A Different Kind of Morning Walk

This morning’s walk was a little different. It was still dark when I left the house, the kind of soft, in‑between darkness that feels like the world hasn’t quite made up its mind about waking. I turned left at the end of the road and headed down the hill into the scenic reserve.

The rain must have visited overnight — puddles glimmered faintly on the path — but the sky held itself together while I walked. Under the trees it was very dark, a deep, quiet sort of darkness that presses close but never feels unfriendly. The canopy above me turned the world into a shadowed tunnel, but the first hints of dawn were gathering behind it, just enough light to guide my feet.

The birds were waking too, shaking sleep from their feathers and chattering softly as they prepared for the day. Across the ravine, human life was stirring: warm squares of light blinked on in distant windows, and the faint smell of woodsmoke drifted toward me as someone coaxed their fire back to life.

As the daylight grew stronger, the reserve began to reveal itself. Colours slowly separated from the darkness — greens, browns, reds and gold.

By the time I climbed back up the hill and headed toward home, it was fully light. Not a bright, sunny morning — more of a soft grey, the kind of overcast day that feels gentle rather than gloomy. I’m perfectly fine with that. I did my garden chores yesterday in the sunshine, and my town chores are already ticked off.

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While I was in town yesterday, I looked out over Caroline Bay from the rooftop carpark.

The circus is in town. No, I didn’t visit.

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Today feels like a kitchen‑and‑sewing sort of day. On the sewing front, I’ve laid my crochet aside for now and picked up my hexies again.

Three of the four sides are now straight — well, as straight as a hexie can be. A little more work on the final side and it will be ready for quilting.

But first, I have a bowl full of feijoas waiting for attention. Some will become cakes, and some will head for the freezer.

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Nine more work shifts.

15 sleeps.

I might be getting a little bit excited. 

Crochet progress and counting down.........

Between work, walks and chores I've been picking away at my crochet projects. Retro Rescue is complete.

It's not huge, a nice lap throw size, or maybe even a good size to keep a little person warm in a cot.

I did a few rounds after joining the squares and finished it off with a cute shell edging.

Tada!  Done.

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Next, I pulled out a bunch of squares I made last year?

Maybe the year before?

Whenever, they have been sat waiting for me to use them. I figured I could do something similar.

After joining them I did a couple of rounds, then decided to add a round of smaller squares. They won't all be the same, I'm still using up scraps and leftovers. So this is going to be a very colourful and scrappy piece.  I have no plan regarding size or where to go after this round of smaller squares, I'll keep you posted once I decide. For now, I'm happy to have it on my lap on cool evenings. 

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We've been busy in the garden, today we cleared the small greenhouse. I picked 4 ice cream boxes of chilli peppers; they have all been diced and popped into the freezer.

The feijoas are starting to ripen, but I suspect that I will miss out on the main flush of them due to our trip. I'll let the neighbours know they can collect them. 

Our veg beds had a good tidy up and a mulch of leaves laid on them to keep the weeds at bay. 

There are one or two other jobs that need to be done before we go, but not today, time to sit and have a cuppa and pick up my hook.

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Has anyone else noticed that more and more comments now have a 'no reply' email address on them? I get my comments forwarded to my outlook inbox and usually reply from there. I generally manage to find the correct address as we have been emailing each other for more than a few years now, but it is so frustrating when we used to be able to just click on reply.

I do wish Blogger would get it's act together and stop changing things. 

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3 weeks today.

21 sleeps.

The Water Tank Walk.

Today is a very grey and overcast day, I'm so glad I took my phone with me yesterday to take photos of my walk.  I live in the burbs of Timaru and it really only takes a few minutes walking to get out of town and into rural areas. Eleven minutes sees me at the entrance to the scenic reserve if I take a left at the end of the road. If I turn right instead it takes just a few more minutes to reach green fields.  A peep through a thinner layer of hedgerow reveals equestrian land. There are lots of stables and grazing around town. The famous racehorse Phar Lap was born here in Timaru. 

As I walked my eyes were drawn to the colours of Autumn all around me and one particular hedge made up of bottle brush. Such a vivid red.

And there were berries too. 

My path continued and I saw this notice painted onto the ground...

Of course, there is always a golf course on the edge of town.

The foot path and road run right around the golf course.

I could see the pond and looked out for ducks, but there were none, I couldn't even hear them.

But there were Pukeko.

A water loving bird native to New Zealand.

I was delighted to see a whole family of them. 

As I carried on along the path, I could see the water tank in the distance and soon came upon it.

