Here's an update on the vege garden, which you first met here: http://franklet.blogspot.com/2008/04/veggie-garden-is-on.html


So it's a little over 2 months later. First of all we have eaten quite a few salads from the various lettuces. I'm sure things grow much more slowly in the winter months, and with the short days, but we can go down and harvest greens once a week or so.


The broccoli plants are doing great. That's them in the darker green at the end of the box in the picture below. They have not started to form heads yet. I don't know if that will have to wait until spring - I guess we'll see.












The whole thing has required remarkably little care and feeding. The balance of rain is about right. Can't do anything about the sun anyway. No sign of pesky critters. The one thing we've tried to keep an eye on is the weather at night. It's winter, and if the forecast was to go to freezing, we have been throwing a couple of bedsheets over the top. We often get a light frost and I figured that would be the end of our greens. One cold night the plants were left uncovered. I walked down to find the leaves frozen stiff. That's the end of the lettuces, I thought. Maybe not the other plants, but how can a thin lettuce leaf survive that?

Apparently it can. The sun came out and I checked a few hours later and everybody looked happy as... lettuces. I since talked to a neighbor and learned that everything would do fine. She doesn't do anything to her garden. Yea!

That's my kind of self-regenerating salad.

The other day my bike got a flat tire, so we took out the tube. The hole was really small, so we put duct tape on it. I had the idea of filling it with air until it bursted. It got so big that I was scared that it was going to pop, so I went behind the fence and I had to fit the pump in between the little posts to pump it up. It took quite a while, but eventually, it popped. Also look at my tags so that if someone searches "Barack Obama" or some thing it links to my post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_mwWjoGdE

On the road again......I just can't wait! Tomorrow I leave for Denver, Co. After ten years of applying, I finally got accepted to the Cherry Creek Art Festival. I hope it's all I imagine it to be. But, no matter. I'll get to see my family, friends and whoever from the travelling art family makes it to this event.

Alot of people have asked if my work has changed much since moving. And, I have to say, not yet. For this show, I wanted to do what works. It's not a good time to make radical changes.

I've really enjoyed the notes from many of the wonderful people I have met along the way. It's funny how about the time I get ready to hit the road, I really do start humming Willie. ....going places that I've never been, seeing faces that I've never seen; the life I love is taking my art on the road. If you get a wild hair, come up to Denver, July 4 - 6. www.cherryarts.org/

To see what else is new, visit http://www.bfranklet.com/

First of all, I've been making different things, like this mobile with big wheels, 2 treasure chests and a guy with a paddle. Also, I made a new volcano. I got a new guy and I put him on the safe zone from the volcano. And the wolf on the flame thrower guy's ship got moved to the safe zone from the volacano.

Another new touch is that the chain got attached to the little mobile instead of the big mobile. And the big mobile had to use its thingies to grab onto the house. And I got a new guy that's a Chinese guy with a horn and fire. The side of the ship has a cannon. And there are 2 missiles, one is fire and one is brick, and you have to take the bottom off to shoot them since they are double missiles. As you see in the pictures, the stuff around them, the colored blocks are red, orange, brown, yellow, green, and blue. The colors of the volcano are red orange and yellow and the safe zone is these 2 really big brown blocks that are high. Also water is a safe zone. Grass is the only place you can die from a volcano (except for the red orange and yellow).

As you can see, some of the people in the picture don't look like they are usual people. Like the guy with a mousehead. The two guys without arms. The guy with only a helmet as a head. The flags that say Octan mean that 2 people have combined teams to make something awesome. Each part of the ship has to have one flag.

And spongebob swam up from the underground sea at bikini bottom to the ship. The wolf that you see in the safezone is injured. It's a good wolf. The team is coming to save it.

The Good Wolf

The End

Fall is gradually giving way to winter. The days are getting much shorter and the nights much COLDER. As there is no central heat in most houses in NZ, we light our evening fire and hang around the living room where it's warm and cosy. Life has slowed down considerably.

