A Mid Winter 21st and the Folding Gene

As I was pondering how to write this post I was thinking
what a wonderful medium blogging is & especially
 the bit about being able to add pictures.

Sometimes when I am pottering through my watch list
on Trade Me & I have read the description of an item
"gorgeous vintage floral fabric" for instance &
there is a pause as the photo loads & a picture is
forming in my head of what I think the fabric is going to look
like & then there it is & often it is nothing at all like
what I had imagined &  then I think,

oh you mean "that"!

well, describing to you the 21st birthday of our David is
a lot like that, words are insufficient!!

I often say to my children "what happens to one person in
a family effects everyone in that family" & it
really is quite true. The good bits & the dumb ones.

It was David's 21st but the gathering together was
about the flavour of a family..this one!

The birthday boy arrived with his lovely Paula

..I think they must have a "school of funny walks"
 in Greymouth

Fortuitously, Matthew arrived on Friday & set to &
made the birthday carrot cake
(recipe to be posted on our kitchen blog any time soon : )

He also kindly brought with him his friendly

sourdough starter & proceeded to make
us all many fragrant loaves of glorious bread

on a wet Saturday morning

Matt doesn't get to see his bread cooking at home,

so he tells me..no window in his oven.

A wee stool was helpful on this occasion

We're not exactly a conventional family so we
simply gathered in different ways over a few days.

Lunch at the Opera Kitchen with Jeff (Grandad).

A dinner with just our family.
Which meant horse rides & play mobile trails

around the kitchen

some people see things a little differently to others!!

and also feel the need to remove the beard for the occasion

of course every really good story requires string

Pressies are interesting when buying

choosing gifts for the chess playing,

violinist who presently works at 

a meat works!!

What I'd really like to know is how
come I missed out on the
"folding gene"? 

Should you ever require a linen
cupboard make over...

Matt found this dear blanket on his journey
here & somehow folds it
just so &

it all looks so much better.
His Dad also has the gene...come to think
of it I don't recall ever seeing David fold anything so
I'm not sure if he has it or not.

I just had to bring out this great old 

coffee perk & give it a turn.

When I bought it on Trade Me I didn't realize it would make coffee for the whole family!

Nice to see everyone. Nice to be just us again.

much

XXX

Vintage Finds and The Very Brave Garden

 I just have to show you the dear little crocheted,  beaded
 jug covers that I found on trade me recently

I always loved the tinkingly sound that they made
 at Nan's house when I was little.

Back at the "Restore" shop I found these
 dear little slippers this week.
Really comfy too : )

At the Salies I came across the loveliest little platter
& for a "song"
I have a cake plate in the same pattern only
it's square

Thinking of hydrangeas I am so impressed with the
 dogged bravery & determination of the garden,
it's persistent joyous denial of winter

 Mutabilis "the butterfly rose" flowers over & 

over again just outside our bedroom window.

On a sunny day, with a little breeze,

the fragrance of sweet peas wafts in on

scented wings.. although probably not

today as it's only 10 degrees!

I took all these shots this week
Monsieur Tillier bottom left, Duchess de Brabant right
Quintessence camelia in the centre &
  Souvenir dun Ami climbs through the cherry tree
 as it continues to lose it's
 leaves in glorious autumn splendour.

I love the light that comes with the low winter sun
I captured this one sunny day last week

I just love this vintage
American chenille bedspread

Moja so kindly offered to pose for me
in the garden on the little white
table amidst the crabapples

another visit to the vet this morning
poor boy has FIV
patched up again for a little while yet we hope

Kaitiaki, Kapai and Number Five Joy Street

Quite recently, Kaitiaki came to visit.

 His mum had work to do. 

No sooner had he arrived than Kapai turned up

He had a bit of trouble up the side of that pot though.

By the way Kapai means well done, very good : )

Quite soon, we made some fizzy

"Tastes like chicken!" said he

Pop decided to move some fruit crates & a boy

Up & down the drive they

 went & even across the road

 to Audrey's

while I carried her fruit

It was so much fun..thanks Pop!

Yesterday Kaitiaki & his mum took me to the

 Book Fair at Colenso College in Napier.

What a fantastic idea to recycle books round the community

& raise money for a good cause.

That way books can be available to everybody.

I found the most fascinating children's book entitled

"NUMBER FIVE JOY STREET"

It was given to Margaret for Xmas in 1931 by her 

aunty Peg : ) 

I just love the first story entitled Mr Cupboard or, 

the Furniture's Holiday

What a gorgeous colour plate!

Well now, back to the boy..it really is the everyday things that

matter most..I am so loving capturing things that 

we will otherwise soon forget

...a four year old playing

 very soon his mum came & took him home

XX

Thanks so much for your stories, emails, comments & encouragement!

Hope you've had a good week : )

As you might have noticed I am having a bit of trouble with my fonts.

Sometimes Blogger comes along with changes & I seem to get all

just a bit messed up!

Monarchs and Mandarins

I am so excited!! I have found them!! 

Well I have found a jolly good sized family of them.

  My monarch friends.

They are overwintering just down the road.

I think that they must have got a little befuddled in the 

cold as they are usually found hanging in sequoia trees

but this wee family have moved a few doors down & are

happily occupying a totara tree.

 I needed to take a walk to retrieve my car from my kind 

mechanic Steve as he had finished doing the warrant on it.

It was getting on in the afternoon when I set off

 I got to Frederick Street & the garden with sequoias & other huge trees

then just along a little bit & there they were

They just hang there for weeks & weeks in "bunches".

On sunny days they take it in turns, a few at a time to 

come to life,

have a little fly around & then back to the "position"

passersby probably thought I was a bit nutty taking

photos of a tree : )

...then through the secret pathway

and look what I found..

this dear little playhouse in a carport

back home it was time for more weighing of mandarins

whatever would we do without these fabulous old scales?

they must have weighed 1000's of kilos of fruit just for us

let alone whatever they did in their previous employment

in the Coromandel...

righteo off to sell some more fruit..