Art for Heart's Sake

I Love This Photo

 
Hi there, this photo was taken by Lyn on Saturday night, just as we were leaving after having a lovely dinner - I look tired and believe me I was, but I really like this photo.  We madly love driving with the top down on cold nights (can you see the beginnings of frost on the windows?), it is such fun.  Believe it or not we are quite warm down in the car especially with the heater blasting full bore on us.  My favourite thing to do is to tip by head back and gaze at the stars and that's just what I did.

Yesterday afternoon I transplanted the other two red currants, after doing battle root couch, giggle.  I also got a couple of other areas weeded and got the rest of the compost out of the back of our 4wd ute.  I've been putting all the weeds onto our trailer (not sure what you call these in the States) so John hitched it to the ute and off we went (with me sitting on the back tray of the ute, I love doing that too) across the paddock and up the other side, well almost... giggle..  Yes, you guessed it, we got well and truly bogged.  I think the wheels of the ute were around 12" down in the mud.  We emptied the trailer using a pitchfork and garden fork - walking over to where we wanted to dump it - and then I went back up to the house.  It wasn't long before I heard John returning in the ute which was just wonderful as we were thinking it would have to stay there until the ground dried up again, around early summer!  I'll post a photo of poor Bartok (ute) tomorrow.  Oh that's another thing I haven't mentioned, we have names for all of our vehicles.  They are named after various composers - hmmm just another quirk we have, giggle.  More about that another time.

Today I am back out in the kitchen garden, digging a narrow garden on the west side of the garden shed for the passionfruit vine I want to plant later this year.  I also need to plant some more pak choi and broccoli plants today too.  Oooh as I'm typing this a chaffinch is eyeing  up the new feeding station.  I hope it won't be long before they get brave enough to use it.  Smiles..

Look at This....!!

...Bird feeding station, yippee..  I asked John yesterday if I could have a bird feeding station outside my studio near the quince tree and lo and behold, a couple of hours later, there it was!  I was so excited as I didn't expect him to do it straight away.  I am going to set up another sugar water feeder later this week (I need to buy a jar) and am also going to hang wild bird seed honey bells there too.  At night a whole host of sparrows roost in the tree to the right of my studio so I'm hoping they will notice the food too.  I know it will take them a while to pluck up courage to visit it, because it is fairly close to my open studio door.

 
I love the height of it - even though I know Sabah has stopped leaping up on things to get birds - it is reassuring that the pole is thin too.

Yesterday we did battle red currant and I managed to get my dessert quality one transplanted from the kitchen garden up to the caged garden by the house.  It was quite a performance - John dug it out as it was too hard for me to do and then we wheelbarrowed it up to the house, where I hosed off the roots.  I didn't want to have to do that because obviously it disturbs them more but there was so much couch grass in amongst the root ball I really had no choice.  Around 45 minutes later I was still trying to get all the grass roots out.  In the end there were two pieces that were well and truly ensconced in the centre of the plant.  I was determined to get them out so  with John's help (holding the entire plant up with the root ball in the sunlight, I managed to get them out.  After cutting the wood back so the plant's energy would be used to re-establish good roots, I replanted it and just as I was firming the soil down, what did I see - aaaggghhhh one more tiny piece of couch right in the centre.  So up the poor plant came again and I managed to get it out (I think).  I'm fairly sure there will be one miniscule section of root right in the middle of the plant, but here's hoping not!  Darn stuff.

Today I am going to transplant another two red currants in another ''clean'' section of the kitchen garden.  It is a shame I can't leave them just in one garden because I like the way it looked, but ah well, not much I can do about it if I want healthy bushes.  I will have to spend more time getting couch out of their root balls too, but at least they aren't as big.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I have news about the adventures of Chester - who is in the dogbox right now (again, darn toddler, giggle) but I'll leave that for another time.  Smiles..

New Shelving!

