Middle Earth Airline

Have I told you I love airports?
I especially enjoy visiting our international airport.
I like to sit in the observation room
and watch the arrival and departure of planes.

 

Earlier this month

I took these photos of an Air New Zealand

'Hobbit' Middle Earth aeroplane arriving!

I'll let you into a little secret

visiting the international airport

 is special for me

because it is the point where I start my long journey

when I'm on my way to visit my family in France!

For some weird reason

it makes me feel closer to them.....

just knowing that I can hop on a plane

and 25-30 hours later

I can be hugging my darling granddaughters.

So now the cat's now out of the bag!

I'm joining Mary for Mosaic Monday

and Our World Tuesday

and Blue Monday 

I hope to see you there.

See you all again soon, in the meantime please

take care and be kind to each other 

Merci à bientôt

♥ Shane ♥

MAY NOTE CARDS

I love Vee's Note Card Party

and I usually have my post prepared in advance.

I've been working a lot lately therefore the

the usual standards are slipping somewhat!

My organisation has flown out the window

so please forgive me Vee for arriving late to 

your party!

The first two Note Cards are the type of cards I create

from time to time to send to my daughter

and darling granddaughters in France

so they can see what our home and garden

look like at various times of the seasons.

The third Note Card just happened!

I love taking photos of doors, gates and windows
these were from Summer in France 2013.

After I created this collage

the words just came to me!

 Please pop over to Vee's and look at

all the other charming Note Cards!

See you all again soon, in the meantime please

take care and be kind to each other 

Merci à bientôt

 

♥ Shane ♥

Autumn Fruit

Autumn's bounty is generous

and each year I look forward to

savouring the delicious fruit of the Persimmon tree.

Tamarillo's are another fruit

that ripen at this time of year

also known as Tree Tomatoes.

I usually make chutney

which is delicious served with cold meats.

I'm joining Mary for Mosaic Monday

~~~~~~~~~~

There's a very special giveaway I want to share with you

Vicki of the inspiring blog

2 Bags Full

makes exquisite birds nests and

this Spring nest is part of her amazing giveaway.

The link is on my side bar

be assured you won't want to miss this one!

Take care and be kind to each other 

Merci à bientôt

 

♥ Shane ♥

A Yellow Rose

As Autumn has my garden in her grasp
I'm making the most of the last blooms.
My lovely roses are bravely offering up
the odd flower here and there.
In a couple of weeks I will prune them
and say Merci and Au Revoir until next Spring!

Rose brought me this lovely yellow bloom
on our last embroidery day.
I can't remember the name
but I want to order it to plant in Spring.
 If you would like to know the name too
let me know in your comment
and I will be in touch.

I'm joining Gemma for  
Monday Mellow Mondays
and
Macro Monday
and 
Isabelle at Le Chateau des Fleurs

to my dear friends on the other side of the world
I'm really enjoying seeing your Spring gardens
the beautiful lilacs just take my breath away
sadly, they don't grow where I live..

why is it always the unattainable
that we desire most?

Take care and be kind to each other 

Merci à bientôt

♥ Shane ♥

Colourful Photo Challenge - May

I used Pixlr and BeFunky to boost saturation and blur the edges.

May's Personal Photo Challenge topic

set by Donna is

COLOURFUL

If you would like to join in

please visit Donna's blog here for her tips and suggestions!

Our embroidery group had a special lunch

at a French cafe on Tuesday

to celebrate Rosie's significant birthday!

I mentioned to the girls that I hoped to find

something colorful to photograph that day!

When I saw these brilliant red cakes I knew this

was the photo op I was waiting for!

I took this photo of my granddaughter at Château de Fontainebleau last year.

This was taken last year in France too - in a wheat field in mid Summer.

I use a basic “Point and Shoot” 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 with a Leica lens.

I followed Donna's suggestion and

edited each photo to adjust the colour saturation, 

vibrance and contrast.

Do pop over and see what everyone else

comes up with here!

Thank you Donna for continuing to

inspire me to think about what I am

seeing through the lens before I click!!

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

a little reminder.....
Kerrie's beautiful Giveaway
closes tomorrow 10 May
so hop over to her blog here 

to be in the draw.
Bonne chance!

Take care and be kind to each other

    

Merci à bientôt

♥ Shane ♥

Fresh Cut Flowers

My roses are almost finished for the season
 last week I picked the last
little spray of flowers of 'The Fairy'.
She has bloomed her little heart out all summer long
thank you dear Fairy!

The white rose is 'Iceberg'
it does very well in Auckland
and blooms from November to May.
I've got six bushes in one bed
and they have put on a good show for months.

I will prune and feed them in early June
and put them to bed for the winter.

I'm joining Liz for Fresh Cut Friday
and
Mary for Mosaic Monday

Take care and

be kind to one another

  Merci à bientôt

Shane x

 

Gathering the moments - APRIL 2014

This year is moving far too fast for me!

I've reached that stage in life
where I'm quite happy for time to stand still at times
so I can capture and fully enjoy the
very special moments
that make up the rhythm of life.
 I want to commit these moments to memory forever
so in years to come I can look back and recall
I remember when..... 

It was a month of of seasonal happenings.
We had Easter - our most important feast
in the Church's year
celebrating the Resurrection of
Christ our Saviour.

Then on 25th April - Anzac Day

commemorating the soldiers of the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

who fought in WW1 and WW2

side by side

in far away lands

for God, King and Country.

I'm linking to Cheryl of Thinking About Home

for her monthly meme

Gathering the Moments

Wishing you all a very happy month of May.

Take care and

be kind to one another

  Merci à bientôt

Shane x

'Seamist'

We bought this old classic launch last year

and my husband 'The Yachtie'  is restoring it...

a labour of love!

The interior has been ripped out and he is

more or less starting from scratch!

We know the hull has 'good bones'

so she was worth saving.

She will be re-launched pre Christmas 2014

in time for Summer cruising!