Birth

The first of the seeds makes it's debut, on the 5th morning after planting.

.

While outside everything is frost rimed.

Good Enough To Eat

I've been dropping the few chalcedony spacers I make every session into some small stone bowls that I bought on sale a while back.

I rather like the way they look, so much so that I've left them sitting on the dining room table. Not exactly a centre piece, but they do look almost good enough to eat.

Seeing them like this you can certainly recognise the difference between the Blue Chalcedony & the standard Chalcedony.

But an Instant in Time

The Shortest Day aka The Winter solstice is upon us 'down under'. In fact by the time this posts the precise second that the solstice itself occurs will have passed & we will be well into our longest night & the ensuing shortest day. Tomorrow we will probably get around eight & a half hours of daylight.

If you think of a solstice as an astronomical milestone, rather than a mid-point between seasons things make more sense. In meteorological terms, solstice doesn't fall in the middle of summer or winter.  The heights of the seasons usually occur around 6-7 weeks after the solstice due to temperature  & seasonal lags.

The first day of Winter in New Zealand (as in Australia & South Africa) is 1st June, so as far as I'm concerned we are almost a third of the way through.....one almost down - two & a bit to go ;)

The solstice itself is no reason to celebrate, but I'll certainly be celebrating the fact that the days can only get longer. I always feel slightly bummed after the event of the longest day in Summer, somehow feeling that from there on in it's a downhill slide towards the shortest.

It's strange in a way as I recall some years back when at the time of the shortest day it would get dark around 4.30pm yet today it was still light at 5.00pm. Only just light but it certainly wasn't the dark of night yet.

In essence all this means is that from here on in the nights get shorter & days start getting longer. Before we know it there will still be light at 10pm

.... & I wont be having to show my ineptitude with the night settings on my camera when I want to take a photo like this at 5.44pm ! 

 

 

Monochromatic

with an accent of teal....or "how to coordinate your cat with your patio".

Winter Walk

Sometimes (not very often!) it pays not to have a car. With an objective in mind, & a practical pair of trainers on my feet, I went for a walk....

Heading out of the suburbs towards the motorway

Fortunately there is a good path along the side of the motorway!

While I love open, airy spaces I'm not to thrilled at the prospect of getting wiped out by speeding traffic ;)

The plantings aren't too bad either, good use has been made of a lot of NZ native plants.

Toitoi

Ti kouka (Cabbage Tree)

Harakeke (NZ Flax)

Not so 'Native NZ' - beautiful Eucalyptus across the motorway

I could just see the snow capped mountains in the distance

Bare Poplars

Almost at my walks destination & heading back into suburbia

At least this suburbia isn't too built up. I tried to catch this horses attention.

Instead this lovely girl came over & visited me.

After a visit to the Garden Centre it was time to turn around & head home again, retracing my route 3km (1.8 miles) & heading back into the suburb  I live in.

Is it just me, or is there something rather incongruous about the bare trees & the tropical looking palms...

Oh I can almost see 'home' - not being used to trainers, my feet are ever so pleased!!

Still, sore feet or not, a lot of the sights would have been missed if travelling by car.

A Little Different

I've been thinking about this. Perhaps because I have always been a little different to what is, or has been, expected of me.

My beads have taken the complete opposite path to that which I imagined when I first started lampworking. I set out wanting to make precise dot beads in bright colours & beads with raised floral designs.
Goodness knows why, because they wouldn't have worked in with the style of  jewellery I was making at the time. None the less those are what I wanted to make.

I never quite got there as the glass had other plans for me, & now I can finally say that I am happy with that.

Today here is something a little different to what I usually do with Chalcedony...style wise at least!

A Winter Friday Morning

But to look at the photo you wouldn't think so!

The arrival of some very special seeds this week necessitated the dragging out of my much neglected gardening books, the making of lists & the writing up of tags.

Such precious seeds, some of which aren't really intended for this climate, deserve some careful research before they are planted in order to provide them with the correct conditions in which to germinate successfully.

Breakfast went uneaten & my coffee cold in my eagerness to discover everything I could about these treasures.

I know that I could have quickly researched the information needed online...but somehow that just isn't the same. When I last had my own garden there wasn't the ease of access to information that the internet now provides. It was all referenced in books & catalogues.

One thing I have learned over time is that you can't rush nature & that, in itself, is the very essence of gardening. 

So why would I need to rush the research, why not just relax & enjoy the winter sunshine & fresh air outside with the 'old fashioned' but infinately more satisfying books.

A gardener is patient & well knows the anticipation with which one can look forward to a seasons change & all that can bring.

A gardener knows that even though it is cold & the ground is chilled that is what some seeds need in order to germinate in spring or tree's to produce their spring buds, just as others need the opposite.

Gardening teaches you patience & gives you an appreciation that the cooler months are needed. A garden is basically a whole lot of inspiration in one place. It also gives you something to look forward to.

