Purple Makes it Sing.

I liked the colours before but a wide purple border has really made it sing! Before it was a green and purple top; now it is a purple and green top.

In one photo is Inky the cat acting as self appointed Quilt Inspector. He is being spoilt at the moment cause as you can see he is alive and well/ recovering. It wasn't cat flu!

On Monday evening he was lying on the cool tiles in the kitchen asking for his dinner when I spied about half an inch of something protruding from his nose / mouth ( not completely certain which ). I bent down thinking it was something stuck in his fur but as I gently pulled an 8 inch long ( see photo ) piece of cutty grass of some kind appeared from inside him. ( it had a hard sharp end and clinging texture ) That was his sneezing problem and had been inside him presumably for about a week - poor little bugger..... it came out easily coated in mucus but he was instantly in recovery mode. Now he is playing for lots of extra fuss. He is down to about life # 4 now I think. ( did he eat it ? )

So that is 2 very good things. No vet visit and my quilt top finished . Each border has tended to stretch out the wrinkles. Thank you all for your comments.

Yes, Margaret of course you may use the instructions. The instructions for the original Hearts quilt ( same method ) are back in blogs I posted in April / May 2007.

Still very, very hot. We had a lovely meal and company on Sunday night - I did need to get out, so it was fun! Back to work now after taking a long lunch break.

Slightly More Variety.

It's still Very hot here. We worked last Sunday cause rain was forecast for Monday and Tuesday AND we did indeed get some gentle misty rain which lasted nearly 48 hours and amounted to 40mls. But the heat continues, so the benefits won't last too long, but we are grateful all the same.

After further searching I think the correct name for the flower in the previous post is Huernias pendula - a close relative of the Stapeliads. That flower is just finishing but there is a 2nd bud. Apparently the extreme heat will have helped it to flower.

We are catching up on mowing, gardening, housework etc before starting back at the first block with the Kiwifruit next week.DH got up early yesterday to dig a row of Heather potatoes before it got too hot. I went out mowing lawns then too. Best time of the day, or evening, but all the jobs don't fit into that time space really.

Yesterday afternoon I had just got my scrappy quilt out and was cutting some borders when visitors arrived - so much for that. Last evening I put the first one on and cut some 1 inch darker green strips to go on next. It is still a tiny quilt but was not intended to be large. I am going to have to be extremely careful when I get to sandwiching and quilting it as you can see in the photo, the way it is constructed, it has extreme stretch in one direction. So far I think it will be okay as I am aware of needing to stretch it taut before quiting ( fingers crossed )

Now a little animal content. This was never intended to be a blog with animals but Percy Peacock found his way in here - By the way Meggie he only comes on short visits now - he discovered the young neighbours up the hill across the road, are even more of a soft touch than us. They feed him cat food and all sorts of treats. They have many, many PET animals ( are animal crazy );there's cats; a dog; chickens; ducks; a cow; a goat some doves and goldfish. Maybe Percy likes the company. ( We are quite happy for him to be there ). Our small black cat ,nearly 12 years old, a slight, jumpy, from the wild, little fellow (who adopted us at a few weeks old, when his wild cat Mum died ) is not well. He has been sneezing for some days and is very skinny ( never been fat ). He is still eating a bit and seems happy enough but has truly bad breath and bloody mucus ( sneezes - yuk )- so something is wrong. IT may be cat flu???? ( anyone have any experience with that? ) We rang the Vet but only got the receptionist. The Vet did not ring back ( as she said he would ) so now we have to wait till Tuesday ( long weekend ) to take him in. I am not sure if he should go there if it is cat flu? So Incubus ( his real name) or Inky or Bad Boy Bubby or just Bubby may not be with us much longer. He has always had that natural immunity wild cats seem to have and never gets infected sore scratches if he fights. So he may survive this. A neighbouring cat sometimes tries to steal his food, so maybe that's where he caught it?

We are invited out for dinner tonight to my Cousins' place with about 4 others so that will be lovely. Any company is to be appreciated. I'm glad I have my blogger friends popping by leaving comments !

Just too Hot!

Firstly Thanks for your comments everyone. Georganna, I'm so glad you commented to tell me of your New Zealand holiday( see comments ) and that the suggestions you found here were of use. Yes, we are lucky NZ is such a beautiful place....but Hot! So hot, ( 32.5 C in the shade some days ) that all week working outside with the Kiwifruit has been exhausting. We now really, really need rain.

