Some Round-the-House Projects - & - Some Creative Projects . . . . . . . .

Greetings lovely friends & readers

(Warning ... photo heavy post - long & waffly sorry)

 On my table today - beautiful hydrangeas in my Wrendale Jug

I snapped this sunset pic two nights ago from my back deck - just lovely with the cows grazing in the house paddock.

Last weekend my youngest son came & built a new deck on my Cottage.  (This is the cottage I used to run as a craft shop - that is another blog post all on it's own).  

Though I've forgotten to take a before pic, the deck was very rotten & I'd actually gone through it in two places.  I helped Kayne pull up the old timber which came away easily.  My son trained as a Builder though he no longer builds but will do odd jobs for cash (& sandwiches) 😉

At the end of Day 1 it was looking good but he still had the edge to finish & also drill & nail it off properly.

Prior to this being done I'd had to cut all my plants away from the deck in order to make it easier access for Kayne.  

Unoiled                                            Oiled with two coats

Day two & we have a completion.  During the week I've oiled it twice but I'll still give it another coat, maybe two. 

I'm thrilled with how it turned out & am reluctant to put back all the old junk treasures that I had on it. 

My task for last weekend was to slowly burn all the old deck timber on my rubbish heap, as well as keep Kayne supplied in a steady stream of curried-egg/ham sandwiches & homemade Lemon cordial. 

We have had the trees cut up that fell down in * this post *.  I now have a large pile of mulch to distribute on my gardens.  Does anyone else get as excited about fresh garden mulch as I do??  

I must admit though, I wish I could wiggle my nose & the job was done 😉

The tree men left the huge stump in the ground so The Mr bought home the farm tractor today & lifted it out for me, as well as removing some of the huge timber rings that I could not lift.  Gosh it makes life so much easier when you have the heavy-lifting tools to do the job.

Here he is lifting out some of the huge wood rings & here is the stump on the back tray, ready to go to the burning hole at the farm.  

It did not take long for a certain golden eyed girl 😺to come check out all the farm smells on the tractor. 

During the big storm we had last January our neighbor lost trees that fell over power lines - power was out for over 8 hours while it was repaired.  He has slowly been having a large thicket of trees removed along the road verge.  

So I was surprised (& delighted) to see them continue down the paddock.  For the 25+ years that we have lived here we have looked out onto this large thicket of trees.  I would call it a hedgerow but it was many trees planted together, not singular trees.  It has never bothered me but now that they are removing them & opening it up - Oh My!!!  The light has come in & I can see the stunning Maungatautari Ranges in the distance.  You can see the digger working away in my photo & the gap appearing in the right hand pic.  This is taken standing on my deck, but zooming in.  

Slowly the gap widens.  Yesterday they began burning the huge heaps of rubbish, two fires behind the depot yard, which was a bit nerve wracking as it was windy.  

This pic was taken just before I sat down to type this post - standing just outside my kitchen door.  I cannot explain the Joy that this fills me with, seeing the view across the farmland.

  The Mr has told me I am Not to tell the neighbor how happy this has made me as he would be out there replanting the trees in the blink of an eye (our neighbor is a difficult man) 😉

Some creative projects also happened this past week - I sat in the sun on my deck & painted these two silver dishes that had belonged to my late Mum.  I did one in Shabby Pink & the other in Vintage White chalkpaint & then added some decor transfers to them. 

They look lovely amongst some of my Easter decor.

You may remember other silver trays of Mums that I painted in * this post *. 

I completed an order for 10 applique tea-towels for an old friend/customer.   I haven't done these since 2018 when I closed my craft cottage & I'd forgotten how much work they were.  Amanda requested 6 golly ones & 4 hen ones ... these are currently in the post on their way to her.  

Thank you so much dear friends, if you've stayed through this lengthy post, 

With these uncertain times in the world currently, I hope you do find something to smile about in the week ahead.

Sending much love & friendship out to you all,