Art for Heart's Sake

Beautiful Poppies!

Hi, it's Sunday mid-morning and I am completely and utterly shattered today.  I think all of the hard work and stress over the past few weeks has caught up with me today.  That's okay by tomorrow I will be a new woman!  Giggle.

Here are a few photos of beautiful poppies in our garden.  I have a few more that I've just taken but I haven't uploaded them yet. 

Smiles, until tomorrow.. I need to go and sort out gift tags to send to Christchurch tomorrow.

 

Crikey, I'm Exhausted...

...but very happy!  The market stall went really well and I sold quite a lot of plants and tea light holders which everyone loved.  The weather was a bit iffy.. sun, gusty wind that keep coming and going (thank heavens we didn't have a gazebo as people with them were really struggling), the odd spit of rain (not forecast!) and it was cold for most of the morning.  Janet, bless her heart, shot home to get both her and I a nice woolly jacket to help keep us warm.  I certainly looked ''shabby chic'' with white cropped pants, a lovely tunic I have, a grey woolly long ''jacket'' and a black leather jacket over the top!  It looked quite good surprisingly, giggle!

I'm so tired I'll stop here but I'll write more tomorrow.  Smiles..

 

Phew!

Hi there, it's Friday afternoon and I had my ultrasound this morning.  They decided no mammogram was needed as it's only been 6 months since my last one.  If something had shown up on the ultrasound they would have done one but the radiographer said all he could see was normal breast tissue.  This will be confirmed by another radiologist over the next few days but I can breathe again.  I feel so exhausted!

We have just finished loading the van for the market tomorrow and it is going to be a very early start - 5.15am for cup of ''wake up'' tea, then out the door at about 6.30am to set up at 7am.  I will post late tomorrow when I get home to let you know how it went. 

The setting up will be a bit of a mission because I have so many plants etc but Janet is coming with me early which is so lovely of her.  John will put the stand up and we will place everything.

I'd better carry on getting ready.  Smiles..

If Only These Posts Could be Fragrant....

... you would be able to smell this!!

This rose popped up in the garden by my studio about 2-3 years ago.  I think a bird must have dropped a seed because I certainly didn't plant it.  This beauty has moss rose-like buds with a pine fragrance and the fragrance of the rose itself is absolutely gobsmackingly gorgeous!  I bury my nose in it and just want to stay there breathing it in.  A friend thought it might be Charles de Mills, a Gallica rose but I realised when it flowered it was the wrong colour.  I've emailed a specialist rose nursery close by to see if they can identify it for me.  Here is a link to their scrumptious website:

 http://www.tbr.co.nz/

Today I'm doing bits and pieces to finish getting ready for my stall on Saturday.  I'm almost there and I also have an order for some of my fabric Christmas gift tags that I need to start making today too. 

I have a slight ''uneasy'' feeling in my gut about tomorrow's mammograms & ultrasound.  I know deep in my heart that everything will be okay but it's just the thought niggling in my brain about what they might find.  I think it doesn't help when I have a full-on day on Saturday starting at 5.30am!  Crikey!

Time to leap back out to my studio to start those tags.  Smiles..

Rescued Two Fledgling Sparrows!

Hi, crikey this morning so far I've rescued two fledgling sparrows from Monty!  It could very easily be the same poor wee sparrow.  We let Monty out this morning with strict instructions to have ''no birds'' and darn it about 3 minutes later in he came with the fledgling.  I leapt out of bed and John blocked the cat's way so we managed to get the bird.  I put it out in the garden under lots of undergrowth. 

I kept Monty in for a while then let him out again.. yes you guessed it, another fledgling came inside with him.  He heard me and ran for it but I managed to grab his bottom as he was disappearing under the house so shut him in for a while again (bird got away).  Vacuuming then heard squeaks and yes here was Monty on the verandah with the same fledgling, I'm sure of it.  Bah... he ran away from me and I got the bird which is now in a bird cage to have a rest then I'll decide where to release it.  Crikey, this is hard work! Laugh out loud. 

Yesterday I managed to get all of the plants for Saturday put aside so today I will label them all and water them.  I'll water them late Friday so they will be really fresh for Saturday morning.  I'm starting to feel a tad nervous about the market which always happens to me.  Do I really enjoy doing market stalls??  The answer is a complete and utter NO!  I find them sort of exciting but totally and utterly exhausting at the same time.  Thankfully this is not an all-day market, it goes officially from 10am-2pm but I'm told people turn up at 9.15am! 

Today I need to sow some seeds and write labels for Bay Landscapes so I can drop the plants off to them tomorrow afternoon instead of Friday morning.  I will be glad when my appointments on Friday are over with, it's been niggling me at the back of my mind for almost 2 weeks now, sigh! 

Time to leap outside!  Smiles..

Squeeee, Look at This!

Isn't she beautiful....

I adore Shirley poppies and I have quite a few coming into flower now.  They are so stunning, they just make me smile. 

Yesterday I got a lot of prep done for my market stall.  I finished the tea light holders, priced my gift tags and spent a lot of time doing signs - typing, printing and laminating them.  I am so looking forward to seeing my stand etc come together on Saturday.  I'm a bit nervous about what it going to go where and I know I'll be in a mild state of panic first Saturday morning when we're organising it at 7am!!  eeeek... but I'm sure it will be fine.

