Art for Heart's Sake

A Photo and Update on Mum!

Hi, it's Tuesday morning and I'm feeling a little bit better today.  I really was feeling completely out of sorts yesterday, especially about my gorgeous Mum.  Before I update you on that, here is a photo of my sister and me, taken on Saturday night.  I love this photo and it's really interesting because normally everyone says I look so like Mum but in this photo Judith looks more like Mum and I look like Dad which I'm really happy about.  Ahem, I love it when I'm told I look like Mum too because Dad was handsome and Mum still is beautiful!  It's a lovely compliment.

It's a stunning spring-like day today and I'm off to ballet practise this pm.  I'm phoning the hospital in about 30 minutes time for an update on Mum but as of last night she had had an xray because of fluid on her lungs and was diagnosed with a bowel bug due to antibiotics she had a few weeks ago for a urinary tract infection.  Apparently the bacteria lives in all our guts but when you are elderly it doesn't take much to trigger it to become nasty.  I may have told you that yesterday, if so I apologise.  

When I spoke to Mum around 8pm last night she was very confused about where she was and when I then spoke to the nurse I mentioned that and she was pretty sure Mum has another UTI.  I'm hoping when I speak to someone this morning they will be dealing with all these things and have some results on the x-ray for me.  

Yesterday I managed to prick out some more seedlings and I must go and put them in the tunnel house.  I was so tired yesterday afternoon I forgot to move them.  More tomorrow.. ooooh Spring is on it's way too.. the cherry blossom buds are swelling fast!  Smiles..

Aaah Home!

Hi here, it's Monday afternoon and we're home.  We got back late last night and I haven't been terribly organised this morning.  I had to rush off to the doctor because I thought I had the start of shingles happening again but it seems it was a false alarm!!  Yipppeeeee long may that continue!  I am under quite a bit of stress at the moment which isn't helping.

We had a wonderful weekend and Jessica and Spencer's engagement/leaving party was so lovely.  I had one heck of a fright earlier in the day though.  I always phone Mum twice a day and I'd spoken to her on Saturday morning.  I decided to phone from Auckland airport just after we landed because I knew the rest of the afternoon would be pretty busy.  I got such a shock when a St John's Ambulance man answered the phone, telling me Mum had had a fall.  After talking to Mum very briefly and the ambulance officers for a short time, I tried to get hold of my sister to tell her (she was already in Auckland), not realising she already knew because the St John's alarm people had phoned her.  Judith didn't answer her phone so I got hold of the other contact, a family friend, in New Plymouth (where Mum lives).  Mum was taken to the hospital late Saturday afternoon and remained in the emergency department until after midnight.  They had worked out she was dehydrated so were admitting her to a ward.  I worried all night about her - there is nothing worse than being in a hospital department or ward for hours with NO family to support you.  It is can be really frightening and you feel so alone - I know I've been there!  I managed to get a nurse to let me speak to Mum Sunday pm and she sounded so miserable, she thought we'd forgotten her.  Judith had an evening flight back to New Plymouth so she got to Mum at around 7pm.  

We were trying to decide whether I would drive from Auckland down to New Plymouth yesterday but Judith said there really wasn't a need for both of us to be there, so  I flew home last night as scheduled.  Today Mum has been diagnosed with a bug in her bowel, one that we all have, but it had been activated into something nasty by recent antibiotics which are hard on the elderly's system.  She also has fluid on her lungs so she is having an xray and she is sleeping too much so they are continuing with the fluids.  

Judith is going to let me know if/when I need to come up.  Mum has now been assessed as Rest Home status (thank heavens) and she was saying she wanted to go into a rest home but changed her mind at her last assessment.  Legally they can't force her to go into one, she needs to agree.  The only way she will go in without her consent is if a doctor states she's unfit to go home alone.

Crikey, needless to say I'm a one stressed-out chook.  I'm trying so hard not to be but I care about Mum so much.  In some ways it is probably better that I'm not with her because I will get emotional, I just can't help it.  Judith is much more pragmatic and doesn't show her feelings on her sleeve the way I do.

Please keep my gorgeous Mum in your thoughts.  It will help!  I'd better get out to the farm shed, I'm having such trouble getting started on anything today and am feeling exhausted.   Smiles....

 

Mad Dash to Vet!

