TEA ROOM # 126

We finally made it back to the city to visit with daughter and family. We are now gathering seeds to plant indoors next month. One of my favorite marts has imported seeds from Pagano, a heritage company in Italy which I've used before. This is a photo of their Costoluto Genovese tomato grown two years ago. Also found seed packs of vintage white zucchini and a special Greek dwarf basil we like.

Our indoor seed stocks will go in flats around March 15th, outdoor stuff goes in the ground about June 1st.

Hope all is well with everyone, enjoy your summer while you can.

Al

hot one today, hit 31C or so.
Took Sugar to a breed show in Ashburton, an hour south of ChCh.
The judge told her she was a good girl when we ran around for our age class...
but we were not in the running for the ribbons.
It was nice at the rugby grounds & they very cleverly had the bar open. An icy cold soft drink went down a treat with bacon & egg sammies for lunch.
Once the sun was over the yardarm we decided an ice cold beer would be good...
and it was :)

Once we got home I did a bit in the garden & harvested my first tomato.
I left it to ripen on the vine so it was perfectly red & a nice shape.
If it tastes as good as it looks I will be pleased.
This is an Arctic Plenty, a variety I haven't tried before but considering how cool the nights have been it was a good choice.

Salad tonight was jazzed up with fresh mint along with nasturtium leaves & flowers from the garden.
Hubby was dubious the first time I put 'weeds' in his dinner but is sold on them now.

Bacon and egg sammies sounds good!!.. I just had the usual Sat night burger-w/ the works,,Good news, All my biopsies came back 'negative' I"M GONNA LIVE.. you all will have to put up with me for a few more years..Had to change my drugs though, they were killing me.. feel heaps better on these newies after 4 days........ Purchased more daffodil bulbs today, finally got 'Voodoo' after 4 years of looking..Worn out, finally took the canopy off the truck, and put the truck away in the garage[after a good scrub].. a couple more beers, check lotto and its off to 'dreamland' -Anthony

GREAT news on the biopsy results Anthony!!!

& so glad the the new meds have you feeling better.
Fingers crossed that they have it sussed now.

We are heading back to Ashburton, slightly later start as there are 70 dogs to be judged ahead of us...
fingers crossed the Judge likes Sugar more than his wife did.

It rained this morning which I am sure the garden was grateful for after the heat yesterday.

Good morning everyone.Sorry you have had to make your own cuppa and find a cake but I have been busy with things here.
We are still waiting for hubbys op and hopefully it will be in the next month or so.
There seems to be so much to do and a lot of running back & forth to the doctors for tests etc.
I may be absent on here for periods of time but help yourselves in the kitchen and I'll pop in whenever I have spare minute or two.

Teresa, nice to see Sugar being a good girl.
Fingers crossed for her to be the best..
I had to laugh at the 'weeds' you used in the salad.
I have done the same thing at times.
Lovely to have tomatoes fresh from the plants.
Whenever I grew any, some never made it inside as I love them fresh and usually ate quite a few on the way to the kitchen...lol

Anthony, great to hear you are the road to being so much better now. .Nice to hear also, that you have that lovely lilium now.
Hope cocky & co are keeping you cheery and positive.

Al, thats a great looking lot of tomatoes. I hope all your seeds do well over the coming months for you.
You will really be looking for spring after all the very cold weather.

I think our autumn has crept in , but still time for a few more hot days.
Nothing like the last lot of well over 30C, hopefully.
The trees are losing their leaves everywhere now. A combination of the heat and autumn.
I see a few leaves poking through the hard ground from the nerines.
Doesnt matter what the weather , they will come up at the same time each year.

Hello to everyone else looking in.
I will leave something nice to nibble on for morning tea....Banana Walnut Cake..
Help yourselves if I am not around much ...

Keep safe
Jean.

we left home in a bit of overcast drizzly weather, by the time we reached the southern edge of town it was raining.
In half an hour's driving the rain became torrential & we were a bit worried about the show.
3/4s of the way there the sky cleared & it was hot & sunny at the show grounds.

The results were the same as yesterday so we were away by lunchtime.
Stopped to visit an aviation friend - he has a new restoration project that we got to admire & caught up on the local goss.

The weather was fine when we got home but they were predicting hail so I rummaged out a sheet of plastic & just as the thunder & hail got underway hubby & I rigged up shelter for my tomatoes.
Only just in time as it pelted down & the hail went from pea sized to half that again.
I was able to pull my strawberry planter under the eaves so the fruit on there was safe.
Might leave it there as the heat from the house should help ripen the late fruit.

