Choosing Good-ness

There have been a lot of things happen lately that have reminded me (like the all night really loud party over the back fence)...that we get to make new choices every day, over & over again. Will we choose the good or will we be crabby and slack? 

Will we choose kindness & grace or will we be rude & grating.

 Will we celebrate ourselves & who we are & go with the challenges that turn up in our path or will we sit down and I say..."I can't"

I'm not enough?

This boy, is now a young man...

he is making his own way in life & he is making choices everyday.

He has had some interesting challenges, hard ones.

They say that exercise can make all the difference in working with depression. 

 And he's come so far, so far in fact, that he ran 47 kilometres on saturday: up three peaks & down the other side. Many ran in teams, some biked & others walked but he ran the whole way on his own, for himself..streaking past me to the finish, so fast I nearly missed my own son. 

I thought I'd seen a ninja at first & then, quick as anything he was suddenly at the finish line... 

done.

A whole packet of gingernuts, orange juice & two cans of coconut water were the scientifically calculated fuel for such a journey (of 6 1/2 hours)...and an awful lot of water!
Things like house keys were forgotten in the hustle to prepare for the day.
A few seconds from here he said "I have to go now" & fell in the window!

Rob had some time off this week.
Time to work on our house, watch a boy finish his challenge & take me away for a night to Taupo.

Kaitiaki told me about a hot pool at Reporoa, half way between Taupo & Rotorua.
This is it: Butcher's Pool. Open all the time. No charge...just glorious hot water bubbling through the sandy bottom of the pool day & night; refreshing, replenishing & soothing all souls who come to bath. A magnificent place to watch the night sky fill with stars.

We stayed here at The Cottage Mews.
Everything about this place is delightful & best of all it is so reasonably priced.

We heard about a new French cafe in town...and we found it.
As we sat enjoying our coffee we realised that we were the only English speaking patrons in the place.

Taupo is very touristy & pretty much there for the lake.
A lot of people love to holiday here.

We loved all the op-shops!!

And the signs!

A volcanic plateau means lots of available stone lying around.
This lovely carved stone seat really appealed to me..

I wanted to know what it felt like to be hugged by a rock?

We loved this plaque. An excellent tenet for marriage we reckon.

And the creation was beautiful.

Solid, meaningful

& colourful.

The latest Good magazine arrived in our letterbox not long ago.
It's truly fabulous. I read bits to Rob & then we chatted about all kinds of stuff..it's a thought provoking magazine. Would anyone fancy one do you think? Next week we just might have a simple giveaway. It could be sent anywhere & I know that many of you don't get to catch up with this Kiwi classic.
I'll show you some more bits of the inside & then you can decide.

These water droplets on English Garden were watered on by me...there's not a skerrick falling from the sky just now.

This tall salvia loves the summer months & is very useful for height & vibrant colour.

I wonder if I blow hard will I find lettuces all around my garden soon?

A week or two ago I discovered the infiltration of the cupboard moth...you guessed it, in the pantry cupboard!
I decided to salvage the cashews & put them to soak overnight, then I remembered a recipe I had seen for a raw cashew "cheesecake". It tastes so good you never want to stop eating it! Best thing about it is that it's actually a really good for you too.

You can find the recipe in the kitchen blog just here.

Would you look at what I found in the Hospice shop in Taupo!

I'll tell you more about it soon.

So lovely to have you visit...thank you for popping in!

Do hope that your week is truly peachy & not at all pants!

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥

Golden Queens, Crafting Queens & Archie

We have stepped across the invisible threshold of late summer and into autumn,

 signaled by the bringing home of wrinkled passionfruit & plumply delicious golden queen peaches.

Our land is parched & our gardens desperate for moisture of any sort. The woodland anemones have been tagged by the naked ladies.. 

 and the short round of autumn fairs began on saturday out at St Luke's. 

I could hear a little voice over in the corner behind the counter somewhere & when at last I found the source...there was Archie all fur loved off & real. He had a wonderful time wandering around with me & seeing all the people...oh the conversations he had! 

We've gently removed the Wiggles plaster off his leg.

 No quick yanking here.

 My lovely thermos basket was just $2 & the wonderful tussy mussy is full of tweedia & other summer treasures from someone's garden.

 Oh yes! and my eidy I came across at St Vinny's earlier in the week.

Just no way, no way at all that I could leave it there!

Sitting quite near Archie was this darling book 

"The Fairy That Wouldn't Fly" told & pictured by Pixie O'Harris.

Isn't that just delightful...imagine being called Pixie O'Harris!

Rather reminds me of one Hettie Brown (seamstress, forager, wooly sock wearer)

It was printed in 1945 in Australia.

 A rummage in the bottom of a box produced these buttons for 50c & some short pieces of filet crochet...useful for bag making. The little fairy brooch is for Nina of course.

Great timing...just across the road was a monthly Craft & Design market that dear Keriann had mentioned would be on. Here she is at her Sweet Mary stall you can read a little about here here & see more of here lovely hand made crafts.

Just along a little further we were so delighted to find two like-minded vintage blanket lovers.

Two lovely girls who have moved to the Bay quite recently & who spend every spare minute crafting. What enamored us both instantly, was the amazing range of truly fabulous, up-cycled vintage blankets; blanket stitched, crochet edged, patch-worked with great skill, embellished with hearts, stars & flowers & each one backed with a complementary vintage sheet or other thrifted fabric.

 Talk about creative dedication! 

 The girls are happy to make a commissioned blanket to suit. (We are having a big think about that & an even bigger rummage through the cupboards for materials!)

 Aren't these so sweet..you can also find them here.

 We loved what Fleur was doing over here in this corner with her Little Golden Book Bunting made from old books & New Zealand maps/atlases. 

 We hopped back in the window on Thursday & had a change around & added some cupcakes on one of our cake stands & other vintage things that we have for hire. Such a lovely old building..used to be a department store, back in the day, called Roaches.

  No enquiries as yet, well, other than a lady from Hamilton wanting to know where she could find a tea cosy like the one in the window...time yet & it's great exposure 24/7 for a whole month.

 We even had a musical accompaniment while we fluffed.

 Walking in our park (just around the corner) & through the Chinese Garden we knew it must be almost International Cultures Day..

 when we saw these glorious lanterns had been put up once more.

 We were busy selling fruit yesterday afternoon, but I snuck around the corner for a quick look..

aren't they adorable..all stuck out in the middle of nowhere together!

 I nearly burst out laughing when I saw this sign..but good on them. A Chinese food stall they were selling fruit only: melons, apples & huge nashi pears.

 I loved this scene with all the different cultures & the classic Kiwi retro caravan in the background.

 Looking across the park I saw this gorgeous creature emerge from the flower bed.

In the evenings the lights are so magical & open to the public for the week until 10 o'clock at night.

 They had enchanting music playing too.

I noticed this beautiful feather resting on the maple tree this morning.

I wonder who dropped it & does she miss it?

And this afternoon a boy burst on to my porch while I was taking pictures of plump peaches.

He is extraordinarily fit & about to run in the 47km Triple Peaks Challenge this Saturday. He reckons he'll do it in under 5 hours. All we have to do is turn up with fruit, water, camera & car at the other end!!

Thanks so much for visiting.
Hope yours is a peachy sort of week!!
MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