Art for Heart's Sake

It Got Cold!

Hi, it's a beautiful Saturday morning on the last official day of Autumn.  I was in my studio yesterday from about 3pm and when I re-emerged at just after 4.30 I suddenly realised it was freezing cold, or it felt it!  The cloud had come over and there was a light breeze blowing - definitely snowing on the mountains I think.  This morning I woke to 2.7 degrees C.. brrr but lovely with a slight frost.

Today I'm going to be in the studio this morning and the garden this pm.  It's too cold to frolic in the garden at the moment.  I need to decide whether I continue cutting back my winter roses and pulling some weeds in the main perennial garden or whether I tackle part of the horrendously weedy kitchen garden instead.  Hmmmmm, eeeekkkkk, humppphhhh!

Tonight I'm going to a neighbour's house for dinner.  It's a shame John won't be with me (he's been in Bangkok since Wednesday, working) but I have to say it will be lovely not to have to cook.  I don't mind cooking for myself but I've done it for 5 nights in a row now (John has choir on Mondays and quiz night on Tuesdays) and I'm a bit over it, giggle. 

Oooh my seeds are starting to germinate in the glasshouse.  Seeds of perennial plants can take several months to germinate in some cases, so every tiny seedling is greeted with a yelp of pleasure!  I must go out and check them now to see if anything's happened overnight.  Smiles..

Enjoying a Late Morning Cuppa!

Hi, it's almost lunchtime and I'm just having my mid-morning cup of tea.  I've been out and about getting our vegetables and also went for a walk on the flat for my hip joint.  I walked most of the way holding my elbow crutch in my right hand and walking without it.  It felt so good, if still slightly weird.  I almost don't have a limp now which I'm thrilled about.  Here's hoping it won't belong before I can toss the elbow crutch into the back of the wardrobe for good!

I love growing vegetables so much so at the moment it is REALLY hard for me to have NOTHING in the kitchen garden that we can harvest at the moment.  I have a few celeriac plants growing up in the garden by the house but apart from that NOTHING!  EEEEEK.  At least there is 185 which is a local fresh vegetable farmshop.  It is only open on Friday's throughout winter and oh my talk about a LONG line waiting for the cash registers.  I don't mind one tiny bit because I know I am getting incredibly fresh produce for a great price. 

Yesterday I managed to spend quite a bit of time in my studio which did me the world of good.  My friend Lyn came round late afternoon and it was great to catch up.  In the evening I was picked up my neighbours/friends of mine and we went to an art exhibition opening.  We could only stay 45mins but that suited me just perfectly.  I came home and had dinner!  Time to eat my lunch.  Smiles.. 

What Happened to Yesterday?????

Hi, yikes it's Thursday and somehow I missed Wednesday, giggle.  We were up really early because John was headed off to Bangkok for a few days to work.  We left the house at about 7.45am and I went for a walk near the airport after dropping John off.  I headed to the supermarket after that and got home around 10.30am.  After unpacking the groceries, having a cup of tea and deciding to make a shepherd's pie (mince dish with mashed potato on top) for my dinner the day just sort of WENT!  I didn't really feel as though I'd accomplished much at all, oh phoop!

On Tuesday I can't remember what on earth I did so it can't have been anything too shattering.   Oh wait, yes I can - I packed up and posted the plants to Auckland and then I went to the library and got about 5 books out.  Mum has read Nora Roberts for years and I've always resisted reading them for some reason.  Ermmmm I think I'm hooked! 

Today I am definitely going to spend time in my studio - on my gift tags but also on some of my art journal.  I haven't been able to do anything in it for weeks it seems.  I need to do some potting up too but I'll do that tomorrow.   Both John and I are fighting off a cold and I'm determined to beat mine!!  No way is it going to get me!!  I'm taking vitamin C and echinacea forte 3000mg which does work, for me!

Tonight I'm off to an art exhibition opening.  It's my friend Jacqui's son so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm only going for 45 minutes which is just perfect.  Jacqui's brother-in-law and his wife are picking me up and they can only stay that long.  I'll be able to have my dinner when I get home.  Yay!  Smiles..

Squuuueeeeee It's Frosty!

Hi on this beautiful, crisp, gorgeously frosty morning!  Ermmm can you tell I adore frosts??  We had a doozy this morning - it was -0.8 degrees C and the ground was white as white.  Just so pretty.  I especially love it when the sun comes out and falls on the frosty ice crystals making everything shimmer.   This is a harder frost than we had all winter last year, and it's not even winter yet!

