New Solar Panels.

  On Tuesday we had the new solar panels installed. You may remember the old ones froze ( when the pump failed to circulate water ) when we had the very heavy frost a few weeks ago. Farmers Mutual Insurance  paid for it. Thank you!

 We are currently monitoring it to see it performs correctly. It heats the water (but doesn't feed into the grid )

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 More colourful freesias flowering.

 Yesterday I sat in the strawberry patch and weeded then planted in some replacement runners and 4 new plants. I hope the do well. They are under a bird protection frame.

Spring Flowers and Hexagons.

 

 I love Spring flowers. Daffs are great but freesias are better cause they smell so divine. I have many colours but these are among the first to bloom. The old cream Burtonii are so powerfully scented they fill the room.

  No scent but a bright display by the kakabeak under the cherry.

 I am still finding things that got frost damage even some of the freesia buds. So I doing quite a bit of pruning back to live growth on plants.

 Meanwhile since the knitting is finished for now I an making hexagons to enlarge a quilt by sewing on an additional row( s ).

 This shows a finished pile; a ready to hand sew pile and  one with the wonderful little plastic quilting/ sewing clips. Ideal for holding down mitered corners here.  Also good as a portable sewing project to take to club or sewing group.

 Below is the quilt I'm adding to. Made in 2017.

 

A Finish and some follow ups.

 

 The sleeveless cricket jersey for elder Grandson is finished. Hurrah. Hurrah!

 Not my finest work but I hated the pattern instructions.....it was a very old Sirdar Pattern.

 The reason I was able to finish it up reasonably quickly was my thumb that aches when I knit was quieted because I was taking Pain killers for my back ( which is 98% fixed now ) I had never done a "V" inset before. The price of good knitting wool is eye watering considering we have lots of sheep in NZ. ( it was Australian merino! )

 Some of the frost damage ( we had another one ) has been rectified...we picked the usable tamarillos and pruned the tree right down. The vireya tips I cut off ...the yuccas appear to be dying back -good!

 The lilies will survive and the alstroemeria I hope. Later will will give the renga renga lilies a hair cut with the battery powered hedge pruner as there are so many.

 In 2017 ( I looked at the label ) I finished making a large quilt of floral hexagons. We are currently using it on our bed. It is wide enough but not long enough so I am making a further row  to hand stitch on....not many quilts you can enlarge by that method! I am thoroughly enjoying making them...so easy so portable.

               

Twitching.

 I've been doing a lot of twitching...bird watching that is.

 I have been putting videos in here but they won't all work so here is a still instead. In the far distance down our garden and across the estuary and stream there is an old stranded log. When the tide is right the shags ( mainly ) go fishing then sit here to dry their

wings.

Frost and Ouch.

 This Winter we have had quite a few frosts. Last Wednesday was quite white but Thursday morning it was way worse. 0 degrees C. The heaviest frost in  the 8 years we have lived here.  Anything tropical or with fleshy leaves got "Cooked!"

 The tamarillo

The bananas 

 Some of my precious Vireya Rhododendrons ( above ) the flowers are cooked and the growing tips. I think they will survive but have had a big knock back.

 Along with all the canna lilies; bedding begonias; some alstroemerias( which should reshoot ) all the renga renga lilies.

 The frost also made our solar panels on the roof spring a leak so they have to be replaced.

 Luckily we hadn't planted the potatoes or peas yet.

The ouch part is my back. About 10 days ago  I got a stabbing pain in my lower left side while trying on some new trousers in a fitting room! I have been nursing it ever since. Taking pain killers and being ultra careful how I move. Doing lots of gentle fairly flat walking. Getting out of bed is the worst move or twisting. I am really hopeful it will soon be healed. It is muscle or tendon not spinal.

 My knitting is coming on well....I can knit standing up, even walking! I am sure I am going to run out of white wool though. Absolutely no gardening .....hate that.

Baking Day.

I have shared this recipe on here years ago but as I am making it again today I will put it up again.  You will need... 1 large washed orange.

 Cut up like this to check there are no pips.

 All I discarded as it had no pips was the stalk and one tiny brown mark.

 I use the large size shown here sat inside a metal patty pan.

 They turned out aromatic and yummy as usual.

Here is the recipe:

 Prepared in a kitchen Whiz. Makes 12 big muffins.

 Pre heat oven to 200 degrees.

 1. Whiz together 110 grams of butter and 1/2 a cup of sugar.

 2.Add 1 large egg and whiz again.

3. Put in your cut up orange ( skin pith and all ) and whiz again.

4. add 1/2 a cup of roughly chopped dates and whiz again.

 In another bowl sift together 1 1/2 cups of standard flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 of baking soda and a pinch of salt.

 Add contents of whiz to dry ingredients. Stir in, then add 1/2 cup of milk. Mix.

Spoon into paper cases. ( mix is fairly wet ) 

 cook 20 minutes at 200 till tops lightly brown. Cool. (leave in cases till you want to use them. 

They freeze well.  Enjoy.

Knitting Progress.

 

 I am knitting elder grandson a cricket vest. He is going to be playing for a different team and these are the club colours. I like to do the front and back at the same time row by row.

 You can see the pattern of cables better here half way across the row.

It's a Very very old traditional pattern and I had trouble finding a pattern. Got one on Etsy in the end. I found the instructions hard to follow on the increase row but once I got the pattern rows established I don't need a pattern, the previous rows tell me where to knit and where to purl.

 4

 Why was I weighing them? The balls in use should have run out at roughly the same time....and they didn't.  4 x 50gram balls should have weighed 200 grams!

