Knock knock

I have been wanting to paint the front door for ages but I thought I'd wait for the entire house to be repainted. A white house thank you. With a red front door. Or maybe a blue one, or green, or perhaps dark charcoal? Oh, too many choices.

I'm not sure when the house will get its lick of white paint. But enough was enough. The fake tan brown door had to go. In the spirit of thriftiness and making do, I remembered a bag of milk paint I bought a few years back with good intentions to paint some baby furniture. Done. The decision made for me.

This gorgeous paint comes as a powder that you mix with water. Made from milk by products, it creates a lovely chalky finish and is non toxic. BUT, is it suitable for north facing exterior doors? Err no. No matter, the brown has gone, it looks good for now and it will be interesting to see how it weathers.

Thanks to Mabel, who bless her, patiently waited for liver treats while I took this shot.

Milestones

It always amazes me how children can change so dramatically within a week. Last week's struggles are overcome without much ado and then it's on to conquer the next.

All year we've been trying to get Hugo to go to preschool. But he didn't want to go. He didn't like it. Didn't want to play with the other children. It was a struggle. And for me, a battle not worth fighting. We put it off until he was ready. Softly softly. An hour or two here, then maybe a whole morning. But not without me staying. He wasn't ready for me to leave him there.

Then this week something changed. Hugo asked to spend the entire day at preschool. To play with his friends. Without me. And he did. "Bye Mum" he said as he ran off to play. Such a surprise. Such a turn around. I left, exciting by this development, but also a little, well um sad.

After school to celebrate we went out for a treat. His first whole day at school. He's growing up. But we won't think about that too much. Today, we'll just savour the delicious ice cream.

Doris doesn't sleep...

...that's what Mary quipped at the monthly Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers guild meeting when Doris stood up for show and tell. And well, it seemed Doris doesn't sleep because her arms were full of gorgeous knits she'd been working on, "just using up my stash" she shrugged.

"But Doris, don't you know, she who dies with the biggest stash wins!" Mary exclaimed. Here I was, Hugo asleep in my arms, in a room full of amazingly talented women, needles clicking away, who get together every week to knit and spin and chat. And my, they were so funny!

I'd been asked by Hugo's kindy teacher if I'd like to learn to spin. The school has a new spinning wheel and a load of fleece and needed a volunteer to spin it. Always up for a challenge, I simply had to go along to an old church in Battery Point where the guild meet every Thursday morning for a lesson.

After the meeting was over. Georgie kindly and patiently explained the ins and outs of the wheel and how to card (comb) the fleece and then spin it into yarn.

Lesson over, I headed next door to the store. Oh my. An Aladdin's cave of yarn and wool in all the colours of the rainbow and lovely wooden things. Heavenly really. I loved the row of mannequins dressed in a range of brightly coloured knit bikinis.

Although I do love yarn and wish I could knit, I never in a million years thought I'd find myself sitting behind a spinning wheel. But it's very addictive, much easier than knitting and most relaxing.

I'm looking forward going back for my next lesson and to see what Doris has been making. And to find out if she really doesn't sleep.

Lost

Eight days. Eight days without the interwebs. EIGHT DAYS! Oh how hard it has been. No blogging, no tweeting masterchef, no facebooking. I've felt a bit lost.

Well, it's been quite liberating really. With lovely winter weather, we rugged up, headed outside and hit the garden. It's been grand. Planting roses, weeding and spreading lots of gorgeous compost around. A very busy time.

But I do have loads of posts banked up ready to go, so regular posting shall resume this week. Come back soon.

Portrait of a lady

I splurged on a travelling watercolour paint set recently. A proper grown up one. It came complete with twenty sheets of lovely thick cotton paper.

Elsa and I have had a little fun painting the portrait of her much loved doll Pippy. She's a bit of tomboy and a bit grubby round the edges but she was a delightful model. Most ladylike and didn't move a muscle.

Her portrait now sits on the piano next to other cherished family snaps, immortalised as a sweet family keepsake.

Fat bastard

Such a great name for asparagus, we cracked up when we saw the name in the seed catalogue. But the crowns we planted today are the more conservatively named Mary Washington. I've had this entire raised bed saved especially for asparagus. A family favourite.

It had grown quite weedy in the time between being built and when asparagus is ready to plant, which is now. To bulk up the bed I pulled out all the weeds and left them in the bottom and threw in heaps of blood and bone to help them break down faster then covered the lot with cardboard. Then I hosed down the cardboard and covered with a layer of straw and scattered more blood and bone and some chook manure pellets. This will all break down to create a nutrient rich base for the asparagus to grow. Over the top of this was five bags of potting mix and a few bags of composted manure.
These asparagus crowns are two years old so they shouldn't take too long to get established. I bought eight which should just be enough for our family of four. Weird looking things, they remind me of a Matrix Sentinel to be honest.

I read lots of different ways on planting them, but here's how I did it. Hollow out a circle roughly the diameter of the crowns in the soil. Make a little mound of well composted manure in the middle of the circle then place the crown on top. Spread out the tentacles all around the hollow then cover the entire thing in a mix of soil and manure. About two inches. Then gave them a good drink. You cover the ferns with more soil as they grow up through the soil.

You're not supposed to pick them the first year so as to get established. Then they should last for about 15 years if well looked after. Hopefully in about two years, come spring we'll be awash with delicious Mary Washington asparagus spears. But I think we'll call them Fat Bastard anyway. Fingers crossed they will be.

Precious

It's been a long time between eggs. Our girls went off the lay pretty much as soon as little Mabel arrived. And true to her hound instincts, she runs those dear girls ragged.

So we were very excited to see an egg this week. A precious find in the nesting box. Chooks do go off the lay in winter, but as soon as the days begin to lengthen they start up again. It amazes me how hens can know that we're past the mid winter turning point. That the sun is on it's way back.

So that's how cooked it. Sunny side up.

Fishing...my creative space

I've been sewing these little felt fish for the school's spring fair. They will be sold as part of a game that will include a fishing rod with a magnetic hook, all kept in a little bag that will also be the pond. I have to remember to sew in the paperclip so they will be caught!
I'm also very proud of myself for finally sorting out my floss. It looks so lovely and ordered, unlike the rest of my notions!

Thank you to Kirsty for hosting My creative space.