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We are so proud of you and we’ll love you forever.
xxxxxx
What a fascinating discussion that turned out to be! Thanks everyone who commented. There is one thing I would like to clarify. My comments were not about all traditional quilts, but rather about a particular type of quilt that, to my mind, seem to be made for the purpose of competition. Also, I would like to stress that these quilts are amazing, I admire the effort that they require and I am glad that they are made. We need excellence in all things. My point was that they fail to move me. One of the things that I most love about quilting is that there is room for everyone and every style. As for my lack of participation in the discussion - I didn’t just lay low, honestly! I’ve actually been away for a little holiday.
This is where I’ve been:
This is Cape Tribulation, a World Heritage listed rainforest in Far North Queensland ( a couple of hours north of Cairns).
It is the last remnant of Gondwanaland and one of the most magical places I have ever been. It felt like a privilege to be there (let’s face it, it IS a privilege to be there!). I kept expecting to see a dinosaur! But, no, we only met these guys…
Oh, and him…
On a crafty note, more knitting and crocheting coming soon to this blog… 
So, ages and ages ago Estea wrote a really cool post called Worth Every Penny. I thought it was brilliant. Here are my additions:
1. Origins “Never a Dull Moment” facial scrub is kind of expensive but really really good stuff.
2. Sheets. If I have one piece of advice for newlyweds/newlybonkings (oh good grief! as if I’d stop at ONE piece of advice!) it is this. Buy good sheets. Every night you will be happy in bed, even if you don’t get any.
3. Coffee. We have banned instant coffee from our home.We decided quite some time ago that we are Grown-ups now and Grown-ups don’t have enough years to waste any of them of crap coffee.
4. Every woman should own at least one Killer Bra that makes her boobs look fake. This bra (pictured above for your pleasure) makes my cleavage so damn hot I almost turn myself on.
Not pictured but equally valuable:
real garlic (Don’t even tell me if you use pre-minced, dried or *gag* powdered garlic. I will not want you as a friend any longer.)
good quality chocolate (see coffee reference above)
down pillows (see sheets reference above)
OK. Give me the scoop! What am I living without that I desperately need?
Twenty five years in your arms isn’t enough. I want a hundred more.
I always knew you were meant for me.
I don’t care that they were born in a chain store. I love my new cups. They are beautiful.
Well, I must say I am somewhat disappointed. After the last post I expected my blog to have been completely over-run by spotty, squeaky teenaged boys and middle-aged men with comb-overs and plastic raincoats. But, no, all the regular visitors have been by and, GOSH DARN IT!! you are all so SENSIBLE about vaginas. I am secretly proud that my friends are emotionally healthy.
More sewing….more new quilts for more new patterns…enjoying this productivity.
Day 2 of 7 Days and the theme “Blue”.
“Blue” was…
… being part of a crowd last night that simultaneously all shouted “CUNT!”
My first ever viewing of The Vagina Monologues. There was much to think about, much to nod knowingly about, much to disagree with. I want to see it again in another place with different stories. I’m expecting this to be one of those theatre experiences that sneaks back to visit my thoughts from time to time.
Edited later that day…
Soooo. Veerrryyy interesting… I would have thought a few Vagina-type words would have sent the stats soaring, but noooooo…
All a bit scared, are we?
Nevermind, if the V or C words are worrisome, you could always call it your Thomas Murphy instead!
It’s time for another round of self portraits with 7 Days! I started doing 7 Days for two reasons -
1. Sarah asked me to. And Sarah is lovely and funny and kind and I like her.
2. I thought, “That’s a great way to make oneself more comfortable in one’s own skin.”
Well, it isn’t really. I still look at every photo and gasp at the gazillion imperfections. (can I just point out that my nose looks disproportionately HUGE in this shot because I took it on macro and my nose was the closest point to the lens? I just. needed. to. mention that.)
But sometimes I’m surprised by what I see. Like this one, where I took a photo of myself and inside the camera it turned into a photo of my Dad.
Thank you all for being understanding and sweet. I feel much better thank you *mwah*
I just thought of a third reason for doing 7 Days - I’m a NARCISSIST!!
I went out for salad for lunch. I bought these, too. I had them on my feet in the shop and who walked in? Peter.(Ratted out by a colleague, I was.)
I said, “I’m buying these.”
He said, “They’re great, aren’t they?”
