BOP Autumn Weather.

During the day BOP Autumn weather continues to be warm. Night temps have dropped but we  expect that in May. 

 Chrysanthemums are Autumn flowers. I picked these for a vase on the kitchen bench. I like their smell and they keep so well picked. They came from a plant, now in the garden I call Cherry #2, which I have just re weeded. The Chrysanthemum was originally a potted plant but has transferred to life in the garden very happily.

I have planted some white mini cyclamen here as it is mostly a shaded garden and white flowers show up best.

 Yesterday I re weeded the asparagus bed and the blueberries and applied a full bag of seaweed and manuka mulch. I hope both crops will thrive behind their netted cages.

 In the old poly house which I also weeded I am still picking some tomatoes and I salvaged some small aubergine when I pulled out the deteriorating plant.

 This pathetic offering made a delicious savoury bake for dinner.

I cooked some pasta then  R  sliced and baked the little aubergines. In an oiled  baking dish I layer slices of eggplant; tomatoes; pasta; grated  cheese and  yeast flakes and poured over tomato puree ( from the freezer ) and sauce and sprinkled oregano and lastly chopped bacon (as R likes that ). It was surprisingly tasty.

 To not waste the produce we have R has been dehydrating apples.

These are Splendour apples and now he is working on Granny Smith which are less sweet but also a yummy snack. Everyone, young and old who has tried the dried apples loves them. They are a way of keeping fruit without any added sugar and they transport well in lunch boxes, even pockets. 

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 When not in the garden I have done about half of a knitted navy vest for elder Grandson and I am making covered padded coat hangers for the sales table at our Exhibition in September.

 ( This shows it partly done ) 

 At P and Q we have all been encouraged to start making items for sale NOW as time has a way of disappearing fast. These hangers which are kind to shoulders of clothes especially knitteds require some machine stitching and some hand finishing.( I have plenty of batting and fabric scraps )  As I was winging it to some extent I have refined my pattern to waste less fabric and have written myself notes on" how to,"  for another time. I am also beginning some felt needle cases. 

Hanging on the double doors is my wall hanging .......I need to finish that too. It  has to happen before September.

 Maybe I'll stay in and sew more when the weather gets colder.

 At the weekend my neighbour took me around another walking track nearby we are allowed to use. That will give me more variety when I walk. 

( We have been here 10 months now and I didn't get to hear about this till now! )

Backing a Quilt and Walking.

At the weekend when it was so wet I had some time to sew. Having finished bandanna quilt #2 I went back to working on a backing for # 1. I only had 5 bandannas left. One turquoise; one black with turquoise and 3 white with some black design. They did not look great together, so I squared them up and joined them, then took to them with my ruler and rotary cutter and cut some 4" strips , some 3" strips and some 2" strips. I laid them on the floor. Where there was too much white together I joined the ends of that strip and cut it in a different place and kept doing this till I was happy. I then added in some other fabrics to try and enliven it. Some Laurel Burch coloured trees fabric worked well. Some paler turquoise, some blue batik and it was starting to look better. Now I am at the stage of joining the strips together.
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 Every fine day now before I come home to make dinner I have been collecting walnuts for drying.( makes my back ache temporarily ! )But if I do some every day it's not such a big job all in one session.
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This morning R had to go through to Katikati briefly so I went and got out and walked up a side road I had never been up before.( trying to improve my fitness for walking when we go on holiday ) He picked me up on the way back. Here is some of what I saw.

Neatly mown grass and cana lilies on the roadside of an orchard.

Lovely patches of native bush.

A train headed for the Kaimai Tunnel.

Rolling green, grassy hills with the Kaimai Ranges in the background.
Best of all 10 coloured mail boxes on a stand.

There , you should feel a bit warm after that; I was, cause a lot of it was uphill!

Mellow Fruitfulness.

 Keat's  "Ode to Autumn, "  speaks of Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness! Mellow fruitfulness, we certainly get but no mists. We picked one crop of pumpkins. 36 of all sizes - very dry .  More down the bank to pick that were self sown - less dry ones.  ( along with more tomatoes. Courgettes and beans are slowing now luckily )  Imagine in times past if your produce had to last your family through the Winter months.....

The latest study to come out of USA says women need far more execise than previously thought to maintain good health into older age. When is there time to do this extra vigorous exercise? ( at least an hour a day??? ) Eat slightly less each year and exercise slightly more - who is the sadistic person?  Alright I am trying.... I have upped my walking to longer sessions of over an hour and of course took my camera. I saw-

Ducks  in duck weed.

Light on the water at the beach cause it was getting late.

The Mt. in the distance and cheeky gulls.

 

Lemon and Blue.

I've just been for a late afternoon walk . Mists surround me, there is calm and silence everywhere except for leaves crunching under my feet. There has been a change in the weather you see. Gone the frosty starts and sunny days. Yesterday was wet, today drizzle, mist and cloud enclose us. The smell in the orchard is that of very strong freshly brewed tea - it is the fallen kiwifruit leaves that have been cooked by the frost.

I picked a bunch of tiny Ifafa lilies for the lounge ( I know the fire won't be kind to them ) but they are a wee Winter delight inside or out.

Yesterday our P & Q group celebrated Mid Winter with a lovely shared lunch. ( they can cook as well as quilt ! )

For me, the first tentative quilting has begun. So far no problems except a dumb b.. when I stood up - hence the walk.

Quilting and Walking

Some progress is being made on my Fun Flowers quilt.The blocks are now put together with very dark blue sashing to form a trellis and I am trying out adding leaves ( just pinned so far ).Yesterday I got a few extra fun buttons for some of the flower centres.I also purchased 2 new tops as a little self reward( I needed them )after I had been and had a mammogram.

Younger son is now back in London. He went from lovely sunshine here to snow!

My good friend L who lives in Taupo had her goitre operation on Monday and is doing well , so that's good.

Some of you will have visited Sooziii's blog (listed on my side bar). My thoughts have been with her a lot in the last few days, as her dear husband Philip died on Saturday morning. RIP.

About the same time that was happening I was over at the Mt. on an errand for a friend and took my daily walk there - this time along the beach and out onto the blowhole.It was a fabulous day; not many folk about but I met other walkers and some folk fishing, 2 paragliders and some surfers.The photos show Mt. Maunganui from a different angle to the usual shots from the beach. It was a very low tide and rock pools were exposed and they are fun to peer into. I didn't spend long as I was walking but can never resist stopping to explore a little and take photos.One late Pohutukawa was still in flower and little bright yellow gazanias clung to the rocks.

Strawberry total now 240 and more to come.

Wetland Walking.

Swamp = wetland.

Sunday's walk for us was across the board walks and tracks that now cross the swamp on the out skirts of Tauranga (in our direction.)The track wends it's way from one new subdivision at Bethlehem to the highway ( up and over that using the footpaths ) and into another new subdividon. The low lying swampy parts were not suitable for housing and have been mostly cleared and New Zealand Native Flora planted. The planting is from 1 to 6 years old and bird life abounds in the creeks and small ponds. The high areas are gravel paths the low bits are wooden board walks. The wood is very springy and makes me walk jauntily - march almost. Along the way we meet pukeko,mallard ducks, paradise ducks, black swans and a heron. I enjoy the meandering perspective lesson the board walk gives as I look forward or back.