Bargain Hunt

Today Keriann and I went on a bargain hunt. We headed south into Central Hawkes Bay. Our first stop was for morning tea at Paper Mulberry. My third trip there and the first time it has been open.
Instead of a number to show which table the waitress should bring your food to, we were handed a small stuffed toy. At first I thought we were going to get this lovely Eeyore. But instead we ended up with a weight lifting kiwi!
I had a date scone and a cup of tea, which tasted as good as it looks.
Next stop was Waipawa(thank you to the persone who pointed out my misspelling) to visit a couple of second hand shops. I could have spent a fortune but restrained myself very well. Also spotted this cute church round the back of the shops.
Spotted a very large yellow rubber duck, which really was as big as it looks. From Waipawa we headed down to Waipukurau to visit Quiltworks, will post a pic tomorrow of the couple of fat quarters I picked up. Then home to Peter and some soup and bread he had spent the morning cooking for me. Now how is that for a perfect day. Below is my bargain, a little basket to hold my fire lighting pine cones, boy do those pine cones burn well. To see Keriann's bargains have a look over here, she was far more sucessful at bargain hunting than I was.

This is .............. something I got but still haven't used

"This is .." this week is really difficult as most things I have I have used. If I don't use something, I either pass it on to somebody that will or I sell it on Trademe. As William Morris says "Have nothing around you that is not useful or beautiful?". I do have the above dress hanging in my wardrobe that I have not worn yet, but will do one day, when I find the right occasion.
I also have a lot of fabric in my stash that I am going to use some time. Strangely enough each time I have a project I am working on, I still need to buy more fabric as I don't have the exact one I need.

Today's Daisies #49

This is the second lot of daisies today. A suprise parcel of daisy fabrics arrived from Jess at Button Beauty. Thank you so much for your generousity, I was so blown away by your kindness. I want to rush into my sewing room and start quilting already.

Today's Daisies #48

Today's wintry daisies.

My Personal Chef

My personal chef busy in the kitchen, wearing his new hat made by my youngest. He even gets quite energetic sometimes, though I suspect he was just trying to avoid the camera.

More Gold

The little oriental magnolia at my front door looks beautiful at the moment. I am sure last year it was so dry it just dropped its leaves overnight. But this year we have had so much rain in the last few weeks, it seems to be hanging onto its leaves.

Rainy Journey to Work

You know how I promised to show you some picks of my drive to work. Usually the sun is shining and the sea is turquoise. But not yesterday it was wet and wintry. So here is a wintry journey to work and home again.

In order to take the snaps I used lots of blue tac, the camera's timer and frequent stops. In fact on the way home I even parked up for a while beside the sea and had an avocado bagel, which was delicious. Next time I will fix the camera so it points towards the side of the road and I will pick a sunny day.

Big Waves

On my way into work in the mornings I drive along the side of the Pacific Ocean. Maybe tomorrow I will try to get some pics of the roads I drive along. Quite often I want to stop and take photos of something that has caught my attention, but quite often I am late for work and can't stop.
This morning I was early for a change. I had time to stop, rush across the road and snap some of the huge, beautiful, powerful waves that were crashing on the beach.

Unfortunatly I could not get anything in the picture to give you some frame of reference, but these waves were perhaps twice my height. Needless to say, I stayed well back. Marine Parade is not a good place to swim, the rip is too strong and has pulled people of the beach before. What it is though is very, very beautiful.

Rainbow Day

Today has been full of very heavy showers and lots and lots of beautiful rainbows, which all disappear as soon as I get my camera out. I managed to catch this one making an arch over my bank, so the pot of gold was not at the end of the rainbow but underneath it and safe in the bank. Wish the pot of gold in the bank was mine.

Moonrise

A big beautiful moon over Havelock last night.

Traffic Jam #3

I love traffic jams here in Hawkes Bay, yet another great photo oppertunity.

Swirls

I love the geometic swirls of this cacti.

Today's daisy #48

Today's daisy defrosting in the early morning sun.

More Autumn

Some snaps from my morning walk. thought about rearranging them, but then thought that they were better in a chronological order. As I took this pic the butterfly landed, and I did not even know the bee was there. If you can't spot the bee just click on the image to view
And the usual Tui fluttering around, I actually managed to snap this one before it disapeared off.

This is.......how I recycle

This weeks this is is..........This is how I recycle. The worm farm at the side of the garage that produces compost and liquid fertiliser(worm pee as the kids call it).
The recycleing station in the garage. Which as usual is empty, because all the recycleing is ...
... in a box under the sink, unsorted.
My youngests inventions. This one is a camera.
And last but not least the mountains and mountains of carefully sorted and bagged scrap fabric that I collect. Which one day will all be turned into mountains and mountains of beautiful scrap quilts, if I ever find the time.

Autumn in the Orchards

Hawkes Bay orchards are look so beautiful at this time of year. But why does this tree have a tape with caution written on it hanging from it. Is this a message to me, or just a comment on life in general.
Light through the leaves looks like drips of gold to go with yesterdays golden sunset and golden moments.

Communication

I don't know what picture to include here, I will maybe add one later. Yesterday I posted a snap of a brill sculpture that has appeared in the village. Today I was emailed by Jess from Button Beauty, who knew who the sculptor was, is that not amazing. You can check it out in at this blog.

Volcano

Ruapehu against the sunset. It is amazing to think that I live this close to an active volcano. Far enough away to not be too worrying, but close enough that maybe one day I might see an eruption (as long as nobody gets hurt). Which according to the Geonet web site may be at any moment. Guess I will not be going skiing there this year.

Golden Sunset and Golden Moments

This evening driving my youngest to his school disco, we came around the corner to see this. How cool.
I just had to stop the car, leap out and start snapping away, to the soundtrack of. "For goodness sake Mum, there is a sunset every day but not a disco and I am ready to disco". What can you say to that.

Autumn

Autumn skies and autumn leaves.

Down at the creek today #6

Down at the creek today was one nest.
One pretty little tree.
One fluffy Buffy.
One inquisitive Rana.
And lots of wonderful reflections.

Any suggestions?

Down in the centre of the village these rings have appeared. Each one has three eels on the top. Do you have any idea of what they are meant to symbolise. I think they look really good, but why.