On Thursday afternoon we stayed inside for our Annual Globalgap Audit, which we passed, so can have our Kiwifruit exported for another year - of course that meant jumping through an ever increasing number of hoops. Several new signs had to be purchased and erected; a policy had to be written of a risk assessment for our water supply - we've been drinking it here for almost 30 years now, but what the hell we just add it to our other policies -( too many to list! )and they tell us it is about to get worse - has the world gone completely made? Do adults really need a sign in our outside toilet telling them to wash their hands before picking fruit? ( personal visitors think it is amusing )Grubby people still pee on the floor and anywhere they dam well like, I'll make a sign for that too! ( sorry I've raved on about this before - probably last year.)

Something different. I noticed this succulent flowering in the carporch and it has never done so before. I think it is a Stepelia but am not completely sure.( it is most unusual.) To get the photo of it's inside colour and detail it had to be tipped right up so the light would penetrate.( it's like a bell )

No sewing what so ever this week , I might sneak some in later. Have not kept up to date with all your blogs, so must do that too.

Very Mundane.

The old adage about " All work and no play makes ..........", seems particularly true at the moment. All week under the vines thinning reject fruit and pruning in this heat , with only the radio or CDs for company. DH working at the other end of the row most of the time gives one far too much time thinking. When sad News about the death of our amazing Sir Edmund Hillary dying aged 88, comes on the radio it seems very personal - someone I and every other New Zealander my age probably, have known my entire life, now gone. What a life though; what good things he quietly achieved. I especially like it that he wasn't a rugby player or a politician but a practical person, a beekeeper, a risk taker and adventurer, a kind and decent bloke. I wonder how much influence his early life had on him? He said he didn't have friends at primary school.( none? - that's sad ) The PE teacher when he first went to High School ridiculed him and other weedy or fat or small kids and gave them hell - what right did that Teacher have to take those kids' self esteem away? ( Really upsets me ) His father also made life difficult for him. Luckily his Mum was remembered kindly - Thank goodness for great MUMS! Maybe that ( his early life ) was why he was so kind and considerate to ordinary folk here and in Nepal.

Today's photos are of the (so far ) biggest ugly fan kiwifruit I found - because what we are doing is boring and repetitive any distraction is good - hence the competition between us for the biggest reject fruit or the silliest shape. ( you can see why this is referred to as a fan! )

The other photo shows the very little progress I have made joining the strips together for my scrappy quilt. I grab the odd minute to sew a few together, but have not spent long at it. The weekend has been filled with housework, gardening ,picking veges ,clearing leaves and a little reading. I did go on strike yesterday after lunch and enjoyed watching the tennis finals. I haven't seen another person, other than DH in so long I may be becoming a recluse - not of the religious kind. Thank goodness for email and I got a regular letter from my only sister, so I know there are others still out there in the world.( but just not close at hand )

Still only one person has viewed the property - so I don't think we are going anywhere else any time soon!

My Favourite Pasta.

2008 has begun very hot and fine for us. Not so for some of my Australian friends with storms and floods . Also we see on TV some USA states are having heavy snow storms. So I better not complain of having to work in the heat.I do come in ( from Kiwifruit thinning ) feeling very tired and don't dare sit down but rather go straight to making dinner while I'm still standing. At a loss as to what to make tonight I decided to make my favourite pasta.

It doesn't have another name , but is very versatile. Use whatever vegetables you have on hand.Broccoli is good but tonight as we had fresh peas and green beans straight from our garden I used those.The pesto we use we also make ourselves when the basil is ready and freeze jars and jars of it - enough to last all year. commercial pesto would be fine but the consistency varies so don't make it all too runny. Right here's the recipe.

Ali's Favourite Pasta. ( serves 4 )

1 whole packet ( 500 gms ) of large spiral pasta.

4 slices of bacon

1 med head of broccoli ( in florets )

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup olive or avocado oil

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup firm rich pesto ( or similar )

Method:

1. Put a very large pot of water to boil.

2. Empty the pasta in when water is on a rolling boil and time it for 8 mins.( stirring occasionally )

3. While that is cooking steam or microwave the green veges, to how you like them.

4.At the same time microwave between paper towels ( or fry ) the bacon till crisp.

5. Mix the lemon juice and oil, and balsamic together ready to pour on.

6.When the pasta is cooked drain it then mix in the pesto while the pasta is still hot to distribute it. Then mix in the other liquid and the veges. Cut or crumble in the bacon.

Serve in deep bowls, add ground Black pepper to your taste. ( I added some sliced black olives too ) Enjoy!

Macadamia Nuts.

