C'mon Big Boy ....

'Bro' is still with us - 5 days & counting. I've been hesitant to name him - last time I named a stray he was claimed the next day. Although I do have a name in mind, as it turns out one of the names in Ang's little lineup, but for a whole different reason. The name in particular has a bit of a story attached to it, it may be a little risque to post here...the story, not the name ;o)



Now 'Big Boy' is very settled & extremely relaxed - at the moment that's what I address him as, & that alone has double meaning.......



Bizkit, on the other hand is in a permanent state of PMS - completely disgusted at this interloper, & she has no qualms at all about letting everyone know. If looks could kill, we'd all be dead by now - especially Big Boy.

The maille man is positive that she's trying to nag him into leaving - I think he's probably right. Fortunately Big Boy is very dignified - he simply turns a blind eye to whatever method of 'nag' that Bizkit attempts & quietly carries on with whatever he is doing...usually relaxing majestically somewhere. I mean this lad is a master at ignoring - he doesn't flinch or even acknowledge the psycho one.

Sadly Bizkit isn't the sharpest nail in the box & fails to realise that by sitting at the top of the stairs & speaking in tongue to Big Boy every time he tries to leave our bedroom at 3.00am in the morning is not going to have the desired effect. In fact quite the opposite - because the lad just jumped back up onto our bed & settled in for the duration.
Big Boy: 1
Bizkit: 0

Did we draw the short straw??

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:

Men Are Just Happier People - What do you expect from such simple creatures?

Your last name stays put.

The garage is all yours.

Wedding plans take care of themselves.

Chocolate is just another snack.

You can be President.

You can never be pregnant.

You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.

You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

Car mechanics tell you the truth.

The world is your urinal.

You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.

You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.

Same work, more pay.

Wrinkles add character.

Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental $100.

People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.

New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.

One mood all the time!

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.

You know stuff about tanks.

A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.

You can open all your own jars.

You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.

If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.

Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.

You almost never have strap problems in public.

You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

Everything on your face stays its original color.

The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.

You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life.

One wallet and one pair of shoes - one color for all seasons.

You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.

You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.

You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes

"Shrinking the World" - Treasury for You

OK - Blame the title on Ang.....no, on second thought, congratulate her for it.
This is one way of making the world seem not quite so large & all of the wonderful friends I have made online seem not quite so distant.
It also makes the selfish side of me also feel not quite so isoalted ;o)

I have to admit there is one piece of non-glasy goodness in there. I discovered this the other day & have been mopping down my monitor ever since!! Take a look at Maiaart's Tutankhamun with Scarab Pyrographed Gourd!!

This time I have remembered to put a link in ;o) "Shrinking the World"

Also here is another TV commercial we have here - kind of appropriate (& I wish it were this easy - lol)

Little Miss Impatient....

yes Ang ... that means you! ;o)


Actually it also means me, because I just couldn't wait to get this wired up & see how it was going to look. I did end up adding a few dangly bit's to balance it - as I was afraid that the bail looked a little bit large.

So here is what I did with my lovely gift from Linda

I hope everyone approves of the treatment ;o) Too bad if you don't really as I have been wearing it all day anyway & I have to say it feels wonderful!!

A Cute Male Visitor........

Tonight while sitting watching TV, quietly minding my own business & knitting away, there was a rather foreign sounding 'meooowww' at our sliding doors.
I'd noticed this cat lurking today & heard him a couple of times earlier - he has rather an exotic 'meow' - one that I'm sure results from some pedigree breeding somewhere, which seems to be backed up by the narrow shape of his head.


Anyway tonight I let him in. He was obviously hungry & Bizkit had just asked to go out the back door - so there was no risk of confrontation from she who must have control...of her humans, her house, her territory....her everything!

He's obviously well loved by someone & it looks that until recently he had a collar on. He chowed down some dry food & then made hmself completely at home.
The maille man of course made noises that I could not keep him .....Bizkit made similar noises when she discovered him, only hers resembled someone speaking in tongue.

These noises started while I was trying to think of something to call him other than 'kitty' - it's most obvious that he's a him! The last kitty that decided to temporarily adopt us ended up being called Baldric for the duration of his stay.
This guy needed something a bit more 'regal' - I tried Caesar & got told off. Perhaps Samson - in commiseration for Bizkit whom they wouldn't let me call Delilah??

