Life is ticking along quite nicely at the moment. My life has been enriched by the presence of two lovely young men, who I have been hosting through Airbnb. And of course I am now in full swing of home ownership. Finally the financial stress is easing a little, and I am getting used to the cycle of payments. What is with all that interest!?

I haven’t been writing as much as I was a few months ago, I seem to have purged myself of all the words. I had such an incessant drive to write, but now it has eased. I still thoroughly enjoy writing, and could ramble on every day really if I chose too, but really how much should I share? How much do you really want to know? The weird thing with this blog thing is that you end up sharing quite a bit… Trust me there is a whole lot more that I won’t divulge!

Being a home owner has given me the opportunity to build my own garden, and do all the painting my heart desires. I have been very busy painting my backyard, mostly blue! I started with a pinky salmon colour for the pavers, and realised that looked a little too lurid! So back to Bunnings I went to harass the paint guys for another colour. I finally settled on another colour bond blue colour slightly lighter than the fence blue, and it looks brilliant! I love it. I remember reading somewhere that painting everything all one colour will make the backyard appear bigger. This is true!

I have been in my place for 3 months now and I have completed all the tasks I imagined in my backyard. I removed the shed, knocked out the sunroom, painted the fence, painted all the pavers (twice), planted a garden around the perimeter, planted all my favourite plants including lavender, gardenias, a rose, azaleas, frangipani’s, ground cover, plus more. I finally decided to remove the washing line as it was taking up valuable space! I removed a few older trees, and I was very tempted to remove the lemon tree. But I came to my senses. It is a beautiful tree, and is now producing amazing juicy lemons, much to my delight! It also creates a lot of shade, perhaps too much… I have planted lots of attractive plants under neath it, hoping they will grow in the shade and among the insidious root system. I even ripped up a few pavers to expand the garden potential, I dare say that I will be pulling up more!

I love gardening. I love plants. I love trees. I love colourful flowers. I love it all. I realise I have not enough space to grow all the things I want to grow! But I will do my best to keep creating a paradise in the space that I have. Already it is looking so much better than the barren dry space it was before. The first time I saw this space, I had a clear vision about how I wanted it to look. Perhaps down the track I will need to move to a bigger space to create an even bigger garden! But I will make the most of the space I have for now.

I even bought a mango tree the other day! I love mangoes, and I am determined to plant all the things that I love in my garden of paradise. I guess I can keep it trimmed back so it  doesn’t get too big. I will so enjoy eating that first juicy mango off my very own tree.

My next plan is to pull up some more pavers and plant more beautiful plants! Perhaps a flowering plum tree and some more roses? So many good options. I will let you know of my progress.

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I have been hosting some lovely young men recently, and they have proven to be really good company for me. I love hosting travellers and showing them my beautiful city. Last weekend we went out all day on Saturday, to a farmers market, to the beach to swim, play frisbee and relax in the sun, and then to Kings park, to enjoy the epic views over the city. Hosting travellers makes you really appreciate your own city. I love Perth, I think it is a very clean and beautiful place to live, and I always love showing new people around. Every night, rather than watching boring T.V., we play board games! YES! Backgammon, Boggle, Dominoes, Yahtzee, and Gin Rummy cards have been the most popular games so far. I really do enjoy playing games, and it is great for me to have someone to play with EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

The end of this week spells three years since my beloved Mum passed away. Three years has gone so quickly at times, and excruciatingly slow at others. I think about her all the time, and in recent weeks she has come

 to visit me in my dreams most nights. I am so pleased that I have good dream recall and can really feel her presence with me. I know that I am lucky to still feel so connected to her. Losing her so young has been tough. 59 certainly is too young to die. Gone but never forgotten. Love you Mum.

 

Heading down south this weekend to Dunsborough with some friends. So that will be fun. Good to get away for a few days and do something fun over the time of my Mum’s anniversary. I will be sure to write about my experience away and share some of the better photos.

Ciao for now! Boom. Updated.

Anita xx