Missing in action ... again ...

Hello from the beautiful Goldfields of Western Australia, where the days are now beautiful and the nights are still a little cool - a few times, cool enough to light the fire (around 5 degrees c).

I know, I know ... I've been missing in action, again. I do have good reason, though. Hubby and I have been really busy, as the photos will show.

Have I been writing? Yes, I have - although not as much to finish the second book in the Shattered Series which is well overdue - but, it's getting close. I haven't had the time to dedicate my entire focus, it's been in fits and spurts. But it is currently sitting at 73,000 words. There have been two occasions where I could have ended the book on a cliff hanger (and they're rippers), but I decided to let you all know what happened on those two occasions. Are all the answers provided in book two? Of course not, or you won't continue on with book three, which WILL be the final book. Everything will be explained, and all answers will be provided in the complex lives of Angelica, Levi, Sebastian, Chase, Fifi and Nathan. Will Fifi and Nathan finally get their just desserts? You'll have to wait and see.

Now on to explaining my 'good reason'.

We've put a roof up over the deck at the side of the house, and one out the front - in winter, when it rains, we get a lot directed at the front door, which then turns into water getting into the house onto our laminated floors. Those who have laminated flooring will know they don't mix well with water. We used to have to put rolled up towels at the bottom, and put a plastic barrier between the security door and the main wood door to minimize the amount of water able to get in. But now, with the roof built - we won't have to worry about the next downpour of rain!

As it is spring down under, our flowers are all budding and blooming, and our fruit trees are fruiting! Four out of the seven fruit trees are loaded with fruit. Last season, we got half a dozen oranges off the tree which were sweet and juicy - and I got about half a dozen apricots off the tree as well - also sweet and juicy. This season, the orange tree and the apricot tree are freaking loaded with fruit! Along with the peach tree (our daughter used to call these 'furry apples' - actually, she still does!) and mandarin tree, neither of which fruited last season. The apple tree and pear tree are new additions, so they won't fruit yet - maybe not even next season And my poor pineapple guava tree just isn't having a great time. We had to heavily prune it, so it might not yield any fruit this season, but I know what to do when the flowers appear next season - I'm going to have to use a small paint brush to germinate the flowers - I have no idea why I have to do that, but the bees, for some reason, don't really like that particular tree. It was loaded with flowers last season, and really quite big, but I didn't know I had to self-germinate then and we got no fruit at all. Oh well, I'll just have to wait to sample those. I've never actually tasted one.

As we have an outdoor Avery - with so many bird varieties I couldn't even begin to name them all, we had to protect our fruit trees so the little buggers can't eat it before we can! So, we had to build a frame around it and put bird netting over the whole lot. So far, it's worked, but I have seen a couple hovering trying to work out how to get in. And, we have around 5 different types of grapes, all of which are seedless - I won't eat any grapes with seeds. Hubby has moved one of the five out the front, so we had to build something for the vine to climb - hence the wire 'fence' in the garden just on the other side of the big hedge near the front door.

Hopefully, I will be posting more often, even if it's just a hello. I still have many teasers to post for The Dom's Invitation Trilogy, so they'll be making an appearance as well.

I'm still creating jewellery - three of my latest creations are attached below - they haven't made it onto my site, yet. Have had a bit of an issue with the curing machine - it chuckled a wobbly and doesn't work anymore, so I have to wait until the 28th before I get the new one, which is a bit of a bummer - have to stifle the creativity for a couple of weeks ... perhaps redirect it to finish book 2 of The Shattered Series.

Now you're all caught up with what's been happening in my world. Maybe some of you can catch me up on what's happened in your world lately.

Hope you all stay well, and stay safe.

EDITED TO ADD: Guess what? It freaking poured down for a little bit this morning. Was so good standing out there, not getting wet!