Hi there, yippee I have new shelving in my studio.  When John cleared out the laundry to paint it, he removed the shelving unit we had in there because we were replacing it with cupboards.  Yes, you guessed it, the unit is now sitting against the back wall of my studio - the perfect spot to display some of my art pieces and more storage for other things.  John also started plastering the seams where the lining meets too so there's hope I may get it painted before the year is out.  It's tricky because I can't really take all of my cupboards out (they are loaded with stuff!) - they will just have to be taped shut and moved to the centre of the room.  I think he's going to do the walls, bit by bit.

Last evening we had dinner with my dearest friend Lyn and her lovely husband Bevan at their home and it was SO lovely.  Great food and wonderful company.  We drove both ways with the top down on our little car - there is nothing like speeding through the countryside with chilly air above the windscreen and lovely warm cosy air blasting from the heater!  On the way home I tilted my head back and just stared at the glorious stars - the Milky Way looked incredible.  We are so lucky to live in the country with no streetlights around us.  I must take more time to go outside at  night and gaze upwards.

I'll share a photo of my studio shelves and also our dinner last night, tomorrow.  I haven't had a chance to load them onto the computer yet.  I must get out into the garden - we're transplanting my favourite red currant bush to prime position inside a raised caged garden up by the house.  Smiles..

A Beautiful Moment, Then a Tragic One

Hi there, ermmm I have a confession - I didn't go to the circuit this morning.  I just didn't feel up to it!  I wrote my post late yesterday so it would be published this morning as I would be running to get out the door at 8am!  Crikey.   Yesterday was quite a day - good grief, tears of joy and then tears of true sadness.

I was sitting in my studio yesterday morning when I heard a lot of splashing around in the small birdbath I have in the garden across the drive from my studio.  There was our pet thrush having a wonderful bath, keeping all the other birds out of the birdbath!  Flitting around, trying to get in was a beautiful female bellbird - these birds are the most gorgeous NZ native and we are so lucky to have them in our garden as they are sometimes fairly scarce.  She was taking nectar from my Salvia madrensis (yellow flowering salvia).  Two minutes later I heard a noise and turned to see her having a ''bath'' in the small! red bird feeder I had in the quince tree for sugar water.  I'd decided the sugar water wasn't going to work because it all blew out on the day I first used it but I hadn't got round to moving the feeder.  It was full of rainwater and here she was having a bath in it!  I sat here with tears of joy in my eyes, it was such a moving sight. 

Needless to say my tears of joy turned to tears of sadness yesterday afternoon.  I was busy clearing out the spare room and John and I were both outside, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the living room and I rushed inside to see what was up.  Here was Chester with a bird in his mouth - I thought at first it was a fantail, but then quickly realised it was my female bellbird!  I was beside myself and had to force Chester to let her go.  Needless to say she was already dead (from shock I think because there was no blood) and I was SO upset.  She must have flown into the living room from the verandah (sliding door was open) and couldn't get out so naturally Chester thought ''easy pickings''.  I have to say I was feeling pretty peeved at him, even though I know what he did was just a natural instinct.  The irony is, Sabah the cat was in his bed in the spare room!!!!  The male bellbird was singing for his mate later in the afternoon and that set me off again!  They are monogamous and mate for several years - I so hope he finds another mate so they can breed. That's two female bellbirds that have died here this year.

Phew thank you for letting me get this off my chest, I needed to!!  If you'd like to see what these gorgeous birds are like, just google NZ Bellbird.

Crikey, well today is another day and even though I am still sad about her, I realise she just wasn't meant to live for some reason.  I do sometimes wish I wasn't such a soft-hearted lump when it comes to nature but I just am.

Today I need to transplant a boysenberry and a red currant, plus spread some compost on the kitchen garden - oops I need to weed it first!!  Giggle... I'd better go and start!  Smiles...

Am I Mad??!!

Gulp... today I am doing something completely crazy - I'm going to a bootcamp ''circuit'' at the gym I do my Zumba at.  Zumba is cancelled today so I thought I'd give this circuit a try.  One prob.. it starts at 8.30am!!!  Aaaaggghhh.. in fact don't be surprised if I post later saying I changed my mind about going.  I sit and watch the end of it while I'm waiting for Zumba and it is pretty scary.  They work really hard and some of the exercises look pretty terrifyingly hard!

