AotearoaNZ New Prints

 The start of a new series.

I am working on tree prints as well.  Making time is difficult at the moment..it feels like two steps forward one step back then stand still ....but I will get there.

Weather warnings

Winds and rain, 70 mph gusts...not what we need to start a flight...wish us luck!

Aotearoa,here we come!

back into routine...sort of...

Easing..or rather rushing...from Summer to Autumn hasn't been easy.
We had a lovely warm two weeks away, but returning to the cold and wet has been hard going!!

I've been working through the bags of fruit..12 jars each of damson, and damson and apple jam. Four pounds of damsons in the freezer and another four pounds in the fridge.
Sorting through the pears, many are well bruised (after dropping from 20 to 30 feet...) have hard lumps in them and what looks like codling moth damage.
Two trays of pear slices in the dryer with two of apple rings,and a bowl of pear bits in water and lemon juice for a pudding tonight.
I'm hunting for a fresh fig and date chutney recipe....
Plenty more apples to be sliced for drying and juiced for freezing. I might try one batch of cider....

Pirate is fitting shelves in our kitchen cupboard...not the easiest of jobs as its 134 centimetres long.. and is at its widest 40 centimetres....and has an ordinary door to access it in the middle!
Much banging and a modicum of swearing...and stops for tea and toast with vegemite!!
It will mean the kitchen bench will be (fairly!) uncluttered and the preserves and cordials can be stored in the kitchen cupboards instead of the living room sideboard.

We've had one half-day garden job...paid in kind...overnight stay, supper, breakfast and lunch and a bottle of Rioja wine!  Four others are waiting for the grass to dry (some hope!) but that does mean things are getting done here.   I'm planning on moving the fruit bushes from their pots into the present deep beds, and starting on new beds for veges...so they need to be ready for the autumn planting of garlic,onion sets and broad beans.

I've had weird computer problems since updating the linux/ubuntu operating system...some have been solved by changing from firefox to chromium browser...but then have disappeared! I'll keep firefox as a backup in case of more problems.  However it sits on the "front page" for five minutes before flashing through a problems report page so fast that you can't read it...the general consensus is that something is interfering with plymouth, the front page programme...a plug-in or some such that didn't get deleted during the system upgrade... I have access to people with knowledge of linux, but not in person here!

Everything is eating into our Travelling to NZ cash..getting wed, keeping the car on the road, possibly getting a new laptop (or tablet).....all sorts...but we are determined..Pirate is 80 next year and reckons that this will, sadly, be his last trip to the other side of the globe.

So we are back into a sort of routine, ticking along, trying to keep warm and fit.

Whilst away I caught up with a potter friend...and now I know how to get the flue on the kiln!!...Now I need some breeze blocks to start the job....

brief visit

Our friends' visit was far too brief, but they have spent much time in Ireland researching their mother's forebears...MacDonalds...and they hope to return next year!
They arrived at 11.30 am on Sunday and left at 11.30am today..we stay with one sister and her husband in Whanganui...and they stayed with a friend of ours here.
Her sister and husband stayed near central Ayr and had two days leisurely wandering and resting.

We showed our friends where we've lived around here, where we married, and places they'd heard about..great to spend two days in their company.
We showed them buildings, narrated history and talked and talked....

Hopefully we'll see them next visit to NZ...but we'll have to find new places to stay as they'll be downsizing as soon as they can-funding their next travels!

We're tired out...but happy...I've been nursing a sore throat for a couple of weeks...now its taking over!!  Doctor's surgery visit tomorrow.....

time consuming.

Listing on ebay...doing research forgetting the descriptions just so, the photos showing any faults, searching for any similar things
to see how the market is going....

I've got 18 lots in my ebay shop now, and have had the first very low offer...which i rejected...and the buyer came straight back with a bid a couple of pounds higher..I've still got a day to decide, but its still a bit cheeky .
Do I say, well a sale is a sale?

Some I've had for years, gifts along the way, bits picked up like a magpie that caught my eye.
All the money will go into savings, ready for our next trip to New Zealand....

windy...

Hoping that friends in New Zealand stay safe, with Tropical Cyclone Gita on the way.
A friend on her way to Christchurch sent me a link to this global wind map.
Fascinating, beautiful, useful.

Hogmanay happiness and sadness

 Our Tree...with a dog from Bristol, a spoon from Whanganui (and a heart you can just see hanging from the quilt on the left..a quilt made in New Zealand in 2012/33.)
A heart from a dear friend in Derbyshire hangs near the top of the tree.

 Our 'natural' decorations, cones, string, glass baubles,and clove studded oranges (the origin of christmas baubles).

At last I've discovered a frame for Dru Marland's art, below Anthony Evans' linoprint..both images of the valley I used to live in.

All the cards we've received this year have replaced the art that gets hung on the strings!!

 Storm  Dylan kept us awake last night..and roared on until it drew breath about 2pm...then we wrapped up warm and braved the mud of our local nature reserve at Hannahston...past the alpacas who were ensconced safely in their barn!

Next year' crops are coming along...garlic

 red broad beans

 and red onions..

We managed to get hold of a friend and found that his wee dog had died..a Patterdale terrier, about 16 years old . A lovely hound.

