Our visitor (aka my daughter)

We have a visitor staying.  She is very entertaining!

Never a dull moment.  Even Boris seems to enjoy her antics.

My blogging has gone to the pack...

Still here and still working more hours than I should and wasting time with a collage making program.

The week that was

Some work, actually quite a lot of work, at the paying job,  a visitor, a holiday, some sewing and some gardening

 Jamie and Olaf, my son.  Dinner at Long Beach on Wednesday night. Try and ignore the finger, positioned specifically to annoy the mother.

 Wind break cloth installed to help protect the veges.  The northerly rips down this section of garden.

 Weird growth in the geranium pot.  Like shells but soft.  I guess some sort of fungi.

 Chinese cabbage, holes galore.  I practice digital pest control but no snails or slugs when I do the torchlight patrol.  Earwigs perhaps?  Though I do not see them.

Holey lettuce.

 Man at work and it is Sunday!

 Chillis have decided to grow having sat dormant all summer.  Perhaps the coriander seeds I threw in that are now growing shocked the chillis into production!

 Work in progress.

 $3 find in a second hand shop.

 Beautiful fat quarters in the parcel from Japan sent by my daughter.  She included lots of lovely goodies for us all.

 Barista school. (you have no idea how much effort these two put into making a coffee)

 King Boris rules! This time the fridge.  He takes a running jump and is in before you know it.

 "Not me" look.

Lying in wait for the bed to be made with clean linen.  He loves getting inside the duvet cover with the duvet and then being shaken about when the duvet is fluffed up.

A finish and randomness

I have decided I cannot do random.  I appreciate random in quilting in other's work but when I attempt it myself once the item is finished I am annoyed by the final combination.  Perhaps I work too hard on the final combination thus ruining the randomnesss.

Here is the finish, a cushion for the upstairs sitting room where my partner has his main music listening area.

And March ends...

I have actually sat at my sewing machine in it's new home for an extended period today, but it is now too late to iron and photograph my progress.

We bought a large house but still a designated sewing room did not eventuate.  I now have a desk at the end of the dining room and the machine can stay out, the dining table can be used for cutting.  And it is only a short trip to the cupboard with the sewing supplies.

We are having a relaxing weekend.  Our visitors left today.  We had a nice wander with them  yesterday to collect more pony poo, (tis good to educate the young!) and I have finally started to plant winter veges and rhubarb.  One of the compost bins has been emptied and a new home found for it, which will be more convenient on dark, cold winter evenings.  And I even made a delicious orange cake for dessert on Friday night.  So am feeling my productive mojo has returned.

And there is still tomorrow for laundry and housework.  Long weekends are great!

The rhubarb plant, some lettuce and silver beet in this photo.  The lettuce will be harvested while the rhubarb grows as it seems best to leave picking the stalks for a year to encourage development according to the tag.

The new piece of garden where Chris has been slaving removing roots and any grass that has survived our dry summer.  Pure sand, now liberally covered in pony poo.

The last of the summer pickings, scallopini and tiny courgettes, their greenery covered in all sorts of pests and powdery mildew so it was time to rip them out.  The tiny capasicum, the plant was over run with little blue bugs.  The last of the passionfruit and some rosemary prunings to dry.

Chris and kids on the swing bridge.  Swing bridges are not my idea of fun!

I love flags

I have always wanted a flag pole in my garden but past husbands were not so keen.  My partner thinks a less formal type of colourful flag would be acceptable.  I have been going to stitch one or two, however we purchased a couple of less traditional ones at WOMAD, they will be unveiled on here eventually.

The flags at WOMAD keep me entertained for hours, each year they add more.  

These were new this year.

Photo from last year.

Flapping flags, perfect for chilling and people watching between artists.

It is here...favourite weekend of the year!

Yes my annual pilgramage to WOMAD starts in the morning.  This is my seventh year, and as in 2007 Salif Keita is performing.  It is always a special weekend but will be more so this time.  Salif Keita is magnificent.

Pantry staples

I have not been totally unproductive.

 Plum sauce that I made last weekend.  I am still using plum sauce made three years ago so made a small quantity of a different recipe.  Lovely flavours of five spice and star ainse but also quite vinegary, hopefully it will improve with keeping. (Thanks Xanthe for the empty Jagermeister bottle, perfect for sauces)

I have put together two kilos of tomatoes with the onions and salt to soak ready to turn into relish tomorrow.  Nothing like a relish and cheese sandwich to cheer up the work day, though I am still finding gluten free bread somewhat blah.

Weekend is here...

Today I left the house at 5.30 a.m. and walked in the door at 7.30 p.m. and my travel time was barely two hours in total, so yet another long work day.  Is it any wonder I am exhausted and my hobbies suffer.

Boris is growing and we are enjoying his antics.  He loves going outside and seems to enjoy popping over the fence to visit the neighbours, after he has had a good look to see what is happening.  Often he is in the above pose with his chin leaning on the fence top for ages.

A late mug rug for Valentine's Day

The mug rug I made for my daughter arrived in Japan, a little late for the 14th.  She got it today.

A finish

I have finally completed something, a bag for all the paraphernalia I cart to the office.  I used the pattern and directions from "The Bag Making Bible" by Lisa Lam.  I like the shape, possibly not quite large enough for all I cart around and next time I will construct "my way." 

I have also been puddling with a Valentine mug rug to mail but I am not the happiest with my efforts at satin stitching.  It looked okayish till I photographed it.  There are pros and cons to Chriss' fancy cameras!  An excuse to try and perfect by making another perhaps.

This evening

Technology is a special thing when you can spend an evening with Skype during a stressful time, first with my mother in Dunedin, then with my daughter in Japan, and have several chat screens going on Facebook at the same time.

Boris performed beautifully entertaining my mother and daughter.  The sitting room looks like a bomb site.  The mess was worth the fun and helped to take my mind off events of the last day.

So now we wait for the results of the angiogram.  A loved one having a heart attack is never a good thing, but having it on the other side of the world during a business trip is a real nightmare.

Bed calls and perhaps Boris will be worn out and rest on my bed tonight, company would be nice.  Usually he ends up in the dressing room as his nighttime antics are very playful.

January 2nd

Another wild windy day at the beach.  Our visitors were keen to swim but while not cold the sea is being whipped up into a mass of white caps, not swimming weather.

I took the overseas visitors to Lindale Animal Park, which I thought had closed as the huge sign on the motorway advertising what is at Lindale makes no mention of the park.  Apparently it had closed for a time but has been operating the last two and a half years.

Many times in the past we had taken Japanese students to visit as they are always very keen to pet sheep, something your average Kiwi has no interest in beyond about age 10.  Our Japanese visitor was delighted with the experience.

Chris's chef son cooked dinner last night.  He made us a fabulous curry.

Which reminds me I need to learn about food photography!

Happy New Year

We have a full house and it is delightful to be able to entertain comfortably.  Plenty of space for all and a great kitchen that has allowed our guests to cook. (Chris's son and Canadian girlfriend, their Canadian and Japanese flatmates and his other son)

 Yuka cooked last night.

 Delicious ramen in miso with vegetables.

 Our walk today around the Waimanu Lagoons, trying to keep out of the ferocious wind.

 Reading the information about the birdlife, ah tui is a bird not only a brand of beer.

 It's the Monkees, with father Monkee exhibiting his more usual pose.

Shags, one of hundreds of bird phots I have taken since Chris purchased another new camera. I shall need to spend time with the manual to make the most of all the features.