back in not so black...again!

Back towards the beginning of my bloggy happenings I moved away from blackness and into blackness with the blog layout...for a while I've been tired with the black, and even though it is less lit pixels, a pal pointed out to me that a difficult to read screen isn't very sustainable either!   So I've taken the plunge to start redesigning the blog page in line with some new directions I'm taking...it's a work in progress...watch this space!

As I mentioned in the previous post, the uni semester started last week which takes me away from all routine things, and this week has been about developing a new routine...which is kind of nice - means some jiggling of priorities and attending to the really important things.

I didn't touch the garden last week...it has been a very disappointing season with the lack of a real hot stretch and all of the pests (aphids and rats!) that have just caused almost everything to fail.  Even the last hope for apples is out the window as these late season sturmers have been munched away at (I think rats...again!)  When I went to take a pic I discovered european wasps sucking away at the flesh too!

But I did manage to pick one, the last with no rat chews...and looking at the woodbridge link, it's reassuring that my apple looks the same as theirs, even though it is insanely early compared to the june/july ripening time that they predict...

There are always some lovely things in the garden though, like this orb weaver on one of the rose arches....

And the zucchinis and cucumbers I planted to replace those pulled out during the dog vs rat debacle are doing well...even though they are late in the season, hopefully I'll get a crop...

I'm starting some experiments with making vegetables in the studio...not sure where it will go, but I'm doing some plastic crochet Marjorie Bligh style with a twist.  I'm doing some hyperbolic crochet to make some lettuce forms...in this case using glad wrap from a bunch of organic celery...


From sheet to form :o)

giant eyelets are go!

I went on a big eyelet expedition last Friday, but before I get to that, I failed to mention the watermelon suprise I had the day before.  The watermelon plant out the front was looking a bit wilted after the hot weather while I was away.  I was worried that it could be on it's way out if I didn't start to look after it more carefully, but when I looked closely I saw a lovely melon about the size of a tennis ball developing!

I'll be very careful to water it everyday now, I think that's what they need.

I'm about to start making curtains for the holiday house at Rye, and decided that eyelet top style would work best for the rods and style of the windows.  I've never invested in large eyelets and the equipment to attach them - I have wanted them, but never had a good enough reason.  So I popped down to Eyelets Supply Co. in Springvale to get my 40mm beauties!

I've never been to Eyelets Supply in person, although I've rung through orders hundreds of times.  I liked seeing their sets of old skool dies...

And their presses...

Here's the big eyelets...

And the lovely sales guy Luke demonstrated how to attach the eyelets and also told the story of how he amputated his hand 15 years before!  I think he felt he had to tell me because I asked if he minded me taking pics of him hammering and thought I might notice his hand looked a bit funny.  It was amazing that he could hammer with it and write normally...I won't go into more detail, might be too gory for here!

Next door is a Chinese temple too, which was so pretty, I love the ceramic details :o)

rats!

We have some resident rats here...I'm was never worried about them as we've never had any (or mice) in the house and they keep the dogs endlessly amused as they run along the fence railings.  That was until now!  I came home from the beach with the doggles as it was getting dark last week and there was the little blighter (well, no so little actually!) up on the apple arch.

I had been wondering for a while what had been causing this kind of damage to the apples.  Definitely not birds who peck bits here and there...this was consistent nibbling to one apple at a time until the last bit would disappear.  I was suspecting rats and that was well and truly confirmed.  I called the dogs and they went nuts once they saw the rat up there...they were jumping and yelping, the rat didn't know which way to go and finally launched itself off one side of the arch and unfortunately doggles were not quick enough.  There were two repeats of the same, one in the early hours of Sunday morning (aarrgh, followed by a very drooby Sunday).  Although the apples are being saved from rat nibbling, the kerfuffles have caused most of the still very green apples to be knocked off the tree.  I've saved these couple...the bigger one was looking beautiful too :o(....with the hope that they might ripen off the tree.

Besides the failures in the garden (there have been more too - grrrr!), I've gotten back to making with some leather and have been finding that as I make I'm sorting the remnant pieces into streams suitable for their use.

This piece goes into the unusual/unique/interesting stream where anything might go!  More to come on this next adventure...

back to a different kind of work

I'm finally getting around to doing my post christmas/new year catch up post.  P went back to work this week, and I was supposed to get back to serious PhD work, but this little beggar has gotten in the way a bit this week!

I finally took the plunge iphone wise and I've dressed my whitey in a pink bumper...I think I must have been subliminally channeling this vintage cloth I have on the table at the moment when I made this choice!

I wasn't really going to take a holiday break from study, but with the other half home and so many renovations in the pipeline, I had to give poor P a hand.  So it was a working holiday.  At home we had a fence to fix after Hugo did a runner on christmas eve (lightening induced)...all was well, he got picked up by the police, drunk and disorderly with a golden retriever pal he had found along the way, and taken to the local emergency vet.  That was a very relieving phone call I recieved at 4am!

