Rose Time!

Oh how I love roses! This year's first rose is this sweet yellow climber - part of my English Rose collection, but its name is long lost. Could it be Teasing Georgia? I bought several roses at the same time about five years ago, and planted them in my old garden. I bought them here with me, and I am very glad I did, given the state of my former garden now. This lovely rose is just outside the dining room window, in the same garden bed as last year's winner, Kathryn Morley.

The good news is that I'm sure there's lots more room around here for more roses in my collection. This garden seems to be very encouraging and kind to my roses. The aphids are rather too welcoming, but I intend to have some strong words with them asap!

A little friend bought me a bunch of flowers from her grandmother's garden. Strangely, I gave another friend a bunch of flowers today, then received my own gift. I love giving bunches of my own flowers. In fact I'd love a cutting garden just for that purpose.

Look, the bearded iris' are coming out. My first yellow one is out, but I couldn't get through the thicket of rose bushes to take a photo. There are some spots in my garden (not many) that require a certain element of "suck it up and take the pain" when I want to weed. Some of my rose bushes are a unhappy about intruders in their territory.

I've had a couple of people say these are their favourite flowers in my garden at the moment. Ranunculas. Does anyone know if they have a pretty common name?

The Dutch iris' are spectacular. My favourite ones are the blues. I have clumps of mixed ones, and they go through a succession of colours- white, yellow then blue.

Blue is my favourite colour in the garden. These corydalis make me very happy. My lovely friend, Lulu, gave me another clump on Friday.

Not the best of photos, but the artichokes are tall and fabulous, surrounded by a rampant forest of flat-leafed parsley.

Today I had my ride. I'm a bit sad that I am now more frightened when riding my big boy. He didn't do anything alarming today, but Celine had to push me to challenge myself. I did work on cantering today, and did get some lovely transitions, but I had trouble getting him working for me today, and when he isn't paying attention, I worry about what he might do. I did have a lovely time, but I hate being frightened because it makes me feel weak, and reminds me of the anxiety disorder I have under control. On the very happy side, I spent some time grooming Jake. Poor Jake has a huge, ugly scar under his mane, and currently has a healing wound on his back leg, which is making progress, but is still covered in a large, protruding scab. He obviously has a less than happy past, but is a smoochy, cuddly big boy. He is an unpredictable ride, and will be going along nicely, then suddenly shoot backwards until he hits something. Alarming even for Celine. He is going to see the horsey chiropractor as the farrier thinks his hips are not aligned. Anyway, he and I had some lovely time together, and he enjoyed a good brush and stroke. He even let me do his hooves. I might make time to give him some extra attention when I visit.

The roses will be very happy with my huge bags of horse poo that I brought home today. There's plenty more where that came from.

The Three Sisters

Today I planted a "Three Sisters" garden. Sorry no photo, as the light is going and I've just come inside. I went to the doctor this week and I have a diagnosis of a lumbar sprain. Ouch! The best medicine for my injury is to keep moving, so I've been doing the right thing trying to carry on. I've managed OK with bursts of increasing activity, interspersed by sedentary activities. Today I biked with Johnny for about five kms. I was ready to stop on the approach to home, but did better than I thought.

Anyway, back to "The Three Sisters" garden. In Native American traditional gardens, some tribes relied heavily on maize, beans and squash as the basis of their diets. These three vegetable friends (or sisters) can be planted together in a very clever way. Traditionally a mound was made and planted with a group of maize or corn. When this was about 15cm high, corn and squash were planted around the corn. The beans scrambled up the corn, feeding the soil with nitrogen, and the squash plants crept along the ground, limiting weed growth, and helping to shade the soil, keeping moisture in. Of course the Native Americans had some sweet legends about "The Three Sisters" explaining that although different, the sisters loved each other dearly, and worked together to the benefit of all.

To make my "Three Sisters" garden I used one of my small raised beds, popped two baby bear pumpkins in, planted the corn I grew earlier from seed, and surrounded these with assorted climbing bean seeds (some a bit out of date, so I'm crossing my fingers for action). Plenty of moisture, and some upcoming liquid feeds, and my "Three Sisters" garden is hopefully going to be a successful experiment. Actually, I've got a fourth sister, a rogue potato has come up in the raised bed as well, and I'm sure that shouldn't present too many problems.

I've got a riding lesson tomorrow, plus LOTS more gardening, and some more work on my bigger fabric collage. I'd better take some photos too!

Lots of colour!

