My Journal:

June 2009

The shortest day has passed and we’re on the downhill run to Christmas. As usual, I’m left shaking my head and wondering where the time has gone.

The rain has continued, off and on, with warm sunny days in between. Unfortunately, the rains fell everywhere but over the catchment area, so the dam that supplies Toowoomba with its water is still perilously low. Not that this worries me personally because I have my own water supply – 2 large tanks that hold 67,000 litres, a bore and a small dam. The mixed seasonal weather has confused my plants though; some are blossoming months early, and the bok choy flowered before they’d even matured! Then we had a heavy frost, which froze my herbs, killed the pumpkin vine (well, appeared to because it seems to be recovering now) and frosted the vegetables. I managed to get out and water those plants that were fully frozen before the sun hit them and saved all my herbs; the vegetables don’t seem to have been affected by it. The oranges loved the cold spell of course, and it’s to be hoped that the fruit will be sweet because of it.

Fund raising for Jessie’s Cottage continued through June; I was relieved after my last ‘shift’ selling raffle tickets last week. I do enjoy meeting people but country people love to talk and talk and I left home when I was 18 to escape noise and these days love the silence of my home. But it was for a good cause and we raised some well-needed funds.

I had one final visitor in June, Anni from Perth. Anni and I went to America in 2001 – for her 50th - and it was great to catch up with her. She left here muttering about a trip to Pichu Manchu for her 60th in 2011! I’ll have to arrange to be out of town that year; I don’t think I’ll have the energy to keep up with her.

One birthday coffee this month was held for Sharon. We went to Coffee Creek, a lovely local art gallery, where another of our book club members supplied the eats and drinks because they don’t do coffee! Strange that, considering their name. We had a lovely time browsing the art works, painting and photographs, and ambled along the sculpture trail accompanied by a myriad of bird life.

My last English class was on 10th June and I said a sad farewell to my students. I left them in capable hands and will keep in touch because I will still be writing their lesson plans. U3A are on term break so there’s no more Italian for a few weeks, although I do intend to keep up with my studies.

The work has rolled in this month, mainly editing, a little typesetting, and one competition to judge coming up soon. I like judging writing competitions; there are always gems to be found and I find it helps me keep up with what’s happening in contemporary work. I also found myself working at a local newsagents for a couple of days! This came about because I went in to pay my paper account and found the new owners having problems with their new computer system. I managed to sort out the problem, having worked with a similar program when I was employed by a man in Perth who had a newspaper round, and they asked me to sort out their accounts and teach them the system. It was a bit of a change for me and I enjoyed it, although it’s not something I’d like to do full-time anymore.

I’m pleased with the writing I’ve managed to get done this month. There are times when I have to stop because I’m hungry and discover that it’s hours after lunch. At this rate, my autobiography should be finished in the time frame I have allotted for it. I want to have this draft completed in time for my planned trip to Perth in late August. While I’m there, a friend is going to read it and give me some feedback. I’m to do likewise for the family history she has written.

The extension to my home is having its final few touches, after which time it will be ready for its final inspection by council. It’s looking lovely inside and out. My brother has re-paved the area between the house and the studio (which shall from henceforth be called a teenager’s or parent’s retreat) and there’s a lovely little patio there now. He also worked on the garden at the other side and that too now sports a patio, with a cemented, pebbled floor.

We’re now looking around at what else needs to be done, and I can tell you, there’s plenty. Apart from the plasmite reticulation for the termite control, which still has to be installed around the main house, there’s the pool. For years I had problems keeping the chemical balance right (it’s a salt water pool, with a salt water chlorinator) so my brother stretched a shade cloth cover over it as a temporary roof, to see if keeping the leaves out would help. It did, and I’ve since discovered that the palm trees are the major culprits. They drop fine needle-like foliage into the water, along with large date-like nuts. They will have to go! I’ve never liked them – palm trees belong in the far north, not in the sub-tropics.