These Busy May Days .......................................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

We had a week of -1 degree frosts last week & I picked these hydrangeas before they became all blackened & frost bitten.  I just adore the colours of them   💗

 

Today is rainy, dull & gloomy outside - the maple trees are changing colour & their leaves are falling ... this is taken looking out my Lounge window.

Remember in this post when I took my friend Carolyn on a surprise outing to Splashy & we painted ceramic dishes?  They arrived by post last week having been fired in their kiln - they are certainly brighter looking now.  The "finger bowl" was a gift to Carolyn ... Splashy do this when it's your birthday so you have a momento of your visit there.  We both had to put our painted fingerprint on the bowl. 

Sid played soccer last Saturday over in Hamilton & was delighted when he was chosen as Player of the Day.  He received a certificate, a Trophy which gets returned next weekend, & a McDonalds voucher.

Just yesterday I finished an Order for 3 lavender/lace coathangers for my dear friend Shirley - I just have to scent them with lavender oil before she collects them. 

I also finished an Order for a dozen bags of my Cottage Garden mix Potpourri ... these are waiting for me to take to the Post Shop.  They are scented with Rose/Geranium Oils & smell wonderful.

Slooooowly as time & energy allows, I am getting the mulch onto my gardens.  I have done one & a half piles so far - I like to put it on really thickly so it takes me ages.  First I have to weed & clear the area ... I found all my rusty hens underneath the flaxes when I cut them back ... they must've gone roaming 😉

These 3 above are newer & are still turning rusty  - the rain & weather makes the corten steel gradually rust over time.  One of them had a wobbly leg so I managed to wire it up so the hen didn't fall face first into the mulch.

I found this wooden box in The Mr's shed so I stole borrowed it to make a "hen house" & sat the nesting hen on some hay tucked into the box.  Maybe she'll lay some eggs for me  ...............

It wasn't long before Little One came along to investigate what I was doing  ...............

Yesterday he got drenched (funnily enough standing in the pouring rain will do this).  He seems to like it when I towel him dry & he starts to purr.  He ended up on my bed - as you can see I put down a sheet & a towel but he - of course - had other ideas (!!)  

Also yesterday Blackie decided to take up residence in the clothes dryer because of course there are No Comfy Sleeping Spots in the entire house !!!  😐

(From motherinthenorthernlands on Instagram)

I saw this verse on Instagram & really liked it.  I would like to print it off & put it on my fridge.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

A Revamped Wood Box

Greetings lovely friends & readers

And Welcome to the month of  May !!

 Last week, while searching way down the back of the woodshed for a tarpaulin, I came across this wood box.  It must be 20 odd years ago now that my friend Carolyn gifted it to me - it was an old box that she had painted & mosaiced the lid.

  I used it for many years as a woodbox & then somehow, it ended up in the woodshed & got covered in other junk paraphenalia.  It was in a sorry state.

Its a solid heavy piece, hence I needed my wheelbarrow to cart it over to the house.  A good scrub down revealed that the paint was in a sad state ... I didn't mind this to be honest as I was never really drawn to the brighter blue shade that Carolyn had painted it.  

I decided to use the green paint that I used on * this table *- the colour is Resene Paddock & I hoped it might go well with the green tiles on the lid.

We had a real mixture of rainy cold days & fine sunny days last week so I used a combination of places to paint the box ... sometimes by the fire indoors, sometimes on the dining table, & other times outside on the deck table when the weather permitted.  

Little One takes his Watching-Paint-Dry duties very seriously (!!)

Because it comes in two pieces - a solid mesh outer & an metal insert - it was actually a horrid thing to paint.  Trying to cover the darker blue with the lighter green took 3, sometimes 4 coats.  Covering the mesh was the hardest - but finally I was happy with it all.  I gave the mosaic a good scrub with vinegar water & it came up beautifully.  I thought the bird was a pukeko but Carolyn thinks it is a Takahe.

I have positioned it right outside the back door where it is easy to access the wood as needed.  In the past I have used buckets, banana boxes & often the wheelbarrow parked up on the deck - this looks so much nicer.

I am really happy with how it turned out & the Paddock is such a nice shade of green   💚

A friend gifted me these gorgeous Tulip bulbs last week for pet feeding duties so I planted them in an old terracotta pot of Mums.  I've not had the Peony variety before.

Whilst I was having a good old rummage around in the woodshed I came across The Mr's deer antlers, broken off their mount & fallen behind some planks of wood.  I cleaned them up as I wanted to do some sort of a winter display on my deck table.  After I'd painted the wood box I gave the table a clean down & a scrub - it gets very dusty & dirty being outdoors. 

I decided I didn't want to have any planter pots on it over winter so I just used what I had on hand to do a "very rustic" display .. pinecones, Mum's pedestal pot, my green Cloche from Christmas & some random bird nests that I always collect when they fall out of the many trees on our property.  What do you think dear readers?  I quite like the natural, wild effect of it for a change (I think) 😉

I have a vivid memory of visiting Mum one time & she was most excited about her latest purchase ... a duster with an extendable handle.  I clearly remember thinking to myself "who on earth would get excited about such a mundane purchase".

  Well guess what ? Last week I purchased a new brush & pan for the fire & I was so ecstatic that it came in a pale duck egg shade to match the paint around my fire place!!!  How wonderful is that ??!! (probably don't answer that)

This one's especially for you dear Willie.   Blackie & Pippi over the past 2 chilly nights here ... first on the bed & the next night on the couch, tucked up together ... maybe one for your pussy cat folder? 

If you click on the pic it will enlarge it

And we mustn't leave out Little One.    Last Saturday was opening day of Duck Shooting Season here in my area & I awoke hearing lots of shooting around our rural property.  Later that day I spotted Little One outside following around a new friend. The Mr thought this was a Paradise Duck - probably its mate had been shot as it seemed very lost & disorientated.   I felt sad for it & after half an hour it wandered off into the paddock & disappeared.  The Mr said alot of these breeds mate for life.  

Well dear friends - wishing you a VeRy Happy rest-of-the-week,

Thank you as always, for stopping by here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,