June

Wow, June. How did we get here? Time is flying by and I honestly don't know where it went!

We have been busy getting ready for the arrival of baby and have now chosen most of the big items we want (cot, buggy, carseat etc) and either have them here or they are on order (fingers crossed they arrive before baby does!). We've also been attending antenatal classes and only have 2 left to go. We've already done the tour of the hospital and have a box of nappies ready to go so we are almost prepared!

I've found I've really had to slow down lately and am often tucked up in bed at 9 or 9.30pm most nights (what a nana!). Undisturbed nights are well and truly in the past and I'm often awake a few times in the night trying to get comfy. I'm trying to see the good side of this - it's getting me ready for being up and down in the night with baby!

I'm also feeling a little less creative and full of ideas lately. I think my brain is busy focusing on baby related things and everything else has gone out the window.

I've been notoriously bad at taking photos and without photos I don't have much fodder for blog posts. I've had a look at what's on the camera today and then headed out into the garden in the rain to get some photos to share so I could finally update the blog. All flowers today - some brightness and prettiness to take away the winter blues.

It's been quite cold here some days and the fire is on most nights these days. I've taken to lighting candles and putting the fairy lights on to make the most of the darker nights with some twinkles!

I still struggle with the turnabout of the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere and it's weird to think Graeme will be celebrating his birthday next weekend in winter. I still have to buy his presents and am currently deciding whether or not to bake him a birthday cake, birthday muffins or birthday cupcakes...in fact I might go and have a peek through my reciep books just now to get some ideas.

And I'll promise to try and leave less time between posts next time :-)

Autumn skies

I've been snapping away photos of Autumn colours as I've seen them the last couple of weeks. Capturing the leaves on the trees changing colour. I love autmnal colours. I'm sure it comes with being an Autumn baby. I hope to share some of the pictures once I've got a few more.
Tonight though it was the sky that caught my eye. What beautiful colours and looking very much like autumnal colours. Enjoy :-)

Garden Helper

I've not been much help at all in the garden lately. It's too hot, I get sleepy really quickly and I can't lift anything heavy!


But the good news is that G has another helper whose always keen to assist in anyway he can...

There's also a video but I can't for the life of me get the embed code to copy across properly. Here's the link if you want to have a look... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL9FL-0jCaY

So as Graeme trims the branches from the trees, Rhett pulls them across the lawn and shakes them (I think it might be to make sure they are dead?!) and then the branches are pulled to bits until he finds a nice chewy bit to sit and chew...for hours.

It sure helps us fit the debris in the green waste wheelie bin but makes a mess of the lawn!

I think he might be a bigger help than I've ever been!

I might be trying something new this week - more regular posts - I have a recipe to share and some general chit-chat so I'll try and post at least once more this week.

Sunday Strolling

It is past time for a new post methinks. The trouble is that the last one was so epic that I'm not sure how to match it. So I won't even try! Instead I will talk about this weekend and what we've been up to. Very mundane and ordinary but a nice way to document normal life.

Yesterday I started off with a little baking after a lazy start. I made chocolate chip cookies which were delicious and then had a go at making Quiche which made a yummy lunch.

In the afternoon Graeme headed down to Wellington with some soccer team mates to watch the Phoenix Game so I had a few hours laid out before me with no real plans. After dropping him off at the other side of town I decided to do a little bit of shopping on the way home. And I found these beautiful socks! Two pairs but I wore one of each for photo taking! Aren't they cute? I also bought some colourful bowls for the kitchen and some craft supplies amongst other things.

And then I didn't really do much at all. Read some inspiring creative blogs, had a bubble bath and read some magazines. The time flew by really and I couldn't quite believe half the weekend had been and gone already.

Today started with a lazy morning and my normal Sunday morning chat with my Mum.

The sky was looking grey and the forecast was for rain but I had a desire to be outside even if it meant being rained on. So we loaded the dog in the car and headed over to Ashhurst. The weather held out and it was a lovely relaxing walk.

We walked through the woods and along the gravel road and through the fields and up the steepest hill ever and finished at the cafe for refreshments. The good thing about Ashurst Domain is that a lot of the fields and paths are sectioned so we can let the dog off the lead for a run knowing he can only go so far.