We stabilized the old fence posts with star pickets and concrete then reattached the palings side by side with screws.  It doesn't look terribly pretty (hence no photo's!) but it does the job and it is down the back behind the workroom.  I did however glean the surplus palings and came up with a thrifty use for them.  I've been having probs with the vegie patch - it is divided into 4 sections, but as I mulch and the plants grow, everything spills into the other sections.  So, I used some long chunky stakes, malleted into the ground, and screwed the palings on horizontally.  It has made such a difference in feeling organised and on top of everything...I think it's a bit of an analogy for the PhD, which definitely is in need of some set boundaries and clear direction!

Other renos have included re-laying paving in our patio, fixing an outside wall and painting windows.  We also had a little getaway down to Rye to P's families holiday house, but also did renos down there too, so it was only a holiday for the doggles who got to have lots of lovely long walks, not for us!

The vegie growing is going ok, but a little slow, I don't think there has been enough consistent warmth.  I've only had a few beans and zuchinnis so far.  One thing I am excited about is a watermelon plant in the front garden which is looking promising - I've never succeeded in getting one to grow before.

And on the making front...
I finished the green tones baby cardi...
I joined all of my cardi knitting remnant granny squares together.  It's about the size of a place mat and I find it very lovely, it reminds me of Sophie Digard.  At the moment it's over the arm of the sofa...I'll keep adding to it and maybe one day it will be big enough to cover the bed...

 And, I have started another baby cardi...moving along swiftly with this one :o)

 There's a few other bits n bobs going on, but definitely time to get back to another kind of work!

plum update and a christmas giveaway!

The lorikeets of a week or so ago have moved on and gemma has been finishing off anything that was left of the plums...

You might not have believed that I have a plum eating dog...but not only that, she's a plum picking dog!

Be patient with me re the dog pics...I just find gemma so darn cute when she does this (as you can see hugo is none too interested!)...and it's the only plummy amusement I'm going to have this year.  I'm wistfully thinking back to previous plum abundance...this next piccy was the low down branch that gemma was picking off after she was finished yesterday...

And that's about all I can see on the tree, so this years harvest is a total of three plums!

I'm not going to have any jam to give away this year...so for fun I'm offering a giveaway to blog readers...if you would like one of my plum jam recipes which I was folding up yesterday for christmas cards, send me your snail mail details to remnantgleaning@gmail.com and I'll post one out to you - anywhere in the world!  Hopefully you have more fruit in your neck of the woods than I do right now :o)

p.s. this final pic is last years jam :o(

damson in distress

My poor damson plum hasn't been doing so well since the end of blossom time.  The bumper crop that seemed to be developing here, unfortunately didn't come about when the last of the blossom just didn't set fruit in late September and withered away...

 I think it may have been because we had a very dry august here in Melbourne...something was not right at that time because the pluot tree (plum cross apricot) had blossom at that time and it didn't set fruit at all.

Now that the plums that are there are just beginning to ripen, the lorikeets have moved in!

They've been having a good peck...and this is the result!  Even the plums on lower down branches are being pecked...in previous years they ate all those at the top which I couldn't reach anyhow, and there were so many plums that there were enough for everyone.  I don't mind really...I do love watching them waddling about and hearing their gentle cooing then their raucous squabbles...and it's nice to see them enjoying a feed.

At least Gemma is getting to eat some too...she nosies around the bushes (a bit of dog gleaning) and finds those that have fallen from too much pecking but still palatable...at least for her!

So there will be no plum preserving party this year...it's amazing thinking back to the absolute fecundity of this tree considering how it is going this year.  It's probably quite anthropocentric of me to say that it is the plum tree in distress when it probably is actually me.  I do think I took the plum bearing powers of damson for granted at least a teensy bit.  I thought it would be there every year, providing me with the means to make lots of christmas jam pressies.  Maybe damson isn't in distress at all...maybe she needed a break this year!

two turtle doves

I very much likey this gorgeous Marc Martin illustration which he blogged about in his recent stint as guest blogger at design files.

 It reminded me of this scene from my workroom door which I snapped last month...

The doves often walk about on the metal roof and drink from the gutter...nice sounds to remind me of the outside and other creatures when I'm working inside...on this occasion I popped my head out the door to see what was going on...

Often what is going on is this...a stare off between the doggles and the said birds...

apple tiser

My six apple trees have been developing nicely in the garden...all of them are getting fruit except for the snow apple which insists on only growing bushy foliage at the moment.  This is their 3rd year and I've only had fruit off my summer strawberry and sturmer before, so this is exciting!
What I'm enjoying is seeing how the fruit all looks the same then as they grow their individual characteristics start to show...a celebration of difference!

Sugarloaf pippin is an early apple with a long shape...starting to become just a bit more bulbous at the top...

Esopus spitzenburg is an old variety of a classic round shape...is said to be brilliant red and is looking that way!

Caville blanc d'hiver is an old french apple, particularly good for cider.  It has a knobbly shape which is quickly becoming evident here!

And just for fun...a flash back to last years summer strawberry apple as featured on a gleaning apron :o)