Art for Heart's Sake

Swings and Roundabouts

Hi there, sitting on a swing is one of my favourite things to do in life - perfect stress relief, but ermm hang on I'm getting side-tracked, giggle.

Yesterday it got up to 21 degrees C here and was still around 19 degrees C in the evening.  Yikes imagine my surprise to wake up to 2.8 degrees C and frost on the ground out in our paddock.  Spring's swings and roundabouts with the temperatures can be quite amazing.

This morning I am rushing off out to Zumba and then we might be going out to get some rocks from a local quarry to start our little rockery near the studio.

I saw this quote yesterday and loved it, so wanted to share it with you.  I'll try to post more news later if I have time.

''Do not wait for life.  Do not long for i t.  Be aware, always and at every moment, that the miracle is in the here and now.'' - Marcel Proust. 

Big smiles...

Beautiful Blossom!

 
Hi and wowza, isn't this blossom unbelievable??!!  It is our dwarf peach tree that is laden with these beautiful flowers.  I love the intensity of the colour and the way the flowers are all literally PACKED together.  The peaches this treasure produces aren't the best for eating but they are wonderful for peach chutney.

 
I love the purity of these Prunus flowers.  I don't know what variety this is, but it is a fairly large tree that has obviously been in the garden for around 17 years or so.  The blossom shines out above the woodland garden and is really spectacular.  Spring is such a precious time of year.

My talks last night went really well and at one stage I had two separate groups of about 50 people in front of me.  The organisation wasn't the best, they were meant to blow a hooter after 10 minutes so that people could move from one stand to another but this didn't happen.  This made knowing when to stop and start very tricky so I just had to keep talking and going over things when people had missed out.  I am doing another one just like it in two weeks so I hope they use the hooter next time!

Today I am madly watering.  It was very windy yesterday and some of the beds in the kitchen garden are VERY dry.  We are going grocery shopping this pm too so all in all a fairly busy day.  Oh and I need to bring a load of herbs etc over because Heather is coming to pick them up this pm too.  Phew... I'd better get started.  Hope you enjoy the photos.  Smiles..

A Longish Day Ahead

Hi, it's another lovely Spring day today, with a gusty SW breeze blowing.  It got really warm yesterday afternoon when I was weeding the asparagus bed in the kitchen garden and it reminded me that summer is on its way which equals major gardening ''i'm too hot'' frustration, giggle!  I am going to make the MOST of every day of Spring that is left.

Tonight I am giving my six 15min talks on companion planting and edible flowers and I am a little bit nervous!  I've done this twice before but only on companion planting so I'm just hoping I can give enough details on that before I switch to edible flowers.  I have written complex notes for people to take away with them so I guess it will be okay.  We don't usually get a break between the talks either so hey ho, here I go!  The timing is tricky re my evening meal so I will just have soup before I leave home at around 6pm.  Hopefully I'll be home by 9.30 but it might be 10pm and oh boy will I be tired! 

Yesterday I did some watering (I'll do more today) and also took the frost cover off the lemon tree and weeded that garden too.  I also planted 9 seed potatoes - the first this season, yay!  I have limited room for potatoes this year which is a bit of a shame.  Most of the beds in my kitchen garden still have crops in them and I need the one empty bed for my summer crops (I grew potatoes there last year, so can't this year).  OOoh The redcurrant bush I transplanted into the caged garden by the house (that was the strawberry patch) has reshooted and even has some flowers on it.  Unfortunately, even after all my effort, there is still a tiny bit of couch grass (aaaggghhh) right in the centre of the bush.  POOKIES!!!  I will just keep nipping its growth back and hopefully it will eventually GIVE UP!

I must go round the garden with the camera sometime today - there is so much beautiful blossom out at the moment.  This is such an amazing time of year!  I need a cup of tea and then I have to do my bullet point notes for tonight.  Have a good day/evening wherever you are.  Smiles..

Herbs and Vegie Seedlings Galore

Hi, crikey it's 10.48am already  - where has the morning gone!  I took Sabah to the vet this morning to get his teeth sockets checked and they are looking good.  One is completely healed and the other is well on the way.  I spoke to Kelly about Sabah's cancer and whether or not we are being selfish keeping him going.  She said ''definitely not.  As long as he is eating, doing his normal daily routine things outside and the meds are keeping him on an even keel, there is no reason for us to put him down yet.''   This made me feel a bit better because I was worried we were maybe keeping him going just for our sakes, not his.  It really is a tough time for me because I'd hate him to be really suffering inside and we don't know it, ugh!  He's sitting beside me on my studio floor as I'm typing this, gazing out the door at mini snacks (i.e. birds, giggle).

