Every Hood has a silver lining....

 

I made this hoodie for Annarose to take back to Wellington. She chose the fabric which included a piece of silver ever so stretchy lycra for the linings.  I may be on a sewing roll because now Tom wants one too, and so another project will soon be gaining momentum. He and I are planning a shopping trip to get a pattern and fabric but I'm going to have put my foot down on sewing with silver lycra - stunning it may be but to sew it is an absolute nightmare.  It slipped and stretched all over the place and in the end I had to sew it with tissue paper under the pressure foot. It got me thinking about that saying " every cloud has a silver lining".  It would seem to me that any benefits won by hardship are indeed well earned but does everything have to be so hard! There must be an easier way to sew lycra!!

 

It wouldseem the effort was worth it. Annarose said she had lots of comments on the silver lining when she wore it to University today. 

 

One of the reasons why I had my own back garden paradise constructed was because  this is the view from my kitchen window. Not very appealing you might think. You would be right and is probably one of the reasons why I won't live in this house forever. However yesterday when I was cooking dinner in the kitchen I happened to look up and noticed those sunflowers in the second garden over. It's not the best photo but there they were looking bright and cheerful and amazing over there! I couldn't believe that all summer I hadn't noticed them ! I wonder what I've been doing when I look out the window which I do all the time?  How unobservant is that? This week Im going to consciously look for lovely things in dull surroundings.

When Rosie came home for the summer I wondered if I would find anything of interest to write about as blog entries and I was surprised how there was always any number of possible posts. Now that I am back to sending parcels I wonder if any readers of this blog are still interested in seeing what goes in a parcel ?

I shall leave you to ponder the answer. Have a happy week. Marg

Gardening - a cautionary tale .......

 

Last year when my garden was getting off the ground , I just planted plenty of whatever took my fancy  and then proceeded to feel very virtuous about all the rapid growth. The garden looked good and no one could argue that those plants weren't super busy growing. 

But of course these 2 photos will by now have alerted you to a very serious problem in the vegetable patch.

There is just way too much going on in there - so much so that nothing is happening - green foliage everywhere and the plants all stomping over each other - pushing and shoving for room and sunshine, and hardly any results . When Miri was down last weekend she gave me valuable advice. Pull out anything that is not going to be productive and create some space to give those things that will produce something some time to grow.  So this weekend the tomatoes are coming out, also the broad beans, probably the peas and the last of the pumpkin vine that has gone crazy and is completely out of control.

Ive been thinking that in some ways, that garden you see, is what happens when I get way too busy in my own life. I try to pack too much in, and from a distance one might think  there's a lot going on. However ,what I have found by experience, is that there is often  not enough of what matters most to me going on. Since last year  I have been consciously working to eliminate things that don't add value to my life - even if on the outside it might look like a great or glamorous opportunity.  It's kind of a shame I am such a slow learner but I think I'm getting the hang of it.  Slowly that is.

Still all is not lost on either the home or vegetable front. I did get these out of the garden over the weekend and I did turn down an evening out last weekend in order to spend an evening with Rosie before she heads back to Wellington this  Saturday. 
Finally it was today last year that we had Dad's funeral.Today when I got home there was an invitation from the Hospice saying that on March 4 there will be an ecumenical Remembrance Service - where Dad's name will be readout with a list of others then afternoon tea served. So if those who are closeish by - Ken and Mary? Miri and Bill? feel like going I have the details.

Anyway here's to another week of well chosen priorities!

Marg

Another holiday , another time , another place....

For the last 7 days I have shrugged off adult responsibilities and worries about taking another holiday after I just had one at Christmas, and left them neatly packaged in my car at Bluff while the kids and I enjoyed our first holiday all together ( not counting attending funerals) in 3 years. 

We came to Stewart Island - the photo above is a  view from the crib we were staying in. It was the first time for Rosie. Tom came down here when he was 12 and again 13 and sailed around the Island on a boat called the Elwing

 and I came down here for work last year but that had been the first time back since I was a teenager.  

