scores

as i write this i am listening to my youngest most determined child resist the inevitable that is b.e.d time. wow her stamina belies belief. i am happy for her knowing it is an admirable quality but that doesn't seem to make it any easier now somehow...well i have just returned after having had to sit beside my mungbean until she has settled into sweet oblivion - it is hard to believe, looking at her little rosebud mouth in sleep such a racket can project from that space. as part of her never say die attitude she basically falls asleep with one eye open so it's always a very nervous creep out of her bedroom.
these flowers were for ruth on her birthday today, she loves proteas so it was a sure bet they had to be included in there somewhere. the cup & saucer is from a set of 3 i picked up at the dump shop yesterday, i like how the hand painted wheat stalks curve so gracefully around the plate.

school holidays

i haven't said a lot lately in blog world as in my main world we've been having school holidays, chicken pox, frosty mornings, working bees in the garden, sleepovers, playdates & also just generally winding down in preparation for winding up for the next school term. we have had some cold frosty mornings which in fact help to justify staying in pj's until at least 10am, the days following the frosts have been glorious so it's all made for a very manageable winter break. (so far!)

jan pienkowski & anthuriums

silhouettes have always given me pleasure & i think this probably came from the magical illustrations of jan pienkowski, whose books we were read as children. we have had some spectacular sunsets lately & that time of night as dusk approaches & the light fades is perfect for silhouette spotting, the sunset behind a black foreground object reminds me of jan pienkowski's gorgeous marbled backdrops. i read eliza 'the necklace of raindrops' recently & was excited to rediscover the joy i still got from his work, the stories by joan aiken are enchanting also & i know eliza enjoyed them as much as i did.

cast iron urns

today i made an arrangement for mum's friend's 60th Bday luncheon tomorrow. it was fun to use my iron urn that my best customer called 'mum' bought me.
louis & tom went fishing down at the port & when i went to collect them i had some playtime mucking around with my camera, i'm liking the way the sparkling sea turned into real looking stars in this photo.

magnolia

i'm reading 'the elegance of the hedgehog' by muriel barbery at the moment, here is just one quote from the book i related to & am still thinking about.
'those who feel inspired, as i do, by the greatness of small things will pursue them to the very heart of the essential where, cloaked in everyday attire, this greatness will emerge from within a certain ordering of ordinary things and from the certainty that all is as it should be, the conviction that it is fine this way'.
i made this little bundle of spring flowers for a friend of my grandmother's, she is 90 years old so i think & hope it is appropriate for someone of her age.
we have been waiting & anticipating the blossoming of the magnolia flowers, i am sure this is the first in our neighbourhood to show it's face.

sweet winter sweet

o bliss is the scent of winter sweet. this massive keruru was feasting itself on the kowhai tree on our neighbour's property today. i was wondering what it was devouring so hungrily at this time of year, berries or new growth perhaps?

wintery ole days

celeste, eliza & i stayed out at ruby bay again this weekend as tom & louis went to wellington to visit g & geoffery, tom's mum & her husband. we ate lots of yummy food & generally mooched around, although i did manage to put in a bit of effort at one point & went for a walk along pomona road, it is very picturesque with green valleys & vineyards dotting the landscape. on my way i managed to make a little bouquet from what i found growing on the roadside, the banana passionfruit flowers are from a vine which is classified as a noxious weed needless to say i didn't feeling too guilty tugging away at the vines to pick the flowers.

native greens

we had a going away party for the head teacher of te pouahi last night, she is a truly inspirational woman & much respected so she will be greatly missed. i made a few bits & bobs for the venue, in this arrangement the box is covered with bark that was laying around our woodpile & filled with harakeke & manuka. some of the girls made some flax flowers & we shoved them into pots of beech, taken from the mountain of winter trimmings piled up in our garden. i also made these lemon tartlets to take for shared kai, they were supposed to be mini lemon meringue pies but we won't go into that - suffice to say i am a lucky girl to have a granny in town.
i've corrected the spelling mistake & reprinted my business cards, originally i wanted to do them on recycled brown card but there wasn't any in the whole town of nelsonnyjim, in the end i printed them on watercolour paper so each card can be hand painted individually. wallah

frazzled

i have just discovered a spelling mistake on my business card which i have spent every spare moment(& of those there are very few!) designing this week, most unfortunate, infact unbelievable grrrrr. o well it's back to the printers for me asap. i made this vase today with my newly acquired glue gun & some wooden lacquer i found in the nelson intermediate rubbish pile, we were there to take eliza to her after school gym class. the lacquer is stuck onto a cardboard box with a recycled glass jar inside. 10 points to myself for resourcefulness if i do say so myself. the flowers are for a friend of my ma's.

a day of gray

until i found these roses.
aarrrgh i'm just longing to get my business up & running...

winter is here

the first day of winter & it's all about food. winter lentil soup & nigella lawson's ginger marmalade bread & butter pudding for tea,(this photo is pre-cooking) then chocolate truffle fudge cake to accompany cups of tea, mmm. the winter lentil soup is just right for a cold winter night & is a annabel langbein recipe, i use her recipe book great food for busy lives a lot for our family.
epilogue: 2 out 0f 3 children did not eat their soup & 3 out of 3 children did not eat their desert. never again.