My gardening wall of shame!

Another week flies by and lots of average excuses for posting this late! I won't bore you with them all though ;)

Hubby and son returned from their Boy's Own Adventure, crossing the continent and back, covering 3500 miles and with thoroughly sore rear ends LOL. I survived being Farmer Piper again (apart from a seriously trying morning moving cattle with two 9 year old girls helping - I'll leave that to your imagination!) - luckily the split water pipe didn't appear until the morning after hubby's return as that's really something that I couldn't have fixed!

I started the mammoth job of weeding my rose garden last weekend. And if you wonder why, after a week I've only weeded half of it, I will now post a photo on my 'wall of shame'! I need a lot of coercion to get into the garden at the best of times so I ignore it all through summer, apart from watering if required. Well this year we have been blessed with regular rain, so I haven't even had to do that. This is the consequence though.



Yep, that's a tangle of weeds folks, and in the centre of this photo is supposed to be a path - you can see it at the top of the photo, in the half that's weeded. No, it's NOT a pretty sight. My keen-gardener-mother-in-law has to force herself NOT to look when she visits as she is totally appalled. Amongst some very spiky rose bushes there is a mixture of 'paddy melon'-like vines, kikuyu and rye grasses, lucerne, a variety of burrs and thistles and the odd nasty patch of 'sticky-beaks' that are even taller than the roses!

It's taken quite a bit of persistence on my part to get as far as I have. If you had been watching me I'm sure you would have opened your eyes just a tad wider at my numerous vocalisations, which basically centered around the word 'OUCH' and the odd, colourful adjective. Luckily roses are hardy and some lovely blooms are still coming forth in what will be probably their last flush before the cold weather closes in. This is a David Austin double pink with a terrible, rangy habit, but gorgeous scented flowers.



I'm feeling a little floral at the moment ... the roses in the garden, photos of spring blooms at every turn on the web and my girls have been making paper flowers which currently have pride of place in a vase on my dining table.

Have you ever made flowers with some sort of medium? I've made some floral designs with gems in the past and I saw today that Phersmay had posted a photo of some organza flowers that she has made to attach to headbands, brooches and hairpins.

Totally NOT floral, however, today's jewellery piece is a wonderful long, long (did I mention it was long!?) strand of lustrous peacock freshwater pearls in semi-baroque, stick and coin shapes. It's so long it makes a decent length 2 strand necklace or a brilliant shorter length 3 strand. I've added in a sprinkling of amethyst, iolite and tanzanite gemstones to enhance that purple-blue hue that I love so much, and a gorgeous starfish sterling clasp. Do you like it?

Till next
Annette :)

Watching children create

Another week has flown by and school holidays are coming to a close. I waved my hubby and son off at "O-dark-hundred" this morning as they took off for Perth and the Red Bull Air Races. They left 13 hours ago and in another hour they will have crossed the continent and arrived in Perth - which I find mind blowing in a small, two seater aircraft! They have phoned me at every stop - Broken Hill, Ceduna, Forest and Kalgoorlie. They will be gone for about 5 days so it's all girls in the house which the younger two are thrilled about. It also means that my guise as Farmer Piper has reappeared - I'm almost getting used to it!!!

In an effort to have some time with the girls yet still be productive, I let them loose on my bench today and let them create a piece each which I then made.

I am constantly surprised at what they come up with - their sense of colour is superb and they keep that while thinking outside the square. I watched with amazement as they went through boxes of stones looking, collecting and discarding. The results were combinations of 1) black lava, golden topaz and grass green peridot with a sprinkling of gold and 2) red bamboo coral, Peruvian amazonite and silver. They also chose the clasps and length and stood at my shoulder making sure everything was just 'right'. I remain impressed!

I'm a member and ambassador of the wonderful Australian group Connect2Mums. We had our inaugural conference last year and what a fun time we had - the ultimate in social networking! There was much laughter and lots of dancing at a nearby nightclub after hours that had fantastic duelling pianos. The 2010 conference is coming up at the end of July - Monique has blogged about it and put up a photo of the C2M leaders from last year's event which I've copied here

I'm third from the left - it's rare that anyone gets to photograph me but at least I'm all dressed up here ;)

If you want a dose of colour inspiration, check out Julie's site where she features lots of scrapbooking layouts. The colour combinations are just fantastic :)

Today's picture is of some golden-wheat coloured freshwater pearls in a funky stick shape. Eye catching and different, yet light and easy to wear.

