Racing With Time

Dear Family & Friends

Have you ever notice how time goes by so quick? Sometimes it feels like there's never enough time. We are racing with time. So many little things yet to do before cold weather sets in.

Spraying the house, from gray to yellowish... it's getting there!

The house painting has been going slow...but it is almost there! My diligent and very meticulous husband have been working hard on it... rain or shine!

Training the climbing red rose to form a canopy.

We have intention to train this robust climbing rose to form a canopy over the entrance walkway...but we need that additional time to fit it in!

My quick way in putting up a lavender hedge on the existing grass lawn area

I'm claiming part of the lawn to plant a long stretch of lavender hedge...I used a short cut technique! I covered the grass area with cardboards, clearing only a small area where I need to plant my lavender plants! I'm hoping by spring time, the cardboard would have cleared the grass up, and the lavender will be more established and bigger in size. 

we placed a box and hay to make it all cozy for the tortoise in the barn..he's in there snoozing!

While we are racing with time with all the odd jobs we need to do this autumn, our free roaming tortoise seems to have a better idea! It looks like he is going into hibernation... already?! Oh! it will be another 6 months before we''ll see him roaming the garden again.

As for us, back to our little jobs...but before that, I think we will have a little cup of tea for motivation;P

Have a happy weekend :)

Yours

The Guilty One

Dear Family & Friends

This year, we noticed a lot of flowers on our strawberry plants... that means a bit more to indulge in...but wait! Just as we are still waiting for it to become big and redder, we've also noticed that somebody got in ahead of us!

half eaten strawberry

Still another one being munched and left half eaten!

yet another half eaten fruit!

Then we caught the culprit! Yes! in action...!

To prove to you, we even photographed him close up...he is the guilty one...see his red coated lips?!

Our tortoise with red smacking lips!

My girls had to harvest the strawberries before the tortoise get to it. It's still a novelty item at this point of time...I'm sure everyone will be fed up with it later. Although there's a lot of it this year for everyone to enjoy, I'm hoping for left over so I could try my hands on dehydrating them for snack. Am I hoping too much?!!

First strawberry harvest for the year

Since the day we caught the guilty one, we painted some tiny blue dots on his shell, so we could easily spot him in the garden...and we also built a low wall around the main strawberry patch. The other tinier strawberry patch in another part of the garden was left open as is...so Tin Tin Tortoise can enjoy harvesting some too:)

We all should have a fair share of joy in life....Hope your day is joyful today:)

Yours

Hibernated Tortoise

Dear Family & Friends

Remember the tortoise gift the two girls received from one of our village grandfather last autumn? Well, we did struggle with a name for it...I wanted it to be called Olga, and the girls wanted it to be called Tin-Tin. We still don't know whether it's a male or female...but because of majority vote...the tortoise is now known as Tin-Tin. Not that it matter...because the tortoise doesn't care one bit what he's called!

Our Tortoise finally came out of hibernation! Caked with mud too!

From November onwards, Tin-Tin Tortoise went to hibernate. Yes, she/he lives free in our enclosed walled garden. We never saw Tin-Tin again for almost 6 months...the two girls were starting to get anxious! About mid April....Tin-Tin came out from hiding..out of hibernation:)

After almost 6 months sleeping...he/she is so hungry!

The tortoise was caked in mud....we still don't know exactly where Tin-Tin went to bury himself during the hibernation period.

Some yummy food in the garden....

As soon as the weather felt warmer, he came out and start looking/ foraging for food. We actually don't feed our tortoise....he is good...he looks after himself.

And ate some more...

There's plenty of food in our garden....although I don't see any damaged done to my plants:)

Seeking some warm place to sleep-  the compost heap!

Our tortoise knew how to seek shelter during the cold winters months...even now, he still goes under the compost heap in the garden to sleep....because it's warm in there.

Not just rubbish...there's a tortoise in there:)

If you watch closely..Tin-Tin is there amongst all the the rubbish. Surprisingly, having this pet tortoise is actually all good fun...I'll have more stories of this silly guy for you next time.

For now, I must join the work enforcement outside. Hope you have a nice day today.

Yours

Meet Olga,our Russian Tortoise

Dear Family & Friends

When the girls joined the Scout Group summer camp this year, my little girl saw a tortoise whilst hiking in the forest. She so wanted to take it home but realized it was not possible as they got a few more days with their camping session. She was disappointed. But recently, a village grandfather gave them a tortoise, making her dream come true:)

So, Meet Olga, our Russian tortoise. She/he is settling in our garden..set loose, free to roam safely around our property as it's enclosed within four solid walls.

That's his/her humble house, under a heap of compost file!

Olga can have the organic weeds or plants growing around the garden.  Since she had been with us, we never fed her, so we don't really know what she eats or drinks....but, she is surviving. On sunny days, we get to see her have a stroll in the garden. Just hoping that we don't overlook her because she is very quiet in her travelling sessions.

Whilst squatting on the garden pavement, fully concentrating on potting and propagating my geraniums...I felt a nudge at my backside!! I stood up to check and I saw this brown thingy!! I didn't really know what it was at first glance. I screamed in fright, so loud that my girls thought I was stung by a wasp! I nearly died of heart attack by a harmless, peaceful tortoise of all things!!

Well, Don't you think having a tortoise can make one's gardening life more exciting?!

Yours