For me it was the perfect holiday - as much for the suspended reality as for the amazing scenery of the place. Every day we did a walk - no shortage of bush walks to choose from here. I think the childhood experiences of making the children go walking  are paying dividends. They willingly came with me !!

 

I read all my library books I brought with me and then some more  off the shelves while Tom and Rosie amused themselves with the jigsaw puzzles in the house. We caught up with Ken and Mary and baby Louis who also spent a weekend on the Island ( thanks for having us to lunch  - great to see you!).  We ate at the Kai Cart, the kids went out on a fishing boat and caught blue cod - I went the museum and we all joined in on a team at the  weekly Sunday night Quiz night which is held at  the pub.

 

Every night as a tribute to the puddings our Mother always made for my kids when we visited her, we made jelly with fruit. The photo above is the deluxe version we had on the last night. Jelly , fruit, cream and grated chocolate. So simple - so delicious! 

these are two of my favourite shots- Rosie and Tom - enjoying each other's company - brother and sister - carefree - nothing matters here - life begins again for all of us tomorrow. May the strength of this holiday sustain us all year long. 

Have a great week - Marg 

When losing your way is better than finding it ....

The day started with high hopes. We were off at the end of a long hot week on a day that started with mist and rain to go on an " art in the garden " tour.  Sounds like great fun. It is - especially when you get to the Taeiri plains with only a map of Christchurch to guide you. (Of course your failings win again -For me,  I am great with the overall concept and fall short on the details - like knowing where exactly we were supposed to  be going )    So it was a mystery tour through the back streets of Wingatui.  So much to see and do. First stop - the topiary hedge

 

Followed by the good luck of finding chicken manure for just $5 for a hefty sack - ( my compost sighs with relief- now we can get some heat cranked up in there) - then as luck would have it we stumbled across one of the gardens. This is my favourite image from that place. 

 

Not one of the art works - but far more evocative and meaningful at least to me of anything we saw. We slunk in and out of that garden and right there and then ditched the rest of the tour.  

I can tell you are wondering about the apricots  in the first picture?  What? you couldn't care less about them?  Let me show you a thing or two you can do with apricots. 

 

you can take a photo of them...

 

..or you can turn them into jam and chutney. The jam I am especially pleased with because you make it in the microwave.  To be truthful I do not really use my microwave for cooking ,but I was inspired to try this recipe because it promised - full flavour and no possibility of burning the jam. The recipe was as good as its word. The jam is great and so so easy. 

Here is the recipe. 

4cups of cooked apricots. ( put raw and stoned apricots in microwave and cook for20 mins) Then add 4 cups of sugar to apricot pulp. Cook 20 mins in microwave. Bottle in clean jars and cover when cool. The chutney recipe is another gem from the Stewart Island cook book. I was especially happy making it because this week we are going to Stewart Island for one week before Rosie goes back to Wellington. I am looking forward to it. After that it will be back to sending parcels. 

Yours in anticipation 

Marg

600 Minutes of Gratitude.

This summer among others I have been reading "Creative journal writing" by Stephanie Dowrick 
 I've been having a go at some of the exercises and one that I'm persisting with is 600 minutes of gratitude. That means that for 60 days you have to write for ten minutes about things you are grateful or thankful for. Easy peasy right? No, wrong. Day one was pretty easy- could think of lots of things, day two found me being grateful I did not live in London at the time of the bubonic plague, day three I was grateful that I now only have one elderly cat to care for. As you can see quite a challenge in the early stages,  but to my surprise I find myself at now around day 20 being somewhat less superficial. Actually I am using the concept in a far more sensible way.  Friday was a particularly challenging day because I had a very painful and honest conversation with a friend which left me feeling very bruised. later in the day as I was thinking about the epsiode I was thankful that I could see the part I played in it and how my actions had given rise to the misunderstanding. I felt that in writing it I could learn from it and I was thankful for that. Also it has pretty much helped let the whole thing go and so I've enjoyed every minute of this lovely weekend. 

One of the really fun things I did was  a 15km walk called the peninsula challenge. It's a fundraiser for the Otago peninsula trust which seeks to protect the wildlife there. Because the track takes you over 10 private properties you get to see scenery that is otherwise inaccessible. Take a look at these. 