It was taken out of my hands - the maille man has decided until we find where he belongs - his name is 'Bro'.
G.R.E.A.T - now we have Bizkit & Bro .......

Actually he's rather too large, elegant & well mannered to be 'cute' - darn shame I'll have to find out if there is someone looking for him in the morning....if I remember ;o)

A Fantabulous Gift!

My beautiful gift!

A wee while ago Linda of Bella Bead Jewelry ran a lucky draw on her blog.

Basically if you left a comment on her posts during the nominated week - you could go into the draw to win a surprise... & Linda tempted us all with a sneak peek at the fabulous packaging.

Well of course I left comments - the packaging alone was enough reason for that. But to be fair I was already following & commenting on Linda's blog.

Well I won.....my name was drawn, & to me that is a big thing. I'm the person who never wins anything - in fact at times I suspect that I couldn't get my name drawn out of a hat full of "Deb's" - lol!
A couple of days ago my parcel arrived! Oh My Goodness - inside the absolutely beautiful package, which is a work of art in itself, was the most fabulous winged heart & a stunning Kumihimo braided necklace.

Now I don't know what I am most thrilled with! I haven't ever seen a Kumihimo braid in person - so I was pretty darn impressed with that, then again the winged heart is just beautiful too & they really do need to go together - so I have a plan. I'm just hoping that I can pull in off in a manner befitting the fitting of the two of them.
Stay tuned ;o)

Thank you so very much Linda !!

A Treasury of Bloggers - featuring YOU!!!

OK peeps - this is all about you! Yes - you!! Bloggy people that also happen to be hugely talented, melt glass & create with both hands & words. Or is it about glassy people that also happen to blog???
Of course in my haste I just had to miss the 's' after 'word'. But hey!

It's just my way of trying to lift the spirits, get a bit more exposure & maybe make the world a slightly smaller place ;o)

Shocking Shopping

Yep - today I went shopping..... dragged poor Maille Man out to have a quick look at a shop (famous last words) & got home some hours later.

I have decided that I am absolutely disgusted with shopping here - everything seems to be disappearing in the only big craft store we have. The wool isle has shrunk to less than half it's size (unlike my hips) for goodnes sake, there are no longer the great specials that there used to be last year & everything has gone up phenominally in price.

If they expect me to pay $9.00 for a 5 pack of sewing machine needles - well they can go take a running leap. I would rather purchase off shore & pay more in postage, than purchase cheap generic brands for shocking prices.

There was one light moment when I said something inappropriate to Maille Man - well it wasn't really inappropriate....I just didn't think how it would sound to others who didn't know that I was talking of a balloon to be used for sizing knitted hats......

"I could blow it & you can hold it while I measure it"

I was told that perhaps I'd care to rephrase that - lol! I said "nope - I'll just say it louder" & I did.

Oh yeah I was in an antsy mood today.
I was going to share a nice piece of NZ Muusic - or a video of our boys doing the Haka.

But instead I'm sharing one of a commercial that always gives me a laugh - & true testament to my warped sense of humour (as if speedo's alone aren't enough to give anyone a laugh)

Another Win For Sophie

We had some absolutely fabulous news this morning!
One of the National TV Channels here, along with Mistsubishi Motors, ran a promotion during both the Olympic Games & the Paralympics.

All New Zealanders over the age of 16 could vote for their favorite Olympic & Paralympic athlete & the one with the most votes in each would win a Mitsubishi Outlander. Anyone voting also went into the draw to win one for each promotion,

Now you know I am not biased -lol!
There are a couple of threads I keep up with here on the message baord of our national Auction site - so I popped in there & asked the lovely ladies that I know to vote for Sophie...or any athlete of their choice. Really I just pointed out that this promotion was there. A lot of them did vote & left messages for me to say they had - it really was very sweet. The Maille Man asked his work colleuges to vote also & of course all frineds & family were completely biased & put in their votes.

Well you know what I am going to say don't you.....Sophie won!!Not only is she going to bring back 3 Gold medals & a silver - but she will be coming home to a lovely new car.
Apparently she had just under 50% of all the 35,000 votes!!


