tall poppies

I have been enjoying my poppies. Although with the winds we have been having lately the flowers don't last long. The wind has also made it hard to take photos of them, but between gusts of breeze and the hit-and-miss nature of my camera when it's on macro I've managed to get some shots I'm happy with.

I also have some smaller poppies in the same garden. They struggle to compete with the tall poppies!

The garden itself is not that spectacular - yet! I only planted it in the winter (apart from the lavender hedge). I'm waiting for the penstomens and rose-scented geraniums to grow.

surprises

I've surprised myself by getting back into painting after a two month hiatus, and have done three paintings this week! The two little ones are actually a diptych, but I'll count them as two!  It feels great to be back painting again.  I've started making my backgrounds bolder and brighter and I'm exploring the eucalyptus leaf motif.

It's our 14th wedding anniversary today. I've only seen hubby very briefly at 5.30 when he got up to catch the early flight to Auckland. I'm not holding my breath for a surprise. He's going to take me and the kids to the local pub for dinner when he gets back tonight. I'm definitely not expecting any ivory which is the traditional gift for 14th anniversaries!

The hubby isn't one to surprise me, I think I'm too difficult to surprise actually. The best surprise he ever gave me was when he proposed.  It was 15 years ago in November. I had come home late from work and was expecting to walk into the house to the smells of a cooked dinner. I was about to chew him out for not getting dinner ready when I noticed the cat sitting in the middle of our bed with a collar on. She never wore a collar, and hanging off the collar was a blue tag, and engraved on the tag was "Sally will you marry me?" As they say the rest is history! That night we went out for dinner to Little India in Merivale, funny how he's now travelling to India for work.

Our cat (she's a different model from the proposing cat!) did leave me an unpleasant surprise this morning, a dead rat on the door step with part of it's intestinal tract in the middle of the floor. She always seems to do this sort of thing when hubby is away so I have to deal with the body and the blood! Yucky yuck!

I have left a surprise for the hubby, although the kids and I aren't too sure if he'll notice it for a few days. I doily bombed the tree in the middle of our front lawn! The doily was hanging around in the craft room and I've been meaning to do something like this for a while.

When hubby came back from Australia last week he asked what magazine I'd like from the airport, not wanting to surprise me! I quickly replied Inside Out. It's a great magazine and I'd really enjoyed the last issue I'd brought when we came back from Brisbane at the beginning of October. Imagine my disappointment when he pulled out the same issue! Yep, seems it's a bi-monthly magazine.

So that means I've got a spare copy to giveaway to someone who hasn't got the Nov/Dec issue. Just leave me a comment if you'd like it.

Linking up with Ta-dah! for the first time.

Footnote: He did surprise me, with a lovely bunch of flowers he brought on the way home from the airport!! 

peony overload

I brought a bunch of peonies from a roadside stall last Thursday, as I wanted some colour for my open studio event on Sunday. I got lots of comments on them (and also some on my paintings! If you're interested have a look here) even although they were almost "past their best". Well by Tuesday they were definitely past it - but I spent a good half hour getting up close and personal with them.

I think I was channelling the wonderful photos of Emma Bass that are currently being exhibited at Red Gallery in Nelson. I have only seen the photos on Facebook, so I must get in and check them out before the exhibition is finished. Take a look, they are too die for (oops bad pun, they are also of flowers that are "past their best"!)

So if you don't like peonies look away now!

 I did warn you! And those are the best 19 of the 40! It's taken me longer to resize and cull them than it did to take the photos.

Thanks for your lovely comments on my last post. I will get back into more regular blogging once I have the Mapua Makers Market over with on Sunday, although I've also got two others booked for November and one for December. As they say I'm "making hay while the sun shines".

departure time

Just rushing in to tap out a quick post. I should be packing! Today we drive to Christchurch which will take over 5 hours, plus stops! It's just me and the kids as the hubby has already gone across the ditch to Australia. On Friday we will get up very early and fly to Brisbane to join him for a week. There is much excitement ..... and a bit of trepidation on my part. Travel is a bit of a mixed bag for me, I love it when I'm there but the getting there I don't enjoy. It's the first time we have left the animals for such a long time, hopefully our new neighbours will cope!

There will be new sights and sounds, that's one of the joys of travel. I probably won't get a chance to blog while away, but will definitely be instagramming. If you want to follow along, pop over here.

week of snippets

It's been quite a wet week, but I managed to catch a few shots on the phone. Today I discovered Picmonkey, so mashed up some of my Instagram photos, now I'm twice as dangerous!

Today was actually quite lovely, there were even signs of spring to be found in the garden.

The top photo is of the Mapua Wharf, and the recently unveiled statue of Hamish the White Heron. Hamish visited Mapua each winter for over 15 years, but last year he didn't come back so the worst was presumed. So now he has been forever immortalised. From a distance he looks quite real, but on closer inpection the nails and wire to stop the seagulls landing on him make him look like he's having acupuncture .

Linking up with {tinniegirl} here, even although I never play the game properly and always add some words!