Hi there, oh brother nothing is ever simple around here!  Yesterday late pm I suddenly realised Benjamin Bunny, our slightly elderly Netherlands dwarf bunny had completely stopped eating and hard hardly produced any soil matter (a nicer word than poohs.. oops I said it! giggle).  This immediately made me think of Gastric stasis which can be deadly very quickly in bunny rabbits.  Off to the vet I dashed at 5.30pm to have the diagnosis confirmed but luckily his gut wasn't totally rock hard, just the front section of it (rabbits have two digestive tracts just like cows).  Home I went with paraffin oil and instructions to gently massage the front part of his gut.

Later that evening I realised he was producing bright red bloody urine (they can have slightly red urine depending on the dyes in plants and food but this wasn't that).  Crikey!!  He's produced a bit of blood before but never this much.  Needless to say I was worried about him all night. 

This morning he suddenly perked up and is hungry again, is producing something and no blood in his urine so fingers are crossed.  We are off to Auckland for the night to go to my nieces engagement/leaving party.  We have lovely friends staying in our house so I know all of our animals will be in fabulous hands.  Janet loves creatures as much as I do which is such a blessing.  

I find going away hard at the best of times but when one of my pets is sick it is even harder.  Dare I say slightly heart-wrenching for me, I'm such a soft lump!

Well I'd better go and water the plants in the tunnel house.  Smiles..

The Nutcracker was Gorgeous!

Hi, it's a very dreary Friday afternoon with rain again so I'm holed up here in my studio briefly, before heading out to the tunnel house to see what needs pricking out.  Ballet class this morning was wonderful and we are progressing well with our Grade 3 work.  The exam is going to be in the first week of December at this stage, so lots to perfect before then!

I had a good class yesterday afternoon and then John picked me up and we went and had a Thai meal before heading to the Theatre to see ''The Nutcracker''.  It was absolutely gorgeous and we had really good seats. We could see the entire stage and still see their feet with no heads in front of us so that was just perfect in my eyes!!  Oh my word!!

It's funny - my neighbour had the inside of their double story house sprayed inside for spiders and flies this morning and they were told to stay out of the house for four hours.  I popped over just before, forgetting about the spray - but when I walked in the house REEKED of it.  Oh my word, my throat started to close up straight away, something that always happens to Mum too.  I managed to have a short conversation but when I saw the spray residue on their coffee table I was out of there!  The first thing I did was wash my hands thoroughly because, of course, their inside door handle had it on it too!  Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I just can't handle pesticides of ANY description.  I don't understand why anyone would want such horrid chemicals on the inside of their house, especially when they have a cat.  Each to their own I know, but EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!  Needless to say she was surprised I turned up - I didn't realise how bad it would be because they usually only get the outside done.  Apart from anything else she now has to wipe everything!!! down to get rid of the residue.  I hope she wears rubber gloves!

Enough of that, giggle, I'd better get outside IN THE RAIN!  Smiles..

Going to Local Ballet Tonight!

Hi, it's Thursday morning and I'm swilling down a much needed cup of tea!  I've just got back from delivering 62 punnets of vegetables and flowers to Bay Landscapes.  Normally I do this on my way to ballet class in the afternoon but today things are a bit different.  John is coming in with me when I leave just after 3pm and he'll potter around in Nelson while I'm doing my ballet class until about 5.30pm.  I'll get changed, then he'll pick me up and we are going to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the Theatre Royal to see a local ballet academy's production of The Nutcracker ballet.  It starts at 7pm so it will be a bit of a rush that's for sure.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the ballet, apparently it is the full length ballet too.  Sometimes this academy just does part of a ballet - last year it only lasted for about 45 minutes and everyone was a bit stunned that it was over!

I need to head out to the farm shed now to carry on pricking out some seedlings and I have to hunt down my Nelson Red Broad Bean seeds.  I know I've got them somewhere, aaaaggghhhhh!  Apart from anything else I need to grow some myself for seed stocks.  Keep your fingers crossed I can find them because they are precious!

I also need to order some tomato seeds that I am short of.  I'd better get going!  Smiles..

A Chilly Day in the Farm Shed!

Hi there, it's Wednesday afternoon and I'm about to head to the farm shed to sow another 25 punnets of various vegetable seeds, plus prick out a few more punnets of seedlings.  It has been grey, bleak morning and now it is chilly and has started to rain.  It's not going to last long but I have to say it does make being out in the farm shed slightly less appealing to say the least!