OH , how we rely on the weather Teresa..Beautiful 'hot' day here.. The Galahs 'had' to have a bath , they were annoying me , with 'pick pick pick'.. I tried for 4 hrs to let them do it at their own pace.. but not to be,.In the end, I got some mist swirling inside the cages and away they went. Mo has been flat out chewing at his new perches.. hes a 'sporatic' funny bird!,.. after about 5 weeks , without a word, I stared at him today, and as I turned to walk away , he said 'what'.I had a 'Sullivans' style afternoon, a few longnecks from a glass and listened to the wireless for the afternoon....Hope these new bulb orders , don't arrive, all on the same day.-Anthony

WooHoo!!!Anthony so glad things turn out great for you. Now get to blooming!!!
Sugar is growing up and calming down a tiny bit. Such a good girl...the tomatoe looks deliscious.
We have had a little warm weather but the weather people are saying it will cool down in middle of week..
I have a brug blooming in the house sitting in a 5 gal bucket with water. Oh, it smells so sweet. Then I had a few daffodils blooming. Letting me know there is still hopes for warm weather...
Hugs and mule nuzzles to all...

Glad to see people out and about a bit. We're above freezing for a temporary thaw, predicted colder for next week. The skiers just get to thaw out their toes a bit. Well, Spring is finally in sight.

I'm doing some seed tests this week, lots of leftover stuff from last year. I'm teaching a one day class at the YMCA about seed starting in mid-March, doing a demonstration project and such. Some of our "earliest" container tomatoes are being planted, I've got a few Patio Princess and Sub-Artic Maxi seeds in the flats already. It's a stroke of the lucky Irish at this point, but sometimes they work out okay in the buckets.

Good to have everybody feeling better!

Al.

Charleen, Im hoping to stockpile firewood, like a chipmunk does nuts.. Our fire doesn't go out for 8 months....Weather changes here very quickly....Al- I feel good!!!!!!!!, knew that I would now ...Dahlia show in a few weeks.. Im preppd...Easter...Its all happening

I love your pictures of Sugar, Teresa. She looks like a real doll when she is behaving correctly. She will soon take the judges by storm! I'm seeing "spots in my eyes" already...

I finally found a boat that I can afford in my budget. The previous owner said that it probably needed some work... Maybe I could use it for a garden planter this Spring.

Al

good morning all.
I am popping in to see what everyone has been up to.
Hubby is having breakfast so I grabbed the moment to look in .

Charleen, those furry faces look like they are needing cookies....lol
Is that Charley I see munching on the hay in the background ?
Keep warm there. Like you I am seeing the season changes coming slowly.
My nerines are starting to poke their heads up and one is open already.
A sure sign of autumn.

Al, that boat would look great in your yard , full of flowers. I would go too far on the water in it....lol

Teresa, are you seeing some autumn signs over there ?
You have been colder lately than us.

I hope Miss Mischief is being a good girl and getting ready for more trials.
I am glad you have at least one brom over there. Bill nutans is so pretty even is a bit plain in the foliage. I have one lot on a large piece of tree fern log. It loves it. Just sitting on there without any soil , just a few pieces of rock to hold it. It has grown along the log now so makes a nice floral show.

Anthony, you will be starting to feel the cold down there. Good to know you are getting the wood ready for winter.
I hope your bulbs are doing well too.
I have some seedling liliums coming along nicely in the old greenhouse.
I will pot them up come spring.
My orientals will need putting into bigger pots too.
I found that most of the colored Asiatics died off and only the yellow and a couple of pinks are left in the ground.
I have a feeling the bulbs were eaten by something.
I am still chasing Mrs Blackbird away from any pots. She does love to dig things out and toss them around.

Hello to anyone else looking in.
I had better get myself out and do the watering before it gets too warm.

Heres a nibble for morning tea.... Cream Cheese Pound Cake.

Keep safe
Jean.

really cold here today...
not nice but might encourage people to think about buying merino, goodness knows our shop needs more shoppers!

Funny story about my lovely tomato...
it was on the bench & while hubby had his back turned miss weasel decided to do a taste test.

I was so cross when I heard, the sorry tale - even more so when hubby announced that he had rescued the tomato from Sugar's jaws - and thrown it in the bin!

