Art for Heart's Sake

Photos!

Hi, here are some photos from last week.  The first one is of my gorgeous Mum.  I adore this photo, it truly shows her beautiful personality and strength of character.  Not bad for 89.5 years old!  Ooh those eyes and look at her hair.. gorgeous!   I will treasure this photo!

The next two are my sister by her raised vegetable beds, then me!  We had fun last Sunday afternoon weeding and planting for winter.

The last one is Mum being taken for a walk around the rest home/villa complex on a beautiful day!  It was so lovely to be able to take her outside for some fresh air!  Smiles..

Planted Anemone Blanda & Bluebells!

Hi, it's 9.20am on Saturday and I've been planting gorgeous anemone blanda (woodland anemone) and some bluebells on the edge of the woodland garden near the garage.  I can't wait for them to flower in Spring now!  It is a murky sort of day with grey skies and apparently rain is going to set in early afternoon so I'm making the most of some gardening time.  I desperately need to get into the kitchen garden too but I feel like doing the flower garden at the moment.

I also need to formulate a HUGE to-do list for the property over the winter!  Something to do while watching TV tonight.  

I am still battling the viral whatsit that caught me after Fiddler.  While I was away I ended up taking antibiotics due to a wheezy sounding chest.  My cough cleared up pretty quickly but yesterday my nose starting running and I have a scratchy throat again.  Bah!  I got too cold on Thursday evening while I was waiting to get a ride home from ballet so I think that may be the culprit.  Also EVERYONE on the plane seemed to have a cough or was sneezing, ugh!  Travel is totally overrated in my eyes!

If it starts raining I will toss up between tidying up the spare room or tidying my studio.  I fear the latter will win because I really need John's help with the spare room.  Some of Mum's stuff needs to go up into the roof so I can clear some space to tidy the rest.  Back to the garden I must go!  Smiles.. p.s. I haven't uploaded the photos from my camera yet but will share some as soon as I have.  

I'm Home Again.. Head Down and Running!

Hi, oh how I've missed doing my blog posts!  It was tricky getting decent wifi in my motel room so in the end I gave up trying to post!  I hope you missed me??  Giggle..

I'm home and from now on I will have my head down and I will be running.  My new website goes live next week, I need to label and deliver plants to Mapua CS and Bay L this pm and my big, big task for the next few weeks is to the the garden sorted.  Every spare minute when I'm not working or at ballet is going to be spent in the garden, weather permitting!

I've just unpacked and now I need to go and sort some plants for delivery.  More tomorrow when I can breath a little easier.  Smiles..  Oooh I have photos to share too!

In New Plymouth!!

Hi from sunny New Plymouth!! I suddenly realised I haven't posted for 4 days!!!! That's a first and tells you how frantically busy I was this week. It was my birthday on wed and I had a good day, especially at ballet open class then meeting a friend's daughter for coffee afterwards.  We went out or dinner that night too which was scrumptious!!

On Thursday i was busy pricking out seedlings and sowing seeds.  I left my neighbour pricking out for me when I went to ballet, which was lovely of her because I knew I was running out of time.

yesterday I flew here via Auckland, arriving at lunchtime.  I met my sister for lunch then we headed to see mum.  Mum's face when she realised I was there was priceless, just so lovely!!  We didn't stay long because mum was tired so we came to the motel Judith had booked for me - oh we went grocery shopping first so I could buy some supplies.  The motel is lovely, the only challenge for a complete foodie and lover of cooking is it only has a microwave which I don't like!  Needless to say salad is on my menu a lot for next few days.

i went back to see mum around 4pm which is the time of day when the elderly tend to feel low.  Oh my goodness it is so good to see her!  I went to see her this morning around 10.30 and she was fast asleep in her chair in the lounge section of the hospital wing.  I sat there for about 45 minutes then left.  I went back just after lunch and took her for a walk around the villas etc.  it's all on the flat so,is perfect for a wheelchair.  I'm going back in about an hour to cheer her up at 4.30. 

Well I think I've rambled enough!! Smiles....I don't know how to change font etc on this iPad so will leave this small!

Such a Special Week!

