David's Red and Blue Dragons

David just loves dragons! When I asked him why, he replied because they are strong and intelligent, and also because they are both beautiful and terrifying! Here I will showcase David's collection of Dragons. I couldn't decide if this collection is more red than blue, so I've decided it is equally both, which is why I've linked this post with two parties, Blue Monday and Ruby Tuesday. If you'd like to know more about Teena, be sure to check out his cooking blog.

This red dragon ornament was given to David by his sister. It lives beside my Chinese Tea Set which my mother gave me, and is decorated with blue Chinese dragons. Its considered good luck to face dragons toward doors to scare away any bad luck or negativity before it enters the house, as the red and blue dragons are doing here.

David's favourite t-shirt is worse for wear, it's his favourite colour blue with a dragon on the front! I wonder what the Chinese writing means?

The other weekend when we went to the Rocklea markets on Sunday and picked up some cute trinket boxes, we also grabbed this red dragon box. I don't know what's going to go inside it, but David just had to have it!

Besides the red dragon box sits his collection of dragon books - the Eragon trilogy. I haven't read it yet, maybe I will one day! We also own a copy of the Eragon DVD and are still eagerly awaiting the release of the sequel movies. This is a very special movie for us, it was the very first movie we saw together on our very first date on Boxing Day 2007! Awwww, isn't that romantic?!

Last Valentine's Day I made a gift using some cut out dragons. Should I tell you where these dragons came from? He had a couple of boxer shorts with dragons on them that were falling apart but he couldn't bring himself to throw them away, so I had to recycle the dragon print didn't I? LOL! I cut them up and made them into a bedside organiser! Hanging off the hooks are two dragon key rings he has been given, the one on the right I gave him a while ago now.

Another special dragon David owns is this red-winged dragon candle. I don't think we will ever burn it, its just too special!

I bought this dragon pendant in 2008 and he loved it, wearing it all the time until he woke up one morning with it bent out of shape! So now it is a little memento.

Finally, below is a picture of a delicately etched glass dragon. I bought this for David from a shop in Toombul when we lived on the Northside of Brisbane in 2007.

I hope you liked looking at pictures of David's red and blue dragons!

David has started his own cooking blog and is calling it "Teena's Home Cooking". If you like cooking, be sure to check it out!

<3

<3

<3

My selected highlights from this week's Blue Monday party

• a fun and inspiring blog @ Homemaking in High Heels


• more wonderful poetry as usual @ Rinkly Rhymes


• find out about Blue Hour in your city @ Boogieboard Cottage


• beautiful pictures of my favourite blue flowers @ How Sweet the Sound AND Home, Garden and Adventure

My selected highlights from this week's Ruby Tuesday party

• wonderful shots of garden flowers and birds, including hummingbirds @ Viewing Nature with Eileen


• amazing photography @ The Hidden Realm


• Taoist Temple photos and traditional ceremonies @ Everyday As It Comes


• traditional Ukrainian village house museum @ The island of the chanting Munchkin

I Love my Husqvarna

Yes, it is true. I am having a hot and steamy secret love affair - with my sewing machine!

Of course, this does not mean I love David any less, how could I? "He da man!" (pretty much, pretty much). And there is no law written that a happily married woman must not love her trusted sewing machine dearly.

What an absolute treasure my old sewing machine is, and oh so lovely. A much-loved well-worn relic, it always works like a smooth charm whenever I feel brave enough to venture near it. I'm not sure why I don't use it more often, this wonderful refined beast intimidates me with its perfectness. It simply purrs as it glides the seams all my itself, all I have to do is turn it on! But so patiently it waits for me, never pesters me for attention. Just is always there for me when I need it.


And just like a good friend, if I'm making a mistake sewing something the wrong way around, it Knows it isn't the sewing machines fault. So it says nothing, and just keeps sewing, trusting I will see my own error sooner or later. My sewing machine ain't gonna tell me I'm wrong and remains silent. I've known people like that!

