February is racing past.

I need to check my diary - February is racing past and it is now the 19th and I cant remember everything I have done! There have been some quiet times and the weather has been variable - some really hot days continue with humidity up to 99% and some really wet days which means my lawn which hasnt been mown for 11 days looks like a bit of a jungle. Tui doesnt want to step outside on it - especially when it is wet and long. And we are expecting to get sideswiped by Cyclone Gita - so heavy rain and wind in a day or two.

Ridiculous but every time I do a task that was previously done by Peter I get quite proud of myself eg getting the campervan serviced and having discussions with the mechanic and getting the WoF done.. this time the chaps at the service centre gave her a thorough going over and although the $$$ ended up in four figures I know that everything possible has been checked or replaced - after all, who wouldnt prefer to be driving with refurbished brakes rather than rusty! I have also had a quote for a heat pump to try and get more cool air - think I might stick to fans and I got someone to come out and service the gas central heating in the house - will go well in winter! but right now I need to keep cool!

A couple of weeks ago I had to check out the replacement van for Jonathan, and although he gave me precise details of what he wanted, what questions to ask etc I was really pleased with what was chosen ( and the price!) and when I drove it to Palmerston north it ran so well I kept going over the speed limit.Although it was a very short stay  it was fun to be there when Callum made his "transition" from Keas to Cubs and what a good photo I got of him!

All my usual groups and classes have started up again in February and the new step was to start a watercolour painting class - the first class was quite challenging as the teacher's style was very unstructured and with a mixture of abilities in the class I wasnt sure quite what I was supposed to do - I learned a new word "underpainting" (Ive been off and looked at quite a few Youtube videos since then) and I think next time I will follow my own instincts and be a bit more confident.. We started out by painting a white cup - I am putting up a photo of my first attempt so that I can follow ( hopefully) some improvement - note this is definitely an unfinished, effort that I will take no further but it did look better the next morning once it had dried...Not sure what I will attempt tomorrow...

Definitely had paint in the  wrong places on the right in the underpainting but you can tell it was a cup and saucer!

 

In the evenings I am doing some quilting on this top I did as a mystery challenge - this will be donated to charity. I dont like the quilting part - it is very tme consuming!

And we had a challenge to make a small wall hanging with the first letter of our names - so L is for ....

This one is my response to "L is for ...love, lilies,....

 
Yesterday I drove a friend down to her elderly uncle inTairua on the Coromandel peninsula - beautiful scenery all the way
  Lovely drive in good company - she paints so we spent most of our time discussing which parts of the scenery would be paintable  - a couple of views of Ocean Beach Tairua - we both and Tui had a lovely paddle to cool off!

So now back to the hour of gardening and half an hour of Sanskrit if I am to finished today's To Do list.