Apr 21, 2012

Bunting and Bountifulness.


 Yesterday I finished a string of bunting to brighten up our entrance way. Earlier this week I had tidied and cleaned the area, washed the windows and shoo-ed out the spiders. Sometimes you just feel the need...
An old plastic tablecloth had been lying around there for ages, and was still in good condition.


 So I cut it up, (easy with a little wheel blade) and sewed all the triangles together in pairs, attached them to some bias binding.
And, hey presto! a cheerful bunting to make me smile when I come home!


It's nice having a covered entrance way, people usually take their shoes off before they come inside, and the bench is helpful to put your boots on as well. It's a nice dry place for the cats at night, often they sleep in a box there.

Acorn Gnomes in hat-heaven.

I also went for a walk in the nearby park to find acorn caps for a friend. I found hundreds, nice deep ones, and since it had been dry for a few days, in great clean condition.

 While fossicking around in the fallen leaves off the paths, and getting funny looks from passerby's, I suddenly came across many fat shiny edible chestnuts. I must try cooking with these.
 They used to be known as the poor man's staple, long ago before the introduction of the potato in Europe. High in carbohydrates, fibre and several vitamins and minerals, people even ground them to flour for baking with. Apparantly there were whole forests of edible chestnuts in Europe.
 Beware of the poisonous horse chestnuts though, which are also known as conkers.

I spotted Toadstool Girl helping herself!

And Possum Kids know what they like too...

Ragged fairy wings.
I do always enjoy the autumn, it smells good. My man is hauling and cutting wood like a man possessed. The freshly cut piles add to the woody scent outside. My kitchen smells of feijoas, delicious!
 
Soon we will be going on an overseas holiday together, with 2 of our friends. We have picked up the tickets and have already changed some money. 
Where? Bali....!!
We are so looking forward to it, we haven't been out of the country since 2005. 
Summer here we come!!

2 comments:

softearthart said...

Just love your little Toadstool girl and possum kids, so lovely.
Many thanks for the acorn caps.
My email address is softearth@clear.net.nz

cheers Marie

Elmtree said...

You're welcome! I'll keep a few for myself too for leaf-gnome hats.