One of the jobs we fitted into yesterday schedule was picking Macadamia Nuts ( Beaumont variety mainly ) from some of our 10 trees. The trees are 25 years old and are planted near our top boundary fence. Most have a good crop of nuts which we had been forgetting to go and pick and DH saw 2 rats running away with nuts, so we thought we better get there and pick our share. You can leave them till they drop but by picking them we know they are fresh and will keep. They hang in bunches and easily come away from the branch. ( next year's tiny nuts are already there too )

We collected a full sack in less then an hour. Now they are drying in the sun on my trolley and a blanket. As they dry they split exposing the nut. All these outer husks then have to be removed , then further drying before cracking. We have a special cracker but it is still time consuming work - lucky they are so yummy. If you have only ever tasted them coated in chocolate ( YUK ) you have not really tasted them. We lightly roast them to bring out the flavour and add just a hint of salt. They are also good for crumbing and putting in baking. AND they are good for us!

On Christmas afternoon I started a scrap quilt project.( loosely based on my hearts quilt from last April).( I have a system where I save my usable scraps then have a cutting session. I iron the fabric and cut the" best use of," squares or strips from them. These are then put into containers for each different size. That way when I want a quick project some of the cutting is already done.)

I decided to limit the pallet to greens, purples and mauve with some small pattern and lights.The photo shows the stages.
Starting at Left top is a pile of finished squares.
HOW TO.
1. ( TOP MIDDLE )On the base square ( in this case 3.5 inches - could be any size you like ), a free hand circle is then cut from a smaller contrasting fabric.( 2.5 ") and sewn on top. Raw edge. ( start sewing at the top - this gets hidden in the seam later and overlap where you finish sewing )
2.Turn this over and carefully pinch up the fabric and cut a circle away from the back being careful not to cut both. ( like taking the back away from applique )
3.( bottom left )This new salvaged circle is then used as the centre or 2nd circle on another square. This way the fabrics get mixed up for a scrappy look.[ so you have a square base with 2 circles sewn on top]
4.( bottom middle ) The squares are now cut exactly in half.
5. These halves are then mixed and resewn, 1/4 " seam, with a new partner...further mixing up the fabrics.
After that these now rectangular pieces are put in rows to form a quilt top - I haven't got that far get as I don't know how big it is going to be. With washing the raw edges start to fluff like chenille. Using these small sizes I am able to use up lots of 3.5 and 2.5 inch squares.
(Click on to enlarge photos )

Season's Greeting!

To All My Blog Friends, Best Wishes at Christmas. I have enjoyed your company this year!

Old and new forms of greeting.
One a wonder of the internet the other very old. Both expressing and conveying friend's Greetings.

The photo is of some very, very old unused Christmas cards. The 2 smaller ones on the right are of English origin judging by the pictures on them. The other 4 depict Birds of New Zealand.

(top left ) NZ Pigeon, (top right ) the Shining Cuckoo, ( bottom left )Takahe and ( bottom right ) 3 types of Parakeet.

The cards are very ornate with scalloped gold paper edging and shiny cord tassle. They have very flowery ( by today's standards ) messages inside. The are old treasures and the person who bought them originally must have considered them too good to send or write in.

40 Years.

This is a real shoe, off a pony. It was chromed and given to me 40 years ago today, by Denise. She was the young daughter of the family I boarded with for 2 years when I was a young teacher in South Taranaki.

At 12 noon on a sunny day on the 23 rd of December 1967 DH and I were married at St. Andrews Church in Marton. He a young farmer, me a young teacher.

Why get married at such a weird time of year?

Well, It suited us. New Zealand shut for the weekend in those days! I didn't finish school till 2.30 pm on the Thursday afternoon of the 21st December. That gave me the rest of that day to drive home ( about 2 plus hours ) and the next day to get organised. We only had the school holidays till I needed to be back working and DH had to go into Military Annual Camp in the Army at Waiouru in the middle of January. He had been drawn in a ballot to do Military Service and every year had to attend an Annual camp . So we decided the best use of our time was to get married before Christmas, go on Honeymoon for a couple of weeks come back and I'd get everything sorted in our new home while he went off to camp. Strangely just about everyone we invited turned up so it can't have been that inconvenient. DH's younger brother was doing VSA work in Thailand and he didn't get there but everyone else we wanted to be there, was.

Our wedding was quite low key....we didn't want a big fuss.......My only elder sister had made a big drama of her Wedding and I knew that was her way of doing things - not mine. ( I knew exactly what I wanted, didn't change my mind or have any tantrums ).We didn't get Studio photos taken so just had some taken in the local park ( no I'm not sharing those ), but I have kept a few mementos like my lucky horseshoe; the guest list; and I still have my wedding gown and can still fit into it! I haven't stored it so well and some of the guipure lace on the train has discoloured. ( I still like the elegant design - nothing frilly for this girl .)

We had a party with friends on our 35th Anni but can't really afford that this time so we are going out to lunch shortly; just the 2 of us. We decided to have the day off !

