Training Days

Over the next two days I am completing my advanced clinical play therapy training.  I completed my clinical training last year, studying it alongside my Masters in Counselling.  Working with children is the area I seem to be naturally gravitating to, which is understandable given my love of children and my previous teaching career.  I LOVE play therapy and am taking on a small number of clients whilst finishing my Masters.  Eventually I'd like to incorporate nature based play therapy into my practice.

 

Due to my bath breaking it's plumb dinger and flooding through the wall, I can't show you any good  photos of my Play Therapy room.  It's in disarray at present with the carpet having been professionally treated for mould and still raised up to dry properly.  The toys, tent and other resources are piled haphazardly in the corner and overflow into the other bedroom.  I should be able to put the carpet down again on the weekend and I can get the room organised again on the weekend.  I'll take some pictures and show you then.

 

 

This is a plumb dinger for those who don't know. It connects the plug hole of your bath with the drain in the house slab when they are not aligned correctly.  Basically it's a flexible pipe. 

A Day of Little Joys

I seem to have been at home forever so this morning I visited my friend Susana and got to give love - and receive lots of love from Luke her 12 week old Lab.  It brought back memories of my Jess as a puppy. All that wriggly, overexcited, completely in the moment puppiness that evokes joy and frustration in equal measure.  Susana and Rodrigo want to give me a puppy from the first litter he sires as thanks for helping them settle in here in Australia.  Such an unexpected and kind gesture. I'm so humbled by this kindness.  It reminds me anew of just how generous, kind and beautiful my friends are and I am grateful for them daily.  

Luke making short work of the kong Sophie and I bought him for Christmas.

Such a big boy for 12 weeks and solid muscle.

 

 

As I made my way home from this visit I called in to a nursery that I pass on the way and yet have never entered. Oh my stars!! Such a glorious place. I wandered amongst the plants for 20 minutes or more completely content.  Gardens bring my spirit such peace, joy and contentment and yet it still surprises me just how much I physically ache with missing my old garden.  I don't dwell on it but when thoughts of it do pop up it is such a physical heartache, I feel as though I lost part of myself when I was forced to leave.

I kept forgetting to take photos I was so enthralled by the plants and the feel of the place so I did a quick whip around and took some snaps before I left. The centre was planned out with different garden rooms such as the desert themed space below full of succulents and some rather alarming and vicious looking cacti.

My succulents are ready for replanting and I was rather inspired by the wheelbarrow display below. I'll have a look through my odds and ends and see what I can come up with to create a new home for my plants.

I think my favourite space was the shade house. My friend Steven, who is also an avid gardener, suggested that I put one along the hot side of my house as it is currently a hot wasteland of gravel and tomato plants at the end of their life.  A shade house would cool the house as well as expand my gardening space - both of which are tempting outcomes.  It will be on my list of things to save for once I start work. 

These beehive gingers (Zingiber spectabilis) were just spectacular! So healthy and the flower heads were enormous.  I had red ones in my old garden and the flowers were pitiful in comparison to these.

This glorious display demonstrates that you really need very little space to grow a beautiful water garden.  This waterlily was so beautiful.  It reminded me of when I lived in Kakadu and would drive across floodplains full of waterlily flowers on my way into Darwin.  It seems a lifetime ago.  Beautiful memories though.

My time at the nursery made me appreciate my little garden a little more and I came home and enjoyed it with Miss Sophie and a cup of tea.  I've been here three years and it is yet to really feel like home.  I'm not sure if it ever will but I do my best and hope that one day I'll feel my spirit rest here.

My hibiscus has finally taken off like crazy after 4 years of not doing much at all.  I'll give it a good hard prune towards the end of March and see if I can strike some cuttings from it as it's a beautiful plant.

Slowly introducing splashes of colour and blossoms for the insects. I have native bees and regular bees and am slowly inviting more butterflies into my yard.

For such a tiny yard (about 12m x3m) growing space, I have managed to fit a good amount of food in.  This is my mandarin tree (dwarf). I also have a lime and two lemons also dwarf varieties.  Two blueberries which I'm not sure have survived Sophie's recent enthusiastic investigation. I also have strawberries, a variety of herbs and am prepping the garden for the next lot of veggies.  I grow mainly salad and chinese vegetables plus cherry tomatoes.  This cool season I am planting potatoes in potato growing bags so I'll see how successful that venture is.

My helper.

Happy 15th Birthday Sophie.

 Sophie was such a challenge as a puppy.  She came to us at 16 months old, with a history of poor treatment and we were her seventh home.  To say she was crazy is probably an understatement and now that I've spent so much time studying trauma I can see that her poor little brain and psyche was quite traumatised.  I came to love her and who would have imagined that it would come down to just Sophie and I, a little family of two.  She has been such a blessing and I'm so grateful for her company. She is doing very well for 15 and is such a happy girl. 

I hope you've all had a healthy and happy time during this strange festive season is such an unusual year. xxx