That garden bed beside the fence...

Long time readers might recall the 'saga' of one of the garden beds in the front yard...the one that DH and I allowed to be dug up to enable the firm who was redeveloping the site next door to us, to lay the stormwater pipes. It had been a tale of mismanagement, firms going out of business and reapplications to council, which caused the townhouses to be almost completely built without the stormwater drains being laid and connected up. DH felt that we should display good neighbourliness and give our permission for the tradespersons to dig up our side garden to allow them to access the property next door. The 2 young men who did all the work were polite and well mannered and their boss, and  the obsequious project manager of the building firm (yes I'm referring to Brad!) had promised that all would be restored after the work was finished.

 The remnants of this particular garden ...

I had even furnished Brad with a list of plants that had been dug up and which I reasonably expected would be replaced. Then DH and I went on our 7 week holiday to the UK and France...
When we arrived back, there had been a fair bit of progress on the build next door...and the fence had finally been replaced. The engineering firm had turfed alongside the fence on our property and soil had been brought in to replace all that which had been taken away...and my edging had been replaced. More plants had disappeared though, and despite digging into that mulch, I couldn't find any trace.
How barren it all looked and I started my campaign of ringing the project manager to see when he would be dropping off those promised new plants...yeah right???

That termite monitor box in the above photo, is actually a replacement...the landscapers made the previous one disappear along with a few plants...pine bark mulch on wooden fences isn't a good idea in Brisbane either. From the base of the fence, I removed enough mulch to spread around 2 other garden beds. 

One plant purchased from Bunnings and several cuttings from friends, became my replacement plants...
We've had quite a bit of rain here in the last month and what a difference it has made!

Even the tired old pentas is doing well...

 I like this garden bed now, as the plants remind me of those friends who provided those cuttings...and the replacement soil is very good quality, so that has to be a bonus :-)

Timber...!!!

Regular readers know about the building work next door, where a little neglected 50s style house was demolished and is being replaced by 7 dwellings.

To accommodate so many dwellings on the one block has meant that the new houses are much closer to our boundary than the old house.

Note the trees at the right of the photo...they are in our property...the temporary fencing is on our land

 Two views of our western boundary, showing how close the new house at the back is to the fence line...

Both photos show that we have trees at the back of our property...

Two of them are mango trees. Every few years the trees get covered with mangoes and the fruit bats 'make a real mess' swooping in and taking the mangoes that are too high up for us to reach ...and then dropping half eaten fruit on the ground. 

Before the block next door was cleared for development, there were some mango trees at the corner of that yard too and the various tenants over the years did not complain about fruit dropping in their yard, because their fruit was dropping in our yard...or being dropped by the flying foxes or fruit bats as they are also called. 

But things are different now...there is a driveway (well it will be a driveway when the building is finished) just near our fence. 

A couple of half eaten mangoes in the building site next door. In the weeks since Christmas this area has been strewn with anything up to 30 mangoes at a time, all half eaten

We decided that we had to try to remedy this situation before people moved into this house...so DH and I called our respective brothers for help.

Firstly, my brother came over Monday afternoon...DH and he checked out what needed to be done..

 Back to the van to get the saw which is able to cut high branches...

They have tied a rope to the first branch that will be chopped...DH is in charge of the rope...

 That branch is now cut through!

 The branches start to pile up on the ground...

 The boys have decided that yet another branch should go...it's too high for the saw to reach so my brother switches saws and climbs the tree...

 he saws away with the smaller saw...

 In the next photo my brother has climbed even higher in the tree...

 Now he's dealing with that other branch...

All up, it took my brother half and hour to trim those trees...the wonders of power saws!

My brother also helped me trim back my clump of bamboo (not the bad sort of bamboo) which shades our kitchen window. Because regulations allow garages to be built a mere 20 cm or 8 inches away from fence lines, my bamboo was touching the corner of the garage and of course the leaves would drop into the guttering if it wasn't trimmed.

Then, on Wednesday morning, DH's brother came around with his trailer and he and DH took 2 trailer loads of tree loppings to the City Council Transfer Station where it will be turned into mulch and sold back to residents. 

So hopefully these actions will avert any future conflicts with our new neighbours. 

Knit and Natter and FNSI...

This morning I headed off to a local yarn shop for a K4BN Knit and Natter. This is only the second time I've been to the monthly Saturday session; last month DH and I were helping out at a fete. There were a lot more ladies there this time, so lots of chatting, complimenting and sharing was going on! :-) I finished the knitting of the red/black and white throw I was making for K4BN, but still have some neatening off to do. I've decided not to put a fringe on it as this could be a nuisance for a homeless person. Photos later when all is finished.

Last night was my first Friday Night Sew In  (FNSI) here , and over the days since I signed up on Heidi's blog, I put a lot of thought into what I would actually do. I thought that maybe I could do one of the 2010 Quilt Aid blocks, none of which I've touched. Or maybe one of my Gifts of the month program, from 'Faeries in my Garden'? yet again, I thought vaguely about sewing a top to go with my selection of skirts. In the end I decided on the KISS principle...keep it simple stupid!

So I decided I would work on a project that I had intended to do the first week we arrived back from the US. Hmmm...that was late April...definitely overdue. I bought little items for my neighbour's grandson when we were travelling; items he could take to school for 'Show and tell'. But I had decided that I would make a drawstring bag to put all these items in. I had bought a number of pieces of US themed fabrics as well as a 'jellyroll' of patriotic type fabrics that I found in Walmart. The hold-up in giving these things to Jay was the bag!! So that was my project last night...but I had to finish it this afternoon.

Front of the bag

The back of the bag sewn with strips from the jellyroll

A line-up of the items I bought for Jay

Items put in ziplock bags with description of contents

All the items packed in the drawstring bag ready to give to Jay!

I'm really glad that I joined in the FNSI as I feel that I've achieved something; albeit small. I've just remembered I have some US coins and a One Dollar note to put in the bag as well...