Tui in the Gum Tree

Yesterday morning I spotted this Tui in our Gum tree.

Today's Daisy #51

A very sunny daisy for the first day of Winter.

These are ...... my pets

"This is...." for this week was sugested by Kyla over at Two Peas in a Pod. I thought I should start with all seven guinea pigs. Yes, I know there are 9 photos in the mosaic, some Guineas appear twice. They are Scatter, Fudge, Coco and Candy the girls. Caramello, Terry and Ray the boys.

We also have two cats, twin sisters that we got from the cat rescue people and brought them with us from the UK. in the first pic of Rana, she looks so cute sitting here on the window sill.

Until she turns around and you can clearly see the mouse hunter that she is.
Buffy wasn't keen on getting her picture taken and tried to hide behind this leaf.
In this shot there seems to be a ghostly person watching us from the kitchen window.

But at last I managed to distract her so I could get a better shot.

My youngest son would like me to point out that all these pets actually belong to him. Though we all know who feeds them and cleans them out.

Yesterday's Daisies #50

Yesterday's daisies part of my purchases at Quiltworks. Green and cream daisies to go on my Green and Cream Daisy quilt.
Red and white fabrics for my still to be started red and white quilt. I think it is going to be a log cabin.
And last but not least this gorgeous pattern for a Suffolk Puff Teacosy. The history behind it, is that Clare from Quiltworks bought the original at a Garage sale for 50cents. So many people admired it that she thought she would have a go and make up a pattern. So glad she did, I can't wait to get started.

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.