This Weeks Achievements

I started working with my free weights again and doing the physio excises for my shoulders again. I am only on the light stuff so far but it's already made a heck of a difference.
Winnie and I also started cleaning out the shed. (Seems to be never ending.) Put two new benches in place so now we have benches all round the wall and I finally have somewhere to put my mosaic gear and house painting gear.
Also started back at mosaics and actually stuck some tiles on!
Not a bad week at all.

Lemon Tree

Finally mulched and fed the lemon tree.
Worm juice
Blood and bone
Trace elements
Sugar cane mulch

A berry good year despite the lack of water.

We have done really well considering how little water we have. We are now surviving on seven rungs of the big tank and less that a quarter of the small one. But despite this we have had reasonable crops of berries and currants.
There is still some rodent getting into our strawberries, but I think it is just one mouse for now, as we have had some fruit.
The raspberries have had hardly any water at all but we got some and they were very good.
The redcurrants have gone absolutely nuts and I have gotten to freeze some this year. Not bad for a two year old bush.

The boysenberries and loganberries haven't done too badly either. We just ate the last of the boysenberry crop the other day.

We have had our first blackcurrants too and even though there are not many they are very tasty and a flavour I remember and love.

The blackberries are just holding in there. I transplanted two and they have no fruit. The other two established bushes are coping but the fruit will be pretty small and dry.

With some good autumn rain we may get some more raspberries and hopefully next year things will be even better.

First hot scary day of the year.

Second day of the year and we have our first catastrophic fire danger day, with expected top of 42c and high winds.

It is not the heat so much as the wind, that makes days like this so scary and there is nothing you can do about it except try and stay cool and wait it out, hoping no nut lights a fire, or dry thunderstorms come through.
The garden is protected as much as we can, watered well over the last couple of days and most of it is veiled like a bride.

Now it is just a case of waiting and hoping to get through, with no catastrophes to go with that rating.

2015 Ambitions.

2014 has not been a great year. It started well. I was back into mosaic art, started drawing again and made an attempt to get back into my writing. Then disaster stuck, when my step grandfather passed away suddenly in July, a couple of days before my birthday.

Things have pretty much ground to a halt for me since. Mosaics, art and writing have been non-existent. The renovations I wanted to start back up in spring never happened and emotionally I have been a bit of a mess. All I have to say is, thank goodness for family support, or I would not have coped at all.

I can't solely blame new family commitments on my lack of creativity either. This last year has seen me go through new stages of health changes, as I grow older, and my concentration seems to be going down the gurgler with it.

I am angry at myself for not spending more time on exercise and watching what I eat. I have gained weight, which has not helped my overall health either.

And to cap off a not stellar year, our rainwater tank sprung a leak. Good news,we think we have fixed it. Bad news, the rain pretty much stopped once we had.

We are surviving with just 7 rungs in the big tank now and have been getting just enough rain to keep us going. Shower rationing and not being able to do the washing at home is the pits, though. Thank goodness once again for family.

There is no veggie garden this year but the fruit is doing fine, despite the lack of water. In short, we are managing because there is not much more we can do.

So, 2015?

I have so much I want to do, but realistically I don't think I can manage them all. 

Renovations are at the top of the list. I have painting to do and floors to lay. Hall, office, lounge, bathroom, toilet and laundry. Blah!

I need to get back into mosaics, I have commitments there and have promised people my help and I have projects I want to compete.

Writing and drawing. God, I so want to get back to these, but I create on an emotional level and if I can't feel, then I can't create. Writing wise, what I used to do in a continual flow of words is now just a trickle and very disjointed at best.

One of the solutions I am thinking of is getting away from the internet, I really don't have the time and it does me no good emotionally and uses up most of my mental energy for nothing. The problem is, I don't want to loose contact with friends I have made over the years, so it might be a case of rationing and set times only. Which should also help stop my arse from spreading any more than it already has. I hope. :P

I would love to get to know a few people on a different level, start using Skype more. I am finding trying to communicate with writing and just a few lines here and there to be more and more frustrating.

Sims. Yes I play sims. I want to get this back on my computer and get back into world building, but in all honesty it wont be a priority, there are too many other things sucking time already. I did have the idea of getting back into sim story writing, to kick start my writing again, but after my game computer died and needed fixing, the appeal has left me. Maybe when I get a few more of my more practical goals cleared I can get back into it. Will just have to wait and see.

The garden. This is the one thing that is going okay at the moment. The front yard needs a good tidy up, but apart from that I have kept on top of things, with main thanks to Winnie and his garden maintenance, without him it would be a disaster.

The house. The house is clean! Got this done just before Christmas. This was getting a bid depressing. I hadn't done a proper clean in a while because of renovations but it should be easier to keep on top of now. 

Okay so the list is already long and that's not with all the other commitments that go along with life. I think if I apply myself and try and build some routines, it just might be doable. My main ambition this year is to at least get some of this done. I am not going to push too hard and over tax things. If I can make good headway into at least the renovations and health, I will be happy, the rest might just have to fall into place as they happen.