Nice Things . . . . . . & Definately-NoT-Nice Things

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been a challenging week - lets start with the NoT Nice Things.

Our property is 4 acres, rectangular with a large chunk at the end being the depot yard which is tenanted.  The rest is garden which, when I ran my Craft Cottage I used to open to Garden Clubs & Bus Groups. It's only Me that looks after it as The Mr has an entire farm to run, away from our property here.  It's been a challenging year for me health-wise, having been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease earlier this year ... everything around here now takes me 3 (or 4) times longer to accomplish.      All this to say ... I was finally beginning to feel like I was catching up with the garden & it was looking cared for again as spring bursts forth.

Then alas - our toilet blocked, water came up instead of going down.  A Plumber was called, the diagnosis - you need new septic tank fields put in! Oh Dear Me!  The next day 2 diggers & 4 men arrived.

 The large section of deck garden that was filled with assorted flowering spring bulbs, foxgloves just coming up into spikes & sweet little Strawberry Begonias was the first to be dug up.  Out & down the driveway they went . . . . . .

around the corner & across the carport, cobblestones all dug up, lucky I'd moved my car earlier.  

Way down past the pond the digging went - the new rules state it has to be 60 square metres now.  Thankfully The Mr was here when the Boss in charge said he was going to dig out my weeping Cherry Blossom Tree - it stayed!    You seriously would've thought we were installing an olympic sized swimming pool! 

I stopped snapping pics after this lot - I was hiding in the house instead.  Some piles of clay were carted away in a big truck, some got left.  It all got plonked back in again & covered up.  

Later that day when I took Sid home (5 pm) I saw the Vans leaving & thought to myself Oh I can go home, use the Loo & finally do some loads of washing.  

Guess what dear friends ... Toilet still not working !!! I think it was about now I had my first meltdown.  The Mr got on the phone & early next morning a Plumber arrived ... 20 minutes later - Gosh, sorry, toilet pipe was blocked with paper, we've cleared it now - all fixed.  

So all that was for nothing ????  Well you have a nice new septic tank system now (That we didn't need in the first place !!!)  There have been quite a few meltdowns on my part following this debacle I can assure you!

We need to level, roll & regrass but currently it has all turned to mud as we've had so much spring rain.  I had the cutest little curved brick path to my pond lined with lavenders.  Here is my path above left & I think the lavenders might be under the pile of soil above right.  It is rather heartbreaking to this VeRy tired Gardener dear friends.

In the midst of it all I drove to the Dairy & bought myself the above supplies (which I think I consumed in a couple of hours).  Eldest Son assured me it was okay because I could well have driven myself to the Liquor Store for supplies (!!) 😉instead of the Dairy.

Little One & Blackie hid under the house for the entire day & Miss Pip took up residence in my undies drawer & I covered her up with her cuddly rug.   I think if there was room, I would've climbed in with her. 

Nice Things ...

I cried for an entire day & then I told myself to pull my socks up & get on with it!!  I went out & tried to rescue some of the flowers the men had dug out & tossed on the lawn.  I've sifted the bulbs from the soil & will replant them for next spring.  I thought if I could just clean up one corner it all wouldn't look quite so bad so that's what I concentrated on - one little corner.

As some of the decking boards had been lifted I scrubbed everything before shifting things back. I sewed a new curtain from a thrifted curtain for our old dog kennel which I use to hide things under & the top makes a good potting bench.  I scrubbed the oilcloth top & the fresh new curtain looked so pretty.

I repotted the orchid my son gave me last Mother's Day as the roots were coming out the base.  Mums red geranium got a good trim & a fluff up too.

I put a new coconut fibre inner in my thrifted chair planter & popped a punnet of white petunias in it.  I haven't used this for a couple of years so it was good to give it a freshen up.

  I've been washing the outside walls too but I think I might be a bit premature as today the pink blossom petals are blowing everywhere & sticking to all my cleaned walls.

Remember in my last post when I spoke about the wonderful cross-stitches my friend Jane had gifted me?  The one I sent to the Framers was ready so I collected it & hung it on my Sampler wall.  It is the Remember Me one ... all the others are my own handwork.  I LoVe my Sampler wall 💗

My daughter in law has a very sore back & I've been trying to help out.  She mentioned both her wheatbags had holes in them so I made new covers for both & also added a tablespoon of dried lavender to each bag.  She was so grateful & said they smelt heavenly.

Thank you dear friends, for staying through this lengthy post - I hope it wasn't all too negative ... I write this as a record for myself mainly.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, it's cold & wet here but that's typical spring weather & in amongst the cold & the wet ... I can still see things growing & coming back to life.

With much love & friendship to you all,

First Week of Spring

Greetings lovely friends & readers

And Welcome to my favourite season of them all ... 💗 Spring

Although it is raining today, the first few days of September have been beautiful weather & I have spent lots of time working outside - although I have spent many hours out there, there is always much to be done still . . . . . . 
 

A sweet smelling vase of spring bulbs picked before the rains came. 

It was back in May, in *this post* that I planted this pot of Peony Tulips - I'd never grown this variety before but these were gifted & I absolutely adore them with their frilly heads.

In early August my dear friend Jane posted me a belated birthday gift - a set of 3 gorgeous cross-stitches, not Jane's work but some she'd purchased.  I took one in to the Framers & then decided to make this "Dear Friend" one into a long plump cushion for my bed as I felt the colours would go well.  I backed it with a cotton linen fabric, made an inner & stuffed it really tightly.

This took me less than an hours work & I am so delighted with the finished article.  I just LoVe it sitting on my bed.

I've put a lighter weight quilt on the end of my bed now it's warmer & the colours all blend together perfectly (I think).

I'm still deciding what to do with cross-stitch No 3 so I'll keep you posted.

We had our craft get-together last Monday at Joyce's but unfortunately I was unable to attend - I'd still completed my catfood tin challenge from * this post *. 

I took 3 of the remaining catfood tins & painted them with cream chalk paint, then I poured soy candle wax into them & fragranced it with orange/clove oils.  I had this lovely festive serviette so I decided to decoupage some of it onto my tins using mod podge.

I thought they turned out so pretty ... then I decided to make a swing tag using the same serviette offcuts.  

This (thrifted) tray has been in my stash for years a very long time.  I painted it with 2 coats Forrest Green Chalk paint  - Yes I was going for a Christmas theme here.  🎄

As the candle tins sat too low in the tray I glued 3 circles of firm quilt wadding to the underside of each one - this just propped them up nicely to the right height.

The addition of some greenery & berry pips & I thought it turned out rather well. 

 Only one other lady had done her challenge so we are going to show them next month - I shall try & get some photos as it's always interesting seeing what the others come up with.

I have no idea of the name of this houseplant, it has a variegated leaf & pink stems, but I love it.  It was very potbound so I found this old pot of Mums under my house & chalk painted it Vintage White.  I added a leftover transfer & waxed it well.

From the one plant I was able to divide it up into 4 houseplants - some I will gift.  Should you know the name of this plant, please do leave me a comment below as I'd love to know it.   

It is very tricky to get good photos of Little One as he is rarely still.  Last night I clicked this of him on the dining-room couch, the fire is going beside him.   He is improving but still will scratch & bite - more playful than attacking.  He likes his eyes & side of the face gently patted & will be very still when I do this.  This is for all those of you that ask for more photos of him. (Shhh don't tell the other two)

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

Wishing you all a wonderful rest-of-the-week, remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,