One of the usual sectioned parts had some unexpected inhabitants this time. It was full of baby cows! They were gorgeous. We were a little worried about the dog with them as he had never been so close so he was kept on a tight lead and was very well behaved. The cows tended to move out of his way but as I brought up the back slowly, taking pictures as I went, they were more interested in me! This one (below) actually got so close to lick my bag and hand!

And this is the view from the top after the steeeeeep hill. For those of you that have been to this part of the world - this is actually the Manawatu Gorge in the background. A very windy stretch of road that can be hair-raising to drive!

When we got home we were all feeling rather tired about our stroll in the fresh air so we've had a rather easy-going afternoon. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been playing on TV so we've had that on in the background between grocery shopping, folding washing and dinner preparations.

And now, it's soon to be tidy up and bed time. The end of another weekend. It's a shame. I enjoy being at home with my boys and pottering around. I'm feeling tired just thinking about getting up at a respectable time and going to work. But we have to keep the dog in food somehow :-)

It's nice to keep note of what we've been doing though. It will be interesting to look back on in time to come I imagine to see how things have changed.

And one more picture to show you. This isn't a project from this weekend but I did get around to photographing it yesterday so wanted to show it off. I am far too lazy to do this kind of work in the hot summer sun. This is the work of my lovely husband - last weekend. The mulch on the beds kept coming down to the grass and you couldn't see where one started and one finished. It made cutting the grass a little difficult. So we bought the edging and Graeme spent a few hours fitting it around the curves of our back flowerbed. I love it - think it's a nice finishing touch for the garden and makes the lawn look even better when it's freshly mowed!

And that's me for now. I seem to have got my photo taking inspiration back after a couple of months off so I am hoping I can keep taking photos to share on the blog. See you soon.

I can't think of a suitable title so this will have to do...

Just a quick one tonight.

I'm off to Auckland tomorrow overnight leaving Graeme to fend for himself with the 2 dogs...at least the 3 of them will get some peace and quiet while I'm gone. I'm suffering from a change of seasons cold and perhaps being a little bit whingy about it. I'm on the mend now though after boosting myself with echincea and vitamin C and keeping the oil burner topped up with eucalyptus oil (why does all this good for you stuff have to be so hard to spell?!).

I thought I'd share some recent photos to make up for my lack of words. Hope to be back with an update at the weekend.

Hopefully they are all self explainatory and you do not require captions as I am feeling too lazy for that.

Catch ya later

Mostly photos

Just a quick one tonight because I'm feeling yucky. I actually meant to post yesterday but ended up in bed early with a pounding headache. This morning I felt alright and I went to work but this evening I am feeling bleugh again so I am heading off to bed as soon as I hit the publish button on this post.

I'll just share some photos with you for now.

We went out to Ashhurst on saturday to meet up with some friends. It made a nice change from Starbucks and we met at The Herb Farm Cafe. Everyone had a piece of cake apart from me and they came with gorgeous flowers as garnish. My muffin didn't have anything so I stole Graeme's flower and took this photo...(the muffin was yummy by the way)

And then on the drive home we had the most awesome view...

And last week I came across these gorgeous little pansies (or are they violas?) in our front garden....aren't they cute?

I'm up in Auckland later this week and over the weekend for work so there may be a lack of posts this weekend. The following weekend is a 3 day-er though due to Waitangi Day and then the week after that is a 4 day week as I have the Friday (13th) and all the following week off.

I'm hoping the weather stays fairly decent for my time off and I'm hoping to get up to date with some wedding planning.

Okydoke, off to bed - hope you all have a good week!

Spring = Sprung

October has always been my favourite month...due in part to it being my birthday month (hint, hint!). I used to love it because of the Autumn colours and now I love it because it's slap bang in the middle of New Zealand spring.

Everything seems green and lush and new (the green and lush coming mostly from ALL the rain we've had) and it makes me want to slow down a little and enjoy my surroundings.

In preparation for my 28th year (how did that come around so darn quick?) I have come up with a list of 27 things to do aged 27. It's a mix of serious and frivulous and a lot of it has to do with slowing down and enjoying my surroundings. If I'm feeling particularly brave maybe I'll share the list on the blog over the next few weeks.

