KT and Coffee: April 2014

100 Happy Days

My sister challenged me. I'm a generally optimistic, Pollyanna kind of spirit. I sometimes get knocked down, but I always get back up.

I posted them via Instagram as I'm also the kind of girl that (mainly) does what she is told, but here are my 100 days from Flickr as that's the way I'm rolling.

100 Happy Days Challenge, should we be worried that the Daily Mail is writing about it.

Four days

four days. I used to take four days off for granted. a normal part of 12 hour shift working. now it is a delightful bag of joyousness. I made a list

four days off ::restful:reading:relaxing:sunshine:rain:wind:waves:car:beach:soup:tiles:starwars:cleaning:gardening:photography:chocolate:wine:coffee:tea: sculpture:ducks:burn:sleep

A beautiful bowel of italian tomato soup at the Morris and James Pottery

The baseball section of our bat/ball/gun moment

Ticket for spur of the moment activity

The wonder of the west coast.
Muriwai Beach

The dog I think was winning. Though I worry about dogs so close to the mental waves

Happy Day Photo number 90 something

A night time interlude

Back in March when the world was spinning so fast and we whirled about with joy and gusto with guests we also managed a night time photography workshop. It's been a pleasure learning about photography and Adam is a very patient teacher. This was one of those special deal things and I didn't rate it that much but it was a different way to spend a weekday evening. With my little cannon I clicked away. What did I learn...a tripod and shutter release cable are essential, that and keep trying oh and of course what you like the look of the person you are standing next to really might not. These photos are just as they were taken, no tweaking or filtering malarkey.

So it started like this

Then at least you can recognise the skyline

Then I was pleased as punch that I could take a photo like this at night.

Oh more grain and blur, my usual night time shot

Oh I see

Is this better

Do we need more sea

Or more sky...no wait that is the blur back

That's what I was trying for

What about that boat in the foreground

The grain is back, now what

OK, better

How about this

Or do the lights in the water look better like this

What I wish is that I had taken a note book so I knew how I got this one

Then we tried a bit of this, but it took me a long long time to get

Several hundred photos later, I succeed. Shutter speed for goodness sake

Thank you Auckland

Halfway

Two days into the long weekend and it's feeling wonderful, despite a little hiccup.

A book started and finished

The hiccup. A little accident with the lawnmower. I was so enjoying the mowing that I grabbed hold of the engine. First aid completed we had to bandage the fingers and hand. Tricky. Not attractive bandaging and potentially embarrassing for a pair of nurses, but it did the job and my hand this morning is in fine form. Feeling proud (and relieved as it really really hurt yesterday).

Saturday morning at Kelly Tarltons and the new walk through area to see the Penguins

It had taken a while to reach the penguins as first you walk through the Scott base exhibition. I am currently obsessed with Antarctica and in particular the early expeditions to reach the South Pole. So after that we are treated to the wonderful penguins.

A new King Penguin chick

In the now shipwrecked theme tunnel

Corals, brought back happy memories of the Great Barrier Reef

Oh yes, lunch time. St Helliers. Perusing the menu.

Now, home and time for some Star Wars

The weekend that was

Is it more of a memory test for me to remember on a Monday evening how I spent the weekend.

Friday night at the Capitol Cinema night watching this

Moving onto a perfecto ending for a Friday here

A morning shopping in Newmarket

Having a housework frenzy with a new steam mop

An incredible concert in the evening listening to these guys and these guys

Driving out in the van

Farmers market and the town market at Clevedon

Stroking the wood here

Paddling in the sea at Maraetai

Falling asleep to our afternoon movie...black and white Agatha Christie heaven

Tasty dinner to wrap it all up

Memory not too bad then.

Happy number 82

The sun was too inviting to go straight home. Maybe it's knowing that summer is over, autumn is here and soon it will be damp and grey. He had things to talk about and sounded very much like he needed a beer right now. We trundled through the city and had a happy beer overlooking the harbour. Then it rained. We stayed in the rain. Happy

Walk 33 - Whangerai

I've been admiring posts about weekending

The weekend that was by Leonie Wise

Weekending on the Habit of Being

They are helping me morph into this weekday worker. I am such a slow learner. It's a process I guess.

So this weekend we were in Whangerai visiting the family and we took a stroll after lunch along a walkway. Warm autumn day, we all relished the weather, knowing the rain can't be far away.