Any questions about why he rocks?
We just had the Best Weekend EVER! Saturday was my birthday. I was 103. OK, 43. Peter took me and Ali to Cairns for a birthday weekend. I was very clever when I chose my husband - I made sure he was Australian. My birthday falls on Australia Day, so my husband never forgets my birthday and I get a long weekend.
We stayed here again (I love the bathrooms. And the soap.), ate out for every meal (Cairns is smothered in gelataria. I think we ate the best coffee icecream in the world) and bought new clothes and shoes(Ali got natural, I got red).
We saw two movies (how I love movies! I have promised myself that this year I will go to more movies). Ali and I are big Tim Burton fans and we had been hanging out to see Sweeney Todd. The music was a bit much in places (but that’s Steven Sondheim’s fault) but the costuming and Tim Burton’s dark and seething aesthetic was wonderful! Johnny Depp was eleven shades of brooding; Helena Bonham Carter was brilliant. Her character had lovely subtlety. If you haven’t seen it, go!
And then go to see Juno. I loved every single second of this one. Sweet, funny and full of love.
In case you think the whole weekend was Hedonism-Without-Ceasing, we also walked through the rainforest to see this…The Boulders at Babinda
These rocks are immense. It’s impossible to give you a sense of scale with this photo but they are huge. It’s quite a spooky place. Many people have died here swimming in the pools. There are warnings everywhere not to swim. Some bodies haven’t ever been recovered.
If you ever get to Kuranda, visit the Butterfly Sanctuary. Very hot and steamy inside, but full of butterflies. If you wear something light or bright they will land on you. And make sure you charge your camera battery before you go so that it doesn’t go flat after ten photos… grumble grumble…
That weekend was so good, I think I’ll have another birthday next month.
I have a new category/set in my flickr photos. It’s called Blissed Out and it’s where I’m going to put all the photos I take that represent things that give me joy and happy and peace. Today it’s my tidy bookshelves.
ps: if you’re the pervy kind who has to study the titles closely, remember that there are two of us contributing to these shelves and we each have very different taste and we each have very eclectic taste. The Dan Brown/Robert Ludlum/Ben Elton stuff is NOT mine (not that I’m a snob or anything).
Added 21 Jan:
Just thought I’d explain this a little more - it’s not an original idea (wish I was that smart). It’s an idea from a guy called Chris Cobb who did this to the entire content of the Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco in 2004. The installation was called There Is Nothing Wrong in This Whole Wide World and people have been copying him ever since. I’ve had an obsession with colour-ordering stuff since I was a kid, but I’d never considered doing it to my books! I’m going to do the rest of them eventually. I thought Peter would hate it (being an engineer and all) but he just laughed!
Nobody wants to go outside. The rain that fell over the last week or so is now evaporating and the humidity is at suffocation level. A good excuse to stay inside and redecorate my blog.
And make more quick craft projects. This is very good for my soul.
This doll head (bought on etsy) is old and broken, found at the site of a doll factory in Germany. It’s remarkably satisfying to take something imperfect and discarded and give it another life. I’ve been reading Spirit Cloth for months now and Jude has been reminding me of the importance of old and worn things; of the need to value their imperfections and honour them.
By the way, if you click on my photos, they will take you to my flickr pages and you can see more photos! There is a flickr widget available for sidebars but I can’t figure out how to get the &$$*%&^(*#$$@ thing to work.
Ooh, that reminds me of a good joke.
How do you get a sweet 80 year old lady to say “FUCK!” ?
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Get another sweet 80 year old lady to say, “Bingo!”
Last week was nasty. It was hot. It was humid. It was FERAL.
Then it started to rain.
We have downpipes on our house that are 8″ in diameter. For 360 days of the year they are bone dry.
But not today. Today there is a Niagara Falls ripping through them.
There are frogs. Heaven only knows where they came from, but their voices are louder than the average two year old in a supermarket and they are shouting for lovers ALL night.
The main highway is cut by flood waters south of Townsville. That means that it’s time to race to the shops and buy milk. If you are too slow and don’t join in the Mass Supermarket Panic, you will miss out and be forced to suffer with UHT or even *blech* powdered milk. While you’re there, stock up on tinned baked beans, too, because by Wednesday there will only be the yucky flavours left. I can’t understand why, but rain seems to cause hysterical milk and bean hoarding.
This is the Wet Season.
