The Natural Look

There were lots of natural objects at the sculpture gardens too - all sorts of interesting things I could do with a woodpile...

Sculpture School

Those of you who recall our trip to the Trash Palace in Porirua earlier this year will know that I'm keen to create some sculptures from "found objects" to display around our block. James, on the other hand, is very keen that I don't turn our beautifully manicured land into a junk yard.

My recent trip to the Kaipara Coast Sculpture Gardens gave me a few new ideas...



I've now got the perfect excuse to hoard bits of piping and plumbing from our renovations, plastic bags and bits of tat.

Winter Warmer

I've asked James to crochet me a hat to keep me warm on our forthcoming trip to the UK - and next winter, just in case our renovations haven't progressed far enough by then. We picked up some interesting yarns at Spotlight this morning - my new favourite shop.



But whilst you're waiting for a picture of the hat, here are some knitting art from the Kaipara Coast Sculpture Gardens, especially for Helen.







Knitting is cropping up in all sorts of odd places across New Zealand - just look at the yarn-bombers in Christchurch. Will crochet take off soon too?

Feathered invader

This little female yellowhammer flew straight through our front door and attempted to leave the house by the window over the stairs. When I tried to pick her up, she played dead but soon perked up again and flew off when I released her again outside.

Hot Chicks - Update!

Our three chicks are in rude health. The mother hen started squawking at dawn and pacing up and down at the front of the nursery cage so we threw her out to re-join the flock. Her offspring don't seem to mind and have even bonded better with us now - hopping out of the cage to sit on our hands.



We suspect that the father was our frizzle/Plymouth barred rock rooster who was dominant within the flock but the chicks have definitely picked up traits from their silkie mother as well.

This rooster-to-be is displaying a proud single comb and barred frizzle feathers. Apparently it's best to breed frizzle chickens from a frizzle male and a smooth female - that was lucky then!



But this wannabe cockerel has a rose comb and an obscene number of feathered toes - both features of a silkie - but not the proper feathers.



And this little hen (we hope!) has a vaulted skull, another feature of silkies.

The vaulted skull is a result in a hole in the bone structure of the skull causing the brain to protrude beneath a layer of tissue and (thankfully in our case but not always) feathers. A big problem for human babies (who suffer from spina bifida) but not too much of an issue for chickens. Nevertheless, maybe we should dose our hens up on folic acid. Biologically and genetically interesting as it is, it does make me feel a bit uncomfortable about human interference in breeding.

Peace at last

We sold our eight-month old roosters at the weekend. It was a little sad parting with them but we have two new rooster chicks growing up in the garage now so it was time for them to move on. They have a new home with a family setting up a 9 acre block on the other side of Auckland. Hopefully they'll produce lots of lovely chicks for their new family.

Rosebud...

Uncle Geoff's inspired Christmas present to James was a rosebud teapot to add to his collection of pottery that looks like fruit or vegetables. Obviously we'll be using it to serve rosehip tea.



The teapot teams up well with Geoff's earlier op-shop-find - a teapot with matching cups and saucers, all made up of bunches of grapes.



Other acquisitions for the collection in 2010 included this red apple cruet set from the op shop in Kohukohu which would tempt Sleeping Beauty...



...and this sweet little pineapple sugar bowl, found in the Foxton op shop...