I think that is a Ruby Anniversary....but I'm not expecting any ( ha ha ). Many of you reading this have already got to this milestone. I think in those days you were expected to get married, far more than today, and many of my friends from that same generation are still married. I wonder how many more we can clock up?

Lovely Things.

Cards sent from friends and a lovely vase of Pohutukawa ( New Zealand Christmas Tree ) on the fire, are the only signs of Christmas approaching around here.
Today is wet so I got much needed catch up time; GST return done and bills paid, food shopping done ; lovely fresh veges picked ( peas, beans and courgettes - yum )and now time to blog.

I think some good luck has been granted me. Last Friday at the final lunch for my P & Q group I won the lucky number - the prize was a wee bear sitting in a coffee mug.( photo ). Yesterday the mailman bought me a package.DH gave me a funny look ( cause we had agreed not to spend money on ourselves at the moment ) and said " Did you order this book?"
"No I didn't! I think I might have won it !" Sure enough I had.
It had a letter telling me of my win. ( I only had to put my name on the back of an envelope !)
Kiwis have already had the opportunity to see the TV series Hunger for the Wild ( this book is based on it ). If it comes to others overseas I am sure you would love the New Zealand scenery and food content so do watch if you get the chance.

So aren't I the lucky one. It's a lovely book - smells nice, has recipes, story and great photos.

As it is hot here at Christmas time I think it is lovely to try and make decorations,have food and gatherings that suit the climate. Outdoors when possible. Snow doesn't feature so why should we pretend it does. I may still go and cut a Christmas tree from the shelter belts on the orchard, but am so far happy with our lovely Pohutukawas flowering all around the property.

I just have to mention last Monday. We both spent all day at a First Aid Course, doing CPR on dummies ( on a not so clean concrete floor ! ),applying bandages etc etc. We have to do it ( at $80 each ) as a requirement for Globalgap - which is what we get audited on to be allowed to Export Kiwifruit. ( things have got a little crazy), but apparently you customers in Europe and other countries demand it of us...... I bet you don't!

Handmade Gifts.

When it was wet at the weekend I had time to cut out the parts for a purple bag for a gift. I have worked on it every night since to get it done and am pleased with the colours . It is gift for someone who wears lots of purple so I hope she likes it....you never know with younger folk though.

The table mats are being my hand work at the moment. Then I will quilt them with a large star pattern.

It is fine again now with low cloud and working in the Kiwifruit is a bit like working in a sauna today. The little fruit are growing rapidly so I am on my first round of fruit thinning; taken off the mis-shapen or too small.

Perfume Fills the Air.

There is a competition going on in my garden to see which plant smells the best. Close to the house are 2 unusual Philadelphus , one climbing ( Philadelphus Mexicana ) and one miniature. Do they smell sweeter than the Port Wine Magnolia...I think so.

Down the driveway where you walked with me in Spring flowers are now of a paler colour, lots seem to be pale pink; 2 big bushes of Apple Blossom Flower Carpet Rose , a tiny late Azalea then a splash of brilliance from the day lily in the photo. Also my 10 year old Kalmia latifolia - Ostbo Red. My love of Kalmia comes from my childhood; my Mum and my Nana both had them in their gardens, the paler coloured one. The buds are surely made of icing from the star nozzle of a cake icing set! ( click on photos to enlarge )

37 mls of rain was just what we needed.The plants are all very thankful. The wee fruit are almost growing in size before our eyes. That's good! Of course that will mean more grass to cut and of course a new crop of weeds but that's the trade off.

Thanks to those who gave me feed back on our "For Sale," on the web site. Not a single buyer yet...partly it could be the wrong time of the year; everyone's too busy.

The rain gave me some catch up time; I cut out some more table mats to hand sew. We are going to friends at the Mt. for dinner tonight so that makes my heart glad, it will be fun! I just picked a big bunch of Charles Austin roses ( apricot colour ) for my friend Liz. She lives by the sea and has no roses in their tiny garden.

Completed Tasks.

Such a hectic fortnight! Ah, we get a weekend to catch up on all the normal tasks.

Photos are some of the things that got completed.

The bag is very quick and is just 2 identical linings of the Bucket bag. I cut 8 rectangles slightly larger than the normal bag and sewed as for the normal lining; only I made 2. ( if you don't know what I mean go back to where I made the quilted Bucket bag). When it is turned through at the end I didn't top stitch it, just ironed it and so it it reversible. I used all the same fabric but it could be done with different fabrics then reversing it would give a different look. Great for shopping or books or keeping folded inside another bag for times when you need more carrying space.Very washable too.