Hi, it's Tuesday evening and oh my goodness I'm having SUCH  a special week!  For once my seedlings etc are taking a bit of a back seat which makes me feel VERY guilty but this is something I needed to do for me!  I am attending open classes at a different ballet studio here in Nelson where a lovely young woman called Sarah Lauder is holding a fairly intensive workshop that incorporates contemporary, bodywork (fitness etc) and ballet.  I went yesterday for 1.5 hours of open class and again today for 1.5 hours of open class, plus a pointe class (no pointe shoes necessary just really good technique for pointe) and finally a one hour private lesson with Sarah.  I can't tell you how wonderful it was.  Within seconds she helped me solve a problem I've had since I've started - knowing when my legs are straight when they are behind me!  This might sound odd but I know for a fact that my legs struggle to be straight in that position.  You can't see what they're doing for a start!  Here's a link to Sarah.. Sarah studied at the dance academy this intensive is being held at and now teaches/dances in Brisbane, Australia.

https://www.starnow.com/sarahlauder4/

She is so inspiring and a wonderful teacher!

This week is a bit manic because I am also going to New Plymouth again to see Mum from Friday 21st - Thursday 27th April.  Everything is being horribly condensed this week including my seedling pricking out and sowing seeds.  I may miss the boat a bit as some of my lettuce seedlings will need pricking out while I'm away but honestly I just can't do everything.  I MUST NOT FEEL BAD for taking time out for myself re these ballet classes!! This is my birthday week and it's a big treat after all the Fiddler stuff.

I am fighting off a cough.. it got worse yesterday but today it is not quite as bad.  Funnily enough I truly believe if you are doing something you really love you forget about EVERYTHING including coughs!  

Well I must fly and get dinner ready!  Here's to tomorrow which is my 55th birthday! Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Recovering!

Hi honeys, I hope you're having a wonderful Easter wherever you are!  Well Fiddler is done and dusted - we had our final performance on Wednesday night then a quick bite to eat (Indian food at 10.30pm.. ewwwwwwww).. plus some speeches and presentations to the directors etc.  We were also asked to help stack chairs do dishes etc so we didn't jump back into the car until after midnight!  Crikey that was a VERY VERY long day!  Quite a few people had bugs, losing voices, colds etc and yes you guessed it, I now have a prickly throat and a bit of a cough!  I desperately need to get rid of it because I have special ballet classes at a different studio this week!

On Thursday I delivered plants to Bay L and then headed out to ballet practise at 2pm.  I have to say it was like dancing with leaden legs and I kept getting the giggles because I was so darned tired!  I carried on to do Valerie's 4pm class and I came to life again during that.  I had a few mouthfuls of natural nuts -walnuts, macadamia, almonds which really boosted my energy level thank goodness.  The traffic was pretty awful (Easter traffic and inclement weather) so I didn't get home until well after 6pm.  Needless to say I slept like a log that night after going to bed around 9.30pm.

Yesterday (Good Friday here) I headed in to ballet practise again (no class as end of term) and then was asked to go to Elizabeth's (fellow ballet student aged 70 and also member of Fiddler cast) for coffee where I also met her husband for the first time.  What a totally delightful couple they are!  Elizabeth showed me around their garden and then we had coffee and talked for about 2 hours.  I got home around 2.15pm just in time to finish the hot cross buns John had started (he had to go out).  I didn't really have lunch!

The ground is VERY soggy!  We had 150mm (6 inches) of rain over two days so I can't do any weeding this weekend.  I do need to trim the sides of the hornbeam hedge with the petrol hedge trimmer but I think I will wait until at least tomorrow when hopefully the ground will have drained a little bit.  The last thing I want to do is slip with a petrol hedgetrimmer in my hands!  

We are going into Richmond this morning to join the throng of shoppers to run a few errands.  NZ is really funny - if shops are shut for one day people go MAD the next!!  Quite odd!  Smiles..

Rain and Our Final Show!

Hi, it's a very wet Wedneday morning and I'm just back from delivering plants to Mapua Country Store.  Luckily it didn't really rain while I was there because it was pretty steady beforehand.  

