Art for Heart's Sake

What an End to the Week..

Hi honeys, just when I thought this week couldn't get any more traumatic for my soft heart, Matilda our lovely elderly english game hen (at least 8 if not older) is in heart failure as I'm typing this.  I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was a bit concerned about her because her face was a little dark and she looked as though she was breathing more heavily than normal.  She has been very spritely and happy since then and seemed to have come right.  Yesterday afternoon I did my usual ''showing the girls where to find slugs and slaters under a lot thing'' and Matilda had a feast.  You can imagine my shock when we went down to do Sebastian's eyes this morning only to find Matilda sitting in the chook house with her eyes closed, looking as though she was having trouble breathing.  John had to rush off to work and I was going out to ballet so I cuddled her for 10 minutes and then put her back in the chook house where she was comfortable.  

We don't want to euthanase her just in case she rallies because she is a tough little thing.  My heartstrings are being tugged every which way - part of me wants to help her by euthanasing her but the other part of me knows it's actually quite hard to get right (from previous experience) and that would just be too awful.  We know the correct method to use but it's still traumatic, especially if it doesn't work first time.  What with that and Sebastian I don't think I can take much more this week.  This is all part of having living creatures and one thing is for sure, we give ours the best life possible!  What will be, will be.    If she hasn't rallied by this evening we will have to help her go.  So sad.

I've just come back from doing 1.5 hours gardening for my neighbour.  It gave me some ''mind'' down-time which I needed very much.  I have such a soft heart when it comes to animals - I always put myself in their place.

I need to go and sow some seeds, then I will do some pricking out if I have time before I walk the dog.  Here's to tomorrow when I will share some lovely photographs I took this week.  Smiles..

Yesterday was Crazy!

Hi there, yay it's Thursday and I've taken one lot of my plants down to Bay Landscapes with another 12 trays to go down there this pm!  I spent all yesterday getting the plants into trays, taking them to the farm shed to label, the doing the paperwork and more colour labels for display purposes.  The labelling job took 2 hours longer than normal because it was raining - squeeeee - yes RAINING!!  We only got 12mm but that is far better than none!  I normally fill each tray and label the plants out by the tunnel house as I go which seems to be a much faster way of doing it as yesterday proved!

Sebastian, our rooster, is still not great.  I had to take him to the vet late on Tuesday because he was looking so miserable.  We are trying a week-long course of antibiotics but if they don't work we may need to euthanase the poor lad.  I truly hope not because he is the most gorgeous rooster and so calm and quiet.  I can see why they call his breed the ''teddy bears'' of the chook world.   I think his eyes look fractionally better this morning and the side of his face that is swollen looked a tiny bit less swollen.  I hope I wasn't imagining it.  I truly think it is either an sinus infection or a brain tumour because he is not showing any other symptoms of nasty chook diseases.  I watched him eating the chook pellets this morning - it took him a while to find them because his eyesight isn't great because of the swelling and discharge.  I also saw him drinking when I lifted him up to bed in the chook house last night.  Please keep your fingers crossed, I love this boy!

I'm about to sow some more seeds and prick out some petunia seedlings so must hop to it.  Smiles..

Gift Tags DONE!!!

Hi there, oh my goodness I  have finished Pete's Christmas gift tags and they are all packed up and ready for me to send today on the way to ballet practise!  Yeehah!!    I need to work on two more lots for next year (Valentine's Day and Mother's Day) but I can take a break for a while.

Yesterday I managed to find time to do a bit of weeding in the perennial garden, crikey I have a LONG task ahead of me I can tell you!  I am determined to do it bit by bit and really well!

It is lovely and cloudy at the moment and rain is predicted this pm so I really hope it comes.  I'm about to leap out into the kitchen garden to quickly plant some beetroot plants so they get a chance to get some beautiful rain to help them settle in.  I need to find time to plant some vegetables for us, for heaven's sake!

Sebastian, our rooster, still has really uncomfortable looking eyes and his face is a bit swollen especially on one side.  He seems fairly happy still, and is eating so I'm pretty sure it must be a sinus infection or something.  If he's no better tomorrow, off to the vet he goes.  It's not fair to just let him suffer.  I had to lift him up into the chook house last night because his eyesight is a little off due to the swelling and he can't see to jump up into it.  I really hope he comes right by himself but if not, maybe they can give him antihistamines or antibiotics.  He's such a ''teddy bear'' of a rooster.  Sigh.. I hate it when I can't help them.  We are bathing his eyes with tepid salt water and it does help but only temporarily.

Out to the kitchen garden I must leap.  Smiles..

 

A Busy Bee!

Hi there, it's Monday afternoon and it's a public holiday today.  Yesterday I had a REALLY busy day!  I spent the morning pricking out seedlings, recorded my radio show, finished my garden article and emailed that off, plus did the backgrounds for the last 20 christmas gift tags.