Today I am going to start sorting the plants that I am taking.  I want to get them into polystyrene boxes (with holes in them so I can still water) so I'm not in a rush on Thursday.  Friday is out really because I have to go into Nelson Radiology for my mammograms etc.  I also need to sort the plants for Bay Landscapes a couple of days early too.  Having said that I'd better get going.  Many smiles...

Tea Light Holders Done!!

Hi and yay, yesterday I got my 18 tea light holders done for the market stall.  I am so happy with them, they look really pretty.  I have a load of photos to take over the next few days - of the tea light holders and my christmas gift tags etc.

Yesterday I recorded my fortnightly radio show then went and did 1 hour's gardening next door.  I did the same this morning too.  I've just put my nursery sign out and I'm about to put my art out on the verandah too.  

I have lots of signage to do for my stand and colour display labels for my plants to do.  Caroline has written out my plant labels and I'm so thrilled because her printing is beautiful - unlike mine which tends to be slightly illegible no matter how hard I try.

Yesterday would have been my Dad's 88th birthday and was Mum and Dad's 61st wedding anniversary.  I know it's a really hard day for my gorgeous Mum, bless her heart.  She is wondering why on earth she's still here at 87, without him.

I'd better go and get my cup of tea and display my art.  I need to stamp the bottom of my tea light holders and then put them in their boxes ready for Saturday.  Smiles..

Squuuuuuuuuuueeeeee, It's Raining!

Morning on this magnificent, WET Saturday morning.  Oh my goodness I don't think I've ever been so happy to see rain, it's beautiful.  I got soaked doing the animal chores this morning but I didn't mind a bit!

Yesterday was another full on day.  I got to Bay Landscapes after getting our vegetables, placed my plants on the shelves and then Lesley and I went to buy plants for their little garden centre from the nearby wholesale nursery.  It was such fun choosing the plants and it is really good for me to do because it refreshes my knowledge of plants that I've forgotten about over the past few years due to lack of exposure (so to speak.. giggle). 

In the afternoon I worked on a few more gift tags.  It was hot yesterday afternoon, more like summer unfortunately. 

Today I need to try and finish my gift tags so I can move onto my tea light holders, then my plants.  This week is going to be fairly frantic.  The long range weather forecast for next Saturday is showers and westerlies.. Hmmm I'm not sure what I'll do if it's just showery and the market is still on.  My stand will be okay and my tags are all going to be in cellophane bags so they'll be okay but I think I'd better check to see if my neighbour has a table that takes a sun umbrella that I can borrow in case.

More tomorrow honeys, must get my day underway.  Smiles..

A Beautiful Ceiling!

Hi, I was looking back at some of our photos from our European trip in 2012 and I found this photo of the ceiling in a theatre in Venice where we saw La Boheme.. isn't it gorgeous -

The entire theatre was so opulent and beautiful it took my breath away!  Here also is a photo of me on a carousel in St Remy de Provence..  I have really good memories of banging my tailbone really badly when I sat down.. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that the horses were child-size??!! Giggle

Today I'm off to get our vegetables, hoping the line won't be too long and then I'm off to Bay Landscapes to drop off some plants and to go with one of the owners to choose some plants from a wholesale nursery for their little garden centre.  I'll really enjoy it but it is a bit nerve-wracking knowing I am choosing things that hopefully will sell.  It's a bit of an odd time of year because people stop planting about now for summer but they really need some colour in the main part of the garden centre area and they also need to LOOK like a garden centre.  We will buy up large in Autumn.

I'd best be off, lots to do before I leave.  Smiles..

Naughty Chooks!

Hi, it's Thursday morning and I've just opened my nursery.  Yikes I've just realised I haven't displayed my art on the verandah yet.. crikey, better do that in a minute.

I went for a walk today.. yes I forced myself to do it.  I know my poor hip/femur really needs it but I struggle so much to enjoy walking.  I really must go out for 30 minutes at least every 3 days.  My femur has been very stiff over the past couple of days because I've been sitting in my studio working instead of working in the garden most of the day.  Humphhhh

Yikes, yesterday I planted a fairly large perennial in part of the woodland garden, only to go back to look at it later in the day to find Caroline's chooks had dug it up.  Grrr, bless their hearts they are much happier scuffling around over here but I need to chase them back to her property whenever I see them now.  I have plans to plant up an areqa in the woodland garden that is empty at the moment but I can't do it when the chooks are going to dig everything up.  There's a good reason why I could never have large chooks in my garden.  Our others never did any damage, they just had fun!

We are still working on making a ''new'' nesting box and run for them.  Caroline has balked at paying for new materials so John can make a brand new one for them so we are going to improvise with what we have around here.  I'm still toying with the idea of charging her something for it though because it will incorporate our old rabbit hutch (very solid ''big enough for three big chooks to nest'' building!) as a nesting box.

I must go and carry on making headway with my gift tags for the market.  The christmas ones are almost finished and I want to make 15 more pretty botanical ones, then work on my tea light holders.  They need to be all finished by the end of the weekend and I'm busy most of tomorrow.  Next week I have to concentrate on labelling my plants etc.  Smiles..