Till next :)
Annette

A late bunny story, Sydney jewels and hectic holidays

It's been a busy week with Easter and the associated family gatherings, children's piano lessons (even though school is on holiday, piano definitely isn't!) and my rostered morning at the local saleyards canteen (and the baking of the fresh blueberry muffins before I had to leave). In fact I can't believe it's already Friday - half the term break gone already!

I know Easter is past, but I couldn't resist sharing this photo and story that I stumbled upon a couple of days ago.


This is the world's biggest rabbit. Named Darius, he is just 12 months old and at 1.3 metres and 22kg hasn't finished growing yet! Apparently he eats 12 carrots, 6 apples and 2 cabbages a day. Geez, I hope his owner lives on a farm and grows her own veggies, otherwise this big boy would eat her out of house and home rather quickly!

In jewellery news - if you like looking at gorgeous mega dollar jewels (in particular diamonds), then Sydney is the place to be this month. Sotheby's is hosting an auction on Monday 12 April of Australian Argyle diamond and other fine jewellery items. Then, at the end of the month, Bvlgari is opening a retrospective of their jewels in their Castleraegh Street store from April 28 featuring more than 60 masterpieces from their archives. A visit to Sydney is sounding VERY appealing about now!

In my other wanderings around the web, I was inspired by Melanie - she normally makes bags, fobs and purses but she has recently taken a slight detour into needle felting and has been showing her readers the most adorable toys on her blog recently.

And if you have a blog but, unlike me, don't feel comfortable just chatting away into the ether, then have a read of Melissa's blog where she has some great suggestions on how to find something to blog about.

I did manage some creative time in these hectic holidays - it was night and silence descended early with the children watching an early movie and then going to bed. I just beavered away at my bench, a bright glow amongst the darkness. The photo at top is one piece that was made that night. Although its design is plain, the dark agate stones are just gorgeous - rich, glossy and totally desirable!

Till next :)
Annette

A big week for jewellery

Days are dashing past lately faster than I can keep up with! I hope this isn't an indication of life in general and getting older though...otherwise things will get pretty blurry as they speed past soon! My eldest has just turned 12 - we've already started the moodiness, the switching off (my voice just becomes a background buzz I'm sure!) and the attitude. I gather its only going to get worse so I'm taking it all one day at a time.

We've had more rain this past week - quite incredible after years of drought to have this regular rainfall. The pastures are responding beautifully and the cows, I'm sure, are feasting on the feed. Hubby has gone away for a few days flying aerobatics (at the National Aerobatics Competition) and so I'm back on duty as Farmer Piper. Fingers crossed I don't have any 'stories' (aka problems!) to relate to you on that front next time I write ;)

I had a fantastic day at Mendooran Show last weekend. The ladies were incredibly welcoming and fitted me into their pavillion beautifully - just like I was meant to be there. It was a bit on the hot side, made worse by the uniquitous Australian tin shed we were in - very practical, but hot in summer and cold in winter! But regardless of the heat lots of ladies went home with some new jewels and big smiles which is just the way I like it :) The photo above is of a piece that found a new home - lashings of freshwater pearls in all shapes and sizes and colours.

In fact its been a big week on the jewellery front. I've been very busy doing orders, remodels and sitting down designing with clients. One remodel was different - to turn a bracelet full of Pandora charms that the client no longer wears into a necklace. It is actually looking rather lovely with the charms mixed amongst black lava.

One client came over and choose a pair of elegant citrine and gold earrings to go as a gift to Italy and ended up leaving with a gorgeous pair of pink amethyst earrings for herself as well. I like the way she thinks - "one for a gift, one for me... "

I also had a wonderful meeting with one client who in her younger days (1950-60s) worked for a jewellery house in the city. She regaled me with her wonderful 'tiara' story - lets just say the tiara - which had also been designed as a necklace - got a night out on the town unexpectedly and she got to look literally like a million dollars!

