A strategic exile ...
Right now I think I can be forgiven for feeling a passing affinity with a short but very famous Corsican-born French military icon. The main reason for this feeling derives from fact that Cath has ordered Pepper and me into exile in Tasmania while she remains in Brisbane. The reason for the island exile is a strategic one: our Brisbane house goes on the market next week and Pepper and I have been (possibly correctly) diagnosed as liabilities when it comes to keeping the house clean and tidy, and in a state suitable for inspection by prospective buyers.
As the shadows lengthened over the valley on my first evening alone, I remembered reading somewhere that Napoleon kept himself occupied while in exile on St. Helena by playing a game of chess every day. Not to be outdone, I stoked up the fire, searched a streaming service for Beethoven's homage to Napoleon (Symphony #3 "Eroica") and picked up my Mammoth Book of Chess. Much to my dismay I found that despite the agreeable ambience and a month's break in Brisbane I still had no clue as to the solutions of some of the basic chess exercises I had been struggling with on a previous visit. This made me realise that Napoleon and I have something else in common, namely, a fascination with chess coupled with a (very) limited ability. I think the description 'terminally mediocre' about sums it up. The book of chess puzzles is now safely back on the shelf and I have moved on to Beethoven's 7th Symphony.
Being exiled in Tasmania in the last month of autumn, apart from the fact that Cath isn't here, is actually quite rewarding. It is surprising to see how much fruit is still on the apple trees, a reminder that different varieties ripen at very different times. The earliest fruit is ready for picking in January but some cultivars are only ready for harvest in late May and June. The red fruit on the trees provides a nice contrast with the grape vines, whose leaves are already purple and golden, and many of the deciduous trees (like the poplars), whose leaves have already fallen.
One of the great joys of arriving down in the Huon is to observe how the environs of the cottage have changed since we first got here. A good example is the view from the deck, looking north towards the shed. This series of photos shows the progression of the garden beds adjacent to the driveway.
Our very first move was to try and soften the drive by adding a garden bed along the eastern edge. Given that this bed is adjacent to the drive, we decided to plant a series of 4 compact and upright ornamental pear trees and a flowering crab apple. The pears are designed to give some shape and structure while the crab apple is just glorious in the spring. Later on we started building a bed on the other side of the fence to try and prevent water from running over the block and taking the top soil with it. The result is looking very promising. The borders are starting to look quite lush, with the Chinese pistachio tree in the middle distance and the golden elm further back adding nice depth to the vista.
Similarly, the first tree that we planted after arriving in August of 2020 was a stick-like gingko.
The tree is now thriving at the front gate of the farm and despite the fact that it is known to be an extremely slow-growing species, this autumn it has put on an incredible show, with its yellow leaves really turning it on.
Perhaps I will explore one final link with Napoleon over the next few weeks. Between 1804 and 1814 his wife, the Empress Josephine, built an exquisite rose garden at Malmaison, their chateau just outside of Paris. This garden became the greatest and largest rose collection in the world and remained unsurpassed for over a century. The collection was made up of about 250 species and varieties collected from all over the world and so important was it that her purchases from Britain were permitted safe passage through the British naval blockade of France at the time. I am confident that awesome specimens will not be quite so difficult to come by in Tasmania and my ultimate objective is to have a vibrant rose bush at the end of every row of fruit trees in the domestic orchard. On second thoughts, I may just wait for Cath to get here before exploring this particular link too closely. While there is no naval blockade to run, collecting roses is still an expensive business ...
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