Yesterday I potted on some more tomatoes and sowed some more herb and vegie seeds for Mapua Country Trading.  It's funny - this year I have gone out of my way to make sure I have loads of seeds coming on sequentially so I can supply her some every week.  Last Friday she told me the lease on the building she sub-leases is up next month (October) even though her landlady had confirmed her sub-lease would be okay until next AUGUST!!  Oh flaming heck, I could end up with a mountain of tomatoes and herbs etc and nowhere to sell them!  Keep your fingers crossed!

Today I am going to uncover our lemon tree in the vegie gardens on the north side of the house.  If it does look like a frost I will hammer some stakes in and just toss the frost cloth over it.  The tree is quite established now so I don't think I would lose it even if it did get frosted.

I'm getting a bit nervous about my talk at the local mega hardware store, Mitre 10 Mega, tomorrow night.  I must get a couple of notes written.  Usually I don't bother but when I am doing Companion Planting and Edible Flowers in 6 10 or 15 min slots I need to make sure I keep things short!  Aaagghhh.  Out into the garden I go in the meantime.  Smiles..

Slightly Frosty & The Ritz!

Hi there, we had a slight frost this morning for the first time in weeks it seems, quite a novelty.  Was very cold on the nose and ears when I was walking Chester this morning. 

Yesterday afternoon I put the ducklings into our big bird cage with some straw, their surrogate mum and some food and watched anxiously to make sure they were eating okay.  Big relief when I saw they were!  We give them a mix of chick crumble and pond water (yummy, giggle) when they are this young.  I also sprinkle some food onto the grass in their pen in the hope that they will learn to forage for food.  They were foraging with their brothers and sisters yesterday morning before we rescued them so I think once they are in a bigger pen they will do more of that in amongst the grass.  They are too tiny to put into a big pen yet.  They really are little sweeties and slept by the fire with towels over their cage for the night.  Needless to say before we put the towels over them Sabah and Chester were fairly interested in them!!  They are now back in their pen enjoying the sunshine.

I need to pot on some tomato plants and sow quite a lot more seeds.  This could be interesting because hey ho, what do I see here??

 
Yes it's a nesting duck right under my potting bench.  Talk about the Duck Ritz - it's nice and cosy with a gorgeous mound of barley straw to keep her eggs warm.  Whoever said ducks don't have brains needs to think again!!  We are going to take her eggs away when we manage to (have to wait until she is off the nest and haven't worked out what time of day she usually gets off) because we don't want loads more ducklings.  It's amazing how quickly they get over us taking their eggs, it takes about 15mins tops.  They go back to the next, sit on it, realise it's empty and then that's it - not a lot of fuss.

Sabah is eating pretty well at the moment but is getting a little skinny around the rear end.  He's off to the vet again tomorrow to get his teeth sockets checked so I'll talk to Kelly again about our options.  The 1ml of steroid a day seems to be keeping the nausea in check at the moment.  I also want a printout of the lab results so I can read the details.

I'm off to play with seeds and may even sow some flower seeds of my own!  Smiles...

Duckling Antics

Hi, yawwwnnnnnn.... daylight saving started here in the early hours of this morning and I am feeling very! jaded.  We had friends around for dinner last night and they didn't leave until around 11.15pm, which isn't really late but by the time John had done the dishes (bless him) we were heading to bed at 11.40pm, which then became 12.40am!!! when we put our clocks forward.  I am not a night owl at the best of times and I didn't sleep very well either - I think because I'd done far too much during the day and was overtired.

This morning we started our day with major duckling antics.  The mum duck (Madge) was feeding with the main bunch of ducks, leaving her ducklings alone up by my glasshouse.  John got our duck catching net and I stood guard in case the mother decided to rush back up the hill.  We got our two little khaki campbell ducklings, bless their hearts.  It's always hard to know if we are doing the right thing or not but realistically the chances of them surviving are REALLY slim, going by past experience.  We put them in a cardboard box and brought them inside to the bathroom (which was lovely and warm) while we had breakfast and could sort out their small pen, complete with extra shelter inside, a shallow dish with pond water and chick crumble in it and their surrogate stuffed yellow duck (soft toy) which I had to put through the washing machine and dryer for them (she'd been lying in the hedge since last year, poor thing, giggle).

