Wellington

1. Louise completing a 'challenge' for her new geocaching hobby :)



Well I'm in Wellington at my sister Louise's - have been here for 2 weeks as Mum's been in hospital - she's had some lung removed - yep - the dreaded cancer!!! Her smoking days have caught up with her... She should have been in for maybe a week - but she's been in for 3 weeks due to an air bubble that was between lung and some membrane or something. Finally it has gone and today she got her drain removed - she was very nervous about this as expected it to be really painful - thank goodness it wasn't. Was glad I was there to hold her hand though...

Hopefully I get to take her back to PN very soon and then she can really relax and get her strength back. She may still have to have further treatment - chemo or radiation - but that's up to the PN oncology team to sort out.

2. Newtown suburb from up behind the hospital - by the reservoir while collecting a cache :) - Note the sky - been like this most of the fortnight!!


3. New handbag - is actually 'bluer' than it looks.


4. The beautiful Skyla in serious mode - from last weekend I was at home :)


Other things I've done in Wellington...
- sleeping in and reading :) My room at Louise's gets wonderful morning sun - and I've had 2 brilliant weeks of weather. Finished 'Wild Rose' by Jennifer Donelly - love her 'rose' series.
- shopping - will add pic of my new hand-bag if I can remember how :)
- geocaching - and got Louise signed up - she's not quite 'addicted' yet though...
- knitting - practically finished reknitting cardy/jacket for Mum - the first time I knitted it it was just way too big - Mum has lost lots of weight lately.
- driving!! All round Wellington - thanks to the gps!!
- movies - Bill Cunningham's New York - wonderful, Incendies - intense
- washing, ironing and cooking - usual sort of stuff...



5. One of the outfits from Kirks window display to celebrate the Wearable Arts being on. Lucky Louise got free ticket and went one night leaving me 'home alone' - this outfit made from licorice.

Cheers Fleur xxx

Geo-caching

Last Sunday Mandy and I went out to lay the last of my eggs :) A dozen wee plastic eggs that I have hiden on a trail from Hikurangi to Ngunguru - we had done some the week before by ourselves, but on this day we had the boys with us - and it was a beautiful morning. Pics show - rainbow over railway wagons - cool pic Rex took while we were busy being FTF [First to Find] a new geocache at the railway station under these historic trees - planted by an earlier PM.

Sandy Bay was home of 'Cache a Wave' and it was gorgeous - hidden in this amazing pohutukawa tree - Rex and Andy went up to the bach behind and chatted to the bloke there - the bach had been in the family since 60s and they had an amazing visitors book.

Also placed cache at Matapouri - gorgeous, gorgeous beach :)

Final egg placed under concrete remains at Ngunguru - and then I had to get them all published - this was done super quick and that very afternoon some fellow cachers were out looking :)

The ducks were at a final cache we were looking for - did think it a good place to hide one but someone else had had same great idea - the trip around from town back to town now has heaps of caches within easy grabbing distance of the road - which seems much easier during winter months.

Term 2 Week 11

Last week of term - I did teach on Monday :)
Not feeling too good - stuffed up with head cold so quite glad it's been a quieter week.
Had a couple of days in Auckland with Mandy - also managed to catch up with Daniel, Tania and Skyla and had dinner with Jess at 'Delicious' - and it was!! Very delicious Italian place.
Went to Harry Potter movie and found a few - 24 - geocaches.
Stitching tonight with the girls - hmmmm - looks like I'll be knitting again!!

Weekend

Well it's the weekend again - actually it's nearly over again!!
Had a busy week - 4 days of work you know!! AND I had to be Mrs President for Rex's Rotary!! He is now having his 'turn' or is that 'term' as President of Whangarei Rotary Club!! I aim to support form the back-benches :)

Had 2 days at Kamo and 2 at Hikurangi - quite nice to be back there and giving Bruce some cheek - I did remember to thank him for being the reason for my much better lifestyle!! Hate to think what I'd be like if I'd stayed working out there - which I could have done if he wasn't such a ... hmmm I shall refrain from publishing my thoughts on that one - he and I both know!!
Added bonus was having the Minstrel there for 1 1/2 hours - great being paid to be entertained I must say - I quite like The Minstrel's quick sense of wit and humour - and he is an ex-Taihapian as well so we must be practically related!!

Managed to finish a stripey jumper for our Skyla to go under her cute overalls my friend Claire Spicer made - will take a pic and try to remember to post it - better would be with Skyla in the outfit!!

