Good friends keep warm

With just a few days to go until it is officially winter

The cold snap has taken us all by surprise.

Rain was predicted  for this weekend, unfortunately

the far north west missed out completely.

We put the pump on and our feet up.

I thought I heard a little groan from Skittles

The brown labrador, chief puppy sitter extraordinaire

I guess it was cold enough for her to not mind a puppy cuddle.

She is such a tolerant dog.

Stella has taken to dragging her around by the collar.

See the little bit of excess red collar.

That is generally in Stella's mouth.

Shelia has none of these troubles.

She made her position clear from the beginning.

I have never seen Stella try and share a chair with her!

It wasn't a one off action as this was taken this morning,

three dogs on a chair if you count the stuffed toy.

Best I light the fire and give Skittles a bit of a break.

Cups and mugs

I have been trying to capture the esscence of the ocean with glaze

I forgot to take the camera back with me when unloading the kiln

I made some mugs

Some of which dried out too far for handles.

I think I am onto something but it will take a few more trys

to perfect the combination.

I am drinking a coffee out of one as I type this post.

Who says a mug needs a handle?

The combination of Clear, Copper rust and Bluestone blue inspired my oceanic efforts.

I got a bit confused with one or two of them and the colour is swinging the wrong way.

I still have to perfect the rutile addition/ oversplat

I have spent many holidays trying to capture waves

on paper.

I love water colour pencils, they have revolutionised my drawing efforts

I wonder what the impressionists would have thought of them?

Heaps of seeds

Just as I thought, the fertile zucchini seeds sank to the bottom.

The empty ones floated to the top and were easy to scoop up.

I have to confess I checked through the chuck out pile carefully.

All the cucumbers seeds sank so do I assume they are all fertile?

I will plant the fattest ones.

I am hoping to collect seeds from this basil.

It smells like doughnuts......Cinnamon doughnuts

Perfect to add to a bunch of non smelling flowers

I am not sure when to add it to food, is it a Cinnamon alternative?

Still a few zinnias smiling in the vege patch.

I will collect some of their seed for next summer too.

Rogue red salvia is always popping up with its cheery flowers

Asparagus fern is handy in my flower bunches and when it turns yellow it is stunning.

Here is a fabulous example of how closely related rocket is to dandelion....or is that wild lettuce?

It's a case of spot the weed!

Saving seeds

I have been letting my zucchini's grow and grow

 Well past eating stage,

 Well past stuffing and baking stage. 

I have been growing them to harvest the seeds

I cut this one earlier and left it on the path to dry

Easy seed harvest from the dry zucchini.

Cut the fresh zucchini and scoop out the flesh,

Most of the seeds will be down the bigger end.

Place in a bucket of water and leave for a couple of days.

 The seeds will be easy to separate from the flesh,

I think they will sink to the bottom....

Same wet method can be used for cucumber

 I will come back on Wednesday to find out and photograph.

Self sown leafy greens

This was the newest circle in early March

I planted large garlic cloves in the centre and they came up almost immediately

This is the circle now 2 months later

All the leafy greens are self sown. There are a  few Zinnias for a bit of colour,

they are running out of warm weather for flowering.

I do thin them out a bit,

transplanting rocket and silver beet into other spots in the garden

This is my newest nude circle

I have planted the one year old garlic from seed in the middle of this circle.

The outside is all spring bulbs.

Some of which my sister gave me for Christmas from

a family homestead down south, 100 years in the family. I will have to look after them.

Have you ever eaten Mizuna? Its a mild Japanese mustard green. I call it "lettuce with attitude".

It is not peppery like rocket.

I have them growing together, they like the same conditions.