I can't believe that I had forgotten all of the things that gardening taught me in the past... & it's incredible how quickly so much has come rushing back to me.

Sitting out there in the sun & looking through my books had a vivid recollection of my first action every morning -  a wander around the garden, with coffee in hand looking to see what had sprouted through the ground or was forming buds or blooming.

Quite simply these seeds have given me something to look forward to - something to inject a little anticipation & inspiration into every day.

Haiti Still Remembered

Finally, a couple of new hearts to go up on Etsy over the weekend.

I've not been slacking on this project by any means. But somehow I did slip into a comfort zone of laziness, beguiled by how easy it was just to supply the Cafe..& not have to stress over photographing, listing, packing & sending.

Comfort zone's can be dangerous. I'm doing Haiti a disservice by not appealing to a far larger audience than just the local one ;)

Two Days of Rain

...and I do mean rain!! We got 152mm (6inches), which is quite a lot for this part of the country in a 48 hour period. Still it is winter & to be expected.


Even the cats were pleased to see the sun again this morning. Pleased enough that they were oblivious of how near to each other they were...

You know the sun still has some heat in it when the fence steams as it dries!

The Fire Within

Sometimes you make a bead that you are inordinately pleased with. Something about it just calls you & for whatever reason, you dont want to put a price on it & list it.

This is one such bead.

If I didn't know better I'd call it a happy accident. But it wasn't, not really.
I'd been trialling the corals & reds of some new to me 104coe glasses I'd recently received.
Having worked with 96 coe for so long I'd forgotten just how shocky 104 can be. I'll be honest, I work hot & forget to pre-warm the canes ;)
At the end of the torch session I had a whole lot of 'bit's all over my work area & decided to utilise them along with the short ends I had left.
A clear base, three shades of red/coral, some silvered ivory stringer, a bit of intense black & a lot of intense heat & there you have it.

It looked good going into the kiln - it blew me away when it came out. I love mornings like that.

Undomestic Godess

That's me.
I'd rather mow the lawns than vacuum the house or get pricked pruning roses than dusting the furniture, I rather undergo torture than take a trip to the supermarket....& I'd far rather melt glass than cook!

It's not that I don't like to cook, I just don't enjoy it as some people do. It's not that I dont like food either, believe me I do, I simply get more of a buzz using my hands & my time to create a slightly more lasting eye candy over something that will disappear minutes after everyone sits at the table. I always have & I always will.

I'm cool with that though as it give certain family members something to tease me about every time there is a gathering of the extended family.

I've always had rather a warped theory on some things. I like to see something 'lasting' for my money & time. Yet there was a time when I'd far rather spend my money at a plant nursery than at a clothes store.

These days I'd rather spend money anywhere other than at a supermarket though.

The strange thing is that I haven't always felt this ambivalent towards supermarket shopping & cooking. I suspect it has happened over time & to some extent has been influenced by the fussiness & bland tastes of those that I have resided with in the past.
I was fortunate enough to be brought up by parents who had diverse tastes in food, & a mother who was way ahead of her time in testing out exotic dishes & recipes in an era where most families here were busy living on the bland meat & three vege fare.

I grew up developing a taste for the exotic which, in turn, developed into a love of chilli's so hot they would leave me eye's streaming & almost speechless & wasabi intense enough to cause a nasal orgasm.....

I like my food to be a taste sensation.

Suffice to say that if I could afford to have a pantry full of fresh spices & such on hand so that I could cook whatever I felt like on any given day, without having to make a trip to the supermarket or some speciality store or other, I'd no doubt enjoy cooking.

The again sometimes I surprise myself. Last Friday a trip to the fresh vege stall up the road yielded not only the 3kg's of banana's I purchased for general consumption, but almost as much again of slightly over ripe banana's given to me by the people who run the stall.

Some banana recycling was in order! The first night I made some caramel banana's for dessert then, on Sunday, I had a banana bake-a-thon.

Wonders will never cease! I call this little lot 'Banana by products'
There's a banana cake, banana bread, a banana & walnut loaf & choco banana muffins.
Because I dont particularly like baking done with banana's personally I splurged & made myself some apple cinnamon & walnut muffins.
This lot was supposed to last to do some of the school lunches this week. I think there is enough cake left for the lunches tomorrow & a few pieces of one of the loaves.

Humph - I should have made beads instead!

A Very Clever Glass

A year down the track & Gaffers Chalcedony still has me firmly in her grasp.

Exactly where she wants me I suspect, calling me back every time I attempt to ignore her & play with something else.

I try to play with all of the lovely colours in my glass stash, honest I do. While I'm playing with the other glasses I am sure that I hear her (& Chalcedony is indeed a she) muttering words of mutiny in the corner.

I reluctantly pull out a rod just to convince myself that she isn't about to do anything different from the last time I teased her with the flame - & she does. The siren sings her song & weaves her magic again.

