and planted another row of potatoes! There is no stopping her!!

Some more spring colours are working their way into Ruby’s garden too.

Can you imagine your garden without zucchini? It just seems a normal thing to put in to me… but Ruby remembers when they were unknown and when they were just being introduced into the gardens – People bought it to try it out then didn’t know what to do with them – and of course so many of them! lol.

Apparently there was a lot of trial & error and swapping information with neighbours!

Anyway – we are still getting a lot of off and on rain which doesn’t help us get the outdoor stuff very far along. Hoping we will be back to Ruby’s soon to sort out her strawberry patch!

Cheers!

Hello!

I didn’t get back to Ruby’s today – we are still being rained upon heavily so there just isn’t much we can achieve outside lately!

I don’t mind getting a bit soggy when working in gardens… but I am a sook about staying outside when the rain is plummeting down and cold as well!

I did pop in yesterday to tell Ruby (confess) I had bought her a raised garden bed for her strawberries. Her old one we made up a couple of seasons back is just is too low for her to manage safely and easily. I thought she might resist if I asked her, so I just did it!

I asked her about just trying it for this season, and if she really didn’t like it, I would take it back, no worries.

The thing is, her eyesight is about gone and one of the last proper interests she has and can do is her garden. It really gives her that bit of very important independence. She even told me recently she lived for her garden! I want to try things (like this raised bed) to extend the time she has and the enjoyment factor by making things a little easier.

She does love her strawberries and I knew she was contemplating just not worrying about them this season.

When it stops raining, we will take the bed down and work out a good place to put it, so it can get watered via her sprinklers and she can get around it with her milk crates (remember her milk crates are what she sits on to do the majority of her gardening these days…)

As another big plus… fresh soil/compost in the new garden will be free of oxalis so what’s not to love about that??? 😀

 

Anyway, while waiting for the weather to behave, I enjoy popping in for cuppas & raiding the bikkie jars. Not to mention fabulous stories.

I’ll update news on the new strawberry patch as soon as we have some action!

Cheers!!