Down at the creek today #2

Down at the creek today I found, one duck all on its own.

Two dragonflies sunning themselves.

And a whole lot of peace and quite.

It is so nice to be able to escape down to the lower garden. You can really feel as if you are miles away from everything down there. Makes me relise that we are fine in the house we are in. We do not need to move to escape to the country. It is there all the time in our own backyard. Peter wants to build a small boardwalk and a deck with a little jetty out over the creek, so we can sit down there and enjoy the cool, peaceful quite. All we need to do now is figure out a way to get rid of the mozzies so we do not get eaten alive every time we go down there.

Today's Daisy #8

I found today's daisy at the bottom of my water jug. If you look at the image really closely you can see my hands and the camera reflected in a couple of the lower edges.

One for Sorrow

I am sure you know the old rhyme about Magpies; One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, Three for a Girl. Recently I have been seeing a lot of single Magpies. So when I saw two of them today thought I better take a snap. Well actually a third one then came down and joined them. But they all flew off before I got a chance to take another pic.

The New Additions

The new additions to the family have arrived and are scurrieing around there new penthutch. The pet shop claim that they are from the same litter, are 5 weeks old and both females. I am not convinced there is a big difference in size between them.

The brown one is Caramello, which is the name of my youngest's favourite chocolate bar.

The stripey one is Scatter, because she does. No it was not the camera that caused the red eye here, Scatter does really have pink eyes.

Eyes

Had to have my eyes tested this week, before they gave me my new set of contact lenses. Only to find out that my eyes had degenerated yet again. The astigmatism that was hardly there in my left eye is now well and truly there. Luckily there are now contact lenses that can correct this if I can put up with them, and suprise suprise they are more expensive. When I asked why after such a long time my prescription has changed again, I got the answer "Sometimes these things just happen." I am not really convinced.

Sunday Morning

While all the hammering and banging was going on at home (see the previous post), I toddled of to Farmers Market in Hastings. A great way to spend a Sunday morning. As you can see by the pic above the place was already busy by 9:30am.

Penthutch

You may have noticed that the picture above does not look much like a fish tank. But my youngest son and I were at the pet shop to buy a couple of goldfish. Somehow during the visit the fish turned into guinea pigs and Peter had a weekend project to complete. Plans were drawn up, DIY superstore visited and the project was started. Thanks to our eldest son for his help we now have a Penthutch ready for the guinea pigs who will be arriving tomorrow. I really hope they can climb up the specially constructed ramps. All we need to think of now is what to name them. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Today's Daisy #7

Another interesting thing I past this morning on my walk. I am having ideas already about what Peter could paint on our mailbox.

Barbie Time

After two years of living down here in NZ, we have at last acquired a gas Barbie. One of my friends got given a new one with her new car, so she passed her old one on to us. After a good scrub down we cooked up a load of burgers, sausages, prawns and asparagus. It was a really cool evening meal, out in the garden being nibbled by mosquitos. I was able to use salad leaves from the garden for the first time to go with our barbie.

Sky House

I noticed this house when out walking with the family this morning. The people who end up living there will feel like they are living in the sky.

Strawberry Time

I love summer time. Two of my favourite foods are in season, strawberries and asparagus. Yum, yum, yum.

Today's Daisy #6

Today's daisy grows in one of my borders, nearly totally hidden under a rock rose.

Hot Hot Hot

Summer is almost here and the weather just got very, very hot. This afternoon it officially reached 29 degrees. The photo above is of the palms in Clive Square glittering in the morning light on my way to work today.

Today's Daisy #5

Today's daust is a sunflower growing against the side of our garage. One of the ones that self seeded from last years batch.

Today's Rose #1

Maybe I should start another blog called Nicola's Roses.

Early Morning Transport

When I was out running this morning (yes believe it or not I have progressed from walking to half walking and half running) this ballon was floating above Hastings, what an interesting way to get to work. I love my new camera, thanks again to all my family that gave me money towards it.

New Additions to the Garden

The local DIY superstore is selling tree ferns at a very, very, cheap price. Just what we needed for the wild bit of our garden.