Kiwifruit pollination is almost complete. The young fellow in the photo is applying male pollen using a leaf blower. You can see the canister of pollen sitting on top obscuring his face. Twice we had gangs come through using this method. They very quickly walked along swinging the blowers from side to side blasting pollen into the air. If you are a follower of this blog you may recall a different ( and more expensive ) method was used last year. This was in both cases supplementary to the 15 bee hives - the inhabitants of which have been quietly humming around for the last 2 weeks. When the pollen is blown into the air they get extremely active , so working in the vines is a little precarious, but we know to look carefully and mainly the bees look out for us...if we get a hand to close they just fly off. The fruit set is looking very even and a good number.

The Avocado picking was completed by Thursday afternoon. 48 bins in total. The small fruit was left on the trees and may get picked late Jan or Feb if prices make it worthwhile.....they will have sized up by then. The trees already have next years crop pollinated and are still smaller than a pea. This morning I went through the containers of reject fruit I had put aside when levelling the bins and sorted them into bags to give away. I expect friends and neighbors to come and collect them if they want them, but it is surprising to me that some folk still expect us to deliver. This tough ol girl does not do that any more. DH still delivers to neighbors, cause he likes an excuse to talk. And no before any body asks the freight to send them ANYWHERE is TOO much. These are rejects only.

On Friday lunch time we had a party of English Teachers visiting from Singapore come with a Zespri Rep we know, to look around an orchard. DH showed them around and I met and talked to some when they finished. They were a friendly bright lot with excellent English. Percy Peacock, made an impression on them and featured in some of their photos. Very pleasant young visitors to have .

So far with the property being on the market we have had NIL lookers actually physically here but lots looking on line. It is not the right time to be selling and properties are just not moving they tell us. We are prepared to wait and know we are not ready to reduce the price. Our plan A is to ride it out. If in 6 months nothing has happened Plan B is too look at other options.....sub dividing....or pulling out all the avos and kiwis. I don't think that last plan is ethically sound I really don't, but maybe if we get that poor I might change my mind.

If you wish to look on line go to http://www.nz.open2view.com/search and then either put in ID # 167723 or got to the map and pick out BOP; then Tauranga; then Te Puna on the drop downs and look for a property with that ID #.

I'll be interested to know if you manage to find it , some overseas friends have been able to, including younger son in London who found it and the 35 photos quite interesting.

Another completed task was reading " Louise Nicholas - My Story" by P Kitchen and Louise Nicholas. Kiwis will know what that was about and although I knew all about it before I read the book it was still worthwhile but infuriating to know that all that went on here in the BOP in our country and that one of the blokes involved has just retired and gets a huge golden handshake. Justice was certainly not seen to be done! I think 3 of the others are still in prison for other crimes.

My next read just started is has been on our bookshelf for years and I had never read it...all 1275 pages of it. "Alaska," by James A Michener. I have read most of his other books so should enjoy it and I know I will learn heaps from it. It just might take me a while.
On Friday night we had some much needed rain....kind of it to hold off till all the picking and pollination was done.( warm was good for that! ) .......but lawns are browning and dust is rising so hope we get more. Our new potatoes are just yummy and I am getting quite a few strawberries, The peas are flowering so I guess its Summer! Still lots to do here but we are enjoying being able to decide how to spend our time this weekend.

Still Avocado Picking.

DH and I completed the picking from the ground after 2 days but the 2 guys in the hydraladas ( cherry pickers/ elevated platforms ) are still working. They may get finished today , but we'll see. Today is a kinder day for them .... a little cooler with some cloud cover. Sunday was our hottest day for ages; 29 degrees C in the shade; pretty hot whatever you were doing! Some of the time the guys can sort of hide in the shade inside the trees but not all the time so they need lots of sunblock! ( hats get knocked off easily and caught upon twigs )The 3 photos show the hydralada extended to reach up the trees and the next 2 show how the big bag in front of the operator that he fills with fruit is then lowered down over the bin, the bottom folds down on a chord and the fruit slide down into the bin. The chord is then hocked up again folding the bag bottom up and is ready to fill again. It takes 3 of these bags to fill a fruit bin. ( click on photos to see more clearly ) ( the men are getting paid NZ$40 an hour and the hire of the hydraladas is about the same. They are working 9.5 or 10 hour days...so it's a well paid job! )

Since we finished our ground picking we have gone back to working in the kiwifruit and DH goes across to the avo blocks with the tractor and bin fork about 4 times during the day and brings the filled bins back to the shed by the house where I smooth them out and pull out any rejects or top them up to completely full, from a bin of spares.

So far we have picked 36 bins and may get another 8 - 10 today so that will be our 2nd biggest crop ever. I wonder if we will actually make some money from them ( I will keep you informed on that ) ...it's a b...... crime if we don't!

