In the middle of the 1800s there were a couple of intrepid jungle explorers who, in the course of hacking their way the jungles of South East Asia, came upon a lost city in what is now Cambodia. As it turned out, after cutting the jungle back a lot that it was the old capital city, Angkor Wat.
This last week has been more like a settling in week. After the frenetic move, and unpacking of almost 200 boxes, bundles, and bags that made the slow journey 15000 miles, Jane and I have tried to just slow down a little. Although it is hard to slow down from hardly moving, we are trying. Daisy is quite happy to stay at home at the moment, and play with her toys, and games. Also a favourite of hers now is watching Foxtel (Sky TV) kid's channels. We still are without Lounge room furniture yet, but the floor is as good a place to sit as any, when watching TV I guess.
I've been going to work. It is a bit of a shock, as I've been given nights to do again, but this time I am at a busy ambulance depot right near the restaurant/cafe/bar/club area of Perth. As you can imagine, it is a far cry from the sleepy hollow out near the desert, or the old people taxi bus, or the long distance transfer brigade, which is what I have been doing recently. I'm not complaining though, as it is nice to be busy with lots of different things.
Anyway, to aid in the slowing down of the pace of life from slow to almost stopped, I've been contemplating the world while lying in my hammock in the back garden in the sun. Temperatures here are being forecast as cracking 30 in the early part of next week. Maybe Jane will be able to put her jumpers away soon. I know that those in the UK don't want to hear about it, but the sun is out, the water in the sea is warming up, the beach is looking more appealing every day, and the 2 weeks we've had of slightly dodgy weather is finished. It's a far cry from driving rain, grey skies, and howling winds that are the norm for October.
I digress again. As I was lying on the hammock listening to the grass grow (it actually was that quite), I realised it needed mowing. I remember seeing a mower in one of the three sheds in the garden, and so I got it out, and after a couple failed attempts at getting it running smoothly, I put it back into the shed, and went and got a decent one that wasn't petrol driven from the local Garden centre. After mowing, and racking the front and back garden, climbed back onto the hammock to look at my handiwork, while sipping a long cold drink.
This is when I decided that the ivy that was climbing on the trellises and eves of the patio roof really needed putting into its place and trimming back a little. Welding a pair of pruning scissors (secateurs) I ventured into the jungle where lots have feared to tread for a long time. With a snip here and a snip there slowly the ivy started to resemble something that was more of a decoration.
Like the intrepid French jungle explorers in the 1860s I discovered some rare treats after cutting down the ivy. There were some hanging baskets that were complete overgrown. I think that I'll call the garden the Heaths Jungle Retreat now. After trimming/major revamping of the ivy, and hanging baskets, I found places for a couple more baskets, so I treated Daisy to a couple hanging baskets from the local garden centre, with strawberries growing in them. After planting, and watering them, she is very excited that we are not only growing cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, but now we are growing strawberries as well. We check them each about 4 times a day to see if there has been any strawberries grown yet. We hope they will be ready from about the middle of November through to about April, or May.
Anyway, unlike the Frenchies, I haven't discovered a lost city, but I've certainly made a lot more of our patio accessible, and also made one girl very happy, and excited.
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