Yesterday Mandy and I headed out to do some caching - made hard work of 2 quite simple-in-the-end finds, gave a puzzling one a miss as venue being used and then headed out to lay some of my caches - put one in the historic oak tress by our old house and then did the start of my 'Egg Trail' - am laying 12 eggs around for people to find.... got 8 done so have to wait til next weekend to get them finished - blast...

Mandy starts her radiation treatment this week so I'm planning to go down and keep her company - wonder what we'll do ...????

Pammy came for dinner last night - with pics of dear wee Isobel Jane - her 2nd grandie - and sister to Georgia Rose - Rach and Marc did very well - and sounds like labour was really quick - hard to believe that before Isobel was a day old she's back home sleeping in her own bed while rest of the family have dinner together - long may it last :) Makes me keen for our next baby!!

Today we went out for lunch with Margaret and Garry - if I was really into the way of blogging I'd have pic of lunch I know - had a BLAT - asked them to leave off the dressing and put it on the side - they put some on the side and some in the BLAT - it was toooooo big - 3 great hunks of bread and minimal filling - although generous with bacon.... anyway I felt a bit dodgy after it so we had to cut the party short and head home - I feel sorry for the rest of the team - but guess I'm lucky they put up with me!! Back to 'poached eggs' when I go out!!

My Mum is in hospital - has had gall bladder problems - was on waiting list but sounds like she'll be moved up the pecking order and have gall bladder out sooner rather than later - which sounds good to me - then she'll just need to get better. Luckily my sister Louise is able to be with her and other sister, Margot, is going down later in week. I would go - but 3 of us would be overkill :)

Brick Bay 3

Now as well as lunch you see we did this 2km walk - didn't feel like that - is indeed a nice wander - if it's dry - bit wet underfoot today and I managed to slip on my bum :(

The 'nest' sculpture was about as big as a sink - if a sink was round... Would look very cute with a baby sitting in it...


After lunch we went down to check out the end of the road - there used to be a Christian Youth Camp here but now there's some very 'up-market' retirement/apartment living style places...

Further on we wandered along this path and found a cache - so that was great. The bay is called 'Whisper Bay' and it would be a fun place for toddlers in the summer as very shallow - tide was out and still there were lovely beach 'puddles' that I can imagine Skyla would have great fun in. Today there were just a couple of windsurfers.

Next we went further down the peninsula toward Snells Beach to see the new school that's recently opened here - we were interested as a few years ago Rex had thought about applying to be foundation Principal - there was just a paddock here when we last looked - school now is all go and looks very nice and modern. Doesn't sound like they've reached their projected roll yet though - the area may be too expensive for young families??

Then we headed back home :)

Brick Bay Sculptures

The first 2 of these swirled around in the wind/breeze - would be nice to watch - bit like watching a fire or watching water - kinda restful :) The elephants and bright 'blocks' are all flat but cleverly painted for 3-D effect.

Brick Bay

Had a lovely day today - headed off to Brick Bay winery down Snells Beach way - met up with Jessie and Hayden for lunch - our 'shout' for his birthday tomorrow. Yummy platters and then we went for the walk around the sculpture trail - was pretty muddy underfoot - was very envious of Jess's new purple gumboots so think I'll have to go and buy some myself - will be so handy for geocaching too - ha ha. Am sharing some pics of some of the scultures - many of which are for sale - prices seemed to range from $1800 to $60,000.00 for the 3 big 'pinwheels' - I loved the ones that slowly moved in the breeze - and the corrugated swirly things on one of the lakes - but I didn't like them enough to get out the credit card!! Have uploaded 5 pics so will see if I can do more for you to enjoy...

Baby Quilt

Well here's the first quilt for new baby Keast - so enjoyed getting back into hand-piecing these hexagons - probably the first patchwork technique I learned- and the cream fabrics are all true scraps - the left-overs from the 'wedding quilt' for this babies parents - lol

Is only a wee quilt for the moses basket that will be it's first bed - and as the gender of said babe is to remain a surprise til delivery then good old cream is the obvious option.

For those dedicated machinists out there - I did use the machine to sew the binding on - otherwise all hand-done in front of the telly :)

I feel this baby may get some more quilts...

Bookcrossing

Oh wow - have now joined this - think it will be lots of fun - maybe others would like to join it too - all in the interests of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' of course !!
http://www.bookcrossing.com/
Something I can do when geocaching or when not geocaching - ha ha
Have just finished 'Skeletons at the Feast' about a german family marching west during the last days of WW2 - a reminder of the horrendous things people are capable of but also a reminder that not all Germans were responsible. I appreciate my very easy life.