Sometimes jewellery can be a fascinating field to be in - you get to meet wonderful people, hear riveting stories and get to touch on people's lives all over the world :)

Till next :)
Annette

Wonderful visitors and a fantastic prize draw

Well, its been a very eventful week! My computer has gone to the doctor for a check up as I couldn't connect to the net and no matter how many virus scans I ran nothing worked - very distressing!! So I've nabbed hubby's laptop for some covert surfing and an update ;)

We had some wonderful visitors last weekend from the US. I have known Marilyn for many years online and she is currently touring around Australia with her husband. In approximately four weeks they are covering Sydney, Coolah (of course!), Lightning Ridge, Anna Bay, Melbourne, Adelaide, Coober Pedy, Perth, Albany, Broome, Darwin, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef! Thats literally from one corner to the next and from top to bottom! I'm exhausted just thinking about it! It was brilliant to meet someone you've only known online and she was just as sweet in person as she has been as words on a screen :) Her husband was just lovely and was so interesting ... its not every day that you meet a nuclear physicist! Even though they've said otherwise, I think my three very loud and rather bold children were a shock. (I seem to remember they used to be reticent around strangers.... what happened!?)

I'm sure you would like to win over $1000 in prizes just in time for Mother's Day? I was asked to be a part of this wonderful promotion and it starts Thursday (25 March)! Make a qualifying purchase from the businesses involved (for example, any purchase over $35 from my site) fill out the form saying why you would like to win (eg. Coz I want it all!!!) and you're in the draw!

Up for grabs is:
A variety of Ahava Dead Sea products valued at $125 from Dead Sea Source Australia
A handbag and purse valued at $100 from Baubles Bubbles and Bags
A mineral makeup starter kit valued at $125 from Southern Cross Beauty
4 atomisers of top selling fragrances valued at $128 from Perfume on Tap
Greeting cards valued at $100 from Think Cards
A 4 week on-line personal training program valued at $135 from Glow Womens Fitness Online
Soy scented candles to the value of $68 from Dream Candles
A personalised budget plan valued at $145 from the Budget Bitch
An $80 gift voucher from MooWoo Handmade Cards and Gifts
And of course, something from me!

My prize into the hamper is pictured above. You could pay $145 for it, or you could just win it instead!!!

It's a stunning ocean jasper and rutilated quartz, chain linked necklace in 12ct goldfill. This will be perfect for autumn and winter with its golden brown tones. (And will still look stunning in summer against white). The stones in this necklace are gorgeous - I'm a big fan of ocean jasper and these stones have some wonderful markings and patterns and such rich colours. The rutilated quartz has incredible needles of gold and red rutile - honestly, you could look at these stones for days and always find something new to admire!

The giveaway ends on April 25 so that you will receive it in time for Mother's Day, so get shopping ;)

I will soon have to get organised for my display at Mendooran Show this weekend - I'll be in the Ladies Pavillion if you're going to the show :) so,

Till next :)
Cheers!
Annette

MIA from the blogging world

I've been MIA (missing in action) from the blogging world again! You would think given hubby's return and my release from farming duties I'd be back in the swing of things. Far from it though.

Hubby has been busy with rock picking, cutting hay and now sowing and I feel like I've not quite got away from the paddock - even if it's just keeping him company. As well, there have been further incidents of farming jobs that involved me - such as the whole family going rock picking for a day last weekend. The kids coped remarkably well with manual labour - maybe they're not as soft as I thought!

Perhaps I need to have a guest blogger on hand to keep everyone entertained in such absences. Have you ever had a guest blogger on your blog? Or perhaps you've been one? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

I've seen guest bloggers occasionally but haven't really taken much notice. Then two blogs I check in on regularly have been talking about them. Your Cheeky Monkey had a guest blogger to talk about photographing children. As Monique's blog is connected to her business which caters to a lot of children products this is perfect! The other blog was the Business Mums Blog that was talking about the pros for both the blog and the guest blogger. Food for thought for when we're too caught up with other things?

Naturally, with everything else keeping me busy, not much has happened on the jewellery front. I've been busy with orders and remodelling jobs so I've only had time for a couple of new pieces. The necklace pictured above is one of the new ones - lava, freshwater 'stick' pearls in a natural pink / lavender tint and sterling silver. (I must apologise for the bluish tint in the photo - the light was a little past optimum.)