 

the start line is way down the bottom by the trees at the start of the walkway to Allans beach.

 It doesn't look that steep but you can kind of tell that these people are finding it hard. 

we made our way carefully down this hill and were ferried across the estuary in motorboats to get to Victory beach 

There you can see Victory beach in the distance - home to very large sea lions!!

Here's me at the finish line. One of my friends had arranged a bottle of bubbly at the end along with plastic champagne glasses.  Hip hip hooray ,3 cheers to us! What a fun day.

Here's to a fun week. 

Marg

Walks that leave you weary but happy.

Part of me wants to apologise for yet again showing you photos of my garden but the other part just wants you to enjoy the growth that has occurred despite the very indifferent summer we have had and sporadic bursts of input from me.

I love how things grow with or without me and I am amazed at what a constant source of pleasure it is to me as I look out on it as I sit at my dining table. When I look at the garden, I often see my neighbours white cat sitting on top of the fence gazing down  and  I am reminded of Rapunzels mother who looked longingly at the lettuces in the witches garden and sent her poor husband to steal some.

At work I am known for overestimating my capacity to achieve and underestimating the enormity of the task I have set myself. (by contrast I think a definition of anxiety is overestimating the task and underestimating one's ability to achieve the task). At times the same applies to my non work life. Last year I was determined to walk my way entirely through this great book which charts pretty much all of Dunedin's walk ways. Im not sure how many weekends I thought there were in a year but is clear that I miscounted. I think I need about 250 weekends to do all of these. Anyway last week as a preparation for the peninsula challenge this coming weekend I walked one of the very lovely tracks in this book. It was the walk from Henley through to Taeiri Beach. About 10 km in total.  There's quite a lot of going up and down which gives the track a cassification of moderate to hard but it's such an enjoyable walk that it's well worth doing whatever the weather.  I was weary but happy at  the end.

Here's a couple of photos along the way to inspire you.

Have a great inspirational week everyone.

cheers Marg

 

Holidays, Volcanoes and Back to Work.

2010 has started well for me so far. Chiefly because for the first time in what feels like years I've had 3 weeks off all in a row.  I could get used to it so it's just as well I'm back to work tomorrow.

Last week I made sure there was enough food in the house and petrol in the car so Rosie and Tom would not notice my absence and went to spend a week with George and his kids  in Masterton.
                                                        

Having a holiday with a sibling is fun because after so many years of independent living it's like getting to know a new person without all the hard work because there are still so many familiarities. On the day I arrived we went to the latest exhibition at Te Papa.    . " A day in the life of Pompeii".  It was amazing. I would go to Wellington just to see that on it's own. Did you know that before Vesuvius, the Romans had no word for Volcano? They had never experienced one before. So when the mountain was erupting they had no way of knowing what was going to happen next and of course no evacuation plan or disaster relief package. Things don't change much over the years. Look at what has happened this last week in Haiti.

Anyway moving on - the Pompeii exhibition seemed to develop a focus for our holiday because we decided that we would spend a few days checking out some of our own volcanoes. We mapped out a journey that would take us up past Ruapehu, and then include having a go at the Tongariro crossing.   
And finally if time allowed we would look at Mount Egmont. 

For me the highlight of the trip definitely  had to be the day we spent walking up in the mountains although the little boys would disagree. They did well . Reuben is only 7 and that day he walked over 15 kms.

Words often seem to me to be such an inadequate way to communicate the depth of an experience. If only we were more highly evolved creatures we could look into the eyes of another and they would immediately understand how we felt.   Perhaps some photos might do the trick.

 

 

Lastly here's a photo of something we saw at the Turangi national trout centre whcih made me think about how we understand our day to day reality.

We went to the viewing chamber where you can see the trout under the water. It immediately made me think of the Truman Show. Do you think those trout know there is a world that exists above the water? A huge, vast world that is inaccessible to them? What say there is a world just outside our line of sight? What would we think if only we knew how to see it?

Well enough from me I think. Yes it's time I went to work and started thinking sensible thoughts.

Have a great sensible week everyone. Cheers Marg