We enjoyed our eating out experience earlier in the week so much we decided to go back. Takeaway pizza this time and lots more sunset.
Shafts of golden light.
Glowing horizons.
Floaty wisps of pink fluffy clouds.
Reflections.
And as we ate our pizza 
We watched the skies grow dark and the stars start to twinkle. Heavenly.
Surprisingly, no daisies are not my favorite flower when it comes to scent. For me freesias have the most wonderful aroma. When we first arrived in New Zealand it was September. On the first morning walking down into the village, I could smell the blooming freesias. What a brilliant country I thought.
To bulk up the small bunch of freesias I bought I added some leucadendrons. 
I was going to add some gardenias to bulk them up, but the scent of the gardenias was a little strong and did not add to the freesias.
An exceptionally beautiful flower.
When you look at them closely. But in my garden they flower on a bush that looks like somebody emptied a waste paper bin on it. Perhaps I need to prune it to a more compact shape.
While out in the garden picking flowers, I got a little sidetracked by autumn colour again.
The liquid amber has almost lost all of its leaves but the colour is still amazing.
And while looking up at the liquid amber I spotted this beautiful kingfisher on the telephone wires.
Stunning isn't he, I love the colour of his tale.
Today's daisy snapped quickly as I rushed past on my lunch break, trying to get back to work before the rain started. Unfortunately, I did not rush fast enough and got soaked. Luckily, it was very mild today.
Peter had to pick me up from work a couple of nights ago. We decided it would be nice for a change to go for fish and chips at Ahuriri.
As I don't like fish very much, we went to the Hot Chick, for chicken and chips. It was surprisingly very pleasant sitting eating chips and chicken and watching the sun set. Or it would have been if there had not been a child talking nonstop in the background. Just joking of course, it was lovely the three of us watching the sunset.
The sun was shining beautifully at lunch time today. The daisies were blooming and bees buzzing. A perfect day for a walk, so I took a slight detour on my way to the shops to buy a savory muffin, which was delicious in case you were wondering. The Olive Branch Bakery in Hastings St, Napier makes the best savory muffins for only $2 each, try them out next time you are in Napier.
I always find it amazing to see how daisies can manage to grow in the strangest places. We primp and preen our gardens, feed them, pamper them and water them. Then we turn around to find them growing out of a concrete wall, quite happily.
Mind you, I know plants don't have eyes, but if they did then this is the view that little patch of daisies would have.
I think the back of the building below looks like a giant cake tin. Not what they had in mind when they designed it, I suppose.
On the last corner before I reached the shops, I found this bougainvillea hanging over a wall.
Ranna sitting in front of the fire looking comfortable I think, but there seems to be a bit of a scowl on her face. Perhaps I was blocking the heat from the fire.
In one of his books, Monty Don says that gardening is playing in the mud for grown ups. I agree. As a child I liked to play in the woods, I loved just wondering around and sitting eating a secret bar of chocolate in among all the greenery. Now as a so called adult nothing has changed. I still love to muck about in among the trees. I am so lucky to own the smallest wood in the world, with a creek running through it. 
A few weekends ago I had a spare day with no jobs to do around the house, no bits of wood to rub down or oil, no meals to cook as Peter was at home. So I gathered together a few cutting tools, my radio in a handy basket and off I toddled into our wood, to spend the day clearing up.
I am glad I did, the previous few days winds had blown down a lot of walnuts, which were just lying around ready to grab. 
I was not alone down there. Mr Blue Eyes the eel was interested in what I was up to. 
Little Miss Fantail, was also not far away. Tweeting away in annoyance at every little branch I moved.
There were even a couple of Tui's hanging around. And I swear they were singing along to the music from the radio, 70's hits. Or maybe they were shouting at me to turn it off and stop spoiling there peace and quiet.
At the end of it all a good bonfire, to clear up all the dead branches. Which is when the rest of the family turned up with sausages, bread and ketchup. Wish they had brought some marshmallows too.
Autumn is here again. The apple tree is laden with rosy apples. The trick is to pick them just when they are ripe, before the birds get them and before they drop from the trees. So far I have picked two baskets full of deliciousness, made batches of apple sauce ready for freezing and a eaten a few bowls of apple crumble. Rana was not impressed that her basket was full of fruit. Amazing how cats can get you to do things for them without saying a single word.
For some reason my flapjack did not stick together, instead all I had was a bowl full of crumbs. I am talking about traditional tray bake flapjack made with oats and golden syrup. If you know how to make it stick together, please leave a comment. I thought the heap of crumbs would be nice with some apples, we have plenty of those at the moment.
It made a brilliant topping mixed with some crumble topping. Yum, yum, yum all it needed was some custard. But the cupboard was bare, I did not have any tins of custard or custard powder, there was not even any ice cream left in the freezer. Peter had already left work and was on the way home so he could not pick up any at the supermarket. How hard can this be I thought, I can make my own custard. With the help of the internet it was easy, why have I never made my own custard before. Was it the memory of lumpy school custard with a skin on the top? Probably. My custard was not lumpy and it was eaten to fast for it to get a skin on it. No more tins of custard in this house.
The outside furniture was looking a little tired, so I thought I would spruce it up a bit. My first thought was black. While I was mulling this over I noticed we still had quite a lot of the blue I had used for the windowsills on the outside of the house. Ah ha I thought that might work. Now that it is done I am not so sure. Keriann suggested maybe the basket chair needed to be a couple of shades darker. I think she is perhaps right. What do you thing? I don't know why but it makes me think of Aristocats, the disney movie, weird.
Out go the old patchwork bits of old work bench. Out goes the yucky tap.
Ready for the recycled stainless bench and sink.
More bits of recycled, stripped down, sanded and oiled bits of rimu.
Tada one finished kitchen, fifteen months in the construction, about two years in planning, recycling at its best. 
Well worth the wait. 