Edited to add: I’m no longer the only Official Nutter in the house. Peter has been infected by Townsvillism and has turned into Manic Milk Man. There are three of us living here and it takes us about two days to consume a litre of milk. We now have eight litres in our fridge. BRING IT ON, RAIN! BRING IT ON!!
I have been eaten. I have been attacked and bitten in HUNDREDS of places, some of which rarely see daylight. Our fabulous new office is overrun by fleas. BLOODY FLEAS!!!
It is an old building and, at the back, there is a weird storage section that has a bare earth floor. The plumbers have been scrambling about in there and have disturbed all of the earth. In this part of the world, bare, dry earth means fleas. And disturbing the eggs means that they hatch and go looking for food. They found me.
We have flea-bombed, we have sprayed the carpet. I have literally hundreds of bites all over me. I am covered from head-to-toe in Stingose to try and stop the itching. It dries to a white powder on the skin so I now look leprous. Very attractive.
And it gets worse. We found a litter of feral kittens in a drain in our garage at the office. They were dying so we collected them and took them to the RSPCA. They had fleas. They over-nighted at our house. SO NOW WE HAVE FLEAS AT HOME AS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!
Excuse me, it’s time for another coating of Stingose.
*ahem* Quiet please, everyone! There are quite a few notices this morning so I’ll try to be quick.
Construction work at The Office is now complete and Peter and Kirsty are slaving over hot computers every day. Peter has written Kirsty’s job description to include “making coffee”. She has to remind him frequently that He Is NOT The Boss Of Her. He counters with “Oh, yes I am” but usually backs down quickly. Even the Managing Director should know his place.
There has been a steady stream of emails over the past week inquiring after Kirsty’s health and general well-being. Thank you all, for your concern 
ONE of you, however (and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) (Vel*cough*cro) sent the following impertinent message : “Oi Where are you?”
Young ladies are reminded that the use of casual language is unbecoming.
(HEY, VELCRO!!!! I’m OVER HERE *whistle* !!)
Last weekend, Peter, Kirsty and Ali had a weekend escape to Airlie Beach in The Whitsundays. A lovely time was had by all…
Activities included feeding crackers to cockatoos that visited their apartment balcony, shopping, eating out in a luxurious restaurant with very cute waiters and cruising out to the Barrier Reef on a catamaran. On board the boat, K and P were massaged while floating on the Reef (how awesome is THAT??) and Miss D had her first scuba dive…
She was so excited that she couldn’t stop grinning and laughing. A Monster has now been created and investigations have been made at the local dive school so that the activity can continue.
Excuse me, 4B. Can someone please wake up Miss O’Connor?
It has been decided that regular breaks will be required in the following years and that The Whitsundays, given their close proximity to Townsville, are excellently located for this purpose. It is heartily recommended that those of you who have never been to the Barrier Reef should avail yourselves of this opportunity should it present itself. It truly is one of Life’s Great Gifts.
Monday evenings have been declared to be The Night For Quilting, by a new sewing group. It is pleasing to see students choosing to spend their free time productively (!!) in wholesome activity. I am assured that there is definitely NO loud talking, laughing or chocolate-eating in this group and that they are models of good behaviour. Well done. I can only say that it must be the influence of Tracey, Tanya and Florence.
I am aware that in my absence there have been a number of Unfortunate Events. Some of you have been unwell, suffered bereavement and other sorrows. You have my wholehearted ((hugs)) and love.
We will now all stand QUIETLY and turn to page 47 in your song books.
Hit it, Mrs Feesh…
*sings* In the Garden of Eden, baby, doncha know that I luuu uu uuve you…
Things are looking up again :
I got an email this morning from one of my beautiful sisters-in-law *blowing kisses*
Ali got 83% for her maths exam and topped the class
You guys all sent sweet messages and cheered me up
Peter phoned and kissed me (you can so do that by phone)
and this afternoon, this bracelet was in the mailbox…
Isn’t it lovely? I bought it here. And it has arrived just in time for me to take it away on holiday. Don’t panic if you don’t hear any more from me for a week or so. I’ll be soaking in the bath in my luxurious hotel room. Don’t hate me. Someone has to be spoiled - thank goodness it’s me.
See this teeny tiny baby boy? He left home two days ago. And moved to New Zealand.
Where does it say in The Rules that babies are allowed to leave before their mothers are finished with them??