I rescued tomato from the bin, I will see if I can save seed for next year's crop :)

I think in our climate Arctic Plenty is a good choice.

I'll have to look up the one Al mentioned, sounds like it might suit the cooler weather.

How is everyone?
This is a picture of my Parachute Plant Flower ...out now.

Anthony, this is one that you sent me ages ago, it's the first time it has flowered and even though
I had nepalense written on it, it doesn't look like the ones on the internet..the only other one like that was duchartei and it's not that….
This was the one that was in the squashed tube all those years ago…
ID please…here it is..one of the flower and one of the stolen, it's full of buds…???????

My God , Dianne, 'that scared me'.. I thought -what the hell!!.. 5 years ago , I purchased seeds of 'Bellamcanda Chinesis', from the USA.. In September of that year, bad winds blew the poly-box to oblivion. Next morning , I scooped all up , but later, nothing happened, so I obviously planted more seeds[Nepalense] on top.. Dianne that is a bloody beauty, and in all seriousness, there would not be many people in Australia with it!.........Im jealous!

Okay, here's my Dalmatian joke for Teresa...

A Grandfather was walking with his three grandkids on a fine Spring day. While on the walkway, a fire engine hurriedly screamed past with sirens blaring and lights flashing. They couldn't help but notice that there was a handsome Dalmatian dog sitting proudly in the front seat. At that point the grandfather questioned the reason why they had the dog in the vehicle. The first child thought it was "for good luck on the mission at hand". The second child said that "perhaps it was to assist with crowd control". At that point the third, and youngest child said that the answer was easy, the Dalmatians were used "to help locate the water hydrants"....

Al

Cute joke... :) Beautiful boat. Are you gonna put a tomato in one end????Al???
The little dog in middle is going to England when finished.
My Babies all think they are starving. they have eaten all their hay and is wanting more....
Aren't they pitiful.
Hope you all are great. It is cold this day but supposed to be warming up. I'm Wishing....
Hugs and nuzzles for all...

lol - funny joke Al...

I am quite used to hearing a chorus of '101 Dalmatians' from children as I walk the dog past the school or park.
I was puzzled for a long time by 'Bottomly Potts'
Until I discovered the books by Lynley Dodd - in which there is a Dalmatian named Bottomly Potts, all covered in spots.

http://www.hairymaclary.com/

It was a lovely morning here but now it is bleak, pouring rain & cold.
The Ellerslie Flower show is on - we had some ladies come into the shop after having fled the show when the rain came down.

They bought some warm dry clothes, we had a few sales to people caught out by the change in weather.

We are going to the show tomorrow, the weather is supposed to improve.
Hopefully it won't be too crowded, there are more show gardens this year & I have my camera battery on charge in anticipation of taking lots of photos.

Better throw a couple of extra batteries in your pocket. I love Flower shows...

great show...
over 200 photos...
need to up load to photo bucket so I can share the album instead of a few here & there...

link to Ellerslie Garden show photobucket album

http://s75.photobucket.com/user/dalfyre/library/Garden/Ellerslie%20Garden%20Show%202014?sort=9&page=1

wretched weather...

worst rain storms since 1974.

I went out to the bus stop this morning & almost blew away...
was very wet on the part of my skirt below the level of my coat so sitting on bus number 2 was a little uncomfortable.
3/4 of the way there I had a call from my co-worker to say the flooding was so bad the police were advising not to travel unless it was vital.
By the time I got almost to work the street we go down to the mall was totally awash, water was coming up into the bus so we detoured & the driver dropped me walking distance to work - or was that wading distance?

The car park was starting to flood & I had another call from my co-worker to say she had let the boss know & he suggested not opening the shop if it was really bad.

So that put me on the spot - to stay or head home?
My worry was that if the flooding worsened then the buses might be cancelled leaving me stranded.
This has happened to me before when we had a major snow storm.

So I did the essential reports to go up to the bean counters & emailed all & sundry to say I was going home.

I couldn't get my usual bus, the stop was knee deep in water.
So I improvised & caught a bus further out of town then swapped to a bus I knew runs through town & out to my suburb.
It was a long trip & the flooding was getting quite bad in places - the Avon has burst it's banks, never seen it so high!

In one area the water was lapping at shop doors - one in a slightly lower part of the street had water flowing in under the doors.

Hope they had there stock off the floor.

