Five days ago I photographed the first apple blossom. Before that I was pleased to see evidence of buds. I’d been worried that the tree might be dead. A couple of trees – shrubs really – have died along the driveway: a hebe, a honeysuckle and there’s a rhododendron which is looking sick. While the apple tree is on the other side of the garden, it didn’t look as if it was going to bloom at all.
Today, it’s hard to believe that I could have been worried.
A couple of people – including the nice young man who washed the roof some time ago – hinted that I might weed the paving stones nearby but, looking at the paved area this afternoon, those ‘weeds’ are flowering, and I’m glad I didn’t.
It takes a while to get over the tidy, everything-in-a-neat-line sort of gardening. So far, I’m holding out.
I have just been amusing myself doing a makeover on a selfie. This is using the Portrait tool in Snapseed where you can select skin smoothing, eye brightening, eyebrow definition, eyebag removal, iris clarity, teeth, lips and face spotlight.
In this morning’s garden, there’s more to lift the spirits.
Flower spikes on tī kōukaLilacCherry blossom
The camellia has been flowering since the beginning of winter, as has the protea. Forsythia has been blooming for weeks.
Camellia – with antsProteaForsythia
I have been practising the techniques learnt in the Smartphone Photography course, such as holding the phone sideways with the camera on the lower side. This morning, I found I could get a better photo of a flower by holding the phone upside down. If the shutter is difficult to reach, you can push the sound up or down button and that will take the photo. Who knew?
Mis-spoke became a word a while ago when a politician regretted? retracted? was caught out? about something he said. There are lots of words starting with ‘mis’, such as misstep which has two meanings: you literally overbalance while walking or, figuratively, make a tactical error. Both have the sense of being accidental, not intended, while the more recent use of ‘mis’ words suggests a deliberate, even calculated, effort to distance the user from the action.
I started thinking about all this when ‘mis-remembered’ popped into my head just now while reading Murder and Mojitos. In the scene, a customer comes into the bookshop looking for a recently released book by a popular author but she doesn’t know the title. When it is established that Nicky Pellegrino is the author, the bookseller responds: ‘Ah,yes, “Murder in Italy” … ‘ This is one of the many in-jokes in the Bookshop Detectives series. The joke being, in this case, that Nicky Pelligrino writes a number of romance books set in Italy. Perhaps the book in question is the 2024 novel Marry Me in Italy.
‘Mis-think’ could be a word for a tendency to self-sabotage or let ourselves be deliberate misled (haha). Could ‘mistake’ mean to deliberately steal? (‘Oh, I mistook.’) More often ‘mis’ words seem to be used by politicians to excuse their less than ideal behaviour or to shift blame or to respond to a failure to manage a crisis. ‘Miscommunication’, ‘misappropriation’, ‘misinformation’, ‘mistakes were made’. Language is fascinating, especially when we can read between the lines for the speaker’s intentions. It’s part of critical thinking – the detective brain – which is useful, particularly now during an election campaign.
It’s forget-me-not time again. I look forward to the sea of blue flowers which takes over the garden in early Spring. It’s part of the succession of flowering plants at this time of year.
In the raspberry patchAmongst the vegetablesIn a barrelOn the bermIn a vaseThere are other colours too!
The not-so-good thing about forget-me-nots is when the flowers finish they turn to sticky seeds. Those seeds make the plant a good spreader. A woolly jersey is not a good choice of clothing when out in the garden at that stage. Even then, they stick to your jeans, socks and shoes. Felix gets them in his fur. The good thing about having them on the berm is that dog owners are discouraged from letting their dogs linger for whatever reason, particularly if the dog has been recently groomed. My brother’s white dog turned grey after a fossick in the forget-me-nots and was not happy with all the brushing and combing involved afterwards.
Introduction to Smartphone Photography at the WEA was a fun course to do. I’d become used to just snapping photos and hoping they would turn out okay. Now I have a better idea of framing and balance, focus and editing. Our tutor introduced us to an editing app called Snapseed which has lots of choices for editing. I had fun adding frames and text to my photos.
