Golden Girl

La Cangura is the name of my bike, a beautiful gunmetal and gold-trimmed machine from Orbea, a manufacturer from Spain, hence the name (which means The Kangaroo in English).

She looks delightful in among the canola, the yellow hues of the bike and the flowers a wonderful match.

Just wish I was having as much luck with my flowers and other plants in the Kangaeroo Corner garden.

I’m relatively new to the gardening caper, only having really taken a great interest in it since Amazing Alex made the Aussie garden for us in March 2022.

While the garden is, for the most part, thriving, as I noted a while back, the plants I really wanted to flourish–kangaroo paw, tree fern and jacaranda– all died.

A grevillea we picked up from a local supermarket was our first-year miracle, blooming six times and looking absolutely wonderful before suddenly taking a turn for the worst about a month ago.

With the onset of spring, I expected the existing plants in the garden and the new seedlings I have been growing since around Christmas last year to all thrive and create a lusciously colorful slice of paradise.

Yeah, good luck with that one.

Anyway, we got back in touch with Alex and received some advice on fertilizer that we hope will give the trees a bit of a lift.

Fertilizers designed for Australian native plants are also on the way and should arrive today.

My seedlings are looking sickly, so I took the feeblest of the lot back inside and reinstalled them in the humidity pods under the growth lights.

The great seed experiment has not really paid off well at all, but it is still far from over.

Patience, never something I have been overly endowed with, is now being required.

The weather is not being a great friend, either. This week has been alarmingly windy and I am sure it is not making things easy for the plants, either.

A few delightful success stories from the spring so far have been the blossoming wattle, the cherry blossom plant and the wisteria, which is now verging on full bloom if the wind doesn’t blow away all her petals.

None of these plants bloomed last year, so they are clearly enjoying the conditions at Kangaeroo Corner.

Let’s hope other plants will end up doing the same.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Doggone

    After a blissful stay with us of two weeks or so, Uyu the border collie is gone, having returned home to her mum and dad. It was sad to see her go as she had been our little angel and being with her was blissful. She brought enormous joy and we had great fun. But, as I had noted the last time she stayed her, the biggest lesson Uyu provided was to convey how clearly impossible it would be for us to own a dog, much as I would love to have one. I simply can’t care well enough for a dog. A pooch needs daily walks, feeds, care of…

  • Tripping on the Tama River

    Kangaeroo cycles pretty much daily. Due to a number of time constraints, nearly all the rides are along or near the Tama River. This river is one of the main waterways in Tokyo and has been supplying the city with water for centuries. River-side cycling is on bike tracks and really isn’t demanding (except for the requirement to be constantly wary of pedestrians). But it’s still great fun. Being able to wake up, get on the bike and shake off the cobwebs and let life rip is a blessing for this old man. And Kangaeroo is even luckier by being able to ride the absolutely gorgeous La Cangura, who heads…

  • |

    豪キャブラリー:Whinge

    言うのはなんだけど、(残念ながら考えRoo自身を含めて)多くのオージーがぐずることが大好きでまるで国民的な行動と言っても過言ではないかもしれない。オージー英語では、このぐずぐず文句を言う癖(?)は、Whingeと言う。  皮肉的に多くのオージーの間Whingeと言えばPommy(イギリス人のスラングな言い方)を思い浮かべ、Whinging Pommyが(少し軽蔑を込めて)よく使われている表現だ。  ちなみに、whingeを頻繁にする人はwhingerと言う。

  • Bracing…

    Unfortunately, the bracing in the title of today’s post refers to readying for what looks like a rough ride ahead instead of the alternative meaning of refreshing. My job search has proved disastrous, and it’s hard to keep trying to convince myself that I should be grateful for the position I do have even though my employer clearly wants me out and is harassing and haranguing me in every possible way to make my departure a voluntary rather than enforced one. It’s even worse to be surrounded by people who, though well-meaning and intending to encourage, are driving my feelings downward by constantly insisting that things will get better when…

  • Ideal Workday Weather

    Today is bleak. Weather is debilitating. It’s drizzling, bleak, wet and cold. Perfect for work … if you have to work indoors. (Not too good for those who earn a living outside, though) It’s too wet to ride, to do much outside to be honest, but not wet enough to fully rule out any activities under the skies. This kind of weather does my head in. Kangaeroo has also just switched employers, so there is a massive amount of stress and the fear of the unknown. Transition is not moving altogether smoothly, either. One bonus of not being able to ride was getting to take a walk. And Kangaeroo is…

  • |

    No Wonder the Wallabies Were Wallies in RWC2019

    Australia’s rugby team, the Wallabies, were ignominiously dumped from the 2019 Rugby World Cup that Japan is currently hosting (and being lauded for both its organization skills and the rousing performance of its unfancied team). The Wallabies lost badly to England in a quarter final, mostly because they were not good enough as a team. But Kangaeroo.com has also discovered another reason for the Wallabies’ woes. Gorgeous Jindaiji Temple, which supported the Wallabies’ woeful World Cup, is situated in the Tokyo suburb of Chofu, location of the Aussies’ group stage loss against Wales on September 29 that effectively derailed their campaign on the field. Jindaiji had proudly displayed Wallabies jerseys…