I stuck to life on the ground today- no adventures. Fortunately my body is repairing itself rapidly, although there are still some groans when I go from sitting to standing, and I've discovered that there are unhappy muscles in my upper back and neck as well as my backside. Johnny has stopped sniggering, so that is good. I'm determined to mount up again tomorrow, so am really hoping the weather will co-operate.

We planned to visit Mrs CT today, so I had to get her bag finished. Not a very good photo, but here it is posing as a knitting bag, with my favourite magazine peeping out of the top. I'm imagining it will make a great companion for expeditions into the garden, filled with activities and tasty treats. Not that Mrs CT is heading down the stairs into her pretty garden at the moment, with a recently replaced knee. We got a couple of her favourite Curly Wurly bars to put inside, and judging by the enthusiastic munching, I'm thinking they have some magical joint repair qualities. They seem to be caramel covered in milk chocolate, although I was reluctant to get too close in case Mrs CT accidentally ate me as well. Damn hard being stuck at home recovering from a major surgical procedure with no access to chocolate. Anyway, the bag is made from two patched then machine quilted panels, lined with a matching cotton print, and has a rather large pocket inside.

I had a prowl around the garden today, and as usual, was thrilled with all of the gorgeous colours. The first soldier poppies are out.

And the first miniature irises.

I love these divine bluey purple ones.

The tulips are looking their best at the moment.

There is a sea of pansies under all of the plants. They come in masses of different colours and sizes.

Bluebells are just appearing too. These are the Spanish bluebells that were present in big clumps in my old garden. I bought some with me to add to my new garden.

Our beautiful flowering cherry is out too. It is later than the ones along the road, and is eagerly anticipated each year. The buds are like pretty pink rosebuds, and they open to pink tinged white tutus, hanging in huge clusters. It gives me the best of both worlds- white and pink!

There are still plenty of daffodils around the garden. Little narcissi- these are so sweet.

Also some big ones. This one is one of Mum's seedlings. I love the rings of colour in the cup, which are more beautiful in real life.

What are you up to, Miss Dog? Hmm- caught eating dirt. Yuck.

Ahh, a lovely sunny spot.

It is now 5.38pm and I'm not sure what we are having for tea. Maybe FYO- Find Your Own. Mr Ginger Jasper is peeping around the door hoping for some movement towards the kitchen. He knows what he is having for tea! Wish me luck for getting back in the saddle tomorrow. XXX

Absolutely filthy

The wind raged overnight. Poor Mr Jasper was frightened because the cat flap kept banging, so he didn't want to go out. I woke to the sounds of furious grumbling and frantic spraying as Johnny cleaned up a huge wee on some of his clothing in the bathroom. Jasper will be thankful the wind has settled, although it is still quite breezy. I am supposed to be riding at McLean's Island tomorrow - hacking out around the cross country course. If it is horribly windy I won't be keen, and I'm sure Sam with be in a skittish mood.

This afternoon I got outside for some gardening in what remains of dirt mountain. It has been Miss Dog's domain, rampant with weeds, too stubborn to pull. We've had plenty of rain so I got stuck in today. My hands are so dirty I don't think they'll ever be clean again. I needed to clear some space for some sweet wee plum coloured poppies, some sky blue corydalis, a rose bush, some tiny wee woodland anemones and some delightful sky blue miniature iris, most of which were given to me by friends. I also found room for a rosemary bush that I grew from a cutting, and Mr Ginger Jasper's catnip plant (he now has two). I had thrown a few things in among the weeds previously, but it all got away on me, so I did some shifting around. Once everything looks settled I'll take a photo. I've only cleared about 1/3 of the dog domain. I was thinking of having a tiny wee path half way along which takes you to a bench under the cherry tree, tucked in among the fragrant plants. I was considering a hammock, but a bench would look pretty all year round. Useful too, as I love to sit out in my garden and just contemplate all of my territory. I just told Johnny and he likes the idea. Excellent.

Johnny has been working on a project for his university studies. I declare myself an exam and assignment free zone. I no longer wish to participate in academic study, preferring to dedicate myself to learning new creative and interesting skills. Let's be honest, Johnny's studies into linguistics and relationships are going to have very little bearing on his ability to teach English as a Second Language (which is what the scholarship he has is funding). I can't even figure out what the point of his latest assignment is in the context of the human race. He has just been out for a bike ride on his lovely new bike to get some fresh air. I can't remember if I told you that he has a new bike as his old one was declared to be dangerous by a bike mechanic. Anyway, it is a flash black shiny specimen which he seems to riding with great enthusiasm. He will be a svelte shadow of his former self before we know it.