Really that is just a testament to how this delightful young woman has won the hearts of many of in this country. I wish I could show you all the newspaper articles & some wonderful TV video interviews with her in Beijing after she'd finished racing.

But for now just look at what she is going to be driving when she gets home - I hope her Mum & Dad can afford the insurance ;o)

The Car

A few of the recent newspaper articles

Just Stuff & a note for those that make the Treasure woven Bracelets

My post today is short & sweet
My torch is calling - studio tidy & neat
Load's of fun to be had, but I must confess
The main desire is to make a mess ;o)


That said I also need to take photo’s ….of beads. Oh dear the dreaded battle with the small & insignificant camera.
My website needs to be updated, as does Etsy & I have items to list on New Zealand’s auction site “Trade Me” (I always feel like I should be listing myself when I say that name).
Then there are the parcels that need to be posted & the money for the school camp to be dropped off at school… not enough hours in a day if you ask me!
It’s always a PITA to get the things that need to be done out of the way before you can get to the things that you want to do.
Ahhhhh sew much to do – so little time ;o)


Now I just visited Robin Atkins' Blog. It appears that she has been somewhat scammed & as a result has been left with a rather large amount of those wonderful little red glass rings that work so wonderfully in the Treasure Woven Bracelets, fringes, jewelry & such.

9mm Red Glass Rings

Robin being the lovely lady that she is - is offering these at a great price. Anyone who is interested might like to pop across & grab a bargain at the same time as helping her out.

Visit her blog & have a look for yourself: Robin Atkins

Something I made for a friend recently - Chuck Taylor Booties.

I'm Not In Love....

....so don't forget it
It's just a silly phase I'm going through.

Remember 10CC? No neither do I - I am far too young!!

Actually that song just popped into my head when I was thinking about where I live. I'm over it now though.

Mobius Unicus Deb

In fact I am in love. My honey (sorry ladies - even if we were married I would refuse to call him my DH, every time I read that I think 'Dick Head') makes Chainmaille. Now I probably havent said just how inordinately proud I am of this man for what he is doing.
This is the guy that encourages me. He will see a tiny bit of beauty even in my ugliest bead & tell me that I have talent, even in area's where I feel that I have none. This is also the same guy that say's he doesn't have an arty or crafty bone in his body, & when I have suggested that he tries something or other, he has said that he has no imagination.

Well something must have happened, or changed. His chainmaille is great & as far as I can see it is just continually getting better.

It has been a standing joke that I don't have a piece of said chainmaille, & being the silver ho that I unashamedly am - this is somewhat surprising. The poor man frequently shows me designs as he's always wanted to make something for me, but I have put him off by saying that I will know what I want when I see it.
A couple of weeks ago I saw what I wanted - well it was similar to what I thought I wanted,... of course I just had to change things a wee bit to make it more 'deblike' - so I wanted it bigger & with bronze rings as well as silver. The rings were ordered.

Now I play around a bit with some jewelry making & wirework. I have pliers - quite a few pairs of hobby/craft pliers in different styles, but I never seem to be completely happy with the results I get from some of them (althought that could be blamed on the user)- they marr the silver or such, do not meet properly where they should & they are not of a really good quality. So occassionally I borrow the chainmaillers pliers. These were bought ,after much reasearch on chainmaille forums, by said chainmailler specifically because they were box jointed & very precise. I like the chainmaillers pliers ....very much.
Often the chaimailler finds his pliers residing on my desk - oops!

So it was a wonderful surprise when the rings for my bracelet arrived & in with them were two pairs of pliers the same as his. Gotta love a man that buys his girl some tools & the means to make jewelry.

Come to me my precioussssss ...pliers

Sunday Ramble - A Day Late! Part I

Late , my dears but in earnest;o)
Shock, horror - yes the third weekend in a row & we did still go walking - but only just.

Someone, who shall remain nameless, is trying to kick a rather nasty habit. Her mind has been foggy & preoccupied all week & if it weren't for the distraction of Sophie - she may have gone stark raving mad by now. For the benefit of those who think in pictures - this is not to be confused with stark naked!

