Art for Heart's Sake

Tree Felling Sunday!

Hi there, well a bit of excitement this morning.  Bevan, my dearest friend's hubby came round this morning to fell a few eucalyptus trees from the woodland opposite our house on the north side.  Before we knew it 4 big trees had hit the ground with one heck of a bang.  I adore trees and don't like them being cut down but these trees are providing us with a valuable resource, our own firewood.  Not only does it burn beautifully but it is also very expensive if we were to try and buy some in.  We have two huge stands (wooded areas) of these trees and some of them are miles too big and still too close to the house which can be a bit of a worry at times.  I tend to have the attitude ''what will be will be'' re them with regards to high winds or fire danger in summer - otherwise I'd drive myself mad with worry.

Yesterday pm we moved Gertrude, Matilda and Sophie to the new chook house in the paddock and left them shut in the house for the rest of the day with food and water.  This morning I went out and opened their door so they could jump down their ramp into their 3mx3m run.  They were so cute to watch - looking in awe out their door for quite a while.  I didn't see them come down but when I went to check on them a few minutes ago they were exploring their run, even if only one edge of it.  I am so happy for them, I've felt so guilty about not being able to free-range them anymore because Monty chased them too much.  We are also going to put Lizzie's new house and run (much smaller) out in the paddock too next to the girls' so she can have more sun too.  The area they are in gets the first and the last sun - much healthier than up by the house.  In summer we will have to rig up some shadecloth on their run too because it will get very hot out there.  Crikey!

I need to go back outside to check how things are going re the trees.  Smiles  and oooooh my feet are squidgy warm in new boot-type slippers.  Yum is all I can say to that...

Happy Saturday!

Hi, it's 10.45am on Saturday morning and yeehah I'm not working this weekend.  Thank heavens for that!  I have the filling for a venison mince pie (tomorrow night's dinner for friends) bubbling gently away in the oven and we are about to move the new chook house into position with the run out in the paddock.  Yippeeee! 

We've been tossing and turning about whether or not to buy 3 new REAL chickens for the new house but have decided instead to put our three game hens, bless their slightly elderly non-laying hearts, into it and persevere with them until there time is up.  Caroline, our friend and neighbour has three young brown shaver hens that are laying 3 eggs total a day.  We can get 1/2 dozen eggs each week for $2 from her, plus they are going overseas for 5 weeks from October so we will have as many eggs to eat as we can manage then.  Hence there really is no point in getting three brown shavers now ourselves.  We really want a heritage breed like Buff Sussex anyway and they wouldn't be ready for sale from our chook breeder until October/November anyway.  Our little girls really need a new house and run as theirs is beginning to rot.  We could put them in Lizzie's old house which is in great condition except I know it has red mite in it so that's not a great idea either.  We can spray for the red mite but that gets complicated because it's winter and it will take a long time for the inside of the house to dry out afterwards.  Hmmmm such conundrums!!

This pm we are ducking out to get some bird netting to put over the run because it is 3m x 3m (around 10ft square or so, probably more but I'm using my brain only to work that out, giggle) and that's big enough for them to be able to fly over or for a hawk to land in so we need to cover it.  I'm also going to get a pair of slippers because I can't stand having cold feet around the house anymore. 

Yesterday was an okay day at work but I was very tired by the time I got home.  I had arthritis and sore feet all day.. ack ack ack.  It wasn't overly busy either.  Righteo we need to leap out into the paddock.  Photos to follow!  Smiles..

Off to Work and Photos!

Hi there, just a quick post today because I'm shooting out the door to go to work for the day.  Here is another photo of Mum with me.  I love this one!

Here I am at about 18 or 19.  I remember I'd just started work and one of my work colleagues offered to take some photos of me.  I wanted a very special one to give to Mum and Dad on their anniversary or Christmas if I remember rightly.  He was (or had been) a professional photographer and he took these in the local public gardens in Invercargill.  I wore contact lenses in those days!  Enjoy.  John took a photograph of the photograph that Mum has in a frame so it's a little murky! Smiles..

 

Here She Is!!...

and she's gorgeous! 

Mum is 86 in October and I love that even though her eyesight is going and her knees cause her a lot of pain, she still has a lot of fire in her belly!  Mum has always had an opinion on everything whether it be politics, the economy or whatever and she has always voiced these opinions very freely.  I do find this a bit tiring sometimes but it is SO wonderful that she still  has that in her!  I don't mean that to sound patronising in the least, it's just there are a lot of older people over 80 who just give up caring about anything.  I'm so happy Mum's not like that!

We had a lot of fun taking photographs just before we left on Monday.  Here is one of Mum and John.  It might be a little out of focus because we had it on multiple photos and I think Mum may have moved a bit in this one.

I have a couple more photos to share tomorrow including an interesting one of me when I was about 18 or 19!!  Crikey!

I managed to get my tax return finished yesterday - hurray - so at least that's off my mind now.  I also got one of my asparagus beds weeded in the afternoon which made me happy!  Alas the heavy machinery noise from across the road is making it SO hard to be enthusiastic about being outside.  It truly is a horrendous racket.  I guess it won't last for ever but I can't see it stopping anytime in the near future.  I will just have to find a way to blank it out.

This afternoon (eeek in about 2 hours) the news manager (and my friend) Joya from Mainland Television is coming round to take some photos so we can use them when we approach prospective sponsors for my gardening show.  I'm feeling really tired and sore today (arthritis from my gardening in chilly weather) so am finding it hard to feel enthusiastic about it.  I must pick up my spirits and go for it!!  Speaking of which I'd better go and find the right colour lipstick to wear so I don't look washed out!  Smiles..

Fffffrrrooossttyyy!!

Hi there, eeeeek it's frosty here this morning.  I've just come in from hanging the washing out and I almost can't feel my fingers (at least I can still type).  I figured this would be the best way to warm them up!!  I DO love the feeling of the crisp, cold air on my face though, it makes me feel alive!

I still haven't put the photos that are on the camera on here so I must do that later today.  This morning I am going to try and finish my tax return and then I want to get out to the kitchen garden to continue weeding the asparagus patch this pm.  I also need to clean out the middle bay of my potting benches in the farmshed. 

The shortest day (21 June) is now behind us so it's all downhill until Spring.  This is wonderful EXCEPT I've realised how much I need to do in the garden before then.  EEEEEKKKKK again!  A  major task is trimming the hornbeam hedge around the kitchen garden which is no mean feat.  I need to use secateurs, a measuring stick and a ladder.  I was going to try trimming it mid-summer with hedgeclippers but didn't get around to it - oh bother!!!  The growth will be too tough for them now I think, but I might still try.

My tax return is calling (ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh) so I really must get it out of the way and off my mind.  Smiles..

Home Again...

and oh my goodness I'm tired!  We got home last night at about 8.30pm after a very long day.  We left New Plymouth at about 9.15am and made our way down to Wellington.  We stopped for a cup of coffee after about 1.5 hours and then stopped for lunch at a small town called Sanson.  There is a wonderful shop there I always love going into and we also like a little very homely tearooms that's there too so it's the perfect place to stop. 

We visited our friend Trish about an hour out of Wellington and were there for 2.5 hours or so, then we made our way to the airport.  By this stage I was feeling beyond tired!  When we got home I lit the fire and managed to get it roaring well enough so we could turn it down for the night and it would still be smouldering in the morning.  Yay that worked.  It did mean I didn't get to bed until just after 10pm and we woke up at 6am because I was working at the Outlet Store today.  Needless to say right now I am REALLY tired.

The weather is definitely wintery now - a beautiful blue sky day that started with a frost and we are in for fairly heavy frosts all week.. bbbbbbbbbrrrrrrr.   At least I don't need to be out the door early for work until Friday.

We took some photographs of Mum yesterday morning which is great because I haven't had a lovely photo of her for years.  I will share them as soon as I've transferred them from the camera to my laptop.

I'll leave this here and will write more tomorrow.  So happy to be home but it was wonderful to see Mum too!!  Smiles...

Hi honeys, just a quick post. We are heading home today, leaving in a couple of hours. I'm sitting up in bed typing this and am about to get up!! It will be hard to say goodbye to my gorgeous mum today. She's 86 in October and you just never know what might happen to her. Must not think like that and just drink in every second!! Love her dearly! More tomorrow. Smiles...

And froze again so I'll quit while I'm ahead. Back home tomorrow night after a 5 hour drive and a short flight. Smiles

Ack the keyboard on john's iPad froze again! John enjoyed the rugby game last night and mum and I had a great time talking about her younger days and my lovely dad.

Hi we've had a busy day today. John and I shot out the door at about 10am to get a few things mum needed and then we went to meet my niece and sister for lunch with mum too. It was a lovely lunch! John took mum grocery shopping while I stayed at mum's place and planted some flowers in one of her garden beds.