winteriness finds

Yesterday we woke up to winter. Can't complain too much it was worse for those further south, it just seemed to happen quite suddenly. Its slightly strange to get used to the new view, the mountains will look different for the next 4 months (see photo at bottom of post).

At least the sun has been out, so I can take photos of my latest op shop finds.

Find of the week courtesy of the Richmond dump shop is this Kosta Boda sunflower candlestick (ID-ed thanks to Google images). I'm not a big glass collector, probably because my sister is, and I didn't want to compete with her on Trade Me auctions - back in the days when I used to bid on them. But I can still spot something half decent from a few paces,as soon as I picked this up I could feel the weight, and knew it must be something Scandi. Thankfully the "$3 lady" wasn't on duty so I got it for $2. As for the design, it's not the best -  it took me almost half an hour in the kitchen sink to scrape the wax out of all those nooks and crannies, to bring back the shine.

 I've also added to my cheese dome collection (well not quite a collection as I need one more to bestow it such a title!) The front greener version was scored at the Richmond Sally Army for $4. I need to get the beeswax onto its base to restore it. It goes well with the first one which I got back here.
 

And yes I've been adding to the vintage sheet collection. I can't go past a good one (or two) especially when they're $3 each. This is the shameful pile sitting on top my couch waiting to be put away in the stash. One of my good friends asked me what I was going to use them all for. Good question - one I haven't quite got an answer for yet, unless I suddenly take up quilting. But look!

Yes, I finally cut into a sheet, to make a skirt for the budgies cage. It doesn't quite fit, due to dodgy corners,  but hopefully it'll keep some of the seeds off the floor. Those of you who regularly read my musings (thank you precious few xx) will know that we had a budgie catastrophe a month ago. Sometimes the best way to get over such grief is to replace what you lost with some more of the same. So a couple of weeks ago we purchased two baby budgies.

Sammy and Sylvie who are much more delightful than Jackie. We can actually touch these guys without painful bites, and they can be taken from their cage for a bit of exercise around the hall.  It also made me realise that Jackie was probably not very happy being in a cage all by herself.

Linking up with Max and everyone else at the Op Shop Show Off.

Here's the rosey-tinted snowy mountain shot from our deck  (a bit of zoom required as we're not that close to the mountains!)

last week of term

Term 2 is over, it's winter and it's a bit cold.

"Walk to School Wednesday"

shadows of red hot pokers

flax shadows on old shed on way to school

silvereye in the holly tree (look carefully to see her eye!)

low snow, looking south from our gate

zooming in on the snow on the hills

very frosty mornings

thankfully we are still getting lovely sunrises and clear, crisp days

Daisy finds a warm spot in the sun, she doesn't normally look this fearsome!

Linking up with {tinniegirl}, better late than never!

winter wildness

Well winter has come, especially to those further south than us. Christchurch had it's coldest day in 130 years (which is as long as records have been kept), and is covered in snow. There's a great satellite image of the South Island almost entirely covered in white here.

But first I'd like to go back a couple of days to Tuesday. When I heard there was a heavy rain warning, I headed straight to the beach after dropping the kids at school. I don't think I'd been to the beach for a week or more and needed to have a wander before it rained.

It was all rather gray and ominous looking, wth spots of rain on the stones, but thankfully the weather held off and I had quite a long walk. For a change I walked the opposite way I usually go, which is in front of a number of houses that look out over the beach.

I always walk with two bags, one is for rubbish and the other is for my "treasures" which are also rubbish, but are things I take home as I have an "idea" for a few art projects. I am always amazed and saddened at how much rubbish I pick up along this stretch. Maybe the people who live here don't think that it matters that there is rubbish in the oceans. I was very cross to find one home owner had dumped a pile of lemon branches over their wall and onto the beach. They may be biodegradable but it's still an eye sore.

Anyhow enough preaching from me, as it was such a gray day I found some colour in the semi wild flowers that were growing above the high tide mark. Although a number of the plants were not happy about the lack of sun either!

On the way back I came across a very angry little dog that barked and followed me menacingly. I was too scared to stop and take a photo of it! Thankfully a small flock of sea gulls didn't mind me and were very busy preening themselves as the waves lapped over their feet.

We did get the rain later on in the day, but Wednesday was very wet and cold. Winter had arrived. This morning when I opened the curtains we saw snow on the mountains. The sky was a soft pink from the sunrise in the opposite direction.

Those two photos were taken straight after each other, one looking west and the other north east. Our animals were also very happy to have a fine day, and to see me with the hay!

Mumbai

"Shiraz" or "Razzy" as she prefers

"Chardonnay" or "Chardy" as we prefer

And yes the alpacas are strange and snooty animals! But they do a good job of keeping the grass down in the paddocks and keeping Mumbai company!

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!