Here's hoping for good things in 2018...including a return to New Zealand!!

getting festive

Its miserable...dreich...outside..we've been inside, writing cards..today's job was stock up on  food supplies and post cards..

We went by bus to Ayr, saving fuel and driving stress!

A simple lunch out , then hunting for The Right...Postable Presents!!

The quote comes to mind,"genius is one percent inspiration, ninetynine percent desperation"

Back home to more card writing..staying connected to friends and family in a traditional way as well as on fb and email!  Remembering just another...and just another...and then there are half a dozen December and January birthdays!!

We're really missing going to New Zealand ...our creaky bits are hurting and my hands are giving me concern. I'm exercising and stretching them every day,but the fear is that I'll get my workshop back running and not be able to work in clay...

pottery progress

The stock shed is up, carpeted , shelves bought and erected.
The boxes of stock have been emptied onto the shelves, plus some of my archive work and collection.  Perhaps I ought to sell some of the latter...but when I look through it , it can be inspiring....

All the photos from New Zealand are in one file on the computer now, the next step is to sort them and edit as well.  
There is so much to do, I'm running out of time on a rainy days!  We are now catching upon the rainfall, nicely timed for planting onion sets.  Warm weather and high pressure is promised for next week and we are looking forward to that. I cannot say that I've appreciated returning to cold windy weather, even though it is now the same in New Zealand, plus snow...but at least it is getting on to Winter there!!

gone racing!

The World Masters Games have begun...we survived hunting for reasonable/free parking in Auckland (ha ha!!!!!) and the delights of trying to sleep in the Backpackers in downtown Auckland. Impossible til about 3.30 am!! Even the staff were phoning the police about cars cruising around with Boom boxes on full blast, shaking the very fabric of the building!
We rode our criterium races around the tank storage off Wynyard Quarter on the Saturday, and the 20k time trial early Sunday morning on closed roads along the Waterfront and back to Queens Wharf. We both did good times but won nothing.
The Cloud exhibition Centre was full of an exhibition of Maori traditions and crafts and singing and chanting on the stage. Fantastic!
Now we are staying in Hamilton and racing on the Avantidrome. Pursuits this morning..I was first off! I qualified fastest, so now I have to ride the final at 6pm. More different races for the both of us over the next two days, then back up to Auckland.
We'll be staying with a friend that I haven't seen since 1971!
The road race for the Pirate on Sunday, then we head back South to return borrowed bikes and make our farewells to friends before flying back up to Auckland and away home to Scotland.
Hoping meanwhile that the cold weather hasn't devastated the garden at home, and that the workshop has stayed watertight....

and breathe easy....

Cyclone Cook veered to the east, so mainly missed Auckland, although a horrendous amount of rain preceeded it.
Thames, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty got hit..,again,.then Wellington and down the east side of the south island. Apparently this cylone followed the track of cyclone Giselle in 1968 which led to the loss of the Wahine ferry as she came into Wellington Harbour and 50 people were drowned. So naturally people were concerned about this one.
Today has been absolutely beautiful. Sun, light breeze and totally relaxed...after a night when it was hosing down with rain, and at 3 am the pool by the house had 6 inch waves from the wind!
We were lucky to join in on a training session on the velodrome, only shortened by 5 minutes by a light shower.
Now it is a beautiful evening, sitting here with a few birds singing, the sound of children playing further down the Mount and traffic noise from SH4 at the foot near the river.

just a bit wet, again

Wet again...Cyclone Cook is on the way, and it looks like the storm will track the whole length of  New Zealand. Hold onto your hats, again.

one of those beautiful days

A day starting with fog, slowly thinning out through mist then haze to a beautiful sunny day, with just a light breeze .
A day off the bike, so walk into town, meet for coffee, an early lunch...then a mooch around town just enjoying the atmosphere.
Luckily a lift was available to save walking back up the hill!
It is as if the weather has been taking a breather and relaxing before the next storm rolls through.

wet Whanganui

With a sigh of relief, the River City got back to normal today. High water was at 8am, roads re-opened by 11am. We're still getting rain showers, but the danger so far a can be seen, is over. The weather is set fine for the weekend, so perhaps we can get in some outdoor cycling for a change!

Another wet day....

I've done a bit more work on the cards, done some time on the home trainer (aaargh....but better than getting soaked out on the road bike).
We ventured out for milk, muesli and dark chocolate this morning, essentials of course! The river hasn't come over the banks in the city...yet...an ease in the rain this morning could help matters.
Landslips have closed the state highway 4 through the Paraparas again, just after they celebrated its 100th birthday with a vintage and veteran rally from Whanganui with a horse and cart preceeding them into Raetehi...where the road is also closed.
The river road up by the Whanganui River has also suffered more landslips after recently reopening. The Pirate rode up there with friends last Sunday, fortunately.
Now everyone is arriving home at midday as people leave work early to get over the bridges before they close. The worst shoukd hopefully be over by tomorrow morning, but there are twohigh tides before that. A big problem is the whole trees and huge branches that get brought down the river and get stuck against the bridges.

Bar none!

Debbie

The tail end of Debbie, first cyclone then storm , down the east coast of Australia, has now whirled her way to the North Island of New Zealand.
It has been raining for most of today...and the next two or three days will be very wet and windy.
Good thing we're not staying anywhere low lying....

River City #3 walk to town