Here is the photograph of Jacqui I promised you.  Jacqui is such a honey, a very vibrant person with a warm heart and I love it when we get to spend time experimenting with art techniques.  We both share a love of mixed media so we always have a great time inspiring each other.  We'd love to get together once a week but haven't managed it yet.  Well I guess I'd better get out the door.. hmmm I could still change my mind!!  Smiles...

 

Yay, the Sun's Out

Hi, crikey it's Friday already!  Where did the week go??  It's such a lovely day today - blue sky, a bit of high cloud and a SW breeze - perfect for drying our washing.  Yesterday the cloud came and went and we had another heavy shower of rain in the evening.  I managed to get a lot more done in the spare room fitted wardrobe and now we can actually SEE the surface of the in-built computer desk - wow, giggle!  Today it is still too wet underfoot to be gardening so I will do my best to finish the wardrobe part of the room at least.  I have about three boxes of seeds to go through (yes I know a wardrobe is an odd place to keep seeds - hmmm that's just Philippa I guess, giggle) as I know a lot of the seeds are past their use by date well and truly so they will need to be biffed (NZ for thrown out).  I'm going to put any flower seeds into a big mixture and just toss them into an area of the garden to see what comes up.  Sometimes really old seeds will still germinate.

Mary honey, thank you so much for your comment re the rawhide bones.  Yes we do have pigs ears in New Zealand and we've only been feeding Chester small pieces we have cut off them, but like you, I'm not too keen on seeing the entire ear!  Chester's tum is a bit more settled today so we'll leave him on the neutral food for a couple more days and see what happens when we introduce his usual food again.  I really must try not to fret so much when his system is a bit odd - dogs are renowned for it! 

Here is a more up-to-date photo of Chester's head.  I took it a couple of days ago and I think he's now almost 8 months old, I can't keep track!  Smiles...

 

It Definitely Rained!

Hi there, well it certainly rained last night.  All day yesterday it was cloudy with a gusty NE wind and a few spits here and there, off and on.  Around 6pm the heavens opened and down it came, sometimes really heavily.  I think it rained most of the night because there was 46mm of rain in our gauge out in the kitchen garden when I checked this morning.  Here is a photograph of one of our prunus trees just below our verandah on the NE side of the house - isn't it beautiful!  In this light it looks as though it is on fire.  Gorgeous!

 

Today it is still cloudy but the rain has stopped in the meantime it seems.  Needless to say - no gardening today, boy it's wet underfoot.

Darling Chester has an upset tummy again - from heaven knows what!  It's exactly the same as last time except this time he seems a bit nauseous as well.  So back onto the bland food for a few days to see if it helps.  The only thing we've given him that's out of the ordinary lately is 1/2 a small rawhide chewbone, so who knows.  We still take him out to the toilet because his dog area is still growing fungi due to the unseasonably warm weather, so we're fairly sure he hasn't been eating anything else he shouldn't be.   Poor lad, I hope he comes right. 

Yesterday pm I started tidying up the spare room.  John sorted out the magazines in the big bookcase we have in there and I had my head in our fitted wardrobe, trying to make head or tail of all the ''things'' I have in there.  I have managed to clear out quite a bit of space so far, so I will continue doing that today.  I'd better get to it!  I hope all is well in your world, wherever you are.  Smiles...

To Bootcamp, or not to Bootcamp??!!

Hi there - giggle - I still can't get used to the word bootcamp!  It doesn't sound right somehow.  What it really means in terms of exercise for us is 45 mins (John on Monday's, me on Wednesday's) of various things such as cardio (groan), circuit which includes jump squats, kettle bell swings, various other exercises involving weights, burpees (oh double double groan) and various other things, plus ab exercises and cooldown stretches. 

This morning I am about to rush out the door to my session and I'm not really sure I ought to be going.  Yesterday I realised fairly early in the day that my neck was a bit stiff (hard to turn to the right) which I know is coming from a knotty area around my right shoulder blade.  Hmmm me thinks I have been doing too much hard pulling of weeds in the last few days.  I have a feeling I will have trouble doing weights and push ups etc but we shall see.

