Art for Heart's Sake

I'm Still Here!

Hi, oh wow I've broken my own record.. 7 days without posting!  Of course it might come as a relief not to have to read my daily doings, giggle!  

Last week was odd.. there is no other way to describe it.  Everything in my world was just slightly off kilter and it caused a lot of grinchiness and grumpiness!  Aaaghhh.. this week WILL be better!

On a bright note I have had several more orders from my website which is really encouraging, including a local customer who picked up her plants on Friday.  I am madly propagating at the moment which is partly why I haven't been posting on here nearly as much!  I am very aware that Spring is fast approaching and with it mayhem!  I am doing a talk at a Heritage Rose Society big meeting in October and I need to do a slideshow for that too.  I have one I did ages ago but it might need tweaking!

I sowed my first tomato seeds last week and straight after that we've had 3 very nasty frosts with temps going down to -2 degrees C in the tunnel house, ermm that will stall germination a little I fear!  

We had one piece of very sad news on Friday, a dear friend and neighbour had a fall a few weeks ago while on his annual trip back to the USA and was in ICU as a quadriplegic.  His wife flew over to be by his side.  We only just heard from another of their neighbours.  We had word yesterday that he died and to be honest that is truly the very best outcome for him.  Don was a ''full of life'' soul with a marvellous sense of humour, a big presence, huge intellect and he was the most amazing chef!  We didn't get together often but when we did there was always lots of laughter and good conversation.  I used to love growing chilli and tomato plants for him too.  

Life is SO SO SO short.. we all need to treasure EVERY single moment of every day no matter what is happening around us.  I always try to do this and DO get irked with myself when I let life make me grinchy.  I am going to try to remedy this!

Well I'd better get some plants ready to send off tomorrow.  Much love to all my lovely readers.  Smiles..

Happy Gardening!

Hi honeys, well I've had a busy few days.  I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen garden, planting more vegetables and revamping the covers on some others.  Here's a pic:

Yesterday morning we went to the Motueka Sunday market (about 20mins drive from here) and I bought the most amazing garden tool!  It's called a hop dragger (beer hops that is) and I can tell it is going to be invaluable in the kitchen garden for mounding up potatoes and the edges of the gardens.  I'll take a photo and post it in the next few days - it's too hard to describe what it looks like!  

I spent some time weeding the main perennial bed in the afternoon so all in all it was a very productive weekend.

The weather on Saturday was incredibly Spring-like with a temperature of 17.6 degrees C here - far too hot for mid-winter.  I honestly could have put my shorts on when I was in the kitchen garden, I got SO hot!  Ugh ugh ugh.. There is almost no snow on the Mt Arthur ranges which is very strange for this time of year so I think my wish of a lovely cold winter isn't going to come to fruition, blast it!  We've only had about 6 frosts here and there so far!  Please do a frost dance!!!

I must get into the farm shed and carry on potting up perennials for Spring.  Smiles..

Squeeeeee, it's Finished.....

...but I haven't taken a photo of it yet!  I had an epiphany the other day and realised just what I needed to do to my latest painting to make it complete!  I was stunned when I'd done it and I'm completely in love with the finished piece now.  Okay enough teasing, I'll take a photo later today.

I've had a busy week again, pricking out seedlings (not many), potting on perennials and working on 20 gift tag backgrounds.  It's the second week of the school holidays so I only have ballet practise tomorrow morning but it's back to normal, sort of, from next week.  Some of the classes won't be on because the dance studio is putting on it's annual show at the end of next week so normal classes, except for the Friday adult one, won't start for a week or two in the new term.

The weather has been a mixed bag, with frosts, sun, cloud, chilly temps and now a bit of misty rain.  It is supposed to be quite stormy tomorrow but I have a feeling we will miss the worst of it yet again.  I guess I ought to be happy about that really!

Oh we made an exciting discovery (not everyone would agree because these creatures really are pests in NZ) in the forks of one of our trees in the paddock.  Chester was making a fuss a t the bottom of a tree so John checked it out and then called me to come and have a look!  There was a possum staring at us!  Talk about a beautiful possie!  We haven't seen him/her since.

Oh this morning I spilt 4 punnets of precious seedlings in the tunnelhouse, aaagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  I have managed to rescue quite a few of the seedlings and luckily I'm good at recognising what's what, even at the two seed-leaf stage!  Bah I was so grumpy with myself!  Well I'd better go and start putting them into punnets.  Smiles..

A Good Week!

Hi honeys, well the rest of last week passed in a flash it seems.  A lot of New Zealand was struck by a fairly vicious winter storm but not us (oh bother it!).  All we got was a cold wind on Thursday, not even a skerrick of rain fell.  Other places got snow galore, gale force winds, flooding and more.  There were numerous road closures all over the place and here we sat in pretty much okay weather!  B O R I N G... giggle.

For the first time in ages I didn't go anywhere for 6 days!  I had no ballet because of school holidays and I didn't need to deliver to Mapua Country Store as I mentioned in my last post (I think) so I delivered my plants to Bay L (not that I needed to as sales not good and plenty of my plants there, bah) on the way to ballet practise on Friday morning.  It felt good to know I didn't have to go anywhere.  I will be delivering plants to Mapua CS on Wednesday this week but apart from that I probably won't be going anywhere except on Friday again.  

I've managed to do quite a bit of weeding in an irksome part of the perennial bed.  I am trying to get the most ''claggy'' areas of garden weeded before rain that is predicted for a few days this coming week hits.  We've had two magnificent frosts so the areas I'm working in a VERY cold on the fingers.  Here is a link that will explain why - this is the minimum grass temp recorded this morning.  We are the -5 at the top of the bottom island pictured.  We may not have had the horrible cold snap but the ground temp is pretty cold overall (as my fingers will attest to!).

https://www.facebook.com/MetService/photos/pcb.1527170814011638/1527145417347511/?type=3&theater

I've been working on a new canvas and it is still a work in progress.  I started with a base colour that I cannot stand - grey - to challenge myself.  As you will see in the second photo I've almost camouflaged it but not quite, giggle!  Must fly and carry on weeding!  Smiles..