I experimented with artistic effects. The original of the photo below (left) has quite a busy background which I wanted to de-emphasise. I managed to do that by using the ‘Vintage’ tool in Snapseed. It ‘mutes’ the background while bringing out the colour of the daffodils.
On the way home from the course yesterday, I took a photo in Ballantynes’ china department. I cropped it in Snapseed and added a Vintage style (left) which seems to suit the subject. Then I tried it with the Retrolux effect (middle). Today I took a photo of flowers on a kōwhai tree in my backyard, cropped it, erased a distracting feature, and added a frame and text.
I hope I continue to experiment, but I can see it becoming time consuming and a little obsessive if I’m not careful!
Okay, this is going to sound like an infomercial. I was very disappointed when a lovely woollen pullover pilled almost the instant I put it on. It quickly became so lumpy that I wore it only around the house and was tempted to discard it entirely. Then, in the weekend, I bought a fabric shaver and the results are miraculous! To me, anyway. I’ve tried other fabric shavers which have been a lot of hard work for little result. My sister-in-law has a scary story about a shaved jumper which ended up full of holes! After much trepidation, I was very relieved that the new shaver did what it is supposed to do – and is easy to use and rechargeable. Today, I wore my pullover when I went out as it is almost as good as new.
Before (actually the inside which wasn’t shaved)Fabric ShaverAfter
The pilling experience makes me wary of imported woollen clothing. This pullover is from a reputable brand (Seasalt Cornwall) from a reputable shop (Ballantynes) which made it all the more disappointing. The fabric shaver has saved the day – and since I’m mentioning brands, it’s a Russell Hobbs.
The New Zealand-made woollens I usually buy do not pill very much, if at all – especially the high quality woollens from Untouched World. When our jumpers were hand-knitted by our mothers and aunts there was no such thing as pilling!
The care label on the blue pullover says ‘due to the natural characteristics of the yarn some pillingmay occur‘ (my italics). I would replace the word ‘some’ with ‘total’ – and I did follow the washing instructions (gentle hand washing in wool detergent). Yet it is 46% wool, 41% recycled nylon and 3% elastane – not entirely natural yarn. Still, let’s hope I don’t have to shave it too often, although even from today’s wear I can see some pilling again. The label describes it as a ‘Cloud Chasing Jumper’. Maybe it’s meant to be lumpy, like clouds.
What would Tove Jansson (1914 – 2001), the inventor of Moomins, think of all the merchandise based on her work? The Moomin machine is making millions according to a shop assistant in Ballantynes where I was perusing the Moomin china display last week.
There’s a Moomin World in Japan – and now one in Finland, plus a Moomin Museum. I’ve heard Moomins are even making inroads into China. The latest merch (according to my regular Moomin fanletter) is the soaps at Lush. Rather than rage against the machine, I chose to succumb to its charms.
The soap Moomins reclining on a bath bomb cloud are great for scenting my sock drawer (note the Moomin socks – and others from Scandinavia). The Snufkin gummy soap gets a bit out of control in the shower. It is hard to hang on to and tends to ricochet off the walls and bounce across the tile floor which makes shower time fun. Luckily, the green slime does not stain the tiles. This soap is based on the reclusive and independent character Snufkin. It’s a long way from the author’s original vision for these characters which she feared were taking precedence over her ‘serious’ art work. Little did she know how much! However, the popularity of Moomins has revived interest in her murals, novels, short stories, political cartoons and her life in general.
Self portrait of Tove Jansson and her Moomin characters including Snufkin with flowers on his hat and a pipe, while on the top left is Snufkin as depicted in the latest animated series, MoominValley.
We’re out of broccoli. There’s no time to go to the supermarket, so it’s out to the back garden to see if there’s some broccolini – there is! – and to pick some parsley and spinach. Broccolini isn’t as ‘dense’ as broccoli, growing on long separate stalks. You can pick some and more will grow. At this time of year, when the garden looks a bit scruffy, it’s good to have some success. The spinach and broccolini turn a bright green in the pot.
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