This machine came to me second hand by a friend of my mother who I believe didn't use it much, and I didn't realise straight away just how precious this thing truly is.  It's had two services so far, one in Darwin and one in Brisbane, I should try and find someone I trust here on the south side to do it, but I'm a bit nervous about that! We all know how I have 'trust issues'! How I would be lost without my Husqvarna, no other could possibly replace it.


Oh, I love my sewing machine!
/smiffle!

Women's Creative Centre, Greenslopes and Lifeline Store, Mt Gravatt

Last Wednesday I managed to get myself along to a craft workshop organised by the Women's Creative Centre in Greenslopes. I post every Wednesday to help motivate me to write about getting out of the house. Included are some photos of things I bought when David took me to the Lifeline shop at Mt Gravatt the previous Sunday, like this cute little garden charm we now have sitting on our garden outdoor table.

It was a challenge to even find out about this craft group in the first place, as I've been looking on the internet for a while and hadn't found anything local. I only happened to be told about this group when I asked at the Kingston Butter Factory craft shop if they held lessons. After searching the net for "Creative Women's Centre" I found one short page as part of some listing site which had precious little information, just an email address. So I wrote to the email address and got sent a document that I couldn't read because I didn't have the software. Luckily, David helped me download it so I could read a little more. Last Saturday David drove me out to Greenslopes to see the place, as I wasn't going to go by myself without 'casing the joint' first! I plucked up the courage to speak to two ladies in the shop about going along to a lesson.

The lessons, or workshop which cost only $4.50, is not held at the craft shop but in another room in the shopping centre. It was nervous for me to walk into a strange room with strange people, its a pity they kept the window blinds closed. One lady went to close the blinds because she 'didn't want people looking at us'. I think that's a shame because it makes it harder for new people. I'm really glad I went to the craft group, and it went for two hours which was just the right length of time. I fit right in with my wonderfully perfect cane sewing basket which I got second-hand for an amazing $3 from the Lifeline shop last Sunday.

I learnt a new way of starting and ending my crochet work, which is great. I also talked with the instructor about tension and how to better judge which wool and hooks I should be using for certain projects. I had a go at an Irish Rose and I got a copy of the pattern, which is great. I also talked about the bolero I want to make, ending up changing my mind about which wool to use. There was a lot of inspiration for me to get going on several projects, I just don't know which to start next! I'll be going along again today, taking my patterns and cottons to ask about making doilies and to try and use up my pile of wool ... which doesn't seem to be shrinking yet!

Perhaps I should stop buying new wool??? lol!

Red Hearts of Love

All these photos were taken last Sunday morning. When I saw them in my pictures folder together I realised they were all red so that gave me an idea for a post to join in with Ruby Tuesday hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet!

After a couple of hours of me checking the Pink Saturday blogs and he playing a computer game, we got peckish for some breakfast. We were in the mood for our favourite lovey dovey breakfast, sausages and tomato with love heart eggs and mushrooms!

On Saturday, David took me to a Salvo's store (Salvation Army charity shop). We hadn't been there before and there were lots of bargain treasures to be found, some of which I decided I coudn't bring home. One thing I did grab was this very good toy for developing fine motor and hand-eye coordination in very young children. It's pretty solid, not flimsy, so I grabbed it for $3. In the background you can see a red love-heart bag. I can't remember where I got it from but I keep some Barbie things in it, it's so cute. Also in the background you can see my tiny teddies where they live now, sitting on one of the vintage doll's chairs to keep Barbie company. The doily you can see I believe was made by my great-grandmother, which I hope to try copying one day.

Another bargain treasure we found at the Salvo's store on Saturday were this pair of lovey dovey coffee mugs. We've decided to collect coffee mugs with love hearts on them, as well as other things with love hearts because we are sooo lovey dovey! /awwww... lol! These are probably not so great because the shape means that one is smaller than the other. I don't like the idea that to be in love one person must be smaller.

