Friday, August 3, 2012

The First Signs Of Spring

This weekend I was able to pick a small bunch of flowers at Shoestring Cottage and  tried to convince myself that spring was on its way.  I adore the lime green coloured pelargonium plant leaves, it is one of my favourite "geraniums" and I am forever taking cuttings in case I lose the parent plant.  The bitter green/yellow colour is so "spring time" in my mind.


Sadly the signs outside were not in agreement with me; there was surface flooding all around and parts of the farmland more closely resembled lakes than paddocks.  In my posy there were two daffodils and a few jonquils, but I have high hopes that there will be more to come.  Mr Shoestring helpfully pointed out that considering I had planted literally hundreds of bulbs it wasn’t a very high yield and he didn’t follow my reasoning that it was just as well I had planted lots of bulbs, or else we wouldn’t have had a single bloom.  Hopefully the buds will fatten and in the next few weeks there will be a veritable floral festival in the garden at Shoestring to silence Mr Shoestring. 

The Canucks came to call, bearing gifts for Mr Shoestring.  He was thrilled to receive a copy of The Red Book for Boys, complete with its inscription from when it had been awarded to the diligent scholar George Neathe(?) in 1928 as first prize for arithmetic in Standard Six





Mr S was particularly pleased to see there was included an article about the last of the moas!  All in all a fascinating book.  The Splendid Book For Girls looks as if it was printed later although there is no date of publication in the front of the book.  I would very much like to try wearing a headscarf in the fetching way depicted on the front cover but I fear that rather than looking as if I was about to embark on a sporty adventure, I would look as if I was about to clean the toilet. 
 


While The Canucks were visiting Madame La Poste arrived and Mrs Canuck, Madame La Poste and I all shared a happy time going through my bag of green silk ties and assorted green silk scrap fabrics so that Madame La Poste could take some home to use in her crazy quilt.  Imagine my shame when I first of all could not find the bag (Mr Shoestring eventually located it for me), and then when it was revealed to all present that I store my fabrics not in an orderly or even tidy fashion, but screw them up into tortured balls and stuff as many as possible into old shopping bags, then jam said bags under my sewing table and attempt to cover all with a long tablecloth.  Madame La Poste helpfully folded some of the largest pieces and put them all back in an orderly fashion; I fear she despairs of my ever developing a system for storing all my craft perquisites but I hope to prove her wrong eventually, once Mr Shoestring has built floor to ceiling storage units in the sewing room and there will be a place for everything and everything in its place.  We had a lively discussion about the merits of different shades of green.  My taste runs to the greeny-yellow shades while Madame La Poste prefers cleaner, fresher spring greens.  No matter how often I shook my favourite pieces in front of her, she would not admit how attractive they were!  She insisted they made her shudder and that they were ghastly!  Huh!  Mrs Canuck wisely chose not to become involved and Mr Canuck was obviously perplexed and bemused as little by little the room began to resemble a place where a green snowstorm had taken place.  Happily this fabric inspection spurred me on and I finished piecing the last five blocks for my crazy quilt – now they just need to be embroidered, embellished and assembled, a minor detail. 

At The Peaceable Kingdom calving is in full swing and we visited the babies.  How lovely they were with their long eyelashes and lustrous coats.  The roosters were strutting proudly about

and the daffodils were looking magnificent - and putting on a far better show than my pathetic and spindly ones at Shoestring Cottage!

 Maybe spring is coming after all.  The lovely Floss has sadly passed away which has caused a lot of heartache for us all; but look at this adorable new addition to the menagerie, as yet unnamed but very appealing and already much loved by all who meet her.