Art for Heart's Sake

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Yum!

Giggle!  Hi, it's cold here this morning and my fingers and toes are chilly as I am typing this - it's pure bliss!  This could only be spoken by a person l ike me who is so tired of feeling hot all the time.   Having said that, yesterday morning it was 7.7 degrees C in the morning and 29.3 degrees C by the middle of the afternoon.  Crikey, that's quite a jump in temps.  Needless to say it was a crystal clear blue sky, sunshine filled day.  Today there are a few wispy ''it's going to get windy'' sort of clouds around so the weather might be changing slightly.

Yesterday pm I got the mix of topsoil and compost shovelled off the ute into the new bit of garden I told you about.  One slight prob, we need another load, so yes that's what I'll be doing this afternoon.  I think I overdid things slightly yesterday, I was so physically tired by the end of the day I felt like a bag of concrete!  I had to take Chester out for his evening run in the paddock and it was such hard work for me.  I also took quite a while to get to sleep last night which is a sure sign I was too wound up from doing too much. 

This morning I need to pot on some herb seedlings desperately!  I also have some more vegie plants to go into the ground but I think they can wait until tomorrow.  Okay I'd better go and hang the washing out so I can start potting.  Hugs and smiles...  oooh a photo of the best bunch of grapes I have ever eaten, ever!  I picked them from our vine last night and oooh scrumptious! 

Two Gorgeous Photos of Chester

 
 
Hi, I just had to share these right now!  Isn't he just gorgeous!  I took the one of him in the MX5 yesterday morning and John took the close up yesterday pm.  I love the way one of his eyebrow hairs comes down over his eye - crikey how long are they going to get??

I'm really sorry this post is late today, it was a frantic start to the day because I was going out to my 45 min personal training session at 9am and John decided to come too and take Chester for a walk along the beach.  We went to get some vegie seedlings and had our first cup of coffee at a cafe since early January (due to puppydom!).  I had to check on Chester once because it is another lovely day and definitely had to move the car into a shady spot.  Luckily we had a water bowl and lots of water for him so he was just fine. 

John's great nephew, Ben, has been over here from the UK working with the New Zealand Falcon Project, taking movie footage and he is about to go back to the UK in mid-April so he's come to see us today.  They have just gone out to get a mix of topsoil and compost for the new area of garden behind the retaining wall that is just finished.  Yippeee... I will spend the rest of the afternoon shovelling it out of the ute and then I can start to plan my planting!  I just adore doing that.  Big hugs and smiles.

A Glorious Autumn Day

Hi there!  This morning I had to rush out the door to a meeting and as I was driving home I was struck by the beauty of this marvellous area we live in.  It is such a stunning autumn day today - crystal clear blue sky and sunshine (groan re gardening though) and that special light that is only present in autumn.  Sigh, so so beautiful. 

This afternoon I desperately need to get out into the kitchen garden to weed my vegie seedlings and hopefully thin my carrot rows.  I know I am going to get very hot because the sun is really hot but I simply have to do it.

This morning the seagull I saw yesterday was sitting at the bottom of our drive!  Crikey, I honestly was hoping it was out of its misery by now.  It moved away as I drove past - ouch ouch ouch I thought.  John tried to get it when he got home from walking Chester (he went out before me) but the seagull just kept running away from him and is now back over on the subdivision across the road.  I really don't know how we can catch it.  I just feel so sad that it is going to die a slow death from starvation and probably infection.  I'm hoping we might try to get it again this afternoon but it could prove futile and it will REALLY upset me if we can't get it and have to watch it struggling to get away from us.  Hmmm it is so hard to know what to do for the best.  John phoned our vet clinic because they do wildlife rescue too and they will take it if we can get it there.  I keep thinking about how it must be feeling.. which I musn't do because it is too hard on my heart.

Here is the photo I promised you of John with his mother's really gorgeous sewing machine.  Dont'they both look cute!   Smiles...

 

I Had Fun!

Hi, yikes it's Monday morning already!  Yesterday I HAD FUN!  I spent the morning writing my sample newsletter for the newsletter editor position and emailed it off - so fingers crossed they like what I have done!  I really hope so as I would love to do this!

The rain didn't last very long - all of an hour but at least it stayed mainly cloudy for the rest of the day.  I really needed to be out in the kitchen garden but as it was Sunday I decided to let myself have some fun in the studio in the afternoon.  I did a few more image transfers and glimmermisted to my heart's content.  Needless to say when I was preparing the chicken to roast for dinner, late afternoon, I was a bit concerned it would be glimmery!  Giggle.

