Home

Katoomba Blue Mountains Hike (Australia)

September 15, 2019

gem hiking, mountain, travel , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

In about three hours, Brian and I hiked 6.3 miles covering an elevation delta of 1600 feet. We started at Lilianfells,took the Prince Henry trail over to the Furber Steps, went down the steps (with some great views of Katoomba Falls), hiked Federal pass to Honeymoon Lookout, doubled back through the Dardanelles Pass and then climbed up the 900 steps of the Giant Stairway to the Three Sisters. Finishing with the climb up the steps was interesting.

Katoomba

 

Katoomba falls

 

Brian takes a picture

 

Picture in picture

 

Katoomba

 

 

Overlook Mt Solitary

Katoomba Falls

 

Spring Fiddleheads (Australia September)

 

Rain forest Katoomba

Turning point

 

View from Dardenelles

Heading up the Gianty Stairway

Only 1/2 way up. Exhausting climb.

Three sisters. Alone.

All in all, an incredible hike on a gorgeous day. Better ending up than down.

Garden Update: Mid-Summer Bounty Begins

July 11, 2019

gem farm, food , , , , Leave a comment

Rain and sun. Rain and sun. 90 degree days and massive afternoon thunderstorms. The garden is OK with all that.

First real harvest and a vegetarian dinner grown entirely on the property.

Watermellon? Watermellon.

First real harvest. Still waiting for tomatoes to get red.

Summer Solstice 2019: Bodacious Bonfire

July 1, 2019

gem fire, party, Photography , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

First a story of the lighting through the photography of Amy Barley.

Prepare to Burn

Burn

Light it Up

Fire Maiden

And that is how you turn the sun.

Things looked pretty much like this before we started

Then there were several undocumented hours in the river with the special beer float courtesy of Aubrey. We’re still not sure where he is.

The most popular guest of all was baby Cora. (Yes, that is the three McGraw brothers in kilts.)

Panorama by jackie

Idyllic

A video of the lighting.

 

This shot by my brother walt (at his first solstice) is one of my favorites.

From the bridge

Spectacular

When the fire burned down enough to get within 100 feet, we started the music.

Burning pile

Joel Winstead created some great sketches in real time.

Music by firelight

The fire

Gary and Gina

The the thunderstorm moved in around 11pm and we shifted the music to the barn. We played until 4am. What a joy.

Gary and Gina in the barn

Allen behind his hat

There are a few more pictures on the evite page. Thanks to all who came to the 2019 summer solstice fire!

Thanks for coming to the summer solstice!

Garden Update 3: Post Beach

June 29, 2019

gem who knows Leave a comment

Well, everything grew, a tiller was killed with bad gas, weeds sprouted with the corn…and two weeks went by while we were at the beach.

Here is how the garden looks at the end of June after a soaking thunderstorm.

 

The garden will make a cameo appearance at the solstice fire.

Garden Pre-Beach

June 11, 2019

gem farm, flowers, plants , , , Leave a comment

Here is update three on the garden.  Most everything is up except the third corn plantation.  The weed situation is entirely under control.  My bet is after we return from two weeks at the beach, chaos will be happening.  We shall see!

Garden Update 1

June 2, 2019

gem who knows Leave a comment

When the garden is new (like, say, this month), it is pretty easy to manage.  After getting things started about a week late this year, things are looking good.  Most of the seeds have come up.  Weeding and thinning proceeding apace.  Sadly found the first squash beetles.

Here’s a video tour from the very end of May.

 

 

Garden Tour

May 18, 2019

gem who knows , , , , Leave a comment

Seven hours in the garden later, the garden is finally up and running about a week late.  I usually get everything in around Mother’s Day, so I am not too far behind, but the rain put a serious kibosh on the original plan.

Here is a celebratory video about all of the stuff in the garden.  (I forgot to mention the cucumbers near the beginning, but I think I covered most everything.  Hopefully all the seeds will germinate and we’ll be off to the races.

Older Entries Newer Entries