I have just dug up and packed up a couple of pieces of two plants for a client in Auckland.  One thing is for sure it was pretty chilly in the farmshed while I was doing it.  I had plenty of layers on plus a pair of polarfleece ski gloves so I didn't really feel the cold.  I'm off into Richmond in a second to go and post them and also to go to the library and get a treat for my neighbour who is coming over for afternoon tea today because it's her birthday.  I must fly but here is a photograph of the gift tag I made her.  Smiles.. p.s. John and I are both fighting colds.. ugh!

Brrrrr, it's Wonderfully Cold Outside!

Hi on this REALLY chilly Monday morning.  A cold wintery blast swept up the south island overnight and it is divinely cold on the nose, the fingers and the toes.  It almost feels as though we could get a snow flake floating down here right now, but no such luck.  ''Snowy'' cloud keeps drifting over and then the sun breaks through.  It definitely is snowing on the surrounding mountains though!  Further down the South Island there is snow on the ground and there were meant to be blizzard conditions in some areas overnight.  Sigh, wish I was there!  This might sound really silly but I just love the dry cold that comes with snow. 

I am waiting for my studio to warm up a bit and then I will be out there working on my gift tags.  I am going to start the paperwork for my tax return too, after I've attacked the exercycle. 

Bring on winter, I say!!  Sick Puppy!!! Giggle..  Smiles..

Eeek I'm Late, Giggle!

Hi there, I hope you're having a wonderful weekend wherever you are.  No matter what, I always seem to be late on Sundays so I think I will start having a blogless Sunday.  I hope you don't mind?  Giggle, you're probably really relieved!!

It's been a good weekend.  I managed to get some work done on some gift tags and suddenly remembered it's my neighbour's birthday this coming Tuesday so have been madly making one for her too. 

This morning I drove to Mapua (six minutes away) to buy Caroline a small gift and also to have a decent walk on the flat.  It rained off and on yesterday so I just did the exercycle instead (oops I meant to do 2 x 10 minute sessions but forgot the second one I've just realised).  I had a really good walk this morning and I've been doing a bit of weeding in the kitchen garden too.

John has been using the petrol powered weedeater to do the edges at the front of our property and also the edges of the beds in the kitchen garden.  We have made a decision to join 4 of the beds together out there (i.e. making 2 larger beds instead of 4 narrow ones).  I have been finding I can't really get a decent crop of potatoes going or a long row of carrots etc so bigger gardens is definitely the way to go.  They will now be 9m long x approx 4-5m wide which will be so much better.  John is trying to get the rotary hoe to go so he can till the soil over.  I hope it goes!!  More tomorrow.  Smiles..

MORNING!!

Giggle, I just felt like saying that!  It's almost lunchtime here on Saturday and we seem to have made a late start today.  I guess we didn't get out of bed until about 8.40am which is REALLY late for us.  It was raining and fairly dark so we lingered over our ''buckets'' of tea and writing up our daily diary.

How many of you write down your daily ''doings'' in  a book?  We started doing it when we were clearing out John's Mum's house when she moved down from Wellington to a care home here.  We found a small diary kept by her husband and it delighted us.  It was just a line or two for each day, such as ''Betty went to doctor'' etc but it gave us the urge to start doing the same.  We've been doing it for about 7+ years now and when I think about it we've gone from ''one line'' to a few lines each day.  We look back and read some of our entries from the start at least once a week and it's really interesting!  We also record weather details such as rainfall, high and low temps and barometric pressures - the joys of having a weather station right next to the bed.

We are in for our first cold snap over the next few days.  There will be snow to low levels in the lower south island and we are in for a fairly cold night on Monday, -1 degrees C in Nelson which means we will be colder here.  Brrrrrr but lovely!  Just hope Gertie the goat will be warm enough.. hmmm could I bring her into the bedroom???

I'm going to start cleaning out the pantry this pm and then it's out to the studio.  John has an interview this pm for a volunteer position for the Cricket World Cup.  I really hope he gets a positionj because he's a true people person so is perfect!  Smiles..

Raindrops are Fallling...

...and I don't mind one bit!  It's lovely in fact.  We haven't had any rain for more than a week so it is nice to see it back again.  At the moment poor Gertie the goat has got herself around a big eucalyptus tree in the woods a couple of times and I can't free her because it is too dangerous for my leg - uneven ground and debris galore, pookies!  The poor thing is getting a bit wet because she can't get to her shelter.