Almost a Daisy #4

I love Dandelions, they are almost daisies. I know they are weeks and will spread annoyingly. But is there anything more beautiful than a Dandelion clock. I am so glad we have the wild part of our garden so I can let them grow and not worry.

Dragonfly

This is a bit of a David Attenbourgh moment down at the creek today. Do not scroll down if you are of a delicate nature. I had to post these snaps as the detail of the dragonflies was so amazing. I can take no credit for it. I just pointed my new camera in the right direction and snapped away. Now what did they say about the birds and the bees, or should it be the birds, the bees and the dragonflies.

Today's Daisies #3

Today's daisies are on my new pyjamas. My old ones were so old they disintegrated. Though I love the fabric so much I am going to keep it and one day make an old loved fabric quilt. The new ones were in a sale, must be kismet. I got a pair of pink spotty ones aswell.

Butterfly Hunter

You have heard of the Crocodile Hunter, now meet the Butterfly Hunter. Peter and I all dressed up and ready to go out to a 40th birthday party. The theme was jungle and we thought there would be enough plenty of Tarzan's and Jane's. Well actually I have always wanted to wear butterfly wings. I was very proud of my wings, Peter bent the wire, I attached the fabric and used black velvet ribbon to make the shoulder straps. I used pipe cleaners to make my antennae. Sorry the pic is a bit of an odd angle, our youngest took it and he is so easily distracted.

Blooming Gorgeous

In the garden we visited at the weekend the roses were in full bloom. Apologies for the rose overload, but I could not resist clicking away.

If you want to see the bigger versions of these pics, just click on the image.

Hawkes Bay Views

Some of the views from the house we went to see this weekend, see my prior post. The first was taken on the way there.

This one is one of the views from the garden.

This last one is of part of the garden.

Daisies for Today #2

Second attempt to write this post the first attempt just disappeared, maybe that is some sort of omen. This lovely bunch of daisies were growing in a beautiful garden of a house we went to view. We were hoping the the viewing of the house would put us off, it just did not happen. We are now keener on the house than we were before we viewed. It just ticks all the boxes. The house is a hundred year old villa that has been partially renovated and needs to be finished off. There is a lot of hard work to be done, and guess who would have to do it.

Daisy for Today #1

This daisy has not yet found its location and is in a small pot in the garden, waiting patiently for me to get round to finding it a place.

Another Unknown

I past this tree on the way home this afternoon. I have never seen flowers like this before, another puzzle. If you know what it is please leave a comment.

One Day

For the past couple of years we have been, in a lacks-a-daisically way,trying to visit this cafe, Paper Mulberry. It has a very good reputation. But everytime I go past we are either in a rush to get to where we are going or it is shut. If we are rushing past the car park is always full and the cafe looks busy with locals, a very good sign.

Today it was very definatly closed.

The cute little nursary next door was also very, very closed.

The only person there was the cat who was probably wondering if we had brought it some lunch.

White Spire

Interesting church at Te Aute college. Took my life in my hands standing at the side of the road, with trucks and lorries rushing past me to take this snap. Well maybe one or two.

Today's Daisies

Today's Daisies are on some Liberty Fabric. A couple of weeks ago I had a trip to the Liberty Shop in Havelock North, with my good friend Keriann and her Mum. The Liberty Shop is above the garage of a beautiful house with a wonderful garden. Unfortunatly, the visit was after I lost my camera and before I got my new one, so there are no pics of the garden.

I also bought some 4" squares of mixed fabrics. I am going to use them to make a quilt like the one below. Not with hearts but with Daisies. It will be quite a while before I get round to this project. As I have a lot of projects to complete first, even one christmas quilt started last October. I might have a large new project to start soon, which is nothing to do with quilting, more on this soon.

Rose Time

Morning dew on a pink rose. If early spring here in Hawkes Bay is daisy time, then late spring is most definatly rose time.

Finished at last

At last the side garden makeover is finished. The raised beds are in and filled with veggies. Moveing the extra pile of top soil that was dumped in the second one was fun. Wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load, all on my own. I would not let Peter anywhere near it, he would have been sure to get an infecion in his scabby finger. I will keep you updated on how things go. So far, the seeds I have planted have popped up very very fast and the citrus trees have been covered in blossom.