Art for Heart's Sake

A Truly Wonderful Week!

Hi honeys, I have had such a special, special week!  I attended the same ballet workshop (at a different ballet studio) that I did last year and it was just so wonderful.  I treated myself to 3 hours ballet each day, including ballet pilates (oh I found muscles I didn't know I had!!) and also an extra hour's private lesson with Sarah.  I was at the studio all day yesterday - an early ballet class at 9am then I spent the day rehearsing a couple of ballet items for the afternoon showcase and watched the other girls rehearsing their 3 contemporary items too.  It was such a special day!

Needless to say I was a bit concerned I'd make a complete twit of myself during the ballet items in the showcase.  They were much more advanced than I'm used to but I did my best and I definitely had improved a LOT from learning them on Tuesday-Thursday!  Phew!  It was just the parents of the other girls but there were at least 30 people sitting there!

All of this has meant I haven't achieved a lot work-wise this past week but that's okay.  I'll make up for it in the coming days.  It was Anzac Day here in NZ on Wednesday (public holiday) so I didn't send any plants this week.  Needless to say I'm packing up about 11 boxes of plants this Monday - eeeeeeek!

I have another very busy week this week with a very busy weekend next weekend.  I'm hoping life will slow down a little soon - I really haven't been able to feel ''grounded'' at all so far this year!  

Well we're having friends here for dinner so I'd better go and continue my housework.  Smiles..

 

 

A Beautiful Autumn Day!

Hi honeys, on a BEAUTIFUL Autumn Sunday afternoon.  The weather today is spectacularly gorgeous.. a cool start, crystal clear blue skies, sunshine and a breeze to keep things ''honest''.  It is still pretty hot in the sun itself though which is making it hard for me to enjoy gardening in it.

It was my birthday on Thursday and I had an interesting day.  I'm not going to say it was a wonderful birthday but it ended with a scrumptious dinner so all was not lost!  Here's a photo of John and I before we enjoyed our dessert.  The photo is a bit grainy because of the lighting in the restaurant, but you'll get the idea!

I've had a busy few days again, potting up perennials, putting aside plants for lots of orders to be sent in the next few weeks and lots more!  It felt very weird not having ballet class on Wednesday night or Friday morning (school holidays here and our classses follow school terms) but at least I still got to practise on Thurday pm which was great.

This coming week I am attending a ballet workshop - 5 days!!  The first four days include a 1.5 hour open ballet class and a 45min pointe class, plus on one day I have a one hour private lesson.  We always start with 30 minutes of ballet pilates and I'm nervous about that because I haven't really done any of them since the workshop last year (bad, bad, me!).  Eeeek I hope my body holds up - I'm sure it will but I know I will find muscles I don't know I have, giggle!

Today I'm spending time in the kitchen garden, weeding between crops and I'm going to try and sow another row or two of carrots.  I might be pushing it soil temperature-wise but I'll try it anyway.  Speaking of which I'd better get back to it.  Smiles..

 

Autumn is Well and Truly Here!

Hi, what a mad week and a bit it's been!  Firstly my big news is that I have decided to stop supplying my seedlings to Mapua Country Store.  This has been a REALLY hard decision because I know some locals will miss being able to buy my seedlings from there but it's a very necessary one.  The amount of time I spend pricking out vegetable seedlings, sowing seeds and trying to balance numbers with growth rates due to weather means I am honestly not making money from them.  My last delivery of seedlings will be next week and I'll take away my signs etc on 9 May.

It does make my heart a little heavy but at the same time a huge weight will be lifted from my shoulders and I'll be able to truly concentrate on my perennials which is so important.  Word is spreading about my website and my mail order perennials and I have lots of pre-orders for Spring so they are my top priority.  I'm so excited about the potential growth of my perennial nursery.  

My plant stand will continue to have vegetable seedlings on it year round so I'll still be growing seedlings for that.  If you're local please feel free to spread the word about that.

There is no ballet this week because it is school holidays but we're still going to practise tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) which also happens to be my birthday!  I can't think of anything more lovely than practising ballet on my birthday.

I am so happy with the kitchen garden at the moment. There are weeds everywhere but there are also lots of vegetables growing very happily.  I've found the ''weed an area, compost it and plant it'' as you go method is working a treat.  I normally would weed the entire big ''rotational crop'' bed and then plant it but this way I'm making progress and we are already eating divine silverbeet, broccoli, carrots and more.

