Moments in My Week

Autumn colours and Autumn light

filtering through the trees

"When Autumn leaves start to fall"

makes me think of the beautiful song by

Nat King Cole.

(I tried to insert musical notes here, to no avail. 

If you know how to do this could you please let me know)!

Morning Glory is everywhere - climbing banks, trees and

anything else it can find.

On Thursday our embroidery group met at Rose's home

which meant a drive from Auckland to Hamilton.

As always we had such an enjoyable time

catching up on each others news.

Rose made a delicious chocolate cake topped with

Red Kiwifruit and strawberries and we

had whipped cream on the side!

I hope you've all had an enjoyable week too!

I'm joining 

Amy for Five on Friday

Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday

Mimi for Five Star Frou Frou

Susanne for Friday's Fave Five

Nancy for Random 5 Friday

Cath for Fun Friday Favourites

Thank you all for your visits!

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane

Moments in my Week

Autumn flowers - Japanese Anenomes

A drive to the Waterfront on Sunday
is a regular occurence 
when one is married to a Yachtie!

We also enjoyed a walk along

Milford beach 

Autumn blooms of Pierre de Ronsard
I think she's called
The Eden Rose in the US and maybe Canada too!
Whatever the name she is lovely!

I was also invited to a baby shower!




I'm joining
Mimi for Five Star Frou Frou
Amy for Five on Friday
Susanne for Friday's Fave Five
Nancy for Random 5 Friday
Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday
and
Cath for Fun Friday Favourites

Thank you ladies for hosting!

Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt



Shane

Moments in My Week

On my trip to the Waikato on Wednesday,
the client I visited told me to look out for cows
in Morrinsville!

I expected to see real cows but this is what she was
talking about!
Isn't this one gorgeous. 
We discovered a small herd of 8-10
life sized cows throughout the main street!

The last roses of Summer on my archway.
This is Pierre de Ronsard which I've shown you many times.
Such a worthwhile rose to have in the garden.
It is at it's best in Spring, but continues flowering through Summer
and as you can see above, well into Autumn too.
My only regret is it's lack of fragrance.

Dawn in my neck of the woods.
I'm up at 5am on my work days and 
I captured this exquisite sky before I drove out the driveway.
I love photographing skies - what about you?

The May issue of New Zealand House & Garden

magazine arrived in my letterbox this week.

Usually the May issue focuses on Mothers Day

and spoiling our mothers, baking etc

but this one only gives a cursory nod to mothers.

Change - it is happening everywhere!

Someone who never changes is the Queen
and what an example she is to all of us!
Celebrating her 90th birthday and
63 years as the Monarch of Great Britain
and the Commonwealth.

New Zealand was a founding member of the Commonwealth
family in 1931 and we remain loyal to the Queen.
Congratulations Your Majesty!

Some days as I head off to work 
I ask myself "why am I doing this at my age"
and I'm only in my seventies!!!

Last night we watched a wonderful BBC documentary 
of the Queen's life.
The Queen "works" almost every day of the year.
The only days she doesn't have to read
the Parliamentary 'red box'
are her birthday and Christmas Day.
Now that is real dedication to duty.
God Bless the Queen.

Today I'm joining these parties
Mimi for Five Star Frou-Frou
Susanne for Friday's Fave Five
Amy for Five on Friday
Nancy for Random 5 Friday
Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday
Cath for Fun Friday Favourites


Thank you all for your visits

Take care and
be kind to one another.

à bientôt




Shane

Moments in My Week

The winding country road with a few Autumn leaves.
In the weeks ahead our deciduous trees
will be shedding their leaves.

I've started filling the bird feeders
with wild bird seeds so they don't go hungry.
The weather is still mild but each morning
when I wake up and look out the window
there is a large flock of various birds
sitting on the brick wall
and in the trees waiting for me!

Toiletries make lovely birthday gifts!

A family of Pukeko at the garden centre.
Pukeko is the Maori name for them
you may know them as Swamp Hens.

All across New Zealand children are learning

about the life sycle of the Monarch butterfly.

They lay their eggs on Swan plants

then feed on their host until they form a

chrysalis and emerge as a butterfly.

Because of the high demand

garden centres often run out of Swan plants.

A collection of books on one of my bookshelves.