I have visitors arriving from the US this Friday for a short stay and in my mad dash around the house in cleaning mode, I tidied up my bench....so that's ruined any creativity until I can mess it up again. LOL.

Till next
Annette :)

Farmer Piper signing off (I hope!)

We've had rain today - a lovely drop, just steady without being too heavy - the type that soaks in the ground straight away. I was woken early by orange glow at dawn - the sky was stunning! It obligingly stayed that way while I found the camera. It did change quickly though. I took some pics to share with you (more below). Within half an hour of taking these the rain started.

It's been a long couple of weeks and I'll certainly be glad to hand back the farming duties to the man of the house! Whilst it can be visually gorgeous and liberating not having a neighbour within coo-ee, living out here on the land, it's often just a lot of hard work.

I was looking back through some notes I'd written to friends over the last couple of weeks about my farming duties and thought they summed it up pretty well...

Day 5:

Played farmer and spent hours moving mobs of cattle yesterday. One mob just didn't want to budge and went to the opposite corner of the gate.... like what the???? And my hay fever was NOT happy when I was riding through paddocks of lucerne in full flower! Sent many 'not-happy' vibes to absent husband at that stage.



Day 9:

Dear Bulls (yes you big bone heads), please don't rub against the tap in your paddock for a scratching post and turn the tap on, letting out a whole tank of water.

Dear trough, please don't get stuck 'on' because your water level dropped so low (blame the bulls, see above) and run 12 hours of pumped water down the hill.

Dear heifers, please don't rub against your trough because its dry (see the bulls - they had plenty) and move the float cover so that it gets stuck on when water is finally back on, pumping out MORE water all over the ground. (Well at least it was in a different paddock).

Dear husband, please come home, I've had ENOUGH.



Day 11:

I met my match this morning. The bulls. There are numerous bulls in a paddock. FIL moved the heifers into the paddock next to them when he was up here making sure all my water problems were sorted out. Then he comes back and tells me that "you may need to move those bulls into the paddock below where they are, as the heifers may be too tempting - they'll get in, probably breaking the fence doing it". Ah,thanks! So this morning I dutifully go down and there are three bulls hanging along next to the fence with 50 odd heifers right on the other side.

Think of three adolescent boys flexing their muscles and a class of tweens (who think wearing very short skirts is way cool) a few feet away avidly watching the boys.

So I move the older bulls (think men who really don't have time for silly little girls) as they'd break the fence in an instant if they wanted to get through. Mind you, one of them got very fiesty and started snorting and pawing the ground. Imagine a bull of around 1000kg doing this in front of me on a quad with a dog quivering on the back behind me. Hmmmm. Exactly. Anyway I get those three moved without TOO much terror on my part.

But the younger bulls. No way Jose, they're not going ANYWHERE. And you can FEEL the eyes of the heifers going "oooh, don't shoo them away.... they're CUTE". So after numerous attempts to get them away from them, I've left them there. Maybe they'll be tired of them and won't all be hanging along the fence tomorrow (yeah, right!). Ruddy heifers are going to be in for a shock if the bulls jump the fence!!!



Day 12:

No major problems today - well, the tank was overflowing and the pump was still on. So a little problem I guess. I couldn't understand why it was on when I had set the timer, so off I set to check it out. I had a close look - it has two coloured pins, red and blue. I had set the blue to 3pm and the red to 8pm so that it would pump for 5 hours. One would THINK that RED means STOP. Uh no. Apparently not. I experimented and turned the timer around and the RED is for GO and the BLUE is for STOP. Go figure. Must have been designed by a man....

The bulls have finally been moved - and I have to admit it was FIL who managed to get the dog to work for him and move them away from the silly girls on the other side of the fence. Who, I may add are still there, vainly hoping the boys will come back and they can flirt some more....



So that sums up my fortnight as Farmer Piper pretty well. Hubby is finally back in the country although not quite home yet. Hopefully tomorrow if the rain clears up (as he can't fly through the weather).

I'll be back next week, when I'm assuming my life will have returned to some sort of normality!

PS I had one question to answer from last week's post - 'What is a saleyard canteen?'. The saleyards are the local yards where cattle are sold every fortnight. The school's parents & citizens group runs the canteen there selling refreshments (tea, coffee, cake, sandwiches) for the duration of the sale.