Art for Heart's Sake

A Quick Note & Photo

Hi there, just a quick note at this stage today as about to rush out the door!  Am heading to a scrapbox business close to home to choose the cardstock for my christmas cards this year.  I have the most beautiful steely sapphire glitter and am having trouble deciding on colourways.  Hmmm here's hoping I get some inspiration!  Then to a lovely antique/second hand shop (same on I visited on Saturday) for a really good fossick.  I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted to in there on Saturday so today the world is my oyster!  Then to grocery shopping.  Here is a close up of one of my vintage botanical magnets, more to follow.  Smiles..

Soggy but Happy!

Hi, well Zumba was great yesterday - I really love it.  What is amazing is that I have now been around 14 or 15 times IN A ROW.  When it comes to exercise classes this is a first for me.  I have arthritic hips (have had since I was around 26 due to ops when I was younger) so I can't do classes like aerobics or anything that is high impact, like jogging.  Zumba is SO much fun!  If you love dancing, you can't fail to enjoy it.  The gym where I do it is a really interesting one.  You don't have to join for a year or anything, I just have a concession card and each zumba class is costing me just $6 a session because I bought a 20 concession card.  This is what I consider to be absolutely dirt cheap for an hour long class with an instructor.  The gym building is just an alumiunium shed with a concrete floor covered with hard wearing carpet so it is a little cold on frosty mornings, but it doesn't take long to warm up.  Yesterday I did a 10 minute warm up walking on the treadmill which made a difference as it was only around 5 degrees C.

Yesterday pm I planted some red onions in the house vegie gardens (we have 5 raised beds on the north facing (sunny) side of the house.  I have a lime, persimmon and lemon tree in one of the beds as it is the best spot for them.  The persimmon I am training espalier-style against the house (on a piece of trellis) - it's been in two years and is growing well so I hope I will get some fruit this coming season.  About an hour after I'd planted the onions it started to rain - ah bliss.. but oh dear very soggy underfoot this morning so no gardening! Boo hoo

I finished my five vintage botanical magnets yesterday afternoon too and I am really happy with them, they look gorgeous (modest aren't I, giggle).  I'll take a photo of them soon and post it for you.  Big smiles from sunny (today at least) Nelson.. 

Here is the photo of the magnets, will post close ups over the next couple of days. The gold effect is 18k gold leaf.  Smiles..

A Full Moon!

Hi, I love the moon and here she is in all her glory.. a very bright full moon at the moment!  Hope you had a wonderful Sunday, or Saturday evening wherever you are.  I sort of did, a bit frustrating but I got there in the end.. helped my neighbour transplant her strawberry plants to a much better position and that made me feel great!  More soon... Zumba this morning so in a rush.. here's the photo.  Smiles...

 

A Fun Day

Hi, isn't he gorgeous!  I took this photo of Sabah one day when he was intently watching some wildlife in my perennial border.  He is such a character and love him to pieces!!

I had a really neat day yesterday.  I didn't stay in my grungy gardening clothes - after a cup of tea with my neighbour Caroline, we decided we would go into town to browse a second hand store and I wanted to buy her a belated birthday lunch too.  Off we went at 12.45pm, with my stomach growling - yes I was hungry, what's new!  We headed straight to the second hand (antique) store and spent around 20 minutes fossicking through lots of things.  I didn't find any shelving so we decided to head to our local mega hardware store, Mitre 10.  After lunch in their cafe (gorgeous leek and potato soup) - thank you said my stomach - we looked around the plant area and then I managed to find a length of medium density fibre board (MDF) that I could cut into three shelves just the right length for the wall space I want to put them on.  Then of course I needed brackets to hold the shelves up with.

So today I'm again in my grungy gardening clothes - muddy knees included - and I'm heading out to pot up those perennial seedlings.  I'm going to wait until it's warmed up a bit though, it's only around 5 degrees C right now. bbbbrrrrr..  Smiles.. 

Happy Saturday (or Friday)

Hi, happy Saturday or Friday (if you're in the northern hemisphere).  It's a slightly cloudy day here and I can't decide what I want to do.  I'm sitting here in my grungy gardening clothes, having thoughts about potting up some of my hardy geranium seedlings that are popping up in the garden.  On the other hand, I'm tempted to throw on my shopping clothes and head on into Richmond to look for second hand shelving for my studio.  I desperately need to get some shelving up on the walls to make more room on my surfaces!  My studio is unplastered so the walls aren't painted but I'm not worried - it's a studio after all, not a bedroom.  I was so eager to move in the minute the gibboard (lining) was put up that dear hubby didn't stand a chance of plastering it then.    Hmm not sure if the potting up or the shelf hunting will win at this stage!  I'd better go and do my breakfast dishes, morning outdoor animal tasks and maybe by then I will have decided.  Big smiles...

Countdown to Spring!

Hi there, well the shortest day of the year is behind us -yeehah!  As a passionate gardener, now begins the wonderful countdown to Spring.  The minute that the shortest day has passed I instantly feel more alive and excited about the season to come. 

I am going to be growing herbs and tomatoes for Mapua Country Trading again this Spring/Summer/Autumn and, believe it or not, I need to start thinking about sowing seeds madly within the next 2-3 weeks!  Luckily my neighbours have a hydroponic lettuce business and they let me use some of the room in the seed-raising tunnelhouse, which is heated.  Without this I think I really would struggle to get many of the herbs started so early.

For the past few days I haven't done much in the garden and have not been potting up my perennials either.  I have had a bit of a cold and my energy level has been way down in my boots but today I'm determined to get some compost into the new part of the garden I rotary hoed last week and also to get my garlic into the ground in the kitchen garden.  Traditionally it is planted on the shortest day and harvested on the longest.. hmmm well I'm three days out!!  Best get it done!  Here are the photos of my ciabatta..  sorry about all the dots on the first photo - this was taken through the oven door!  This was the 'monster' in the oven (giggle) that I mentioned yesterday. Smiles..

 

It Worked!

Yippee, my ciabatta bread worked!  I spent most of yesterday making the second part, kneading them together in my wonderful Kitchenaid mixer (which I am totally in love with!), waiting for it then the two loaves to rise and baking.  A rather long-winded process but oh so worth it for the end result.  I got the giggles when I put the second loaf into the oven to bake (you do them one at a time).  It had risen a bit more than the first one and after about 7 minutes I looked in and here was this pillow!!  I laughed and laughed.  Ciabatta is supposed to have lots of holes in it and be quite chewy - I have a feeling the second loaf could be filled with one big hole!  I'll let you know - it's in the freezer now.  I took a couple of photographs and will post them later when I've uploaded them to my laptop.

I have managed to do a bit of work on a series of 5 magnets I'm working on and as soon as they are finished I'll post a photo of them too.  They are vintage botanicals and I love them!  Hope all is well with you wherever you are in the world.  Smiles...

Baking Ciabatta Bread

Okay, I've got the bread bug!  After tasting John's gorgeous rye bread he made on Sunday I decided to have a go at making my absolute favourite type of bread - ciabatta (aka Italian Slipper Bread).  I have the most wonderful memories of eating hot ciabatta toast smothered in butter and strawberry jam with really good tasty cheese pieces on top, for breakfast!  YUUUMMM. 

Ciabatta bread is made in two parts - first the 'sponge' and then the bread part and they are mixed together.  This is what gives its wonderful holey interior and crisp crust.  I am a bit perturbed about the actual baking part as it needs to go in a 425F oven right at the bottom on a pre-heated pizza stone (which I don't have).  So will just have to do my best!  So far the sponge part is made and needs to sit overnight before I do the rest.  It is meant to rain tomorrow so I thought it would be a good time to give it a try.  Will keep you posted! 

Meanwhile, here is a photo of a head of broccoli I harvested from the kitchen garden over the weekend.  I have never grown such beautiful broccoli - proud mamma here!  Smiles

A Busy Morning

Hi, I had a very busy morning today.  Had to leave the house early for an appointment and then on to the supermarket to do some groceries.  Staggered back through the door around midday feeling slightly worse for wear, due to congestion from my cold.  I seem to have escaped the very gnarly nose stage and have headed straight for that slightly blocked, chesty feeling.. ugh!  Still it could be worse!

Am off to the doctor this pm as I think I have a hair loitering at the bottom of my right eye - most annoying it is!  I have always had struggles with getting eyelashes in my eye but this feels like something much bigger and it's been there for 2 days no matter how often I rinse my eye out!  Ugh ugh ugh...  Giggle, hmmm that's something my Dad always had trouble with too - falling eyelashes!  Don't worry my eyelids aren't bald.. giggle again..   More later.  Smiles..

Photos I Promised

Okay, here's the bread (see previous post)

I just had some with mushroom soup (also made by dear hubby) for lunch and it is simply divine!

The photo of the cheesecake didn't do it justice, so will wait until I make another one in a few weeks.  This one is so huge that most of it is in the freezer, just perfect when we want a treat. 

Here is a photo of two native waxeyes, or silvereyes.  These are the dearest tiny birds and they visit our sugar water all day.  They have a delightful habit - pairs sit very closely together and preen each other or just cuddle.  How cute is that!

I love birds so much and we really do have some fantastic ones on our property.  To list just a few, silvereyes, tuis, bellbirds, thrushes, chaffinches, goldfinches, sparrows, blackbirds, harrier hawks, grey warblers - oh the list goes on.  My favourite native bird of all time is the Kereru, or native wood pigeon.  This is the one bird we have only seen once, last year for day, on our property.  The tree that these silvereyes are sitting on is a tree lucerne and it is a favourite food for wood pigeons.  This is where we spotted the one that visited briefly last year - right outside our kitchen window.  I was gobsmacked.  Here's hoping it won't be too long before we see another one.  They have a definite flight path they follow and there are a couple further up our road but they don't fly over this way - sob!!  More tomorrow.. smiles..