flower Friday : : Grevillea Again

The grevillea underneath the kitchen window is becoming almost as fascinating as the hummingbirds that love its nectar, the finches that love to bathe in the water feature below it, the bigger birds that like the oak tree on the lawn and the mountains across the valley. They all go together to make a wonderful ever changing tapestry of life, topped by the cloud filled sky which truly is 'the vault of heaven'.

The views out of the windows at either end of the house have changed considerably. Out of the kitchen/dining room and over the porch is the 'brown wall'...less brown but mainly because  most the fried foliage has not fallen off the trees and the majority of the shrubs separated that our porch and the house next door have been removed. The huge ghost like oaks at that house have now been removed, leaving nothing but a very tall brick chimney overseeing a pile of debris. We have seen Dorrie and her mother over there but haven't been able to find out what her plans are going forward. It's a complicated decision.

We have made the complicated decision to get a new well pump...a three phase motor with a 'soft start'. The pump we have now works fine but it is incompatible with our battery back up system. We're hoping the soft start will solve that problem but if it doesn't, we'll have a better pump. John and I agree that if it does all work it will be a big relief. We would love not to have to go through another season of power shut-offs without a reliable back up. It's hard enough without that worry.

We had high winds the other night which blew in from the east, blowing the remainder of the leaves which normally fall, and a fair number of fried ones into every corner of our garden. John and I have different approaches to this problem. He painstakingly picks every leaf out of every plant by hand because he says the leaves kill the plants. I have a rather cavalier attitude toward leaves...get what you can with a minimum of effort and leave the rest to become compost. I think he finds it relaxing.  

It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow and the view out the kitchen window will be a brand new one...especially since we'll probably be working in the back!