Sweet Mary

I have been lucky enough to acquire my son's old computer as he has bought himself a lovely little AppleMac. Its much faster than my old one which means that I hardly ever curse when things go wrong because they hardly ever do! I have set this "new" one up in the spare room which makes it very handy to my sewing room and also gives me a gorgeous view of the woodland garden. Those branches will be covered with blossoms come springtime. For a few weeks the computer was atop a very ugly and large trestle table and I found myself hankering after something smaller and more vintage looking. Last Saturday, after a trawl around a few local second-hand dealers I found this very nice desk - it has two deep drawers for my junk and is just the right size for me. Its painted the white I wanted and only cost me $40. I feel very happy with myself and am enjoying sitting at it right now! The beautiful screen saver is courtesy of my husband .

Friends dropped by in the weekend - Nic made this very pretty patchwork bag which now hangs on my side of the bed. It was full of goodies to eat which we have duly done and a packet of Green Gate paper napkins which really are too nice to use. I guess they will be put away with "the" collection. Though in my new mood of wanting to clear out stuff I may have to use them (eek!). Annie, our baby has been very exhausted by the move. So many new places to explore that a full afternoon snoozing on the sofa is the only way to cope. Our older cat has taken to the spare room only making quick forays out to eat, pee and scratch up the sofa to show her displeasure on the way. Over the weekend I also managed to restock the yellow dresser which doesn't seem to have made much differance to the mountain of boxes growing in the living room. I am quite perplexed as to where all this stuff has come from - surely the moving company have dumped someone elses junk on me. On a more positi...

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day in the Hawkes Bay. We were up early as part of our "autumn/winter project" to get the house and garage sorted and de-cluttered. It will take us all this time because there is so much to do! We spent most of the morning in the garage and after the third and last load was hauled off to the tip - recycling where we could, it was all looking pretty good. Coffee with raspberry and lemon muffins while looking out over the garden was our reward. Holly tree in a pot in the foreground still decorated with fake red holly berries from Christmas time. It even fools the birds! Its actually a holly that has yellow berries and only in winter which is nowhere near our Christmas time in New Zealand. I spent many years living in the UK and still miss the "specialness" of the celebrations there. Thats not to say I don't enjoy myself here, there is just something about Christmas in a cold climate that is magical. This is the tree that Annie loves ...