Sunday Afternoon

It's springtime, which means we can spend our lazy weekend time hanging outside on the porch and playing in the garden.  We do have a really great porch.  

Clementine is trying to get around the barrier we tried to create so she can get in the garden and play with the dirt.  She needs a bath every night these days because she is always dirty from playing outside.  My kind of girl.

We bought these seedlings at a garage sale: broccoli, rocket, cucumber, and snow peas.

A few of our own seedlings just poking their heads out.  We found two fully functioning grow lights in someone's hard rubbish pile and they make such a big difference with these little guys.  Our heirloom tomatoes, beans, and carrots were all up in under a week.  I've never had good luck growing tomatoes from seed but I think this year will be the winner. 

(Hard Rubbish is the time of year when the council drives around and picks up everyone's big crap to take to the dump-best time of year to find neat free things like grow lights!)

One of Clementine's favorite things to do is pull all the clothespins out of this planter and throw them on the ground.  So helpful!

I turned around to talk to Alec for really 5 seconds and she is halfway around the house.

Hanging with Dad.

Darebin Parklands

This one's pretty photo heavy but I don't feel like doing a separate post for all my nature pics, and there were many good ones on this trip.  There've been a few posts from this park, it's just down the road from our house.

"I love and hate the dog park because I just want to play with all the dogs, and they just want to play with each other." - Anders.  We all got to pat this cute little black pug.

I have another picture of these two standing under this same tree.  Clemmy is a little bigger now!

It's springtime so there are interesting little flowers everywhere.  When I breathe deeply they are easy to smell on the air.

AND THEN.  MY MOST ULTIMATE PHOTOGRAPHY DREAM UNTIL RECENTLY..

I managed to get shots of parrots!  So exciting!  They are never low enough in the trees or I am too slow or many other reasons contribute to not getting pictures of them.  But this time.. victory!  I'm pretty sure these are Rainbow Lorakeets and they are pretty common around us.  That doesn't stop me from being totally excited every time I see one.

One difference I always notice between places I have lived is how the nature sounds, especially the birds.  There are all kinds of parrots around us and I love listening for them.

Riding back on Mom!

This is a Magpie, they are everywhere and also make a lot of noise.  I thought they live in the US as well but Anders had never seen one, so I'm including it in case you haven't too.

And that commences our walk at the dog park!

Abbotsford Convent

Abbotsford Convent is just about the best place to have a picnic on a sunny day in Melbourne.  It used to be a home for "women in need," and now it hosts a children's farm, cafe, market, gallery, etc.

We walked around and looked at the horses and then sat down in the grass with some sandwiches.  

I tried to get Grams and Anders to stand together for a picture, but they just ended up arguing about something :)

Gotta wear a sunhat in the sunshine!  So far this spring, Clem has resisted all our attempts to make her wear a hat for longer than 30 seconds.

Sitting in the shade of the pretty old church buildings.  This is only one of many.  The only downside is the makey-outey hippies sitting next to us.  Ugh, youths!!!

Molly always has a good time.

Finishing off by putting grass and bits of garbage in Gram's shoe!  What fun.

Nature Study 07 / Hobart

I wish I knew all the names of the plants, maybe if someone with more knowledge than me could sit and look at my pictures and tell me "Oh that's that, that's a blah, etc."  Oh well, someday maybe when I have time I will buy one of those reference books.

Hobart, A Little Hike

Hobart is beautiful.  It's more dry than Melbourne, (again) a little like Flagstaff in the springtime.  We settled for a nice little hike along the beach down the road from our house in a town called Taroona.  Someday we will go back and drive all over the island when we are not beholden to the nap times of a little tyrant.

This lady let us know who's boss in the neighborhood.

A good picture of most of the landscape of our hike.  A little grass, trees, sand, and the water.  We poked around in the sand searching for interesting treasures and walked quietly.

Being in nature feels so replenishing.  Our terminus was this little bay where we sat down for a while.  It was warm enough so we got Clem naked and let her crawl around in the sand.  You can see she LOOOOOVED it.  She has her Momma's coloring!

I have photographic evidence of her very first taste of sand.  It was a big hit and she proceeded to rub it in her hair and on her face.  I can't wait to take her to the beach this summer!

(We switch to disposable diapers when traveling.  After we tried to bring the cloth diapers on our last trip to Daylesford where we had a maybe broken washing machine, wringing them out by hand, and then trying unsuccessfully for two days to dry them, we decided it's just easier this way and it's only for a few days).

A tired girl after a solid play in the sand and sun.  Nothing sweeter than having your baby fall asleep on your chest.

Our flight back to Melbourne left at 8 pm, so we took our time enjoying our last night.  It was very lucky that our airbnb host was happy to let us check out later in the afternoon so Clem could have her afternoon nap.

Grams treated us to a delicious seafood dinner in the harbor, which of course had excellent views.  Hobart, we'll be back!