fauna and flora

at the risk of stating the obvious, goddamn its hot here today. i went to the shops early and it was 30C at 10am. it looked like bushfire weather, and im sure theres going to be many more days like that over the next few months. this photo really doesnt pick up the orangey haze:

but lets just agree it was hot. i had some gardening to do, and normally i avoid the heat like the plague, but i really want my pots to thrive, so i gathered my tools (yes i went to bunnings by myself, and yes i also went to bakers delight):

i lathered up and set to tending, staking, and putting some basil in pots. i stopped for a while to watch a wedge-tailed eagle circle above, just slowly going round and round, maybe looking for rabbits, or snakes.

i have seen one shed skin, only small, and some plumbers who were here last week reckon they saw a red bellied black snake. i am a little dubious, but the dogs know there are snakes about. its a little freaky. anyway, here are the pots now, complete with basil.

today they got a drink of seasol, some garlic spray, some tomato food, and a good dusting, i am not entirely sure the pots are pest free although a golden orb spider faithfully builds her beautiful web above the pots every night. so far most things are growing, tho some of the coriander has gone yellow (too much water?) and the rocket browned off in parts. but there are little flowers on some of the tomatoes, and this is still really an experiment, i dont know what will really work here yet. the lettuce are good tho:

i am still experimenting with socks too. bells noted that i frog a lot, and i do if i really cant get away with it. complicated lace that was really hard and is only a small mistake i can let slide, but something that youre going to wear, well it has to be right really. i did frog the picot socks completely and have restarted, they are humming along:


the picot cuff has come up great, and the eyelets are for a thin red satin ribbon. i gave up on the purl inset down the sides but i have since realised that i did it wrong, i need to only purl every second row. d'oh. but they have a lovely german heel which doesnt show up well in this photo:

and i am adding a string of purls (haha) all the way down the side of the foot just to give it some detail to try and match the picot edge (so on every second round, needles 1 and 3 have a purl one stitch in from the instep stitches if that makes sense). anyway, the colour is gorgeous.

i want to get this one sock finished so i can go back to my lace, but its too hot to concentrate on anything other than socks today. i am also a little distracted because i have just been offered a full time research management job at my old uni, which is very attractive, but means leaving my little history job, and i feel bad about doing that....but i will only take the job if we can arrange telecommuting cos im not driving 2 hours each way every day, so negotiations should commence on monday. will keep you posted.

did i mention its hot?

k xx