website redesign, new plants, new Mountmellick

Lying in bed wishing I was still asleep between 6 and 7am on New Years Day, I started to think about where I would like my business to go this year. (I often do my best business thinking in bed in the morning.) I was trying to prioritise some things to do, and decided that a good place to start would be an overhaul of my website.

This is a big task – having done it before, it is easily a couple of weeks full time work. I started an abortive attempt some time last year, but was never really happy with the “look” I’d come up with. So I left it.

When I finally decided I’d pretended to be asleep long enough, I got up and went to my computer. I had a look at the files from last year’s new design attempt. Surprise surprise, I am totally predictable as the date on those files was 1/1/07. Seems like I have some sort of urgency to remodel my website each New Years Day.

I came up with a new look that I really love. Now I just have to plod through applying to all the pages. It could be months before anyone sees any results from this, so don’t get your hopes up just yet…

Earlier this week we also finally got around to de-potting the fig tree that was beside our front steps. We were pretty sure that the root had escaped through the bottom of the pot because each time it rained, the pot filled with water and didn’t drain. We thought we might have to smash the pot to get it out, but amazingly, we got it out by hacksawing through the root at the base of the pot. We then treated the root still in the ground with neat Roundup to kill it.

Yesterday we had nothing planned, so took a trip to the local nursery in the Hills District. We bought a new plant to go in the pot (a mandevilla??) and some new ones for out the back under the Cecile Brunner climbing rose. My husband has rather a penchant for bright flowering things, so some gorgeous red geraniums were in order. Yes, I know – does anyone really BUY geraniums? Well, we did, because the colours were what we wanted. All the ones in the gardens near here, that we could have nicked a cutting from, were not colours I was interested in.

We also bought a new hydrangea called “Everlasting Summer” (or something like that) which has a repeat flowering. This is to go in a darkish spot under the rose, too. (Hopefully our mower man won’t destroy this one, like the white one that Mum gave me a few years ago.) This and the geraniums all were planted yesterday afternoon.

Today is showery, so we will take the chance at some point to put the new plant in the pot to go by the front steps. Then it can happily enjoy the rain.

I spent the afternoon yesterday beginning the design process for some of my class projects for the year. First cab off the rank is Southern Cross Needlework in Maitland. I have designed a Mountmellick cushion with honeysuckle, dogrose, wheat and daisy. It will make a lovely companion piece for the other cushion I made last year with dogrose and blackberry.

I’ll get stuck into stitching it today.