Art for Heart's Sake

Just in Case..

Yikes just thought I'd better let you know we are changing from company broadband to home broadband and we hope all will go smoothly.  If you don't see a post for a day or two, ýou'll know it didn't!  Fingers crossed... xxx

A Special Lunch

Hi, I hope the beginning of your week has been FABULOUS!  Crikey it's the last day of November already! 

This will be a short post today because in about 30 mins we are off to the airport to take a 30min flight to Wellington for a very special lunch.  It is John's farewell lunch after 33 years of loyal service to Mobil (which became ExxonMobil a few years ago (hmmm hope I got that right - I'm sure John will let me know, giggle)) and 22 people (23 counting me) will be there to celebrate. 

Re my foot - I went to the doctor yesterday pm as the joint at the base of my toe was KILLING me.  I mailed some overseas mail in the morning and limped through the mall with my foot getting more painful by the second.  Decided I'd better get it checked when I could feel something ''clicking'' (ugh).  I have a very inflamed joint and it is possible I have slightly cracked the bone so I have an xray form just in case I need it.  Needless to say the timing couldn't be worse as we can't go horseriding on our anniversary this Thursday as we had planned.  The doctor told me 'not a good idea', pookies I say!  So I will be hobbling around today in Wellington - feeling very silly!  Crikey Philippa - what next??  NOTHING I HOPE AND PRAY!!   Big smiles.. more soon...

Crikey, What Next!! Giggle

Hi there, well I'm beginning to wonder what's next in terms of the end of this year!  Last night I fell over in the paddock (on uneven ground) and have damaged the base joint where my big toe joins my foot!  I did the same thing a few years ago and I have a funny feeling the hairline crack I had then may have reoccurred.  Ugh ugh ugh..  Crikey Philippa what a twit (NZ for silly person!). 

Needless to say that means no Zumba (a major sob!) for the second week running, and no personal training session.  My joint is swollen and extremely sore.  We are also going horseriding on our anniversary this Thursday so really my timing couldn't have been worse!  I will be in town while John is exercising because we have christmas mail to post (deadline is today) and it means John won't have to do it - it's his last full day of work today so he needs to get home.

We woke to cloud today which was really lovely but now the sun is coming out so I'd better go inside and slather on the sunblock!  I'm sorry there is no photo this morning, I have a lovely one of a little sparrow that recovered after hitting our window on Saturday but haven't uploaded it yet.  More soon.. limp, ouch, limp, ouch!!  Giggle..

The End of November

Hi and happy Saturday evening or Sunday!  I'm not going to mention the weather today because it's no different from yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that, giggle!  On the bright side, there was a tiny shower of rain last night and it was good to see a few raindrops on foliage this morning. 

I had a pretty good day yesterday even though I couldn't do a lot in the garden - it was just too hot.  Here in New Zealand our sunshine is very intense and at this time of year the UV rating is extreme so it only takes around 5 minutes to start burning.  I put on sunblock factor 30 every morning at this time of year and try to remember to do it again around lunchtime.  The honest truth is I simply cannot handle heat so I tend to flake from around 11.30am onwards.  Horribly frustrating when there is so much to do in the garden.

Yesterday afternoon John set up our badminton net/area in the paddock.  He mowed it with the motor mower so we have a defined area which is great.  Last summer we played almost every morning before breakfast - it's a great way to get extra exercise and is a good start to the day.  Needless to say we didn't play this morning because John was next door watching the All Blacks versus Wales rugby match.  We went to our friends, Mike and Milli, for dinner last night and didn't get home until after midnight.  I honestly cannot handle late nights and that's two weekends in a row now.  I woke at about 5.30am when John got up to go next door so I'm feeling very jaded.  I so would love to be able to cat nap during the day but it is just not in my makeup - once I'm awake, that's it!

Here is a photo of my studio 'Serenity' and part of the garden surrounding it.  I love this little building - it is my haven and I love spending time in it.  There is something really special about having a craft studio separate from the house and I certainly don't take it for granted.  Thank you John for building it for me (I was way too messy in the spare room!!).. giggle..  Smiles..

 

Another Hot Saturday

Hi there!  If you are in the USA, I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving with friends and family.  I have to say Thanksgiving is one tradition I would love to experience first hand.

Crikey, I'm sure you must be tired of reading 'hot hot hot' in my posts all the time.  One thing is for sure, I am.. ermmmm.. a bit tired of seeing the sun in the sky every day.  That sounds like sacrilege I know!  After that teensy tiny bit of rain we had last week, I am back to thinking 'now where did I water last!' and quite often I only realise I've missed an area when things start to wilt horribly.  Still I will get there - I guess it has to rain eventually!

Today we are pottering around the property again, trying to avoid doing anything too physical in the very hot sunshine.  We are going out to friends' for dinner tonight which I am looking forward to - oh such bliss not to have to cook!

Sabah came and went a few times yesterday for small meals which is the Sabah I know and love!  I think the steroids he is on are making a difference to his tummy in terms of lowering the inflammation, so that's great.  Long may it continue I say!

Well it's lunch time so I need to fly.  Hugs and smiles.. oh and I'm up to Day 16 on Rhonna Farrer's 21 day challenge even though the 21 days finished yesterday.  I will get to day 21 though, I am determined!  I'm really enjoying the process and have realised how much I love using colour - I just can't help myself!  Smiles...

Ta Da!

Hi there, well finally here are some photos of the perennial border.  I hope you can get an idea of how it looks from these photos.  It's a large garden so is quite hard to photograph. 