Much of the town's water runs through this tank for treatment before heading on along the pipes to our homes.

If I keep going along the road, things get a little more rural.

But I went around the water tank and along the road that divides the golf course.

Now it was on both sides of me.

On we go, straight ahead.

Soon the golf course came to an end and properties began to appear again. Some of them have rather iconic mailboxes.

In between those properties I could see countryside and waaay over there in the distance is the Pacific ocean.

Then I was back in the burbs, so I put the camera away. 

The cones?  A blocked drain, there was rather leafy puddle around it.

My walk took me just over an hour and was a very nice change of scenery.

Todays walk? It will be a half hour walk to work for a meeting, then another half hour walk home again. Nowhere near as exciting or scenic. 

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Before and after my walk yesterday, my time was taken up with chores and the grocery shopping.

Today I hope to spend some time sewing after I get home from the meeting. 

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A Sweet Little Kitchen Moment

 I mentioned the other day that I’d found eggs going for half price at the supermarket. Well honestly, what was I supposed to do — walk past them? Leave them sitting there on the shelf? Not a chance. So home they came with me, and suddenly I had enough eggs to open a small café.

Tony is rather partial to an egg custard, so I asked Co‑Pilot to help me adapt a recipe to make it keto‑friendly. What a hit — Tony absolutely loves it, and it’s definitely going on the “make again” list.

Here's the recipe, just in case you want to have a go. 

Keto Egg Custards. 

Ingredients

6 eggs

2 cups cream (heavy or pouring cream)

3–4 tbsp erythritol or preferred keto sweetener

1 tsp vanilla extract to taste

nutmeg (optional, for sprinkling)

Instructions

1 Preheat your oven to 160°C (320°F). Place 6 ramekins into a deep baking dish.

2 Whisk the eggs, cream, sweetener, and vanilla together until smooth — no need to whip air into it.

3 Pour the mixture evenly into the ramekins. Sprinkle nutmeg on top if you like.

4 Create a water bath: pour hot water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

5 Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the custards are just set with a slight wobble in the centre.

6 Cool, then refrigerate. They freeze beautifully — just thaw gently and warm if desired.

I wanted to make individual portions — partly for portion control, partly because Tony is not exactly known for stopping at “just a little bit more.” I went hunting for ramekins, only to discover that half of mine were already in the freezer full of keto crumbles, and the other half had migrated to the mancave where they were bravely holding screws, washers, and mysterious bits of model plastic. We’ve talked about that… clearly with limited success.

Anyway, I suddenly remembered a stash of small preserving jars that were just the right size, so I fished out a few and got busy. They worked a treat. You could also use pottery teacups or any small oven‑proof vessel you’ve got lurking in the cupboards.

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as Tony did.

A Frosty Morning Finish.

 This morning I headed straight into my quilting room as soon as Tony left for work. The sun wasn’t up yet and the room was cold enough to make me question that decision, but I knew that once the sun crept over the horizon it would warm beautifully.

As I stitched, I watched frost bloom across the neighbours’ rooftops.

A blackbird settled into the wedding cake tree to supervise my progress.

It’s only a small quilt, so by the time the sun finally reached the windows and started to warm the room, I had the quilting finished and spread it out on the floor.

Time to trim and bind — which meant moving to my other sewing room on the opposite side of the house. Another cold room. Another layer of determination. But it didn’t take long to get the binding cut, joined, and sewn on.

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With that done, it was time for a walk.

I headed into the scenic reserve again, soaking up the warmth of the sunshine and enjoying it so much that I made the walk longer than planned. I arrived home just in time for lunch: a bowl of homemade chicken and leek soup that hit the spot perfectly.

After eating, I settled into my comfy chair and closed the binding. Then it was back outside to the sunshine and a visit with Old Man Tree.

As I turned to come back indoors, I spotted the bench my boy Joe made me as a Christmas gift years ago — still sturdy, still loved. It felt like the perfect place to photograph the finished quilt with the shadows cast by old man tree adding a little something to the final result.

Once I was back inside, I picked up my Retro Rescue crochet and added a few more rounds — the slow, colourful exhale at the end of a busy, creative day.

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And that wraps up the last of my three days off. Back to work tomorrow, though I’ll keep chipping away at my Retro Rescue crochet in the evenings — it’s the perfect companion for these cooler nights.

And now that we’ve finally stepped into May, the countdown is officially on.

29 days until our flights.

It's beginning to feel very real.

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Another Busy Day Off.

