There comes a time ...

...a little potty...

My potting equipment is recycled to say the least! I have an old ironing board minus its padding and cover as my potting bench. Any extra potting mix can simply fall through the holes, I can adjust the height and it can be set up right where I need it. I use an old knife to dig and replace tiny plants as gently as I need to and a spoon to add potting mix to the pot so as not to bury little leaves in the planting process. Old margarine or yogurt containers come in to their own during the process of carrying mix to the pot.

So... I set myself up for an hour or so with all my "equipment" to pot up some little pansies.

These terracotta bowls are ideal, so when I spied some nice shiny new ones last week, I brought them home with me. Lots of other gardeners love them too so they are not always available.

These sweet faces enjoy semi-shade areas but need to be pampered a little. I remember pressing them between pages of rather large books when I was much younger. Even today, the pressed varieties fall from between the pages of Anne of Green Gables and Rilla of Ingleside! I guess my love affair with pansies goes back a long way.

Bowls are ready.

Plants are ready.

In a couple of weeks there will be lots of little faces on display...

...two bowls for me and two bowls for Mum. She doesn't know yet. Last week when we visited for Mothers' Day, I thought Mum needed cheering up a bit after many trips to hospital, then surgery and now recuperation all in the past six months. She has always loved the garden so some pretty pots will help fill the gap at present.

I have other pots of floral goodness to tend to.

More floral prettiness to share around.

...From Hay Shed to Feeder...

I love the old corrugated iron cottage that is our hay shed.

From a distance, I get a feeling about the people who went before us - not an eerie feeling but a warm and welcoming one. It has its own outhouse, tank on tankstand, bathroom and other "comforts" of times gone by.

The front door is very photogenic. Makes me want to hang a quilt and place a bentwood chair or maybe a squatter's chair!

But once the door is open ... there is work to be done...

Weaners wait patiently for the ute to arrive with their lucerne ...

.....but first there is yarding, drafting, and the education process of working them  through the yards. Our weaners are taken off in small mobs which gives each one a better chance to feed properly, to quietly move through the yarding process and so reduce accidental shock and trauma. They are adolescent cattle and we are all aware of what adolescent people can do to themselves and others. These fellas are no different.

 Happy contented little fellas forget about their mums in a few days, and are soon ready to face the world alone in the weaner paddock.

A shady fig tree to camp under and a trough of clean water complete the picture.

Happy cattle, happy people, happy life.

Old Mate.....

We are very privileged to have our old mate. He is an old grey gelding, VL  (Vee Ell) foaled on September 14th 1978.

Born brown as most grey horses are, he quickly became a blue grey then a lighter grey as he got older.  VL is pictured here with his mum Rhona. I am so glad of this photo because lots of older photos become so yellow with age that the subject is lost.

 

After being broken in, it wasn't long before his fortitude was recognised. He was an honest horse, always doing an honest day's work and in this case Les' pick-up horse at the many rodeos we attended in those days. This photo was taken by Darryl Doyle at a Miriam Vale rodeo in the eighties. VL didn't mind riders coming over his rump and would then proceed to snig the buckjumper into the yard if it refused to go of its own accord.

This is VL the scrubber runner. (You can just see him over the back of the beast).

When we first came to this block, scrubbers (wild unbranded cattle, usually with sharp speary horns) roamed outside our place causing trouble, smashing gates and fences and generally being a  nuisance. We were endeavouring to improve our herd with our chosen bulls, but the scrub bulls had other ideas! VL would gallop with the beast allowing Les to rope it then either throw and tie the beast, or tie it to a tree before loading it on a trailer, then back to the yards. There was no other humane way of dealing with wild cattle in this country.

...And so VL became our daughter's pony club jumping horse. He could fly over the logs out in the paddock and he put this skill to good use in the pony club arena with Cath on his back. Looked so funny ... this little rider on such a big horse but they were made for eachother and for a time she proudly took two horses to pony club days and rallies.

These days, VL has his own neck of the woods. He has always loved water and eating water lilies so the flood crossings needed to be intact wherever he was. He has his own little bank that holds back enough water that he can still pursue his interest in those lilies! When we saw him last week, he was pretending to be a youngster again. None of this standing to have your picture taken! He has outlived all his old mates by many years but he seems happy to live on his own with the occasional visit from us.

We always refer to VL as "the old codger" or "old codge" and his parting gesture to us on our last visit was is evident in this picture! It was as if he was saying, "Just go away and leave me in peace".