Our first love heart coffee mugs we bought were these very cheap ones we saw at the supermarket a couple of years ago. We got four, one broke and has been thrown away. That's a shame, I really must remember to keep broken crockery for my mosaic projects I hope to do one day. Two of the remaining three mugs have broken handles, so one is now used as my pens holder by my pc. That's why I'm afraid to use the 3rd mug for drinking as I have a terrible vision of someone spilling hot coffee over them when the silly handle breaks! But they are just too cute to throw away, they are too lovey dovey! When a coffee handle breaks, it can still be recycled into something useful.

I also took a photo of this very cute red chocolate tin. It cost me $5 full of chocolates from Coles online last Valentine's Day. I havent' decided what it will be used for yet, but I'm sure it will turn out to be nice. It's sitting on top of the table my great-grandfather made, which I will do a post about one day.

I didn't realise how many red love hearts I have about my house!
<3 <3 <3

Be sure to check out other Ruby Reds at Ruby Tuesday!

Highlights from this week's party

• wonderful Flame Tree image and poetry at Rinkly Rhymes


• on friendships at Anne-Marie with a dash


• a beautiful close-up flower photograph at Little Bang Theory


• "I blog therefore I am" at Joysweb

Three Small Things - fingerpuppet, granny square, doily

Here are three small things I've made in the last few days, a Teddy Bear fingerpuppet, a cross-my-heart granny square and a lemon doily.

<<< There is no pattern for this finger puppet, it is merely one of my early attempts at making a crochet toy. I decided to pop a little dress on her, along with a matching flower headband. It was after I embroidered her face that I realised she was back the front. Oh well, her backwards legs are hidden beneath the skirt so it doesn't really matter. She is just for practice after all, and was fun to make. You can see her before she was decorated in my Five Tiny Teddies post as one of my early attempts at making a crochet toy. I think she makes a great companion for my Octopus Boy!

>>> When I asked David what he thought I should make next, his idea was for me to make a lovey-dovey blanket for the lounge, one with a heart motif. I've seen lots of square heart motifs so went back to the net for some ideas. One I saw was a cross my heart granny square. I didn't use that pattern, just looked at it for the idea. I think I might have a go at making a granny square all in one colour then out-lining just one of the four hearts in a contrasting colour using chain stitch.

<<< I was feeling brave so was ready to give making a doily another go. I found a simple doily diagram at a page of beginner crochet doilies. I hit a snag at the 10th round so took it to the Women's Creative Centre to see if I could get some advice on it. Apparently my tension was too tight and I need to use a bigger hook, so after we unravelled the mistake we fastened this one off to make a small doily. It's just the right size to put under the phone that is sitting on my piano.

Feast for a Day - Valentine's (part two)

After much planning and a full day of preparation yesterday, this is what we actually ended up having for our special day-long celebration today for both Valentine's and Chinese New Year.

[gallery]

breakfast
Love Heart Fried Eggs with Smoked Salmon, generous dollops of hollandaise sauce and a sprinkling of fresh chives
Homemade Tomato, Capsicum, Chilli and Garlic Pull-apart Bread
Peppermint & Lemon Balm Tea with honey
Chocolate Coffee with cream & sugar

mid-morning snack
Mint & Ginger Fruit Punch
Poorman's Caviar with Corn Chips
Lemon Myrtle & Pistacio Biscotti dipped in cinnamon honey

lunch
Smoked Salmon & Carrot Sushi
more Mint & Ginger Fruit Punch

afternoon desert
Love Heart Icecream Cake with strawberries, chocolate sauce, and crumbled pink merringue

dinner
Lemon Myrtle & White Fish Cakes with Sweet Chill Sauce and Basil Fried Rice

How to make

Icecream Cake
6 scoops of strawberry shortcake icecream mixed with 6 cut up caramel chocolates, a handful of crushed cashews, 3 crumbled chocolate biscuits, press into a cling-wrap lined heart-shaped small cake tin and freeze overnight

Mint & Ginger Fruit Punch
1 can of fizzy soft drink (we used Lemon Squash), a tablespoon of fresh ginger juice (grate and mix with a little tonic water then strain), add cut up 2 nectarines, 1 orange, a handful of strawberries and love-heart shaped ice cubes, a handful of fresh mint leaves, top up with Mango Juice as required

Out with the Old

Tomorrow, being Valentine's Day, is an extra special day this year. Not only does it fall on a weekend, which only happens once or twice every 6 years or so, it also falls on the start of festivities for the Chinese New Year!

