Happy New Year - a bit late, but 2009 is here!

We have had very high temperatures in Hawkes Bay recently but first thing in the morning, when its cooler its nice to potter in the garden, picking flowers and vegetables and talking to the cats. We never use the front door as the driveway leads you to the back door but its a lovely cool spot to sit at most times of the day and always seems to have these great looking shadows filling it.

The sweetpeas needed picking and they will need picking the next day and the next...
A mug of fresh coffee really adds to this pleasant little pastime

With all the doors open to catch any passing breeze I decided to not only take the Christmas decorations down (a few days late!) but to sort them into colour, mend any broken ones and make up a box of unwanted decos for the charity shop. We have an enormous collection of decorations which we add to every year - its only mean't to be one each year but a few extras always slip in, including a handmade by myself and usually one from a very dear friend in the UK who always sends something gorgeous. But the really precious ones are still the few made by our children years ago and so filled with memories.



Popular posts from this blog

Ginger Crunch

Image
Ginger Crunch - a New Zealand classic with a twist. Lois Daish ( much missed food writer for The Listener a couple of years back) says this version is from the Wholemeal Cafe in Takaka. It is absolutely delicious. Two good sized pieces have been eaten rather quickly already. Base: 150g butter 2 tbsp golden syrup 3/4 cup soft brown sugar 3/4 cup desiccated coconut 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 3/4 cup plain flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp ground ginger Preheat oven to 175C Line a 20x30cm slice tin Put butter, golden syrup and sugar in pan and melt gently together. Remove pan from heat and mix in all the other ingredients. Press into tin and bake for 15 minutes - I find if I go over this time it goes too crunchy when cool. Mark into squares while still warm and spread with icing. Leave to cool completely (if you can!) before cutting through icing. Icing: 60g butter 120g icing sugar 2 level tbsp golden syrup 3 tsp ground ginger Melt together and beat till smooth.
Read more

Lavender Life

Image
 With the best will in the world, I still haven't managed regular blog posts here. Lots going on re: my lavender filled sachets so if you can please come and see me on my Instagram account you will see very regular posts there. Please click HERE  ðŸ’œ
Read more

The Wool Story

Image
Te Koha organic, biodynamic wool, fresh from the sheep. Cleaning and sorting the wool to use in my lavender and wool filled pincushions, see the previous post. One gorgeous pile of the softest, sweetest smelling wool for me to use. Now to the story which my friend Bev, of "French Street Plum Jam" fame, told me last week. I have typed it out exactly as it was written: I was five years old when my mum invited me and my five siblings to go wool picking and the wool would be made into half-quilts for our beds. Mum would make a picnic of fresh homemade bread, butter from our churn and delicious plum jam made into sandwiches and a bottle of cordial for each child which we stuffed into our leather school bags and slung over our shoulders. In our hand we each carried a sugar sack to gather our wool in. We walked up hills and around the fence lines picking the wool off the barbed wire fences where the sheep had stopped to scratch, leaving behind little tufts of wool snagged on the...
Read more