Random stuff.

Evidence, that I have been a little bit productive.

I've made about 4 dozen scones over the last week. I had to make them all in small batches, as I have only a small mixing bowl which was stored away in a loft awaiting Tonys return.

I could have gone and bought a larger one, but I have several in the container, so what's the point, besides, lots of small batches takes up more time and that is something I have plenty of. LOL

 I've taken them to work and to a BBQ on Saturday. I have plenty in my freezer and Tony has been taking one in his lunch pack.

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Carlee and I had some fun with this weeks nails. All those spots remind me of the many toadstools I've been seeing on my walks here. Carlee is new to nail art and I think she is enjoying experimenting and appreciates the fact that I have the time to sit with her while she plays, sometimes getting things wrong, but more often getting it right.

Incidently, I have tried on more than one occasion to get images of some of the fungi I see when I'm out, but I think the resident faeries must object! Every time I try the images are corrupted and will not save from the camera to the laptop!! LOL

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And to prove that my life is not all swanning about the place and getting my nails done, here is another look at the colourful shrug. I'm adding rows to the bottom edge, just to make it a little longer.

Just a couple more rows to go, then I'll do two or maybe three rows of single crochet all the way around the edges.

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The other day I got a very excited comment on an earlier post. 

It would seem that another resident of this town has been following my blog. She blinked for a few months and missed the fact that I had immigrated and was terribly excited to find that here I am living in her home town.

Andrea, we'll get together soon.

I promise.

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Less then a week until our container is delivered.

I keep thinking of things that are in it.

Last night it was my PJs, it's getting pretty cold at night now.

While I was baking scones, it was my scales, my mixing bowls and food processor.

Always I think of my sewing machines and works in progress.

I often catch myself wondering where I will put mums cuckoo clock in an open plan house?

If you packed 99.9% of your possessions into a big box and couldn't access it for 4 months, what would you miss the most?

Coming for a walk?

Lets go to 'Dashing Rocks'.

Blogger has rearranged the photos, so I'll forget all about the meter by meter narrative and just comment on the images as they appear.

Many of the photos are looking back the way I came. It was a very bright and beautiful sunny day, this caused issues for the camera!

 I came home through a very crisp and autumnal Ashbury park. It was tempting to kick up the dry leaves.

 This is a very poor image of the headland.  The farthest point on my walk! The rocks reminded me very much of the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. They don't have the geometric beauty of the Irish coast, but they are volcanic in origin and are split and fractured. Today I looked out that way and the waves really were dashing out there. 

 I couldn't get right out onto the head land, it was all fenced off.

Just around the corner and through the trees, there are two abattoirs.

Smelly!

 In spite of the smell I did wander around the little cove to look back at the headland.

 I couldn't continue on the coastal path as the tide was in and blocking my way.

 So I turned around and headed back the way I had come.

 Right back to where this blog post should have started! LOL

 Looking down from the cliffs into Caroline bay.

 There was a HUGE ship in the port.

 I walked all the way out there. Around the coast, under the trees and around the headland.

 The men at work stopped working and leaned on their shovels as I went by.

 The mountains looked majestic in the sun as I set off, by the time I got back to this point, they were shrouded in thick grey cloud.

 As I walked, I kept an eye on the comings and goings out on the water.

 Something to do with the men at work perhaps?

There you go, a wandery all over the place look at my walk!!

If there had been fewer pictures I may have tried to make sense of them.

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When I got home, I made soup and scones, then sat with my crochet.

A lovely relaxing afternoon.

I'm almost done on the colourful shrug. The back and shoulder seams were closed up twice this morning. Yes that's right, twice!! 

I spotted something I didn't like so I did a little ripping.

I'm now adding rows to the bottom edge, just to make it a little longer. I should get it finished tonight. 

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We got word this morning that we can expect our possessions to be delivered either Tuesday or Wednesday next week!

The department of agriculture and fisheries and the customs department both opted to open and inspect my Christmas decorations!

I do hope they didn't break anything. There is some fragile stuff in those boxes.

Soup weather.

The weather has turned decidedly wintry in the last couple of days. There as a frost yesterday when I went into work, it stayed pretty cold and later in the day there were some heavy downpours. 

 Today there is a cold wind coming off the mountains and more wintry showers rattling about.

A good day to stay home and crochet under a blanket.

I really could have had this colourful shrug finished by now, but I'm getting a little bored with crochet.

I want my stuff, I want my sewing machines. (Still no word on when to expect delivery of our container.)

Maybe today will see the shrug finished and tonight I can get on with finishing the blanket I showed in the last post.

Before I do any of that I'm off to the post office with birthday packages.

As I mentioned in the post title it's good soup weather, I see left over roasted lamb becoming Scots Broth. 

I brought sour milk home from work yesterday, so I see scone baking happening today too. 

I really do have to do better than one post a week!!

Reverting to plan A

You may remember, last time I blogged I mentioned making two of these little lapghans? Well that idea went out the window and I'm reverting to plan A, which is one larger throw, using all of the yarn. As you see here, I spent some time this morning ripping back the second lapghan! I'll get on with this in the evenings.