I was told that to help kicking the habit a copious intake of water is a good idea - normally it is. Being a coffee addict I didn't want to up my intake any more than necessary - so I took the water suggestion to heart. Now whoever said that coffee was a diuretic has obviously never consumed around 3 liters of water a day. Coffee has NOTHING on water, as far as creating urgent trips to the loo goes. Yes I know that you don't need to hear this ....but there is a reason ;o)

There wasn't a lack of desire to go on this weekends walk - rather the opposite. But I've had a hankering to sew & thought that a trip to the fabric store was in order first. That accomplished, with only one small purchase & some sewing machine needles....after a good deal of time spent pondering & fondling various fabrics, there was the need for a trip to the toilet on the way to our walk.

My co -pilot suggested stopping at a Mall we would pass on the way, but being the staunch kinda chick that I am, I said 'no - I can wait' - LOL! Did I say staunch? - make that stupid!!

So we got to our destination & 'uh -oh' the first lot of public toilets were locked! "No matter" says staunch female "the map shows another lot in the park at the half way mark". So off we trot.

I should have been warned, should have known this was going to turn out badly. But nooooooo

As we started to walk in I whipped out my wee camera to take a photo of this, right at the precise time a couple walked out of it towards us. I quickly dropped my camera to let them pass & commented to Allan - "Ohhh there is someone with a real camera". There's Nothing like a subtle hint - & that was nothing like a subtle hint ;o)

The woman, who had a huge & very sexy looking beasty slung around her neck, just smiled at me as I asked her what it was & said "oh I can't remember we just bought it this week, it's a Canon something"- but as my camera dar honed in & I got closer I said "Ohhh it's the new Digital Rebel". A few minutes were spent with me drooling & her casually explaining (as if you buy something that grunty on a whim) that she really hadn't even had a chance to play yet - but really was just replacing an old film SLR she'd had years ago. If only.......

So yep - my mind blocked out the view & kept focusing instead on what I could do with a 'real' camera. I think this is some greenery....

I'm pretty confidant that this is a horse, which we came upon in an open field after a few minutes walk through native type bush. My feet were walking the track - but my mind was on camera!

Part of the lake (rather murky isn't it?) & some Toi Toi's just starting to show their feathery plumes.

Sunday Ramble - A Day Late!! Part II

This one is for you Ang!

Of course my mind was still on what I could do with that sexy black beasty of a camera, when I thought to look down & take a photo of something other than the standard panorama type shot. The gnarled wood of these torn up roots with the tree no growing horizontally reminded me of Ang. Not saying that you are gnarled & fallen Ang - but hey in the scheme of things you are quite a gnarly chick!! ;o)

More water slightly less murky - but hey, by this stage my bladder did not need either the sight or sound of water.

The highlight was spotting two black Swans over by the far edge of this part of the lake. I did the usual - "awww, look Allan they have babies". Cygnets, Deb, cygnets - but yeah my mind had gone into cutey cutey cluck cluck mode.

It was amazing - those swans saw us standing there pointing & made a direct line over to us, it was almost as if they bought their babies over to show us. They came in really close & then lingered for a while before taking off.

I took heaps of photo's & there would have been some great ones....if only I didn't have my camera set on manual with the extra light compensation needed for photographing beads.
And she wants a big flash camera - ROFL!!!

The rest of the walk I really don't remember. I'd started doing the strange mix of a dance & a walk with knees hobbled together to try & block out that part of my anatomy which was quietly screaming 'find the damn toilets'. We didn't - couldn't spot them at the park when we got there & I just wasn't prepared to stop - not even to take more photo's.

I honestly don't know if I'm starting to love this city any more. Today isn't so bad though - the park across the road has just been mowed & as I walked up to get a coffee just now, I could smell the wonderful scent of Viburnum! Yum fresh mowed grass & Viburnum....Spring is here!!

Sophie & Shireen's Final Event..... Hey Mich!!!!!

Sohpie Pascoe of New Zealand (L) and Shireen Sapiro of South Africa(R) both break the world record and win the S10 gold.

and we have another Gold Medal!!!

This is one race that I just can't wait to see on TV - because both she & Shireen Sapiro of South Africa beat the world record Sophie set in the heats & won first equal!

Look at these times....

