Onwards And Upwards At Shoestring Cottage

The weather was relentlessly dreadful during our holiday at Shoestring.  It got so bad that I got into the habit of putting up my umbrella and walking down to the culvert to despondently watch the storm water flow swiftly past.

As the days went by and I counted down those remaining until the resumption of the working year the weather remained dreary and dolorous.

The mountain was constantly shrouded by storm clouds and mist. That was a shame because it put a dampener on plans to climb to the top of the mountain and spend time outdoors, but it was good for progress on the home improvement front.  Sadly for Mr Shoestring, he slipped over on the back steps early on in our stay and had an enormous bruise on his nether regions to show for it.  Resisting all suggestions regarding pain relief and medications, he preferred to treat his bruise as though it was some kind of exotic visitor and followed its progress with daily inspections and admiration of its ever-changing hues.  It truly resembled a tropical sunset on some days - perhaps to make up for the sunsets we were not seeing.  (I think Mrs Peaceable was rather horrified when he showed it to her late one night when we were enjoying a soak in the hot pools, but she is a very accommodating and tactful soul and made suitably admiring comments.)

Here is the end result of Mr Shoestring's labour.  He has created new "floorboards" for the kitchen, toilet and laundry, made from plywood but very authentic looking.  On New Year's Eve Mr Shoestring and Lord Raglan had a slight disagreement about the best method for creating these mock floorboards.  Mr Shoestring worships and reveres Lord Raglan and usually follows to the letter any suggestions Lord Raglan may care to make regarding carpentry, so it came as rather a surprise to those assembled to hear him disagree with Lord Raglan's opinions on this subject; only time will tell whether or not Mr Shoestring was correct in his approach to this problem.  In the meantime Lord Raglan is trying to usurp Mr Shoestring's position as lawn grower, and is constantly sending messages regarding his superior lawn and the fact that tuis are nesting in it (ha, a likely story).

Here is the beautiful little Singer sewing machine hand basin so kindly donated by The Dancing Queen, all plumbed in and ready for action.

 Laboriously picked out lettering

Because things took so much longer than we expected he did not do the new flooring for the bathroom but that is a good thing in some ways, because I am very fond of the black and white flooring there and would have been sad to see the last of it.

After all the trauma of the renovations Mr Shoestring somehow hurt his back on our very last morning at the cottage and I am ashamed to admit that I couldn't help thinking what a blessed relief it was that this didn't happen at the start of our stay, heartless creature that I am.  Now that the bruise is starting to fade we have the sore back to contend with and I don't think the two conditions together would have made for a very relaxing holiday - not to mention the lack of progress on home improvements.

Festive Cheer

What beautiful weather we had on Christmas Day, which is unusual for Auckland as we usually have rain on 25 December.  We all had to lay down in the afternoon for a rest and try to digest our meals, but manfully rose to the occasion and devoured large portions again at dinner time before trailing off around the park to try to shake down some of the food.  What with a champagne brunch it was a busy day but a fun time was had by all.  We were farewelling our niece who left for England on Boxing Day morning at an ungodly hour, so that made it a poignant occasion.  We were missing our Firstborn who has left for her big OE.  Christmas was slightly strange, but we did manage to talk on the phone.    

Since Christmas Day we have been able to spend some time at Shoestring and catch up with friends.  The starlings have succeeded in hatching out some fledglings and we think we can see three.  They make their presence felt with noisy demands to be fed.  The plum tree is laden with ripening fruit and Mr Shoestring immediately dashed outside to try to salvage some of it before it was taken by the birds, who could not actually get inside the bird netting but managed to peck through it nevertheless.  After wracking my brains as to what to do with the fruit I have cooked it and strained the resulting puree, and am going to experiment with making plum icecream.  (Mr Shoestring adores the Kapiti Black Doris icecream so it may even earn me some points in his good book.)  This week I will consult recipe books and try to find some other things to do with less than perfect plums.    