The photo of 3 big ones is just a skite. The biggest one weighs 486 grams! ( Now you will laugh at this Meggie.....fruit that big are TOO BIG to go in a tray and so would not be exportable! ( someone at the packhouse would probably take it home for free to eat! So I keep any I see here!) Too Good! We only want fairly good!

I'm so glad we are having more converts to eating avocados suzi-k. I think good ones are just yummy. Not all varieties taste the same.....the only ones we grow and the only ones New Zealand exports are HASS variety. ( a not nice one is very off putting I realise, so I get cross when folk pick them immature and have them for sale ). Ones left on the tree after picking that really mature are the very best....but that is the same with any fruit. They become richer tasting and quite nutty.

Next post I must update on the sale ( or NOT ) of our property. Too busy to even care at the moment.NO SEWING TIME at all...hate that!

Purple Iris for Soozii.

Just 2 of the varieties of Iris that have been looking fantastic here. The single one is a flag iris ; don't know the correct name of the group and I didn't remember to get a photo of the Louisiana ones down by the creek.

I love purple too Soozii! I would bring you a bunch over if I could; but sorry you'll just have to enjoy the photos.

Look What We picked Today.

There is certainly a lot happening around here.
The 15 bee hives to pollinate the kiwifruit came in on a truck about 10.30 last night. The air is full with the distinctive smell of kiwifruit flowers and is also now humming with bees. ( they alway move them at night so all the bees will be home when their house shifts )

I'm a bit sad I had to miss my usual P & Q group today,( and so won't get to see the finished bags I taught or the dolls some ladies made at the weekend ) but firstly the car had to stay over night at the garage till it's new exhaust pipe arrived and was fitted so it would pass it WOF it went in for yesterday...so no transport but also TOO busy. Busy at picking Avocados.

The hydraladas ( to reach all the high up fruit ) will arrive tomorrow so we wanted to get ahead of them and do all the ground picking we could before they got here. We do not want to pay someone else to do something we can do ourselves. So just the 2 of us spent the day picking avos from the ground using the long pickers and clippers. It was hot but some of the time we could get in the shade. DH picks and I clip the stalk to about 2mm and put it in the picking bag around my neck, so you understand if I say my back feels like it has had quite enough for today! ( couldn't really take a photo of myself doing that ) We noticed how quiet and nice it was with just us and birds singing in the bush nearby.( no machinery ) We are very pleased with what we got and stopped when we had 2 completely filled bins. Don't they look just yummy! I did a bit of quality control as we went along and put aside any fruit with faults, so the 2 bins that went on our truck up to the cool store at the pack house, late today, looked really good quality. What a shame the price we are going to get for them this year is so low, cause you folk buying them won't get them cheap....it's that dam NZ dollar again. Most of these Avos will go to Coles in Australia I think. Anyway I shall try and get some action shots of the rest of the picking tomorrow. I 've earned a drink!

Percy Peacock came to inspect what we had picked and I think I heard him say "Hello" , Meggie. And, "Yes of course I'll poise for a photo I am a peacock after all.

More on Bucket Bags.

I meant to be back in here sooner to show the vase of yellow Graham Thomas roses I picked last weekend. I am about to throw them out and get some fresh ones. I choose them to pick as I have 3 bushes of that rose on a fence and there were masses to pick. In that vase, they match our lounge colours too.( yellow and blue )

More on Bucket Bags. I made a little one with 2 inch squares. It is tiny - suitable for a little girl. See the comparison of size when it is put beside the original 3 inch square size.

What I did discover when making this was a quicker way to quilt the 4 panels. I made the 4 panels of 2 inch squares then laid them on the batting to see what size to cut it then decided to leave it as one piece to quilt then cut it into 4 later. By laying the panels close and side by side I was able to stitch in the ditch down the middle of the 4 strips then across all 4 panels ; off at the outside edge as before then back across the next row. It saved time and batting. Joyce and Andrea and those who have made the bag will know what I mean.( if you haven't made a a bag it may sound a little sketchy.) I also intend to make a bag of 2 fabrics, with no batting just 2 linings. It would be reversible.

This week I have watched lots of wonderful Netball every night. Congratulations to Australia you deserved your win and the World Title. New Zealand wanted it but we made too many mistakes. I love my netball it brings back wonderful memories of playing in my younger days....I was good ...but not quite to that standard. The level of fitness and training makes a huge difference from our day.

My extra job for today is to clean out the garden shed...that will be a bit yukky, I had to rescue a Weta from there yesterday so who knows what I will find lurking.

A Rose by NO Other Name!

Things are looking rosy in the garden.

Rise above your worries , take your camera and walk in your garden - smell the roses , admire the roses even tell them of their beauty!

SO I DID!

