So many things seem to be catching up on me and I'm conscious I need to work a bit harder to keep on top of things. I'm getting tired which means I'm slipping into bad habits of letting important things slide such as my early morning routine of walking, gardening and writing notes for future posts - like a kind of daily journal.

I've been so blessed lately to have had time with either my Canberra granddaughter or my Melbourne grandson over each of the last four weekends. The weekend before last, I was in the Yarra Valley with my beautiful Melbourne daughter, son-in-law and their dear little boy, Harry (9 weeks but already so big). I also had a lovely day with my friend, Melbourne Jenny, who drove out to meet me at Yarra Glen and we treated ourselves to such an indulgent day of catching up under the jasmine covered pergola at Yering Station, and then having a beautiful champagne lunch at Meletos. I love the text message I received from her letting me know she'd arrived ahead of me: I'm sitting amongst the jasmine past the cellar door. Follow your nose and you will find me - and I did. I find our time together, whether in person or in conversation by long distance phone calls, feeds my heart, mind and soul. We've made quite a journey together this year, my friend and I.

Impressive sapling tee-pee for beans at Meletos' kitchen garden, Coldstream

In the garden

There are beautiful things in my Melbourne daughter's garden. Each time I visit, there is another surprise.

A soft pink and lightly fragrant climbing rose

I also saw this terrific pot plant on display at the Healesville nursery which is a creative way of using a broken pot:

My garden

I love bearded iris. They grow well here in Cowra with minimum fuss or bother and their flowers are incredible. Over the years, I have often used them as inspiration for watercolour paintings. I have recently been given some plants from a friend of my father's who was dividing his iris and I also bought some plants from a roadside stall at Yarck on my drive back to Cowra a week ago. They were labelled with such fantastic names such as Morning Shadows, Tranquil Sunshine and Deep Dark Secret. I now have an iris garden alongside the back driveway leading up to the garages

A tip for summer

I'm loving adding fresh mint to cool drinks - takes a good drink to the next level of taste and so refreshing. The herb garden also has lemon verbena which I intend picking and putting the leaves into a teapot, pouring over boiling water, allowing to steep, strain and cool. I'm tempted to try this with gin over ice and a dash of soda water.

After a busy and tiring number of weeks, it has been restful to write about gentle things - time spent with children, grandchildren, good friends, as well as gardening and cooking.