In the afternoon we went out to the Art Expo here in Nelson at 2pm and got back at about 4.45pm after stopping at the supermarket.  I couldn't really afford the time but I decided I was just going to!  I saw some ''interesting'' art but also some truly amazing works.  There were 175 artists exhibiting their work from around the country and a lot from here in Nelson.  My ballet pal Ayelet and her husband called in to buy some plants and before we knew it it was 7.15pm and my roast chicken was well and truly cooked, yikes!  After dinner I worked on my gift tags and then collapsed into bed at about 10pm!

Today I've finished the gift tags, I just have about 50 lots of ribbon to attach and then seal them in cellophane bags, ready to be posted tomorrow.  I've been in the raspberry patch weeding and oh dear it is ARID!!! not just dry.  I SO hope we get some rain soon.  It's only mid-Spring for heaven's sake!  I did some more pricking out and am now doing a tiny bit of weeding in the perennial garden.  I am going to work on one area at a time and get it looking really good before I move on.  It will be a slow process but I'll get there.  

Back to it I go, smiles..

Hi Honeys, Oh My Goodness!!

Hi and oh dear, I can't believe my last post was on Thursday!  This week has been absolutely frantically busy - so much so it's become a little ridiculous.  I am dashing from one thing to another like a crazy woman!  This weekend is a long weekend - tomorrow is Labour Day.  It's the traditional time for all NZ'ers to get into their vegetable gardens.  This meant, as I mentioned on Thursday, I had to take a truckload of plants down to Bay L.  

On top of that I'm getting my Christmas gift tag order finished for Pete (I did a lot yesterday), I also had to sow more seeds (also yesterday) and this morning I'm pricking out seedlings.  I need to record my fortnightly radio show today and I've just finished a gardening article I was asked to write for the local Grey Power Magazine (over 50's).  I love writing so that's not a problem but it was just another thing I HAD to do this week.  I've just emailed that off, phew!  

The Art Expo is on this weekend and even though I really can't spare the time to go I need to because it's good for me to keep up with the art world trends and I also get fabulous ideas for my own work.  John is singing the National anthem on the cathedral steps in Nelson this pm (there is a group that are trying to get more NZ'ers to know the lyrics and sing it more often and they asked the Nelson Mail Voice Choir to sing) so I'm staying here to get things done then we'll go to the Expo later.

I'm swilling down a cup of tea at the moment, hence I have the time to type this.  I hope all is well with all of you!  I'll post some photos tomorrow.  Smiles..

Squeeeee another Tiny Shower of Rain!

Hi, it's Thursday and as usual Wednesday just WENT, where I'm not sure!  I spent almost all day getting plants ready for Bay Landscapes and I've taken my first load of plants down there this morning.  I have another 9 or so trays to take this pm (couldn't fit them in!) - a total of 238 items, phew!

We woke this morning to the lovely sound of rain falling but not for long unfortunately!  The moment I said isn't it lovely but my newly washed hair will get wet (meaning it would go frizzy!) and it dang well stopped.  That will teach me to open my mouth, giggle!

Our darling rooster Sebastian isn't well at all which is really upsetting me.  I had noticed he didn't seem to be seeing all that well over the past week or two, he couldn't seem to find the food in my hand the way he normally would.  I didn't think too much of it (which in hindsight was lax of me and I feel awful!!) at the time because he seemed happy in every other way, doing normal rooster things.

Yesterday I suddenly realised he wasn't himself and got down on my hands and knees to check his face (he has a big rosette comb on the front of his head so it's hard to see his eyes) and realised to my horror that one of his eyes was almost shut and his face swollen on that side.  The other side was weeping a bit.  Criky - I ran up to the house to get John to help me so I could bathe his eyes.  I spoke to our dear friend who has lots of animals and he suggested using saline solution to bathe his eyes and to see how he responded over a couple of days.  When I looked at Sebastian this morning I could just tell he's not good at all.  He's not eating and his face looks so miserable.  I checked out all of the nasty disease symptoms but we are fairly sure he doesn't have any of those thank heavens.  Laurie is going to come round this pm to check him out and will give him a shot of antibiotics to see if that will help.  I REALLY hope so as I love this rooster so much.  There is no point in taking him to the vet because most vets here don't know much about chooks or roosters so we just have to ''wing'' it.  I don't want him to suffer that's for sure and he looks as though he is at the moment.   Fingers crossed he will come right.  I might have to isolate him in case it is contagious but I don't really want to do that because then he will be even more miserable without his girls and vice versa.  I'll see what Laurie thinks, he also mentioned it could even be a brain tumour, eeeek!

Right I'd better go and get my lunch, I'm starving.  Smiles..

A Funny Sort of Day!