1 4 PASCOE Sophie S10 NZL 0.62 (2) 34.40 1:10.57 (36.17) WR
1 5 SAPIRO Shireen S10 RSA 0.79 (1) 34.08 1:10.57 (36.49) = WR

The first set of numbers after the name is the time off the blocks, then the number in parethesis is the place they were at the half way mark, followed by the halfway time, then the full finish time, (with the time for the sencond half in parenthesis after that.

Sophie & Shireen

NZ Announces Election date - who cares ;o)

In the non- ground breaking news today our Prime Minister thought that she'd announce when the next election is.
My guess is that she is doing this while we all still think she is indeed a 'she' ;o)
What I did find interesting is that she suggested that the Opposition had a Secret Echidna - they are all rather a prickly bunch if you ask me.

Token Bead

Now to the Important Stuff ........ "what could that be?" I hear you ask.

We know that Sophie has had a day off - so it could be a bead, or I could just put up some more links & such to Sophie. It's going to be a bit of both!

There is some awesome footage out there of Sophie competing - National TV has shown images of my cousin Jo crying tears of happiness into a towel poolside at Sophie's win - her Dad jumping up & down waving & cheering. It's all so heartwarming & completely overwhelming.

Then there are all of us back here at home who can just quietly cheer the results & wait the 8 or so hours for any images to come online.... although there is the fact that I am always first to get the results ( YAY cable!!), so get to ring my Mum at all odd hours screaming & squealing incoherently down the phone ..... or just quietly saying in a very flat voice - "Oh well, it looks like she just won another Gold".

This is a rather lovely TV segment that was on national TV just after she won the First Gold Medal - Golden Girl Sophie

I'm still trying to get some video footage of her races - but if you wait for this to load there is quite a good interview with Sophie& her coach Roly in Beijing after her second win.

Sophie & Roly Interview
After it loads wait for the commercial to finish & select 'Chapter 2'.

This afternoon a couple of headlines:

Sophie sets World record Sep 13, 2008 By John McBeth

"My intention was to swim a 2.12, but I felt really good. Even so, this time is a surprise".

This was Sophie Pascoe's reaction to setting a world record in her heat of the 100 metres backstroke.

Swimming in the second heat of the 100 metres, Sophie hit at wall in one minute, 11 point 26 seconds and broke the previous word record of 1:12.25, set by American Rutherford at the Athens Games.

She turned in 35.07, which was inside the world record split of South African Shireen Sapiro.

New Zealand's latest sporting star then showed her stamina by swimming the second fifty 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else in her heat. It was a most impressive win.

Sapiro was in heat two and also won comfortably. Her first fifty was point 3 of a second faster than Pascoe's.

The final shapes up as the highlight of the evening session.

Oopsy - looks like I fibbed - there was just a token bead!

Oops - She did it again!

Took out the Gold - with a 4 second lead.

Womans 200M Individual Medley.

But it's OK - because she doesn't race tomorrow. So I'll have to find a bead to post or write something possibly halfway intelligent & stop showing off. Actually I am quite possibly in shock - lol.
I know this kid is good - I know this kid is a beautiful & determined young woman.... did I tell you that she was offered a room with a en-suit in the accomodation & declined it saying that it should go to someone in a wheelchair?
Was I prepared for this - no way!

Just hitting the News here...

Golden Sophie grabs another

Sep 12, 2008 New Zealand's 15-year-old golden girl has made it two in two days with a gold in the 200m individual medley.
Sophie Pascoe blitzed the field to win in 2:35.21, over four seconds ahead of the silver medallist, Elodie Lorandi of France.

A First Place in Beijing = GOLD!!

A Photo update from last nights race & win.
The last 3 photo's really 'say it all' ;o)






About 40 minutes ago Sophie competed in the Final for the 100M Womans Breast Stroke S9. She got first place....

She won the GOLD medal!!!

Bead de jour

Bongo

I had the rest of the beads in this series to post - but my computer has other ideas & is insisting on running at 100% CPU usage. So I can't even edit the darn photo right now.

I've added a couple more photo's of Sophie to the post below. There is a really great video online of her in the race, she turns around just after she finshes & realises that she's second - the look on her face is priceless.
There is also a great chat to her at the poolside afterwards - but it's in the middle of an hour long video about yesterdays event's & I can't seperate it to show you. I'll try & find a link to a short version later & post it in the post below.