So today, in preparation for the special day tomorrow, we are baking as much as we can in advance, then we will be cleaning the house together! /awww isn't that romantic? Yes, I could have cleaned the house yesterday when David was at work, but that would not have swept away any bad luck from this year that came into our house today (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

It's a Chinese tradition to clean the house the day before the New Year starts, to sweep away any bad luck from the previous year. This helps the new year start with a fresh clean beginning, allowing any good luck to flow into the house during the festivities. In the very least, the floors should be swept and mopped, perhaps cleaning a window and the loungeroom ceiling fan may also take my fancy. Lucky charms, like this coin I hang facing my front door, help bring happiness and wealth into the home, as do round golden coloured fruits like oranges, favoured for their resemblence to gold coins.

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating all day, with romantic themed foods, some with an Asian flavour like fried rice and fish cakes for our evening meal. Reminding ourselves of the importance of our romantic relationship is sure to attract much good luck into our home for the new year ahead!

Feast for a Day - Valentine's

It's important for strong mental health to mark the passage of time with friends and loved ones by celebrating special occasions together. This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday so this will be the last weekend day for a couple of years. Next year, David will be at work. So David and I have decided we shall celebrate with a day long feast!

To design the menu, we came up with three words to describe our greatest hopes for our relationship, this being the time to celebrate "love". We then assigned colours and foods to these themes, then created a menu with each dish containing at least one thing from each theme. Another way to describe this "spell" we made up is to describe it as a "positve affirmation", because after you eat each dish, you could think or whisper the three romantic words together! The only hocus-pocus here is to remind ourselves of our goals for our life together, and to consolidate it in a yummy but meaningful way.

Passion - Longevity - Faith

Passion - heat, red, sweet, blood
(eg. chillies, pepper, honey, mint, tomatoes, red wine, red kidney beans, red capsicum, rosewater, strawberries, passionfruit, lamb, ham, salmon, wasabi, coffee etc.)
Longevity - life, health, trees, green
(eg. rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram, lemon myrtle, lemon balm, olive oil, eggs, eggplant, apples, linseed, tree nuts, nutmeg, peas, dairy, flour, rice, citrus etc.)
Faith - earth, strong, white, reliability
(eg. potatoes, water, onions, carrots, chives, chocolate, garlic, ginger, groundnuts (peanuts), cinnamon, mayonaise, etc.)

DRAFT Feast for a Day menu (will post fotos of what we actually did later)
(if you use this idea on your website, please link back to my blog, thanks!)

breakfast
Peppermint, Lemon Balm and Ginger Tea (passion, longevity, faith)
Hot Chocolate Coffee with Cream (passion, longevity, faith)
Heart-shaped Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon and Chives (passion, longevity, faith)
Garlic and Tomato Homebaked Bread (passion, longevity, faith)

morning tea
Heart-shaped Rosewater and Peanut Cookies (passion, longevity, faith)
Spice Milk Chai, incl. caffiene, ginger, nutmeg etc. (passion, longevity, faith)

lunch
Salmon and Carrot Sushi Rolls with Sweet Chilli Sauce and Wasabi (passion, longevity, faith)
Mango Juice with sprigs of mint and ginger (passion, longevity, faith)
Apple Juice with floating strawberries and a dusting of cinnamon sugar (passion, longevity, faith)

dinner
Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic (passion, longevity, faith)
Basil Fried Rice with Peas, Onion, Red Capsicum and Chilli (passion, longevity, faith)
red wine (passion) to be served in green glasses with white ribbon (longevity & faith)
Garlic and Tomato Homebaked Bread (passion, longevity, faith)

