Creative Gardener - Looking at the Sweet Sop Plant

Sweetsop grown from seeds

Welcome to the garden, today we are looking at Sweet Sop plant also known as Sugar Apple or Annona squamosa.

My plants have been grown from seeds. One of them is fruiting. Both the fruit and the leaves have many benefits and are packed with vitamins and minerals such as B6, calcium and iron. It is one of my favorite fruits!

I will be trying the leaves to see how they taste as a tea and let you know. If you have tried it, please let me know what you think in the comments.

Check out some courses while you are at it!

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Material Mondays - Creating a Travel Sewing Kit

Welcome to Material Mondays, my weekly fabric and mixed media art materials session where we tak a look at some fabric projects, techniques and have fun playing with fabric.  This week I show you what is in my travel kit.

I have a felted piece of material that houses my needles and pins and a selection of embroidery thread in different colors depending on the project that I am working on and some standard ones.

I also travel with an embroidery hoop and a piece of heavy cotton that I have written several encouraging words on.  When I travelled this time, I hadn't wanted to take a lot of supplies and found the words on the fabric ideal, as I could not only stitch, but I was continuing to reflect on the encouraging words as I was stitching.

I also have a series of fabrics of different stages, some have been wax resisted and dyed or painted, it is great having these small pieces to collage together and add stitching when the mood takes me.

Check out the accompanying video to see the travel it up close and you can check out the previous Material Monday Episodes HERE

I am also taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and you can check out previous posts below

Day 1 - What are you Doing with your life?

Day 2 - Coles Adventure and the Case of the Rogue House Sitter

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Coles' Adventure and the case of the Rogue House Sitter

Cole in the Garden

It had been a while since I travelled, like most people Covid had us locked down and to be frank the staying at home appealed to the hermit tendencies within me. 

Getting a House Sitter

I had decided to get a house sitter, (someone who looks after your pet and home while you are away), deciding that I wanted Cole to stay at home and not leave the house empty. Travelling and arriving at my sisters seemed very surreal by the time I got there, as it was my birthday and two days later would be mums funeral. 

I had spent the previous week getting my place ready for a house sitter, and  he arrived 2 days before I was due to leave so I showed him round Barbados and helped him settle in and get comfortable with Cole, who got on with him from the word go, only to have him walk out on the day of my departure saying that Cole had barred his teeth at him, and he couldn't continue. 

He had also listed a range of other things that previous hosts had provided that I wasn't, such as use of a car, air-conditioned room, and sleeping in the master bedroom!  I couldn't believe he was walking out as he knew before he came what was to be included and Cole had been treating him like a member of the family from the time he arrived and was very comfortable with him.

Cole loves his belly rubbed

Cole's favorite toy

I was an emotional mess, to be told that he was leaving on the day of my departure, a few hours before my flight took off, leaving me to scramble around to find a kennel.  I went into automatic mode knowing I had to keep it together.  I managed to change my flight for the following day and found the last boarding space at the RSPCA.  I used Seans Pet Transportation and was very impressed at his calmness and he was able to get Cole in a transport cage backwards!  Cole was confused, suddenly he was being put on a lorry by a stranger wondering where the stranger he had just let in his home a shared his toys with went.

In the waiting room

It was traumatic at the RSPCA as well, after I got him checked in to lead him back with all the barking dogs scrambling at their cages on either side of the walkway, it felt like a prison.

Cole's home at the kennels

He walked into his cage in a daze, the cold hard metal floors, the noise, no comforts from home and the only food for 30 days would be a daily dose of hard kibble.  I was so upset leaving him and eventually made my way home.  This wasn't supposed to happen, Cole should have been frolicking in the garden eating the food I spent 4 days preparing in advance, having his treats and daily banana, and sleeping in his padded warm bed with the sounds of the singing frogs and the crickets melodiously in the background.

Cole and art appreciation

It is funny, I didn't realize how much I liked dogs until my son brought him home as a month-old puppy. He has been a constant companion hanging out in my studio or when I am in the garden, and he also is great at reminding me when I have spent too much time in front of the computer screen.

Skin and bones 

While he was at the kennels it seemed like he didn't eat, you could see his ribs and his spine, he came back half the size he left. He smelt awful and had some sores on parts of his feet and elbows and it was like he had been in a war, and since he has come home, I have just been spending time trying to get him back to health.

Cole On the mend

I am not sure I would be able to trust another stranger to housesit for me again, it was one of the worst experiences that I had been through.  Despite being an older traveler and having references a list reviews, they were just words, and he wasn't in the right frame of mind to look after Cole or have the experience claimed.

For now, Cole is on the mend, he is enjoying being back home and settling into his routines, yet I wonder sometimes when he looks at me if he remembers his experience. 

Have you had an experience from a house sitter or put your pet into boarding while you were away?

What are you doing with your life? - Are you ready for a challenge?

Welcome to the blog, it has been a while and I have been taking time out to come to grips with losing my mother.  I shared in my previous post, and I spent time with my sister, and we went down memory lane.  There is now only the two of just who are now the older generation...

I send love and tender hugs to all those who have lost loved ones, there is nothing that can quite prepare you for loosing someone.  We have to make sure we treasure all the memories and the time we spend with each other.

When mum first went into the first residential care home, I had put a book of her life together and filled it with photographs and some of her likes and dislikes, I spent time this week looking through it and it brought much comfort.  I am glad I shared my experience as she navigated dementia, some of the laugh out loud moments that had been tinged with fear - her walking in with two policemen laughing and joking after going missing for over 4 hours we were worried sick, she came back with tales of her adventure, and I am sure several hairs on my head went white that day.  

Mum loved adventure

In my A-Z of caring I spoke of some of the feelings that I experience, including a feeling of loss, and things not being fair, on the flip side it brought out mums' sense of humor and a love of dancing, art and so much more.

She would called herself the 'Dancing Queen' and teach whoever was interested how to do the Shimmy.  She had two favorite songs - Dancing Queen by Abba, and  One Love by Bob Marley - we had them both playing for her at the funeral - we gave her a good send off.

I now think of next steps for my life - we forget fast time flies.  What things have I been holding myself back from doing that I need to get on with? What dreams have I been sitting on?  What has yet to be fulfilled?

So, what is stopping you?  What have you promised yourself but keep on putting it off, saying to yourself tomorrow?  Tomorrow might not come and there are people out there waiting to be inspired and motivated by you!

What are you hiding from? Whose opinions do you care about so badly that you are holding back?  I have resolved for myself that over the next few months I will go all out, reaching for those dreams and creating a ton of new ones - we are not promised tomorrow, and we don't know what it may bring - see James 4:13-15.

That said, why not challenge yourself, start today, decided what you want to do and follow through - I am participating in the 'Ultimate Blog Challenge' and I will be posting every day in the month of October and sharing some of the work that I do.  Start living your best life, where your dreams however small can come true - live the life you can be proud of - I know that you can do it!

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