Masquerade

It turns out I should have started on a mask for the Glenorchy Ball, a couple of weeks ago. I had a quick Google for some inspiration and immediately realised I needed more time…

I could have made something like this !

The following images are from the site www.masqueradevenetianmasks.

Pretty cool huh?

 

 

 

Or how about this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes…I want one like this!

Made of paper it said, including music manuscripts ooooh yummy.

 

 

Sadly I only had time to zip up something more like this.

I’m not so sure about the sticks though, I’ d rather not have to hold anything except a wine glass

 

 

I found this mask in a local shop here in Glenorchy. A few of these had already been sold for the ball though, and we don’t want to look like everyone else do we? so working on the more is more theory, it now looks like this..

I don’t think I’ve finished yet, but it is a good start.

something more for the eyes and a few more feathers and beads and we’ll be good

 

Now for the other half. Sometimes it is useful having a possum fur shop…lots of fur to play with in times like these. So a mask shape out of possum fur, I had to outline the eyes with sequins so the fur didn’t cover the eye holes. A few feathers sewn on top and we’re good to go. I tried to talk him into beads across the bottom, but NO!

I can count myself lucky he’s wearing a mask at all…and it will take just one person to say he looks like Treebeard and off it will come .

Now then, back to the bead stash..

Ice Skating

We’re so lucky here.

We have access to a huge pond that turns to ice in Winter (It’s more like a bit of flooded paddock actually.)

There is really ice under all that snow.

What we need now is a bit of rain to melt the snow and level out the ice again. The kids love it anyway, as it is a great area to explore.

 

It is right under a cliff , (called Lovers leap,) so the area gets about an hour of sun in mid winter.

It is about four inches of solid ice, so there are only a couple of places where there are some holes that it is possible to fall into.

These holes are quite obvious and usually break so you can see where they are.

Here are the kids skating in one of the holes, that has fallen in, filled with water and frozen again.

 

 

 

 

 

There are tussocks poking out of the ice to keep things interesting

and it’s a beautiful place to hang out for a couple of hours.

We had hoped the ice would be in good condition for some moon light skating…you know, full moon, bon fire, mulled wine, and a game of ice hockey played with either a pine cone or cow pat as the puck. but no…Glenorchy got a bit of rain, Paradise got snow, and where it landed on the ice it stayed there. DARN.

This weekend is the Glenorchy Mid Winter Ball

It is a masquerade ball. That means I need a mask…like NOW

Time to hit the art supplies

Corrine’s magic cough mixture

Two syrups which I usually make each year (but forgot to this year) are Elderberry syrup and Blackberry vinegar. Both recipes are from A Modern Herbal by Mrs M Grieves and both are very good for a feverish cold. I have the book at home and it makes great reading, but you can also find it online at the above link.

Some time ago (while I was still working as a bar maid actually,) and fighting off a cold and sore throat, a friend of ours made me a drink which involved crushed garlic, honey, lemon juice and rather a lot of Stones Green Ginger wine.

Since then …and with a bit more knowledge, I’ve come up with a cold and flu mixture that, (as long as you have the above syrups handy) You can make a fairly effective cold remedy.  With swine flu looming closer all the time, I thought I’d share the recipe.

In a saucepan, put in a merry mix of the following:-

equal amounts of elderberry syrup, blackberry vinegar, and Stones Green Ginger wine.

add three or four cloves of crushed garlic

the juice of one lemon (just because lemons have always been used for colds…but I’m sure there is probably enough vitamin C in this mix )

honey

gently heat together and add crushed chilli to taste.  As hot as you want, but if the mixture is for kids then fairly mild.

heat until everything combines nicely, and leave to cool.

Again if this is for kids then simmer gently to evaporate the alcohol in the green ginger.

Strain, and pour into a clean jar and keep in the fridge. Because the garlic hasn’t been cooked out, then you should probably use this mixture up fairly quickly.

Put a dollop or more in a cup and add hot water. Drink before bed.

Blackberry vinegar and Elderberry syrup both make great hot drinks that are soothing on throats. Quite often I’ll just make up a bit of a mix directly into a tea cup…but it is better if you can strain the garlic out before you drink it.

There are plenty of other things you could add in here…chopped sage, or chopped thyme, both good for sore throats.  Cinnamon helps to calm a stomach as well..and so on.