 Do you keep a record of your work ? I do in this large notebook. Only started it when I got Grandchildren to knit for. It's invaluable to me.

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Outside today I noticed the 1st "real"  daffodils coming into flower.

 Another bright spot in the Winter light.

 Also in bud are my 2 NZ native Kakabeak plants.

It did get Finished.

 

 What a time waster that puzzle was. I got there in the end. 1500 pieces is too much for me to cope with on my own. ( The new mat worked well for working on ) 

 Meanwhile I did have a short walk on a different beach one day when we met up with R's brother and wife for lunch at a halfway point for us both.

 Waihi beach was very low and had so many small shells.

 this has just finished flowering. Its very old now.

 I have been out to a birthday lunch and had coffee with a cousin but didn't take any photos.

 Quite a heavy frost here today and yesterday. Lovely sunshine now though.

 I just made mayonnaise but now my 'To Do'  List says vacuuming and get on with your knitting so nothing exciting happening here. Thanks for those who replied by email to me or left a comment.

Lemon Curd ( honey ) and More About Puzzles.

 So many beautiful lemons all getting ripe. So  my favourite thing to do with some is make Lemon Curd / Honey.

 One of my favourite flavours is lemon.

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 After seeing neither of my usual pieces of hardboard were big enough even together ( and of different height/thicknesses )I decided to purchase one of these fold away mats. I had seen a smaller one at a friends recently. Hers was a thousand piece size. Mine is a 2000 piece size.  My current puzzle is 1500.pieces. Opened out it is the entire length of the dining table.

 The whole opened length.

 

 The main area in the middle.

  2 ends with lift out mats.

 It makes room for several people to be working on a puzzle together and at once.

 When not in use or to move, the 2 ends fold into the middle with the mats inside.

 This one shuts with Velcro.

 

 

Jigsaw Puzzles.

 

 Do any of you do Jigsaw Puzzles. I do from time to time. At the weekend I had a Birthday and received among other things 2 puzzles. The one Grandsons selected has 1500 pieces. I never did one larger than a 1000.

 It needs a lots of space.

 Any helpful hints as to how you go about a Jigsaw. I always start by sorting out all the outside pieces, then doing the easy bits like words. I will show you how I am getting on. Unfortunately I find having a puzzle to do quite addictive.

Vireya Rhododendrons.

 It's raining! My Vireya rhododendrons will be loving a good deep drink. I grew Vireyas in my previous garden and they did well and as we are in the same area  still,  they were an obvious choice to plant in this garden too. One small variety  (Saxon Blush ) my son gave me travelled here in its terracotta pot and is still flowering of and on under one of the cherry trees. ( it has to be 15 years old ).

  Most others are at the front road entrance in partial shade under 2 large Magnolia trees. here are some current photos.

Red Mountain

 Popcorn

Tickety Boo

 Dawn Chorus  its near the front door on the shady side of the house.

 It has very shiny healthy green leaves.

 Around the side of the house I have a lovely yellow one Scented Sun but its not flowering at the moment.  Another white Aravir is scented too.

  I get 2 or 3 flowerings per year out of them.

They pick quite well and that's a good way to give them a light prune.  I try to chose the more compact medium sized ones. I have 16 altogether I think.

Autumn Leaves in June.

Autumn leaves have been falling for some weeks now. Lots of trees are already bare.  

 This flowering cherry is always the best of our cherries. From upstairs the sun catches the top of the tree and the colour is amazing.

 Light wind spreads them all around.

 Some land in the birdbath.

The other bright trees are the persimmons. All the fruit have been picked.

A Very Windy Day at the Mt.

 Yesterday we were at the Mt. and it was blowing a gale. Never the less I rugged up, pulled my new green velvet  Vera hat down firmly and went for a very long walk by the sea.

 Quite a lot of surfies were enjoying the waves that the wind threw up.

 Closer towards the mt. the sun was a dazzling spectre on the sea.

 I walked along the street at the base of the Mount but the landslide area is all sheltered off behind double cloth fencing so one can't see in. the street more or less deserted. So sad.

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 A few weeks ago at club we had a "destash" day. Everyone brought along quilting gear  ( fabric, cottons, books, patterns, tools etc. ) they no longer required and donated it. Tickets were cheaply sold and an auction ( using ticket stubs in saucers ) began.  Luckily I only won one draw. One of my friends got 5! Such a lot of stuff to lug home. Anything you got that you really didn't want was given to a lady who takes it to the women's prison in Auckland where they are learning to quilt. ( nice idea ).

 In the process of cleaning out my cupboard to find stuff to take I found I still had lots of felt left so decided I would once again make a felt embroidered ball.

 Anyone who has read my blog for a long time will remember I have made lots of these. This one now started will be # 32. I started in the year 2000.

 These are the parts on my bench today. Showing the rattle inside  2 bottle tops; masking tape to secure those; then strips of batting to wind the ball inner. 12 different coloured felt pentagons to make the outer.  I last made one according to my notebook record of Balls Made  in 2023.

 Ill post photos as I progress.

 Tomorrow morning my sewing group friends meet here so I have also been baking,

Pink.

 I purchased this ( new to me )  lovely frilly double petaled cyclamen as a gift.

 My Christmas ( in the Northern hemisphere ) Cactus is flowering but has a few spotty leaves.

 The Queen Protea has another splendid display of flowers which I pick and give away. It needs heavy pruning so picking when in flower is a good way to do it.

 Just one head of flower on my very, very, very  old ( from my Mum's garden )  Spider Lily.