 I've already started another project though!. 

I'm busy making myself a granny shrug. I made one of these already and I wear it a lot.

A second more colourful version is a must.

 Yes, all of this yarn is not only the same colour code, but also the same dye lot.

I did a double take and a double check before I purchased it.

If you would like the pattern for this very simple to make cardi it's a free pattern on Ravelry. You have to be a member to take advantage of the free patterns, but it is worth it.

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Last time I also mentioned that I've been having regular manicures and keeping my nails painted. 

Here is the slightly washed out image of this weeks. I love the cute little flower.

Our container has finally arrived in Lyttleton port. (Near Christchurch) Ironically the ship was actually here in Timaru on Saturday!! The carriers hub however is in Christchurch, so that's where it went.

All of our paperwork was completed and returned promptly and the nice lady who spoke to my husband said that it all seemed to be in order, so hopefully the Customs men will release our possessions very quickly and they will be shipped to us by road very soon.

We were very careful not to include anything which may be contentious or cause delays of any kind. No gardening or pet objects, all our shoes were thoroughly washed, the only wooden items are shop bought furniture items.

There is a question about Christmas decorations, but Tony assures me they are after yule logs and dried holly type decorations, not my artificial trees, my wonderful hand made ornaments, may of them gifts and swap items or my delicate glass items. (Fingers crossed) 

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I'm off to grab some lunch then it's time to play with the beautifully soft and colourful yarn as I do a few more rounds of my shrug.

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Another week gone.

 I've had another week of walking around, getting to know my new home. I also finally made it into the swimming pool. I love to swim and have missed going these last few months. My swim suit or Togs as the kiwis call them are all in the delayed container, so I went out and bought more. 

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Work is going well, even the 4.30am alarm on a Friday! It really doesn't take too much to recover from that.

And aside from walking, window shopping and exercising, I do find time for some crochet. This is the first of two little lap sized throws for our sitting room. They will add a splash of colour and are pretty cosy on a cool evening.

Mothers day is celebrated in March up in Britain, but down here in NZ, it is celebrated in May, my DS Joe bought me a couple of stems of my favorite flowers, hmmmmm, my vases are in the delayed container!

Luckily Tony had a small vase all packed away in his brothers loft. I had to cut the long stems down a lot, but they are very pretty.

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Once every two weeks I go and get my nails done. I'm loving it. In my previous job we were not supposed to have painted nails, so I really am enjoying having a fortnightly manicure and polish. This is not a very good picture of last times do! I'm off to get it all cleaned off today and replaced with something new.

After that I'm going shopping at the wool store, planning my next project.

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The delayed container is due in NZ this weekend, and I guess it really is coming this time as customs have sent us a mountain of paperwork to complete. 

I'll get to see my sewing machines again, my fabrics and yarns. My lovely cosy quilts and blankets.

My kitchen tools! Baking trays, recipe books and food processor.

And my sloooooooow cooker. (I'm sure that will be more economical that this prehistoric oven!!)

And of course, the rest of my wardrobe!

Autumn wanderings.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful, so I took myself and the fully recharged camera back into the bay area to get more pictures. It really is very beautiful in there.

 I spent some time in the aviary with the birds, but it was busy, with lots of families, so many of the more shy birds were hiding away.

 I'll go back on another day to try to catch them.

This not so shy chap is Jasper, the Sulphur crested cockatoo!

He did a little dance for me and looped the loop on his perch.

 He talks too, I have heard him say 'Hello Jasper' and 'Oh shut up Jasper' 

But not on Saturday, I guess he was stage struck with so many people clamouring at him to speak.

 Some of the birds are kept in large cages, with their friends, while others fly free around the domed cage of the aviary. 

Sadly none of the birds are native species. I'd love to meet them!

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There are many other attractions in the bay.

There are several sculptures. This one is a weather vane, spinning to show wind direction.

 I'm not entirely sure what these ones are about! I could find no explanation.

 I walked to the top of the Piazza steps to get a view of the area again, this time with the sun shining.

 Then after walking back down the steps I wandered around aimlessly, just enjoying the sunshine.

These kiosks can be rented during fairs etc in the summer time. The poles support canvas awnings to give shelter from the sun.

 There were children playing in the paddling pool. The pool also has awnings in the summer months.

 Many of the parks and public places have BBQs for public use. You simply feed some coins into the meter and the gas becomes available for a period of time. What a great idea. Much better then dragging a BBQ out and about and waiting for it to cool before going home again, or buying those disposable trays I've seen in Britain.

 Here is the aviary again, it really is rather large.

 Before heading home I wandered along the board-walk and stopped at the lookout.

I wish my camera was a little better, try as I might I couldn't get it to zoom nicely onto the snow covered mountains.

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It struck me as I wandered around that May in NZ is equivalent to November in Britain. Hmmm, it was 22 degs on Saturday, with barely a cloud in sight. Does that sound like November in Britain to you?

I love this country.