Sophie Again ;o)

Just had to show this photo that her Mum, Jo, has just sent through to us from Beijing!
Doesn't she look gorgeous & so very happy.

OK - I was a Good Girl

& did my nice picture posts of the Sunday walks first. But Now I just have to shout!!!!

Earlier today I knew Sophie had made it through the two heats for the Womans 100M Butterfly S10 & into the finals tonight!

A couple of hours ago I was still desperately trying to find somewhere online to view the finals of Sophies first event, even though I knew it had started. I gave up & refreshed the results page - not expecting it to be so quickly updated

Sophie won a Silver Medal!!!!

This was of course accompanied by a large amount of yeehaaa'ing & yelling down the phone to my Mum (who was still waiting for a call from Beijing to let her know the results -lol). Gotta Love the net!!!

I am so proud of that kid. 15 years old - only been swimming for 5 years & now she has won a medal.
Only 1.09 seconds behind USA's Anna Eames - & you know both those girls did amazingly well - just look at it this way...they are only 15 seconds behind able bodied womans world record for this event. Think on it that for a moment - it's kind of humbling.

If by chance any of you are wondering how there are seemingly multiple events that have the same title i.e "Womans 100M Breast Stroke" - the Paralympians are graded due to their disability & matched againgst those of similar disability. Whilst earlier finals today were perhaps S7 - S 8 & S9 etc - Sophie & Anna are S10. They have the same event for every 'grade'.

In the morning I shall try to find a photo to accompany this post.

Perhaps I should have looked earlier - cos look what I just found!!!!

Sunday Walk - Travis Wetlands - Part I

Last week some mad woman got into my blog & made completely irrational promises - lol!
This weekend she decided that in the best interests of humanity (& her stupid ankle) she had better start off slowly - no steep inclines included! The weather did not want to cooperate & gifted us a cold bleak day.

This weekend we chose the Travis Wetland walk. Relatively flat, not to difficult... & besides I had never done it before, driven past it heaps but never actually walked it or felt the need to explore the history of the wetlands further. Strange you might think, when I tell you that I grew up very close to this area & in fact used to pass it all the time on my way to the swimming pool.
But that was many years ago - & back then this wetland area hadn't been developed ,or rather 'reclaimed'

On the walk I learned that this project has only been happening in the last 10 years. Apparently when the white man decided to settle Christchurch there was over 32,000 hectares of swamp....actually all of Christchurch was pretty much swamp (yeah you gotta wonder!!!). They drained it & cultivated it, filled it & developed it. Over the years the swampy ground was eliminated until now where we have less than 2000 hectares.

Great for the city - not so good for the wildlife. One of New Zealands native birds, a gawky, ungainly, ugly looking thing called a Pukeko was almost extinct. When I think back - I never saw these when I was younger - not in my travels by bike, or later by car. In the last few years I see them everywhere that native plantings flourish. I guess in their case the reclaiming of the wetlands has worked & is a prime example of the importance of retaining natural habitats of wild life - even if it is bang in the middle of a spreading city.

We walked a circuit starting from the park in an anti clockwise direction around the wetlands.

Pukeko

Into the wilderness - well...OK ...not quite! This is one of the entry ways to the walk via a suburban park in a built up area.

The first views of what it was like pretty much all over the city many years ago.

A Black Swan - not exactly a NZ native, but like many other exotics he seems to be at home.

Some of the views are really quite pretty - in a bleak wintery way.

The Willows, at least, are obliging us with a display of spring colour.

But really! What can I say.

Travis Wetlands Walk - Part II

We have done a half circuit now & can look back directly across & see the point we started at.

See that small white 'spec' in the middle distance of this shot? It's a rather large & ostentatious house -lol. You'll see what I mean later ;o)

Swampy & uneven ground deserves a slightly raised walkway.

I can see what it must have been like for the wild life many years ago.

The House - kind of stands out like a dogs tail in this area of slightly more environmentally friendly styles of homes.

I just had to prove that there are signs of spring here - besides I love this cemetery, Christchurch's oldest.

The River Avon - which serpentines it way throughout the central city. You just can't escape it & it will look beautiful in another month or so.