Winter

Sometimes I really like Winter. Like when the frost turns all sparkly in the sunshine, and the pond turns to ice so we can skate on it. The water in the hills turn to icicles that hang off the rocks and the whole cliff face looks like a  wonderland …

and other times…

Well lets just say, I’m really looking forward to spring.

School holidays have started and I have put my oldest son in charge of baking. At 12, my brother and I were certainly doing a lot of the family baking, so there is no reason why he can’t either.

I found the recipe for these choc chip and raisin cookies on Farmgirl Fare. Very nice cookies…soft in the middle which was a surprise.

 

I was going to try making some gnocchi with this …

Purple mashed potato…Mmmmmm

They are actually more purple than this. Almost glow in the dark purple.

These are my Maori potatoes. They are very very dry and floury when cooked. But the trouble is my husband is gluten free, and so I can’t add flour to make the gnocchi. I tried a bit with rice flour but it just fell to bits and dissolved into the water. So I think the rest will be made into potato cakes. If anyone knows how to make gluten free gnocchi then please let me know.

The other surprise is that I actually have growing things in my garden. These are romanesco broccoli. (and some parsley) I don’t know how they kept growing when the ground is literally frozen solid. I managed to dig some yams and potatoes yesterday, but only after a couple of mild days and only those on the sunny side of the bed. At least they hadn’t all gone to mush which surprised me too.  Now I just need to work out when I planted these so I can do the same next year.

It’s a busy life

 

This is “Midnight” Rabbit. The most likely cause of all the computer woes. I say most likely because we aren’t really sure. She only comes inside once in a while, but she loves having a run around which she can’t really do in her cage. Since the last post we’ve been skiing, and ice skating, and most recently have helped to build the new adventure playground at the school.

This is the junior section.

The big kids part is more of an obstacle course and fitness workout.

 

 

A bit hard to see here, but there are plenty of ropes, and nets and climbing walls etc

The kids were finally allowed on it yesterday.

The boys however have been laid low with a stomach bug, and haven’t been over there yet. We live just around the corner and have been able to hear the happy sounds of kids playing ever since it has been open.

The weather has been mostly fine and frosty…with occasional clag and fog

Here the mountains just starting to loom out of the mist. It is so nice to see the sun.

We had a meeting at the school and I showed them my journal, and got approval to teach the kids next term, so I’m looking forward to that. Now with all that out of the way I can concentrate for a bit on my own art. I started a collage using the disintegration bundles yesterday.

I’ve gone back to my equations for a bit of inspiration, but have decided to mainly just see what comes out of the whole process as I only have a very general picture of what I want in mind

Its a start anyway. Now I just have to find the time to keep going

Ahhh back at last

Well the computer is back in action, I have all the old programmes at my fingertips all is well with the world…except for –6 degree frost last night. That was cold! Looks like the same again tonight as well.

Take a look at this

We have a green waste site by our section, where everyone in the town can dump off anything green…ie branches and pruning's and various other bits like that. Then every six months or so a big chipper comes along and turns it all into mulch which the community can then take away and use in the garden. The latest pile was done a week or so ago, and here it is, white with frost and with steam coming out the top…like a kind of mini volcano. Awesome.

So of course I was in straight away, and transferred a trailer load to my compost pile, layered it with chicken poo, horse poo, and garden waste…as well as a bucket of bokashi that I can’t bury in the garden because the ground is rock hard.

It’s hard to see but it is steaming too. I love the whole magical alchemy of making compost. I’m a convert…my previous compost making experience only involved piling up horse poo. This is far more interesting. Especially on a frosty morning when you can see it is all working.

OK enough about compost. Next post will be about art Promise.

No Computer

It's amazing how quickly you come to rely on such a thing as a computer. You don't even realise how much you do rely on the things til you don't have one.
We're still waiting on the replacement cord for the old lap top...It had to be sent from USA and will take about 10 days approximately...3 days to go.
Meanwhile we have got ourselves a new laptop since the old one was ...well...old. But we have to wait for the cord for the old one to transfer the files over...on and on it goes, so I've got a computer again, but not much further ahead.
Lots of other things have been happening, We've been skiing, ice skating, making compost, and making art...
It is the shortest night tonight, and time to wassail the fruit trees, but everything in my garden is frozen solid (except the compost pile which is cooking nicely and steaming whenever I take the carpet off it) I knew I should have dug the yams and the last of the potatoes while I could still get a spade into the soil. Hopefully I'll get some photos up again soon.
Happy winter (or summer) solstice everyone