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.

Today's Daisy

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Today's daisy was relocated in the Autumn when I planted the lavendars at the front door. It looks as if it is enjoying its new location.

Fabric Bargains

Here are some of my latest fabric bargains.

Stars and Planets to make curtains for my youngest's bedroom.

Red and white flowers to add to my red and white stash, one day I will get round to making my red and white log cabin quilt.

And finally some more chickens. Would you believe $5 a metre, (that is about £1.50 for my UK readers). I love this fabric and have already done a quilt using this and other chicken fabrics. The quilt was for my friend Katherine and it has winged its way over to California. I still have to make the label, which I will post over to her so she can sew it on, eventually.

Walking flowers

Some of the flowers I passed while out walking this morning.

Ruapehu in the Morning Sun.

Mount Ruapehu this morning, shining in the sunshine.

Interesting Fence

It was Haumaona market day today. We parked the car beside this really amazing fence. Walked straight past it on the way into the market only spotted it on the way back to the car.

Yesterdays's Morning Daisies

The daisies beside our post box, again. For a few weeks every spring they look so good.

Fireworks

We almost missed the fireworks tonight. My youngest managed to jump off a low wall, land on a rake and make a rather deep puncture in his foot, this afternoon. At first he said it was too sore to go, then after being in bed for 10 minutes he decided that he would be able to hop there. It ended up with Peter carrying him on his back. What a pair they made. Peter with his black yukky finger and our youngest hopping about showing everyone that would look the hole in his foot. Got a couple of snaps with my new camera, the second is a bit wild.

On my way to lunch.........

I had a birthday lunch with friends today (thankyou Dale). Took these pictures on the way there.

My Birthday Pressies

Here are the pics of my birthday pressies as promised. The flowers above were from Kerry from her garden. An itsy bitsy Ipod Shuffle from the kids. So I can listen to music and podcasts of the Archers while I am out walking.A cool chicken Teatowel from Dale. Brilliant chicken jug from Keriann. Some Japanese fabric from Peter. The latest Terry Pratchett book also from the kids. Flowers from my brother Bryan. And last and best of all my new camera, bought with kind donations from my hubbie, his mum and my mum. Don't know who the plump middleaged women is that is taking the picture! Obviously its not me I am young, thin and willowey. I am such a lucky person to get so many pressies from so many kind friends.

Sunset

The sun going down on my birthday for yet another year. No I am not going to tell you which one, you will have to work it out for yourself. Thanks to Peter for making it such a good day, when it could have been so bad. I will post a picture of my pressies tomorrow.

Guess what I have got

My new camera has arrived at last. So here is the first batch of pics.
I tryed to grow scarlet valerian in my last garden and it just never got going. Here in my current garden it is everywhere, on the drive, in the borders, in my son's sand pit and even in the cracks on the veranda steps.



The New Zealand Iris, not very showey, but so delicate.



I could not miss out the daisies.

This rose smells as good as it looks. And to think last year I nearly dug it out. Glad I didn't get round to doing it.

I love Alliums. I could not find any bulbs in the shops and had to send to a mail order bulb firm to get some. Then the next day found them really, really cheap in the local supermarket. This is one of the really really cheap ones and doesn't it look good.

How Cute is she

I don't often do pics of the family. But I am sure I can be forgiven for this one of my great niece. How cute is she? And boy does it make me feel old to think that I have a great niece. Wish I could go over to the UK to see her for real.

Today's Daisies

Today's daisies are on my parent's Golden Wedding cake.

Halloween Daisies

Some daisies and a pumpkin especially for Halloween. The photo was taken by my brother Bryan, in his garden in France. Not very scary, but it seemed appropriate. Happy Halloween.

Proud Mum Show-off Time

My eldest son entered the TVNZ Web Site competition for schools all over New Zealand this year. He came in the top 50 out of possibly thousands of entrants. I am so proud of him and impressed at the web site he designed.

The Da Vinci Machines

Yesterday we had a trip down to Palmerston North to see The Da Vinci Machines exhibition. Quite fascinating. Everybody knows some of the machines that Da Vinci drew. But I had no idea of the sheer volume or complexity of his work. He had even invented a rudimentary robot from a suit of armour powered internally by cogs and pulleys. Some of the exhibits could be tested which kept my youngest busy as he already knew everything. Oh for the naievity of being seven. The exhibition has now finished in Palmerston North. You can visit it in Nelson, Dunedin or Christchurch and I really think it is worth a visit.

I'm back already

Panic over I am back on line already. Peter managed to get the router going with the reset instructions I found on the Internet and my eldest managed to get the wireless network back up and running. A team effort. Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Now all we need is an set of reset instructions for our wild middle son. Please leave a comment if you know where I can get some.

