(almost) wordless wednesday

Taking a leaf out of some other bloggers books, and trying for wordless posts - sometimes it all seems too complicated, this should be easy! (Now I really must stop talking!)

Photos of the full moon taken tonight during the ad breaks of Downton Abbey's Christmas Special!

It's dragon time

Yesterday was NY it's the Year of the Dragon, which is a pretty important one around here as I am surrounded by dragons - hubby, son and my littlest bro! Mister H is the luckiest of all being a golden dragon as he likes to remind his dad (wood dragon) and uncle (fire dragon) who are much more common forms!

It actually felt a bit funny not having hubby here for the day (he's in India again) as you may realise I'm not the Chinese one in the mix here! But I did remember not to wash my hair and hence have not washed away any luck. Wish I'd know more things to do and not what to do, just found this list. Well I definitely didn't get the broom out, so more good luck for me. But I should have worn red and tried not to swear.

Something I did start yesterday, which I am SOOOO excited about is a new fibre art piece. I will share soon. Speaking of which I need to get back to it, as I am sans kids (they had a sleepover!) so must not waste time. Had another glorious sunrise here this morning - gosh I love mornings! Photos are from our front verandah looking towards the gate. Behind the hedge is a road (thankfully not a busy one), we are on top of a hill, so feel very lucky and grateful to be living here surrounded by such beauty.

It's also been a year (well a Chinese year) since I started blogging all the way back here!

time is flying

It's almost been a month since my last post - a very naughty and slack blogger here! But it's summer and the kids are off school, and well I haven't actually done much. There have been lots of BBQs and catching up with friends and family, hubby had three whole weeks off work (amazing!) so we had a lot of chores to get done around the house and garden. I haven't taken all that many photos when I look back over the month. No more excuses I have to get back on the horse, and start the ball rolling. So without anymore metaphors here goes for my first post for 2012!

 We've had lots of spectacular sunsets. The sunrises are still great too, just think I'm getting a bit more blasé about them and not taking any photos!

 On New Year's Eve the sunset was gorgeous, turned the hills pink, which was the first time I'd seen that here. The twinkling lights of Nelson city are just visible.

 There have been lots of trips to the beach. My favourite time is in the evening when it is cooler and the light is softer.

It hasn't all been sunshine and sunsets, we have had a few rainy days too!

 The kids have been having lots of fun playing with Mumbai our pet goat.

 We even managed to get away for a night, it's hard when Mumbai is still being fed a bottle of milk a day! Popped down to the West Coast to my brother's farm. The kids had fun flying kites with their cousins.

It was another lovely evening, with the sun setting over the Tasman Sea!

I'm not into making New Year resolutions, but maybe I need to try and take more photos so I have something to blog about!

getting into the spirit

I'm almost there ....... it's actually pretty hard here in the southern hemisphere to get into the spirit. I've only had one christmas in the north, and it definitely "felt" like it!! As I don't venture too near shopping malls it's easy to live in a little bubble and think that there are still plenty of days until the big one! But with the hubby having finished work I now have no more excuses I have to venture out into the land of consumerism for the sake of tradition. Wish me luck!
Another reason for struggling with the feeling this year has been that our region suffered very badly from flooding and slips last week. Over 100 houses are inhabitable, many people won't be in their homes for christmas. A number of beaches are "closed" due to sewage contamination, hopefully they will be open by the weekend. It's such a kiwi tradition to go to the beach, we plan to. At least the strange weather we've been having seems to have moved on and its nice and sunny.

Wishing you (wherever you are) all the best for the festive season.

december

It's hard to realise that Christmas is so close, maybe it is denial. The kids finish school next week, and we have had the school and dance school end of year shows (phew!) Today it's time to get the tree, we are going for a large fir that is in the garden, and is going to get too big for where it is - so it will be a homegrown Christmas tree!

I have been making some hangings for the tree. All the ingredients I had on hand, except for the bead eyes, so a  trip to the op shops and 50 cents later I had eyes. I've since been looking for more 100% wool jerseys to felt, but it's the wrong time of the year the op shops only have summer clothing out. The big ones are the mummy (and daddy) chooks, they have a comb and tail feathers, and the chicks are a bit smaller. I really must try getting some better photos of them ......

We also have a new baby - Mumbai. Named in honour of the hubby's first trip to India. We decided against Pune (where he's working), so went for Mumbai instead. We got him last week when he was 6 days old. The next day we picked up hubby from the airport, and the kids were so excited about the surprise for Daddy at home. They put a blindfold on him and he had to guess what it was. At first he thought it was a rabbit (long ears), then a guinea pig (what!), then a deer (the feet), finally he guessed right - a goat. He's so much fun, H & L are enjoying his antics. It's actually quite hard to get a photo of him as he seems to always be on the move. He does enjoy eating hair, and kissing too!

 

What a handsome boy! We are now teaching him that he is a goat and has to live in the paddock when we are not home. It's amazing what small gaps he can squeeze through!

 I still haven't tired of taking photos of our view, after 2 months here. So here's a diptych from dusk a few nights ago. There's the almost full moon through the power wires.

trying out a diptych or two

I found this fantastic blog the other day of a Australian photographer who does these wonderful diptych, double image photographs. Her name is Louise Hawson and her blog is 52 Suburbs, and her mission was to take photographs of 52 suburbs of Sydney in her unique way, check it out.

Anyhow I thought I'd have a crack at my own diptych's. To make my life easier I used the stitch option on my photo editing program as don't have the patience to muck around in Photoshop. So the results are a bit hit and miss.

I like the juxtaposition of the images - some work better than others, I particularly like the last two which I took today at the Nelson Cathedral.

drawing on lorna

Things have been VERY slow on the art making front since moving. I actually have a proper studio here - so exciting! In a shed away from the house (and the computer!). However, it's actually not usable yet - it's full of stuff, some of it mine and some of it not! We've had the builders here taking out the roller door and replacing it with a ranch slider for more lovely light, and concreting the floor and filling in the open wall on the adjoining shed. This work is almost finished, just waiting for a new roller door, so I'll soon be able to take out all the junk from my studio and put it in the shed, and some visa versa!

This week at art group we are having a lino cutting workshop. So last week I thought I'd better start drawing some ideas down before sitting in the workshop with a blank mind. I used a Sharpie pen and drew on pages from an old copy of Lorna Doone that I scavenged out of the free bin. I think some of the older ladies at art group were a bit horrified at me drawing on a book! Someone else after looking at my drawings said they were great so why am I bothering to make lino prints! Watch this space and see if the prints look anything like the drawings....

The last one won't be made into a print, as it'll be too tricky for me!