Midday in the Garden of Good and Evil

more on one blog or two....

2007-04-26T20:03:00.000+10:00

I've decided to stop posting to this blog and include future garden and travel posts in my mixed media blog at GRAMARYE - THE BLOG

I hope some of you will follow me over there and you can always subscribe through the RSS feed services like Bloglines (I know there are others but this is the one I use and am familiar with)

Thanks to Susan and Spike for your comments.

Susan: Now that Flickr have added the ability to make 'collections' of the sets, I've been sorting my pictures into some sort of order that should make it easier to find what you are interested in (but I warn you, organisation is not my strong point, so it could be a bit like walking into my sewing room)

Spike: I won't be deleting this blog, so hopefully it won't be nicked by spammers.

For anyone thinking of deleting their blog, read this warning first.

I'm not sure how long Blogspot lets a blog sit without postings, might have to pop in now and then with a quick word or two.

Why have I decided to stop posting here?
I think mainly the time involved in keeping more than one blog, I know those of you who post a lot of photos understand the tedious job of getting the html from flickr or waiting for blogger (which never put the pic where you wanted it)

I've decided to make any future travel postings a bit shorter and link them to more photos on flickr for anyone who wants to see more.
So time will tell how it all works out

Finally, thanks to all the gardeners who have been reading and commenting, I guess I'm like all bloggers, we appreciate comments, its nice to know someone is out there reading.

one blog or two....

2007-04-18T12:25:00.000+10:00

If you read my craft blog this is pretty much the same question I posed there....

I've been thinking over the inordinate amount of time I've been spending on the internet, I couldn't imagine giving it up altogether but I somehow need to cut back, and I've been wondering about whether I really need to have two blogs, this one, my so-called gardening blog (which also includes photos from our trips or days out)and my mixed media blog.

The mixed media blog was going to be just about my craft work, and the gardening blog was going to be more home-ish. (just so I don't scare anyone off - I have no intention of ever getting into the really personal soul baring style of writing, I wouldn't be comfortable with it)

But I have been thinking about combining the two blogs I have now and wonder how people feel about it.

Would you, my gardening readers want to move over to the other blog if I combined the two (the mixed media being the one with most hits)

Very often I find the plants I photograph find their way into my artwork or sketchbooks and our trips often include galleries or art shows, so it's hard to draw the line where they cross over.

On the other hand, a few bloggers I follow have been starting new blogs for their different interests...not sure how I feel about that, I do like it when I can read a post about someone's art work one day and see their town the next day, I can get a feel for where their work is coming from and appreciate it more...jumping around from one blog to another it is sometimes hard to keep track of who you are looking at.

So if anyone would like to comment, I'd appreciate your ideas and feelings about combining into one blog which would cover my art work, maybe cutting down (but not out) the length of the travel posts I've been doing and a few shots of what is blooming in the garden at the time.

Links to the mixed media blog are in the right column (and I DO have to start on Matilda again, poor girl got off to a good start but has been neglected)

Wotcha think huh???

aphids

2007-04-11T09:25:00.000+10:00

I know the large green bug is a different species to the aphids but as it was the first day of school holidays, it tickled my fancy that Mum had taken the kids out for the day.

"It happens every time I take them out, all they want to do is eat, it costs me a fortune, then they want to bring all their friends....."

Sydney Harbour ferry ride

2007-04-09T15:29:00.000+10:00

It's been many years since I've been on a ferry on the harbour, as teenagers we regularly caught the Manly ferry to the beach, hoping for a choppy sea as we passed the heads, bravely sitting outside being washed with spray while the oldies (that's me now!!) sat inside and complained.

So on a dull overcast Sunday afternoon, when we found ourselves at Circular Quay and our car parked across town at Darling Harbour, we decided to catch the ferry across.

Once away from the Quay, the ferry captain gunned it and we left quite a wake for the little boat crossing behind us.

Darling Harbour is on the western side of the Harbour Bridge so we had to go under it, but also had a few other stops on the way, criss crossing the harbour to the northern side then back to the southern side.

The scale of our bridge is only appreciated close up, and this was a great way to see it

This is looking back from the north toward Circular Quay and the Opera House.