snack and drink ideas
Pistacio and Lemon Myrtle Biscotti with Honey and Cinnamon dip (passion, longevity, faith)
Hot Apple Tea with Cinnamon and Honey (passion, longevity, faith)
pappadoms with carrot and margoram dip (passion, longevity, faith)
corn chips with tomato and onion salsa (passion, longevity, faith)
Poorman's Caviar  - red capsicum, eggplant, garlic (passion, longevity, faith)

desert
Love-heart Shaped Pavlovas with Strawberries, Cream and a drizzling of chocolate sauce (passion, longevity, faith)
Strawberry Shortcake Icecream with a dusting of sweetened cocoa powder (passion, longevity, faith)

make before the day
garlic and tomato bread
rosewater and peanut cookies
peppermint and lemon balm tea
hollandaise sauce and pavlova shells (or merringues)
pistacio and lemon myrtle biscotti

Love Heart Rag Rug

This is my first completed rag rug and it was hard work so I don't think I'll be making these very often!

love heart rag rug made by crochet strips of material

Using crochet to make a rag rug like this uses a lot of material, so I want this to be the only one that uses material that's not recycled. Really, rag rugs should be made from strips of material salvaged from discarded clothes and sheets. But I had a small collection of cotton material squares that I'd been carrying around for ages, so I decided to put it to good use. It's all the same type of matterial and I think the colours kind of go together. Luckily I have a heap of that blue otherwise this would have turned out a lot smaller.

the material was cut into thin strips with pinking shears

I needed some new mats for the kitchen and knew I could make some from strips of material. After hunting around on the net for ways to turn recycled material into rugs, I found the best one at The Sunroom. My first attempt didn't work out because the biggest hook I had was a size 6, so I went and got myself a size 10, the biggest one they had at the shops, and started again.

rag rug in progress

Using my new pinking shears, I cut strips of ribbon from the material to reduce any fraying. I cut up one square of material at a time to give my hands a break, but my wrists hurt a little from all the hard work! lol. I spent at least two whole days on this, plus several hours here and there spread out over two weeks. I think this is a great way to reuse material that can be cut into long strips, but only if you're time-rich like me. If you don't have the time, I think paying $10-20 for a small rug from the shops might be worth it! 

the love heart rag rug in its place by the back door

But this is a good way for me to make things for my home without spending any money (other than getting a new hook which I'll reuse) and using up things that I might otherwise throw away. From what I've read, this rag rug will flatten out and I can wash it in the machine. This one is about 60cm wide and it's my Valentine's gift this year for the home I share with my true love.

/awww

The Herbs in Our Garden

One of my greatest simple joys at the moment is our cute little herb garden. Although it was a challenge to get established, it's finally starting to become productive.That might be because our companion plants like basil and lavendar are growing nicely and their smelliness is discouraging pesky pests. Taking care of these herbs is a sure-fire tonic for keeping the blues at bay.

Growing your own herbs is a very simple and satisfying way to save money too. If you love good food, you would know having fresh herbs at hand is always best. Buying a bunch of herbs from the supermarket is wasteful, expensive and just not as good as growing them in a pot at your back door and taking a sprig or two as you need it. The absolute essential herb as far as I'm concerned, which is the first one we were able to successfully grow and harvest, is parsley. It's very healthy, versatile and hardy. But now we have a bunch of other herbs that are turning out to be real joys, for example, having three types of basil and mint on hand is just wonderful!

Here is a quick break down of the herbs currently in our potted garden and what they are good for. Many also have traditional 'magic' properties too, which I think is nice to just keep in mind, even if you don't fully believe in that kind of thing. After cross referencing several websites I found common themes amongst them using various words meaning basically the same thing. So I came up with three practical catergories that are meaningful to me.

