Blagoslovljen božič! - A blessed Christmas!

Vesele božične praznike ! 

A blessed and Merry Christmas season !

Modre, zelene in oranžne - Blues, greens and oranges

 Foto: Tajda

Ta julij je pri meni močno moder in zelen pa tudi precej oranžen.

Barvanje samo ni bilo nič posebnega, tako kot po navadi, barve so pa, vsaj v mojih očeh, res lepe. Še nekaj slik.

This past July has been mainly in the blues, greens and in the oranges.

The dyeing process was nothing special, just the standard procedure, and the colours are really pretty, at least to my eyes. Here are some more pictures.

 

Vrbovo listje - Willow tree leaves

V tej poletni vročini sem se pozno popoldne odpravila s kolesom po gozdni poti, ob kateri raste precej vrbovih grmov. Nabirala sem listje, dokler me napadalni komarji niso prisilili k "umiku".

Late in the afternoon in the hot summer weather I took my bike and rode along a forest road with many willow bushes growing by its sides. I collected leaves until aggressive mosquitoes forced me to "retreat".

Listje sem kuhala več ur, dokler se ni res  zmehčalo. A voda je bila precej svetla, nekako sivkasta. Bala sem se, da ne bom dobila tiste lepe, močne rumene, ki jo imam v spominu od prejšnjih let.

I simmered the leaves for a couple of hours until they softened. But the dyeing bath remained rather light coloured, somehow greyish. I was afraid I would not get the beautiful intense yellow I remembered from previous dyeing sessions.

Kako sem se zmotila! Moj strah je bil neutemeljen. Volna iz barvilne kopeli je bila močne, živorumene barve, še precej bolj, kot kaže slika.

I could not be mistaken more! My fears were ungrounded. The wool yarn came out of the dyeing bath beautifully intense yellow colour, even much more so than shown in the picture.

Na slikah je volna iz prvih dveh barvanj, tretje barvanje ni skoraj nič manj intenzivno, barvala bom še četrtič v isti barvilni kopeli.

Vrba - tako skromno drevo, pa tako razkošne barve!

The pictures show wool yarn dyed in two successive dyeings in the same dye bath. The third dyeing gave a colour almost equally intense and I'll be able to do a fourth dyeing in the same dye bath.

Willow tree - such a humble tree giving such rich colours!

Sadike indiga - Indigo seedlings

  

Če drugega ne, je bil tale čas upočasnitve življenja zaradi pandemije pripraven za bolj skrbno vzgojo vrtnih sadik. Poleg nekaj paradižnikov in paprik sejem tudi nekaj barvilnih rastlin, med drugim japonski indigo. Tudi toplo, skoraj vroče vreme je bilo za vzgojo ugodno. Takole sta se lepo razrasli dve sadiki indiga (nas sliki zgoraj), za njima je pa še več manjših sadik.

If nothing else, this slowdown of all life due to the corona pandemic offered much time for better care of seedlings to be planted in the garden. Beside a few tomatoes and paprikas (sweet peppers) I also sow some dyeing plants including Japanese indigo. The warm, almost hot weather was quite favourable for their growth. The two young plants in the pot (in the picture above) are well grown, followed by several smaller plants.

  

Posejala sem tudi koreopsis in kozmejo, da bo poletje bolj rumeno in oranžno.

I also sowed coreopsis and cosmos to make my summer more yellow and orange.

V nizki skledi so se mi od lani razrasli netreski, ki so zdaj odganjali živice z malimi novimi bunkicami. Ker v skledi ni bilo več prostora, so silili kvišku. Sem se spomnila, da poslikam šele potem, ko sem potrgala že precej rozet.

Houseleeks growing in a shallow bowl since last year grew new offsets with tiny balls. Since they overgrew all the soil surface in the bowl they made their way upwards into a heap. Unfortunately I only remembered to take a photo after I'd torn away several rosettes.

    

Posadila sem jih v plitve sklede, dodala lepe kamne z mojih potepanj po Solčavskem, pod Olševo in tam okrog -  zdaj pa lahko spet rastejo!

I planted them in shallow bowls, added pretty stones collected mostly on my hikings in the Solčava region, under the Olševa mountain and thereabouts (in the eastern part of the Karawanks in Slovenia, near the border with Austria  

https://www.solcavsko.info/index.php?jez=EN )

Now let them grow freely again!

Butarica 2020 - Palm Sunday Bundle

Vsako leto na cvetno nedeljo nesem k blagoslovu butarico in oljčno vejico. Samo letos pa ne ... Še k maši ne morem, razen po spletu ... Pa zelo pogrešam. In se nisem mogla sprijazniti, da ne bi imela butarice, saj imam potem  blagoslovljeno oljčno vejico in butarico v kuhinji na vidnem mestu do naslednje cvetne nedelje.
Each Plam Sunday I take a Palm Sunday Bundle and a smallish olive tree branch to my parish church to have them blessed. But not this year ... I can not even attend a mass in a church, only on the internet ... I do miss it badly. I could not resign myself to not have a Palm Sunday bundle, especially not because I'm used to then keep it on a spot in my kitchen until the next Palm Sunday.  

Na sprehodu v bližnji gozd sem si narezala vrbove vejice, ob cesti našla lepo cipreso, kjer sem odlomila nekaj vejic. Lesnih ostružkov seveda nisem imela kje dobiti, zato sem sfilcala trakove v živih barvah iz merino volne, ki jo imam od Bog ve kje.
During a hike to the nearby forest I cut some willow tree twigs. I got some cypress leaves. Of course, I could get no wood shavings so I felted bands of vividly coloured merion wool that has been lyeing around.

  
Butarice nisem še nikoli delala sama, vedno sem jo kupila. Je bilo kar nekaj izzivov. Ni kakšno remek delo, a sem je zelo vesela! Pa blagoslovila sem jo tudi, seveda, z blagoslovljeno vodo.
I have never made the bundle myself, I have always bought it ready-made. There were quite a few challenges I must admit. Well it is not a master-piece but I love it!  And of course I said a blessing prayer over it and sprinkled it with blessee water. 

Tako, tule na radiu bo počakala na cvetno nedeljo drugo leto.
It will remain on the radio till next Palm Sunday.