And the rains came.....

and they went, leaving my garden looking much refreshed.  It goes without saying, but of course I'll say it anyway, I just love this photograph - taken by Phil recently - such an interesting cloud and the sun shining through..........well, you can see for yourself!

Earlier last month,  a part of the garden was looking particularly stressed -

This was a fuchsia - I thought it had some awful disease but was told it simply needed water, so I took the advice of one of my friends, filled a small bucket and dumped it on : did that every evening and then, lo and behold

this was how it looked this morning!

A while ago I mentioned going to the Garden Centre where I bought several plants, they have survived the dry spell, and this morning I can show you how they look -

The variegated spiky one is new, as are the two little plants being hidden by the variegated geranium in front.  I bought them because they're yellow to complement the blue salvia.

Also this morning, I noticed these bulbs.  The pot has been outside for months, do you think they know it's autumn.......bulbs do flower in spring, don't they? and no, this isn't a late April fool thing!

Nor is this - what a great idea!

I do hope you can see the door, and the number on it - 109½   !  There must be a story behind this...!
You'll notice I haven't wasted water on car cleaning.

One of the women in the Arohata quilting class is very keen on hand sewing so when someone donated a bag of English paper piecing using very, very small diamonds I knew she'd love to take them on.  To encourage her I took in three of my own ufos - from the eighties I think.....

   The first one using fussy cutting - not my favourite technique.

Spinning tumbling blocks? , and

Red pointers?  I well remember that fabric, bought to make me a shirt and skirt for summer; it's been used in many of my scrap quilts and I got a lot of use from the clothes.

If you have any bright ideas for how to make use of the blocks, I'd be happy to hear..

The English branch of the family has been doing a lot of research into the family name which reminded me of the notebook I was sent -

Can you imagine doing housework dressed like that and using those tools?

I'm enjoying reading more by Joe Bennett, he's a journalist - rather a columnist who used to be an English teacher; he has an amazing way with words so I sit over my coffee, either at home or in the cafe, and laugh out loud - just what's needed these days!

Today I'll leave you with a photograph of the Lighthouse - featured so often, but I enjoy seeing it in its many moods,




and the thought that "A friend is someone who makes me feel totally acceptable", Ene Riisna

Thank you for reading my blog.
June