( Thanks for that advice suzi-k http://arty-fartying-around.blogspot.com/ I decided on these 6 photos that were best on this day. Many, many other beauties live here with me but I can't include them all on this post.

That's Meg at the top ( did you know Meggie you had a lovely rose with the same name?) I love this rose for it stamens and it's pretty face!

Then there is Anais Segales, (smells almost like old smoker lollies ) then Complicata ( not complicated at all ) and Crepuscule that climbs over a trellis; Apple Blossom Flower Carpet is hardy and easy; Sally Holmes reaches for the sky and has single beautifully pale flowers; and the clean white of the White Flower Carpet rose is fresh when they first bloom.

Over the years I have reduced the number of different roses I grow. Any needing spray ( which I don't do ) or with disease problems have gone leaving the hardy, easy well behaved beauties. I have all their names recorded in my garden record book, even those deceased so I never forget their names. I must count up how many I still grow.

The ladies in my class yesterday had a great time - lots of laughing is always a good sign. I'll tell you about that in another post.

Can you smell the roses? I'm going to pick some so my house smells of them too!

On my Coffee Break.

Ive been neglecting you all my Blog friends. Things have gone from busy to ridiculously busy around here. Whenever I can snatch a few moments I have been reading your posts and even leaving the odd comment but forgive if I have been rather quiet.

Here is a picture of the first strawberries which are continuing to ripen....I have now had 3 picks and the taste and quality is improving each time.

Every day we are working in the Kiwifruit crush tipping and tying in....more hours than my body wants to do but it has to be done. DH is making it the priority; mine is perhaps getting everything inside and out ship shape and extra clean and tidy. We spent all weekend really going for it water blasting, windows, cobwebs, painting ....if you can think of it we were probably doing it. Luckily at about 3 on Sunday afternoon 2 dear friends popped in to return borrowed books and we sat and talked for nearly 2 hours. It was so great to see them and blob for a while. But we are back at trying to clean up the area in this photo which is in the outer regions of the garden. It's a zigzag path down to the dam from the house under huge, messy gum trees. After lunch it will have to be back to the kiwifruit.

I haven't done the For Sale post I was intending to do, but there is still time for that. Would you believe the Real Estate people are still fannying about and want more photos ( I gave them a CD with 75 on it ), they want more...fine take more but get on with it. It is now postponed till tomorrow. 8 of their company all trooped around the property and through the house yesterday. When we came in for lunch there were 8 of their business cards lined up on the bench....I hope they had fun! We have got quite used to the idea of going ......with some regrets of course....but now our big fear is nobody will want to buy! Imagine if it takes ages to sell having to keep up this rate of preparedness ( clean, tidy, neat, mown etc )

Forget any sewing! But no I can't cause before all this happened I had agreed to teach a class of 14 on this Friday. They are all keen and eager. I have all my prep and a 3 page hand out all ready to go....no wonder I am frazzled. Should be a good day and at least it won't be cleaning or house work, or kiwifruit.

( Do you know that we are getting about $1.20 a tray less that last year for our fruit....now that is so bad, cause you the customer are still paying about the same for them....it's all do do with the value of the NZ dollar...we just can't make ends meet like that! We are now running the orchard, on our savings....that was for our retirement ) Sorry I didn't mean to ear bash you about that! It all adds to the stress though.

Well back to work again now! Please keep sending encouraging thoughts I need them.

Trip to Calico Christmas Quilt Show.

This is not the post I intended to do next, but as things property wise have been time consuming and moving so slowly, that can wait. Heartfelt Thanks to all of you who sent me messages to ease my "transition of thought" about moving.

As I knew I had paid my money some time ago, to go on our club's bus trip yesterday I worked extra hours to get the 2nd round of Kiwifruit crush tipping finished last week.

Yesterday I got up at sparrow's fart to be at my collection point along the way to join 43 other women hell bent of having a great day out! It was 3 and3/4 hours travel each way as we had a coffee and comfort stop included. That left just over 4 hours to see it all. See what you ask. Calico Christmas is the Auckland Patchwork and Quilters Guild Inc. Annual Show held this time north of Auckland at the Harbour Function Centre at Albany. Just so much to see and not enough time. I realised later I missed one whole floor of display, but went around as much as I could. I think there was nearly 1000 quilts in all the displays and then of course the merchants, were all there; 44 I see when I re read my catalogue this morning. That's a lot of looking and jostling. After lunchtime the crowd thinned for a while and things were easier. Taking photos was really tricky as folk walked in front or knocked my arm so I actually didn't take the usual number. Well how do you decide out of all those quilts. In the end I have some photos of ideas that I might take further or really caught my eye for what ever reason. Many of the quilt displays were in amongst or right beside the shops and that was a bit tricky. ( there is one photo here of the general crowd, no one I know but it shows that girls of all ages were doing the rounds)