I'm joining 

Mimi for Five Star Frou Frou
Susanne for Friday's Fave Five

Amy for Five on Friday

Nancy for Random 5 Friday

Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday

Cath for Fun Friday Favourites

and

Bernideen for BTTCG


Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt



Shane

Moments in my Week

I think this must be Cotton Tail - don't you?!
Spotted through a fence on the way to
Sandspit at the weekend.

I'm at my happiest in the countryside
I'm not at all a city girl
in spite of living in the city
for my entire married life - 46 years
(on Monday 11th April)!

Our embroidery group met yesterday,

this is always a very relaxing day.

The picture above is a hint of Rose's next project

(Rose is the creative one in our little group).

These beautiful threads and silk ribbon will be used

to embroider a paisley design for a cushion!

I'll give you an update once she gets started!

We met at Thelma's
and she made us a delicious salmon salad for lunch with
fresh grainy bread - all very healthy.

For afternoon tea we had Madelines and
Apple Roses - both extremely yummy!
If you would like the recipe and 'easy peasy' technique
for making these Apple Roses
let me know and I'll email it to you
(don't forget your email address if I haven't got it already).

I subscribe to an email newsletter called
Bonjour Paris.
The latest issue arrived at my computer this week
One of the articles was about the
restoration of the Royal apartments at
Palace of Versailles.

Guerlain are taking orders for their
limited edition perfume called
Le Bouquet de la Reine.
The price will be... 550,00 € tax incl.
($921 in New Zealand dollars)
...just a tad over my budget
how about you?

I'm joining Mimi for Five Star Frou-Frou
Amy for Five on Friday
Nancy for Random 5 Friday
Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday
Cath for Fun Friday Favourites
and
Bernideen for BTTCG


Thank you everyone for popping in
I love reading your comments!

Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt




Shane

Thank you ladies for hosting your link-ups!

Moments in my Week

Little Jimmys is a new cafe

in Greenwoods Corner near where I live.

The Embroidery Group girls took me

there for my birthday lunch

and the food was great.

Can you see the water bowls on the pavement?

Dogs are welcome at cafes here 

so long as you sit at an outside table.

My usual Cafe Latte

and the yellow rose was attached 

to my present from Mary.

This is usually a white hydrangea

I love the pink hues it takes on

as we come into Autumn.

Could we be in Italy?

I wish!

It is a conifer lined driveway

in Epsom near where I live!

It's fun to dream - don't you agree?

A gift from my dearest friend

we've known each other since we were 10yrs

that's 60+ years.

Have any of you read it?

I can't put it down.

It's so beautifully written,

I won't tell you any more about it - I don't want to spoil it.

It is a "must read".

I'm joining Amy for Five on Friday
Nancy for Random 5 Friday
Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday
and
Cath for Fun Friday Favourites

thank you ladies for hosting
it's a fun way to finish up the week.

Thank you for your visits

Take care and

be kind to one another.

à bientôt

Shane

Five on Friday

This is one of my new roses this season called

Munstead Wood, a David Austin bred rose.

It has the features of the wonderful old fashioned roses

full blown cabbage like petals

highly fragrant and

it has been flowering since November.

One can't ask more than that!

Little and Friday is a cafe/bakery here

they sell delicious cakes, slices, meringues and biscuits

as well as jams and pickles and chutney.

It's summer and the living is easy.

Kohimarama is a great white sandy beach 

on the Eastern Bays close to the city.

We have so many beaches in Auckland

that they are never crowded 

like they are in the South of France.

We're not used to wall to wall people at the seaside!

A couple of weeks ago we did a little road trip 

to the Bay of Plenty to see some of my cousins.

We had dinner here at Molly O'Connors restaurant.

Good food and good Irish music - just what I love!

It brought back wonderful memories

of our trip to Ireland last year!

If you read one of my recent posts you may remember

I'm on the hunt for tiles for the kitchen splash back

so I photograph them if I can't buy them!

I hope all my friends in the Northern Hemisphere

are keeping warm and safe inside.

We saw reports on TV about the storms - WOW!

Enjoy your weekend.

I'm joining Amy for Five on Friday
 and
Mimi for Five Star Frou-Frou
and
Cath for Fun Friday Favourites

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane