Art for Heart's Sake

Fun Singing!

Hi, here I am on a slightly damp Monday morning, trying to recover from doing too much singing last night at the Nelson Male Voice Choir social outing yesterday pm.  We met at a local girl guide camp which is on the banks of one of my favourite rivers (gorgeous rocks!).  It was nice to have a chance to meet and chat with other members and their wives.  Such a lovely bunch of people.  Needless to say I ended up on the end of a karaoke microphone a couple of times, which I loved!

I worked on the studio garden for a few hours again yesterday and it is looking so much better.  A photo or two will follow when I'm finished.  I still have about 1/3 of it to do which I hope to get finished today if the drizzle stops.

Time for a much needed, voice fixing, cup of tea!  Smiles, Philippa

Wonderful Weeding..

Hi, yikes and wowza, I spent most of yesterday potting on tomatoes and weeding the studio garden.  I so desperately wanted to be in the kitchen garden but this studio garden has REALLY been bugging me.  It is the first garden people see when they drive up to the property and it has been overgrown with weeds along the back of the fairly narrow bed (mostly about 1m (3ft or so) wide.  I was a bit lazy last summer and didn't really bother about the weeds at the back of it so now they are fairly gnarly and matted.  It feels so wonderful to be really clearing this garden out.  I'm going to sprinkle shirley poppy and cosmos seeds into the gaps for a lovely summer show.

This morning I've seared a lovely piece of fillet steak and a red pepper, ready for the beef salad we are taking to John's choir social afternoon at a local girl guide camp.  It is on the edge of the Lee River (one of my favourites) so I'm hoping to be able to bring home a couple of rocks too. 

I'd better roar out to the garden to continue weeding.  I just have to realise I won't be in the kitchen garden until later this week, oh phoop!!!  Smiles..

A-Potting I will go!

Hi, yay it's Saturday and I'm off to my potting benches in the farmshed to pot on my tomato seedlings.  I have a bit of a conundrum really - I sowed all of these seeds before I realised the Redwood Valley Market wasn't going to be held so I now have loads of tomato plants to try and shift.  This is getting me down a little I have to admit.  I was really looking forward to this season of the market (every second Sat from Oct to March) and had lots of ideas of little interesting things I could make that I know would have had a good chance of selling.  Still, I guess I just have to pick myself up, dust myself off and get on with it.

Yesterday was a fairly good day at the shop, except by the end of it I realised someone may have stolen one outfit.  I hate it when this happens on my watch but let's face it, it is really hard to keep an eye on everyone in the shop at the same time.  When you are gift wrapping for a customer it is hard to keep an eye on the clothing which is round the corner.  I'm hoping I'm wrong.  The day before the count was down by one too at the end of the day (I wasn't working) so it makes me wonder if it might have been the same person.  Luckily they have surveillance cameras so I'm sure Gareth will take a look at it.  Apart from that it was more busy because of all the new stock, lovely!

Out to the potting table I go!  Smiles..

Off to Work!

Hi just a quick post today because I'm rushing madly to get out the door by 8.30am.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the shop looks like after they changed it all around on Tuesday evening and added heaps of new stock. 

Earlier this week I played around with some glitter and a hair slide.  I saw something on pinterest that reminded me so much of me ''she was born with glitter in her veins''.  I have always loved glitter and it made me think I need to CELEBRATE my love of it, not hide it away.  This is the first hair slide and I'm planning on making more.  I showed it to one of the women at work who loves glitter too and she ordered five different ones, just like that, crikey! 

I love this photo because I don't often see the back of my head (funny that, giggle) and it is neat to see the auburn highlights that are in amongst my silver hairs.  I was born auburn but had very dark hair when I was young.  Yikes, off to work!  Smiles..

Oh My Goodness, What a Stunning Morning!

Hi, it's Thursday morning and I'm sitting eating my breakfast before leaping out into the garden.  It is the most STUNNING spring morning - blue sky, sunshine and a balmy temperature with just a very slight nip in the air still.  We didn't get much rain at all out of the storm that hit the north island - we were meant to get high winds and rain so phew.  It was cloudy all day with the odd spit so I worked on my mother's present which I need to get in the mail tomorrow (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek) and also managed to do some weeding in the gardens on the north side of the house.  I sowed some mesclun (mixed baby salad leaves) too but was really disappointed with the pitiful amount that was in the seed packet!

As I am typing this the last race of the America's Cup is either about to start or has started.  It seems there may be some damage to our boat which is why it hasn't been sailing as fast and they have been losing the races.  That makes sense because they haven't been doing well since the boat almost capsized over a week ago.  So sad!  I hope with all my heart they manage to pull this last race off because I truly believe they deserve to win.  What will be will be!

I'm about to slather on the sunblock and head out to the kitchen garden as I have a feeling it will be too hot out there by lunchtime.  Smiles..

Hi to a Very Special Friend & Fun Yesterday!

Hi there, it's Wednesday (crikey I was about to type Tuesday, wake up woman!!) and I'm sending a special hi to a friend that I haven't seen for over 30 years - hi Christine!!  Thank you so much honey for commenting on my posts, it means a lot and I so wish we could have met up earlier this year when we were down south.  We will one day soon I'm sure!!  Thank you for reading my blog too!

Yesterday I had a funny day at the outlet store.  It started quite normally and then when my bosses sister arrived to do some pricing of new stock (Shirlene works 4 days at the outlet store and I cover her day off) on her day off the fun began.  ''Philippa, what is the trolley that holds the fabric bolts on special doing in the middle of the car park?"  Oh bother was my first thought and when I saw it I have to admit that a certain profanity that shall remain nameless escaped my lips.  I immediately apologised and Shirlene got the giggles (phew as I wasn't sure how she'd take it).  We moved the trolley and put a brick behind the main wheel and also put it on the other side of the doors.