This is a boy who has an immense capacity for love, intellectual ability that he is only just beginning to understand, a social conscience and powerful sense of justice, a tenderness that makes me fear for him, a somewhat black and white morality, the promise of making a significant contribution to the world.
This boy never leaves my head, never leaves my heart.
This is probably the closest I can get to looking intimidating. If I’m watching anything it’s likely to be TV.
YOOHOO!!! ALL WANNABE CRAFTY PAY IT FORWARDERS!! If you have missed out joining in this cool swap thing, drop by Prickly Pear Bloom and sign up with Tracy. She’s a graphics boffin so she’ll be guaranteed to come up with something arty and awesome for you!
School holidays around here mean endless games of Scrabble. And, for the record, I WON!! nah nah nah nah nah *cough* not that I’m competitive…
When your feet are as colossal as mine, comfy shoes are a blessing. God bless whoever made Vans.
This photo is small because you DO NOT want to see it big, trust me. And just pretend for a minute that it’s still Sunday, because I forgot to post this yesterday (heck for some of you it IS Sunday anyway. The world is so confusing like that).
To calm you after that shock, here’s a pretty flower.This is one of a kazillion photos I took of waterlilies in New Zealand last January.
It’s time for 7 Days again! Sarah started this flickr group last March. We all had such a great time taking self portraits (7 days/7 photos) that she’s organized us for another round.
Day 1 : kissing Peter
1. Corazón al cuadrado / Hearts x2, 2. Love Stamp Candy Tin, 3. kiss…, 4. The Kiss 07, 5. Untitled, 6. kiss me kiss me kiss me, 7. Couple Caught Kissing In Park, 8. <3 ILY <3, 9. Romantisme, 10. amore, 11. Kiss me …, 12. Kiss
Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.
Pete’s here for the weekend…
Outback Australia is like all wild places - very difficult to imagine. Impossible to understand unless you’ve been there. Kind of fascinating in a scary “glad I don’t live there” way. Oh yeah ! I DID live there! I would love to be able to paint word pictures for you, but I’m not the most articulate individual. What I would most like to be able to do is let you smell it. I know that sounds kind of kinky, but this is a place with a unique smell. I was talking to A Local about it one day. She told me that she loves that smell. To her it means Home. I hate that smell. It’s acrid, salty and to me it means, “Not this bloody place again.” I can see beauty out there, truly I can, but the glimpses I have aren’t enough to feed my soul day in and day out.
I would like to show you these pics, though. This place enthralls me.
It is the original hut on a property that belongs to a couple we are acquainted with. Until a few months ago when they moved a newer house on site, they lived in this hut (along with their three sons) whenever they were at the property to work. You can see the new house through the window of the hut.
While this may look third world, you need to understand the context. Queensland properties (farms, also called stations) can be wild and woolly places. Many of them are very remote and the land is not cultivated - it’s just expanses of scrubby bush that animals are grazed on. Like many property owners, these people own several parcels of land that are many hours travel time apart and they spend varying amounts of time on each property, as the work is required. Their sons go to boarding school.
This hut was built a looong time ago (nobody really knows when but it may be well over a hundred years old).
It has a (mostly) concrete floor, electricity (generator, I think) and running water, although those features are relatively new additions. This wood range was used for cooking and heating water. You can see that there are no glassed windows - just openings with prop-up shutters. It is surprisingly cool in there on a hot day.
While I find it fascinating, I couldn’t stand sleeping in there because it has, on a number of occasions, been known to house snakes. In fact, the owner told us that for a while they had a King Brown (a couple of metres long) living in the rafters that they found hard to budge. Every time they tried to get him, he would flatten himself into a crack and escape their efforts. And, yes, they are deadly poisonous! Eventually, one day, they caught him in the open and he was disposed of.
Interesting place. Wouldn’t want to live there
Mosaic Monday makes me happy 
The male bowerbird gathers things to decorate the nesting mound he builds for his hen. They have a particular passion for cobalt blue.
ps : I don’t know why the links aren’t here??? but please click on the photo and you will be able to follow the links to the original images.
I’ve never been a big fan of the taste of pears -too sweet and not sharp enough for me - but they are very beautiful.