My Mum leaves the UK tomorrow for her trip down-under. She's got a few days in Aussie before heading over here. It will be GREAT to see her and I have a few things planned to keep her busy including a whirlwind tour of South Island. I hope to take lots of photos and will try and get some posted while we are away. Graeme has to work so will be staying at home but we are catching up with him for a few days in the middle of our trip.

I've got a pretty busy week on the lead up to Mum's visit but all is good!

Winter

Well winter is well and truly here and it has been pretty chilly lately. We have even had to scrape ice off the car a couple of mornings. And on Saturday it sleeted....enough to make it look like snow (it's practically unheard of to snow in Palmerston North)...and with the sleet came sleetmen....the Palmerston North alternative to snowmen! I was so annoyed I didn't have the camera with me when we saw them dotted about! They were so cute!

And with winter comes horrible, yucky winter jobs like cleaning blocked gutters. I, of course, had the very important roles of holding the ladder, turning the tap on and off for the hose, passing up buckets, hoses etc.
Being outside ready to hold the ladder and pass things up at a moments notice gave me a good excuse to take some winter photos. This was the first clear day in a while. It felt like it'd been raining for years (when really it was only a couple of weeks) which meant that Lake Palliser came back to life...

But it's not all bad...we have at least one sign of the good weather to come...I can't wait for the daff's to flower - they always cheer me up immensely. I remember the daff's giving me a smile after days of feeling sorry for myself when I had the chicken pox last year in August.

And you just can't beat the sky on a crisp, New Zealand winter's day...it may be cold but you get to look up and see this...

So yes, I am looking forward to longer and warmer days but I am trying to make the most of winter while it's here!

A week off in photos

Hmmm, haven't taken as many as I would have liked due to batteries running out on me and bad light but here's a few which help summarise a pretty good week off!

There's been lots of laying about and relaxing:

There's been a bit of walking (but thankfully no running into big stinky ponds due to the wound!)

And of course there's been running around with large sticks and chewing them:

And there's been some cracking weather - it's been up at 18 degrees - in May! Which is the month between Autumn and Winter here. I got a shock yesterday when I got in the car and the temperature was 23! But it soon cooled a little once I was on the move - it's just where the car had been sitting in the sun.

I've also been taking pictures of yellow things the last couple of days. I once read somewhere that yellow is a very insprirational colour and that Roald Dahl wrote his stories on yellow legal pads with pencils (I'm sure it was Roald Dahl but feel free to correct me). Of course - I then went out and bought yellow legal pads and waited for inspiration to strike.

It does every now and again but lately it's been the yellow outside that I find pretty inspiring...

An audience with Kate!

It's been brought to my attention that I do, indeed, have an audience (waving to Kelly and to Dad!) so I better do my jolly best to keep posting here!

I spent last weekend up in Auckland with work (Thursday to Sunday) so this week has been spent quietly trying to recover from early starts and long days! Wednesday was a public holiday in New Zealand - Waitangi Day - so we had a nice quiet day and took the dog for a long walk along by the river.

Yesterday (Saturday) we spent doing housework (yuck!) as I have realised we need to have a bit of a clearout. It's not my favourite job (far from it) but it's well overdue! So yesterday we had a clearout in the bedroom and I found pairs of shoes and bags I had forgotton I owned! Which is good as I should be able to get some use out of those for a while and forego the need to buy anything new! We finished yesterday off with a BBQ dinner. We had homemade herb burgers (which are yummy) and BBQd corn on the corn and pineapple with salad and fresh bread!

Today, we had a lazy start and met friends for a coffee. Our plan to have a 2nd BBQ in 2 days was almost scuppered as it's been raining today so we were back to our old style BBQ-ing....

Yep, that's right - BBQing in the garage! I'm sure we have used that BBQ more in the garage then we ever have outside!

We are grateful for the rain though as it's been stinking hot lately and we were in need of some water for the garden.

The tomatoes are coming on well - we've already had a couple and there's a few that should be ready this week...

And one last picture....during Graeme's foraging in the garden he discovered some mysterious grape like berries on a bush behind the lemon tree and we are wondering if they are grapes...
...Dad, any ideas? If you can't view the picture - let me know and I'll email it to you instead!