Rahui - Day summat or t'other

So now I've lost track of what day we are on, but to be honest it's what I'm like most of the time anyway. I'm quite happy to be at home, the challenge is going to be having Joe home for the duration!! 😂😂😂

 Just kidding, I have a long list...

This morning we went for another walk around Lorenzen Bay, the tide was further in but was on it's way out. There was no-one around, so we took the opportunity to let the dogs off the lead, we've not done this before as there was no real need to have them on leads back on the lifestyleblock.

They were really well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed being able to explore,

they came back when called so that was a real bonus.

Back home and after breakfast and a cuppa and no doubt yet another snooze!

are you snoozing a lot? We are!

....... anyhoo, we decided that we should really do something.

We set up one of the bedrooms

Note Jinx in her spot by the window 😍😍

Not entirely finished, things to hang etc.

Love the view out of the long narrow window above the bed

Interesting clouds today, they're what I called Toy Story clouds

Joe cooked a Sunday roast today! As if I wasn't confuddled enough already, this completely threw me and I couldn't get my head around it being Saturday!

 It was bloody delicious and the first roast in our new home.

There was even dessert, recipe to follow

Coconut cake

I left off the topping and mango but added some mashed feijoas to the mix

they made the cake lovely and moist, topped with passionfruit syrup

Stay safe and stay home xx

October 2019 round up

I've lots to share so I'll get on with it 😉👍

The weekend after my last post we drove out to Tamahere Artisan market, there was a good mix of arts, crafts and toiletries.

I could have bought so much more but I was restrained,  Joe was with me 😉

We bought a selection of soaps and a body butter, made with booze! Just had to....

The weather is definitely improving and the garden is starting to look great, the dogs have been enjoying the sunny days

We were lucky enough to have use of the Karakaraki Christian camp for three days of crafting. 

I've been crocheting too, I finished the scrappy big granny square and sewed in all the ends. Earlier in the year I finished the cross stitch tulip rug, there was loads of yarn left, so I used it to make a wall hanging, the rug will be hung too.

Sue brought over a crochet magazine with a couple of really nice projects, I bought some brights colours and made a start, it's still a work in progress, just the flowers to do. I had intended to make it longer to fit on my chair, I didn't like the dimensions of it as a throw, but when I worked on another square I thought sod it! and I left it as it was. It's bright and makes me eyeballs ache! 😋

Our house is built into a slope, which makes some areas rather interesting. Outside our front door there is a tiered garden, it's in the shade from mid morning on-wards. It's had numerous things planted there, but how it is how I like it best. We have hellebore's and hosta's, and a few ferns that come up, they get huge so we cut them back regularly.

More of the rose arbour, each morning I am treated to more blooms on the Dublin Bay rose, the lavender is covered in bees. My limes have gone past the lime colour stage but are perfectly fine in a gin and tonic

One g&t coming right up!

I re-organised the pantry and gave the booze pride of place, all ready for summer drinking in the garden

I've been making good use of the new bread maker, lunch times are good

Spring always sends people into spring cleaning mode, not me! However we did have a trailer load of stuff to go to the dump, and while Joe was unloading it all I was in the dump shop looking for more crap to bring home! I found an old trolley calling out for a revamp, at $30 it was coming home with me. I may start it next weekend, I already have some chalk paint and some antique wax

Last weekend saw England playing the All Blacks, New Zealand, in the rugby world cup semi final. It would be an understatement to say we were happy with the result!

Michael was extremely happy, he'd been getting a lot of stick before the game. It's always good to beat the All Blacks. And while Michael sang his heart out there were some very quite Kiwis!!

 

The 27th was our 29th wedding anniversary, we took Michael and Natasha out for dinner at the Furnace in the city centre, my dinner, photographed, was delicious

There were a couple of scary moments with a Lime scooter, I thought me life was over people!

 

Last Wednesday I went with Sue who is a  member of Hamilton Gardens, to a preview of a new garden opening this coming Monday. It's called the Picturesque garden, I didn't take any photos because I shall go back when there are less people and better light. After our walk through, we had wine, ham off the bone in rolls with salad and chicken kebabs, there were also fruit kebabs. We all were invited into the Pavilion where Dame Malvina Major talked of her career and of the opera Magic Flute by Mozart. The Picturesque garden walks you through the story of the opera.
Needless to say neither of us lasted more than 10 minute of the rather poor movie of it!
I did take photos of my fave gardens though....

At that point I shall leave you there 

and go pour myself another glass of bubbles, 

have a great weekend xx

A visitor from way back when

Last week a very good friend of mine came for a visit, Monday to Friday. We've know each other since our college days, so we would have been between 16-18 years old. This was in the UK when we did the N.N.E.B. (National Nursery Examination Board), early years educator as they are known now. We stayed in touch for many years, even after she met her future hubby at my 18th birthday, and buggered off to Aussie!
We lost touch for a while, it happens. Then one day I was going through some old airmail letters and happened upon one from Anna-Marie, I did a bit of Googling and saw that the family name was still listed under the same address. So I got a pen! yes a pen!! and wrote a letter. Long story short, we hooked up again on Faceache and 6 years ago she flew out for my 50th birthday (I'm giving my age away now) I in turn a few months later flew over to Geelong to celebrate her birthday too, I've given your age away now Anna!!

Six years ago seems a long time ago now, so last Monday we picked her up from the airport and I set about taking her to a couple of local attractions. Sadly we lost Monday for doing stuff as her flight didn't get in until 10.20pm and then we spent gawd know how ling trying to get back onto the motorway from the airport because the junction we needed was closed for road works. It wasa bloody nightmare and poor Joe was getting in a right tizz!
Fortunately Anna and I were having a perfectly marvelous time in the back of the car.
I went prepared and had a small welcome package waiting in the car.

 

 

Tuesday was quite a nice day, I knew that rain was forecast later in the week, so it was off to Hamilton Gardens, always a must see no matter the time of year. Just a few of the photos I took.

 Feeling peckish!

Wednesday, weather wise was still pretty good, we went into the city centre to visit the Waikato museum, they had  Cut! Costume and the Cinema exhibition on. When I visited Anna, we took the train into Melbourne where they also had an exhibition of Costumes from the movies, not the same one, that one was really good and we both cried when we saw Dorothy's dress and ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately the guy in the shop told us they weren't the actual slippers, they were in some vault somewhere, talk about bursting our bubble!!

Because I took the photos on my phone I don't have an album to share from plus I don't want to save everyone to my computer. I've made the album public, so have a look here

It was excellent and the costumes were amazing, being a crafter I can appreciate the amount of time and work that goes into these kind of things, the detail was outstanding.

They also had an exhibition of Anne Frank, incredibly moving and sad, what potential she had and it all to be so brutally ended, it's beyond understanding that we humans can be so very cruel and hateful

After lunch.............. my lunch pictured tasted a whole lot better than it looked

..............we had a browse around Browsers bookshop, I love this place, I found six books off my very long list.

Wednesday evening Anna met neighbours and friends at our roads social night. On Thursday she met more friends and crafters and mine. Both events were lovely and relaxed. In the evening we went to one of our favourite restaurants, Chim Thai. Joe was in charge of photography

No I'm not asleep but I could have been, he took so long to take it.

And then suddenly it was time for her to leave. It's always very special to meet up with those linked to old blighty (England for those that don't know)

That will do for today, I need to share some crafts and some books

I'll be back very soon.