Hyacinths on my window sill

I walked into my kitchen this morning

and found the sunshine spilling on to my window sill!

I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of quick photos

as the weather has been dull and rainy the last few days.

My dear friend Jennie popped in for a cup of tea on Friday

and she had her lovely spoodle Annie with her.

We heard a noise and Annie had been sick on the carpet...

Jennie was very upset - I wasn't worried as our carpet has

seen better days and we will be replacing it later this year.

( Two days later the stain is still on the carpet, I remember hearing somewhere to put 

a couple of drops of glycerine on a stain and then polish it off

using a cloth with a little white vinegar on it)

If anyone has a good remedy I would be grateful 

it's a fairly large brown mark with an orange tinge - from her food presumably)

Jen rang me on Saturday to say she was popping in!

When she arrived she gave me this heavenly pink Hyacinth...

She said Annie had asked her to pop into the garden centre

and buy it for me, to make up for her oopsie on Friday!!!

Snowball Update

Dear Snowball has arrived safely in Australia.
As you know I was very anxious about her travelling
so far on her own.
My friends told me about an iPhone app called Flight Radar.
I typed in her flight number and miraculously
her aeroplane appeared on the screen,
she was flying across Bass Strait at the bottom of Australia.
Now I felt she was no longer on her own!

At the same time my son was driving to Melbourne
from the country area where he lives.
I was able to keep him informed as to her progress!

He arrived at the airport moments after Snowball's
plane touched down. Customs took a couple of hours
to process everything and once she was released
she was on the back seat of the car
purring her little heart out!

He has sent me photos via Whatsapp
but I'm having difficulty transferring them to my PC.
All's well that ends well!

   !!!

I'm joining Karen for Sunlit Sunday

Thank you Karen - I've enjoyed taking part over the

last three months and I'm sorry this is the last for a while!

I'm also joining Judith for Mosaic Monday

and 

Jess for The Art of Homemaking Monday

Stephanie for Roses of Inspiration

Eileen for Saturday Critters

Thank you ladies for hosting your interesting parties.

Thank you for your sweet comments on my Snowball posts!

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Tea Cup Exchange Party!

I love tea cups and all that goes with the

gentle art of tea drinking... so I was delighted when

Stephanie of The Enchanting Rose

told us she was having another Tea Cup Exchange party!

This beautiful cornflower tea cup and saucer

arrived in a parcel from Stephanie - what a lovely surprise!

I didn't know Stephanie was my giving exchange partner

Thank you

dear Stephanie for your beautiful gifts

I was 'over the moon' with everything you sent me!

As you can see there were so many beautiful items

and all hand made by Stephanie!

A lavender sachet, the sweetest fridge magnet, 

and a set of pretty greeting cards!

   

My receiving partner for the swap was

Asia of Under a Creative Spell

I visited Asia's blog to find out what she liked

and learnt, she loves Shabby Chic

which is what I like too - she was the perfect partner for me!

I sent Asia a vintage tea cup, saucer and plate

I found in my local Hospice shop!

I fell in love with it and felt Asia would like it too!

It was made by Royal Albert and has the lovely name

American Beauty.

I popped a few extras in the parcel including

a rosy tea towel, a fragrant drawer sachet

an embroidered linen tray cloth and a French magazine

called Shabby Chic!

I was in such a hurry to wrap my parcel

and get it to the Post Office....

and I totally forgot to photograph everything

(that's the second time - it happened at the last swap too)!

Merci Asia for sending me copies of your photographs!

Thank you

dear Stephanie for hosting your Tea Cup Exchange Party

it was a huge success and I'm looking forward to

the next one later in the year!

I'm linking this post to

Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Bernideen for Friends Sharing Tea

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Letter writing could be the answer....

Have you noticed I haven't left a comment

on your blog lately?

I'm having great difficulty with my computer

or is it with blogger?

Sometimes I can open your blog but only one photo

will show - the others are blank.

I try to leave a comment but I get the same message.

Has this happenned to you?

If so, how did you resolve it?

I would really appreciate your input.

You can email me if you prefer.

If this issue doesn't resolve itself soon

I think I'll go back to letter writing

which I enjoyed - back in the day!

The Auckland War Memorial Museum at dusk.

I appreciate your comments

take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Sunny Days with Snowball

I told you about little "Snowball" in a recent post

She is our son's cat and she has been our

VIP guest for a few weeks.

On Thursday she will fly to Melbourne and join him

and start her new life there.

Needless to say, I will miss her enormously. 

I have warned her about the snakes in Australia

I am worried in that regard, however she is a very intelligent

little girl and I'm sure she will work things out.

As you can see my garden has the first signs of Autumn tones

the gorgeous greeny/pink hydrangeas are turning darker

and becoming quite papery.

I've picked armfuls over summer and given bunches

to everyone who pop in.

My Pierre de Ronsard rose no longer has the beautiful

fat tight buds she had in early summer,

the flowers are softer and more blowsy

even so they are

exquisite

and still take my breath away

what do you think?

Little rays of sunshine to be found in my garden, so

I'm joining

Karen for Sunlit Sunday

and

Judith for Mosaic Monday

and

Stephanie for Roses of Inspiration

Thank you for your comments

take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Five on Friday

My daughter emailed me some photos this week.

This is Megève a little ski resort village in the French alps

where they rented a chalet for a week.

She said it was very family orientated

and had everything they needed for the girls.

There was a sad note to the week for me when

my son flew to Australia to work for a couple of years....

I'm trying to see the positives...

it's not as far away as France

and the flight to Melbourne takes only 3 hours 46 minutes.

Whereas the actual flying time from Auckland to Paris

is 26 hours - add to that hours spent waiting

at an airport for the connecting flight!

On a brighter note I celebrated my birthday

on Thursday.

I was at work and we had a Tiramasu cake for

afternoon tea

I totally forgot to take a photo!

I have a small collection of bells

and this is one of my favourites...

from time to time I'll show you the others too!

Do you have a special collection?

Tell me what you collect.

I walked past this sweet little cottage recently

beautiful roses  adding character to the house.

I'm joining Amy for Five on Friday

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Summer Waterfront Fences

This has been the best summer we've had in years

in New Zealand.

It's like those endless summers

I remember from my childhood.

Auckland is surrounded by water as it sits

on a narrow isthmus between two seas

the Pacific Ocean and 

the Tasman Sea...

hence our focus on boats and yachting

In downtown Auckland Viaduct Harbour is a pedestrian bridge

from the city side to the lively Wynyard Quarter

which is full of restaurants, bars and interesting boats.

Fishing boats come in here with their

daily catch to supply the Fish Market.

The Wynyard Viaduct bridge opens to let

boats come and go.

Overseas boats are moored in this safe haven

and one of our favourite walks in the weekends

is to see what new boats have arrived!

Auckland is currently hosting

the 2015 Volvo Yacht Race boats.

The Viaduct Harbour has been bustling with street entertainment,

making it a fun place to visit.

At 2pm on Monday the race boats leave us

for the next leg of their journey to Itajaí, Brazil.

Wishing all the crews a Bon Voyage and safe arrival in Brazil!

I'm joining Theresa for Good Fences

and

 Karen for Sunlit Sunday

and

Judith for Mosaic Monday

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane