Art for Heart's Sake

Wow - Star Wars Magnolia

Hi there, well yesterday was a gorgeous spring-like day!  Around lunchtime the temperature reached 21 degrees C (in the sun) which is a delicious temperature.  I am constantly amazed at how fast everything is re-sprouting in the garden.

Remember the photograph of the magnolia bud I posted a few days ago - well here is the gorgeous open flower.  I was gobsmacked when I saw it yesterday, it really looks like a star, hence the name 'Star Wars'.  The little holes you can see in the petals were caused by the bellbird trying to get into the bud before the flower opened!

Isn't she breathtaking (even with the holes)? 

Today I don't have much I need to do at all: sow tomato seeds, transplant tomato seedlings, rotary hoe a garden in the kitchen garden that I sowed lupin in over the winter to revitalise the soil, dig up a penstemon in the main perennial bed that is completely engulfed in lovely! (urgh) couch grass, compost and replant it.  Giggle, there's my day filled!  Hope you have a great day/night wherever you are.  Smiles..

Happy Monday!

 
Hi, aren't these flowers gorgeous - would you believe they are the flowers of the humble broad bean!  They smell lovely too, hmm I wonder if they'd last in a vase.  Might have to try that.

Here's another photo I snapped yesterday, a freesia just beginning to bloom.  Spring is definitely waiting in the wings!  Just a quick post today as am flying out the door to Zumba.  Smiles..

 

 

Asparagus Heaven!

Ermmm, well yesterday I managed NOT to garden until around 1.30pm, then you guessed it, the garden pulled me out into it!  I just couldn't resist any longer so out I tromped to the kitchen garden with a punnet of lettuces in hand.  After planting them (next to the shallots, I hope they like each other), I headed over to the red and black currant bed and got as much of the couch grass, growing at the base of each bush, out as I could.  This bed is a bit of a battle, I didn't realise how much couch grass was in it when I planted the bushes about two years ago - oodles to say the least.  I was finding that I was disturbing the roots of the currant bushes (their roots are very near the surface) every time I tried to weed so last season I put down weed cloth (woven material) and put a woollen mat around each bush to help keep the couch out, then I composted on top of the weedcloth.  I watched with bated breath to see if this would help and it did for a while.  This autumn I tried to pull the couch out that had appeared and yes you guessed it, stuck fast in the weedcloth.. aaaggghhhh!  I got as much out as I could and then I've put down a thick layer of newspaper and more compost.  So far this is making the bits that appear easier to pull out for some reason!  Battle couch will continue!

The asparagus bed is looking great.  I weeded that yesterday afternoon too and there are quite a few spears appearing.  It is very early in the season so they start off looking quite pink.  This asparagus is a green variety eventually! Here's a photo:

I also snapped a photo of my broad beans.  It's quite funny, until recent years I've always loathed broad beans.  This all changed when I grew them myself, eating them pods and all when they are young and as they get older, cooking them the italian way which involves removing the grey skins to reveal GORGEOUS bright green delicious beans.  Oh if only my mother had cooked them that way.  I have bad memories of wrinkly, dry, horrid things being served in the middle of winter. 

Have a great rest of weekend.  Smiles...

Photos?? Errr no....

Hi there, well I was going to post a couple of photos this morning, but when I went to get the stick out of the camera... ermmmmm it wasn't in it!  Bother!  Yes, there it was sitting on my desk.  Crikey... sorry!

The rest of yesterday was a little more calm and I managed to get a few seedlings planted in the new part of the main perennial garden.  I love planting things - it's hope for the future somehow.

This morning I woke to the glorious sound of heavy rain so I snuggled further down under the covers with my cup of tea, reading my book, until 8am!  This is virtually unheard of for me, I tend to feel guilty if I stay in bed past around 7.45.  As much as I didn't want more rain because it will make the garden boggy again, I was looking forward to a day of crafting (after housework, ugh!).  Wouldn't you know it, I'd just finished my breakfast when the sun peeked through the clouds.  No, no no... so I've decided in my mind it is cloudy all day, no matter what!! Giggle..  When it's sunny I ALWAYS feel as though I ought to be outside doing something in the garden.

Right I'm off to vacuum the house (hoover), something which I really don't like doing - I always seem to manage to hurt myself with the vacuum cleaner, don't ask me how or why!  Big smiles and have a great Friday night or Saturday wherever you are!  The stick is now back in the camera so I'll have some photos for you as soon as I can. 

Frantic Friday! Ugh!

Hi there, it's almost 1pm and I've had a frantic morning.  I had my day planned, a nice leisurely grocery shop and a brief stop at the local garden centre for some seed raising mix, seed potatoes etc, then a pet shop for rabbit food etc..  Hmmm well something happened and after a receiving a couple of phone calls, all that changed.  Suddenly I had to be home at a certain time (which meant I had to rush my shopping) and I need to do an unexpected favour for my neighbours this pm too.  Ah well, at least I made it home in time!  Pant, pant, pant..

I'm snatching a quick bite of lunch as I'm typing this - yummy bread with fresh delicious ham and a yummy chutney (not made by me!). 

Oh something amazing happened yesterday afternoon.  I was in our bedroom looking out at the garden and I saw our small magnolia tree rustling.  Here was a bellbird trying to force its way into the magnolia bud (which was still fairly firmly closed).  I watched for a few minutes as it went from bud to bud trying to find an opening.  It did manage to peel one petal back but then gave up.  It's little things like this that just fill me with wonder and give me goosebumps.  How stunning nature is!

Right I'd best go.  Will write more tomorrow with some more photos.  Hugs and smiles wherever you are...

Christmas Card Paper Flowers & Other News!

Hi there, I have FINALLY finalised my design for our christmas cards this year.  It's been a bit of a struggle but last night I cracked it!  Yippee..  Here is a sneak peek - I have made paper flowers from aged music paper for the cards.  I know I should keep these flowers a secret as some of you will be getting a christmas card, but I couldn't wait!  Here is a before and after shot:

I've used a product called 'glimmer mist' on the flowers and they look VERY pretty and shimmery.  Just love this stuff.  I used ''candy apple'' and ''irridescent gold'' on these!  Would love to have loads more colours as this product is SO versatile and pretty.

Yesterday I had a really busy day outdoors (what's new?!!).  I put the wood from the trailer under the house first thing, then I potted on some cumin and tuscan black kale seedlings for Mapua Country Trading.  I am really impressed with the seed raising mix I am using this year.  It has river sand (propagating sand) mixed with the fine bark and I'm finding the seedlings are much much stronger, with better root systems.  This is because the river sand absorbs warmth.  When I was potting on the seedlings I could feel that the mix was warm - wonderful and thank you to my local garden centre for making their own mix.

I also finished weeding my globe artichoke bed in the kitchen garden and put a thick layer of compost on it.  Then I spread the compost I put on the raspberry patch (it had been sitting in piles for a couple of day) and leapt into the blueberry bed too, pulling out gorgeous (only gorgeous because it was easy to pull out!) clumps of couch grass..ugh ugh ugh... I have mulched the blueberries really thickly with compost and untreated sawdust shavings from a neighbour.  Blueberries love untreated sawdust.

Phew, all that took most of the day!  Today I'm having my hair trimmed and am supposedly having a day off from physical toil - hmmm we shall see!  Giggle.. Smiles...

Murphy Where are You!!

Murphy from Murphy's Law that is!  Aaaggghhh I would love to strangle him right now, giggle.  I'm having one of those weeks where things are just happening that are out of my control:

The front wheel of the motor mower came apart from the body of the mower when I had almost finished mowing the paths in the kitchen garden, had to finish by dragging the blasted thing backwards, uphill!!  Ack

The knob on the china teapot has come unstuck for the umpteenth time

There is a slight icky smell in our fridge and it cannot be identified at this stage!  No rotting food so hmmmmm, who knows

The toasted sandwich maker won't stay shut, the clip on the side is not working properly

The toaster is stuffed so I'm grilling (broiling) toast every morning. 

That's more than 3 things in a row so I have no idea what's going on, giggle!  Ahem, apart from those things I'm having a great week (I think, she said trying to convince herself). 

