Once upon a time, in a land far far away from the rest of the world, there was a castle – a pink castle known affectionately by its residents as The Pink House – and in that castle, amongst the ever changing cast of characters that resided there for one night or one hundred nights, there lived a Crazy Man in room 9 and a Crazy Lady in room 6.
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Homage to The Pink House
A Wee Tour of England
Crazy Car Man and I had a wee whirlwind tour of Merry ole Tingland this weekend just gone. It was lovely weather, sunny with just a hint of cloud, a little sun shower followed by a rainbow, and a frisky little breeze. Without a doubt shorts and t-shirt weather.
Sounds pretty much like a February weekend in England, right?
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2010 Round Up
2010 was an absolute corker of a year. This garden malarkey sunk it’s teeth in with a vengeance and quite suddenly I was looking at the world with new eyes. I fell off a motorbike and got married in a Lahu hilltribe ceremony, I fell off a step and discovered Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I got a new job and found a new career. And I grew loads of plants, battled snails and weeds, contended with Mother Nature’s temper tantrums, experimented madly, got things badly wrong and occasionally got them right.
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Green Things Robbed From Carmen Miranda’s Garden
We went to a One Hundred Years party last weekend. Longevity runs in the family, I’ve seen how I’m going to look at 97 (a little wrinkly, a little hunched, a little deaf, but with full control of my bladder and all marbles accounted for), but this one was not for just one person. My Aunty was celebrating her 60th and my cousin had hit the big four oh, and in true mad relly style it had to be celebrated with a fancy dress knees up.
The party was held at their local RSL club in a real country town and I feel a few unsuspecting farmers got the shock of their life to find themselves standing at the bar next to the Grim Reaper, or a crocodile, or a Whoopie cushion (a weird costume but a great one if you have a predilection for being poked in the stomach, or alternatively are talented at farting on cue – my uncle can do both, at the same time…..he’s ruined the excuse of not being able to multi-task for all of the male species).
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When The Wind Blows
I woke up this morning in the most horrible temper. I’d been kept awake most of the night by the howling of the wind, which put me firmly on the wrong side when I swung myself out of bed.
I hate the wind. A frisky breeze can be a most pleasant thing, but when it goes from fluttering the tendrils of my hair to blinding me with said hair and bombarding my blind self with the howling of a thousand ghouls, it’s no longer a pleasant experience and is more akin to fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard.
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In Case You Needed More Proof…..
Whilst in Bedouin Town, Mrs Bedouin showed me that kitsch isn’t solely the domain of seaside retirement towns and my side garden. The country has it too. I can feel a travel slash garden ornament coffee table book trying to be born. It hurts.
A country cousin of my wheelbarrow was in situ behind the local cafe (coffeeshop, let’s not be having any of that foreign lingo). I gloated inwardly at first at how beautiful mine was in comparison until I realised that the lovely owner of this one is gardening in a semi-arid region, her tank water is for all aspects of life (if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down) and not just for the garden, and she was quite possibly old enough for the barrow to have been her’s as a girl, and wasn’t something picked up at the local antique shop because it had charm.
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Mother Nature Takes It Back
Crazy Car Man is an upstanding member of our community. We live in a high risk fire zone and he has proven his worth as an Australian permanent resident by joining the Rural Fire Service. He gains a lot from this venture – doing something good for the community, meeting people in the area, exploring the bush trails around our home and getting to be a hero on occasion. I gain a lot from this venture – he has a fireman’s uniform!
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The Chairman Ruffles Some Feathers
Five years ago, Crazy Car Man and I did a mad mad journey overland from Bangkok in Thailand all the way back to London. It was awesome – a life defining journey, the time I daydream the most about, a modern history class brought to life. We mixed serious and frivolous, sometimes at the same time.
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The England Files: Part VI – Ode To A Thistle
I have a penchant for the weird looking (excepting Crazy Car Man who is exceptionally good looking – successful back pedal there) so it’s no wonder I fell in love with this thistle on first sight.
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The England Files: Part V – Tropical Plants and the Big Scary Butterfly
Thoughts of the north of England don’t usually gel cohesively with images of a steamy, humid tropical wonderland. Though with the way global warming has been affecting English seasons maybe it won’t be too long until liana vines are swinging from the wings of the Angel of the North.
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