The first lilies are flowering, but they are nowhere near as spectacular as Mrs Peaceable’s ones.  She gave me a lovely bunch of hers and I fully intend to rival her one day in the Christmas lily stakes.  The perfume is heavenly and fills the whole cottage. 

 My first lilies

A small offering from Mrs Peaceable's garden

A few weeks ago I bought a “Girl With A Pearl Earring” canvaswork picture from the church garage sale for $2.  Somebody had put a lot of time and effort into their work and it seemed a shame for it to be unloved, so I have turned it into a bag to take marketing.  Inside it has two old doyleys for pockets and it will come in handy when we are scouring the local markets for bargains.

Doyley pockets in lining 

Bag - finished and ready for endurance shopping events

This little book was a Christmas present, and what gems of gardening advice it contained.  

Mr Shoestring received this  

As he has recently been preoccupied by all matters sartorial (in fact Lady Raglan now calls him Captain Peacock), he received it eagerly and has scanned it from cover to cover in order to become ever more well groomed and ready for any occasion.

Preparations are in full swing  for the holidays at Shoestring.  What a lot of renovations we need to do, but also friends will visit for a catch up.  

Wild Weather

We couldn’t spend as long at Shoestring as we would have liked this weekend, because of Christmas party plans, but we did make the most of what time we had.  It was obvious that in the last week there had been torrential rain there (as in most of the rest of the country, where some areas had a whole month’s worth of rain within 24 hours).  Some hosta leaves were  found shredded to smithereens on the opposite side of the house to where the hostas were growing.  At least there was no need to water the garden.  I spent some happy time with my Procut 400 (the little hand mower which makes such a cheerful chirping sound) dashing all over the miniscule lawn with it.  I know that it is best to have a plan when mowing, but the lawn is such an irregular shape that it is difficult to mow efficiently and I tend to get distracted and go off course, so it takes longer than necessary to get around the area.  Never mind, I enjoy myself and the lawn is definitely improving despite the constant battle with the birds over the seed they love to devour. 

Speaking of birds, we were worried that the starling had abandoned the nest this week because there were no signs of comings and goings.  After bringing a ladder  and peering in precariously from a safe distance we discovered that the starling was still on the nest and are hopeful that there will be babies soon. 

The plums are ripening quickly on the enormous old plum tree now.

Mr Shoestring is determined not to lose the entire crop to the birds so he hastened along the road to the hardware store and bought himself some bird netting.  I am not sure how effective this will be in keeping the birds from devouring the fruit because it seems to me that it merely wraps up all the fruits in a convenient bundle so that they are all together for easy access.  After he applied the first piece of netting it came undone within a short while and remedial work had to be carried out, so we will just have to await further developments on that front.  The tree does seem to have responded very well to the pruning it had last year though and is laden with fruit even after a lot of it was blown off in the gales last week. 

I was rather alarmed when Mr Shoestring gleefully showed me the left handed weeding tool he found while out Christmas shopping.  I have a conventional right handed one and he has always been envious but didn’t think a left handed version of this tool existed.

He is more of a pruning/slashing/hacking gardener than one who can be let loose when there is precision weeding to be done so I am not sure whether this was a wise acquisition.  I am hoping he will lose interest now that he has finally tracked it down. 

 The first tomato of the season - I am ridiculously proud of it

These hydrangeas were kindly donated by a friend as cuttings during winter time.  They are bravely flowering their little hearts out now - many of the blossoms are actually larger than the plants!

The roses are all finished for the time being but the first lily is blooming and there is lots to see in the rest of the garden. 

Mystery seedlings which popped up in the garden "growing on"

The first passionfruit ever - tiny plant put in during the winter

The latest crockery acquisition is this very beautiful Aynsley plate – bestowed with strict instructions that it was not to end its days out of doors on the side of a tree.  So inside it will remain. 

Plans for the local rail trail are well under way.  It seems unlikely that it will be ready for opening at the beginning of the Christmas holidays as was originally planned, but it should not be long after that so we will be able to whirl off for rides through the farmland.