Gardening

I had a lovely day today working in the garden and doing jobs around the house. I thought I'd show you a few things I've been given or acquired recently. These treasures came from Alison at So Tread Softly, given to me by Mrs. CT. Al is so clever making gorgeous things from fabric. I love bird imagery, and this wee purse is too sweet to use! The three flower roses make a brooch that I'm sure will get many outings.

Look at this very cool footstool that we found at a wee vintage shop in Nelson. Meg and I decided to Cath Kidston up our houses this year. Although not original Cath Kidston, the cowboy fabric has a fun vintage feel.

My brother, Former Fisherman Jim, gave me this fantastic bag for my 40th birthday present. His friend Bronwyn made it. It is so beautifully made, and was perfect on my outing to Viv's place yesterday as it holds just the right amount. For me that includes wallet, keys, little bag of toiletries/headache pills, hanky, tin of Rawleigh's Medicated Ointment (for lipbalm etc), hanky and a cardy. Funny how men just seem to jam their utilitarian wallet into their pocket and off they go.

I got this great cookbook from Johnny.

Jim said he managed to sell his artichokes for a good price. Most of mine have started fluffing up into giant landing pads for bumblebees. I do have plans to eat this one though.

The feijoas are flowering liberally. I might have to make some into chutney or something like that as I think there will be too many to eat.

Today I bought three sturdy pepper plants, an Anaheim, a habanero and a wildfire chilli, and put them in the glasshouse. I've got some outside, but I think the glasshouse will be a great place to produce plenty of chillis for cooking.

Look- corn tassles forming! Hope the earwigs stay away. Last year I was too soft on the wee critters and let them have the corn. This year I'll be a heartless corn farmer.

I love the way the purple bean stems are winding their way up the corn.

Now this corner took a lot of my time today. Miss Dog considered herself a critical part of the operation, and was within arm's reach of me the whole time I was gardening. Johnny resorted to spraying before we went away because this corner is filled with nasty types of weeds. I had plants lurking in half of the area, so we couldn't use spray. I got in and weeded all around my precious plants.

We watched The Princess Bride last night. Well worth a watch as it is a lot of fun.