Breakfast Sunday is a flickr group that Shula started. I think I have the worst breakfasts in the group. Curse you, healthy people!! And pass the whipped cream…
Circles are always such an appealing shape for me. Other people like them, too
I moved. On Friday night I moved to Townsville. The weekend has been spent sorting, unpacking, cleaning and shoving stuff in cupboards. It feels so good it must be right (why does that sound like some lame-ass 1970’s one hit wonder?).
It felt great right up until yesterday morning at about ten minutes past ten when Peter left to go back to Hughenden. He won’t be back for two weeks. Then this morning I dropped Ali off at her new school - and said goodbye to her until Friday!! Her first day of school and she’s off on a four day retreat!!! It will be a good way for her to get to know the other girls…
Navel-gazing now complete. Here is my mosaic for Mosaic Monday…
Eating cake and thinking of you, Megan! It’s all your fault, you know
SORRY.
Sorry, sorry, sorry!! Can’t help it. Isn’t it awesome?? Last one this week. Maybe.
I know I haven’t been very good company lately. Too much with the mosaics; not enough with the talking. I’ve been at a craft show for four days. I’m talked out.
I’ll talk another day.
…there’s a lot to tell you…
Sad, hey? Nothing better to do than mess around on Flickr making mosaics.
So I got a new toy and now I can’t stop playing with it…
I’m not sure why I took so long to do it, but I finally got a Flickr pro account. So now I can upload photos to my heart’s content and do allsorts of cool stuff that I couldn’t do when I had a free account. If you don’t know what Flickr is, click here and check it out! It’s very cool and a great way to perve at other peoples lives be inspired by what other people are doing. I’ve just made a set of the flower photos that I took in New Zealand over Christmas. It’s been a while since I looked at them and I must say, I impress myself - some of them are pretty good. Here are some of my favourites…
Look what the gorgeous Ali sent me!! She made some yummy pants from this yummy fabric and when I fell in love with it, she sent me some (lots in fact)!
She also sent this…
Oh, Ali, you know me well! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
I haven’t decided what to do with the fabric yet but it will be something special for ME.
Peter fly fishing in New Zealand.
Lots of my very close self-portraits have been out of focus. At 42 that somehow seems a blessing and so I’ve decided I prefer them that way.
Trying to join in the Ripple Obsession sweeping the crafty blogging world and failing. Crochet, you suck.
I WILL nail this. I am determined.
I think.
I haven’t contributed to A Year of Colour for quite a while. It just got too hard while I was away. But I couldn’t miss out on Lavender! My favourite of these four photos is the one of the two lavender flower heads. I took it at the bach in Coromandel during one of those long New Zealand twilights. The light was fading fast but I love the way it made these flowers look.
There are few things I hate more than mornings and waking up. Too sleepy even to focus the camera. My nose looks HUGE from this angle. AAAAAAAAGH!! I look like my brother!!
Now I go in search of coffee…
I like my mouth much better than my feet. I think my mouth is kind of kissy. It does do rather a lot of kissing. Just ask my family. I drive my kids nuts. Peter has gotten used to it.
The Goddess, Sarah (oh Mighty and Benevolent May She Never Pass Away) has created 7 Days (that was “created 7 Days” not “created IN 7 Days”), that we may all indulge in Self-portraits for a week. Today is Day 1 and, in the interest of not scaring you all away, I have begun with my feet. My enormous, flat, boy feet. (yes, I do know I’m a girl) My enormous feet which do a valiant job of hauling me anywhere I want to go. I pay tribute to them. Thank you, Feet. Click for a larger image AT YOUR PERIL!!
The pretty photos of others who are participating can be found by clicking the cute button that Sarah made which is at the right on my sidebar. Or just click here
For a while now I’ve been taking photos of water, I’m not entirely sure why. Mostly I think it’s because the colours fascinate me. And the patterns are mercurial so i never know what the image will look like. Maybe it’s a reaction to living in what is, usually, an arid environment. Probably that’s the main reason - I grew up in New Zealand where, even if you don’t want to be, you are ALWAYS surrounded by water. Now I am transplanted to a desert and it feels very strange and kind of uncomfortable.
Whatever the reason, I love these beautiful fragments of colour and coolness. The green looks like malachite.
And, yes, one of the images is rotated. And, no, I don’t know how to fix it.
I’m home. And my friend Robyn’s baby is still firmly ensconced where he is obviously happiest - in utero! I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t get to meet him, but happy that he is where he needs to be for a little while longer.
