Woops July is racing past

For some reason I have been a bit lazy about updating my blog this month although I have had quite a busy month

I started the month with a bit of a head cold so huddled pretty close to home and caught up on some sewing and listening to talking books and watching a few old movies on Youtube.

I did get quite a bit accomplished - finished off two quilts for charity - the squares had been done by someone else a very long time ago so I joined them up and then did the quilting.

 Campervan trip 1 - visit to Tauranga. It being school holidays and having none of my term time activities I took the opportunity to travel down to Tauranga via Paeroa and the Karangahake Gorge

Karangahake Gorge

My goal was to visit my cousin Linda.  Linda was the flower girl at my wedding and it seems funny that she is now a grandmother!. I always enjoy her company and I am in awe of her creativity - she is truly a "creative stitch artist and embroiderer" and her home has a wonderful view of the Tauranga harbour and Mount Maunganui.

After staying overnight ( and sleeping indoors) I eventually took off and found a lovely spot for the next night at the Tuapiro foreshore reserve - on the shores of the Tauranga harbour. Met an interesting woman Dianne who has been living in a campervan for 12 years. Her current van is very well fitted out with internet, Tv, good insulation and a comfy bed. Would I like to live that way - dont really think so.. no space for my current hobbies ... but might be fun for a little while, especially if visiting places hadnt been before and in nice weather.

After returning on Wednesday I  popped in to see Peter and bring him home. All well.
Quilting Thursday and then busy day Friday getting ready for Saturday and baking and making soup.

The "challenge" fabric

On Saturday had a busy day at the local Quilting Guild, where I ran a little workshop and handed out a "cheat" sheet for beginner quilters. Also handed out the challenge fabric from which we have to put together a 16" by 16" wall hanging which includes the challenge fabric in some way - be interesting to see what people come up with. I am not sure what I will do - could be fun!


Peter's son Brian and his friend arrived on Sunday from Australia and I took Peter out to the local Dog Show grounds to catch up with them - rain pouring down! Robyn was showing Kate, her beautiful Australian Silky. Brian and Fern came back with us and then took off in my car.

Weather was appalling and lots of roads closed including SH1 so decided not to leave until Monday morning.




Campervan trip 2 - visit to Palmerston North. Amazingly Monday dawned with blue sky and no rain ( albeit possibly only a temporary respite, so I packed up the campervan and took off! Leisurely trip down - called in on Peter and Su in Morrinsville. Good to catch up, then I headed off to arrive in Taupo in daylight and get a good spot to park the camper.  After a good sleep, and a couple of nice walks with Tui, I took my time and made my way south to Palmerston north. The mountain was covered with snow and looked glorious.

Went to swimming with the kids - the girls and I played in the main pool - oh my body ached after having a 5 and 6 year old using me as a diving board. Their swimming is coming along really well.
The next day  I went to Spotlight and got some more wool for the girls second round of beanies and some paint brushes. Amy had flown to Chch but Jonathan was around so I wasnt in sole charge! They did some painting - not too much mess - on exploring the internet for some "how to draw" pages, yes, Callum found another link to Minecraft - how to draw the characters in his computer game!
Rena, Ollie and their kids came round for dinner - nice people!

Then early the next morning Jonathan caught a train to his meeting in Wellington and the kids and I were on our own. After a slowish start, we went up to Te manawa museum for their holiday programme and the kids coloured in and then cut out and pout together cardboard robot figures. After lunch we packed bikes in tot he van and went up to the school with the bike track and they used up energy!!

And no, she didnt get any of Cordelia's apple crumble.

Friday we went to Te Manawa again for a puppet show and then on to Cloud Nine which  is a trampoline park - they bounced and bounced on all the different activities for another hour - another great way of using up energy!

It was very quiet when the kids had gone to their mother's, but sometimes quiet is good!
I took off about 10ish on Saturday morning to go to Turangi where I was to meet up with Brian and swap vehicles. I hadnt slept very well on Friday night - so found the driving needed careful attention but weather was OK and once again the Desert Road provided incredible scenery - i wish I could paint what I see - this is a gorgeous country - so much variety.

Peter junior was back from the Hawkes Bay where he helps on a very large hunting and fishing " place - 28,000 acres!! Brian eventually arrived and I decided to do a quick swap and drive back Saturday night - I was admittedly very tired and managed to take a couple of wrong turns in the dark - SH1B ( the back road)  is deceptive when it is completely dark - a moments inattention and I was heading off in the wrong direction - but thank goodness for Google maps!
I got home safely and collapsed into bed.

I went and got Peter on Sunday and we watched a Clark Gable movie and played solitaire on my computer ( well I played really.. )..

I am stil.l a bit stiff, but hopefully going to aquarobics this morning has shaken things a bit loose. So now I am starting again on my todo list - hopefully a quiet week before I get at least three sets of visitors and the sewing ladies will meet here over August while Margaret is away.

How fast did June go!

If I am going to keep this blog going I better get into gear. June just flew past.
After returning from my trip, I had a few days to recover then my brother Randall arrived for a few days which was nice - a good opportunity to catch up and show him where I lived.
We had a couple of interesting drives although the weather was pretty awful!

Randall couldnt resist Tui's big pleading eyes.

My friend Karen couldnt resist temptation - and bought the most awesome new canoe - the Lamborghini of kayaks with all the accessories - Oh if I was 20 years younger....

She tried it out here in wattle Downs on a gorgeous evening.

The following weekend I was off in the campervan to Palmerston north for Cordelias 5th birthday and her first day of school. The mid winter weather co-operated reasonably well.

First day of school for Cordelia

Happiness is two grand daughters who arrived in the campervan at 6am

Princess Cordelia on her 5th birthday

My parking spot at Waiouru on the way down

The next weekend  I organised a sewing bee for the local Quilting Guild where we mostly worked on charity quilts - a very constructive day!

A Quilt as you go strip quilt

Meantime I was furiously trying to get the next edition of the School of Philosophy magazine that i edit ready - it is currently being printed and thank goodness I only had to write one of the articles myself this time. Some good contributions from others once I chased them up. Anyone interested in reading the current and past issues of Vision they will be available at http://www.philosophy.school.nz  once the webmaster reconstructs the website.

And this last weekend a very special time when Annabelle chose a flight up to see Nana for her 6th birthday - we had a playdate with cousin Maia ( thank you Auntie Dorothy, went swimming at Miranda after visiting Auntie Robyn, went to Butterfly creek, had a special birthday afternoon tea with Grandad ( his 93rd birthday) and she had a go with my watercolour paints ( with a bit of advice from Nana - although she handled the brushes.). All in all a lovely weekend having one on one time with a super kid.

 So all in all, been a pretty eventful month. Lousy weather except for a few beautiful blue sky days - but it is winter and at least my heating system works. This house is quite warm!