Another day off, and somehow another busy one full of chores and crafting. Tony headed off to work at 7.10, and as soon as he was out of the door, I got started.

First job: slicing a courgette and getting it seasoned and into the dehydrator for chips.

Eggs were cheap in the supermarket yesterday — usually they’re over a dollar each, but I found some for less than fifty cents. I bought two trays. They weren’t short‑dated, but I wanted to use some anyway, so six went straight into a batch of keto egg custards for Tony.

He loves them, and he had one after tea. Good job I hid a few in the freezer.

Next up was a cheese and onion quiche, using keto wraps instead of pastry cases.

I had a slice for lunch after a very long walk through the scenic reserve — but not before making another batch of my chocolate slice and doing a few domestic chores.

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I was out of the door by 9.30. It was a beautiful day for walking. I passed the old schoolhouse, now the art society club rooms and the meeting place for my local patchwork group.

Then down the hill and on and on. I could bore you with photos, but I won’t. I did enjoy seeing the trees changing colour though.

After just over an hour and a half, I was home again, had a quick early lunch, then wandered out into the garden. I sucked up the leaves on the lawn — the machine mulched them nicely — and spread them over the veg beds. Then I planted some Ixia bulbs in with my pansies and had a general tidy‑up.

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Incidentally, I came across this wee plant hiding under the hellebores a few years ago and have watched it grow very, very slowly. It’s creeping this way and that, but I still have no idea what it is.

Any ideas?

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By 1.30 I was back indoors showered and refreshed, with a cup of tea nearby and settled into my chair. I pulled out the kiwi quilt and stitched on the last of the legs — it didn’t take long. Then came the batting situation. I had two largish offcuts, neither wide enough, so a bit of cut‑and‑shunt was required. Once that was sorted, the quilt went onto the frame.

I chose a new‑to‑me quilting design, one of the Meredith England patterns from the bundle I was gifted many years ago.

I managed two passes before Tony appeared looking for his tea.

More about that tomorrow.

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Retro Rescue.

 So here we are again — more days off, and today has been a busy one.
I had a list of chores to get through in town, plus the grocery shopping, and the day started under a blanket of thick fog. I couldn’t resist snapping a quick photo from the rooftop carpark.

Somewhere under all that grey is Caroline Bay — the gardens, the play area, the dunes, the fairground. Autumn fog has arrived right on schedule.

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One of my missions in town was to hunt down more of that dark, chocolaty brown yarn I’ve been using for the latest scrappy crochet project. If you remember, I found a bundle of granny squares in an op shop a few weeks ago. The colours all play nicely together, though you can tell they were made by different hands. After joining them, I started adding rounds… and then spent two full evenings tidying yarn ends. None of the original squares had been finished off, and of course there were all my joining threads as well.

That job is finally done, and once today’s chores were out of the way, I curled up with a movie and my hook. I’ve added a few more rounds, as you can see. I showed a progress photo to my daughter Kaiy the other night, and the moment she saw it she said it looked like something straight out of the 70s. She’s absolutely right — so this piece now has a name:

Retro Rescue.

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That’s my progress report for today. I’ve got two more days off, so hopefully I’ll get the last of the kiwi legs stitched on and make a decision about those maple leaves. In four weeks and two days I’ll be on my way, so the kiwis really do need to be finished before then. Plenty of time… as long as I stop getting distracted by other projects. I do enjoy having a cosy project on my lap on these cool evenings though.

A Quiet? Weekend at home.

My little retreat is all over, and I’ve had three days back at work. They were good days, but the weekend off was even better. Saturday was a mix of a few chores, a walk in the sunshine, and then settling into my chair to see what might catch my attention, until it was time to prepare a potluck for an evening get-together.

I’ve been thinking about gifting my RSC Kiwi quilt top to a colleague who will be visiting her pregnant daughter in Canada in July.

The baby is due while she’s there, and it feels like a happy destination for this quilt. I briefly toyed with the idea of adding some maple leaves to the top or bottom, but I think it might already be big enough. I might still do it, I'll see how time goes. And that golden Kiwiana fabric. Do I have enough? Can I get more? Either way, those kiwis needed legs — so that job began.
Out came the embroidery hoop and some brown thread, and I stitched on legs and added little French knot eyes.

There was a fair bit of wrestling and some cursing involved: manoeuvring the hoop, shifting the fabric, and trying to keep the rest of the quilt top from sliding everywhere. I got about halfway before deciding I was well and truly over that particular exercise and went looking for something less cumbersome.

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A few weeks ago, I found a bundle of crochet granny squares in an op shop and brought them home. It didn’t take long to dig out some similar colours from the scrap basket and come up with a plan. I joined all the squares using a rich, dark, chocolaty brown.

As I worked with them, I came to the conclusion that they’d been made by at least three different hookers. The yarn colours, although similar, are all ever‑so‑slightly different, and the finished squares each have their own ideas about tension and size.
I managed to convince them to play nicely for me though. I’m not planning to enter any competitions with this piece — it’s destined to be donated and keep someone warm — so if it ends up a little wavy here and there, I really don’t mind.

The plan now is simply to keep going around and around until it’s big enough. Big enough for what… I’ll decide when I get there. For now it’s something simple and mindless, perfect for cool evenings, as it will keep my lap warm while I work.
I did a little more on it this morning before the children arrived. We had a fun few hours with them, and now I’m planning to spend the rest of the day in my armchair, probably working on my crochet while Grandad plays his game on the PlayStation.

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Yesterday was ANZAC Day, so of course I had my ANZAC nails on — a little pop of remembrance every time I looked down at my hands.

Lest we Forget.

Today was much lighter in spirit. We loved having the children here, and Master Torstein managed to convince Grandad to add a new game to the PlayStation. A simple game, perfect for his 5 year old brain. I have never seen anyone so lively and animated while gaming; as his character leapt about on screen, Torstein was bouncing around the lounge, controller in hand, in perfect synchrony. There were exclamations of glee and frustration, the visual and sound effects in my lounge were better than the game itself to this Nanny. It was exhausting to watch, but so much fun.

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After we said goodbye, I turned the leftover roast pumpkin and chicken into a soup for the next couple of days’ work lunches. Now I’m looking forward to putting my feet up and pulling out my crochet while Grandad continues his game.

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And dare I start a countdown?

Five weeks until we fly to the UK… just sixteen more working shifts to go.

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A Gentle Retreat Into Autumn.

While the Scrub Stitchin’ ladies were gathering from Wednesday through Sunday, my own little retreat ran on a slightly different schedule. I had the weekend off work, then Monday and Tuesday as well, so while everyone else was travelling home, I was still happily tucked into my stay‑at‑home version.

Monday, however, was mostly claimed by chores and kitchen duties. I popped a huge piece of corned silverside into the slow cooker, made a batch of cheese scones.

Apple crumbles

And a tray of hot cross buns.

— all keto, of course.

I did sit down for a while with the intention of stitching, but I made the mistake of putting on a movie before deciding what to sew… and naturally, the needle never made it into my hand. Never mind.

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Today I was back at my quilting frame, and what a beautiful autumn day it was. There was snow in the mountains last night, making it feel pretty cold this morning. My frame sits in the sunniest room in the house, which also made it the warmest room in the house. A good place to be.

I took a moment to look out through those big windows.

The wedding cake tree like Old Man Tree at the front, is starting to look autumnal.

There aren’t nearly as many leaves as there were — most of them are now on the footpath waiting to be swept up.

Looking out the other side,

the cherry trees are changing too, taking on those beautiful golden and red tones. The lawn is looking lovely; with luck it’ll dry out enough for Tony to get the mower out soon. It was lovely to see the blue sky, though the breeze was from the South, so very cold.

Enough of the weather— on to the quilting.

I had pulled out a quilt that has been waiting in the “to be quilted” pile since February last year. It uses some of the scrappy triangles I made in 2024, along with three Sunbonnet Sues I’d stashed away… who knows when. I chose a pantograph called Flutterbys by Urban Elementz, and it really didn’t take long to quilt.

Even with a break for a walk and some lunch.

I did have one frustrating moment when I lost at bobbin chicken

So frustratingly close to the end of the row. 

I had already set the binding fabric aside with the top, so I got on with preparing it right away and sewed it on. No concerns about running out this time — I knew that I had plenty.

I had the binding closed by the time Tony got home, so we dashed outside in the last of the daylight for a quick photo. The sun had gone behind the neighbour's house and it was cold!

We didn't want to linger but while I was out there, I couldn’t resist popping it into the tree for a shot.

and grabbing a picture of my pretty pansies while I was at it.

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As the trees outside shift into their autumn colours, my own little retreat comes to an end. A few days of making and doing, of a warm kitchen and a sunny quilting room, have been a lovely pause before the routine starts again. Back to work tomorrow, but with a hand stitched label, three Christmas ornaments, two finished quilts and a quieter mind.

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