Luckily I have all of my seedlings labeled for delivery tomorrow so at least I got that done this morning, plus my hour in my neighbour's garden.  

We still have a debacle going on re Monty (cat) and the bellbird.  John put up our new feeding station yesterday and it is absolutely brilliant EXCEPT.. I insisted we put it on the post of the verandah that was near the tree lucerne that the birds love to sit in.  BAD BAD BAD idea!! I let Monty out again this morning because the darling female bellbird has stopped sitting on the verandah ledge which was very easy in terms of the cat jumping up fast to grab her (which I know he would do).  That's all very well but one of the first things Monty did was to climb the tree lucerne right to right above the feeding station and sit there, very well camouflaged.  I heard the bellbirds' warning calls and knew there would be trouble so I grabbed one of the branches of the tree lucerne that I could reach and shook it for about 5 minutes until Monty finally got down!  Good grief... needless to say the minute he came back inside he was shut in again.  

We are going to move the feeding station to the other post which is not as close to the tree.  This was where John suggested putting it first and yes, he was right!  I am going to stop feeding the birds at the end of this week anyway but we really want to get this right.  I think we may have to keep Monty inside until the bellbird is on her nest, which should be soon.  This might seem like overkill and not terribly nice for Monty but NZ bellbirds are incredibly special birds!  Here is a photo of Mrs Bellbird and one of Mr.  As you can see he is a beautiful shade of green and she is much paler and smaller.  The song that comes from these birds is INCREDIBLY loud and STUNNING!   I took these photos through the kitchen window so sorry if they are a bit blurry.  The female was all fluffed up, sunning herself when I took this.    I've also included a link to a video that shows first the tui then the bellbird... keep listening to the bellbird and you will hear his truly beautiful melodic sound.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf7Nn9CqrxI

Our Dear Old Duck Dudlette!

Hi, it's Tuesday morning and I'm about to head out to the farm shed for an hour or so to do some pricking out.  I have to eat lunch at 11.45am at the latest on Tuesdays because I start dancing at 1.15pm and there is nothing worse than having too much food in your stomach for that!  It makes me feel like a dancing ''brick''.

Our flock of domestic ducks is full of fairly old ducks now and one of the oldest is dear Dudlette.  Dudlette was Dudley until we realised he was a she after a complete season.  Bless her heart she was born with a slightly deformed face on one side giving her a rather odd appearance.  She has turned out to be such a character and must be at least 7 or 8 years old now I think.  She is now completely blind and deaf but until this past week she was managing really well with the help of her ''husband''.  Such a faithful male duck, he always makes sure she gets to where the others are during the winter when the breeding season is over and chases away other males during the mating season too, sometimes unsuccessfully!  Crikey, who'd be a duck - not me that's for sure!!!  

Long story short over the past few days she's been up in our top garden in various spots and it has become very apparent she wasn't drinking enough or washing and was hiding from the other ducks in the oddest places.  Today we decided the best thing to do is to pen her for a few days to give her a chance to eat and drink in peace without being bothered.  I was going to put her in a largish fenced area but we are meant to have rain off and on from tomorrow so I need to be able to give her some shelter.  I've put her in a smaller pen with a large container of water and when I last looked she was having such a good bath - boy it must feel good!  I'm not planning to keep her in the pen for ever and will move her to the fenced area when the weather settles more so she has more room.  I just think she needs some time in duck ''hotel'' to recuperate a bit.  I was concerned she might end up on our neighbours' property and then it would be REALLY hard to make sure she was getting duck food.

Well I'd better go and prick out my seedlings.  Smiles..

It's Raining!

Hi on a rather wet Monday morning!  I knew it was meant to rain but it is pouring down fairly steadily.  I'm in the farm shed pricking out seedlings and I have to say it was a little hard to get motivated to do it.  I could be here in my studio working on a colour label sheet for my summer vegetable seedlings but at the same time I have to prick them out and sow more.  Spring is officially here in the middle of next week, oh crikey and H E L P!!  I'm about to sow eight different types of lettuce seed today too.

