This made my day though! A present from an extremely crafty cleaver friend.
Friend, what you don't know is that the skirt which you used for the spotty stockings use to belong to my Grandmother who was spot mad. I wanted to wear the skirt but it didn't suit me and I wanted to make something but wasn't inspired, so I let it go. This softy is especially special because with your busy life you made it for me and it has those spotty stockings which remind me of my very special Grandma. Thanks, it's just wonderful.X
In relation to my problem at work I can see that sometimes letting go can be the most rewarding thing to do.
A few weeks ago my " skatey boy" went to the West coast with his Dad, the weekend just gone he got down the East Coast to Kaikoura. None of the other kids have that adventurous spirit like their Dad so R gets to see alot of the country side. The purpose of their trip was to purchase a caravan for L to live in while he works in Reefton about 3-4 hours drive from here. Houses are too expensive to rent or buy so that seemed like the best option for now. I will stay up here where the children are settled and have a lot of opportunities. R likes to take photos on his journeys and his Dad is happy to make a few stops along the way. The salt lakes above and seals near the main highway.
I've been at home making a little progress on my cleaning and sewing. I saw the little dancing tutu over on Melissa's blog and decided that it would make a good rainy day activity. I think mine would have looked better with more tulle but it's pretty expensive in our local sewing shop. This one will probably be for my niece visiting over summer.
It did serve to inspire me though, so I ferreted through my fairy fabrics and settled on some shiny stuff for a skirt for PJ. Engrossed in sewing, I didn't notice she was due home from school so didn't get it put away before she spied it, so it won't be for Christmas. She can wear it for her school prize giving tomorrow night which I will miss as I will be fare welling the teen off to Adelaide. I may make her a bag for Christmas with the leftovers.
Red currant jelly
Succulent fresh peas are on the menu every second night. I just wish I'd planted them every two weeks for a continuous supply! They're one thing that grows very easily in my soil, not needing any special attention, just water. It's great to grow things that don't need too much attention. Carrots on the other hand do not grow well for me at all. If by some strike of luck they germinate they usually get taken over by weeds or bugs, carrot fly ,grass grubs, aphids you name it and it will find my carrots.I need to arrange a friendly swap with someone who can grow them because for five seasons they've been pathetic.
She might also eat the juvenile lady bug on the fennel flowers though, which would be a shame because they love to eat aphids. I feel so much better about letting mother nature sort out the pest control. If only she'd give us a bit of rain as well.
I'm letting alot of plants go to seed, the predatory insects are especially attracted to the umbelliferae family including parsnip,dill, fennel etc. They get really tall making the garden much more interesting and colourful too.
This blog is being a little neglected as summer settles in and Christmas quickly approaches. Middle of summer is a stupid time to have Christmas, there's far too much to do in the garden to be inside sewing or even worse shopping in town. Motueka is a tourist town and a summer work destination so traffic is terrible at this time of year, a quick trip to town for groceries can take hours during the summer months. I have had a great week though, just not alot of spare time. There were heaps of garage sales on in the weekend and I'm rather pleased with the bright tea towels I got for 50c each. I was going to cut them up for bags but I'm getting quite attached to them the way they are.
I was also a winner on Sally Anne's blog! I haven't won anything for a long time so it really made my day when I read I had won. It was meant to be because my daughter gets called "sweet pea" on the rare occasions that's she's not driving me nuts! I watched her sing solo at a performance for the old folks club on Friday. I was so nervous for her, but she was amazing. Huge credit needs to go to her wonderful teacher who nurtured the shy girl who didn't even want to go to school to a point where she'll sing on her own in front of an audience. What a treasure she is.
I Love how the garden looks in summer, it comes together to remind me of a patchwork quilt. These views are from the top of the kid's slide. I am disappointed that a new plum tree I bought seems to have silverleaf. From what I've read nothing can get rid of it and it spreads very easily. I'll be devastated if I have to start cutting trees out.
The Fair at Neudorf vineyard yesterday.The setting was beautiful for wine drinking, listening to jazz and shopping for Christmas. I hear it was very expensive to get in but at least the money is going toward child cancer.
I LOVE Owen Bartlett pottery!!!! I can't afford it though. Kids to go to camp, birthdays, Christmas etc. One day though I shall have the spotty jug my heart desires. (Green below)
These country ladies took my fancy too. Not to buy, I'm one of these fair shoppers that goes around and says to myself "that's a good idea, I could make one of those" and never get around to it.
My bags looked better displayed at home, I can't quite get my stall to come together at the moment.
" Skatey boy" loved the coast with his Dad, hut building and train spotting, it couldn't get better than that for him really.
The last few weeks have been full on, I spring cleaned the house and had a garage sale on Saturday it didn't really go to plan though as the "red head" spent most of Friday night screaming, revealing at about 3 in the morning that his ear hurt. Suffering from sleep deprivation I decided to go ahead with the garage sale anyway as I couldn't stand the boxes of stuff around for another week. It went OK but I didn't set things out as nicely as I could have and packed up in a hurry to get the "red head" to the duty Dr. Ouch there goes half the profit. I'm glad the week's over, the "teen" goes to school camp tomorrow so I get three days break from being "so mean". His friends have been making some really stupid decisions lately and getting into trouble it's only been sheer luck that T has been away on the weekend's that they've got into mischief, so I have said they can come here and hang out instead of him going with them. Mean Eh!? I've always trusted him but that pack mentality is pretty strong, I'd rather know what he/they are up to at present. I hope I'm doing the right thing, L and I aren't quite in agreement about how to deal with it all but are just trying to keep him safe and out of trouble. I hope they're too worn out from kayaking and tramping to do anything silly at camp.