aloe vera - skin (burns and rashes), "health"
basil (thai, all-year-round, sweet) - relative to peppermint, antioxidant and antibacterial, add last to hot food, "health & passion"
chamomille - flowers make a relaxing tea, also good for the skin "health & sleep"
chilli - antibacterial, good for nasal congestion, migraine relief, high blood pressure, good in winter, increases metobolism, "passion"
chives (garlic, onion) - like garlic and onions, antibacterial and antioxidant, but milder, fresh is best "health"
coriander - wonderful fresh herb for salads, "health & passion" (weddings)
lavendar - relaxing tea, migraines, insect repellant "health, passion & sleep"
lemon balm (a type of mint) - relaxing tea, stomach aches, pre-menstrual cramps, headaches, overuse can cause insomnia "health & passion"
lemon myrtle (eucalyptus, part of the myrtle family) - a relaxing tea, good for headaches, used in cooking for a mild lemon flavour, antioxidant "health, passion & sleep"
marjoram - food preservative, relaxing tea, good in cooking, upset tummy, headaches, mild antioxidant and antifugal, dried is best, "health & passion" (weddings) "add to food to share with your object of affection to strengthen love"
mint - good with peas, juices, punch, tea, icecream "health & passion"
oregano - antioxidant rich, antibacterial, close relative to marjoram, makes a good tea for nasal congestion, dried is best "health & sleep" (weddings)
parsley - high in iron, good for high blood pressure, tummy upsets and uti, breath freshener, toothache, constipation, detox, salads "health & passion"
peppermint - tea, indigestion, tummy upsets, IBS, cough suppressant, morning sickness, relaxing herbal bath, "health, passion & sleep"
pineapple sage - tea (with lemon balm), anti-anxiety, "health, passion & sleep" (weddings & wisdom)
rosella hibiscus - native bush fruit for making jam "passion"
rosemary - food preservative, cook with lamb, good for upset tummy, relaxing baths, may protect against cancer, use liberally in food, "health & passion" (weddings & memory)

resources
www.global-garden.com.au/gardenherbs.htm
www.scribd.com/Herbs-and-Their-Magickal-Properties
windspirit57.tripod.com/id4.html
www.earthwitchery.com/herbsa-g.html
www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/pagan/articles_magass.htm
www.gardensablaze.com/HerbMarjoramMag.htm
www.herballegacy.com/Branca_History.html
www.ehow.com/how_4436311_oregano-tea-rid-sinus-problems.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtaceae

Lavendar Afternoon

Last Easter, when we visited David's father and his fiance in Stanthorpe, we stopped by a lavendar farm and got our very own lavendar plant to grow. So far it seems to have adjusted to the climate change (it can get very cold in Stanthorpe). We gave it a good sized pot and put a lucky grow charm at the base. I'm trying to shape it by pruning lightly. I'm supposed to do this after it finishes flowering I know, that's why there aren't as many flowers on it as there otherwise might be.  After the flowers finish, I deadhead them and keep the dried flower. It prefer's a sunny spot and a good water, but doesn't like to sit soaking.

After the stresses of the morning, I knew I had to take my stress management into my own hands and decided to make a lavendar bag! I made this one in about 30 minutes and did it by hand, not machine, as I did it for relaxation more than anything. It's quite easy, this is how I did it.
Fold a scrap piece of pretty material in half with the back of the material on the outside, the front facing each other inside.
If a seam of the lip will fray, hem it first using blanket stitch and some matching coloured thread.
Using backstitch hand sew down the side of each of the two edges.
Turn the bag right way out.
Fold a scrap piece of thin white ribbon in half, put a knot in the end.
Sew the half way point of ribbon about an inch down from the top of the bag.
Put some tablespoons of dried lavendar inside and twist the ribbon around the bag to close it.

On one of our trips to Indoorpilly with David's mum and his sister Michelle, we stopped by the T2 Tea shop, which is full of relaxing teas.  While we were there, some tea cups and saucers fell from a high shelf, as if of their own accord. One tea cup remained intact, so I declared it a lucky tea cup and bought it! I also picked up a packet of dried lavendar from there. Lavendar tea is very good for stress management and soothing migraines. I didn't know you could drink lavendar tea like that, and through trial and error this is how I've come to prefer my lavendar tea.
Add 2 teaspoons of dried lavendar to a small tea pot with a removable mesh cup.
Fill with boiling water for no more than 2 minutes.
While waiting, jiggle the pot!
Test the colour every 30 seconds to make sure its not too strong.
Add 1 teaspon of sugar per teacup of tea before sipping.
Enjoy!