Oh and a huge Happy Birthday to our dearest wee man Henry!!!!! It is quite perfect having a nephew and a niece. Just one of each at this stage. Lucy is our darling wee poppet of a niece who looks more and more beautiful every time I see a photo of her. She is a sharp wee cookie who knows her own mind. Henry is so cute, and is super funny and sociable. When we first saw him his head was the size of an orange as he was 7 weeks early. Scary times, but he hasn't looked back. I loved holding him when he was just a tiny wee thing. So precious. Lucy had a considerably less dramatic start to life (although her mummy, Mandy, might disagree). Henry came out of the sunroof, but Lucy headed out the regular way after considerable effort. Birth is an amazing thing. I won't be having children so I can just imagine any babies of mine would have slipped merrily out after a bit of grunting and effortless pushing, and there would be smiles all round. Anyway, into the Terrible Twos goes Henry, and I bet there will be lots of boundary testing, mischief, tantrums and enthusiastic explorations over the next year. Hopefully he'll be coming to visit at Labour Weekend. Exciting!!!!

Growth

Exciting things are happening in the Vegetable Empire. Tiny seedlings are emerging.

Bok Choi (can't remember how to spell it), caged.

Spinach, also caged. No, not too keep birds away. To keep Jasper from using the garden as his personal bathroom, which then encourages Miss Dog to climb onto the raised beds, hunting for disgusting things to snack on. Foul dog. No wonder her breath would make these wee plants shrivel.

Look- teeny, tiny radish seedlings. Sometimes my radishes go straight to seed. That's what happens when you don't water regularly.

On Sunday I could just see the first signs of these rainbow chard appearing, and look at them today. Three days growth. I'm planning to plant a forest of these under the red maple. I'm imaging a sea of glossy, crinkled leaves with colourful stems. Hopefully the weeds won't be able to compete.

I've been wanting to grow these for a long, long time. They are blue morning glories. I'm impressed with their enthusiasm!

Now, can you tell me what this is?

I think it looks remarkably like some anatomical specimen. This is a rhubarb plant, just starting to come back to life after winter. I'm trying to decide where to plant it as it had to be dug out to make room for the greenhouse. It looks happy enough, waiting for a new home.

This weekend is going to be rather exciting. I'm riding after school on Friday, then on Saturday the Crafty Neighbour and I are off to a craft show thing, which will have lots of quilting retailer's stalls. On Sunday I am grooming for Emily Cammock (nee. Butcher) at the big one day event at the National Equestrian Centre. I'm not sure which of my horsey friends she will be riding, but I'll enjoy looking after any of them. I'm pleased because Johnny is coming along to do some filming and photography for Emily. I really miss him when we have too much time apart. He went to camp on Monday night, and that was enough time missing him for one week.

School is going really well this week. I've won a few battles, had lots of laughs, and enjoyed the little family we have in our classroom. For some reason this week seems to be dragging on a bit, but I guess that is because I am looking forward to the weekend so much.

Glorious colour

Oh dear, I'm having some frustrating photo uploading problems. I pressed on, adding one photo at a time, with several refusals along the way. It did the same thing yesterday.

The weather was windy, cloudy and chilly today. I felt the benefits of the greenhouse because I really enjoyed being outside, but under cover. I despise the wind, but today I could watch the wind merrily flapping my fleet of colourful jerseys around on the washing line, happily tucked away in the warmth. I planted four tomatoes, a beefsteak, moneymaker, sweet 100 and taupo. Two are grafted and are planted in their very own large mineral block tubs from the horse farm. The others, along with a telegraph cucumber, are planted directly into well fertilized soil. I prepared a tray of lavender seeds, and one of corn, buoyed on by the morning glory and rainbow chard seeds that are already popping up after only a week in the seed raising mix. Then I planted six assorted courgette seeds (well, I hope they are assorted), in their own individual pots. I had a wee tidy up outside, and made sure all of the new things growing were well watered. I love spending a bit of time in the garden at the weekend. I become very engrossed in what I'm doing, and I think it is a very healthy way to spend some time.

I had a bit of a fiddle with the camera today. Johnny helped me put it on a different setting to improve my flower photos. I don't think we are there yet. Yellow seems to be tricky to capture as it lacks definition. This is a lovely flower. Some of the miniatures are sweet and perfect, but so far the big ones are a bit rough.

