Winter has it's up side

but am I ever ready for Spring!

Yep I'm counting down the sleeps & it's only fifteen more until SPRING!!!

However with the arrival of spring there are some things I will miss. Whilst other plants slowly realise that the ground has become warm enough for them to blossom & burgeon forth, the wonderful Viola's & Pansies that have bloomed all through the winter, giving me those spots of colour out on the patio will be winding down after their showy performance.

Hopefully these two troopers that were planted a bit later will last for a while yet  as they have to be two of the nicest colour Viola's I have seen in recent years.

Winter Walk

Sometimes (not very often!) it pays not to have a car. With an objective in mind, & a practical pair of trainers on my feet, I went for a walk....

Heading out of the suburbs towards the motorway

Fortunately there is a good path along the side of the motorway!

While I love open, airy spaces I'm not to thrilled at the prospect of getting wiped out by speeding traffic ;)

The plantings aren't too bad either, good use has been made of a lot of NZ native plants.

Toitoi

Ti kouka (Cabbage Tree)

Harakeke (NZ Flax)

Not so 'Native NZ' - beautiful Eucalyptus across the motorway

I could just see the snow capped mountains in the distance

Bare Poplars

Almost at my walks destination & heading back into suburbia

At least this suburbia isn't too built up. I tried to catch this horses attention.

Instead this lovely girl came over & visited me.

After a visit to the Garden Centre it was time to turn around & head home again, retracing my route 3km (1.8 miles) & heading back into the suburb  I live in.

Is it just me, or is there something rather incongruous about the bare trees & the tropical looking palms...

Oh I can almost see 'home' - not being used to trainers, my feet are ever so pleased!!

Still, sore feet or not, a lot of the sights would have been missed if travelling by car.

A Heatwave in Christchurch

Good grief a 16 degree Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) day in the middle of winter here is almost a positive heatwave.

Actually it was rather lovely (& has been so most of this week). It's nice to feel the sun on ones skin & not be rugged up in high neck clothes for a change.
OK - so it wasn't exactly t shirt weather, but it was just what I needed to put a bit of a spring in my step.

I guess that is one of the things I do like about this city, we can have a frost in the morning - but the day will be clear & bright with no heavy oppressive cloud.

The sun was enough to remind me to take the camera for a walk with me last week, I must remember to do so more often & perhaps photograph more than just the park ;o)

It' still summer in New Zealand

well in my head it is anyway. Or rather 'was'...until this week.

I've been thinking bright, & I've been thinking colour - last week I was even shopping for new flip flops. Last week I was still wearing flip flops.

I don't call myself De'borah de Queen of de Nile for nothing !! However, one can only deny so much.

That was last week. That was before it decided to rain. Now I know winter is on it's way. Along with the rain (which has been heavy & persistent) came the drop in temperature that meant some wardrobe readjustments just had to be made.

Now don't get me wrong - I love winter clothing! I adore boots & absolutely think the best of all fashions trends (whether it is in or not) is layering. I love seeing short worn over long, layers of colour, jeans with longer tops & topped with short jackets, waistcoats or vests & many combinations in between. I also like wearing some of it ( I'm kind anal about age appropriate), although I do tend to not get too carried away by what is classed as 'in fashion' - but likely to go right back out of fashion PDQ'!

Two of my favorite ranges are from New Zealand fashion houses that have been around for years (more than I care to remember). Vamp & VSSP, not cheap but certainly worth every cent you pay for the items.
Nice fabrics, quality workmanship & they will last for years. A lot of the items when analysed individually will also remain in fashion for years.

Love this look (& of course it has orange in there!)

My first experience with an item of clothing from the Vamp range was a pair of trendy black fashion jeans back in the early 80's. Those darn jeans just wouldn't wear out. Seven or eight years later when I finally put them in a Mission bin - they still looked like new apart from the styling. It certainly taught me a lesson in you get what you pay for.

These days I can't justify buying much from these ranges - working just one day per week doesn't allow a person the excuse to buy clothes the way it did when I spent more time at a Gallery & had exhibition openings to attend. But it doesn't stop me from looking (& thinking of the clothes from these ranges in my wardrobe that I need to shrink a couple of sizes to fit again!)

