Coddled Eggs

Coddled Eggs

Sunday 29 October 2017

        It was a wonderful Winter...

As always the months and days get away on me leaving little time to spend updating my blog.
So many posts stay lodged in my head and I do have full intentions of writing them then,  as time would have it, the opportunity to write passes by.

This Winter I continued my dream list of "Singing"  "Skiing " "Scrapbooking".

I have hundreds of letters that I can't bare to part with and store them all lovingly in boxes. Cards scraps and magazine clippings make up the rest of the collection.

I picked out some of my fav's and also some of my favourite stamps and recycled an old book.
Next winter I plan to finish it.

The book is full of sayings that I used as part of each page.

The envelope is part of some music calligraphy my friend Heather does. It was amongst some of her "failed" attempts.
 I found the scraps of page far too beautiful to throw away , a little fruit sticker over top an ink splot makes it all the more interesting and colourful and a great way to store some of the lovely wee tags. 

The snowdrops I painted on a bleak winters day in an attempt to make a bookmark 
When I put the glaze on the colour ran . 
Initially it was tossed in the bin then retrieved and stuck in the book.
I sometimes need to remind myself to make the best of dark days.
I found a little you tube clip to make this page. I copied the little huts as best I could .
We are starting to have one or two little huts on the property ...I wish they looked like these 





It sure is a cute hut ..it deserves it's own blog post..It was made by the men of the house ...some male bonding time...I will make a post about it ....just so you can see how much of adventure the kiddies will have when it is finished.
I made a little hut with the kiddies out of old bottles ,tin foil and paper mache .I popped some fairy lights in it and now it is a night light...I think soon we will make a little hut just like it for the girls to play in..






 Its apt I should open this page just as I look out of the window at all the spring flowers ,the green lawns,birds building nests....I really do celebrate the the Winter is over..


 




Even though Winter brought with it some fun in the snow and more family bonding as we all ventured up the ski field it was still cold and without an overseas adventure this year saw me succumb to the old Winter blues.
It seemed like a string of funerals, friends being diagnosed with cancer, too many sad news items about homelessness and child poverty in New Zealand ,no sun and a sleeping garden made winter harder than most years. It was hard to sing and stay cheerful . 
Creating one little memory book .The joy.



I am so thankful that that dark cloud has lifted...Everyday I'm gifted little treasures from my garden.
I have shed what no longer serves me and had an added surprise when an old school friend contacted me through facebook. I love Spring with it's new beginnings.
LOTS to look forward to ...



















Tuesday 3 October 2017

                       The nutty vampire


So what's that all about you may ask.?

Our poor walnut tree began to bleed when a branch was lopped off (at the wrong time of the season).
Whilst I googled a remedy to stem the bleed I discovered walnut tree's are great to tap (albeit at the correct time of year) when they are dormant and not like now (Spring) when the sap is rising.

 What was so interesting to read and of great value to me ...you can make walnut syrup just as you do maple syrup.

I popped a pot under the tree and collected just over 1 litre of walnut tree blood (sap).

I found instructions and a recipe on this blog www.ourtinyhomestead.com/walnut-syrup.html
and set to to make the syrup.




Just over a litre  in one day.  I transferred the liquid  from this big stock pot to a smaller pot.

Boiled it for about an hour to reduce to maybe a tablespoon full.




Was it worth it  , making the syrup you ask??? Heck yeah.
So yummy.

SORRY TREE.

I do love our old walnut tree..
Several years ago  and late at night the man of the house walked me round it . He held my hand and asked me if I felt the warmth coming from the tree. I did feel it. A real warmth that came in waves that I can only liken  to walking in a cold corridor as someone opens a door from a warm room and  closes it .  The feeling of warmth is fleeting but it is there.


When I feel sad I go walk under the tree . I tell it I am grateful for it's fruit and it's shade in the summer . I am grateful for it's warm energy when the sun sets and  am so thankful the old tree survives.


I admire the old tree, she's 80 years old or there abouts.
Our postman (whom once lived on the land we have our home on ) said it was planted the day he started school. It was probably about 5 years old too when planted.



Poor old Mrs Walnut she nearly died a couple of years ago, the arborist held little hope. Dry rot had set in but the ever handy man of the house gouged out the rot and filled the great holes with cement.
To this day she lives.






......I am sorry tree I lopped your branch ....

Hippocrates said "Healing is a matter of time, but it's sometimes a matter of opportunity."
Well I certainly took the opportunity before our tree healed to make something good of her blood.
Again I thank you ...
PS I've missed this place in cyber land..It has been a year since I last wrote...The black clouds are moving .
Have a fabulous week .