Mr. Lawn is preening his territory. He put some lawn mix down to smooth out a hollow. I said it is poo (probably pig - super stinky) to scare away the visitors to the open home next door. We like our current neighbour as she is fabulously quiet and unobtrusive. I can't bear the idea of a horrid noisy family moving in.

Told you my big daffys are a bit rough. The colour is lovely and bright though.

A few doubles are appearing. They always get the most comments from visitors to the garden as most people aren't very familiar with them. I love them.

I love these wee fellows too. Happy pansy faces.

A sea of anemones.

The snow damaged the petals on these, but they battled on through. I must remember to split up the clumps of polyanthus later in the year as they are getting quite large and crowded.

I've got a sea of grape hyacinths too.

Pretty poppets.

Look what we've got here. The first globe artichoke. Last year I didn't eat a single one because it seemed like murder cutting them. This year I will be ruthless and have a go. I've only ever eaten the preserved ones. If I don't like them I will have lovely blue tufty flowers, and if I do - look out artichokes! They grow into a lovely big leafy plants and surprisingly, coped very well with heavy snow and frosts.

Since it wasn't exactly a day for spending every minute outside, I got on with the Scarborough Fair charm pack quilt. It is going to be a wall hanging for our bedroom. I put the saucer on it so that you could see the scale.

The Crafty Neighbour and Miss B. came over and they worked on some quilling while I sewed. Miss B. wanted to know if I did quilling and I told her I had so many crafty interests that I dare not try anything new. Thank goodness I haven't been drawn into scrapbooking (I find fabric more interesting than paper), because that is an expensive hobby. I've had to limit myself to cursory glances at scrapbooking bits and pieces, because there are some very pretty things to work with.

Guess what? There's a rugby game on shortly, so I'll be retiring to my craft room to start quilting the wee quilt mentioned above. I pinned it and am ready to go.

Ps. Does anyone know what has happened to my little silver camera? It has vanished. The big cameras are great, but not exactly portable or discreet when attending events or upon a grey horse.

Pretty Piles

Dear Mr. Jasper. He looks his age today. We've had lots of cuddles and I popped a piece of fabric I usually sling over my sewing machine onto his blanket in my workroom. He is pleased.

Today I haven't felt my best. I didn't get to ride because Celine wasn't feeling her best either. She is working like mad to get her riding school ready for opening day on the 10th. Wow, that's next weekend! I wonder if I'll get a lesson next week?

Today I planted morning glory and rainbow chard seeds before I ran out of seed raising mix. I also put in some Japanese radish seeds, straight into the garden. Johnny and I took a heap of garden rubbish to the greenwaste department at the dump. It will be made into compost. I can't keep up with all of the garden waste we produce as I have a very slow composting system. There is usually a fair bit of irritated cursing getting the garden rubbish into the back of John's vehicle. There was a rather undignified shriek of pain when a rose branch hooked me in the backside. Johnny put some vege mix into my greenhouse beds, plus filled my big tomato planters with tomato mix. Only the best for my veges! The greenhouse gets all steamed up and beautifully warm. It will probably be roasting in summer.

The Crafty Neighbour and I did some plant swapping, plus some crafting this afternoon. Actually I tidied up my workroom while she knitted and chatted. I didn't get around to tidying my desk.

When I visited Cottonfields last week I had a rummage in their bargain bin and found some real treasures. They get samples in and bundle them up. The pieces are smaller than fat quarters but together work out to be about 1/2 a metre, for only about $3. I popped this gorgeous strip of velvet ric-rac over these.

These are Cabbages and Roses designs. I found the lace in a scrap bag at school.

These look prettier in real life than on my screen. The colours are richer.

I've got some other pretty piles around. These are in my big craft cupboard. Vintage and modern boxes with interesting vintage beads, buttons and haberdashery. The vintage checked bag has old lace and bits and pieces in it.

I found these rolls of ribbon at an incredibly cheap price. Not sure which is my favourite.

I had a wee sort out on top of the piano, and put a pile of books that I look at regularly up there. I guess they will get airborne if we have a decent quake, but shouldn't make it as far as Jasper's nest. Sigh. We had another good shake not long ago. It was a 4.4 on the Richter scale, and located not far from here. Creepy as it went on for quite a while.

I hope you all have a lovely week. XXX

Efficiency

Don't you love it when you have a fun day and achieve lots? I certainly do. This weekend has been fabulous. I've managed to do some tidying up, gardening, quilting, baking, 'cello practise, socialising, horse riding, reading and blogging. What could be better?