Kieran is Home

My baby boy returned from his first deployment last Friday evening. Yep, I dont give a rats patootie if he turned 25 while he was away - he is my baby boy.

Five minutes, 5 years or 5 decades he will ALWAYS be my baby boy.

I can't believe how fast the last 6 months have gone, a Christmas & his birthday without him just weren't the same. But as you can imagine I was pretty darn exited about him finally coming home. So excited that I teared up more than once in the time before we went to the airport to meet him....or perhaps that was relief.

I didn't cry when he left. I didn't want him to leave with the image of a tearful Mum imprinted on his mind. He is living the life that he was destined to live, doing what he wants to do & serving his country by doing so. I have faith in that & I wanted him to leave with the knowledge that I am proud of him, not the message of fear & worry that tears would have portrayed.

Watching those boys arrive home, & some of them do seem so very young, I couldn't help but feel for those that had no one there to greet them, & those with babies that didn't recognize their Daddys any more because of the long separation.

Yet between those boys there is a camaraderie, a connection that is special - you can see it, you can feel it. It's not defined by age, race or rank. It is defined by what they have seen & experienced together. I don't expect that there is anything else quite like it in other 'work' environments, but it is a wonderful thing to see.

Fortunately Kieran has the most supportive wonderful fiancée, who seems to be of the same mind as myself. She is also patient & generous, not minding his Mum & family hanging around when I am sure they would rather have been alone. We had a wonderful dinner out at Kerry's parents place & spent a warm relaxed evening catching up.

There were a couple of moments when I felt a bit of a lump in my throat, when I thought back to all that had happened while he had been away. Knowing how the deaths resulting from the Iroquois Helicopter accident here on ANZAC Day & a motorcycle accident that took the life of a solider the next day had impacted on him. Lives lost on home soil - it seems so senseless somehow.

So the baby boy who was born on ANZAC Day (NZ's equivalent to the USA's Memorial Day) has returned safely home. I know I'm as grateful as all get out!

Kitty Convert #2

'nuff said!
(well, apart from the fact that the wine box in the background in no way reflects my tastes in wine! Lindauer has to be the worlds worst excuse for sparkly stuff - blagh!)

All Over the Show

But I don't mind too much. One day I will find my style.

In the mean time my efforts appear to be happily finding new places to go.

Some Beads Along The Way

When time permitted I got to the torch & managed to put together a few sets of beads.

Thinking myself a clever little person for having created stock enough to last me a while, I was somewhat surprised...no, make that stunned, when my first lot of listings sold within hours of listing them. My remaining stock didn't get the chance to be listed as a visiting designer saw it & purchased the lot.

The best laid plans of mice and men......

IN...& Loving it #9

So that is us. The move is complete, we are all settled in & loving it.

Some things have come at a cost as there are a few things that aren't quite as convenient as they were before. It's further to the Post Office, takes a lot longer to get to work...& there isn't a decent cafe anywhere near!!

I'll never like blue carpet, off white walls, down lights (who invented those things anyway....obviously someone that had no interest in art or crafts of any sort!!) or vertical blinds, but for now I can live with them. I don't expect that I will ever enjoy the rules that come with renting either, that inability to put your own stamp on a house or garden & make it feel truly a 'home'. But once again I can live with it.

It's warm, it's tidy & it's PEACEFUL!

It's conducive to living... & creating :)

This batch of Haiti Hearts was taken around to Ris'tretto recently... they'd sold all the rest just after I moved.

IN...& Loving it #8

The neighbourhood.
Call me a snob, but it is so nice to live in a neighbourhood where people actually care about their homes enough to keep them looking tidy again.

It is an absolute delight to walk around here. We are only 5 minutes walk from being out of a built up area & into a green space. Even though this area was developed at the same time the houses aren't all the same, so one isn't faced with a street full of replicas, almost clones of each other, each only having a couple of features that might make it different to the next. I often wonder about that & why people would be happy to appear not to have any individuality, or anything that distinguishes them from their neighbours.


There is a small park with a pond just up the road & over the back is a Home Centre with a huge builders & home handyman store. It also has rather a substantial garden department. Oh dear.


The funniest thing is that I have almost come a full circle. My very first home when my eldest son was a baby was not so very far from here. It bordered on open grazing land & the only building you could see from it was a small plant nursery. That small plant nursery has since become a rather large plant nursery, possibly the largest in this city.

IN...& Loving it #7

Rules aside, sometimes one just cant help themselves. There is such a thing as too much grassy leafy flaxy stuff.....especially when it is so congested & overgrown that it is sending runners under the driveway.

We are required to maintain the garden & lawns, but it's not specific as to whether that is just keeping it weed free or not. Darn that 'grey area' ;)

I felt a bit of judicious thinning was in order...

Before

After

Then there was the small matter of the garden edging that ran directly into the end of the patio. It somehow just looked 'wrong'.

Before - with evidence of more 'judicious thinning'...

After - with some of the evidence (very little) replanted....