Yule Tide Eco- Fire Place Insert

Not being one for a trad tree, each year my yule tide task is to make something Christmas-esque. And what more evocative of home and hearth, than dancing flames ? Of course for us Southern Hemisphereans, where Xmas is bought to you by Sweat & Swelter, a hale fire ( NB that was not a conscious pun) is hardly to be borne ( ditto) pero pero pero ( but but but) this fake Fire with its sly reference to the conflagration of consumerism, is just right. Warming the cockles but not the skin, visually alluring but not requiring attention or more than a small amount of sacrificial forest.

Merry Christmas !

Nothing Beats an Extra Pair of Hands at Christmas Time

 Eight-feet Pete's Great Aunt Lou-Ella (more properly known as Mrs Woo)  finds, while she is not run off her feet at Christmas, having like Pete eight of them to share the load, that she often feels short handed, and so has adapted  this slightly unwired kitchen whisk to a perfect state of handiness. Exactly what might be done with this needs some  whiskful thinking,
PS Stay tuned to meet Mrs Woo

Lime Spiders for Summer ?

Three spikes of spiderish blooms, speckled, elongate tepals, dark green raised spots on green, a labellum with  the same spots on white.The set seem out of season and so, something of a triumph. One frond was lost to possum pranks, while the whole plant gives lie to the oft-heard axiom that orchids like to be pot bound to flower.  This one has room and then some. Perhaps orchids are the ultimate real estate experts, and it's position, position, position.