Arrivals by post

Finally I've finished the "sweet pea" silk fibre from my friend Jessicah's shop . I spun the wool as thin as I possibly could, then I washed a black lambs fleece from my Dad. I thought it might be perfect to ply with the silk, but it wasn't as luxurious as I wanted it to be with the silk. Then I tried a bit of the grey fleece that Mum was spinning when she visited but that wasn't right either. I've since plied them together though and they work well.

I thought I needed to save up for some smokey grey alpaca fibre which would have worked perfectly, but my impatience got the better of me. I dyed some merino from my Aunt, using this method, with raw fleece instead. The resulting yarn is destined to become a lovely scarf for me.
After I finish a few other projects I have lined up.
The letterbox continued to be quite busy all week, it's lovely to go out and find a surprise waiting there. A cook book and garden book from my sister in law. I burnt my favorite cookbook on an element (did I mention that already??) So M sent me a shiny new copy full of all the best recipes for thrifty cooks. Thanks M.
A little treat for the soil too, seeds and a membership to Koanga.

Surrounded by a family embrace

Well they say something about how you can't choose your family. I'm glad you can't because I couldn't have picked better myself.

I've got two little brothers. Apparently I was a terrible older sister when I was small, if you believe the stories the "Fabulous Aunt's" tell. I can't remember having tantrums like Pj does, or being separated from my young cousins for their own safety! I do remember chasing them with Wetas and telling stories of ghosts in my Grandma's house and of course how we told the youngest brother that the ugly painting in the hallway was "the big Eughh" and could scare the living daylights out of him at the mere mention of the fictional monster. Dad use to warn me though when I was scratching and pulling at the boys hair to be careful that one day they'd grow up bigger than me. He's not wrong, my two little brothers stand now at 6ft2in and 6ft4in. Lucky for me they both grew up to love their big (short) sister.

My littlest brother is visiting from Adelaide with his wife and two adorable little boys. It's brilliant having two extra adults around who care for my kids almost as much as I do. The big boys have adored having their Uncle, who's a big kid at heart, to play sport and swim with, while I appreciate a sister in law or Auntie to my kids who's much cooler than me but tells one of them not to moan "just get off your butt and get a job if you want something"

I watch their two wee boys for glimpses of my little brother and admire how gentile, sweet and full of mischief they are.

The extended family came for a shared meal to celebrate their arrival. It's just magic how three generations of brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, Mums, Dads, cousins, friends and a few second cousins once removed, create a joy full energy when gathered together. Shared food from many gardeners, meat grown ethically by family, fish from the neighbour, blackberries discovered around our garden with a promise of potting up some cuttings, tall tales and reminiscences all create a picture of "family" in early Autumn here tonight.

From my garden:

I harvested Maori potatoes for my contribution, making a completely sustainable, organic potato salad. The end result tasted better than it photographed.

Sharing

I set up my handcrafts at the "Country Occasion" a couple of weeks ago. My photography skills on my son's camera do not do the scenery justice. We were set up in the middle of the beautiful Neudorf vineyard with a view of mount Arthur in the distance, on the only fine day amongst a week of rain. Setting up- around 8am.

I missed my family to keep me company but got set up well before the fundraiser started. I had West Coast whitebait for breakfast and trust me it was well worth the entry fee. My favorite potter Owen Bartlett was there, though I still haven't indulged in one of his magnificent pieces.

The kind words said about my work were enough to make the day worthwhile but by far the best, was a European lady who saw me knitting once the crowds were settled and listening to Jazz and later good old 60's and 70's covers. She said "I'll show you continental knitting it's heaps faster"
Well, that demonstration was enough to convince me! I have been practicing ever since. It's taking alot of persistence to retrain my brain after 18 years of pretty constant English style knitting, but I am so determined to master the art. I did several rows just practicing garter stitch and then "googled" continental knitting to figure out the purl technique. Now I'm onto some pink candy striped fingerless mittens in white angora and pink homespun for a friend's daughter.
As I get older I appreciate the value of sharing knowledge freely. In my 20's I carefully guarded my craft and gardening skills and wouldn't share, but now with the example of fabulous Aunts and strangers like the one I met at the fair I realise how rewarding it is to pass it on. In a way that is why blogging continues to be rewarding for me.
I may not make it back here between now and the New Year. So I'll take this opportunity to say to all who visit:
Thanks so much for your support. All the best for Christmas and New Year wherever you may be in the world. The people who I correspond with will be in my thoughts, along with my close friends and family.
I shall be back in early January for more waffles about my garden, crafts and other stuff that I am learning.