The other photos show a 3 panel ( triptych ) hanging by Chizuko Hoy( I think ) of New Zealand Coastal Fish, which were really identifiable. Slice of Heaven - 747 by Marie Harrison shows an imaginative use of tumbling blocks. I'm not sure who made the very simple Japanese style quilt which I loved for it's simplicity, colour use and horizontal and vertical short rows of hand quilting.( I may show some more quilts in a future post )

As well as many nibbles and spot prizes( I won a tube of Frangipani hand cream ) on the bus we had show and tell. Shelley knelt in the aisle and quizzed everyone and held purchases up and some were passed around. We all bought totally different things, nobody had to be thrown off the bus for not buying anything; and the prize went to a lady( not from our club - but a friend and quilter), who bought a new Janome sewing machine and a swift quilter! The sewing machine was not pre meditated . We all laughed when we asked, "How will you break that to your husband?" "Oh I don't have one of those any more, " she said...."But I did just spend some of the money I was saving for a new kitchen!"
I think you can tell this outing did me a power of good. That shot of some lovely purple and black and gold fat quarters are mine along with a couple of magazines and some beads ( a really good buy ) for a gift. We were also delighted to be able to get really lovely reasonably priced food for a quick lunch.
For part of the journey I sat beside an older member of our group who I don't know well at all and we were very compatible and now know lots about each other. Some folk will only sit with friends but I think it is great to move and spend time with different folk, especially some of the quieter ones. I arrived home tired so some of the senior members would have been exhausted I imagine but a good day was had by all. No mishaps of any sort! We were all very mindful of some awful news we had just learnt. The lady who owns my local ( quilt shop ) was on a short holiday with her husband in Paris to see the All Blacks, and she stepped off the metro and collapsed on the platform having had a massive bleed in her brain. After 3 ops she is now in an induced coma to try and keep her head from moving to stop any more bleeds. She is only 40 something. She is getting wonderful care; but so far from home. So ladies try and enjoy every moment you have.( and always take Travel Insurance )

In Need of Encouragement.

I really am in need of encouragement to be strong and positive. You see my lovely Copper Beech tree here with it's new delicate leaves; it was the very first tree I planted when we moved here on April 1st 1978. It has grown to be a grand old lady who gives me much pleasure to sit under on my red seat.I look out onto it from the kitchen and dining room. So? Well we have made the big decision that this is the time to sell our property and I know with certainty I won't be taking that lovely tree with me.

Yesterday we spent an hour with the accountant making sure we were aware of all the pitfalls and requirements of selling an orchard and lifestyle property. Tomorrow morning an acquaintance that we trust, who is a real estate person is coming for the 1st round of details photos etc etc.

Reasons for selling: 1. Our age and ability to do all the work. DH has a few raves lately when something challenges him, ending by yelling," I just can't cope with all this s.... anymore." He's 36 you see...maybe I typed that backwards!

2. The NZ dollar is taking all the profit from growing export crops, while prices to do the growing continue to rise.

3. Demands for more and more compliance ( Eurepgap ) rules aren't going to go away. Carbon footprint and food miles are going to get more and more important.( and other places don't get the correct information about that ....it is political and oil is the thing that really counts! ) NZ is too little.

4. We need to go before any more of our savings are eroded and while we are still sufficiently fit to meet some new challenges.

I could go on but I'm sure that you get the idea. It will be a huge change for us. We are in the top 5% for kiwifruit production off our small orchard. We are proud of that, and our fruit keeps very well and tastes good.( Many NZ orchards are small ) But there are economies in scale. Our avocados are quite biennial with their cropping but I love them.

Okay there are some things I will miss, but my garden is too big , especially since I got the quilting bug. I am getting quite mature to be spending hours with my arms in the air working on kiwifruit vines. ( get someone else to do it all.....yes, we would but can't afford to ) This property has a huge area with creeks ( streams ) and bush ( forest ) and tracks that are nice to have but unproductive that need caring for.

Yesterday afternoon I started doing garden maintenance, so the place will look it's best, so I need to fit in a couple of hours every day to get around it all. We have begun crush tipping the kiwifruit vines, 2nd round, and that will continue for a few weeks. This morning I did time doing extra , extra cleaning of bathroom and one toilet and windows so feel like a navy now. ( that will have to be maintaned till we sell ) So for a change of pace I will go and help with the crush tipping.

On my next post I will tell you all about what we have to sell....like a real estate advert. You have already seen many photos of the property and garden any way. Oh, I also need to pot up a few garden treasures; like things that came from my late Mum's garden, that I can't leave behind.

Sniff sniff.

It may take a couple of months or a year or ......