Family Life and Roses

 Oh thank the stars above my roses are in full bloom. The joy they bring me each year is almost indescribable. 

 Nowhere near as much joy though as this little chappie brings me. Hugo made a salad for dinner tonight - see below. 

 Or the Shepherd's Hut that Jonno is making for the boys. He is going to tow it to one of their most special spots on the farm near the 'Fire Crystal Tree'.

 Happiness or from the look of Archie above, contentment.

Lots of love,

Kate. xxx

Rose Petal Jam

As you have probably gathered by now, I am passionate about my roses. I not only love them for their beauty, scent, etc.... but also for the way they connect me with my mum and grandmother. This is Albertine which is one of our shared favourites and is suddenly flourishing this year over the archway leading into our garden.

 Another rose I love in the garden is an unnamed variety (to me anyway) which has large, deeply fragrant, pink flowers. On Saturday it was bowing under the weight of so many roses, many about to drop their perfect petals and so, I set about making rose petal jam from this recipe.

It was magical to have the air fill with rose petal steam.

 And pretty. Pretty beyond belief.

 The best thing is that now I have lots of little jars to give as Christmas presents. Hopefully I might even keep one or two for winter when I start going into rose withdrawal. 

This is the beautiful bright pink rose that gave up its petals for jam (with some Pierre de Ronsard blooms keeping company)....

Lots and lots of love,

Kate. xxooxx.

Garden Roses

 Absolute happiness for me is picking a massive bunch of roses from my garden. 

 I am sure that I would have raved about it before but one of my top three roses would be Pierre de Ronsard.

 I am still recovering from the dreaded lurgy so I thought I would be more more image-y than wordy...

 And my little stripy rose above, finally opened (see below)outlasting all of the flowers from her original bunch - impressive.

I hope something lovely has bloomed in your day too.
Lots of love,
Kate. xxooxx.

Joining the Dots.

After my last giddy post celebrating the joy of Spring - old Mr. Hay Fever paid a visit. This wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, except for the fact that I have tiny little holes in my ear canal bones so the moment I get a bit snuffly, I become so dizzy that I have to lie prone in bed. Thank goodness the medication has had time to settle it down somewhat, but it is very frustrating. As a result I thought that today was a good day to concentrate on joining all of the good dots together. 

First of all, going through Jonno's new book, 'Jamie's Comfort Food' by Jamie Oliver (of course and handsomely dressed on the front cover like the yellow Wiggle). This is a truly wonderful cook book and I've already marked about a million recipes with some extremely cute sticky labels.

Deciding to cook his Hummingbird cake and having the kitchen fill with the crazy-delicious smell of baking.

 Getting ready to make Spring pot plants.

 Having a brand new pair of turquoise gumboots to kick through pink petal confetti.

 Choose where to sit and enjoy the first few evenings of daylight saving... under the wisteria....

Or under the cherry blossom.

So going slowly at the moment does have it's compensations. Yesterday lying in bed I also had time to finish Jo Walton's amazing book, 'My Real Children' which is completely and utterly unputdownable. It's basically about an older women beset with dementia and torn between memories of two parallel lives, I became so involved and so attached to both possibilities that I couldn't bear for an ending where one may not to be real. Be warned though, it is one of those books that ruin you for anything you try to read after.

Time for lunch.

Lots of love,

Kate. xx.

Blossom Loveliness.

Today is the first day of daylight saving. And surprisingly (the weather forecast was grim), the day has been warm and gauzily beautiful, bees buzzing madly and blossom puffing up trees.

Hugo and I spent the afternoon together - Archie was busy on the farm with Jonno earning pocket money and learning how to milk cows.

Hugo dragged a chair under our big cherry blossom, wrote a lovely letter to me and ensured that I had a cup of tea. He then jumped up and down with a branch so I would be showered with petals - isn't that the closest to heaven you can get on earth?

 A happy boy in Spring!

 I know I am biased but awwwwwwwwwww.

 Can you imagine how happy I was to see this envelope from Hugo waiting on my special chair.....

I hope whatever your weather is, you are having a wonderful Sunday too!

Lots of love,

Kate. xxooxx.

Home Stuff.