It took nearly an hour & a half to get home - I had to walk the last part, normally a nice stroll but had to back track when I got to a point where the water was up over the foot path & the road...
hadn't been looking that far ahead as I was busy dodging puddles, oops.

I put Sugar's coat on & changed into my gumboots to take her outside...
she didn't want to go out this morning when it was dark & rain was over flowing the guttering.
I was worried about the state of her bladder so coming home early gave me the chance to ensure she relieved herself.
I have dry clothes on, the pellet fire burning, a hot brunch inside me & Sugar curled up on the couch beside me.

Really hope this is the end of the drama for the day :)

Geez, and I thought my day was long! Hope it gets better.

Al

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/your-weather/9790499/Flooding-widespread-in-Christchurch

Yes, just saw it on the news...Not good!

sunshine today & most of the water drained.
Got to work no worries & you'd never believe how bad it was yesterday.

I will say that all the rain we got did good. Murraya (Orange Jessamine) all over Newcastle & Lake Macquarie just dripping with flower clusters the size of my fist! You can smell it everywhere; bees completely off their little faces!

Rain Lilies have been blooming all week. Roses on their next flush after Feb. pruning! Lawn turning green again.

We are moving house and tidying the garden before we go is a real chore. I have plants that have been waiting 5 years to be put in a bed. Rose branches waving all over the pergola with a giant 14 foot "Peace" shoot that I have to tie down before it snaps! May Bush is slowly engulfing the patio chairs!

House in a complete mess as we give away furniture that just won't fit in the new place. We are going to one of those relocateable home Villages up the coast to just on the other side of Newcastle Harbour entrance at Fern Bay. Hoping to have a simultaneous settlement in about 5 weeks....! I will have a wee front garden and a fernery to deal with and another Studio for my Painting of which nothing has been seen for more than 6 months! Art Group, Swimming Pool, Croquet, Library, Hairdresser, new Indoor pool under construction. Soon, Gabi, soon!!

another lovely sunny day.
we had some stock delivered to the shop so I nabbed one of the big plastic bags & have used it to make a mini green house for my naked tomato plant.
It was covered but the wind must have whipped the original bag completely away - no sign of it anywhere,
I wish that hadn't happened, hate the thought of a plastic bag out there in the environment because of me.

I have weighted the new bag down & we aren't expecting gale force winds in the immediate future.

Hopefully I will see at least one more tomato ripen & get to eat this one...
I'll be watching Sugar like a hawk so she doesn't repeat her tomato stealing trick!

Good morning all.
I havent been in for a while but I know you will all help yourselves in the kitchen.
With hubby so sick I dont have a lot of time to be posting too much but I do get in to read as often as I can.
We still havent had any rain but the weather is getting cooler with lots of cloud.
Usually quite warm in the middle of the day though.

The garden is toast as always in summer , even the weeds have given up, but with the first rain, they will all spring up so fast.

Teresa, I did get to have a quick look at your Ellerslie Show pics. Very beautiful.
Hope Miss Mischief is being an exceptionally good girl for you .
If you get any further rain like you had, please send it here.
I hope your poor tomato plant survives both the weather and Sugar....lol

Hello Al, hope your spring is slowly marching in there. After the winter the US had, Spring will be so welcome.
I bet you have plenty of seedlings ready to go in. Lots of tomatoes again too.


Charleen, I have missed Charley Mule & his friends but every time I go to my fridge , I see his face looking at me from the door magnet.
Hope all is well in your area and that spring is also moving in for you. I left a large bag of cookies out for Charlie.

Hello Anthony. I hope Cocky and his friends are keeping you amused down there.
I see that I may be getting seed pods on my Oriental liliums. They must have been fertilised by insects.
I have Naked Ladies dancing all around the place. Lovely to see the pink faces among the dry weeds.

Hello to anyone else popping in. I may not get back for a while so keep helping yourselves to whatever is in the kitchen.

A tasty treat....Blackberry Coffee Cake...

Keep safe
Jean.

Surely , those naked ladies are a distraction for your poor husband ,Jean.. Best get some clothes on them!

We've just seen the first blue sky in three months!!! Everything has been so gray all winter, one of the longest and coldest I can remember. They'll still be skiing the slopes April, I think.

Still sorting out my seeds for Spring, will be planting my early flats shortly.

Regards to all,
Al

I deliberately planted my tomatoes on the terrace to give them lots of sun & avoid Sugar being able to help herself.