I vacuumed the house and cleaned the bathroom this morning because we have an ex-work colleague of John's and his wife coming round at 2pm for a catch up.  Needless to say I won't get much done in the way of work this pm. I might stay and chat for an your and then excuse myself because I really DO have to get those seeds sown and more today.

I'll keep this short and get back to work.  I came into my studio for a glug of water.  I don't tend to keep water out in the farm shed because it ALWAYS ends up with potting mix in it, giggle.  More tomorrow!  I have a feeling it is going to be ''one of those'' weeks.  Smiles..

Pretties!

Hi, it's Sunday late morning and John has just left to go to Blenheim (1.5 hours drive over to the East Coast of the top of the South Island) to go to a rugby match with his son this evening.  It's our local rugby team, the Nelson Makos playing someone else (don't ask me who, giggle).  I didn't go because I have a lot to do here and I'm not really interested in rugby because I don't understand what the heck they are doing with the ball most of the time.

Now on to ''pretties''.  I have always had a like/dislike relationship with polyanthus, that is until recently.  Mum used to plant them in our front garden every autumn for an early spring show and I must admit they were always pretty spectacular.  I always thought their riotous colours were a bit gaudy and the plants themselves always looked a bit ''old-womanish''.  Well ''wash my mouth out with soap!!!''.  I started growing polyanthus seedlings for Bay Landscapes in February 2015 - a very odd time to be sowing shade loving, cool-weather plants.  The seed is very fine and I had to sow it on the surface of the seed-raising mix and place it somewhere cool and shady - in my case it was the east side of my studio.  This turned out to be the perfect spot because I had fabulous germination.  I pricked them out and kept them in the shade ready for sale from May onwards.  Needless to say I didn't sell very many punnets of them so I potted them on for potted colour this season.  Bay Lanscapes started having their own potted colour, selling it at $1 less than I could so there really wasn't much point in me putting mine there.  Needless to say as they flowered my love affair began.  Instead of gaudy the colours are clear and SO pretty!  There are so many different shades of yellow too.  

A few weeks ago I had a brainwave of sorts.  There is an area near our garage that gets almost no sun - yes you guessed it - the perfect spot for polyanthus so a-planting I went.  I absolutely adore this area now and I can see I will be jam packing it full of polyanthus as time goes on.  I have planted some foxgloves at the back of this area by the concrete water tank to give some height eventually.  They will look so pretty when they flower next season! Here are a couple of photos of the polyanthus.  Back out to the garden I must go!  Smiles..

Bonfire Time, Eeeek!

Hi on a rather lovely Saturday morning.  There is a little bit of cloud around in the sky but it is quite mild for late winter.  John decided to light the bonfire in our paddock this morning and for this girl, who is PETRIFIED of fire, it is definitely not non-stressful!  I needed a day to prepare myself but I had it pounced on me this morning.  Needless to say I haven't felt relaxed since.  It is burning quite happily (it's all our garden debris from cut back trees over the last year) but very slowly and yes, needs to be watched.  John will check it late tonight too.  The weather forecast is for light winds today, which I imagine will come up around 1pm as per usual.  The one good thing is the kitchen garden hose reaches the spot where the bonfire is (that was my major stipulation when we first made the pile he burned last year).  

I'm in the kitchen garden, composting the asparagus bed and also the ''cutting garden'' bed I've decided to have out there.  I love flowers and the garden I'm putting them in is a bit of an iffy one for vegetables so flowers it is.  It also means I have somewhere to plant any slightly tired punnets of flowers I bring home from Bay Landscapes.  The first things to go in there will be some larkspur seedlings that are extra to requirements.  I love larkspur so much and haven't grown them for years.

Well it's now early afternoon and I'm happy to say that the fire has well and truly burned down, there are still flames but for a while there it was looking as though one side of the fire wasn't going to light!  Phew!  I took lunch down there and we had a picnic while we watched it.  John will be in the paddock for a while longer yet just to make sure it burns down completely.  These sort of bonfires can relight even two days later so it's important to keep stirring up the ashes at the bottom when it gets to that stage.  I'll probably hose it down later in the evening, being me!!

I must get out into the perennial garden and do some weeding now.  The ground has dried out a little bit so I need to do as much as I can this weekend because rain is forecast again this week.  Smiles.. p.s. ooooh the first asparagus spear is about 2.5cm above the ground!  That's EARLY!!