The first stop after crossing the harbour is Luna Park, and just before it, under the shadow of the bridge, we pass North Sydney Olympic Pool.
When it opened in 1936 it was hailed as the "wonder pool of Australasia"
It has a lovely art deco fresco of dolphins and ...some sort of bird, which looks like a white cockatoo from the beak, but I can't help thinking a wading bird might be more appropriate, or a seagull? but I'm sure it's a cocky...probably with galoshes.
There is a little about the history on the North Sydney website
Lots of world records have been broken in this pool, but couldn't tell you which because I'm not into sport at all...

The Luna Park site was used as a workshop area when the Harbour Bridge was being built then in 1935 the storage buildings were leased as an amusement park.

There is an interesting history of Luna Park on their website

The apartments behind arrived considerably later which hasn't stopped the residents from complaining about the noise.....gee, if you buy on top of a fun park you'd never expect it to be NOISY, would you???

After leaving the Milsons Point wharf we pass Blues Point with the controversial Blues Point Tower designed by Harry Seidler.
Last year the tower apartment block turned 40 years old and no other building in Sydney has been more despised or criticised, and what does Harry Seidler say about this criticism - quote:
"It doesn't worry me that people have criticised the building," he says. "What do you expect from illiterate people? They're insensitive and uneducated so why should I take that seriously?"
(I'm tempted to say 'up yours Harry' but that would only prove his point wouldn't it)

The Blues Point area of North Sydney was named after another controversial character, convict Billy Blue, who ran a ferry boat service across the harbour in 1831 - not a ferry as we know them today, he rowed his customers across, and continued to do so until in his 80's.
Old Billy Blue is a twig on a distant branch of my family tree, my gt.grandmother's first husband was the grandson of Billy Blue - I'm descended from her 2nd husband so can't claim old Bill as my own, but I've researched his history and have made a web page about him here

At this point we cross back to the southern side of the harbour, passing the mouth of the Parramatta River

A stop at Darling Street Wharf at Balmain East, then past Illoura Reserve at Peacock Point on the tip of the Balmain peninsular. Across the water you can see the triangular span of the Anzac Bridge at Pyrmont.

As we head into Darling Harbour, we pass the National Maritime Museum.
On permanent display is HMAS Onslow, an Oberon class submarine, destroyer HMAS Vampire, not sure which ship has the tall mast in this picture, it could be the Endeavor replica, the James Craig is usually here, but it was moored at another wharf this day.

As we pull into the Darling Harbour wharf, we pass the new Sydney Wildlife World, under this dome are housed 6000 furry, scaly, hairy and spiky creatures, all conveniently packed for the busy tourist, who wants to pat a koala, but not leave town to do it.

This is the busy side where most of the passengers leave, but we stay put and across Darling Harbour *again* (didn't we just come this way I ask, but he says not) and we leave at the Casino wharf, no one getting off here looks like a big spender, but I guess the high rollers don't arrive by ferry.
Our little ferry stays at the wharf just long enough for us to walk around and talk this shot of it starting the return trip:

Across the road to the Sushi Star for a good Japanese meal and home

Water Hyacinth

2007-04-05T21:29:00.000+10:00

According to the CSIRO the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) native of the upper Amazon, is one of the worlds' worst aquatic weeds, forming a dense mat that can double in size in a few weeks, totally clogging waterways.

It was first noticed in Australia about 1890, probably brought in as an aquarium plant and has now spread to all states.
In the 1970's and again in 1980's biological controls were introduced with the release of a variety of weevil and a moth which has worked well in sub tropical areas of the eastern states, and another weevil species was released in the 1990's.

The plant shown here is growing in my frog pond, I have to thin it several times during the summer growing season, the roots form a big thick fibrous clump under the water.
It is probably something I shouldn't grow, but then that could be said of most of our introduced garden plants.
I make sure the discarded plants go into the compost bin, and cut the flower heads after flowering. As we are not close to a waterway and have no run off I grow it simply because I like the flowers.

Tempus fugit

2007-03-29T11:40:00.000+10:00

...it seems to fugit something awful lately, here we are a third of the way through another year, and I have a very large birthday looming in a few days which is a depressing thought, but at least I'm still here having them, which isn't as depressing as the alternative.

I still haven't totally converted this blog, whilst I changed over painlessly I still am not using their widget thingies because I'd have to copy and paste all the links I have in the side panels and I just haven't felt bothered enough to spend the time, I think that's why I kept putting off writing here.

