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Showing posts with label Cherry Blossoms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cherry Blossoms. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Pinking up...

 I've been making lots of brooch beads and they're almost ready for mounting onto boards and having their portraits done - I've tried for lots of colour in this batch.
They're great to wear on jackets and coats - my problem is that I always have to rat through my wardrobe every time I want to wear one - I tend to leave them on my coats - it's one way of storing them I guess.
                                                                                                              
I love lemons.  I love the taste of them in almost anything - someone called themselves a lemophile a while ago, and that really resonated with me!
                                                                                                                
I've tried to grow lemon trees at every house we've ever lived in and I'm sure I've left some amazing future specimens scattered around the country. 
Something eats all the new growth on our trees here and we think we may have tracked down the culprits - WETAS!!!  The largest insect in the world apparently!
I'm trying to discourage them my putting crushed eggshells around the trees - that's a lot of eggs!
Does anybody have any better ideas?  We never see them - I think they come and feed at night - they take the most enormous bites.
In the meantime I went and bought a lovely lot of lemons at the market last week and have tried preserving them for the first time.  I want to use them in tagines - they're apparently only slightly lemony in flavour - salty/sweet.
They're sliced almost through in quarters then packed with rock salt and into a jar then covered in lemon juice.  This took around 20 lemons!!
I used a recipe from Made in Morocco by Julie Le Clerc
A sumptuous recipe book full of the most amazing photography
I think this is my favourite photo - "Petits Taxis"
After I had begun this method I found another recipe by Annabel Langbein's Free Range Cook which I wished I had used - it used only a few lemons and seemed much less messy...
She slices 2 lemons into 6ths completely then freezes the slices on a tray, then packs the frozen segments into a clean jar, adds 2 heaped teaspoons of salt, the juice of a lemon (to cover the segments), adds a bay leaf and covers it all with oil.
Ready in a week, but will improve over several months, and once opened, keep them in the fridge.
How easy is that?
Maybe next time?
                                                                                                               
What do you think of the new pink background?
I've been looking for something a bit more colourful for ages, and pink seems a nice colour - feminine, heart chakra energy and all that.
                                                                                                          
Speaking of heart chakra colours, I've been wearing quite a lot of green lately and thought I'd show you these beads I made years and years ago that I still wear and love...I call them Cherry Blossoms these days.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Happy New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
I wonder what the Year of the Dragon will bring?  Health, happiness and good fortune to you all I hope.
It's been a busy old time here in Takaka with lots of summer visitors, but never so busy that there's not a place to enjoy a relaxing cuppa in the shade.
The workroom is warm (sometimes a little too warm!)and buzzing and I've really enjoyed catching up with a few of you.
I seem to be having a "purple patch" at the moment, playing with purples, amethysts and blues - mostly started by the blue/purple chakra lotus flowers necklace still sitting on my bench waiting to be completed!  There's a green cherry blossoms necklace in there, too and a purple Tiger Beads necklace and the beginnings of an amethyst chakra lotus flowers necklace too...along with some other bits and pieces that are awaiting the perfect accompaniements!

And there's a tray of red and black beads that need attention...are we hooking into a theme here?  Do I actually need to complete some works?

I'll leave you with a little treasure that I found on the beach this morning

Aren't they precious?  I'm guessing that the croquembouche was made by an adult?