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| I should have done a before and after shot but my garden was getting a bit crazy. In fact it was a meadow, rather lovely, but driving my hay fever mental. Which added to the challenge of cutting the grass. Hot sunny weather (not moaning) did send the hay fever crazy and then add in super long grass, what was I hoping for. I did a section - mainly to be able to see the vegetable patch if nothing else - found a dead rat in the long grass - nice - so knew this job was needed and soon. We casually mention to the neighbour and heh look…..we come home from work today and the grass has been cut. "Oh well", he shrugs, "who knows how many dead rats you have in there and I had nothing to do, plus my mower has four blades and yours only has two, so it was easier for me than it would be for you". Wow Beers on us then. |
Day thirty. Thank you
Day twenty eight. Love is
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| Love is this man…building me a (not that straight forward) garden thingy for my vegetable patch on a hot and sunny afternoon. |
Day twenty seven. Silence
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| The Christmas decorations are down, the room has been cleared and cleaned. So I sit with the last of the advent candle burning. |
Day twenty five. Today is…..
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| Merry Christmas Today is a joyful wonder of mess. I am mightily impressed by how much mess two adults can make on Christmas morning. A sign of a blessed childhood methinks. Thank you all for the great gifts. |
Day twenty four. Gifts
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| My little tree is surrounded by gifts from far and wide. Plus some from very near. |
Day twenty three. Sparkle
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| While I do find it hard to 'get' Christmas in the southern hemisphere, I have been admiring photos of lights in windows, so that was it…off to the shops and entering Christmas land brought some rather lovely lights for the window. |
Day twenty two. Fragrant
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| The fragrant bounty of my graden. That 'well known' Christmas combination of rosemary, lavender and rhubarb. Home grown gifts for the staff at work. |
Day twenty one. Friendship
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| A symbolic photo. Taken with friends visiting NZ last summer. A lot has happened to friends in the UK. It's been a hard year to be away from dear friends. Making me wonder…... |
Day nineteen. Delicious
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| Our tradition of Christmas. Dinner with friends. Food and company. Delicious |
Day eighteen. 15 years ago
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| The most disturbing thing about wondering what I was doing 15 years ago is how much I have become dependent on internet sites to log my life, history and prompt my memory. I use Flickr to catalogue my travels and if it happened before Flickr, who knows. Then the blog came about, so pretty much everything I've been up to since moving to NZ has been captured. Where are the photos and the notebooks from prior. It worried me. So 15 years ago. 1999 right. The one thing I do know is that I worked the night shift on New Years Eve. We had everything planned for a complete breakdown of all systems. Nothing happened, well we had a great night shift, no disasters. Adam popped in to say Happy New Year before heading somewhere, though he can't remember what or where. Still. This photo has stayed with us and is in a frame in the hall, with a collection of other memories. Young (and thin) and with absolutely no idea of the amazing adventures that would come our way in the coming 15 years. |
Day seventeen. Triangles
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| The end of the day and I needed a photo, the cat was on my lap so I had to take what I could see from where I sat. When you look, you see. The bunting was a handmade gift a few years ago, sent to me from England and it is a joy to put up each year and think of the wonderful friend that sent it to me. |
Day sixteen. On the table
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| We gave up on a table earlier this year. Embraced who we were and decided that the number of times we ate at a table didn't make up for the space it took up in our little place. We have a trunk that is a table, we eat on cushions on the floor around the table. The trunk is set for soup, the day required bubbles, there is a bunch of white roses in honour of a dear friend who died suddenly this week and we seem to have a lighter for those candles. |
Day fifteen. My favourite camera
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| 2014 was a year I tried to learn a wee bit more than point and shoot. Adam brought me the cannon (influenced by Clive Cussler and the Fargos, but heh, that is also the reason I brought an iPhone, don't judge) and I love it. Then an amazing thing happened and I came second place in a photo competition and won the nikon - which is waterproof they tell me, though I am yet to be brave enough to test that out. Mind you, that iPhone is a bit of a well used (and well loved) camera. |
Day Thirteen. Comfort
Two photos today, because how could I show favouritism over the two cats, who make comfort a daily priority, no, a talent.
