Growth

So today I decided to devote some time to watching the Monarch caterpillars do their thing. I got a kitchen chair and pulled myself close enough to the plant that when I leant over to look under the Swan plant, I got caterpillar poo in my ear (unintentionally of course!). Then Daughter and Son played with some on and off the plant and swapped them every now and then so they didn't get hungry. There were six caterpillars in the J position, three of them on the plant and three on the fence. There were also five or six huge caterpillars just roving all over the plant, I think they were either trying to get a good place to hang themselves up, or they couldn't figure out how to get off the plant to hang up elsewhere.

Since watering the garden tonight, I found a J hanging on the tap, and another on the brick windowsill under the kid's bedroom window.

Anyway, so there I am waiting and doing other stuff as well, like feeding kids and toileting etc. I need to go out at some stage to get some meds, so I'm kicking myself I wasn't wearing my watch. I walked inside to check the time - for about 15 seconds - and you just know that in that time the caterpillar I was sure was about to turn into a chrysalis, did. In the 15 seconds I wasn't watching. Hmmm. We went and got medicine 'cause I'm a bit annoyed I missed it happening. All we managed to see was the green blob wiggling the last bit of skin off the top.

And while we were out another three turned into chrysalis'.
This is the caterpillar we were watching and were sure any moment the change would happen as it was wriggling a bit instead of just hanging there.

A photo of the chrysalis before it dried and shaped properly.


I didn't give up.
While Hubby gave the kids a bath, I went and sat on the chair for what seemed like 20 minutes, in the cold. We'd had tea, so there was no hurry for anything to do, so after the kids were in their pyjamas, we all watched the last hanging caterpillar on the plant. Son even made him and Daughter a milo, such a precious boy!
I haven't got the photos of it happening, but have finally witnessed the change with Son and Daughter watching with me. Man it is so amazing how it does it. The caterpillar stretches out almost straight and then gradually wriggles down out of it's skin without falling off the plant. Then just at the last moment when the skin is almost off completely, the now green and odd looking thing pulls out a wee 'stick' where the back legs of the caterpillar used to be, and sticks itself to the silk bump it was holding on to. Both kids were impressed, and want to see more of the caterpillars doing it. It happens so quickly though, that we'll be lucky if we do.

After Hubby had gone out to visit a friend, and the kids were supposed to be sleeping (but were playing quietly in their room instead) I was outside hanging up some wet washing to get a headstart on tomorrow. I heard snuffling and sounds in the dry leaves in the corner of the driveway. I raced inside and got the camera to get some photos of what I thought was a hedgehog.
Instead I found three hedgehogs having a 'party'. They looked like naughty teenagers here.

Then I got a surprise in the dark by another hedgehog crashing the 'party' but he didn't stay very long as I think he got more of a fright than I did. He was quite small too.

It's My Birthday

Yeah, so we went swimming at the pool on the other side of town which is an inside one. We had heaps of fun, and afterwards we went to Hubby's Mum's house where she gave us dinner and pudding. We brought her home so she could sit in the house with the kids in bed while Hubby and I went to see Fun With Dick and Jane. It was a good movie, and the theatre (which we hadn't been to before) was really huge with great soft armchair-type seats.

Gloves

As promised... finished gloves. Now I can do some for my Daughter.



Rained today a little, but still got Son's bedding washed and dried from this morning's sleep-in 'accident'.
Got groceries and had a nice dinner of chicken breasts with green salad. Icecream for pudding and kids into bed early enough. I can still hear them talking in their room, even though it's ten o'clock!

My Growing Plants

So these are my attempts to grow things from seeds or cuttings. First up is the Sweet William from Dad's house...


They're about 12 days old now, and doing well I think. I'll have to prick out soon into bigger pots though.

Next to the Sweet William is some sort of Daisy I think from Dad's house also, it's a cutting.

The tomato cutting was a lateral out of Dad's glasshouse, but I pulled it up today as it wasn't going anywhere and looked dead. Yep, no roots and dry as a bone.

In the red pot, there is a Geranium cutting that was in water for a few weeks, and it seems to be doing well. No sign of it failing yet, and the leaves are nice and green and fresh..


In my kitchen I have another pumpkin growing, well three actually, but one is nearly flowering. I have already got eight pumpkins in the garden I think.


Next to the pumpkin, at the edge of the photo, there is yet another attempt to grow an avocado plant from the stone. This is the third one and hopefully it will sprout, I'm following what I've read to do and neither of the other stones did anything. Theirs worked!I had them in the water for over a month each too. In the next pot there are some lavender cuttings and another "daisy" cutting(must look that one up). In the pot to the right (sorry, didn't realise how dark these photos were) there is another cutting of a geranium, but much smaller. I think it's growing though.


In the jar of water there is a willow twig that is growing roots and leaves, and a piece of marshmallow plant. I know this is really regarded a weed here, but I quite like the wee purple/pink flowers, and if I can control how far it spreads, I think it will be fine.


Oh, and the Dierama has died off now, and I'm collecting the seeds, but look how much the plants around it has grown. Lettuces, butter beans and swan plant.
19th of December...

16th of January...

Precision Gardening is a link I just found, when you hover over the plant names it shows a quick description and a photo of the flower.

In glove making news, I've finished both gloves, and seamed one totally. I still reckon it takes almost as much time to seam them as it does to knit them. I've done them in all different colours, so I'll have to take some photos tomorrow in the sunshine - maybe I'll have finished the other glove too.

Gloves

It's the middle of summer here in New Zealand. So what am I knitting? Gloves. Then Daughter wants me to knit her a pair, unlike me she will probably wear them straight away. We've been going through our drawers and getting rid of clothes we don't wear much or at all in the last year. We seem to have alot of clothing, most of which we don't use. I'm going to give it away so someone else can keep warm over winter in the jerseys and blankets I've got. Daughter and Son have done alot of sorting out over Christmas time and have donated some of their toys that they haven't wanted or played with in a while too.

The children have been babysitting these things for a few minutes at a time, and I don't think we've had any deaths so far...


Here is the adult about to fly away after laying some eggs on the Swan Plant...



I've got more photos to put up, but I must go and see if the roast chicken is roasting or burning. Hot day for hot food, but it's yummy!

New Year



So the other day on Sunday actually, Hubby's Mum gave me a book on making things for children. It's copyright 1974 so some of the things in it I would not make unless it's for a doll, like these...



There are however, some things I do want to make. Starting with this cute dressing gown, I've got a little girl who would look adorable in that pattern.



And the dungaree pattern looks quite easy to follow too. Good for me who is just starting with clothes patterns. They're a bit harder for me to follow than making a quilt.


I think they would be gorgeous with an L on one and a J on the other, but Son has already told me that he won't wear these pants.


This is what I want to knit next for Daughter. I think it would be great as a jacket for autumn. I'll have to go and do some yarn shopping soon.

Just as a sidenote, I think the children on the cover are reading a Miffy book, what do you think?

Miffy was created in 1955 and is Dutch, not Japanese like Hello Kitty, though they use the same line style drawings. It's highly possible that it is a Miffy book then.