I'm about to skype with Mum so I'd better leave this here.  More very soon, I promise!  Smiles, Philippa

 

 

Another Lovely Wedding!

Hi, we arrived back from another four day weekend away, this time to Matakana (north of Auckland) for my other niece's wedding!  It was a bit of a rush the week before to sort everything out so I could go.  We  had a house-sitter look after the plants and the animals this time and it worked a treat!  Monty was far more settled having someone with him and I knew the ducks etc would be taken good care of too.  One of the biggest reliefs was knowing my plants were being looked after.

The wedding was really lovely and the weather was good, just a little bit windy.  Jessica looked STUNNING as I knew she would.  Here's a photo I managed to take. 

I didn't take nearly as many as I did at Kat and Hayden's wedding and I can't for the life of me work out why.  We had one group photo and then were told to go and have drinks so that's what we did.  It wasn't until this morning I realised I hardly have any photos which is niggling me a bit.  The reception was wonderful and the live band was really good.  I danced for 2.5 hours plus non-stop!  

This is only the third time I've been on the East Coast of the North Island and the second I've been north of Auckland.  I try to avoid Auckland like the plague because it is so over-populated and the traffic is HORRENDOUS.  John did a stirling job of driving the rental car and we saw some beautiful beaches after the post-wedding brunch on the Sunday.

We got home around 7pm last night ahead of a nasty storm that was due to sweep over the country overnight.  As usual, here we really haven't had much of anything.  A bit of rain, no gales and definitely (and very sadly) no snow.  The temp is around 9 degrees C which is very cold for this time of year and I'm loving it.  The woodburner is going well.

I'd better get out into the farm shed, rugged up in clothing because I have so much to do.  Smiles..

 

 

 

Beautiful Autumnal Weather

Hi, it's April - my favourite month of the year.  It's my birthday month but that isn't why I love it so much really.  I adore the shift in light that heralds mid-autumn, that golden glow that seems to envelop EVERYTHING in the garden.  Just stunning.

Apart from this morning we've been having lovely cool mornings and heavy dews.  This morning we woke to around 15 degrees C (ugh!) and a warmish breeze which is rather odd.  

We have a very busy weekend starting tomorrow and I'm exhausted already just thinking about it.  I've had a head cold most of the week which luckily, thanks to Echinacea Forte by Blackmores and Vit C is on the mend.  I have sinus and a bit of a cough but at least my nose isn't pouring!  I went to ballet class last night and didn't cough once - it is SO SO cathartic being there, oh how I love it.

Well I'd better carry on, I have some seedlings to deal to!  Smiles, Philippa

 

 

Happy Easter and Oops!

Hi honeys, I hope you had a WONDERFUL Easter break and managed to get some time to do exactly what you wanted to do.  I've been fighting a head cold all weekend but I've still managed to do a fair amount of gardening which is good.  I really wanted to carry on weeding the kitchen garden but it's really hard work so I decided not to tempt fate cold-wise and stayed in the perennial garden.  Hmmm guess what, I ended up doing heavy weeding anyway but at least it wasn't in full sun as well.  Needless to say my nose decided to kick in big-time late yesterday pm but it's a bit better now.

Today I planted some stock, snapdragons and a couple of perennials in area I'd finished weeding (planted after composting).  I decided to tend to the species crocus collection I have that was given to me by a very special botanist.  I will admit I tend to neglect them a little because they are all in medium sized pots and there are around 70 pots or so.  I've decided that when they are in full leaf I'm going to transplant them into bowls, a few varieties together.  This is not ideal because I know the bulbs will probably get mixed up in the long term but I can't see any other way to look after them properly.  They are extremely tenacious creatures considering the weed inundation etc they have put up with.

We went out on Friday night to friends and had a lovely time - lots of laughter.  We both got a bit cold (not great when you're fighting one) because we were sitting outside but we were having so much fun that it didn't matter.

I have to laugh, I've just realised the ''before'' photo of the trees was on it's side!  Ooops sorry, I hope you got the general idea.

Summer time has finished here and the ducks are totally confused - it's only 3.11pm but they think it is 4.11pm so they have started clamouring for their food!  

I'm going to sit and relax and enjoy my mid-pm cup of tea!  Smiles..