I feel really sorry for my red and blackcurrants about now.  Two years ago I put down weedcloth and mulch because I realised every time I tried to weed out the couch grass I was disturbing the roots of my currants horribly.  I didn't realise when I planted them that they are surface-rooting!!  Ack..  So I thought I would try the weedcloth road even though I really don't like doing that.  Much to my dismay it didn't really stop the couch and today John (thank you honey) pulled it all up for me.  I just realised I had to get rid of it as it was just as bad as my disturbing the currants' roots in a way because the couch grass was still stifling the plants.  Long story short I am going to have to move my treasures to another part of the kitchen garden - preferably one with little or no (in my dreams) couch grass.  I took cuttings of the most amazing red currant just in case the trauma of root disturbance turns out to be too much for it.  I know currants are tough so fingers crossed!  I will have to cut them back hard before I transplant them so I guess that's the end of fruit for the coming season!  Sob sob sob.

Okay, I'd better run!  Smiles... and oh darn I forgot to post the photo of Jacqui yesterday.  I will do it, I promise! 

True Autumn Morning!

Hi there, this morning it is what I call  a ''real'' autumn morning.  The skies are slightly cloudy and the light is quite surreal - sort of a gleaming silver if that makes sense??!!  There was an incredibly heavy dew too and oh bother, our woodburner went out during the night.  I sometimes get it right, and sometimes don't - there is a point where I either turn the fire down too early after putting a larger log on it before bed or I turn it down too late and it burns out!  Urgh!  I haven't bothered to light it yet today because both of us are spending time outside.  I'm madly composting a few beds in the kitchen garden and I desperately need to finish weeding the raspberry bed and then compost that, before it rains later today.

Yesterday pm, Jacqui and I had a lovely time creating in my studio.  Jacqui was working on three mixed media canvases and I was finishing another of my stand up art pieces... hmmm maybe I could call them ''SUAP'''s??  Giggle..  It was so lovely sharing my space with a kindred spirit and we constantly bounce ideas around.  I will post a photograph that is really cute (Jacqui with very painted fingers!) later today.  Right I'd better get back outside - apologies this is so short!  Smiles..

Aromatherapy Outside my Door

Hi there, I hope you all had or are still having a wonderful weekend.  I spent lots of time in my garden so I am feeling happy, happy, happy, even though there's still truckloads to do!

As I am typing this the most delicious fragrance of attar of roses is wafting through my studio door.  I have a rose geranium planted in a terracotta planter just to the left of the steps up to my studio (I must take a photo for you) and the sun is just starting to filter onto it (there's a bit of cloud around today).  As the leaves warm up, they are releasing a very delicate, divine rose fragrance.  I find this happens whenever it rains too - as soon as the rain stops the fragrance starts.  It is gorgeous and a perfect way to get aromatherapy in here, giggle!  It is the only scented geranium I have and I really love it.

This morning I took Chester for a walk which turned out to be a bit of a battle at the beginning and in the middle.  He has been getting a bit too much attention lately and I think he thinks he is in control of us, not the other way round.  He normally is pretty good at loose-lead walking but to start with today he was impossible!  Crikey.  I make him sit whenever he pulls too badly and he eventually gets tired of doing it so behaves himself.   I had a wonderful walk with him late yesterday, but I guess today he's having a ''bad hair'' day! Giggle..  Needless to say I returned from the walk slightly stressed.... what's wrong with that equation??!!!

This pm my dear friend, Jacqui, is coming round to spend some precious time in my studio.  We love discussing products and giving each other inspiration and trying different techniques.  A few hours is never long enough!  I am going to do a bit more weeding this morning.  I ought to be out in the kitchen garden but I'm really enjoying weeding the front garden at the moment.  I will be out in the KG tomorrow because it is going to rain on Wednesday and Thursday and I want to try to put more compost on the beds before then (John is getting more today).  Right had better get to it!  Smiles..