Today is the calm before the storm I fear.  The weather forecast is for rain (sometimes heavy) from this evening right through Saturday.  Ugh...  Just when the soil in the garden is at the perfect stage (finally) for weeding.  Never mind, I have loads of things I can do craft-wise if it rains for a few days and it will be good for my body to have a rest from physical work.  Oh I've made some paper flowers for my christmas cards this year and I'll post a photo tomorrow.  Smiles, must fly and start my day....

 

What a Night - A Honeybee Rescue!

Hi everyone, crikey what a busy day I had yesterday, culminating in a weird evening!  (I'll get to that in a bit).  After posting my photos here yesterday, I baked my first biscuits in years - choc chip and macadamia nut (yum!).  I decided to use a fresh duck egg so I went and raided a nest that is in the process of being laid in (duck eggs don't become viable until the dear girl starts to sit on them).  Ducks lay an egg a day so I found a lovely pure white one (dead fresh!).  Before I used it I gave it the egg in water test to make sure it was really fresh.  Here's a photo of it - hard to see but the white of the egg is amazingly translucent and the yolk is HUGE!

Needless to say the resulting biscuits are delicious:

 
My neighbour came over for a cup of tea around 3.45pm and while she was here, our other firends John and Jeanne turned up so they got to sample my biscuits too.  I managed to get a bit more weeding done in my main perennial garden in amongst all this flutter!

Just as I was cooking my dinner I noticed a dear wee honeybee crawling very slowly around the bench, looking really worn out.  I grabbed a short glass and raced outside to get a hellebore flower (ermmm don't ask me why!).  I proceeded to put the bee into the glass and popped a piece of tin foil over it with air holes punched in it.  Hmmm what to do next as I had no idea how to keep it alive.  I remembered that there is a place in Blenheim (east coast top of south island) that hires out hives so I figured they would know what I could do.  I looked them up on the internet (yes it really does come in handy sometimes I admit) and phoned.  They were out but their daughter suggested I get some honey for it.  Hmmm no honey in the house as it makes my mouth go zingy..  phoned my neighbours and raced over there to borrow theirs.  I think they now think I'm completely potty (I told them why I needed it), but that's okay!  Giggle.. 

It was the most amazing thing, I put a teasponfull of honey into the flower and the honeybee literally made a bee-line for it, and drank for quite a while.  Needless to say I put it up on the third shelf of our bookcase and just hoped that when I got up this morning it would still be alive.  IT WAS!  I let it go out in the kitchen garden in the sun around 9am as there was a bit of a frost last night and I was concerned it would be too cold.  I really hope it survives!

Oh one thing that I thought was gorgeous is I phoned the daughter back later and asked if I should just let it go - would it find it's hive in the dark.  She said probably but that it might not be able to get in.  This really tickled my sense of humour - do the bees lock the doors of the hive at a certain time?  Great mental image!

I also had to make an emergency trip out to the kitchen garden around 7.15pm to cover my asparagus as the weather forecast at the end of the news mentioned frost and I have a few spears poking their noses up.  The long and the short of it was, I didn't eat until 8pm!  Crikey, what a night!  Big smiles...

Photos as Promised

Hi, it's Monday afternoon now and Zumba was really fun!  Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday when I was in the garden.  Isn't this hellebore (winter rose) scrumptious!!

 
And here's Magnolia Star Wars about to burst into flower.  This tree was given to me by Frank's Trees here in Nelson because of all the feedback they got after I wrote a feature article on their tree nursery.  It is a beautiful flower and I will take a photo of it when it opens too.

Here is a better photo of one of my Geranium phaeum seedlings.  I just love the colour of this one!  Smiles until tomorrow..

 

It's Zumba Monday

Hi everyone, just a quick post for now as I am rushing out the door to go to my Zumba class.  I just love this form of exercise, because I've always loved to dance.  I have osteoarthritis in my hips, the left is moderate secondary so sometimes the moves can be a bit of a challenge - not helped by days of splitting wood with an axe I might add!  Giggle..

I'll post again in a few hours with some photos I took yesterday.  Smiles...