I remember a song my dad used to sing to me when I was little...
"Lavendar blue, dilly dilly, lavendar green.
When I am King, dilly dilly, you shall be Queen.
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so.
Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, who told me so."
/awwww

Good Luck Charms for the Garden

The ritual of placing good luck charms in the garden is a way to remind yourself to do the best you can as it's caretaker. There is no voodoo or magic involved, other than the magic of self-motivation. I made up a little ceremony where David and I each chose a pebble from the collection of smooth river rocks sitting with my pony-tail palm. We then gave our pebble a peck and wrote the word 'grow' on it with a laundry marker. We then chose a plant to pop the pebble under and whispered 'grow' as we placed it. There is no witchery behind this, just a little ceremony to help us try hard while looking after our garden and to help us do our best. I believe it is a powerful thing indeed to convince the mind to have faith in something such as a little magical help in the garden.

This pair of lovey-dovey puppies started off the whole business of me placing lucky love charms. They were a gift from my late grandmother, and at the time I really wondered what I would do with such an impractical gift. I was in an unhappy relationship at the time and the significance of these puppies were lost on me. Now, I'm very grateful they take pride of place in our garden.

My granny also gave me a couple of windchimes, one year after the other, perhaps because my response to the first one must have seemed very positive. At the time, I really didn't know what I was going to do with such things. But now one hangs from the pot plant hook with the newly planted peppermint, which looks as if its going to take off, and some lemon balm for herbal tea. Last spring I saw some crows pulling the coconut fibre from our hanging pots, presumably to line their nests. I hoped the sound of the chime as they tugged at the pot would scare them off, and so far it seems to have worked. But perhaps nesting season is over and the real telling will be if they come back next year. The other small and cute windchime hangs on the back sliding door that opens out to the courtyard. A soft pleasant ringing sound nicely reinforces a trip out into the garden before engaging in some pottering.

After some recent trips to the beach near David's mum's house, we couldn't help ourselves but to pick up some rocks from the sand that we thought looked like love-hearts! Of course, in some cases you need a good deal of imagination to see it, not unlike being able to see things in clouds. But that is part of the fun! One person insists a rock is shaped like a heart, when for another the connection is dubious. We have a few little rocks placed around our garden, that with some stretch of the imagination resemble love hearts. Here are a couple I think look like hearts!

We almost never walk into what we call a 'junk shop', shops that sell poorly made bric-a-brac cheaply so those on a tight budget can get some retail therapy. But one day we were on the hunt for 'lovey-dovey' stuff to decorate our home, and we found this cute little piece to pop in our garden. I insisted a junk shop would have heaps of lovey-doveyness and I was right!

Here are two more  examples of lucky love charms in our garden. We got the love-heart bird house for $1.79 at Bunnings, it's so cute! The dragonfly love charm was $2.95 from Turner's Nursery and sits with our new Thai Chilli plant.

Lucky Love Charms for the Home

So much of what we do in our cultures is to reassure and lift the spirit. We place flowers about the home to celebrate life (although in some cultures, dead flowers mean death, so they prefer plastic ones). Symbols of a happy sun and golden round images for wealth are also popular. Fen Shui is a set of rules to decorate the home to create a feeling of peace and balance by reducing clutter and placing good luck charms in certain places.

David and I recently decided we would like to decorate our home with lucky love charms, or what we cheekily describe as 'lovey-doveyness'. There is nothing profound about good luck charms. For me, it's merely a symbol placed about and for good luck, it should be meaningful. This symbol reminds us how very important it is to have love in our lives, to have a home filled with love. To always speak to each other with a tone of love, to always save the best of ourselves for those who are dearest to us.

