Rhubarb leaf

Here is a (promised) picture of the rhubarb leaf tufa decoration S made. It turned out really nicely. The edges are nicely curved upwards in a shallow bowl shape. You can see how big it is compared to E's hand.

Getting organized...

I made the call today to the hospital to confirm tomorrow's appointment and to find out when I have to go in. I have to check in at 7.45am and I can't eat or drink anything, even water, after midnight.

I have stocked the freezer with bread, sub buns, a couple of meals; the fridge has two types of salad dressing and veggies; the pantry is full of the usual ingredients for quick and easy meals.

Monday is my usual housework day and I have done laundry, cleaned bathrooms, watered plants and will shortly be doing the vacuuming.

My bag is packed with a few essentials for a short hospital stay, including, of course, knitting!

Tomorrow I'll be having a laparoscopy under general anesthetic to remove an ovary and cyst, which should be a straightforward procedure, only one or two nights in hospital and a short recuperation time. So many dear friends and family members are supporting me and sending me good wishes and I am sure all will be well. I am confident of that and though the occasional niggling worry or touch of nerves creeps in I don't believe that there will be a problem.

I have only been in hospital for childbirth before - I've never had a general anesthetic - so it's going to be a new experience, one which I hope never to repeat!

I'll give you the gory details when I get back!

Calendula salve

I always like to have some calendula salve on hand. Calendula has great healing properties and my youngest son appreciates the healing qualities of a good skin-to-skin massage that goes along with applying calendula salve.

We picked a basket of calendula flowers and E and I put the petals into our crock pot. We covered them with olive oil and then turned the pot onto low until the oil was hot, then turned it off to sit for awhile. I repeated this step two more times to get a triple strength oil.

Then we strained the oil into a pot and re-heated it. E added a bit of beeswax, to melt into it, so that when it cooled it would set up into a solid salve at room temperature. ( I used to use coconut oil to make this when I was vegan as it is solid at room temp. and I would just need to remember to store it in the fridge during our hot summers) I also like to add a few drops of lavender essential oil when it is cooled and I sometimes add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract to act as a sort of preservative.This really only takes about 15 minutes of your time to make and now we have at least a year's worth of salve, likely E will want to give a couple away as gifts so we may make more. I sometimes like to make it with chamomile as well. It makes for a nice combination. It costs very little to make, only the olive oil and a bit of beeswax, and it makes the health food store product seem very pricey. I love things like this that are easy to make and offer a huge cost savings, as well as being pretty fun because you can customize it.

I saved a little bit of the calendula oil to mix with a chamomile infusion to make a lighter, less oily lotion so we will see how that turns out.

What to do when it's too hot to go outside

When it's this hot outside (our thermometer registered 37.7 degrees celsius outside the back of our house today) a good way to spend some time is with a good book on tape and some knitting. Close the windows and the blinds and zone out! I'm listening to Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason on my old Sony Walkman while making my first pair of Moccasin Socks from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Around. I'm using a ball of James Brett Marble in a new colourway....close up below.


The ribbing with this yarn is only for the leg and top of the foot. The sole will be knitted with plain grey Sirdar Snuggly, which I discovered at the yarn store this week. It's 55% nylon, 45% acrylic, so I'm hoping that it will be up to the wear and tear. I'll be incorporating some grey woolly nylon for extra strength as well.

After supper, I took the two younger boys for a swim at a small beach that we call Pebble Beach, for obvious reasons! The water was refreshingly cool and after a quick swim we had a lovely relaxing time building towers with little pebbles. Apart from the occasional power boat, it was peaceful too.

After we came home, the boys shed their swimshorts but kept their towels on and went crazy on the trampoline. These towels are so useful. I had one when I was a kid. A few years ago, I bought some towelling and made three of these in different sizes. Everyone comments on them as they have elastic around the neck and act as a changing room when you're on the beach or just a cover up to run around in! No holding a towel around your waist and hoping it doesn't slip and show your bum to the other beachgoers! Yesterday at our homeschool group park day, two other people borrowed the big blue towel to change in as well.

Frog Quilt Complete

Happy to show pictures of the quilt I just completed for my youngest son. I posted about the challenges I faced with this project at certain points, but everything worked out. Whew! Best of all, my son loves it - although it's way too hot for a quilt on his loft bed at this point in the year. Now he will have a bright, cheery reminder of one of his favourite warm weather pastimes (frog catching) when it's winter.



As I showed the finally completed quilt to my hubby last evening, he said, "I wonder if 20 years from now G. will still like such bright colours....". An interesting thought. hehehe.

Food from the garden

I just love eating fruit and vegetables direct from the garden. Can't get fresher than that! Above are some bush tomatoes that R planted directly into a bag of potting soil and placed near the house where they get lots of heat and sun. Just have to remember to water them every day as they wilt fast.


These strawberries were delicious. This is a plant that appeared by itself in amongst the potatoes and the berries are huge in comparison to those in the official strawberry bed a few feet away.


For the first time, we have broccoli. Picked up a few plants at the same time as we bought the ivy geraniums for our hanging baskets back in May. Broccoli obviously likes our soil, as the plants are big and strong.


And a rather fuzzy shot of our redcurrants, which often get forgotten about, tucked over by the rhubarb as they are. Must remember to go out there and pick some later, before it gets too hot to leave the house!

As I said yesterday, kudos to R for getting out there on weekends and weeding the garden. If it was up to me, I probably wouldn't be able to find the fruit among the weeds!

De colores!

What do all these flowers have in common? They bloom every year with no effort from me!

My husband prunes the roses and I just enjoy them.





As for the calendula, one of my kids planted some one year and they self-seed and come up in the vegetable garden every year. They apparently have some bug-repelling qualities, but I'd let them stay even if they didn't - I love the yellow and orange flowers.





And the sunflowers have come up again in various places and they make an attractive natural border. This one, standing alone, is the first to bloom. The birds will love the seeds later on (as long as they leave a few to germinate next year).




Tomorrow - some of the edible things growing in my garden - in spite of my neglect (and thanks to dear husband).