Weather-Irked! Smiles..

Hi, yes I truly am feeling VERY weather-irked!  Nelson/Tasman District pulls people to live here because of the beautiful weather.. unfortunately I love nothing  more than dramatic winter weather and changeable weather so the climate here irks me at times!

This is one of those times because most of the country is ''enjoying'' a polar blast and we have sunshine, a few clouds and a light cold breeze.  Bah, I feel cheated!  The wind is forecast to pick up later today but I'll believe that when I see it!  A lot of the mountain passes are closed due to snow further down the south island and the central north island will be affected too.  Not great on the first week of the school holidays but that's winter I guess!

Right, enough moaning - I have one area of the perennial bed that I need to get weeded before the end of the weekend. It's a large area and in some places the soil is quite heavy so I need to do it before it rains, as it is forecast to do quite a bit next week.  I did some weeding there yesterday and I will do more today too.  

I didn't have to deliver any plants to Mapua Country Store this morning because the trolley is still pretty full.  I'm taking one tray to Bay Landscapes on my way to ballet practise (no classes due to holidays) on Friday morning.  

I'm going to do some ballet practise here at home this pm too.  Well I'd better go and sow some seeds so I can get out into the garden.  Smiles..

A Winter Bonfire!

Hi on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.  The last couple of days have been wintry in the morning with grey skies and cool temps but the afternoons have been beautiful while the sun's out.  

Today John lit his second bonfire this winter and boy it went up with a whoosh!  The first one took AGES for him to light because the pile had been there for a long time and there wasn't a lot of airflow through it, plus we had oodles of rain in late autumn which didn't help.  This one on the other hand was super easy to light.  I struggle a bit with burn-offs, they scare me a bit mainly because of all the trees we have around here.  Well, let's face it, I'm actually fire-phobic to say the least!  I helped John drag extra branches from a neighbouring pile and put them on the fire.  I also zipped up to the house and pruned back the second grapevine and those cuttings went onto the fire too.  I had intended taking a photograph but it went up so fast I didn't get the chance.

I had the last three ballet classes for this term this week so I now have a bit of a rest for two weeks.  I will still go in on Friday mornings to practise though and will be doing some at home.  I tweaked the troublesome major muscle in my left leg dragging branches which is such a nuisance.  It is the muscle that was cut when I had my hip replacement - the one that comes right from the back of the buttock across on a diagonal to the thigh (Ruth you'll know what it's called - I can't remember) so it is weaker than it ought to be anyway.  Such a nuisance and it does hold my left leg back from being able to extend outwards when I'm doing pirouettes etc.  Poop is all I can say!

Well I'd better bet back out into the glorious sunshine and make the most of it!  Smiles..

Speeding By!

Hi honeys, yet again this week is speeding by!  I've been busy pricking out seedlings and dividing and potting up some hardy geraniums for my nursery stocks!  I've finally managed to have large enough stock plants of some special ones so I can divide them!  Very exciting.

The weather has been fairly crisp and chilly over the past couple of days.  We had a good frost this morning and there is a bit of cloud cover here and there which means the chill isn't lifting very far.  I have ballet practise and class this pm and the studio will be like an ice-box - thank heavens for a large hot air blowing heater attached to the centre of the roof!  

Somehow I've managed to lose a very precious Swallow stencil that I had custom made for me.  It had several different sizes of swallows and was just perfect for my gift tags too.  I used it on my latest canvas and I remember taking it inside to wash it about 3 weeks ago.  I suddenly realised last week that I hadn't seen it for a while and do you think I can find it!  NO.. I've looked high and low in my studio and inside the house but to no avail.  I'm really upset with myself because the person who custom made it for me isn't doing them anymore so that's the end of that stencil!  Bottoms is all I can say, ahem!!!

Well I'd better fly and get some work done before I have to leave for ballet.  Smiles..

Wet and Wild Weekend!

Hi honeys, well what a weekend we had weather-wise.  It started raining on Friday night and apart from a few non-rainy patches it rained most of the weekend - 128mm (just over 5 inches) worth here!  Needless to say our ground is BOGGY and I won't be able to do any gardening for a week or more (oh bother!!).

I spent the weekend tidying up the spare room which took most of Saturday and then I sorted out some clothes that were in the drawers of the spare room wardrobe and also the three drawers of mine in the bedroom.  After that I went through my shoes and vacuumed the bottom of my side of the wardrobe.  Phew!  It was good to do it but oh boy I struggle to be inside for a whole weekend!

I'm feeling a bit sad this morning - my favourite swallow stencil has vanished into thin air!  I used it on my latest canvas and I remember taking it inside to wash it over 2 weeks ago but after that I have NO idea where it has gone!  I've looked high and low and even went through our paper recycling bin this morning but to no avail.  I have a horrible feeling it might have ended up in the recycling last time!  I've shed a few tears which may sound a bit daft but this stencil had swallows of all different sizes on it so it was perfect for my gift tags too.  To make matters worse the woman who was making these stencils and did this one especially for me has now stopped doing them so I can't get another one!   I'm still hoping it might just turn up but I can't see it somehow.

I'm about to package up 12 perennials to go to the North Island tomorrow.  I haven't had any more orders from my website since that first week but it is early days!  I'm going to market myself big time in a month or so - it's taking time to get my head around how I want to do it.  It will happen!!  

Well I'd better get out to the potting shed - I have lots of pricking out to do today as well.  Smiles..