We love little birdies visiting our garden (except when they poo on the washing). I felt awful about Jasper's indiscretion recently with the bird he caught/found. We decided that we would do our bit to help the local birds after the snowy weather, so we got a big, fat, seedy bird feeder from the supermarket. We're onto the second one in a week. Waxeyes are the main visitors to the nectarine tree feeding station. We see sparrows, various finches and starlings (or possibly blackbirds-they're speedy and shy). Mrs CT assures me that she makes her own bird feeders that cost less than the very economical $2.95 we pay, so that may be a project coming up. I've designed a bird feeding platform for Johnny to make too.

I was reading on the couch, spying on the birds and having a cup of tea when I took this photo of the gorgeous gerbera on the coffee table. So pretty. I decided that we needed a touch more colour (you can never have too much), and until the garden is filled with flowers again, potted plants would be perfect. I'm wondering how long I can keep this alive for, as my record has been less than exemplary with indoor plants, but so far, so good. I've got some polyanthus on the dining table too.

I'm very pleased that our entrance hall is so spacious because it is perfect for laying out and pinning my quilts. I tape the backing fabric flat onto the floor with masking tape, then lay the batting and top on. Then I pin with quilters safety pins every few inches. It takes a while, but I do like to see the lovely smooth pinned quilt all ready for machine quilting. I'm going to challenge myself with a loopy stitch all over the surface of this quilt, which I decided is called "Forty Wishes" because I'm giving it to myself for my birthday.

Yay- I used my greenhouse for the first time today! Well actually I just popped my gardening tool bucket in there when I finished a huge weeding effort along the back fence. The big yellow buckets are mineral horse feed buckets. They are going to house the best tomatoes in the land.

This was the view from inside my new greenhouse before my gardening onslaught. We are going to redesign the vegetable beds around the greenhouse. It is a shambles around there at the moment.

I'm off to ice the banana cake I made for lunches, then I need to practise my 'cello some more for my lesson tomorrow. I hope I'll get a chance to write again during the week. XXX

One week in

I've had one week back at school, and apart from one or two dramas, it was lots of fun. I was annoyed at being too tired to do anything but blob from Wednesday to Friday nights. Monday and Tuesday I managed a little more activity. I finished stitching the binding on this quilt, which is called The Primroses Quilt. I purchased the fabrics from Primroses before it closed. It was a really pretty wee shop with fabrics, a few vintage goodies and haberdashery. Really shabby chic.

I fell in love with the pretty rose fabrics and can't resist spots. It is machine quilted - stitch in the ditch for the main panel, and free quilted in a cross pattern on the border.

I sewed a variety of pretty cream and mother-of-pearl vintage buttons at each intersection.

I really love it and if I had a baby girl she would be getting one of these for her cot. I've got it on the back of a chair to snuggle under on cold nights.

Last weekend Johnny put up flower pot holders on the fence and I potted up pansies and Sweet Williams. We bought three fence pot holders to try out from the Mapua Trading Company, and hopefully I can order some more as I'd like them all the way along the back fence. I helped Johnny to install some wires today. He has been steadily working his way along the back fence putting up wires so that I can grow climbing plants like roses and sweet peas. I would love some of those glorious large-flowered clematis to scramble up the rose bushes. One day.

On my screen the fence looks super blue. It is a more subtle blue-grey in reality.

Today I went for a riding lesson. Sam is still quite stiff and got upset when I started to try cantering, so Celine got on, and he was just as upset for her. She thinks he is stiff in his stifle area and may need some investigations. He is fine for walking and trotting, and I got him into a beautiful outline for much of my lesson. He is the kind of horse that will only go into the correct shape (neck curved elegantly and working from the hind legs) if you ride him correctly. Today I managed to co-ordinate legs and hands and so he relaxed and worked really well. I only had two reminders to keep my wrists in the correct position. I tend to roll my hands in so my palms face down, which alters the position of the bit. Exciting news though- in two weeks Sam and I are attending our first competition. It is a combined jumping/dressage competition, so Celine might jump him (or just canter around the arena area if he is sore) and I will do the dressage. We can't officially get prizes as I'm not doing both parts. Next weekend I'm supposed to have two rides as training, including one at McLean's Island at the National Equestrian Centre, but as it is my birthday, and Johnny won't tell me what he has planned, I'm not entirely sure about that. I won't be getting a horse for my birthday, but Sam is going to pretend he is mine for the day!