Home today - fire fired up - first time this winter - it is cosier than heat pump but also more work!! Am trying to convince Christopher to go and chop wood and bring it up to top wood shed - actually I'd love to change our bottom woodshed into a chook house :) Maybe one day...

geocache day

Had a lovely day out with Mandy today - checking for geocaches and also setting up my first ones for others to find. One is hidden in this picture :)
It was an absolutely beautiful day to be out and about - but some of the tracks we headed off on were a bit intrepid.

Also had a 'deep conditioning treatment' on my hair - amazing what treats its had lately as I take advantage of 'Grab One' deals :)

Geocaches

Have been busy getting a few geocaches ready to hide
- The 2 Utility plates attach to a pole or similar with magnets - just room for the log to be signed on the inside. Unless you know about these you'd never give them a second look.
The little nano ones will have to go somewhere sneaky.
The big one at the back will have all the 'treasure' in it for people to swap - the kids love these ones and it keeps them interested.
The pill container is a fairly regular type of hide but...
the 'eggs' are my most exciting caches - will put them in a plastic bag to help protect them and then hide them along a 'trail' - with a dozen to find it should be quite fun for my fellow cachers :)

On another subject let me share some names of some students at the school I've been relieving at lately ... Oversea, Jahstys [Justice] Pheenyx, O'Riley [girl] Swayde, Guy-Visachi, Te Aniwaniwa... Lots of parents seem to like to be original - Bless them :)

Lazy Weekend

Friday night = dinner out with friends at Grand Thai - Yum...
Saturday = lazy day at home - Rex out electioneering for the Tai Tokerau by-election, dinner at Margaret and Garry's - Yum too...
Sunday = sleep-in, lunch with Noel at Rosie and Jon's - Yum three :)
Also completed cute wee stripey jersey - is ages since I've knitted one of these with scrap wools but I used to do them regularly for Daniel when he was a wee fella - to go with his overalls :) Today he's 32 - Happy Birthday to my boy - why have the years gone so quickly??

Day off to catch up with washing...
Sleep-in with Rex - so cosy and warm - contemplated getting up but then Christopher got home from his mates and hopped in shower...
Washing done...
Ironing done...
Lunch out at Mondos with Noel - Town Basin - sun on back so warm...
Wander in Burning Issues - lusting after a couple of things...
2 caches - magnetic micros...
Stitching/gossiping with the girls...
My great day :)
Poor Christchurch - another biggie :(

Skyla's Birthday

Time to learn how to add pics to this ...
We were down in Auckland in the weekend - took Shakira and Blake with us as it was Skyla's 1st birthday - what better subject could there be for my first pic attempts??
Oh -yay - that worked - pics went above writing - how to get them below??

Work?

Just done two days - Kamo Y1/2 and Glenbervie Y 3/4 - must say the older kids are easier...

Got my wee baby quilt to the stage where it is basted up and I can start quilting it tonight - It looks pretty cool I reckon - hope the 'mother-to-be' will like it... Have used wedding quilt leftover fabric which is lots of creams - and have paper-pieced hexagons - has been a real pleasure to return to this style of hand-piecing.

Have got stitching with the girls on Friday night so maybe I won't be knitting this time - I always seem to take knitting cos it's so portable and easy to chat lots while doing it.

Shakira and Blake are coming to stay on Friday night - after they have been out to Vinyl with their Mum - better social life than us :) Then we'll take them off to Auckland for the rest of the weekend.

Ok - I seem to have lost this and then found it again - and somehow I seem to have set up 2 blogs - will try to work out how to delete the other one.

Need to work out how to add photos but in meantime here's a little something about this blog...

I intend to just record some of the 'Bits and Pieces' of my life - what I've been up to, how I'm feeling and what I think others may be interested in...

Am still doing a bit of stitching - at present it's a wee quilt for the expected whanau addition. Also doing some knitting for same addition. Have done some for the lovely Skyla too - her first birthday next weekend - better work out how to post pics by then.

Have also been doing some geocaching and finding it's quite addictive - the search + the find = satisfaction :)

Ok - here goes - am setting up this blog today - Monday 13th June 2011.

Will be using this to share the 'Bits and Pieces' that are happening in my life ...

But first I need to check this is working -