As promised here are some photos I took in Balmain. I wish they were better but it felt a bit funny standing on the path taking photos of other people’s houses without their permission. So they were taken at speed, with a weather-eye out for irritated homeowners!
Don’t you think this is a cute suburb? I think I will miss it now that I’m in the Outback again. Sort of from the Sublime to the Ridiculous…
Liesl at disdressed has posted a lovely image of a doll quilt that she made for her daughter. The quilt is backlit by sunshine. It has a gorgeous glow and reminded me of this photo that I took in New Zealand of a begonia. The flower was as big as the palm of my hand and, with the sun shining through, it was the colour of a sunset.
I’m back in town and my head is spinning with new ideas and plans for this year. To celebrate I’ve spent the morning creating this cool new home for twolimeleaves.
For a couple of days during my last week in New Zealand, I stayed at a beautiful beachfront holiday house with my mother, sister and her two little girls. What could be more perfect? Private beach (a rocks throw from the house), no neighbours, no cars and only ten minutes drive to a cafe. Don’t hate me. Just blogroll my new address and in days my posts will be back to their old whiny selves.
I’m hoping that with the new, friendly, easy-to-reply-to commenting system, it will be much easier for me to reply to your comments in a timely manner (sorry about the past eight weeks - it’s been tricky!). I’ve really missed the interaction with you which, after all, is the best part of blogging.
A moonlight photo taken from our beach house deck…
Yes folks, I was really there. It didn’t suck.
ps don’t forget - new address on the blogroll xxx
The last few days have been sooooo relaxing! Symposium was great (as always) but left me very tired (as always). I love teaching. Love it. Five days back to back wears me out!
So I’ve been back at Mum and Dad’s since Friday night doing N O T H I N G and I feel gooooood.
Cool quilts at Symposium. Lots of them. After I get permission from the quilters, I’ll post a few images. In the meantime, here are some pics I took on the journey there/home. New Zealand is beautiful everywhere you look. It is a photographers paradise.
This is Huka Falls. This is the birthplace of the Waikato River, very near the point where it first leaves Lake Taupo. This chasm is only about 10 metres wide. The colour and the noise are equally incredible…
These mountains are the volcanoes of the Central Plateau (middle of the North Island of New Zealand). The perfect cone is Ngaruahoe (Perfectly Unexploded!!!) and the one with snow sprinkled on top is Ruapehu (where we go skiing in Winter). It erupts on a fairly regular basis and New Zealand is currently holding it’s breath and watching the crater lake levels, waiting for the next lahar. Do I sound too fruity if I say that these mountains have such a presence that I can almost feel them breathing? They are so alive.
Thank you all soooo much for the Birthday wishes. It warms my wrinkling heart to know that you all think I’m still young! To put the record straight, so do I. I still feel like I’m sixteen and I don’t think my face is too ravaged yet
Tomorrow I’ll be on my way to Palmerston North to teach at the Manawatu Quilt Symposium for a week or so. It will be great to catch up with old friends and be immersed in fabric.
So I’ll be offline until around Jan 27 (which is one day after I turn 42 *gulp* 42!!!!!!!)
Here are an Old Woman’s latest photos…
…the chandelier in my parent’s living room.
I feel sick. Really nauseous. I think I’ve eaten about half a cup of jam. I know that was really dumb, but it wasn’t my fault. No, really. This is The Plum Tree.
It lives at my parent’s house in what we call The Orchard (glorified name for a yard that happens to have a number of fruit trees). It was planted by my Grandparents when my mother was a child and it has always been in my life.
I was thinking about it a few days ago - how can it be that a tree can be one of the Inhabitants of Your Life? And yet, it has been. And every year that I am at Mum and Dad’s, I wonder if this will be it’s last year. It’s one of those trees that has never been straight. It has twisted boughs that look precarious and fragile even before summer weighs them down with fruit. One good storm, you think, and this tree will be gone.
So, this visit, I took photos, so that when it’s all over I’ll be able to remember.
Poor Peter! He shivered his way through three weeks of New Zealand “Summer” and has now gone back to work. So, of course, just one day after he left to return to Queensland, Summer finally arrived here. The cicadas are almost singing, some of us have sunburn and dinner is being eaten later and later. One of the absolute best things about Kiwi summers are the loooong evenings. The sun goes down about 9 pm and the twilight lingers til 10 pm.