This morning I walked up the road of the subdivision across the road from our driveway with Chester.  We had decided not to take him down our drive right from the beginning but to be honest it was becoming a real trial loading him into the car just to go a short distance to take him for a walk.  We have stopped just taking him into the paddock because he needs to get used to traffic etc.  At the moment he is very very wary of cars, which is a good thing, except he tends to leap sideways in fright.  For a five month old young dog he really is exceptionally good at staying to heel.  Yes he pulls a little but he is learning fast what ''heel'' means.  Needless to say my right arm gets a good workout.  He is really good at loose lead walking at obedience class but of course everything is SO interesting out in the real world.

I did see one thing this morning that made me sad, and I couldn't do anything about it.  We saw a large black and white seagull that was hurt.  It was walking on the bank in front of us, to the side and I realised one of its wings was torn almost completely off!  I felt really awful particularly as it was trying to walk faster to get away from us and it rolled down the bank at one point and it had a really large open wound.  I couldn't do a thing because I had the dog.  If I'd been alone I would have tried to get to it and get John or the vet to put it out of its misery.  I really hate to think of it suffering such pain.  When John gets home from his exercise I'll see if he'll go and try to find the poor thing.  Ugh I really feel bad!

This afternoon I am going to be potting on some herb seedlings (I MUST do it today!) and then I will do some weeding. 

Oh I have a cute photograph of John to share with you next time - it involves his mother's ''antique'' sewing machine! Smiles...

It's Raining and It's Bliss!

Hi, yesterday we woke to a bit of very slight drizzle and it lasted some of the morning.  The rest of the day stayed cloudy much to my delight so when we got back from dog obedience (after I'd rushed home from zumba, got changed and rushed out again with John and Chester) I managed to do some more weeding in the kitchen garden.  I also watered the very arid garden around the studio/roundabout in case it rained more because this would help any moisture to penetrate more.

Much to my delight it started raining about 45 minutes ago and it is a lovely steady rain.  I so hope it lasts all day!

I am going to write a draft newletter today and at the moment my brain is in a bit of a fog re how to go about it.  One of my absolute favourite scrapbooking supply stores needs a newsletter editor and I would simply LOVE to do it.  I'm not sure exactly how to start writing it but I will just start and hopefully it will flow.  Oooh the rain is getting heavier.. yippeeee!

I also want to start sowing some more hardy geranium seed for my nursery stocks so if I get cabin fever I can always go into the farmshed and do some sowing.  I have some herb seedlings to pot on too but I prefer to do that during the week than on a Sunday.

Oh the good news is it seems Chester's tummy is okay so I have returned him to his usual diet this morning.  Yesterday I incorporated his dry dog food with some cooked chicken, to gently ease him back on to his normal diet.  Keep your fingers crossed his system remains normal!

Well I'm off to get a cup of tea!  Have a great rest of weekend everyone.  Big hugs and smiles...

Very Cute Game Hens!

Morning!  I have to rush out the door to Zumba so this will just be a quick post.  The other day I was sitting in my studio when I suddenly realised I could hear our game hens, Matilda (mother), Gertrude and Sophie making noises fairly close at hand - it was there day to free range around our garden.  It was about time I fed them so I grabbed their food and started calling them. Hmmm nowhere to be seen!

I decided to try a bit later.  As I was walking towards the studio I heard them again and lo and behold, here they were roosting in our favourite shrub opposite our bedroom, in the woodland garden.  I grabbed the camera - they looked so gorgeous (it's a little out of focus, sorry!)  Hope you enjoy.  More soon - Smiles...

 

It's Friday!

Hi there, it's Friday!  Tada!  I'm feeling a bit exhausted today, not physically, just everything-else-ish.  At the moment we are waiting for Chester to produce something solid from his rear end (I don't like using that ''p'' word, giggle, been saying it to Chester too much lately.. go ''p'', go ''p'', oh go ''p'' already!!).  Since he's had his upset tummy he's been on rice and chicken which the vet tells me doesn't ''produce'' much, if you know what I mean.  As far as we know he's only been a couple of tiny times since Wednesday but we have been told not to panic about it.  Crikey!  Puppy-dom is hard work, I knew it would be but it is really emotionally draining at times.

Oooh John has almost finished the new section of retaining wall and it looks FABULOUS.. Look...

