Enjoying the summer of 2018

Summer in Perth Western Australia

• Blue, blue skies nearly every day. 
• The sound of frogs at night. 
• Gum trees are shedding their bark and emerging all white and smooth 
• Rosellas and 28 parrots munching the last of the mulberries. 
• Watering the vegetables from the water tank -level dropping each day. 
• Going down to Fremantle on the train, for a fish and chip lunch on the foreshore
• Still harvesting blueberries from our bushes 
• It is too hot for lettuce to grow, but I am cultivating mizuna, sorrel and sweet potatoes to add to salad leaves from the shop, along with basil for pesto. 
• The passionfruit have started dropping from the vine -they are so yummy with our yoghurt in the morning 
• Putting the shiny sunshade on the windshield of the car, otherwise it is too hot to hold the steering wheel when you get back in
• Knowing that it is better to park in the shade than to park near the shops
• The quinces are getting bigger and the olives are fattening nicely
• Watching the pomegranates for the sign of them ripening
• Picking tomatoes from our own bush
• I am now doing the quilting on my bargello quilt. 

The other day my DH commented that the supermarkets had lemons on sale from California for $6.50 per kilo. We both shook our head in dismay. Who doesn't have a lemon tree in their backyard, which is now laden with lemons? If they don't have one of their own, don't they have a friend or relative with one? It seems like many of us have been disconnected from our seasons so we don't know what is ripe and in season-otherwise why would anyone pay such a price for fruit which is so abundant in this climate? The local growers have them in the growers markets at considerably cheaper prices. 

Speaking of lemons, the Eureka in the front yard is doing just what we wanted it to do -supply us with sharp, juicy, thick skinned lemons in summer. They are huge and heavy! Meanwhile we have been netting and bagging the grapes on the vines to try to get some of the fruit for our own use -but the birds have got a few bunches left out for them to snack on. It is a matter of concern for Dora that the birds turn up each morning. She sits on the small table near my sewing machine, which is up high enough for her to keep a surreptitious eye out for the birds, without them noticing that she is there. 

I have been trying to harvest fennel seeds -we use the fennel tops and seeds here for cooking, but I am yet to work out an easy way of getting the seeds separated from the stalks. Anyway, I have about a cupful, which will be good in our salads and bread.

We travelled up to New Norcia for the ecumenical carols on the 30th. This is such a lovely thing to do -carols without the pressure of the pre-Christmas rush, so that we can just enjoy the beauty of the New Norcia environment and the music and the words.

The festivities are over and the year is full of possibilities. Must get back into having some people over for lunches and dinners, whilst the outside is such a pleasant place to be!