This is coriander on steriods! I had never been able to grow coriander until a Texan blogger a few years back told me to grow it by seed rather than seedlings, which is what I always use for herbs and vegies. I haven't looked back. We had a bumper crop in Junee in the cement laundry tubs and again here in three plastic pots. This pot has been down by the first fence, under the bottlebrush tree and it has grown huge and hasn't even started to go to seed yet.
Look at the size of that stem! It looks like a small shrub!
We have pealets! I only noticed them today. I'm pretty sure we planted both snow peas and sugar snap peas and there are little pods on almost every plant as it curls and winds its way up the wire fence to the carport, and the grapevine as well.
The sage has endured and the mint is coming back after looking all but dead.
We have more mint in this old sunken tub over by the fence. I was sure the heat had killed it last Summer but common mint is very hardy thank goodness.
The thyme got off to a slow start but all the rain and the recent warm days have seen it grow nicely.
It's on the back porch where I have my "kitchen garden".
We planted oregano under our lemon tree. There are some little basil seedlings there too now replacing our gorgeous lush crop of last year.
It was such a lovely warm day today and I spent a fair bit of it outside pottering about.
Today was the last day of the school term, and the kids usually always stay home as there is little or no learning done on that day, the teachers usually use whoever turns up as slave labour to clean up the school. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's their school and they should pitch in. So Josh and I looked forward to a nice sleep in. I actually slept until 8.30 until I heard loud talking. I came out to berate the kids when I saw Em's fellow truanter friend at the front door telling Emily she had to go to school. Emily threw on the clothes she wore yesterday and a pair of thongs and went off with her, no bag and totally inappropriately dressed.
At about 11.30 I got a phone call from the school saying they'd just turned up and said that they'd slept in, but another teacher had seen them in Woolworths buying lollies (gotta love small towns). I said no they had left here before 9am and they were lying. The teacher said he would separate them, and give them "boring" tasks to do for the rest of the day and confiscate the lollies till home time. So much for thinking they were going to have some sort of party at school.
Phill had the car so Josh and I walked downtown to do some shopping. The school rang my mobile and the same teacher said that Emily was saying she wanted to go home (surprise surprise) but I said I did not give my permission and she could stay there till the end of the day. She wasn't happy and said "I'll just walk out". I said "go right ahead and face the consequences". She didn't. She came home very chastened after school and didn't mention the day at all.
So then her year 7 friend turned up looking for her. Em was in the shower (finally, she hadn't had one for about 5 days the little grub) and I should have told her she couldn't come out but I let her in. They went out for a while and came back and Emily asked if the friend could sleep over. She knows we don't do sleepovers anymore and she knows why. AND she asked in front of the friend which is also a big no no in our house. I said "no" and walked off. Then she came back and asked if she could sleepover at Kim's. I said absolutely not. Kim's father, who we have never met, is a single dad, and is a drug user and suspected dealer. They live in a very dodgy public housing area and Emily herself said the house was filthy the one time she went in there. Emily said "I can make my own decisions" and I said "if you walk out that door there will be consequences". She continued to put stuff into a bag. So I went out to where Kim was waiting and said "If Emily goes to your place I'll be ringing the police to come and get her". I'm sure Dad would not want the police to visit his house. Suddenly Emily said goodbye to her friend and came back inside, no anger, no tantrums. She later said it was a "stupid idea" and mentioned how she'd stayed at her friend Jade's house on a couple of occasions when we lived in Sydney, before we knew Jade's brother was a potential killer. He later murdered a girl he met on Facebook after he had lured her to bushland near their home.
The experts are right, children, even cocky teenagers, need boundaries, and want boundaries and to have repsonsible parents who have their best interests foremost, and are not afraid to enforce rules. In fact Emily seemed relieved that I gave her an "out".
So Winter has left us, and while the nights are still cool enough to snuggle in, the days are lengthening and warming with the promise of a sweet Summer to come.
