Please fence me in

We had quite a full weekend with Hanno finishing the new chook fence and me flitting between writing and household chores. Of course there were lots of breaks and tea on the verandah so it was a productive and relaxing time for us. I watched the neighbours go in and out all weekend, mostly for short trips and I wondered if they were picking up forgotten groceries or DVDs to watch. I was just happy to sit and watch their comings and goings while I knitted and thought about what to write.

It's a lovely time of year now, the spring flowers are blooming, birds are visiting from far off places and it's bare arms weather - ideal for sitting with a lemon cordial and letting the world pass by. I am happy here, I feel as much a part of this place as all the trees deeply rooted in dry soil. We all get our nourishment from being here and I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Hanno did a great job on the fence using mostly recycled materials. We did have to buy the fence posts though. Almost all of yesterday was taken up with him making a patchwork of wire for the bottom of the fence. The top of it is all one roll of wire but the bottom is many different pieces. Even though it took a longer time to complete, he's happy to have used the scrap wire that was already here.

The fence is too high for any of them to fly over now so hopefully they'll be safe and secure. The wire all along the bottom is a small gauge so when we raise chicks, they won't be able to sneak through the fence without the mother hen.

And here in the late afternoon, is the finished fence. You can see Hanno in the distance just putting the finishing touches to it. Seth and his ladies have been inspecting the new work and I think they all approve.

Further over, on the other side of the yard, the bananas have put on their first flower of the season. I hope to see many more of those as the weeks go by but, for now, I'm happy that there is one bunch of bananas forming.

And here inside the shed is our haystack. This should be enough to do us all through summer for the hens' nests, the worm farm and the garden. I always feel good about having a haystack. For some reason, I feel I've got it together if we have enough hay for the full season.

BUMS UP! I took this photo while I was standing talking to Hanno. All I could see were chook bottoms and tail feathers pointing upward. They must have found some choice food over there because none of them moved away for quite some time.

Does anyone know what plant this is. These blue flowers have just come up in our grass. You can see a round leaf of the plant at the bottom of the photo in between the two blades of grass. The leaves look a little like violet leaves, but they're runners, not single leaves. I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have.

It will be another busy week here and I'm ready for it. I still have another week to go on my break from work and I have a fully planned week. There will be a lot of writing, a phone call with my agent halfway through the week, more knitting, some sewing and another step towards my embrace of ironing. Many of you would know I hate ironing but I've made a new ironing space for myself and it's made all the difference. I'm not saying yet that I enjoy ironing, but I've got myself to the stage where I don't mind it. But more on that another day, now I'm off to feed the chooks and dogs and to get on with my day. How was your weekend?

BTW, I spent some time on the weekend browsing though some blogs and found this little link to the Rose Garden on Jenny Wren's blog. It's an utterly charming and delightful blog and I couldn't leave after reading the first page. I had to go back through the archives. It's a real gem.