Lunchtime arrived and I went outside to sit with the other staff members only to find huge gusts of wind so we moved back inside.  Just as Shirlene was leaving she called out to me again ''have fun finding the trolley, your trees have died (fake trees that stand on either side of the door) and the clothes rack has moved too.  I rushed out the main doors and we were just in stitches laughing.  There was the fabric trolley on the grass verge after rolling a good few metres downhill, the clothes were on the other side of the doors and the trees were on the ground.  You had to be there but it really was funny.  Needless to say I took everything back inside the little shop and had to find room to display them.

The outlet store was really busy yesterday and I sold more things yesterday between 9-2pm than I did all day on Friday at the mall store.  Speaking of which the main store was having a major makeover last night so it will be completely different when I go there on Friday.  There's lots of new stock so hopefully things will pick up there.

As for the America's Cup, I can't talk about it as we lost the one and only race there was yesterday.  It's right down to the wire now and even John can't bear to watch.  The race may be over as I'm typing this, I don't know!  Oh crikey and bother the hardest thing is listening to people berating our team.  I can't stand that.  In my eyes they are doing their best which is all they can do and how can they compete with the billions of dollars being thrown at Oracle!  We are a small country and I'm so proud of our sporting achievements generally, no matter what! 

Today I need to finish my mum's birthday present and luckily the weather is a bit iffy so I don't feel quite so bad re not being in the garden.  I do need to do some potting on too.  Smiles..

A Yummy Cake - Photos!

Hi, I'm out the door in a few minutes to go to work at the outlet store.  Yesterday we had a delicious afternoon tea.  My cake worked really well and I had fun icing it with vanilla butter cream icing and then I sprinkled it with edible gold shimmer dust - so pretty!

One of my Rococco tulips has come into flower and it is just stunning.  Hope you enjoy!  Smiles until tomorrow, off I rush!!

Dear Wee Soul Didn't Make It!

Hi, it's Monday and oh bother and blast we didn't win the first race this morning (America's Cup that is).  I think everyone in NZ is so over this Cup now we just want it to be over with and hopefully bring the Cup home.  Oracle still need to win 3 races and we need one but oh dear it's just so painful to wait and wait each day!  There is to be another race in a bit, I just hope the wind behaves!!

I phoned the vet centre this morning and the dear little song thrush died last night.  I honestly didn't think it had much chance of surviving but it was a tough wee thing to survive for as many hours as it did, I think.  I imagine being grabbed by a cat and then handled by humans must be pretty stressful for such a youngster.  I've asked John to pick it and the nest up from the vet this morning and I will bury it in the garden with a very special plant on top of it.  It's the least I can do!

Today a friend is bringing one of her neighbours out to see my garden/nursery.  I am going to bake a cake this morning.. shriek, be still my heart!  I haven't baked a cake for a year or two so this is just amazing!!  Speaking of which I'd better get cracking.  Smiles..

Baby Song Thrush Rescue!

Hi, and oh crikey what a way to start our day.  Firstly yesterday our team won the first race of the America's Cup but it was not allowed because they had gone over the 40 minute time limit for the race due to wind conditions... SO NOT FAIR!!  Then they did a tactical error in the second race and Oracle won, pookies!!

Today the race had to be abandoned due to the wind being from the wrong direction, so it's all on again tomorrow.  There are a lot of frustrated, irritated and anxious people here in NZ right now and I can only imagine how the team is feeling.  Still we can't do much about the weather and Oracle still need to win about 3 more races to be even with us.  Keep everything crossed PLEASE!!

This morning I rescued a baby song thrush from Monty's mouth (oh bother him, doing what comes naturally I know but still BOTHER).  I think it might have fallen out of it's nest judging by how agile it is at the moment in spurts.  We are feeding it with an eye dropper of minced up cat food.  I know worms would be better but somehow I can't bring myself to mince up live worms (what a chicken!).

I'm going to ring our vet when they open in about 10 minutes to see if they would possibly take it - they do wildlife rescue - because we can't be home all day this week to keep feeding it constantly.  Oh I so hope they will!

Yesterday we had a really good spring cleaning session and the living/dining area is looking good.  Today I need to get up on a chair and clean the chandelier crystals, which could take me a while!  Phoop..  Wish me luck!  Smiles..

Crikey, I Can't Watch!

Hi there, it's Saturday morning and SQUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'm not working for the first time during a weekend for weeks!  It feels SO good to know I've got a weekend off, well three days in a row counting Monday which is bliss. 

The America's Cup race is on at the moment and we need only one more win to bring home the Cup.  Yesterday Oracle won the first race and the second one was cancelled due to high winds.  John is sitting watching with headphones on because I can't even bear to listen to it.  I've always been like this when it comes to competitions, I just can't handle them, ugh!

We are set to spring clean the living/dining areas today - not my favourite task but oh boy does it need doing.  It won't take that long because it's not a huge area, it will just be labour intensive and sneezy!  I find the best way to dust is to use the brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner, believe it or not! 

First things first, it's raining hard and a huge puddle is forming next to my extra special clematis that I had to transplant for the new bit of verandah.  I need to dig a channel and let the water escape under the house (not ideal but no choice and it is sloped so will drain away) because it is too dangerous for John to get up on a ladder and see what's causing the guttering to overflow. 

Off I go to get wet, giggle.  Smiles.. p..s ooh I have a lovely photo of Monty to share later when John emails it to me.