I love a good Op shop day

I was having coffee with Keriann from Sweet Mary the other morning and she suggested we could go visit a couple of op shops. The couple of shops then turned into quite a few. A well worth few shops. I found lots of things I like all for $5 or less. I love a bargain. And I also found lots of fabric to use over at Coulter & Coulter. The best fabric bargain was 6m of pale blue cotton that I found hiding at the bottom of a basket. The best item found does not look like much, in fact I did not see it, Keriann pointed it out. And I could not believe that I found this item.
When we moved over here I brought with me a light fixture from Ikea that I really, really liked. Unfortunately after it traveling all the way over here, it got broken being moved from one box to another when we were unpacking. There are no Ikea stores in New Zealand, the light fitting had been discontinued. I even found two little lamp shades for $2 last week that on looking at I thought wouldn't they have gone really well with that Ikea light. I had no hope of ever finding one. Until Keriann pointed it out to me, hidden at the back of the junk shop in dusty cardboard box. Yay, synchronicity. I have no idea where I will put it, but I will take special care of it until it is hanging up somewhere in my home.

Back to travels of a redundant mum - day three

I know that it has been a long time but if you cast your mind way, way back to here - the story continues with a road trip from Taupo down to Wellington. Before we left the shores of lake Taupo we had to visit some bubbling mud pools, they were on Sheena's "Things to see in New Zealand" list. We took a little detour off the road to Wellington through Turangi to the village of Tokaanu.
Next to the hot pools in Tokaanu, which are well worth a visit, is a little walk full of native flowers and wildlife and bubbling mud pools.

and steaming pools and beautiful vistas.

The little creek that runs past the hot pools was teeming with fish. I have never seen so many fish, just basking in the hot water and sun shine.
It felt like you could just reach forward and pick them up. It was good to see that the creek was designated as a spawning ground and fishing was prohibited.

Back on the road again we were off down the desert road heading for Wellington. I have never driven down the desert road before and was really looking forward to the trip.

It is such a fantastic drive with stunning views. It is so high up and so beautiful, right on top of the world. I was driving so not to many pics taken by me. We did stop for a quick couple of snaps though.

Hopefully it will not take as long to post the next two days of our travels, a day in Wellington and the drive home.

More goodies from the garden

It seems to be a good year for plums in our garden. The first tree to ripen has been covered in yummy, succulent plums, lots of which I have stuffed in the freezer. I have given away a few tubs and I have eaten lots and lots. And left a few for the birds.
The other plum tree is weighed down with a lot of fruit. The branches are touching the ground.
I am looking forward to them ripening. Lots of plum crumble and plum cake to come.
Plums aren't the only fruit ripening in our garden. The figs that have been hanging on the tree for months have decided to ripen right now.
One of the pair of fig trees has never produced any edible fruit, until this year and one enormous fig has grown and grown.
I thought it would never ever ripen. But it has and it was as scrummy as it looks. Now there are a lot of little figs on the tree ready to ripen.

After the rain there's got to be a ...........

a little bit of sunshine.

Wet and Windy Wild Sunday

Today it rained and it poured and the wind howled. My poor little fig tree was almost touching the ground with the big blasts, thankfully it survived.

No sitting out in the sun today. More like cowering on the veranda playing with my new camera (still).

Purple Snow

Purple snow in a very wet Napier.

And the culprit is the amazing Jacaranda trees with its incredible purple flowers.

Fresh from the garden

Bugs

I am still playing with my new camera, getting used to the new facilities, maybe one day I might read the instructions. The photo above is a moth on our house. I kept walking past it all day, catching sight of it out of the corner or my eye and thinking that the paint was chipped and I could see the wood underneath, then remember, nope its a moth disguised as a bit of wood. If it had been sleeping on the bark of a tree I would never have spotted it.

The bug below, so I am told by my sarcastic husband, is a cricket not a spider. Just because I happened to say it had legs like a spiders. Another bug with a great disguise, if it had been sitting on a leafy plant I would never have been able to spot it either. But luckily for me it decided to sit on a rather dusty surface in our garage.

Spotty Dotty

I gave my sewing machine a bit of a makeover today. I thought it needed a bit of a new look. The boys in my house found it amusing to joke about the sewing machine having measles or that one day they would wake up and the whole house would be spotty. Hmmmmm, I am tempted - roll on April 1st.

Its great to have the time too............

Its great to have the time too............ make some new clothes. I used to make nearly all my own clothes. For some reason, probably small children using up my time, I stopped. So its been great these holidays to have time to try out some new patterns. The fabric I used I found in an op shop, four metres for $4, I love a bargain. Especially one that works out well like this one. Unfortunately my second attempt did not work so well, the fabric I used was just not right and made me look like the back of bus.

Happy New Year

Happy and peaceful 2012 from me and my new camera.