Snapshots from September

 September was an interesting month. The calendar said spring, but the weather gods said no... definitely still winter! The frosts and cool temperatures continued, which meant that the bloom times in the garden were a bit behind. The hellebores continued on, in some cases looking even better as they aged. They are forming nice clumps and I have to resist the urge to divide and replant them. I'll limit myself to propagating by seed this year. 

The first blossoms arrived in my garden, on my almond trees. They are beautiful but always a bit sparse... I'm not sure if this is the norm actually or if they don't like the climate here, I think I've read they don't like frost.

 Even though it's cold I got my tomato seeds started. By the time they're big enough to plant out it should be warm enough for them in the glasshouse. My propagator is a plastic shell that originally held a mailbox. I rescued it from the rubbish and was proud of my find as it's the perfect size and shape!

 There was an amazing red sunrise one morning, predictably enough followed by a nasty weather change.

 I've been working on my puff stitch blanket, and I'll update that in another post. However, one work in progress is never enough, and when I saw an Instagram announcement of a new CAL (Crochet Aong) I had to join in! This is the Greg Mystery CAL. A new pattern comes out every few weeks and this is the first square.

 I had a week off work as well. I actually timed it really well with the weather and managed to get the best week in the whole month (the opposite usually happens when I have a week off!). I spent the time visiting my family in Timaru, then I came back home and got stuck into the garden.  My main task was the front garden - it's an absolute disgrace, weed filled and overgrown. I weeded, dug over and enlarged the bed and planted out lots of plants. There is a lot to show actually but I'm waiting for it to fill in a bit before taking photos! The photo on the left is the strip along the side of my drive, which is planted with camellia Fairy Blush shrubs and underplanted with earlicheer and monarch daffodils, pink hyacinths, and ipheon uniflorum (spring star). It's at its absolute best at this time of year, looking beautiful and smelling divine.

 Also on my week off, I painted stuff! This was something for my front yard garden update. More details soon I promise!

 Still loving my spring display from Styling the Seasons. It looks just as pretty at night, when the lamplight shines through the glass and reflects off the silver tray. Also, I got a pair of metal flower scissors. I had to joke that I now feel like a proper Instagrammer... since every second flat lay and still life features a pair of these!

 I've been reading The Luminaries. I found it quite hard to get into at first, because its written in a deliberately old-fashioned style, with very long sentences and antique turns of phrase. But I did get into it and it's definitely very clever. It took me 2 weeks to get halfway and I could have finished it in the 4 week library allowance, but I wanted to read the other books I had out too! It had a natural break halfway, so I'll look for it next time I'm at the library (and possibly not get out any other books).

This medieval looking contraption is my crochet blocking board... it makes blocking multiple squares a breeze! It's simply a wooden board with holes drilled in, and metal skewers inserted in the holes.

Here we are at the end of September. It's raining (again), but green leaves are unfurling and the peach tree is now covered with blossom. I'm hoping that spring really isn't too far away now!