Disaster strikes again

This is a very quick post during a break at work. Guess what! My wonderful elder son decided to update the software on our internet router last night. Now we have no internet connection at home. No idea when it will be sorted and if it can be sorted out, and due to current Hubbie's finger problem I really do not want to buy another router (we need to save all the cents we have). So this may be the last post for a while. But I will be back sometime in the future, perhaps when life is not dealing us so many Black Swans.

Snaps I would have taken.....

Today I would have taken some snaps of the Aliums in my garden and the turquoise blue sea at Napier if I had a camera. Phoned the insurance company and I am now waiting in anticipation to find out if and when I will get a replacement camera. Can't wait. I keep turning around and spotting something else to snap and can't do it.

No More Daisies

No more daisies pics for a while. My camera has disapeared. I had it this afternoon while taking some pics in Dale's garden, put it back in my handbag and now it is gone. I feel very lost without it. I have retraced my steps, phoned the supermarket and had Dale searching her garden with a torch. Fingers crossed that our insurance covers us for lost items. If you have any daisy pics please send them to me so I can have something to post, or any other interesting pics would be welcome. Just leave a comment and I will send you my email address. Or if you happen to find a very battered Sony Cyber-shot lying around in Havelock, please let me know.

I told you the disasters had not stopped. I am usually a "glass half full" type of girl, but the latest run of disasters I think will continue for a while. Peter even managed to break the lid on his favourite teapot today. If you know Peter you would know that this is a big issue for him, he is never more than 2-3 mins away from a cup of tea and usually has a mug of tea attached to his right hand. He has had to resort to using my favourite Laura Ashley pale blue and white floral teapot, not his idea of what a teapot should be. For my part, it is maybe not wise to let him use my favourite teapot that I have had for 27 years. Will post a pic of it when I am able to again and if it survives Peter.

Today's Daisies

Today's daisies are on a piece of fabric I picked up on our disasterous trip to Auckland a month ago. I love its almost seventies look. It will be going into my green and cream daisy quilt, when I get a chance to do some more work on it.

Today's Daisies - On a Quilt

I have been working on this daizies quilt for over a year. I keep taking it out and doing a couple of blocks then putting it away again. I could not get it to come together. The problem was created because I was late for the class, disorganised and got my colours mixed up right from the start. I think perhaps I am starting to like it at last. If you squint your eyes up it looks a bit like one of those crochet granny blanckets.


Now I have finished the 36 centre blocks and just need to do about 44 more little daisies, to go round the edge of the quilt. This may take another year to get them done, never mind finishing off the whole quilt.

Mr Lovely Legs

Peter today noticed a box of books in the garage that looked interesting. So got out the ladder to have a look at them. And guess what he fell off, now isn't that a suprise climbing a ladder with a broken finger. On the way down he whacked his crushed finger repeatedly. So off we went to the ED to get it checked out. Four and a half hours later, after seeing the doctor for 30 seconds and getting his wounded finger re-dressed we toddled off home. You may wonder why there is a picture of Peter's lovely legs above and below. Can you spot the problem with them. Yep, not only had Peter whacked his bad finger, he had also whacked his knee. The pain from his finger obviously masked the pain from his leg. Guess where we will be going tomorrow if the swelling does not go down. What a lovely way to spend the holiday weekend.

You know, I wonder what will happen next. So far this year we have had - Broken kitchen appliances Fridge, Cooker and Dishwasher. We bought a second hand dishwasher from Trademe for $50, as forking out for three new applicances in one year was getting a bit expensive. It works really well, no leaks and it is really solid. But the dishes actually come out dirtier than you put them in! So we are back to hand washing, or should I say I am back to hand washing. Peter had his credit card number hijacked and maxed out via Internet shopping by some fraudster back in the UK. Our middle teenager has acquired a very interesting girlfriend and is attempting to take irresponsability to record heights. Then Peter fell off his bike and crushed his finger, not a good thing for a dentist. Would you want your dentist approaching your with a fat black yukky finger. What is going to be the next disaster?

Latest Project

A few weeks ago when we were at the Home and Garden show we passed the stall where we bought our garden table and benches from. I was a little shocked at the state I had let ours get into and how good the new ones looked. So my latest project was to sand them down and re finish them. The result is really good. The above pic does not really show how bad they had become, but the one below does show how good they look now. Guess you can spot the common item in the pics, Peter in his usual spot, doing his usual activity.

Irises

The irises in the garden are starting to bloom.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Buffy always finds the warmest places to sun herself in.