Our bare patch is starting to take on its own identity. During a small break in the weather on Monday (public holiday, so of course it was raining!) Si dug a couple of holes along the inside of the new front fence and I planted the original mandarin (no idea what variety, but at least in the six months since I started nursing it in a pot the root ball has grown to be more than my fist and there are plenty of new shoots) and a Thumbelina Ruby Crunch apple that Sarah DB found for me at Bunnings. It’s perfect, so perfect – it has been pruned in anticipation of the end user wanting to espalier it along a fence, and the dude said that if I was careful, I would have fruit this coming autumn. So excited! However it is like me to jump into something. I have never espalier’d anything previously so am taking a crash Google course.

anticipating these next autumn!

my intention is that it looks like the tree on the brick wall

There are also lots more flowers on my boysenberry brulee. Nom. They are so pretty!

On the other side of the yard a heap of blue metal poles have risen. We inherited a playground from a school the boys attended with the intention that we would put it up in the back yard – then we made plans to sell the house so everything has been sitting around for years. Finally getting there – plans for three platforms. Number one is quite low (our property has a slope) and the ladder/climb wall will get you to the top. From here you will move to Two via the chain/plank swinging bridge. From Two you can skim along to Three via a Flying Fox (if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am not a PC person and my philosophy is that if the kids break an arm, so what? They’ll heal. And Bullrush is good for you. So There). Or you can exit Two via the slide. The exit plan for Three is either back to Two or the Fireman’s Pole. I expect the kids to add the Trampoline to their plans too, and this is more than likely where the broken arm will appear. This side of the house is the opposite to the living area, flanked by the ROW drive on the other side and I never had any glam plans for it at all. It seems right that the kids have their own area but I hope it doesn’t stop the Screaming Teen from moving out eventually!

pardon the scribble – this was version one