We are definitely in holiday mode. We sleep until nine in the morning (some of us even later. cough.) and drink coffee all day, except for when we are shopping (clothes, shoes, earrings) , reading or watching movies. (Watched “Borat” a few nights ago. Oh My. We laughed SO hard. I thought my son was going to CRY he was laughing so hard. But I was glad that Mum didn’t come - it swings between the Hilarious and the Nauseating). Life is good.
Except that I have Flickr Woes! My cookies were deleted off the computer four weeks ago and I haven’t been able to log in to Flickr ever since. I sent an email. HAH!!! What a jokette! Got a reply three weeks later, saying,”Do you still want a reply?” Ah, yes. I’m sure I’ll get one eventually, but in the meantime I enjoy A Year of Colour vicariously ONLY 
Which also reminds me… sorry for the one-way communication of late. I still can’t send any emails. But I have been receiving them fine. Thanks for the comments! I love love love comments!!
I hope y’all had a great Christmas and New Year! We have eaten ourselves into a stupor, unwrapped a kazillion presents and generally exhausted ourselves. But we have also been going for lots of walks, so I don’t feel quite as guilty as I should.
Here in New Zealand it’s supposedly Summer. Yeah, right. It is SO cold! And it’s not just us Australian tourists who are complaining - even the locals are rugged up in Winter clothes and whining. Nevertheless, we have had some sunny moments. We’ve been catching up with friends (and “conveniently” visiting them at their holiday houses!). This is a river that feeds into Lake Taupo, next door to Wendy’s place. Cool, eh?
Peter bought a new camera on his way over here, so I’ve been taking hundreds of photos. My dad has worked for the local council for forty years and has been instrumental in the creation of many beautiful parks, walkways and gardens in my home town. So I’ve taken heaps of photos of his endeavours.This is in the Italian section of the Hamilton Gardens…
And the rose garden is amazing.It’s just so very very beautiful here. I’d forgotten how bright green can be!
AAAAAGH!!!! I wish I could get this layout looking better, but I haven’t got time to mess around and there are so many more photos to be taken. Bye…
Hello, Chickadees! I’ve missed you SOOO much!! I tried to get online as soon as I got here, but Teenage Son had immediately absconded for his girlfriend’s house, was away for four days and I needed his help to change the settings on my computer (oh the shame).
So here we are! And so is The Beautiful Miss Izzy…
And the World’s Most Revolting Cat (who has a new fan)…
I have a new haircut that I love (and it makes up for La Haircut de Tragedie from a month or two ago)…
we have eaten Potato Salad By G…
and there are FLOWERS…
FLOWERS FLOWERS FLOWERS!!!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am. Flowers.
Oh. And rain. And it’s cold. Ish.
Here are my Year of Color pics for the week. And, in keeping with the gray theme…
Yesterday the heat well and truly broke. On Saturday night we had a big electrical storm. Lots of spectacular lightning and thunder, but the rain was paltry. Even I could probably have dodged the raindrops. But yesterday afternoon the clouds built…
and got darker…
and darker…
and we got a cracker! So much rain that I started to worry about flooding and being unable to get out of town on Friday. The wind was screaming, the rain was horizontal and we (and a number of other people in town) discovered that our houses are not waterproof! We don’t have any damage at all (just water that poured under the front door and some leaking windows) but several buildings in town were de-roofed and there are broken trees everywhere.
But at least it’s cooler now.
Wow! Wow! Wow! CHECK THIS OUT!!! I wasn’t going to post anything today, but how could I not share this?? Can you even imagine carving a crayon? The guy’s name is Pete Goldlust.
A few nights ago I stated,”I’m not opinionated. I’m just always right.” Peter nearly choked on his dinner. Peter, here is proof…
Make one here.
Up to ‘M’ already…
Massage: Wonderful. Bliss. Heaven on a stick.
Moon: I’m a night person. I love the moon and stars. Not so keen on the sun. Hate being hot and burn easily. Gimme moonlight and shooting stars.
This is the setting moon, taken as we were leaving on our holiday a week ago…
Marilyn Manson: I have to admit that I don’t like this guys music but I love his aesthetic. How a dweeby little guy like that can create such an amazing persona should be inspiration for us all. Why do we live so beigely?? Check out this for a magnificent wedding photo.
Malachite: gorgeous layers of green yummyness.
Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”.
A.A. Milne: my childhood