Day Twelve. White
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| As if by magic, this delicate crocheted snowflake decoration turns up in the post toady. A lovely gift from a best friends mother. |
Day eleven. Favourite photo of 2014
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| 2014 was the year I really made effort and progress with understanding and embracing photography. This photo was from a day spent crazily taking photos just because. I love the colours and the creation from nature. There were of course several contenders so it was a hard choice. It was a wonderful time looking back over a year of photos and memories. |
Day ten. Reflection
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| The thought is there. A whole load of gifted lemons and a mixer. No cake yet though. |
Day Eight. Sunset
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| The oddest sunset. We have had some glimpses of summer but today was a cloudy day. Sunset was around 8.30 and I'm normally heading for bed. if i climb up a little hill in our garden (I wish I could explain that better) I can see the sun going down over the rooftops. This is our tree at the top of our little hill and is the last to bloom in the summer, giving this a wintery halloween feel, not summery at all. |
Day Seven. Best book of 2014
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| Very very tricksy. I'm behind on my reading challenge, but do now use audio books to help me go to sleep, so still getting enough story in my life. The most amazing things I've been listening to are the diaries of Scott and Amundsen describing their polar journeys….it has opened a whole new obsession - hence Antarctica making the cut above. Life is so good was uplifting and simple and because I live in that eternal optimist and hopeful stage I've just started Capitol so I'm hoping for good stuff. |
Day Five. Leaves
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| The aforementioned neglected garden has no shortage of leaves and I did have fun playing in the garden. Playing under the willow tree felt like stepping into another world. |
Day Four. Red
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| I was impressed by how much red I found in the garden, but more impressed by how well the neglected garden was growing |
Day Three. The Best day of 2014
Given some of the news I have had over this year I would say the best day is every day I have been alive and upright. The question though, at a time when I am underpar thoughtful and contemplative was a good one. I considered looking back over my blog, my flickr photos or even (heaven forgive) actually sorting my photos into some semblance of order and getting organised to make the calendars for christmas presents. None of that happened, my cold, my body and my mind told me to sit and read and that actually I already know the answer.
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| Me and my mum at Cathedral Cove |
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| As I walk up from the beach after our trip to Cathedral Cove, this was the view. Happiness beyond belief. |
Hello December
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| Sitting with a cold, worn out and wondering, this seems like somewhere to start December Reflections |
Looking for the cure
It's been tough times.Tragic news from the UK. Feeling lost and far away from those I want to share my grief and sorrow with.
We all continue but it all seems so unreal and impossible. What I manage is day by day and a deep gratitude for all that I have and all that I can be.
Believing in miracles
It's been another tough week and there are a lot of thoughts rolling about in my head, but for now, I'll just keep believing…
Mind Palace
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| Maybe it is my mind palace, maybe it is just a picture that I like. Either way it is about me finding my way back to my blog |
Dropping the ball
A wise person once told me to think of them as avocados, not balls. That way they are easier to juggle, don't roll away if you drop them and worst case scenario you have guacamole. Either way….
Toots and the Price Tags
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| A fashion blogger in the making if ever I saw one. |
Thanks to this blog post which happens to be a great regular read for me on a saturday morning lazing in bed with the cat stretched out on me causing my legs to go numb. I was pointed in the direction of this - finding my fashion blogger name. Genius.
Toots and the Price Tags
I could go far.
What would your fashion bloggers name be?
Walk 38 - Rotorua
Ahh yes, still on that weekend away which was now 2 weekends ago, but that is how I roll. Little in the way of photographic proof but my new obsession (really, I need to review a few things here) can help, if it is evidence you are after.
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| We started off by strolling the lush grounds of the museum and the steaming pools just dotted around. Then heading to the lake side we followed the pathway round sulphur bay and onwards. This brings you to the city lakefront, with the play park, coffee, market and boats. All you need really. |
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| Yes, I am a fitbit fan. It has produced some interesting insights into my lifestyle. Not that I didn't know I wasn't active enough but as a visual learner seeing a graph makes it more meaningful |
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| Enough of that chatter, time for the goodness of a weekend away, the lovely lake |
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| A happy man feeding the birds at the end of the walk. |
How to grow spinach
Not sure how this happened. But I have created a spinach tower. Volcanic soil, lots of rain, some warm winter sun and heh presto. The veggie patch may be a little neglected. I look out the kitchen window and plan the spring work to come.
Walk 37 - Redwoods
A weekend away. A walk. Sunday morning we headed to Redwoods. Oh my. Many memories of the New Forest. Trees, sunlight, walking. Got out of breath, considerably. A good uphill walk for me. Good pace and a wonderful coffee at the end. Why do I always manage to find coffee. Various walks to choose from and we did't even pick the easiest walk. A map paradise, but I controlled myself, though we would definitely visit again when we are around this area.
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