The boys are doing just fine. Dean's life is all about soccer. He plays on the Cobras every Saturday and for the Broadgreen Reps (his school soccer team) for tournaments. His new friend Jackson is super. Jackson lives in The Glen which is a beautiful area right by the coast. It's where we hiked with the sheep. Yesterday Dean asked if he could go with Pipsy (Guiseppe) to the Tahuna Soccer Fields right from school. Of course, I said, that's why we came here - to play outside and move about freely.

Andrew has fit in nicely. He's got several mates - David being his best buddy. He's a happy and kind friend to Andrew. They play Lego, swap Rugby and Pokemon cards and watch Spongebob together. Andrew has outfitted the two tents downstairs into a swank bachelor pad. He sleeps there every night...who needs a bed!! Otherwise, he's obsessed with rocks and exotic animals.

Duane spends his days tending the veggie garden, surfing the web and contemplating a self-sustaining lifestyle. Last week we went to look at chickens, though we're not sure our present house works for that. Every two weeks he goes to The Glen to do some work for Susanna. He's a jack-of-all-trades cleaning gutters, chopping wood, fixing computers and righting the letterbox amongst other things.

Me, I go about making pictures, reading books and overthinking what to do next. One day I want to work at a bookstore, next become a graphic designer. I definitely think it's time I learned to knit! I've made a couple of friends and that's about all I need at the moment.

As a family, we've played a lot more games together. Andrew has learned to play "Oh, hell" and is a force to be reckoned with. Last weekend we had a marathon Monopoly game. Dean firmly trounced each and every one of us. Often on Saturdays we go the downtown market. Duane and I pick up fresh produce while the boys squander their allowance. Dean (Mr. Sweet Tooth) gets himself a nice chocolate crepe, Andrew another rock for his collection.

It's all been good so far. Sometimes on a beautiful day, I feel this panic that I must go outside and do something. Then I remember it will be like this again and again. I am not on vacation.

When we first arrived, Nelson sponsored Busker Festival - loads of fun.

Since we've been here, I've had time for quite a bit of reading. It's been really fun plucking books from Kathleen and Robert's shelves and finding treasures. I've also joined a bookclub at the local bookstore. I've gained an appreciation between the distinction of American English and that of the rest of the English speaking world. I'm torn - is it colour or color, civilized or civilised? Who knew Microsoft had a special US English version. My world has grown.

Okay, so here are some of my reviews. My favorites/favourites have all come from 8 Maire Street.

Small Island by Andrea Levy - This was a Whitbread Book of the Year and Orange Prize for Fiction winner. It's the story of two Jamaicans who move to England. One as a volunteer for the English Army in WWII, the other as his reluctant bride after the war. Gilbert is a happy-go-lucky guy, Hortense is educated and proud. Both are disillusioned when England fails to deliver its promise from their Jamaican dreams. I really liked this book.

The Bird Artist by Howard Norman - How could I resist a book with that title? A quirkly tale of murder set in New Foundland in the early 1900s. It has a magical realism quality to it. The writing is spare, the characters understated, yet complex. Written in 1994 it was a National Book Award Finalist. I suppose because of its setting , it was compared to The Shipping News. I loved this book and its characters - especially Margaret.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Set in WWII Germany (always an intriguing topic for me), this is a story of Liesel who finds solace and escape with books. She arrives at her foster family illiterate, but learns to read from her compassionate accordian playing (just like my Opa) foster father. Okay, this is Nazi Germany, how happy can anything be, but there is a humanism to this story and I highly recommend it.

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - Just okay for me, the book is about a young Persian girl who aspires to design carpets. I believe it is the 1700s in Iran. I did like when her uncle, a carpet designer himself, teaches her about good design and colour. I could relate.

The Delivery Room by Sylvia Brownrigg - Highly ambitious, this novel undertakes birth, death, war and bereavement. Wow. Brownrigg is remarkably observant of human nature. I began this book underlining one insight after another. Our main character is a Serbian psychotherapist living in London. Taking place during the Serbian War, we meet a cast of characters working through divorce, infertility, loss, etc... I never fell in love with the book or its characters, yet it is an intelligent book and I am glad to have read it.

That's all for now. Happy reading!