 
 
The lighting is a little dark - I took these early in the morning.  I have a couple more and will post those tomorrow.

Today I am finally getting my craved day at home and am pottering around the garden doing loads of things I've been meaning to do for days.  I FINALLY got round to de-lateraling (not a word but it sounds good) and tying up the triffid-like tomatoes in my small glasshouse this morning.  My intention was to keep them very tidy this year.. ermmmmm NO!  Giggle.

Sabah is outside today for the first time in almost two weeks and phew has been back inside once this morning for extra food.  Keep your fingers crossed that this behaviour continues - I so want him to be back to normal.  He's still on prednisolone and will be for a week or so yet.

Oh one thing that happened yesterday that doesn't thrill me.  I went to the doctor to get a small lump on the inside of my nose right below my left eye checked and there is a small possibility it could be a basal cell carcinoma (non-malignant) so I have to go to a dermotologist on 9 Dec to get it looked at and possibly hacked at (eeeeeeek).  It is in a very tricky position right on my tear duct area so doctor didn't want to touch it.  Oh boy, just what I need to round my year off... phoop!  I will try not to think about it until the 9th!  Smiles....

 

Craving some Home Time!

Hi there, happy Thursday (or Wednesday if you are on the other side of the world)! 

I am struggling a bit this week.  Anyone who knows me will agree that I am a true home-body!  I love nothing more than spending day after day on our property, either in the garden or pottering in my studio and SOMETIMES doing housework (now John, don't laugh!!!) - a domestic goddess I am NOT, giggle..

This week we have been out every single day for a few hours and I am really craving some quality home time.  This is not possible today as we have another appointment at 10am and we will possibly be out until around lunch time again.  This is slightly more frustrating because we are having a run of warm, sunny weather again, so by early pm it is too hot for me to able to do much in the garden.  I can see the weeds growing in leaps and bounds as I'm writing this!  I also need to preserve some beetroot and pick a whole load of broad beans to blanch and freeze..  Oh and then there's the raspberry, blueberry and redcurrant patches to protect from birds too, sooner rather than later!  Aaaaaggghhhhhh

Breathe, Philippa breathe.. giggle...  I haven't had time to take any photographs this week either, but hope to rectify that asap so you have something to look at instead of just me burbling along..  Hugs and Smiles...

 

This time next month...

... It will be Christmas Eve!  Heavens to mergutroid... crikey and oh boy!  I have just realised that I haven't done a thing about writing any christmas cards for our overseas family and friends - luckily I have made them at least!  I also need to madly start shopping for christmas pressies.  I think our time has been taken up thinking about/planning for John finishing work so everything else has just taken a back seat.  

This morning we had to take Sabah back to the vet because his coat was looking really choppy and unhealthy.  He was slightly dehydrated again so had to have more sub-cut fluids.  We had to giggle when we brought him home, he looks like balloon boy, wee soul!  They must have pumped a fair amount of fluid into him this time.  I was going to see if he wanted to go out this pm but think I'll give his system a chance to absorb the fluid first - also he might get stuck getting in and out of his window, giggle!

This pm I am potting up some chocolate capsicum (bell pepper) plants for the shop I supply.  Things are starting to slow down a little bit now but they will rev up again around February - April.  Even though I'd love to sell heaps more, it will give me a chance to concentrate on the garden again, and Christmas of course!  Smiles...

A Wonderful Discovery

Hi and welcome to our Tuesday.  I hope your week has started really well wherever you are. 

Today is a very special day.  It would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday and also mum and dad's wedding anniversary.  Happy birthday to my darling dad, I miss you every minute of every day and feel you with me every instant too!  Love you!

Recently I made a very exciting discovery in the garden outside my studio.  This garden is a raised one that goes around from the studio towards the drive.  I have thrown a lot of sweet william, sweet pea and other seeds around as well as planting quite a lot of other perennials there.  I noticed a few months ago that there was a small rose seedling that just appeared out of nowhere.  It looked like a wild rose so I decided to leave it to see what would happen.  It grew fairly slowly last season so you can imagine my surprise when I realised it had buds on it this season.  A week or so ago, I popped into the middle of the garden to see if the buds had opened.  They had been showing a bit of white, which then turned to pinkish/white and then to a lovely strong magenta shade.  Today I had another look and WOW is all I can say.  Here she is: (I picked the flower to dry in my studio as it was buried in amongst the other flowers in the garden)

 
Isn't she just completely gobsmacking??!!  As I am typing this her perfume is filling my studio - it is the most delicious true rose smell - very yummy!  Isn't nature fantastic and thank you to the bird who dropped the seed! 

Today we are off into Nelson for a late morning appointment so I'm hoping I will get a chance to do some gardening in the afternoon.  There are weeds EVERYWHERE but luckily the flowers are totally camouflaging most of them.. phew!  Smiles...

 

Still Monday!

Hi there, well it's still Monday and ermmm sob, there wasn't any zumba this morning!  I got a text to say it had been cancelled as our usual instructor, Sam, isn't supposed to be doing it at this particular gym anymore and the girl that is taking over from her wasn't going to be available.  Yikes....  zumba withdrawal set in very quickly!  I just so love doing it and feel quite bereft when I can't!  It seems as though the Monday classes may end up ending so I have decided I will go on Saturday mornings instead.  John and I are also going to do personal training (with a couple of others) for 30mins 2x a week on Mondays and Wednesdays.  It is a great, fairly intense workout and it is doing us both good!  Just wanted to update you!  More tomorrow.. Smiles..