 

In the meantime John was cooking our Sunday breakfast of bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms on our bbq on the verandah when he realised Chester wasn't there anymore.  I flew outside and called him, just in time to see him emerge from the shrubbery looking rather smug.  He stopped short as soon as I called wait and, oh dear, I could see something poking out of his mouth.  Yes, you guessed it, it was one of Madge's other yellow ducklings!!  I rushed over their saying 'wait' very firmly and bless his heart, he stood stock still.  All I could see of the duckling was its head, I was sure it was going to be dead (a bit like the bellbird earlier this year).  I held onto Chester while John got him to open his mouth.  Out popped a very alive duckling who then proceeded to rush down the hill, tumble bumble to its mother on the pond.  This time, thank goodness, Chester was obviously soft-mouthed.  Needless to say I didn't have much appetite for breakfast after all that rushing around and stress.  LOLOL.  Here's Madge with her brood and one husband (yes she has two!!) late yesterday pm.  Her eye looks a bit strange but that's just the way the flash hit her.

 

We will have to bring the little ducklings inside in a bird cage at night because there is a cold front coming up the country this pm and they are only about 3 days old so will feel the cold.  I will put plenty of newspaper and straw in the cage which will help to keep them warm, plus their surrogate duck.  We could put them in the hot water cupboard (and may still do) but that can be tricky because we'd have to use a cardboard box that would get wet when they are having some food.  Hmmm we'll work it out.  They are so beautiful and I think we have a male and a female by the look of them.  Fingers crossed they survive the next few days okay.

I'd better get outside and DO something.  The day is flying past as it always does on the first day of daylight saving (summer time I think some other countries call it).  Smiles..

 

Hi, from the Wardrobe!!

Hi, I couldn't resist taking this photo yesterday - Sabah decided he wanted to investigate the shelves on John's side of the wardrobe.  Here he is under his Dad's shirts.

 
Amazing eyes!!

Chester's system was a bit out of whack for the rest of the day yesterday and we've put it down to swallowing way too much sea water when he was frolicing in the sea yesterday.  Apparently, sea water acts like a giant enema (ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!) so poor Chester, daft thing for drinking it.

I spent quite a while in my nursery yesterday pm and got it pretty much tidied.  Today I've been vacuuming and washing floors.  We have some friends coming for dinner tonight (we had to put them off the last two weekends because of John's cold) so I will be making those lovely chocolate almond petit fours again this pm and am doing my salmon bake for dinner with fresh asparagus out of the garden and baked pumpkin.  Yummmmmmmmm!  A southerly front is supposed to come through later so I think it may get a bit chilly - great for comfort food.

The duck that was sitting on eggs by our garage now has a load of yellow ducklings as of today, oh plus 1 khaki campbell and one 1/2 khaki 1/2 yellow.  Hmmmm we were really hoping for more khaki campbell-type ducklings.  We are going to leave them with her for a few days and will try to find a way to take the khaki types away from her so we can raise them.  The main reason we need to do this is they have trouble surviving because harrier hawks, pukekos, eels etc tend to kill them.  They look really gorgeous and I've taken some photos which I'll post in a day or two. 

I'm off to get a much needed cuppa!  Have a great friday night/saturday wherever you are.  Big smiles...

Zumba!!

Hi there, I hope the end of your week is going well.  Today I had my first zumba class for what seems like forever.  The little gym where I used to go for zumba on Saturday mornings has stopped the classes but luckily the instructor I first started doing zumba with, now has her own gym and she has just started Friday morning classes.  I SO hope they work out because I have to tell you I just love doing zumba so much.  Apart from the exercise side of it, it is amazing for the soul too.  I always feel so happy when I'm doing it and you can't help but laugh especially when my arms and legs are completely unco (unco-ordinated).