Digging up for dinner:

Potatoes

Kumara (sweet potatoes)

The vegetation has mainly frosted off in the garden, I can see dried up stalks of where tubers were planted when I go out to see what I can find in the garden for tea at about 4pm in the afternoon as I'm feeding the the chooks and getting the washing off the line. I had forgotten about the purple Maori potatoes I'd planted, accidentally unearthing them the other day. They and the other potatoes that I still have in the ground are cooking up beautifully boiled or baked. I've been making potato bakes with lots of veges, bacon and cheese sauce because the red head who is a terribly fussy eater actually seems to enjoy them.

The kumara did alot better than I expected, I love sweet winter veges and am so glad to have succeeded this year with these. In my colander is the yield from one plant. I didn't plant enough because I had trouble getting hold of the shoots to plant last spring so I will save the best of these to try and sprout my own for next spring. I find them a wee bit tricky to grow, but they are so worth the effort. They seemed to like the seaweed mound I grew them in but I think need a more sheltered warm spot for next year. One of the fabulous Aunts gave me advice on cultivating them: Point their roots in the direction that the sun rises, and instead of having the roots point deep down, have the ends of them going back up towards the surface (so they are planted in kind of a U shape) This advice was given to her by an old gardener when she was living in Tolaga Bay.

Painting update 3

Well first and foremost the painting is mostly finished, a vast improvement on the chipped and mouldy mess I had before, now I can lie in the bath and look at a ceiling not full of mould during my only quiet, unhassled minutes (half hour) of the day. I'm dying to accessorise now but don't want to spend a fortune so will have to be patient as usually exactly what I need turns up at a garage sale or in a box from a "fabulous Aunt". I did splash out on a new shower curtain today and the room is taking on a distinct black and white theme. I need to do something with the floor as well. The black and white checkered lino of my youth is occupying my thoughts at the moment.

I read back on some of my recent posts thinking some of them sound a little vague or random but actually that is quite what I'm like. Sometimes I have something quite interesting to share and other times it's a real waffle. Anyway I'm very unsettled without all the kids and my good friend and fellow mischief maker is also away so I'm all out of whack. I tried to sew tonight too but that felt all unco. (a word my brother's used to describe me as a child, short for unco-ordinated and generally hilarious) as well, I think there are too many things that I need/want to do that I don't know where to start. Procrastinating always works well on these occasions so I made sushi for tea and then later scoffed strawberries and cream, boiled up some bread and butter pickles and a batch of tomato soup in between reading my favorite bloggers most recent posts thinking "my goodness"! if the northerners are ordering seeds for spring I better be preserving more and gathering firewood.



To clarify about the teen and co. "The big bang theory" is an American show on TV about these nerdy guys who kind of talk computers while being very awkward about girls and like star wars and computer games. On Wednesday nights when it comes on we get yelled at "shut up, this is my programme". I think the character most like my teen is called Sheldon. So the teen and co. sound like that when they bike to our place with lap tops on backs, hook them up with their Ethernet cables and then talk "forward slash semi colon?" sentences followed by "Unreal tournament, Halo and Ghost recon" whatever that means. Oh and "did you see Get Smart?" They didn't even know it was a TV show when I was growing up.



Back to me, all dazed and confused,trying to decide what to do to feel like I'm living life to the fullest. For the last 15 years I've had a baby every third or 4th year so as my wee red goes on three and a half I think I'm experiencing a bit of, for want of a better cliche "mid life crisis". I've been asked by a shop in Wellington to supply some kids clothes, tossed around the idea of studying full or part time, flipping from herbal studies, Early childhood to Visual Arts degree, or staying home to be the sacrificial stay at home Mum. I'm not good at decisions and none of my ideas are screaming THIS IS IT so I may be set to be blogging about teens and skateys, thrifting and bags for another year, I don't know. A very laborious decision maker am I! My apologies for my atrocious punctuation maybe I better start with form 2 English before I do anything. As I prepare to post this I wait for "Nightline" to tell me the traits of people born in this the Chinese year of the OX, perhaps it will enlighten me as to why I'm a procrastinating, waffly, flip floppy, sewer, gardener, mother, wifey, sister, daughter, teacher, friend, blogger.





So apparently we're Strong leaders, Hard workers and demanding. Yep that fits me quite well sometimes too.