New Life

I just love spring!  It's the new life that gets me.  Seeds becoming seedlings.  Lambs.  Daffodils.  Bright green grass.  I even like the rain and changeablity of it all - when I'm not trying to get the washing dry!  Yup, we have piles and piles of half-dry washing at present.  One of our washing racks has broken.  It's been an ongoing issue, but we've finally had to conclude we need to buy another one.  Two rungs have fallen off completely and there are several others not far behind.  In the meantime, the washing is a little behind.  No sheets or towels till we get a decently fine day (decently fine means fine ALL day - Tauranga gets some beautiful weather, but this time of year we get it for an hour or two between rain showers).

In the Big Garden, the raspberries, grape, and passionfruit are all budding.  We have a huge mass of honesty flowers in with the raspberry, self sown from the one plant we grew last year (a gift from my mother-in-law).  I'm eying them up, wondering if it would be at all noticable if I pinched two or three for under the trees here at our unit.  Hmm, what do you think?  There are quite a few!

Seedlings are now adorning our lounge windowsill.  Not as many as last year.  Munchkin couldn't climb onto a chair and reach the windowsill last year!  This year, they are all collected up behind the high back of the couch.  He hasn't worked out how to clamber up there just yet.  Instead he hangs over the side of his little chair every time I water them, keeping an eye on proceedings and making noises "ah, ah, ah"  which indicate he would be most happy to help his mummy empty that lovely looking dirt all over the floor.  Mummy is not convinced that this would be a good idea.  Or particularly helpful.  So Munchkin has to put up with watching proceedings.  Next year he can plant some of his own seeds and grow his own little garden.  That will be a big adventure for us all!

I'm not growing tomato seedlings this year.  They took about 6-8 weeks last year, along with several repots.  We really don't have space, and I really don't have time.  So I'm buying a few seedlings from the local Farmers Market in a few weeks.  But we do have an assortment of beans, zucchinis, cucumbers, capsicums, lettuce, spring onions, and more adorning the window sill. 

Don't they look lovely?  I just love watching new seedlings come up.  I hate that period of time between planting the seed and when it finally pops it's head above ground.  SO HARD to wait for germination!  I swear sometimes I want to just dig that seed up and check that everything is all okay.  Which of course wouldn't help the poor seed at all so I leave it be.  Just.  If will power could germinate a seed, mine would all be up in 24 hours!

Here's some more new life I'm a part of at present:

I know, you are probably wondering what on earth this has to do with seeds.  Well, nothing much.  But it is a transformation.  I've spent the past two Saturdays on hands and knees, or up on a stool, scrubbing walls.  My parents are rewallpapering their lounge.  A mamouth undertaking, I might add.  The wall surface is in pretty poor shape so we've had to wipe all the old glue off, then Dad is replastering before wallpapering.  The doorways, windowsills and ceiling are also all due for a lick (or so!) of paint.  While I've been busying helping bring a lease of new life to old walls, Boyo has been doing assignment after assignment.  Is it stretching it too far to claim that he's involved in burgeoning life too?! 

Any signs of new life around your place lately?
Amy