Art for Heart's Sake

It's Tuesday!!

Hi, just a quickie post this morning because I need to race out the door to go to work at the Outlet Store from 9-2pm.  I checked yesterday to see if old clothes were still needed but no, so hopefully all is more or less in order.  I'm sure there will still be lots of things for me to sort out - I just pray they are clean!!

Yesterday pm... oooh yikes.. did I tell you John is building a fabulous new moveable chook house??  Crikey I don't think I did.  He's doing a wonderful job of it and I will take a photograph when I get home today.  Anyway he worked on it yesterday pm and I managed to get a few of the raised vegetable beds on the north side (sunny side) of the house weeded.  The soil looks yummy!

More later honeys, I'd better fly.  Smiles..

What a Start...

...to my day!  Relaxation in the garden was my plan for this morning - well relaxation gardening I ought to say, giggle!  Hmmm so far I haven't managed to set foot in it. 

Late last week my darling Mum (85) was browbeaten into changing her telephone account to a different company.  When I say browbeaten - she was talked AT for around 30 minutes while she strained to understand their accent and eventually she just agreed to whatever they were offering to get rid of them.  Bless her heart, she's not good at just saying NO GO AWAY (unlike me!).  Long story short my sister and I have managed to sort it between us but not before I had a rather starchy conversation with the Origin Communications people.  The line was terrible and their accents just as bad, crikey!!

Re our drainage situation, the plumber has just left after assuring me it is not a drain problem but possibly a septic tank one.  Ermmm there was a stick REALLY stuck in the outlet pipe (air pipe), at least 60cm down judging by the evidence on the stick..ewww won't go there!  If we have the same problem  happening in a couple of days we need to get our dear old septic tank cleaned even though it was only done just over a year ago.  The plumber was so helpful and we did need him to confirm it wasn't the drain.

So my day starts now at 11am!! - I must put the dishwasher on and then get out into the garden.  Big smiles...

It's Spring!!..ermmm but Wait, It's Not!!

Giggle, hi, it's a stunningly beautiful day here today and it reminds me of Spring!  We have blue sky, warm sunshine and a warm breeze blowing, just sheer bliss!  I am about to head out to the kitchen garden to hoe the areas around my newly planted vegetables etc to try and keep them weed free with hopefully not too much effort. 

We are going out to friends' for dinner tonight which is so lovely.  We are heading there around 5pm which makes for a very relaxing evening and not too late a night, yay! 

This is so short and I do apologise for that but I really need to make the most of this glorious day.  All is well in my world today!  (even though our drains are suffering behind the house and the water from my doing loads of washing is pouring down the side of the dog area - hopefully to be rectified by the plumber tomorrow, squeeee)..  Smiles..

Hi on Saturday night!!

Hi there, so sorry I didn't post this morning but I just didn't have time.  We woke up late because the alarm clock wasn't set for a Saturday so we woke up 30 minutes later than I wanted to.  John put the kettle on and went do do something else needing water and ooops realised something was totally amiss!  No water (pump had no power) and fridge was off too, as were numerous other things.  Most of the lights were working though and after a bit of investigation realised one of the phases wasn't working in the outside electrical box.  A phone call to Network Tasman and a man turned up to fix the problem.  In the meantime I had to get ready for work so dashed next door to have a shower etc, back home for breakfast and basically out the door.

Yesterday was a VERY long day at work.  It was pretty slow which I always find hard because there is only so much one woman can clean over and over again.  I did the same thing today too but I did make some reasonable sales so that's good.  One good thing about this job - we don't get judged on how much we sell (or not) so that's something!

I'll leave this now because I am really tired and will post more tomorrow.  Smiles..

Working All Day Today!

Hi, I'm working all day today and tomorrow so my posts will be quick each morning.  I'm hoping to be able to post something tonight while I'm waiting for dinner to cook.  I'm not used to doing full days so I know I'll be really tired but on a bright note it gets rid of 16.5 hours of work just like that!!  Yay!! 

I think the shop is okay now because the carpet was more or less dry when I saw Gareth on Wednesday.  They have dehumidifiers still working though because there is still a lot of moisture in the air.  Apparently some of the shops are smelling really awful!  I hope Jellicoe isn't one of them or it won't be much fun.

More tonight if I can.  Big smiles.. going to work with a positive attitude!!!  Grin... p.s. I miss Monty already!!

Public Holiday Today

Hi, it's Anzac Day here today so John has the day off.  I wasn't rostered on today and if I had been I could only work from 1pm till 4pm because shops have to be closed by law on the morning on Anzac Day.  Funnily enough cafes are still allowed to be open which I find a little odd!

Yesterday I spent the morning with my hands in the sink in the kitchen at the outlet store, washing sticky, slimy, horrid smelling silt from objects that were stored in boxes in the workshop area until there was room to put them in the shop.  Most of it was stock from the sales store (now closed) and I have to say by the end of three hours I couldn't get out of that kitchen fast enough.  I didn't take gloves with me (didn't realise I'd be washing up all  morning) so my hands were sore by the end of it.  Boy was I happy to be out in the fresh air and I put the top down on the mx5, plus the windows so I had the wind well and truly in my hair as I drove to my dear friend Lyn's house for lunch. 

Bless her heart she made the most beautiful tomato, roast capsicum and chickpea soup for our lunch.  It was scrumptious, followed by chocolate brownie with raspberries in it.  It was a birthday lunch for me and just what I needed.  Lyn gave me some gorgeous stamps and a little trinket dish she got in Japan - it's pale lemon and in the shape of a flower, so pretty! 

I got home at around 3pm and pottered more or less for the rest of the day.  We have discovered we have a definite drainage problem (possibly a blockage) in the main drain that takes the water from our shower and basin in the bathroom, all our laundry water, plus the kitchen sink water.  I did a load of washing the day before yesterday after I'd had a shower and the water was bubbling over the top of the drain onto the ground in Chester's run area.  Not a good look!!  John is going to try putting the waterblaster down the drain to see if that will clear it.  Here's hoping as getting a plumber could be very expensive.  It's also tricky when you have a septic tank system because you can't put nasty drain clearing chemicals down it either!  Keep good thoughts we get it clear!

John is waterblasting the inside of the glasshouse as I'm typing this which is wonderful.  I need to put the sprinkler on in there for an hour or two to thoroughly wet the very very dry soil so I can weed it, compost it and plant something in there for winter.

This pm I'm hoping to work a bit on my canvas.  I have added another layer to it (photo to follow) and was a bit stumped as to what to do next but I think I have an idea!  Smiles..

Silt, silt and more Silt!

Hi there, it's Wednesday and I'm supposed to have today off but I am heading back to the outlet store to help them for this morning at least.  Yesterday I was there for 6 hours - we had to empty the entire shop (no mean feat when you think of all the ephemera etc in tiny containers), then sweep like mad things while Gareth used a pressure hose to get the silt off the floor and out the raised edge of the door!  Then we spent hours washing EVERYTHING that had silt on it.  The water came about 2.5ft above the floor level and it must have been swirling around because things that were 3-4ft above that got silty too.  Needless to say I was dirty, tired and sore by the time I got home.

This morning I am going back for a few hours to continue cleaning things that were put out the back in the workshop area.  Almost all of the fabric has to be washed and the entire workshop is a mess. 

I was feeding the ducks this morning and had to get past Monty at an awkward angle on the verandah (bless his heart .. humph.. giggle) and I have now tweaked the area of my back that was sore from yesterday.  Oh pookies, bother and rats!  If it's not one thing, it's another.  I'm still waiting to find out about that appointment to have the dye scan of my salivary gland.  Even though we've gone through the private radiology clinic the procedure has to be done at the public hospital apparently so it could be a long wait.  Seems odd to me!!

I must go and get ready to leave for work.. now where are my gumboots!!  Smiles..

Heading to Work, Ugh!

Hi, in about 30 minutes I'll be heading out the door to go to the outlet store and today I'm dreading it.  As you know I love beautiful everything and I'm just not looking forward to seeing all of the gorgeous fabrics, trims etc that will have been damaged by the flood waters.  In the paper last night it said a wall of water went through the south end of Wakatu Estate (which is where Jellicoe's workshop and outlet is) so I'm just hoping it wasn't that high!  In the little shop there is one wall of trims that go from floor to halfway up the wall.  They are truly beautiful and not easy to find in little New Zealand!  I'm hoping that by thinking the worst the reality of the damage might not be as bad.  It makes me sad!  Urgh being sensitive is such a nuisance sometimes!  I was told to wear old clothes and gumboots, crikey!

Yesterday I found it hard to settle to much at all but I did manage to work on a new canvas (approx 18'' x 16'' from memory) I've started.  Here are the first two photos of the process.  The first one is just a very old pattern torn and randomly glued and sealed down onto the primed canvas.  The second is the first application of the background.  I'd better get going!  Smiles...

Weather Bomb Hits our Local Town!

Hi, well crikey what a day yesterday turned out to be.  We went into Nelson yesterday morning and were amazed at the torrential downpours that were happening occasionally - it was incredible.  After doing our shopping we headed home through more heavy rain and by the time we got to Richmond (around 10 minutes from home, Nelson is about 25 minutes from home) the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy and you could tell there was more rain to come.

After getting home I started another canvas and John did some ironing, watching TV, while it continued to rain now and then.  About 4.30pm there was an IMMENSE downpour with lots of thunder and lightning.  We were due to go out to our friends' Mike and Milli's for a combined birthday dinner celebration.  I had a really funny feeling that something weird was about to happen but I had no idea what.  Just a sort of shivery, uneasy feeling.  We set off to go to their house at around 6.15pm in the rain and the first thing we noticed was flooding on the coastal highway in the same spots that flooded badly a year or so ago in December.  I wanted to turn round right then and there in case we couldn't get home.  This wasn't the worst part.  We came over the bridge heading towards a big roundabout where we would turn left into Richmond and there was water EVERYWHERE!!  We turned left through the water and drove very slowly along the main road which was completely flooded.  By this stage I just wanted to turn round and get home, it just felt so scary.  John thought we should carry on but I was really starting to panic by now so I phoned Milli to say we would be turning around and going home.  I felt REALLY bad cancelling dinner like that but I honestly felt it was the sensible and necessary thing to do. 

We managed to turn around and went all the way back along the main road (with the water getting deeper all the time).  We got to the roundabout and turned right through VERY deep water and then the engine cut out because the electrics had obviously drowned.  That was a really horrible moment especially as our BMW is computer controlled (as they are these days) so we wouldn't have been able to put it in neutral and push it off the road.  Apart from anything else you couldn't tell when the road ended and the verge began!  Luckily John managed to get the car restarted and we limped over the bridge and back home, through more flood water.  I have NEVER been so happy to see our driveway in my life.  We phoned Milli again to say we were back and I asked if her house was okay and she said it was.  Everything we were reading on the internet last night led us to believe we wouldn't have made it to their house anyway, there was just too much water!

This morning we saw on facebook that there house was completely flooded - I couldn't believe what I was reading! 

Richmond Mall was flooded too which means Jellicoe will have had some damage.  I'm worried about the Outlet Store too because one report on the internet said Wakatu Estate (where the shop and workshop is) was thigh-deep in water!!  I tried to phone them earlier but the line was busy.  I'll try again soon.  Also our vet clinic is below road level on the main road we were on and I'm really worried about them - their phone went to the owner's answerphone this morning.

Here is an item from the New Zealand Herald (Auckland newspaper) today so you can get an idea of the extent of the flooding. We are expecting more heavy rain and thunderstorms later this morning but I hope they are wrong for once!!   I'm going to go and try to phone the Outlet Store again.  Smiles, rather wet ones!http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878804

Off into Town!

Hi, it's 10.20am on Sunday morning and it's still raining which makes me happy!  I'm loving this patch of wet weather because it happens so rarely here it seems.  I picked another small collander full of fresh mushrooms again this morning, some of which I'm going to give to our friends when we go to them for dinner tonight.  It's my friend, Millie's birthday tomorrow so we are celebrating our joint birthdays which will be so lovely.

We are off into Nelson this morning, something I very rarely do believe it or not.  This sounds a little silly because it's only 30 mins drive (if that) away but I just don't really have a reason to go in often.  John goes in every day of the week delivering lettuces so I really appreciate him being willing to go in again during a weekend!

I'll update this later.  Smiles...