Rahui - Week 4

Fingers crossed that it is the last week at Alert Level 4, all indications are good. However our government is rightfully cautious and we as a nation need to not be complacent. We're not out of the woods yet, we'll find out on Monday if we are to drop to Level 3. When you see the figures of cases and deaths from around the world I am so pleased to be living in New Zealand, sadly to date there have been 9 deaths, all elderly people which is extremely sad, not the way they should have spent their last days. We have 1,401 confirmed and probable cases, 770 of those cases have recovered, so we're heading in the right direction, so keep up the good work everyone, Stay home, Stay safe.

We went for another walk today, before I share the photos from today there's another one I want to share, it's a bit of a skite really. Joe's phone keeps a track of walking/running etc, he sent me a screen shot of the long walk we took on Sunday, you can see the photos and the last blog post here 

This is how far we walked 

Today we did another long walk, almost the same way as before with one or two directional changes. We timed it right and managed to avoid the showers, making it home minutes before a big downpour.

Seeing things on a different route

Mt Karioi shrouded in cloud

The bar in the distance through iconic cabbage trees and a corrugated iron fence

 

Karioi and flax

 

Back on the beach from the wharf, the tide was much further out today

Red in the rocks, quite possibly iron oxide,

it's almost at the point we couldn't get past on Sunday because of the tide

The view from the point mentioned above, Lorenzen Bay.

We walked as far as the big rocks, by this time I was beginning to flag a bit and my knees and hip were starting to ache. It was a bit of a slow walk home but I got there in the end.

It's a good walk but I don't think I would want to do it more than twice a week, it's quite a distance.

Dot looking magnificient if not a little dirty!

 

On our way back, we were gasping for a cuppa.

Panoramic view of Lorenzen Bay

Here's the screen shot of today's walk

It took me a little while to recover, apart from being rather stiff, I'm fine now.

Other things

Two wet and chilly puppers who needed a bath when they got back from their walk with Joe yesterday

Rummikub challenge

We're having the odd game of Rummikub, at the end of Rahui we'll tally up the scores and see who the supreme champion is.

Joe's constipation  concentration face

Look after yourselves and stay safe

PS I know some of you have been having problems leaving a comment, so I've changed the settings, try it now and let's see if it works, thanks

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

Dusting off the SLR

Phones can take such good photos these days and they're just so convenient to use, being small they fit in a pocket or your handbag. They certainly are a lot less cumbersome than my big camera, however I do have a good camera and it seems criminal not t use it more than I do,especially when I'm getting a new wide angle lens for my birthday this week.
I'm trying to not rely on the Auto setting too much, Auto is perfectly fine when you need to take a shot quickly but as I've had some time on my hands I've been using the manual setting.
Just a few photos taken in the last week....

Swallow

Echo

Silver fern

Attempting a shot of the full moon this week

 

Monarch butterfly

Aster - I think

 

 

 

Back soon

Sue

xxx