 
He only has one small section left to do on the left.  Then the fun begins because we need to break up the SOLID clay behind the retaining wall so I can get some decent soil and compost into it before I plant.  Hard work ahead, even if it rains because the ground really is solid.

Yesterday I transplanted some medium-sized clumps of Hellebores (winter roses) out of the dog area into the main perennial garden.  I suddenly realised the leaves and stems of Hellebores are poisonous to dogs and cause gastro symptoms... hmmm maybe that's why he's  been off colour??  Rather than take a chance I decided to move them.  I also saw him tear a small branch from my small deciduous azalea in the same area - yes you guessed it - all parts are poisonous to dogs.. sigh.. so pulled that out too!  I loved the little garden I was establishing down there - I could see it from our kitchen but never mind, I guess we should have fenced it off from the dog.  The area now looks scrappy and ugly again.  I think I might need to hang some hanging baskets or something from our verandah on that side of the house so I have something pretty to look at instead!

I hope you enjoyed my trial video? I would love to do a short video each week, showcasing something I am working on possibly?  Did you manage to download it?  I am still working out how to get the video actually into my blog post rather than as a download.  Well I'd better get outside into the garden.  Hugs and smiles..

A Trial Video!

Download ~PI25C0

I hope this works!  If so, I am planning to do short video posts each week!  Smiles..

Busy Morning

Hi, yikes my post is late today!  It's 1.21pm already.  I had to rush out the door this morning to catch up with a friend I haven't seen for ages, which meant no computer time till now!

Yesterday I managed to do a bit more plant maintenance in the nursery which was great.  There is still a bit more to do and then I have to go on a major planting spree in the garden.  I have quite a lot of one particular hardy geranium so I've decided to plant a bulk lot of it in a garden that tends to get fairly neglected.  It is hard to garden in because of the soil and is towards our neighbour's property so we don't really look at it, as such.  I hope it rains this Saturday (it's forecast) because it will help to soften the soil just a bit so I can plant.

Our day ended rather unexpectedly with Chester being fairly sick!  I've forgotten just what that is like, sort of like a human being ill only they can't tell you what's wrong.  Poor thing!  Needless to say, he was ill 3 times so our vet suggested we bring him in just to be safe.  They gave him something for nausea and he's on a chicken and rice diet for a few days.  His dog area has all sorts of pieces of bark etc and fungi is coming up because it's autumn so who knows what he may have eaten.  On a brighter note, his other end seems to be coming right (oh joy, sorry about the topic, giggle!).  We are keeping an eye on the fungi and getting rid of it as it appears.  Let's face it, dogs eat EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, ugh!  Speaking of which I just popped out and found him chewing on hellebore (winter rose) roots.. ack, now have to look it up to see if they are poisonous!  Oh poop!!!

I am about to leap out into the garden this pm to do some planting in the main perennial garden.  It is hot, yes, but I feel bad that I've been out all morning so will do it anyway!  Here is a photo of my new nursery stand John built!  Smiles...

 

Oh to Be Able to Garden!

Hi, I hope you are all having a fabulous week!  I'd love you to leave a comment and tell me what your week involves?  What fills your days?

Today I am struggling a bit with frustration.  I really wanted to leap out into the kitchen garden this morning while it was still cool to get some more weeding done and prepare some more areas for seeds and plants.  Well by the time I've done everything I needed to do re animal tasks, hanging out washing etc it is now too hot!  It doesn't help that we are waking up later than normal because we are still on daylight saving time and the mornings are pretty dark. 

I know I must not get frustrated, everything will happen in good time!  John and I are both longing for some cloudy days, just a couple a week would be helpful so we can spend time working outside without roasting ourselves!!  John is working on the retaining wall on the other side of my studio at the moment.  Here is a ''before'' photo.. and yes this bank is pretty rough!  The gravelled area is part of our driveway that goes around this ''roundabout'', and you can see the east-facing window of my studio.  This bank will soon be transformed into a lovely garden, to highlight the BEAUTIFUL totara trunk/stump that is there.  This magnificent piece of wood was here when we bought the property and it comes from a local river and is at least 200 years old, so we were told!

 
As you can see we are doing ''battle clay''.  Our property is made up of Moutere (the valley we live in, well ours is officially Redwood Valley but the Moutere is about 1 minute away!) clay.  This clay is basically crumbly but at the moment it is ROCK HARD!  Ack!! 

Well I'd better go and finish changing our bed - yes I got sidetracked - it's 11.22am, crikey!  Hugs and smiles...