Today we had a picnic at the Japanese Memorial Gardens. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom but all little e was interested in was finding the chickens.

It may seem strange that there is a Japanese Memorial in rural New Zealand. It turns out that this area has a checkered past. The garden is stunning at the moment, in a very peaceful way.

Climate wise, it is a fantastic place for real cherries too. Each tree was humming with some very busy bees. A friend of mine has a commercial cherry orchard about 1 km from here.

We stop here regularly, not for the cherries but because there are 4 tame hens lurking around, waiting for bread. Little e knows this, so she was off to find them the first chance she had.

The garden beds are ready to go, so I am sitting with my feet up and trying to sort out what to plant. Any ideas?


Last summer I was given a care package from a keen gardener. She had put in some of the tastiest tomatoes I've had in long time. I am on the look out for some Black Russian seedlings to get into the soil in the hopes of recreating the wonder. The soil isn't quite warm enough so I have still got some time. There will have to be some cocktail tomatoes in there too, for little hands.

I've been reading about crop rotation, but am not sure if I want to commit an entire bed to brassicas. Maybe I will have changed my mind when the weather is turning cold again.

I could possibly plan my planting around a meal. I'm thinking of new potatoes, peas and strawberries for Christmas.


For now I am re-reading the Cook's Garden series. With 21 years between the first and latest books, they certainly stand up to time. They are written by three sister, one on the gardeing, one researching and one illustrating. Sure, the of varieties in the first book are limited by today's catalogs, but the advice is time hardy. I also like the researched histories of each salad plant and herb in the last two books. For instance, did you know that Shakespeare referred to rosemary 7 times in his plays and it was first reliably described by Pliny the Younger? None of which will help me to decide what to plant, but at least it leaves me feeling that people have been growing these things for a long time and will for a long time yet.

It's been a slow week at Casa Seven Stitches. Little e is getting over tonsillitis and my dearest and I are falling in her wake with various colds. Though, I have been able to get some binding done and a quilt finished during one of her really long sleeps.

I think little kids should be issued flags. Ones that go up in the morning with messages like – “I may be chirpy right now but give me a hour at daycare and I'll be ready to come home”, or “plan to do something big ,cos I'm going to sleep for almost 3 hours”. I went in to check on her an innumerable number of times during the latter and feel really bad about making the call to go to work with the former.

Cuddles are wonderful, but right now I'm looking forward cuddles of the “I'm glad to see you” type rather than the other sort.

Little e is looking up and getting over it. She spent much of the afternoon running around with a friend and is back into her food. I think our respective cold have fallen by the wayside too.


On the getting it finished front, I finished my first Jelly Roll quilt on Friday. I started it in a class in June and it is already taking pride of place on our bed. Just in time for all of us to snuggle under as we recover.