Codge will be thirty-four come September. We hope this winter will be kind to him.

 

 

Just checking.....

Every now and then, bulls have a scrap, the weaners rush, weaner mothers push more than gently on gates and so on it goes!

                         In this case, the weaner mothers were on the move to reclaim their babies from the yards where they are learning their manners, being drafted into smaller yards and being fed prime lucerne hay from feeders.

At least they had only put pressure on the gate until the weakest link gave way. Often times gates and fences are wrecked beyond repair so Plan B is adopted and a new gate or fence strain is erected.

Internal roads have been slashed.

Fences are all OK for now.

Fantastic to see green grass, brimming waterholes and running gullies mid-April.

 

Soap Jelly.....tried and true

Sorry I haven't been here for a few weeks. Sometimes life gets in the way of good intentions, and John Lennon 's quote, "Life is what happens when you're  busy planning other things", is very true of our lives here at 

There Comes a Time..., just lately.

 

I have decided to share one of my cost saving ideas. This has been going on for thirty odd years in our household so it is definitely tried and tested!  Mind you, I don't make this all the time, but it certainly saves the dollars when I do, and probably our skin and clothes as well.

Pure soap is really inexpensive, compared with modern detergents and other laundry cleaners. This one has been around since Auntie Mary lived on the farm where I grew up, and probably before that. I know she used it in her copper clothes boiler as did my mother, and I did too before the days of electricity in every home and modern day washing machines.

I use a sharp knife to shave the cake of soap. This doesn't take very long because a sharp knife makes short work of the texture of the soap.

 

I put the shaved soap ( I usually do two cakes at a time) into a large saucepan, and add water to about half-way. Cook this on a low heat because it makes a mess if it boils over, take it from me! It doesn't take very long to begin dissolving into the water. I stir it all the time to stop it from behaving badly.

There is no hard and fast recipe. More water makes the jelly softer. Less water makes the jelly thicker and able to be spooned into the washing machine. I recycle yoghurt tubs with clear lids as storage for my soap jelly. The lids are important if you don't want dead insects or other goobies stuck in the top of the soap jelly. Not a good look whirling round with your undies in the washing machine!



As the jelly cools, it sets and looks like this.

Now I use a couple of spoonsful to a small load, but that will depend on the hardness of the water and how dirty the washing is. I never use fabric conditioner in my wash, but I do use white vinegar in the dispenser instead. My towels and other household linen have really benefitted from the vinegar in the rinse. The most inexpensive white vinegar on the supermarket shelves will do the trick.

Presto!

Love seeing my sheets flapping in the breeze.

One day I will try to incorporate lavender from my garden into the soap jelly.

Scented geranium and maybe even essential oils would be worth a try too, but I haven't ventured off the beaten track yet. Will post the results when I do.

The heat of summer.....

Heat and humidity were the reason for no Sunday sleep-in at our place this Sunday morning. The early morning light was beautiful though.

A family of whistlers visits us every morning but they didn't want their picture taken!

Some of my plants don't mind the heat so I snapped their pretty flowery faces before the sun rose too high.

This is Tiny Tina - a very pretty hibiscus...

 ...and this is the parent plant...

So I am not sure where "tiny" fits in!

Strelitzias are very magestic aren't they?

Freshly mown lawn is satisfying too, but it's a bit like washing your face! Washing-up and sweeping the kitchen floor spring to mind as well!

This is one of my favourite tough plants...it flowers no matter the weather. I have no clue to its pedigree but it just loves its position. We think it must be a hybridised weed!

Gerberas seem to self-seed and this is a prime example. Sometimes I help the process by lifting off the fluffy seed head and planting the seeds elsewhere. If I am not around, they do it themselves and I have a surprise further down the track when a little gerbera plant germinates!

These little guys are tough and will readily germinate from seed but they are worthy of a place and a mention. Pity the pic is a little out of focus on the closer flowers. I love their colour.

Sometimes the little everyday flowers are overlooked in favour of the more exotic favourites. I love these, because while I am working they tend to be neglected but after a little t.l.c., they bounce back with a big "Thankyou".

.....and so to sew.....

A Christmas gift from my family included a revamp and repaint of my sewing room. The men in my life made a doorway between two rooms downstairs. One room is my original sewing room and the other was a spare bedroom. Now it is all one workable space and wonderful to be in. Our daughter helped us to paint. Ceiling is now a very bright white (instead of the old creamy white) and walls are a lovely light lemon, brightening and freshening the workspace considerably. The walls used to be blue.

