At 7:30 I am off to adult tap dancing and really looking forward to it.  Originally, I found out about this dance school from another mum at kinder when I mentioned putting Matty into dancing.  As I started looking at their time table, I noticed they do adult classes to, well, two adult classes.  Tap Dancing and Hip Hop.  Quit yer laughin’!

I finally got the courage to call and enquire, so tonight I do a free trial of Tap.  I mentioned to the woman on the phone that I am a little worried about being too old, and she had a giggle and said most of the people are in their 40s.  Phew!  I’d be one of the youngest, that’s not so bad.  I asked about Hip Hop and she said 18-30, so oldest in that one.

After all that, in about two hours then I’ll be giving it my best shot, see what happens and hopefully come back and blog about it.

What kind of $$ am I looking at for tap shoes?

Have you tried anything new lately?

Today we spent some time in our garden and as I was raking old leaves and grass, I had some time to think about the Spring and Summer.  Mostly as per above…  So, here is the brain dump (and I do wish I had photos to go with it all!)

What worked

1. Planting in the front yard.  The zuchinis are going nuts and the cucumber and eggplant are also doing well, although I’m not sure if those two have actual fruit yet.  Alex waters them on his way to work in the mornings so they are getting a fair amount of care without a lot of work.
2. These plastic ring things at the base of the camellias and lemon tree to keep the water at the roots and fill up with mulch.  The camellias are on a hill-y bit, and the water kept running off, and also, because of the hill were difficult to keep the mulch in place.  I like it for the lemon too because it keep the sheep poo contained and covered and away from the small inquisitive ones..
3. The herb garden lives!  In fact, glancing at it tonight on my way out the backdoor, I saw new growth at the base of a lot of the oregano plants.  Last week I would have sworn it was all going to go to seed then die, but it looks like only a few have gone to seed and others are starting afresh.  The whole bed needs weeking and the rosemary needs to be tamed, but at least it lives.
4. The potting bench.  While we don’t do much potting, it’s great for storing garden bits and pieces that we want easy access to like buckets and watering cans.  It’s not used a LOT, but it’s been useful.
5. Our grey water system from the laundry works!  What I mean by system is a grey water hose that lives under the laundry sink and comes out to connect to the washing machine outlet hose.  Then it goes down through the laundry sink floor and out into a 60L bin with a lid which subsequently has a hold drilling into the lid and the end of the hose straight in.  With small ones in the garden it is important to me that the grey water has a lid on it at ALL times.  The bin lives next to the potting bench with the buckets on it, so when the bin is full, I just dip the bucket in, fill it up and dump onto the trees or camellias or the drip system
6. Oh, the drip system!  It has a special cute name, and I just can’t think of it at the moment.  But it’s a bucket with a lid and a hose that comes out of it, which Alex has split to go two directions to drip into the vegie patch.  That’s awesome
7. The potatoes grew and we ate them!

What didn’t

1. The vegie patch didn’t work out too well.  I think I should have swallowed my pride and got Alex to leave the bird netting on.  Aside from keeping birds out, we think it was also deterring the possums that we know live either in our garden or near enough.  The carrots, celery and onions died, and the tomatoes, bless them, keep trying to come back.  We got a few cherry tomatoes out of the lot, but something was possibly not quite right as they all did take quite a while to start growing at all.  Also, while I do see Alex’s point that a no dig garden can be a waste of materials (the timber or pavers for the edges, the supplies for making the soil/compost/mulch), I really think future vegie patches need a defined border of some sort.  It looks like we’re trying to line up some reading about gardening so next year will be promising.
2. Watering the garden under water restrictions.  As it stands, we are only permitted to water the garden (NOT lawn) on Sunday and Wednesday mornings from 6am-8am.  That’s not Sunday through to Wednesday, by the way, JUST Sunday AND Wednesday.  I need to look into buying the best eco laundry powder or liquid I can find that will clean the clothes of a 4 and 1.5 year old and also be safe for the garden AND lawn.  Recommend one?
3. The roses in the front garden.  Oh they are thorny and when a plastic bag or somesuch blows into the yard, they catch it ALL.  On the bright side, it means we can collect it and put it into the bin or recycling asrequired so it doesn’t end up injuring wildlife or gathering someplace else or ending in waterways via a drain somewhere.

What I’d like

1. TREES:  Avocado, lemon, olive, some other fruit and perhaps a new bay tree (we hope to try re-potting our current tree which dried out in the heat - stew anyone?)
2. GRAPE VINE!  Ideally at the front of the house to maybe train over a pergola that might shade the car and maybe one out the back near the kitchen window, too.
3. GRASS:  Hoping when I find a new eco powder/liquid to be able to use the water for the lawn, this will come about naturally.  It doesn’t look too dead and noticed some new green shoots today, so things are promissing.
4. BYE-BYE FERNS!  These area pain in my backside and just unsightly.  Can’t wait for a slow fornight in the green bin to dig them out.
5. NEW VEGIE PATCH LOCATION:  Once we sort out the tree situation, what is dead, alive, to be purchased, etc, we’ll know where the new vegie patch will go in time for Spring ‘09.

All in all, more worked than didn’t work and I don’t think I want much.  Like I said, I so wish I had photos to accompany this post so you can see what is what and where and how and why.

Meanwhile, we are all healthy and well and getting back into ‘Term’ life with kinder and sports and activities all around.  Slowly slowly, not forgetting to BREATHE, eh?

ps.  Visitors next month!!! :D  Looking forward to Dee and family!!!