Hi there, I'm having a funny sort of day today - a day when I can't really seem to settle to anything.  This is not good when I have so much to do!

The best thing about today is ballet practise in 1 1/4 hours time!  At least then I know my brain will settle a bit and I'll just disappear into the world of ballet moves!  It's an amazing feeling and it does me the world of good.  I always come out of ballet and have to sort of ''blink''.. because I'm back in the real world.

I have been trying to work on my gift tags this morning and have managed to finish the 2 smallest sizes, apart from adding the ribbon which I'll do later today.  This leaves the larger ones which need more embellishment than the smaller ones.  I suddenly realised I won't be able to do much on them at all tomorrow and Thursday because I will be busy getting plants labelled etc to take to Bay L on Thursday and I'll have to make two trips with big loads on that day.  It takes about 2 hours to sort the plants out once I get them there.  I have limited space so it's a bit like a big jigsaw puzzle each week!

I'd better go and get changed for practise.  Yay!! Smiles..

Ducks and ''Black''Tulips!

Hi there, it's Monday morning and I'm about to madly start pricking out zinnia seedlings.  I'm growing 5 different varieties of zinnia - they are really popular here!  I must admit I've never grown them in my garden but am now thinking they will be perfect for the studio garden that extends around our drive.  It's a raised bed and zinnia thrive in sunny well drained spots!  I love having hot colours in this garden too.

Here are a couple of photos - one of the ''Khaki Campbell Gang'' and the other of a ''black'' tulip I planted this last autumn.  I adore this colour and it really stands out against the green.

I started working on my christmas gift tag order yesterday and was hoping to get them sent off tomorrow but I totally underestimated the amount of time I would need, sigh!  I've just been so busy with my seedlings I kept thinking ''they won't take me long so I don't need to start them yet''.. ermmmm wrong!  I know Pete will understand, bless his heart, but I still feel bad.  I will get them in the mail early next week at the very latest.

I'd better run out to my zinnias!  Smiles..

Oooh There's Some Cloud!!

Hi, it's Saturday pm and we've just finished lunch.  I always like to take a few minutes in my studio to let my lunch ''settle'' before I leap back out to the farm shed or in this case my little glasshouse to PLANT some tomato plants!  Yeehah!!!  I haven't had much time lately to plant anything for us and it is time I did.

I am almost up-to-date with my pricking out of seedlings.  I've just sown 10 more punnets of petunia seed, plus 10 of delphinium seed (including some named varieties).  I have some zinnias to prick out but I will do those on Monday.

We have been promised a few showers and some rain overnight but at this stage there is just some cloud hanging around here and there!  I get hopeful when I see dark clouds on the horizon but they have dissipated twice today without anything happening.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  Apart from the fact that garden is getting dry, my SOUL is getting dry too!  I need the rain as much as the garden.

I haven't uploaded the photos from our camera yet so I can't post the photos of the ducklings today.  I promise I will in the next day or two.  Back out to the glasshouse I must fly.  Smiles..

Hot and Windy!

Hi there, it's Friday pm and it's hot and windy today - oh my word, not good in mid-Spring!  Ooh while I remember I saw something amazing yesterday.. a New Zealand falcon being chased by two Welcome Swallows!!  Just amazing and something I never expected to see.  How I adore nature!

I have some cute photos to share with you tomorrow - one of our ducks, Dudlette who has a slightly odd face (always has had) and is blind appeared with 11 ducklings!!!  Normally she only has 3 or 4.  She must have nested next door because we make sure we don't get too many ducklings these days by taking the eggs from the nests so we won't be over-run.  Bless her heart, I knew it wouldn't be long before she was down to one or two ducklings only (this morning would you believe!!!) so I took a photo and a video while I could.

I was super busy yesterday getting 203 items to Bay Landscapes.  It meant 2 separate trips, one in the morning and the other mid-afternoon.  I also wrote up a few signs to laminate and put with my plants to give people good info re white butterfly protection for cabbages, broccoli and other brassicas.

Ballet class was wonderful this morning.  I was a bit concerned I wouldn't be able to dance very well because I have been having a bit of trouble with my sacro-iliac joints in my lower back and my left leg has been sore off and on in the thigh all week.  Yay class went really well - I was careful not to over-tax my left leg during the barre exercises and that helped a treat.  I am so much happier today.

Poor Chester had the first epileptic fit he's had in a year or two during the night.  It only lasted about 30 seconds but I think it must have been pretty intense because he howled and barked afterwards and was extremely agitated.  Today he's a bit tired, no wonder I say!  I phoned the vet and we may have to up his phenobarbitone meds to 6 tablets a day!!  We are going to wait and see if he has another fit in the near future, if so 6 tabs it will be!  

I'd better head back out to the potting shed - my tomatoes are waiting.  Smiles..