My garden suffered terribly through summer (as I did!) neither of us handle the heat well, but now we've entered autumn, had a few cooler days and a good drop of rain to boot.
So because I haven't been blogging here, I've a little backlog of trips to post about, we visited Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens in the Blue Mountains and had a walk around the old brick pit at Homebush (doesn't that sound exciting!!)
Over the next week I'll sort out the pictures and get going here again....
Meantime..
Our first solid rain in months had me out with the camera..

and you know those jobs like cleaning the gutters and installing rainwater tanks...well they didn't happen, so here is my patented rainwater catchment area, right under the leaky gutter

Looks like I'm going Beta

2006-12-11T10:44:00.001+11:00

just logged in and got the message from Blogger that it's my turn to change over to Beta - having heard some nightmare stories and knowing the amount of tweaking that I've done to my present blog I am not rushing into this overnight, I need a few days to copy all the bits I've added and do some more reading up.

just warning you incase things start looking weird
...if anything drastic happens and I totally disappear, check my web site at
Gramarye and I'll put a note up there to let you know what's happened

Agapanthus time

2006-12-06T10:49:00.000+11:00

I know when the anniversary of my mum's death is coming up because the agapanthus bloom.
In the last couple of weeks of her life I'd take her for a walk in my garden, frail, fragile, she'd stop at the agapanthus, which were just nose high for her, she would smell them and say 'beautiful'

Years before she'd joke about how she had no sense of smell and aggies don't have perfume, but there was enough of her fading mind left to know that flowers should have a scent and she loved them all.
At her funeral in the middle of the service, all the floral sheaths around the coffin slowly toppled sideways and we knew she was re-arranging them - never could resist having a fiddle with things me mum.

So each December, when the first aggie blooms in my garden, I stand in front of it and have a little cry, and then I get on with life.....

but I miss my mum

Technorati tags: Flowers

Territorial frog

2006-12-01T18:31:00.000+11:00

We have a homing frog in the little fernery next to the house,
I have a waterwell pot with a scraggy looking fishbone fern, it's been there for years and is pretty ordinary, sometimes I remember to water it and fill the well.

Waterwells have a black plastic tube running from the top of the pot into the well at the bottom, if you keep the well full then the water is supposed to draw up into the bottom of the pot keeping the plant watered but not too wet.

I was pouring water down the tube when I noticed a little leg scrabbling on the clear side of the well, there was a frog inside the tube.
I carefully unscrewed the well and took him up to the pond in the new fernery, nice cool dank with water hyacinths and weed already for a frog inhabitant.

A few days later, filling the well again (it's been hot!) he's back in the tube - don't ask how I know it's the same frog, I just do!
Took him out again and back to the pond.

You guessed it! he's back in the pot.
How on earth he navigates his way across our yard and into the same pot beats me.
He probably curses me when I go out to water, "here's comes that damn woman again, I hope she leaves me alone this time"

so I have....

and you will just have to take my word for it that this is a frog's bum....

Technorati tags: frogs

Travel: Wine and quilts at Mittagong

2006-11-28T12:05:00.000+11:00

We haven't had a Sunday drive for a while so when my quilting teacher, Carolyn Sullivan, told us she had a quilt in an exhibition at a winery, I thought what could be better than visiting both his and my favourite subjects on the same day.
We hopped onto the new-ish M7 expressway and headed south, I haven't been on this road before, it cuts out loads of traffic and lights but, like all expressways, is SO boring

In no time at all, we were off the main road and on the dirt track to Bou-saada Vineyard at Mittagong.

We had stopped at Mittagong RSL for lunch but found that we could have had lunch at the winery.

here are the quilts and a corner of the gallery

Outside the grape vines were looking very green but the rest of the countryside was brown and dry, we saw cattle and sheep on farms picking at what looked like dead clumps of grass in red earth paddocks. On the news last night was an article on how the farmers are getting $600 per steer and we are paying $2000 in the supermarkets for the meat.

We found this little group of gnomes having a game of cricket, with the bush fires still around Sydney I won't jinx these little guys by mentioning Ashes.

