11 Days and Counting - Not!

I feel like groaning, but the sighs are getting heavier instead. I haven't got up the Christmas tree, but last night I did clean the front porch so some decorations can go up. Just need to get something to spray and keep the spiders away, they do make it look untidy!
Tomorrow, if the weather holds - dry that is - we can get the sheep shorn and I'm hoping that it will only be a couple of hours 'cause there's only 26 to do.
One more week and then Sarah will be home. She will probably sleep for 2 days, but there is a stopover in Bangkok for 12 hours and she may get a chance to walk, rest, eat some good food, whatever! The airport there is very smart so she may not even get outside :-)

The Herb Garden

Monday I had a day off work - extra hours worked so some TOIL (Time Off In Lieu). After doing the household chores, it was time to have a go at tidying up the herb garden. I hadn't touched it for months and as a result, this is what it looked like!

Pretty wild looking, eh? You can't even see the wine barrel water feature in the middle! So after a few hours, digging, pulling and pruning, here is the result:

From the left: a 1/2 wine barrel with 2 types of thyme, lemon verbena, bay tree in a pot, water feature, lemon balm (that had grown like crazy) and rosemary hedge.
Today I bought some more herbs and planted them out. In a few weeks time, once those plants have established themselves, I will post another photo. I also bought 2 completed hanging baskets and plants for 2 other baskets and 5 sunflowers. The sunflowers I planted in the small garden by the front door - they will get some shelter from the wind and warmth against the house.
What a grand afternoon! I saw a saying at the garden centre that said: "You will meet GOD in the garden". It felt like that today and even one of the cats took an interest in what I was doing!

December Here We Come

It's almost December 1st - OMG! Where has the year gone! It feels like 2 lifetimes have been lived this year. When I look at my quilts I haven't been as productive as last year - perhaps there was some burnout? BUT, I have a fantastic new sewing room with a design board. What more could a girl ask for?
So the rounds of work and non-work functions begins. Tomorrow night is a Cocktail Party. Saturday is Derrick's work function at the races in Wanganui - I'm not going because I have rehearsals for a concert. Next week, we have 2 dinners and the concert on Saturday - other things I just can't remember but I'm hoping I've written them in my diary!
We had an email this morning from Sarah. She is on Crete and says that she is the group's Greek speaker - none of the others have bothered to learn the language - but she is having a ball. Lots of swimming, climbing, visiting ancient sites and just loving the coffee and food. On Monday they fly back to Athens and she has her site (Sounion) to present. It is so good to get emails from her, she writes really well, it's like reading a short story :-)
Rebecca is coming home for the weekend for a break - fresh air, green grass, peaceful living, and Ma and Pa of course! Looking forward to catching up with her.

Rose City Quilters Club Night

Monday night is the last Club meeting for 2007. We are having an 'Inchies' swap and suitcase sale instead of a guest speaker - a very social evening I hope. Here are the Inchies I have made to swap - I know I kind of got carried away with it all! There are 98 here and I have put a few aside to keep for myself. Sure do hope that other members have made lots to swap (well I know of at least 4 people).

Lovely little bits of fibre art :-)

She's Left for the Greek Trip

Boarding Passes from Wellington to Athens

On Sunday we farewelled Sarah from Wellington airport off on her Greek Field Trip. For her having a bag with 20kg of weight was a real struggle and especially when you are going to be away for 6 weeks and going into a cooler climate. But she did it and we were proud of her efforts. Having to take notes for 2 sites that she has to be tour guide for, of course adds to the weight but hopefully most of it she won't have to bring home. She is going to have such a fantastic time.
I'm still waiting to hear from her and it is strange not being able to ring and chat any time.
Missing her already.

Restoring a Piece of Old Furniture

Derrick's Dad died just recently and we have had some of the furniture stored in the garage. There was an old leadlight glass cabinet that I thought would be good in the dining room for the wine glasses and decorative cake plates. This is what the cabinet looked like - painted dark brown over medium coloured oak.You can see that I started to strip the legs before taking the 'Before' photo.

Now it is completely stripped and sanded ready for varnishing/oiling/waxing (I used a mixture of all three).


Finally, the completed cabinet in it's new place in the dining room. I'm really happy with how well it has turned out - already there are demands to start on another piece of furniture.

A New Fence

It's been a busy few days and with having some lovely sunshine makes it so much nicer working outside.

I finally got around to 'fixing' the chicken fence - I managed to cut the wire with the weedeater, so the chooks and a Cayuga drake had been getting in and out under the wire. Here is my masterpiece made from the seedheads of my flax.

The chooks that can fly, will get out and scratch around the yard and that's OK for now, but the Cayuga can't get in and eat their food!

Here's a photo of one of the Blue Andalusian chicks at 2 weeks - still a little bit of down on it's back, but long legs and they are testing their wings.

Derrick and I managed to bring Ginger (my Hereford cross 4 year old cow) home yesterday. Months ago she jumped the fence to visit the cows next door. Food has been short and I have been feeding them hay for a while. She seemed quite happy to come home, although we were very worried that she might make a run for it into the neighbour's yard (they don't have fences), but cows seem to remember what is theirs and where to go. We let her munch away in the sheep paddock then made up a course to direct her into her own paddock. She eventually made it with enticement, especially crossing the asphalt driveway. Her son, Biscuit, is now 15 months old, he has horns and hasn't been castrated, so he has to be sold - he is too dangerous to have around us. I have been thinking about selling Ginger as well. She isn't pregnant and I don't know what to do about that (well, how to get her and a bull together, shall we say!), so she is just a large lawnmower that can push me around too easily - have to admit that I don't know enough to keep her around which is really, really sad, because I do love her.
Here is the photo of the Halloween cupcakes Sarah made for Wednesday last week - they are bite size and so beautifully decorated.