Some signs of Spring

I've noticed a few signs that spring is getting closer. The early daffodils have been out for while, I have seen some early lambs, the days are already noticeably longer (I even gardened to 5.30 the other night).

But I think the clincher is that one of the chooks has FINALLY started laying.  It was soon joined by another, making our weekend breakfast a $25 affair (the price of a bag of layer pellets!)

So thought I'd better take some photos of the girls, but they were very weary of me creeping up on them with the camera, the next-door-neighbour's chooks were much friendler and more photogenic!

 

The hubby often curses the chooks lack of productivity, I have to admit that I did choose the breeds (Gold-laced Wyndottes and Light Sussex) based on their good looks rather than their egg laying ability.  I have promised him that when we move to the country (ie the "new" house that is now tenanted out) I will only get Brown Shavers like the next-door-neighbour's chooks (see below). We will no longer have a 6 chook restriction on us due to no longer being in a residential zone, so the "pretty" girls will be able to retire gracefully.

 I was supposed to post this entry two days ago before the worst cold front the South Island has experienced in 15 years swept over the island depositing snow where it's not normally deposited, therefore ruining my early spring prediction. We had no snow here, but IF we were living at the new house we would have, I didn't tell the kids that to avoid further disappointment. Here's some photos of the snow.

A Week of Winter

There's no denying it, it's winter here. The week has been cold, and wet, and snowy. And some sun, and some sun and rain mixed together which does make beautiful rainbows!

Last Friday was the husband's birthday, so I made him have the day off, and once we dropped the kids at school we had a lovely day out and about (it was a sunny day for the record!) In pursuit of thriftiness I swapped one of my paintings for one of my art group buddies ones. When he woke up he found this lovely girl gazing at him.What a surprise, I had her hidden under the bed and as I wake up first was able to hang her without him waking!

Miss Moo-tere

I spent the whole weekend doing a picture framing course. So now I have frames made for the upcoming exhibition, just need to create the paintings to go in the frames. The course was held in a hall that I'd admired so often from the road, but never been in. Sorry didn't get round to taking photos inside, can report there were lovely wooden floorboards, memorials to the men from the district who had fought in the world wars, and other interesting bits and pieces. However I did venture out between rain showers to see what it looked like from the outside.

 

 Tuesday night the brother from the Coast arrived late at night with the very red-headed niece (I have 2 red-headed nieces). So Mister H had the day off school on Thursday to amuse her, and Miss L had Friday off and went home with them. Yay only 1 kid home for the beginning of the the school holidays - I am so cunning! Wednesday was very snowy, it fell on top of the Spooners Range which is 20 mins away, so after school took kiddlets up to the cold and icy stuff. There wasn't much left, but they enjoyed getting cold and wet.

I did say there wasn't much snow!

The snow doesn't get this low very often

Looking towards Tasman Bay, with Richmond & Nelson on the right

 On Thursday it was a lovely view of the Richmond Ranges from our new house, we couldn't see the other mountains they were draped in cloud. The painter is at the house, covering up the hideous cream paint, with wait for it ..... white! It's looking fantastic, hope the tenants appreciate it!

Jack Frost is Visiting

Jack Frost has finally visited. We would normally get a couple of frosts in May, and then quite a few in June, but this winter those months were very wet and mild. So now it's July Jack is back. These photos are from yesterday's effort, I have not looked out the window yet to see how busy he was last night!

The garden looks very bleak, but the sun was poking it's way through the neighbour's tall trees (the ones that I would love to chop in half!)

Everything was coated, including the spider's webs.

The naked lady looked very cold, and not very happy.........

The best thing about frosty mornings is the lovely clear, sunny and warm (well relatively) days we get following Jack's departure.