I finished my jigsaw last night which was great except one piece is missing.  I took a photo for you but it is still on the camera!  I contacted the manufacturer a piece of one of the cats is missing.  They are going to replace the entire jigsaw which I think is really nice of them.  Of course it will mean having to do the whole thing again to put in that one last piece, giggle.  I think I might wait a few months before I do it again.

My right eye is bugging me at the moment.  I've had a scratchy feeling in the corner of it for a few days and last night it felt as though I was blinking on wood all of a sudden.  I gave it a good Optrex eye rinse and some flecks of dirt came out but it still feels horrible today.  I suffer from ingrowing eyelashes a bit these days and I have a feeling that's the problem.  My problem is I can't see well enough without my glasses to be able to do anything about them, oh bother!  I am going to leave my eye in peace for a couple of days and if it's not better by Monday I'll have to have it looked at AGAIN!  Pookies again!  Giggle.

Yesterday I managed to make a start on my larger gift tags and I'm going to do some more work on them this pm.  I have also done one gift card to see how it looks and so far I love it!  I can't wait to make more.

I cut back some more hellebores (winter roses) yesterday but I still have quite a lot to do in different spots around the garden.  I will also give them a really good dose of sheep manure pellets too.  The ones in the narrow raised garden around the garage have formed really tight root balls so they will definitely need loads of nourishment.

It's time for me to think about what to have for lunch.  Smiles..

Brrrrr but it's Lovely!

Hi, oh boy it's cold this morning... sunny but cold!  It is so lovely compared with the weird spring-like temps of the past few days.  This is what the weather is supposed to be like at this time of year.  I can't believe we're almost at the end of May already, crikey, where is the year going?

We headed into Nelson late morning yesterday to do a few things.  Our first stop was Prego, a gorgeous mediterranean deli/cafe.  It used to just be a warehouse type store but then they moved to new premises and it is just the most divine place to go! This is the in-house cafe and wine bar:  http://m.comida.co.nz/.  I had the most gorgeous mushroom, kale, caramelised onion and crispy pancetta soup - it had a gorgeous lemony twang to it, which really gave it a lift.  Yummm.. John had pizza and salad, also gorgeous.  We were going to share but needless to say I asked for my soup back again, giggle!

After I'd been to my appointment I spent some time in Whitcoulls trying to spend the voucher Mum gave me for my birthday.  I found the perfect book - Seven Flowers by Jennifer Potter and I can't wait to read it.  Here's the description on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Flowers-They-Shaped-World/dp/0857891642.  The cover alone made me want this book!

I also bought a jigsaw puzzle sorting tray set (2 trays and a cover) with the rest of my voucher.  I don't think I'll use this when I'm actually doing a jigsaw but it will be brilliant for sorting them out straight out of the box.  An easy way to sort the edge pieces which I always do first.  Ooh did I tell you I was doing a jigsaw?  Maybe not.  My neighbour gave me one for my birthday and I'm really enjoying it.  I've always loved jigsaws and John and I used to do quite a few of them, especially when we were living in Singapore but we got out of the habit.  I'll take a photo of this one for you.

Yesterday I gave my self a big fright.  It was dusk and I was heading out to close the chooks up for the night.  Instead of going around the long way I went down towards the gate that goes into the paddock.  I was almost at the steps when my left leg got caught in a twig.. and I wrenched my femur every so slightly.  My hip joint was fine but my femur felt very weird.  Today I've got very sensitive skin on the inside of my knee so I think I might have upset some nerve endings.  As for my nerves, they certainly took a whack.  I think it was meant to happen, telling me to slow down a bit, which I am doing today.  I'm now heading to the exercycle for some gentle exercise.  Smiles..

Happy Wednesday...

...everybody, whether you are already there or will be in a few hours!  It's a cloudy Wednesday morning here and rain is predicted briefly this afternoon.  The temperature is about to start dropping again - thank goodness I say because the temps over the past few days have been very weird!  It's felt more like Spring than late Autumn to say the least - I was even in shorts on Sunday.

This morning I am packaging up 3 more plants to send to Auckland today.  I have to go into Nelson for an appointment at 1pm so John is coming too - he's going to do the grocery shopping while I'm at my appointment, then I'll meet him and go to a couple of shops while I'm in town (I don't go to Nelson very often).  Mum gave me a voucher for a books (and more) shop for my birthday so I want to see if I can find something I want. 

I think I did a bit too much weight bearing yesterday because that nagging pain in my groin is back again.  When I'm potting things up I have to stand and I just think it's a bit much for my new hip joint at the moment.  I'm hoping that's the reason it's back!

More tomorrow, I must go and get those plants ready to go.  Smiles..