She managed to sneak my one harvested tomato off the bench.

I harvested another last night - this one is up high so the weasel can't get it!!!

Had a couple of cherry tomatoes fresh off the vine & in our salad night before last.
Yumm.

I do recall having to give 2 litre icecream containers full away to family & friends in previous years so to harvest 2 tomatoes is pathetic.

All I can do is save seed & hope for a better summer next year.

Been mostly quiet around here, although we're predicting another major snow blow over the weekend. Hope it'll be the last one for the year.

We're having a new kitchen contracted after talking about it for the last several years in this old house. The workers have just about everything torn apart at present, can't cook anything or eat meals here, for a couple of days. The worst is just about over but looking forward to a nice "home cooked" meal already. Should be a lot nicer when they are finished.

I bought Ellen a new Android tablet for her upcoming birthday. I've programmed in all sorts of handy stuff, had fun playing with it for the last week or so. Very simple system, but I think it will be useful when we travel. I've already have DG programmed in

Al

Cmon everyone, get behind me. Im hoping to win Tattslotto tonight , and never have to go to work again .. Im sick of it! ..... AITARA PICARDY- Dahlia

Good luck Anthony!!!


know what you mean, have been for 2 job interviews last week as we have the threat of being laid off hanging over our heads.

The expectation is that we go from two full timers to one working 40 hours solo, no lunch breaks etc...how they intend to deal with sick leave is anyone's guess.

Business has picked up in the last couple of weeks but we are so disillusioned by their attitude that a new job seems the best idea.

In feat of supreme mismanagement they told us that all leave must be arranged through head office.
Our part timer wanted this weekend off so we had worked out a plan that covered her hours without us going over our 40 hours - overtime is frowned upon.

So we dutifully backed off & let her go through he proper channels.
And when her leave was approved nobody saw fit to inform us.

The shop didn't open on time yesterday - it was a mad scramble to figure out who was going to work & get permission to do OT.

But the blame has been thrown on us for not checking to see if leave was on or not!

To which I ask - didn't alarm bells sound when we didn't ask?
We would have needed head office permission to either work the shifts as OT or alter our shifts to allow for it...

I went in yesterday & my co-worker is doing today.

Mall management were less than impressed.

At least I got some of the gardening I wanted to do sorted before going in to work :)
Nothing happening out there today - cyclone Lusi has hit & it is wet & windy out side.

Not as bad as last weeks rain thank goodness.

Yes I know what you mean.. I often feel like Im urinating into a headwind!.. Needless to say, Im cutting my lunch for tomorrow..

Rather quiet around here....

Our snow cover is finally starting to burn off a bit. There is still plenty of it around for the procrastinating skiers, though. Some of them can't seem to get enough of it I guess. Personally, I'm truly awaiting Spring.

Some of my early tomatoes are already started under the light stand, now about 3 inches high. I will be teaching a seed starting class this coming Saturday for gardening newbies at the city community center, should be fun.

Olivia has her kites all picked out and ready to go to the park, it's a bit chilly yet but we'll get to it soon enough.

Al

Good morning all.
I have been so busy going back & forth to the hospital to visit hubby. The garden has been neglected and I haven t had the energy to do much else.
I am going to be even busier as hubbys big op comes up next month and there is so much to do .
Hubby was very ill this time and as the surgeon was up for his regular visits, we were lucky that he could do a repair job that hopefully will hold until the next op.
Hubby is home now but still very weak.
Everything has been neglected, so now i have to catch up on things before we are gone again.
We are crossing fingers that hubby will come through the larger more serious op.

For the moment, I have to keep an eye on him in case he tries to do anything that may tear the temporary repairs he has inside.

I did try to look in to quickly read the posts but I have been leaving early and getting back late in the day while visiting hubby in hospital.

Nice to see some still popping in here.
I am afraid you will all have to run the Tea Room yourselves for a while .
Hopefully there will always be someone to put the kettle on and put out nibbles.
Dont forget to toss crumbs out for the birds and give Charley mule his cookies.

Well the sun is well up so I had better get some watering done before hubby is up.

Take care everyone and keep safe..
some nibbles to go on with ...Blueberry Muffins.
Jean.

Sending you good thoughts for you and your Hubby, Jean. I do hope all continues to go well.

Best wishes and regards,

Moon

Sending a wave to you all.... a bit of Spring has made it here, Cardinal and Dr Merrill