Getting out of the house is a bit of a big deal, but hunting and gathering for lucky charms for our home makes it more fun than intimidating.  I especially like the Russian Dolls who are perfectly sized to be a practical set of measuring cups, and they also have some lovey-dovey designs on their dresses! Only hassle is hand washing is recommended, but I think I can risk popping them in the top shelf of the dishwasher, maybe on a light cycle. The love-heart shaped measuring cups and spoons, dish and love heart coffee mugs were the booty from a trip to Indoorpilly Shopping Centre with David's mum a month or two ago.  We also picked up the love-heart beach towel, which is actually a kid's towel! Three cute little love-heart magnets go well on our fridge as a daily lovey-dovey reminder!

I really like the love heart shaped white Maxwell and Williams dishes, quite an impulsive buy which is unlike me, but they are particularly nice so I just had to have them. I did think they might be impractical but they do get used. At the moment one has drying rose petals from David's mum's house, another has our home grown tomatoes. Yes, the tomatoes are tiny. Good for homemade chilli relish or homemade pizza! I picked up the love-heart candle holder quite a few months ago when I went for a walk to the newsagent across the road to buy a gift card for someone. Can't remember who it was, otherwise I'd remember when it was. Now it has some homegrown sprigs of lavendar in it. Well, that was good of me to walk across the road, wasn't it? I should try it again sometime!

One of the best things we've nabbed is a love-heart shaped ice-cube tray from BigW. It's plastic is pliable so it's easy to remove the ice cubes and we use them all the time. What better way to remind yourself of the lovey-doveyness in your life than sipping on a cocktail with your love while sucking on love heart shaped ice cubes?! Interesting how the four love hearts look like a four-leaf clover, that's luck right thar!

I nearly forgot to mention the lucky love charm hanging on our front door! I think this was meant to be a Christmas decoration, but now it hangs on our front door all the time! Beware - you are about the enter the House of Lovey-doveyness!!

Homegrown Potted Chillies

We are really enjoying growing fresh herbs in our garden, so far we've had the most success growing chillies. We have not yet realised the full potential of our potted garden, and are still in the process of exploring what we can successfully grow here and how we can make practical use of the produce we grow.

The chilli pictured was grown from seed we bought from BigW last year so I think this plant must be a year old. We have already harvested it once or twice, this might be the 3rd batch.

Our first harvest was turned into what I called 'Chilli Toffee' as it was very sticky, although very nice to put on sandwiches. We removed the seeds to try and grow more plants. It was funny how David told me not to touch the seeds with bare skin but silly me, I didn't think it could hurt so I removed seeds with my bare fingers while Teena carefully removed the seeds by just using the tip of a knife. Well I suffered for not taking his advice for the next couple of hours, as the skin on my fingers tingled with a hot burning sensation!

The second harvest made a very scrumptious tomato chilli relish, which was delicious on sandwiches and excellent when there were no fresh tomatoes left in the fridge. We want to make future batches with the tiny home grown tomatoes we occasionally get, probably supplimented with some more tomatoes from the shops. We need to relocate the recipe for this yummy relish so we can make more next time!

All of our chilli seeds have germinated very easily, a lot easier than any other types of plants we've tried to grow from seeds. A couple of batches of chilli fruit have yielded more seeds which we collected and planted, not thinking so many would take. Now we have many chilli plants after only about 12 months!

We have so many chilli plants, some should have festive-coloured fruit in time for next Christmas, which would make excellent gifts for those who like chillies and cooking. Even if they don't, they make quite a handsome plant for the garden.

On a recent trip to check out a new nursery for us called Turner's Nursery we saw an excellent Thai Chilli plant which looked very happy and was full of bright fruit, so we bought our own to bring home in a pretty ceramic pot! I put the dragonfly charm we bought there in the pot for goodluck!


Chillies enjoy a sunny position and don't like to sit in water. The small square pot above comes with a tray which I detach and turn upside-down so it doesn't hold water. We also give the chillies a light seaweed fertiliser when we do the tomatoes. For more details on growing chillies check out these websites
Tropical Permaculture - chillies
ABC Gardening Australia - chillies