 Last night I had a little play with some crochet and cross-stitch. I can't wait to do more…. think of all the possibilities.

This afternoon has been pretty exciting with a load of pea straw being dropped off at the front door.  My wire dress can't stop itself from looking. I am going to do some straw bale vegetable gardening  - google it if you haven't heard of it. I'll show photos as I go along but being a beginner, my explanation is bound to be less than satisfactory.

And can you believe that it is that time of the year again - next week sees me setting up the house for my annual Christmas studio sale. Or as I wrote on the flyer, my stuido sale. Just love a good typo, don't you….
Lots and lots of love,
Kate Bruning.
p.s. If you are in the Tauranga area, email me and I will send you the details for the sale.

And the Winner is....

 Well done Crafty Mermaid - could you please email me with your details and I will send out the hand wash to you!

Aside from drawing names from hats, I have also been packing a suitcase... 

Thank you so much everybody for entering into the giveaway - I can't wait to have another one soon.

Lots of love,

Kate xxooxx.

A Hipstamatic Tour of Our House.

I was wondering if you would like to have a little wander around our house? I am always intensely curious about where other people live so I assume everybody else probably feels much the same way. I had better explain the photos first though, I am using my new hipstamatic app which I have decided, softens the general scruffiness of our place.... it makes mess look retro and old style. Soooo, this is the front of our house, Bertie is keeping guard.

This is the pergola that Jonno built for my birthday back in October. I am thrilled because the wisteria has now grown half way along the top. The edging beds have been planted with blueberries which will form a very loose, informal hedge along the sides.

This is looking down to our recently abandoned vege garden - the trees are now so lovely and tall they have shaded out the beds - time to get digging some new ones.

This is a little peek into our bedroom - our dresser is very messy but see... with the app it just looks interesting.

My favourite yellow doors.

Awwww, folded clothes on a couch - I am happy because that means we will all have clean underpants to wear tomorrow.

This is where we clean our teeth and (if you are Jonno) shave.

The bath.

Maybe you can tell from my words or something... but I am feeling very, very happy. This is because this morning I transplanted around 16 roses, a job I have been meaning to do for quite some time now. I love how the reward is not only feeling capable and satisfied, but also getting to keep all of the little roses that have to be snipped off.

This is where I make my tea. Actually, this jug is a new addition as our faithful whistling kettle died a few days ago. I miss the whistling of the old one but this one seems to give me fewer burns.

This is where I sit and do my posts. Also where we eat, chat, do homework, crochet, puzzle, draw, etc, etc, etc.

And this is where I curl up at then end of the day with my hobbit feet.

Lots and lots of love,

Kate xxooxx.

Country and Western Style.

Over the weekend we had our school's inaugural quiz night with a country and western theme. I was put in charge of our decorating and decided to go for a very subtle prairie look (keep in mind that this is an interpretation of an Australian living in New Zealand).

I recently visited a friend who had been making Christmas decorations with air drying clay and used that inspiration for my own purposes. The above tiles were made by using a normal rubber stamp and and ink pad, pressing firmly to create an embossed look. I also made a few mini tiles for myself to use as present labels.

I then went to the $2 shop and bought a few kitschy decorations to scatter around the flowers (Archie had great fun setting this up at the venue), paper doilies for a little bit of lace and some cotton gingham squares.

For the flowers, I gathered as many weeds - clover, grasses, queen anne's lace, dandelions, wild roses and seed heads as I could and then combined them with a big bunch of beautifully scented sweet pea.

Hugo thought it was amazing and was very keen to work so I set him to filling jars with water.

For the outside veranda I used sedums (a perennial succulent) and tucked glow sticks into them so that they would look a little fireflyish - I thought by replacing candles with glow sticks might prevent a few spot fires. A fire is always such a bad way to end a quiz night I find.

And guess what.... our table came 2nd!!!!!!

This is where I will sign off. I am a little tired tonight as poor old Archie had a terrible night with croup. We almost rushed him to hospital but just as I was dressed and ready his breathing returned to normal thank goodness. A very early night to bed for us all methinks.

Lots of love,

Kate xxooxooxx

p.s. I haven't proofread this as I am too tuckered out so I hope it all makes sense.