Two sentences

Feeling a bit frazzled tonight. The rose is flawless. 

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

To Writer

I just wanted to post a thank you to someone who passed away yesterday.
We communicated only on a few occasions but his effect on me was profound, long lasting and life changing. Not many people have such an effect on others. His words were felt the same way by myriads of others. He will be missed. 

Have a great journey, Writer. Maybe you have reached your destination already. In that case, enjoy the eternity and the new adventures. You will be a curious soul, I am sure.
And thank you for your contributions whilst on the planet. You always saw the extraordinary in the ordinary.

I have to stop now. His main advice to me was ``condense, compress and make it tight``. He was a superb writer and a really nice person.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

Gift

To dip hands in a paint bucket... and then create. Feeling the paint.
This is a peace lily. It was a gift. It looks like a poem.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

Already feeling christmassy

I need colour. Lots of colour. Fortunately my need is easily fulfilled. And these colours remind me of Christmas. 

It really feels a little bit like Christmas is soon here. I bought star shaped solar lights today for my front yard frangipani which will pretend to be the Christmas tree this year. We live in the subtropics after all.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

A day like a brush stroke

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

Popping

I wish I managed to grow poppies. Last attempts were eaten by a) possum b) wallaby or c) something else. Take your pick. Plus scrub turkeys did not leave them alone anyway. 

I found out today that the bush turkeys build their mounds from 84 meters to half a kilometre apart. I have been trying to come up with solutions to the turkey problem. I thought maybe, if, I provide a start of a mound underneath some nice, shady tree at the back of the property, the dominating male gets obsessed with it, starts building further and keeps the other birds away. But it doesn't work like that. So I just keep adding chicken wire cylinders around my plants at the back yard. I have chicken wire spread out on the ground next to the bushes and trees that I see the turkeys show interest (read: scratch whenever I am not there chasing it away). In theory they do not like scratching ground that has chicken wire laid out. 

I have actually run out of chicken wire. As has my next door neighbour who now goes to garage sales regularly to try to find cheap chicken wire rolls. Maybe I should cover my backyard with one huge chicken wire cage. I could grow whatever I want, whenever I want and however I want.

These little flower faces me happy.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016

Soul of a garden

My favourite type of garden is the one that surprises me and makes me think happy thoughts. I would like to have a garden with winding paths that turn even a short walk into an exploration of the wonderfully beautiful unknown. 

I visited Mt Tamborine Garden Show a couple of weeks ago. I really liked the garden number 1. It was tiny compared to others but it was full of wonders and delights. You could sense the enjoyment and love that had been planted into that tiny plot. There were colours, shapes, textures, scents mixing in a happy union. My least favourite garden was the one (number 8, I think) that didn't have, in my mind, any artistic flair, any soul. A hired garden designer had designed the garden. Although there were million dollar views onto the mountains, there were also orderly rows of the same plants, masses of mass plantings. There were no surprises, no excitement, just the feeling of show off. Everything screamed money, money, money. Well, this might be news to some but in my mind money doesn't bring soul into a garden. Read, and be inspired by, Jackie French's book The Wilderness Garden if you don't believe me.

This photograph is from the Botanical Gardens in Mt Tamborine, Queensland.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2016