mulberries
we have a scrawny-looking young mulberry tree on particularly wind-swept part of our property. wuthering heights, pretty much. this mulberry tree was merely a bunch of pale thin sticks a few months ago. suddenly it burst out with foliage and then berries followed. we’ve been idly picking a few mulberries as we went back and [...]
kittens!!
it’s a long story….but we ended up adopting two small kittens from the cairns RSPCA this week. introducing mushroom and fennel…..adorable stripey miniature felines. they are not brother and sister; the girl, mushroom, is about two weeks older than fennel. he is fearless, darkly and evenly striped all over, stocky, friendly, fuzzy-coated and is already [...]
winter haiku soap
this is one of my favourite new soaps. it’s very dramatic looking and it’s fun to make. plus, it is a wonderful shaving bar….it is full of activated charcoal with gives a lovely slip to the lather and is very cleansing, plus an essential oil blend of peppermint/tea tree/eucalyptus/patchouli/aniseed. these oils cool the skin and [...]
hunza pie
i bet some of you remember this filthy healthy stuff from the seventies. a layer of brown rice, covered with cooked spinach, covered with cheese and baked. it was just kinda bland and yet…..the combo had charm. wandering the vegetable garden this afternoon, looking at three kinds of spinach running wild out there, and i [...]
some help for our woolly friends
i received this email recently and it hit a nerve with me. and not just because i am a new zealander. You can help to end the cruelty of live sheep export from Australia to the Middle East and stop the needless deaths of tens of thousands of animals a year en route. During their [...]
glorious grevillea blooms
i had a little stroll around my garden today, in the late afternoon, in a very light misty drizzle. it was quiet and cool and there were so many grevilleas in bloom that i decided to pick a bunch….there were plenty left for the birds. these were all planted as seedlings in the last 18 [...]
white garden progress
some white blooms already: the centre bit is just waiting for river pebbles and maybe a fish bowl….some white waterlilies perhaps? white grass! more white plants have gone in: shasta daisies white ice agapanthus dwarf snowball agapanthus dwarf shasta daisies miniature murrayas white anzac callistemon osmanthus
a couple of limited edition soaps
first up is one of my astro-soaps. it’s a full moon soap….mixed at the full of the moon: dark velvety blue, like a tropical winter night sky, with a chunky white swirl, and a dusting of silver. i blended essential oils of rose, ylang ylang, palmarosa, lemon myrtle, benzoin, sweet orange, aniseed, may chang & [...]
groovy little bug
i spotted this guy today, sitting on the edge of my garden fish bowl. his beautiful curly antennae were wafting and swirling in the breeze. i’ve never seen anything like him before. does anyone have any ideas as to what kind of critter he might be? edited to say: he is a feather horn beetle. [...]
excellent prescription glasses in bali
i have been meaning to blog about this for a week. while in bali recently, i picked up a couple of pairs of prescription glasses from optik melawai, the branch at the galeria mal bali blok. my friend ella got herself a very spiffy looking pair of prescription sunglasses. very professional service from the friendly [...]
eat your heart out, vita sackville-west
two weeks ago, a bobcat operator arrived and ripped out the tangled jungle and giant grass and horrible rock-filled soil in front of our rainwater tanks. this is the site for my long-awaited, much-anticipated white garden. the plantings for the white garden got started today. so far i’ve got: a nutmeg bush white pentas white [...]
