Bronwyn Parry

Now that the busy, full-of-travelling months of August and September are over, and ‘all’ I have to do until the end of the year is write a book (!), I’m trying to make sure that I balance my life a bit more: using productive writing time effectively, and using non-writing time to get out of the chair and achieve other things – including some exercise!

We moved into our place over eight years ago, and we always planned to have a garden, but starting from scratch on a block out of town with limited water is a challenge, and an expensive one at that! So, other than a small herb patch outside the kitchen window, we haven’t done a lot yet. Years ago, Gordon fenced a large area a short distance from the house, intended to become the main vegetable garden/orchard, but that’s been waiting all this time for gates and a system to get water from the small dam to the garden – other than lugging buckets!

The landscaping around the house is also a major work – involving drainage systems, earthworks, water tanks and pumps and other structural elements. Our designer friend Kerry has drawn up a preliminary design, so hopefully soon we will get started on stage one of that.

However, I’ve really been missing having a garden – both the pleasure of working in one and eating fresh produce, and the physical exercise and activity in just getting outside on a regular basis. So, on Saturday, Gordon and I went into town and bought a few bits and pieces, and on Saturday afternoon set to work. While I cleared stuff, Gordon mowed the fenced area – it’s 30 metres by 20 metres, so the size of some house blocks. Then we made a gate out of chicken wire and star posts, and hung it. It’s not beautiful, but it’s functional! Yesterday, I raked up the ‘grass’ while Gordon built the first garden box, using railway sleepers we’ve had in anitcipation for years. Then I spread gypsum, to help break up the clay soil, and we spread the raked grass into the garden bed. I still need to cart a lot of soil to build up the garden, and add in whatever organic materials will help eventually make decent soil, and, once I plant, I’ll have to carry water by buckets from the dam nearby, until the landscaping/drainage/tanks/pumps are in place. For that reason, we’ll start with just one garden bed, but eventually there will be several in this patch, plus fruit trees – as well as the eventual landscape garden around the house.

But this is a beginning, and I’m very happy about it. And despite aching muscles from raking and such (it’s a long time since I raked lawns every weekend when I was growing up!), I feel better for the outdoor activity.

Garden beginnings

First layer of material

'Consulting' with the supervisors 🙂

Spring is definitely here – the sunshine is warm, the wildlife and landscapes are throwing off winter chill and revitalising, and it’s been a good week. Here’s a brief recap:

Sunday a week ago – a long drive with G: up to Guyra, across on back roads through to Bundarra (where the two places which might have had food for lunch don’t on a Sunday), up to Inverell (late lunch at McCafe, ‘cos there’s not much opened there on Sunday, either), then to Tingha (where a football final had attracted a crowd from around the district, including hundreds of vehicles), and then back roads to Armidale, then home.

Tuesday: G surprised me with a present – a new iPod nano. I’m amazed all over again at how much functionality can be packed into such a tiny gadget. This even has a video camera, and takes remarkably good images for its size. It’s also got many extras, such as an alarm, an FM radio, a voice memo function, games, pedometer – oh, and it plays music, too 🙂

During the week: gorgeous spring weather; a couple of trips into town; some beautiful knitting books I’d ordered arrived; good writing progress on Book 3; and afternoon walks with the dogs.

Wednesday/Thursday – arranged a trip to Sydney for this coming week, complete with a library appearance (more info shortly!), a romance readers lunch, and lunch with my publisher.

Friday: I accepted an offer from my publisher for a new two-book contract 🙂 The paperwork still has to be finalised, but barring major natural disasters or global financial meltdowns occurring in the meantime and wiping out businesses, everything should be signed soon. So, I’ll be focused on writing for the next 18 months!

Saturday: I did a heap of clearing out in the yarn/fibre cupboard. The stash has, in recent years, overflowed beyond the cupboard door, so I got ruthless and tossed a heap of old fleeces that I will never spin – some to become mulch/compost, others to give away. I’m sorting the knitting and weaving yarns into boxes, which isn’t all done yet, but is well underway – hence, I have a sense of achievement, and may soon be able to actually sit at my looms again and weave some of the stash 🙂 (The rhythmic motions of weaving are good thinking time for writing…)

Yesterday (Sunday): A great day out with our friends, Bob & Kerry, and Don, a National Park Ranger, to an area of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park accessible only on a management track (or on foot, but you’d have to be both mad and fit!). Bob’s writing a history of land use in the area, and so we were looking for the location of old stock yards and a hut shown on an 1890’s map. I’ll do a separate post with pictures and videos of the trip.

In the meantime, here’s a few photos from the past week or so:

Hardenbergia flowering on the fence of the dog run

Afternoon light on neighbour's paddock

And a gratuitous cute dog photo:

Tansy and Ted

(Ted recently had a thorough wash – but probably won’t stay white for long!)