These pigeon holes once were on the wall dividing the two rooms. Now they are on a side wall. They still hold the same items though because I wouldn't be able to find anything with too much changing of places. I seem to misplace things easily enough without causing trouble for myself!

These contain my ribbons, braids, bindings etc, where I can find them easily. I really love red with white polka-dots. How can you tell?

This picture is a little dark although the window lets in lots of light - probably confused my poor camera! I now have a chair beside my bookcase which is so handy.....

.....and my stitching/knitting/crocheting chair and light are downstairs now instead of in front of the television... where a little snoozing happened instead of a little productive creativity! This old wing chair is really so comfy for sitting and needleworking. It was a gift from a friend.

I once taught at a country school with a high top (Years 8, 9 and 10 but no Years 11 or 12) . The manual arts teacher was an elderly gentleman who became a dear friend. He constructed a large box with a removable lid for both storage and use as a change/bath table for our firstborn.It has been a most useful piece over the many years (nearing 40) used by all four of our children and since then as my cutting table. Thankyou Ernie, lovely old friend. I know you are resting in peace.

I love the glass in these old casements. The windows belonged in another house years ago and were given to us to use if we wanted. Of course I wanted!  This is what I see of the garden as I sew at my machine.

I am so looking forward to working in this room, doing what I love to do!

Tribute to Auntie Mary.....

Auntie Mary's sewing cupboard was a great delight to me as a child. Brown paper bags of embroidery cottons, ricrac, metal clip fasteners, fancywork and iron-on embroidery patterns, along with minute beads for the beautiful beading she worked on her best frocks. She lived in the old farmhouse across the paddock from where I lived as a child. Her beautiful handicrafts influenced me to a point where my collections reflect all the fine work she did. My Dad is ninety now, the youngest of eight children. Auntie Mary was one of his older sisters so any of her surviving work is a century old.

I have a fairly extensive collection of very old doilies, both handstitched or crocheted, or both. Most of them are used and rotated, but many are very fragile and a lot of care goes into their laundering!!!

I know the history of some of these pieces, but most of them attracted me because of their fine detail. The threads and hooks used were so fine, and the patterns so intricate that I'm not sure how these women could see the tiny stitches they were producing! I am truly in awe.

After all these years, the handstitched roses and leaves on this doiley still have an irridescent sheen to the thread. How did they work the underside of their work as neatly as the front? Even though these colours have not been favourites of mine in the past, I love them on old timber furniture.

The work on this duchess set is truly beautiful too.

See those two fellas sitting on these crocheted pieces? They are providing insight into a blog I'm planning further down the track.

Over the years I have kept old worn-out pieces to be cut up for other projects. Doilies with crocheted medalions are favourites but most pieces can be cut, dyed, re-worked and re-crocheted into useful recycled items. This is the stack I have left! I wonder what I will come up with?

I am sure Auntie Mary would approve.

Ho! Ho! Ho!.....

Two mail days ago, Postman Bevan brought a Christmas surprise..... from Sue, my Christmas swap friend from Western Australia.

Love that festive fat-quarter Sue...and the cute little snow-man hanging looks great on my dresser.

 Then... look what Postman Bevan brought in our last mail before Christmas.....

... a  parcel from Guewenheim.

During July 2011, I was lucky enough to meet Sue and Florence through their interest in Australian stitching designers. I went to an Inspired Stitches workshop in Adelaide and we chatted online and found we had similar interests linked with a sense of humour. Then we became Christmas swap partners thanks to Mairi.

I really love the braid across these decorations from Florence.

I love the stitchery on this needle case and the gorgeous Christmassy fat-quarter with matching threads.

Thankyou so much for those lovely Christmas surprises.

I will certainly be part of the Christmas swap fun again in 2012!

God bless you and your families.

'Tis the season.....

Storms and green grass mean fresh bulls are going out to be swapped with bulls that have been out and done their work. With help from the grandsons Jack and Sam, Pa was set to go.

Open the gate please Sam.

Quest, Meg and Cleo and their riders  are off to get Basil.

Basil is in a hurry to get to the yard. He has freshened up and is ready to go out to work.

Buck will go into a different yard, with Zumba looking on!

Boyd is happy to go out with his mob...

...and up the fence to his paddock.

Young bulls are coming home with older bulls in the lead.

Everyone is home so shut the gate.

...ready to be drafted up...

...and taken back to their paddocks...

...thirsty work for the girls...

...now it's smoko for the boys.