Bou-saada also grows proteas

I went to look at the quilts while he had a wine tasting at the cellar door...I came out just in time to see the credit card being handed over for a carton of wine......mmmmmm, now where have I put that brochure about the embellisher machine......

we then cruised on to Berrima but I might do that one later.
Technorati tags:Sydney travel

Blue Mountain fires

2006-11-22T15:40:00.000+11:00

As I've been uploading the shadehouse photos to flickr and writing the last entry, I've had the radio on, the bushfires raging in the Grose Valley of the Blue Mountains has again jumped containment lines and is threatening the small towns of Hazlebrook and Linden. It started 10 days ago from lightning strikes in inaccessable country.

The sky over Sydney is brown with smoke and the wind is hot and fierce.

So far no properties have been lost but it's getting closer to built up areas.

...and the native animal losses we will probably never know, except for those who are found with burns.

It's not just the Blue Mountains, there are about 60 separate fires being fought around the state.

Summer in Australia isn't all surf and beaches.

reports on the Sydney Morning Herald site

The tale of the cats and the shadehouse - part two

2006-11-22T14:35:00.000+11:00

When you take a break from blogging for whatever reason it’s hard to get back into the swing of things, you think of things to blog about but feel a need to play catch up first, and so it keeps being put off.

So having left you all with part one of the cats and the shadehouse, I know you have been on tenterhooks waiting for the rest of the story.
Haven’t you.....say yes or I just won’t be able to go on....

We were offered an old shadehouse framework which was once in my sis-in-laws back garden but had been dismantled years ago and was taking up needed space.

It arrived with no instructions, brother in law gave us a vague notion of how it went together but it soon developed into a giant meccano set as we measured and imagined where the bits belonged.

But where do the cats come into it I hear you ask?

A friend showed me the purpose built cattery that her daughter had installed in their backyard to give her Siamese some outdoor time.

It had a sort of raised mesh tunnel linking the sleeping quarters to the enclosed outdoor yard. It is after the style for sale here - these don’t come cheap you’ll notice, this girl paid about $2000 for hers.

Well, our little brats already had their garden apartment but I thought of linking it to the shadehouse with a raised run to give them some extra space…..not that they are particularly energetic, they spend most of the day in a prostrate position, it was just my guilt feelings for locking them up, guilt fed by looking at this site and thinking how hard done by our kids were in comparison.

First we had to find the right spot, not easy, we don’t have a lot of space, so we decided it should go here, my favourite spot for a chair, book and coffee.

One of my concerns was that I didn’t want to lose the big birds nest fern

There was also an old melaleuca which had a lovely twisted trunk that I had been ducking under for years and would probably need a trim.

When we measured, we found the melaleuca was in for the chop – this is not a sight I want to see in my garden very often – Tom the toolman with chainsaw in hand.

We eventually had a relatively clear space, I tied up the birds nest and removed everything else that I could, then came the fun and games.

My husband has a *thing* about asking people for help, he’d rather struggle on his own with me holding up my end. Massive great sheets of weldmesh are not light and they sure don’t manoeuvre easily, we were able to carry the walls around into position but the roof had to be lifted on by going up and over the pool fence…..it was a stinky hot day, there was even a little local scrub fire, so the smell of smoke was in the air as well.
But..we did it...without too many injuries, minimum swearing and we are still talking to each other...

By this stage I was thinking bad thoughts about the cats.

Merlin inspected the space then went back to bed.

Two little frogs inspected the space and decided they liked it.

It was then I decided it was for me and the frogs

I divided up the staghorns, replanted the bromeliads and the tree fern was happy to have its corset removed.

We went to Bunnings and bought nice little table for two.

and early morning sunlight with coffee is just wonderful

Technorati tags: garden gardening frogs

The tale of the cats and the shadehouse - part one

2006-09-27T11:54:00.000+10:00

I am not a cat person

(I can’t say or read that phrase without thinking of the Terry Pratchett book ‘Moving Pictures’ – the starring actress, when confronted by Gaspode the wonder dog, says she is a ‘cat person’, Gaspode under his breath, says ‘wash in your own spit, do you?’

start again, I’m not a cat person
When I was a teenager (mumble mumble years ago) we had a pure white tom cat who terrorised me when I came home late at night by bailing me up in the yard with claws drawn and refusing to let me in the house.
I also remember a neighbour calling over the fence that their cat just had kittens and two were white – no prize for guessing who dad was – this was before council registrations and de-sexing of cats.

Tom the cat was my mums’, although knowing cats better now, I think maybe she was his. Tom met the fate of most city cats who go on the prowl at night.

