M7.8

 

 I'm wearing this in solidarity

with the people of Nepal

 who lost loved ones, homes, villages

in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Saturday, 25 April.

 

To anyone who asks about this pair of earrings,

I'll tell them they are from Bhaktapur,

  a UNESCO world heritage site.

 

Its residents are among the over 4,000 dead in the country, so far.

Its old buildings, of terracotta and wood, destroyed.

 

One late afternoon, winters ago, I chose this pair of garnet earrings

to remember the town of wood carvers by.

 

This morning, I put these on,

 not for adornment but in sympathy with the Nepali people.

 

~Ema N~

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

 

 

AN EVENING WALK

The park is at its best after a rainstorm, I think.

 

It is more alive.

 

Sounds of water, bird and insect calls are clearer.

Colours are cleaner, sharper.

The earthy smell of the soil, grass and rotting leaves is more intense.

 

Best of all is the glistening of raindrops on lotus leaves, like diamonds sparkling.

 

I'll show you another time.

 

It was too slippery to get to the other side for such a shot.

This picture of the lotus is my "pix of the day".

 

I like its view from the "back".

It shows the bruised, bug-eaten leaves better than
the conventional "front" angle .

 

I like the content.

Beauty and decay.

That's life.
 

There are more squirrels these days. 

 

They bounce across paths and up trees,

spring from one branch to another.

But what I really want you to see
are the button-like leaves on the lower right.

It's the Dragon's Scale Fern :-) :-) :-)

 

 Pyrrosia piloselloides.

It's a drought-tolerant epiphyte.

Climbs up trees like this one.



 Spotted these mushrooms in the field.

 

I've never seen this type before.

 

Any mushroom expert out there who knows what species this is?

 

 

I call it the muffin mushroom.

 

Doesn't it look like one? (lower left pix).

 

The older mushroom has a crinkled top, looks like a brain.

 

A brainy muffin mushroom.
 

 

I always have a bag to hold fallen bark, leaves and

whatever else that catch my eye when I'm out and about.

 

I like the textures, the colours of these.
 

That's my evening walk in the park today.

 :-)
 

~Ema N~

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

THUNDERSTORM

 

It rained and rained and then rained some more today.

 

Wind and thunder. Drama.

I watched it through the window.

I worried for the trees.

Its branches, already heavy with fruit,

now under greater strain with the added weight of rainwater.



I worried for the birds in the trees.

 

Come inside and take shelter!

~Ema N~

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.



CAPSICUM

This capsicum makes me happy.

I wake up and think: "Oh, how much has the capsicum grown overnight?".

I get up and go for a visit, even when it's raining.

Look at the green, shiny surface. I just have to reach out and touch it!

The unripe fruit is the same colour as the leaves and stems.
So well camouflaged. I didn't see it when it was a tiny baby.

There are aphids.
 Can you spot them in the pix? I check daily and pluck the infected leaves.

But the ants that 'milk' the aphids also help pollinate the flowers.

 

I can't remember if I had planted yellow or red capsicum.

 Have to wait and see.

:-)

 

~Ema N~

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

 

TINY PATCHWORK

 

This is the tiniest patchwork quilt I've ever made.

Each block is 1cm by 1.5cm.

 

The patchwork may be Liliputian but it took the whole day to finish.

 

Spent some time fussing over the combination of fabric, as always :-).

 

And this is hand-sewn. It was fiddly.

 

I told myself the crooked patchwork created the cosy, homely feel

I wanted in this piece of work.

 

Ha ha.

 

The girl, pillow and bed were embroidered.
There wasn't much to do but it ate up the hours.

 

I had to take frequent breaks.

My eyes were strained from sewing this on a grey day

with a lot of rain and little light.

 

This work was inspired by a book, 

whose title I translate as “Cute Little Embroidery”.

 

Left: Embroidery in the book
Right: Book cover, ISBN: 978-986-6348-73-0

As you can see from above pix, the author meant

the whole thing to be embroidered.

But I just fancied doing a teeny, tiny, little patchwork quilt instead.

 

What am I going to do with this piece? I don't know.

 

I do think it's cute so it'll go into safekeeping.

 

Maybe use it in the patchwork quilt I want to make for myself one day.

 

~Ema N~ 

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

KNIT: MITTS

I knitted a pair of mitts.

It'll be a gift to a colleague, whose office is very cold.

I worked out of that office for a week recently.
 I shivered and shook through all five days.

 

The ones who are there daily have adapted and
wore light jackets with sleeves rolled up!

One slipped on a pair of fingerless mitts only on
the COLD morning we started work at 5am.

It was store bought, made with acrylic yarn.

I told her I'd knit her a woollen pair.

I'm happy to do this.
Firstly, because she will use it.
Secondly, this will reduce the stash.

 

The yarn is 100% superwash merino wool, 8 ply.

 

“Runrig Muffatees”,  http://www.anniecholewa.com/p/atelier.html.

 

The pattern is “Runrig Muffatees” from  http://www.anniecholewa.com/p/atelier.html.

It's free (thank you!).

I used a thicker yarn than recommended.

Cast-on 41 stitches, 4mm needles.

It took just under 100 grams of yarn to knit up this pair of mitts.

A quick knit, too (for me),....eight hours.

 

It's a lovely pattern. The picot edging is an elegant detail.

 

I enjoyed knitting this.

It will be passed on to my colleague later this week.

Hope she'll like it.

~Ema N~

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.