John took Chester onto a local beach where dogs are allowed while I was doing my thing.  Since then Chester has been sick twice and had a whoopsie of the other end on our verandah - not pleasant I can tell you.  Heaven knows whats up with him - I just hope he hasn't eaten anything poisonous in his dog area.  I guess time will tell.  It is also possible he may have swallowed a truckload of salt water while swimming in the sea, or maybe he got too hot in the car.  I WISH ANIMALS COULD TALK!!!  The last thing we need is another expensive trip to the vet!

Sabah is eating okay at the moment so I think the higher does of steroid is definitely helping, so that at least is a small positive in our week. 

I had a great time yesterday in my nursery and got a lot of my plants tidied up and fed.  I'm putting a small sheep manure pellet on the top of each pot and this will provide food for my plants everytime a water for a period of time.  I am going to finish the plants this pm and tomorrow I am going to put my little blackboard down at the bottom of our drive saying the nursery is open.  Who knows, possibly no-one will come up the drive, but you never know!!  The local alpine show is on tomorrow and I'd love to go because I want to replace some of the trilliums I've lost (a very hard task any other way because they are hard to buy here in NZ) but I can't really afford it right now, so won't.  I will just enjoy my garden instead tomorrow.  Okay I'd better get outside, the day is going fast.  Smiles..

A Strange Place!

Hi, crikey it's Thursday already and it's the 22 of September (screeeeech).  I usually have my Christmas cards made by now but I haven't even given them a thought!  Ah well, all in good time I guess.

My head is in a very strange place at the moment.  I'm having trouble concentrating on anything which is bad because I need to write an ''Edible Flower'' handout for a talk I'm giving at our local mega hardware store gardening evening next Wednesday.  This requires me to do about 6 15min talks to different groups.  I love doing it - I just have to hope my brain has sorted itself out by then.  I know it's because I'm worried about Sabah and wondering what the best thing is to do re him.  I think I need to take things one day at a time.  I took him to the vet this morning to have his teeth sockets checked because he was having trouble eating and was licking his lips a lot in a weird way afterwards.  The vet thinks it is more likely to be nausea (oh poor boy) that is causing that.  She gave him a painkiller injection and gave me some to bring home for the next day just in case his mouth is still tender.  He's out and about again today so I hope he's okay.  Anyway enough about that.

Today I am working in my plant nursery, repotting, splitting up and generally tidying up.  I have more or less finished in the main garden at least for a couple of days when I'll have to start weeding where I started last time (hmmm giggle) as they are growing again!  I must concentrate on the kitchen garden after the nursery because I have OODLES of weeding and planting to do out there. 

Okay, I'm off to pour myself a cup of much needed tea!  Smiles..

Guess What I'm Doing Today...

... yes, you guessed it - GARDENING!  Giggle.  This must be starting to sound a bit monotonous because that's all I seem to be doing at the moment.  I am concentrating on the woodland garden again, clearing away mega seedlings of one particular plant to make room for a few more interesting ones.  I love doing this in one way, but in another I feel guilty digging healthy plants up!

Sabah is outdoors again today and at the moment is sunning himself in the doorway of my studio.  He doesn't seem to be his normal happy self but I don't know if that's because of his sockets where his teeth were or his cancer - there I said it but it is not easy to say!  I tossed and turned all night wondering if we should be putting him down now because we know about the cancer.  We are seeing the vet again next Tuesday so I will talk to her about it then.  One thing is for sure if I thought he was really suffering I wouldn't hesitate to help him.  Needless to say I'm feeling a bit flat today and don't really know how to pull myself out of it.  We also got an email today from a dear friend and neighbour who was due home from 1.5 years in Africa (via the UK where she's been for a few weeks), telling us she has a large malignant tumour on her kidney and they will be operating in the next couple of weeks over there.  Her hubby came home before her and will be going over to the UK shortly to be with her. 

Sorry if this sounds a bit ughy, I just need to mention these things as it helps.  OOOOOOH on a brighter note, this morning I saw Mr & Mrs Song Thrush mating (5x too!!!).  Now how many people get to watch that while they are sitting up in bed having a cup of tea.  It was so cute.  Hmmm sounds x-rated, giggle!  We are so lucky with the wildlife here, I love it so! 

As I am sitting here the fragrance (for want of a better word) of sheep manure pellets is wafting through my door - quite intoxicating it is and has been for about 5 days.  It certainly clears the sinuses!!  Smiles...