He was our only foray into cat ownership – after his demise, we as a family went back to owning dogs.

Until my son came home one day about eight years ago with the cutest little black and white kitten who was as smart as a tack, he named her Newton because she investigated everything til she figured it all out.

Because he was at work all day, I persuaded him to leave Newton with me through the day so she wouldn’t be lonely, he finally said “there is still one kitten left from litter if you want it, it’s the runt”

Who could resist that offer, the runt arrived, ginger and white and as placid and dumb as her sister was bright. I named her Merlin before we found out she was a girl. The two little sisters finally settled at my house when son moved.

Then I made a big mistake while visiting friends with a Siamese.

I’d never come across a Siamese before, I guess I was attracted to it by its’ doglike qualities, and I foolishly joked ‘hey, if you ever want to get rid of your cat……..’

Si arrived complete with his own litter box when the friends were moving, (and after all their other friends had turned him down)

Si the psycho Siamese proceeded to terrorise our two little girls, hiding behind corners and jumping out at them, and he wouldn’t just move away from the dog, he would come out fighting.
Newton hated him, she hissed and spat when he came near, it all became too much for her and one night she just didn’t come home.
We never found her, what ever happened I just hope it was quick.

Then both Si and Merlin started to mark their territory the only way a cat knows how…inside the house, so they were booted out, and only came into our back sunroom to be locked up for the night.

Every morning I washed down the sunroom walls til I was at screaming point.

I had Si’s bags packed so many times for a one way trip to the vet but my softie husband always saved him.

They had to move out of the house, but I don’t believe in cats roaming free all day and night but especially in the night, so they had a garden apartment built for them, the old cubby house was fitted with snug beds and litter box and food table and access to an enclosed yard with outside climbing shelves and sand tray.

At this stage softie husband was starting to say things like ‘a piece of lead in the ear would be easier’ (inserted with a .22)

So now they are allowed out most days for a stroll around the neighbourhood (they don’t go far) rainy days they stay confined and at night they are always locked up when they come home for tea.

I don’t like this arrangement – every pet we’ve had has always been part of the family with access to the house (and me) and I don’t see the point of keeping animals if they have to stay in the yard, but unable to break them of their spraying inside, there’s been no alternative.

...and I feel guilty about leaving them locked in their pen too long, even though it's for their own good, and the good of the neighbourhood and wildlife......

To be continued…

Technorati tags:> cats

silver beet

2006-09-27T09:50:00.000+10:00

a week of heavy rain, unusually hot spring weather and the garden has gone beserk!
Look at the size of the silver beet, I don't think it's ever been so big, and it hasn't even had it's chicken poo yet!

Technorati tags:garden Gardening

snug as a bug

2006-09-27T08:42:00.000+10:00

I never wanted to be a bug
Until I found one safe and snug
In the velvet heart of a pale pink rose
With petals tucked about his toes.

Marion Lee 1945, "Lap of Luxury"

Technorati tags: Flowers

ducks

2006-09-21T19:36:00.000+10:00

I've posted before about the first ducks of summer splashing down in our pool.
I wonder if these were the same ones as last year because they weren't at all timid and came straight over expecting some bread.

I won't back excuses for the swampy appearance of the pool - well, yes I will, it was windy and the jacarandah was still shedding leaves - and those weeds in the crack in the concrete... must have just sprouted, I'm sure they weren't there last week...

I tried the movie setting on my camera for the first time and uploaded it to YouTube - makes rivetting viewing (big grin)

Red geranium leaves

2006-09-06T10:39:00.000+10:00

What are they putting in our water these days??
(although my garden gets so little tap water it wouldn't matter, maybe it says something about our bath water)

Strolling around the garden I spotted this geranium with bright red leaves - I'm sure it has some dire portent but who cares, I like red

Technorati tags:
garden Gardening

paintbrush lily

2006-08-23T20:42:00.000+10:00

I've been having a busy week with work to finish for my art quilt class, then the Stitches and Craft show in Sydney today and tomorrow I'm off to Parliament House to sit with the ATASDA textile exhibition, but on Saturday I had a lovely lunch in a friend's garden and took lots of photos of her spring blooms including this unusual paintbrush lily - a south african friend tells us she had them growing in SA and they are either Haemanthus coccineus or Scadoxus puniceus either way they belong to the Lily family: Amaryllidaceae

The last rose or the first...