Tonight is our last performance of Fiddler and I have mixed emotions about it.  I will be happy to have my evenings back and to be able to go to bed at a reasonable our again instead of midnight but at the same time I'll miss being on stage.  There is another production coming up ''Mamma Mia'' that I would DEARLY love to audition for but it involves a lot of commitment re rehearsals right on the other side of Nelson (about 30-40 min drive) and could be several nights a week.  The show itself has a three week run in September which is my busiest month of the year so, all in all, I have to say NO to myself!  Aaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!  It would be so much fun and I know the words to all the songs, darn it!

Today I need to sow a whole lot of seeds, including broad beans so I'd better hop to it, even though all I feel like doing is sitting in this gorgeous but very untidy studio working on gift tags.  Smiles..

Monday Morning!

Hi all, it's Monday morning and I'm more than a little jaded!  As of yesterday afternoon we've done 8 performances (including 3 dress rehearsals) in a row!!  Yesterday was a matinee and I have to say the audience was a bit flat which is a bit of a shame because our performance was really good.  Apparently it tends to happen in matinees for some reason.  I don't think it helped that it started at 4.30, meaning it finished at 7pm.  To my mind matinees start around 2pm.

We have a night off tonight and I'm so happy about that.  Quite a few female members of cast have colds or are losing their voices so hopefully a day off will help with that.  I, for one, have absolutely NO motivation to do anything today but I need to force myself out to the farm shed to do some pricking out.  The weather was so iffy last week that the growth of my seedlings and seed germination has slowed right down.  I need to move into ''winter'' mode re my seeds.  I'm still expecting them to germinate and be ready to prick out in a week dear things.  It's more like 2 weeks now.  Needless to say I won't have a lot to take to Bay L or Mapua CS this week.  

I can't believe it's Easter at the end of this week.. where on earth has the first 1/3 of 2017 gone!  Oh that's right - FIDDLER!!  Giggle.  Well I'd better get to the farm shed or my rear end won't want to leave this chair!  Smiles..

I'm Still Here, Giggle!

Hi, it's Saturday early pm and we're about to eat our main meal for the day.  Last night we performed in front of a full house in the Theatre Royal in Nelson which is almost unheard of for a local production.  How special is that??!!!

Tonight we're up in Motueka which will be a very different scenario in terms of dressing room space. At T. Royal we had four dressing rooms but at Mot we only have two so with a cast of about 38 that will be rather cramped!  In a way it's a good thing because there will be others to help control the sound level of the younger ones in the cast.  

This morning I managed to do a little bit of weeding in the kitchen garden and I also recorded and sent off my radio show.  Sleep deprivation is kicking in now (I haven't been in bed until midnight for around 6 nights!) so I unplugged my laptop and screen automatically  (I have to use them to record my show instead of my main computer) BEFORE I'd saved it.  I had a moment of ''oh no I'm going to have to record it again but when I plugged them back in, there it was.. Oh be still my heart!!

We've just finished a yummy lunch complete with a dessert of fresh banana and homemade caramel icecream!  Something I NEVER do in the middle of the day!  Yikes!!  

I definitely am looking forward to eating normal meals again.  I just can't adjust to eating a main meal at lunchtime and neither can my body!  I still get ravenous at around 7.30pm just as the show starts even though we've had a snack at about 5pm!  Grrrrrr

Well I need to work on my Mother's Day themed gift tags so I'll leave this here.  Smiles..

Hi, it's Thursday morning and it's been such a busy week!  Head hitting pillow midnight every night!  We had our final dress rehearsal on Monday night and then the preview performance with a small audience.  It felt strangely wonderful to see people sitting in the theatre.  Last night was opening night and it was AMAZING!  To hear REAL applause was such a thrill and we had to do an encore bow because they kept clapping after the curtain went down.  I have to say I love being on stage and I'm definitely going to do more of it.  The months of rehearsals were very hard work but it's all worth it in the end.  

We have four more shows to do in a row including one matinee on Sunday but only two more left in the Theatre Royal in Nelson, the rest are in Motueka.  

Apart from Fiddler I've beein doing a bit of work on some gift tags to send to Pete with a Mother's Day theme.  I adore hand painting tiny embellishments to go on my tags!

Well I'd better get going, I have to go and deliver plants to Bay Landscapes this morning then I'm going into Nelson for ballet practise which will zone me out for 1.5 hours, drive home and then gulp some good and head back into Nelson around 5.15pm because call is 6pm at the theatre.  Smiles..