Rotorua Trip

Mount Ruapehu on the way up

Dan on top of Tokorangi Pa. Lake Rotorua in the background

A very hot Kerosene Creek

Bubbling mud

Waikato River just before Huka Falls

Kinloch from W2K Track

A very busy Spa Park

Christmas in the US

Taliesin West

'Jeepin' with Uncle Les and Kendall

Our driver for the day

Hiking up Camelback Mountain

Christmas trees at the summit

Oregon coast

Blow hole at Depot Bay

Christmas Day bike ride at Marys Peak

Sunny day on the other side of the harbour

Snow capped Kaikouras

Lake Kohangapiripiri

Bluff overlooking the South Coast

Pencarrow Lighthouse

Miramar Peninsula and Mt Kaukau

South Island Road Trip

Queen Charlotte Sound

Whites Bay

Mailing Pass and the Waiau Valley

Leaving the Waiau Valley

Ces Clark Hut on the Croesus Track

Franz Joseph Glacier

Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables

Clutha River where it leaves Lake Wanaka

Rude Rock Trail, Queenstown

Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki

More quilts

Over our less than perfect summer I have finished off a couple of quilts, trying out a few different styles and colour combinations. Hopefully I am getting a little bit better (neater) with some practise. I even attempted some hand quilting... although I'm not sure how successful I was at that as it took several attempts on some sections of the quilt.

 

This one was from a jelly roll - and matches our couch pretty well. 

This one is for a little girl - Olive, 4 yr - who is obsessed with cats. 

This one is for my god-daughter and youngest cousin - Sophie Bostock who will soon be 4. I especially like the colour combination on this one and it has some of the same fabric as another quilt that I made for my other god-daughter in Colorado - Mallory Koy. 

Pencarrow Lighthouse Ride

We have both been doing lots of chores the last few days as well as squeezing in a few bike rides. Today was the nicest day since Christmas so we decided to ditch the chores for a day and go have some fun. We decided to head out and revisit Pencarrow Heads, on the opposite side of the Wellington Harbour. We hadn't been out there for many years and several new tracks have been developed since then around the lakes and up the lighthouse.

Lake Kohangapiripiri and Pencarrow Lighthouse, with Wellington harbour and city in the background

View from the highpoint

View of one of the lakes from the lookout

Climbing up to the lighthouse, several short steep pinches... but mostly rideable.

Descending from the lighthouse, Helen with tongue out for added concentration.

Lots of people out cycling, walking, and collecting seafood along the coast. Temperature was very pleasant and not too windy, although the northerly picked up after lunch. A great summer day in Wellington. Hopefully we will get a few more this summer...

Shutters

We have the same problem in the bedroom as in the lounge - how to block out light and still let the breeze in. I found these kit-set shutters on line and thought we could give them a try.  I ordered them several months ago and they finally arrived on Friday.

Some of the pieces

First one assembled

All mounted up

And opened up

We are pretty happy with the shutters. We have to orde another set for the spare bedroom.

Projects progress

Today is the first day of my 'retirement'. I have a feeling I am going to be busier in my retirement than I was when employed. Sometimes I was happy to go back to work on Monday as it gave me chance to recover from the long weekends activities.

Here are a few pictures of where some of the projects I have been working on are up to.

Patchy grass growth

The last of the dirt has been removed and grass planted. Some of the starter soil was old and the cats liked it as well so the new growth is rather patchy. Hopefully it will fill in a bit more.

Cleared and ready for gravel

The north side of the house will get weed mat and gravel as well as few pavers so you can walk around the house in bare feet.

First look at the wardrobe doors

The wardrobe doors have made it to the painting stage. I don't like painting and tend to rush this part, but since I am going to have to look at these things every morning when I wake up, I figure I better take my time and do a good job. Here they have had a primer coat and I have filled in some of the holes from knots.

Drawers for the inside of the wardrobe

Here are all the drawers (minus one that will go in the middle). They are sitting on the plywood that will become the carcass. I still need to cut, paint and attach the drawer faces. So lots still to do...

Winter projects

The wintery weather has encouraged indoor activities. Aaron has been busy in the garage building various wooden items for the house. I have been doing a quilt course over the last few weekends at one of the local sewing shops. I was going to just give it a go - but a friend of mine who has won many competitions with her quilts suggested that I start by going on a course as there are a lot of tips and tricks that make it a lot easier.

Here is the front and back of my first quilt. I am quite pleased that it turned out almost square and almost the right size.... I am not ready to make a simple one without help.

The front - rather bright and colourful.

The back is a little more subdued and you can see the
diagonal quilting lines - almost straight :)

One of Aaron's projects has been to make storages boxes for under the bed. He had a bunch of plywood left over from a project that didn't work out so came up with the boxes as a way to use up the wood. Our bed room is quite small so anything that provides more storage is good.

Boxes under the bed

Box with the lid closed

And with the lid open

And the side table. This started out as a $30 table with metal legs I bought off Trade Me. I removed the legs and cut the top into two pieces. The larger piece became the top of my side table and the smaller piece the shelf at the bottom. I had to buy the wood for the legs but everything else came from the original table.