2006-08-13T18:03:00.000+10:00

Everyone has been commenting on the strange behaviour of their plants.

Do we blame global warming ?
(I refuse to call it 'climate change' - that just sounds like moving to Nimbin)

Here in Sydney it's the last month of winter and my roses should be bare or at most just starting to shoot little leaf buds, but this miniature rose couldn't make up it's mind if it was late or early

Travel : The Pinnacles, Western Australia

2006-08-12T22:49:00.000+10:00

In 2005 my daughter and I went on holidays to Western Australia, I was going through the photos tonight and added some to Flickr, so I thought I might write them up here. I don't think I have the energy to write up the whole trip chronologically, (although I have it all in a travel journal that I wrote up during the trip) so these are just a few snippets from the trip. I'll add more over the next few weeks.

I haven't reduced the size of the pictures on Flickr so you can click to go to the very large size

One of our trips out of Perth was on a 4 wheel drive tour to the Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles are in the Nambung National Park, 245 kms north of Perth (about a 3 hour drive from the centre of Perth)

Thousands of huge limestone pillars resembling tombstones, rise out of a stark landscape of yellow sand. Some are up to three and a half metres tall.

The raw material for the limestone of the pinnacles came from sea shells broken down into lime-rich sands which were brought ashore by waves and then carried inland by the wind to form high, mobile dunes.

The sightly acidic winter rain dissolves small amounts of calcium carbonate as it percolates down through the sand. As the dune dries out during summer, this is precipitated as a cement around grains of sand in the lower levels of the dunes, binding them together and eventually producing a hard limestone rock.

Sub surface erosion from decaying plant and animal materials eroded the limestone bed until only the most resilient columns remained.

This erosion would have happened over thousands of years - Aboriginal artefacts at least 6,000 years old have been found in the Pinnacles Desert despite no recent evidence of Aboriginal occupation which suggests that the Pinnacles were exposed about 6,000 years ago and then covered up by shifting sands, before being exposed again in the last few hundred years.

This covering and uncovering by the sand is still occurring.

Some of the outcrops have been given names, this was Casper the Ghost:

and this is Batman:

On the way back to Perth I saw my first emu in the wild

Technorati tags: Western Australia travel

grevillea

2006-08-11T21:58:00.000+10:00

I really need to start using a tripod for my macro shots in the garden - balancing on one leg and holding my breath while I press the shutter just isn't cutting it.

tag: flowers

Full moon

2006-08-09T22:42:00.000+10:00

Went out and braved the cold tonight to watch the brilliant full moon, the wind was gusty and the clouds moved so fast across the sky.

I haven't done any night photography before and didn't do too well with the settings which is a pity because the whole scene was special, and fruit bats were flying over but they were too fast for my camera.

......full moon and bats, what more could an Anne Rice fan ask for.

reflecting in the pool:

a prickly bed

2006-08-09T21:41:00.000+10:00

The first ray of sun after a week of cold and rain and the little skinks were all out soaking up the warmth.

The first little fellow scampered off his rock when I got close but soon came back and the second time I got the camera near enough for a shot, he just turned his head and watched.

His friend didn't have such a warm solid spot, he was contentedly draped over the cactus, must have been a fakir in a past life missing his bed of nails.

more Aussie gardeners

2006-08-06T17:43:00.000+10:00

In Brisbane Queensland, Roy has the Frog Garden
nice photos of his plants, hints and some local gardens

Also found Dirt Under the Nails from Perth Western Australia
and
Neil Cameron from Melbourne Victoria has Enjoying My Garde n

the last two haven't been updated for a little while but are still interesting

I've added them all to my Aussie gardening links in the side bar

rusted Victorian ironwork

2006-08-02T15:06:00.000+10:00

When we moved into our house 38 years ago, my father-in-law was in the process of throwing away these pieces of Victorian wrought iron which came from the balcony of the old terrace house they lived in - it was in the era when renovations ruled and balconies were being closed in - we weren't sure what place they would have in our new brick veneer but we took them anyway and they have lain propped against a wall in our backyard for all that time, gently rusting and peeling paint with the ivy slowly fixing it in place, I think the texture and rust is more interesting now than it was thirty years ago, it's more like us now, old, rusty and flakey.