And if anyone asked me 'How to dress like an artist?' I would simply reply 'layers'.
I can easily imagine either of these ensembles with either skirts or 3/4 pants or a pair of gaucho's & boots .

Love this too!

And I can imagine the top layers in the image above teamed with this as well.

I would also say that black cotton/spandex leggings & short, short denim mini skirts don't count as layers - well not in anyone over 25 anyway!

Been away with the faeries

a bit lately - but hopefully am getting back on track now.

I'd like to blame winter & going into hibernation mode, but if I'm going to be honest I can't. This winter hasn't been that bad - I go out & hear people moaning - "isn't it cold", but really it's not - we've had loads of crisp, clear & even sunny days.
As far as I'm concerned this winter has been great.

I have actually torched two days in a row - somewhat of a breakthrough in itself!!!
More about that tomorrow when I have the results ready to show....if I'm feeling brave....or stupid!

Tonight I got a bit of knitting done, whilst watching "The Mummy" . Now why is it that when a new Movie in a series is released some TV channels feel the need to play re-runs of all the earlier ones??

Anyhow while watching & mourning the fact that there was no "Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson" to appease my eye's, I took more notice of the male cast in it.
Now I know that a couple of the ladies that read this blog think that Brendan Fraser is a hottie.
Yeah he's cute - but in a Hugh Grant floppy hair sort of way - now lets see, what were the other choices in that very first one...

There was of course, cutie Rick O'connell - Brendan Fraser:

Then there was High Priest Imhotep - Arnold Vosloo & c'mon girls he isn't exactly 'paper bag' material - well not in his regenrated state anyway!

And last, but by no means least, a certain Medjai Warrior, Ardeth Bay- played by Oded Fehr, who was quite a nice piece of candy to my way of thinking.
Of course he could have been easily missed (if you are blind...or actually concentrating on your knitting)

So ladies - who is brave enough to vote in the poll I've put up for this. I guess you are going to know my choice - lol!

My Muse May Have Taken Flight - But the Ducks Have Landed!

Winter in Christchurch, New Zealand, Southern Hemisphere has arrived.....it's wet & it's Official ;o)

Lake?Pond?.....Ducks??

We've been extremly fortunate actually - as far as I'm concerned it has been mild, most days have been bright & not to cold at all. To hear some you wouldn't think so - the first sign of a temperature drop & they are moaning about how cold it is.
We've had a minimal ammount of frosts & very little rain - until now.

Now let me tell you that I am the queen of anti-cold. I loathe & detest it, & feel it through to my bones. It makes me miserable.

I love heat - as far as I'm concerned the more heat the better, I will never complain about a really hot day. Rock on evenings where it's in low 30's at 10.00pm at night I say (around 89 degrees farenheit) - bother that was in Australia - it seldom happens here.

If I say it 'aint cold - it 'aint cold! This my first winter in a new house, instead of old villa's, or refurbished bungalows is the warmest I have been in 30 years, & boy does that make a difference to the way I feel, about everything.

That clever muse of mine - she knew it was going to rain. I suspect that's why she took off, I've a feeling she loves heat even more than I. Looking out of my bedroom window in the morning isn't exactly inspirational right now (in fact the neighbours yard to the left never is - can you tell?)
Maybe a torch session anyway will bring her back - Good idea Cindy ;o)

The Calm Before the Storm?

Nor'west Arch & Naked Tree's

I have to capture this - even if just to remind myself again that this is the warmest I have been in winter for almost as long as I can remember.

Here in Christchurch we are 2 days shy of being exactly in the middle of winter - yet it is 14 degrees (57 degrees farenheit for my stateside friends), bright, sunny & a beautiful n'orwest day.
Mallory - I think we are getting your weather!

I knew it was warm this morning when I walked into the garage....oops I mean the "studio"&, I could have just sat down to torch with no heater going to warm the area up first.
It's been mild all week, almost too warm, & at one point more than one of us has said "hmmmmm - snow weather" or "this is too good to be true" - my eternally droll, dry son replied "or there'll be an earthquake".

Sure enough there was an earthquake around lunchtime today - but we didn't feel it. It shook the lower half of the Island & was centered near Te Anau down the bottom of the South Island. Measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale - it wasn't too bad.

"So Much Green in Winter"