The long languid days of Summer.....

Hello dear blogging friends

have you wondered where I've been?

We have had the most amazing Summer

down under - like the ones we all

remember from our childhood.

When every day is more perfect than the one before!

When not working, my days have been spent

out and about, walking along the beach

to catch the sea breeze

or in the park beneath the huge old trees

trying to keep cool!

For me the languid hot days are not conducive

 to sitting at my computer writing!

I have been reading your posts and

I'm pretty much up to date with what you

are all doing!

I see my dear Northern Hemisphere friends

have been dealing with snow, snow and more snow.

Seeing your photos of shovelling 

mounds of snow to create a pathway

made me feel exhausted!!!

My garden has suffered from the drought

this Summer.

I have been reluctant to water more than

once a week, in my effort to conserve water.

My five new David Austen roses are all

looking rather sad......

However we had a good downpour yesterday

so they will bounce back and fingers crossed

I will have flowers again!

These photos were taken on a visit to the

Auckland Botanical Gardens

which covers 64 hectares of gardens and forest.

~

The day we visited it was full of family groups

and it was wonderful to see the children

running and playing as I'm sure many of them

live in smaller houses and apartments now

with small gardens.

The price of property in Auckland now is prohibitive

for young families, I really feel sorry for the ones

buying their first home.

Is it the same where you live?

.....until next time.

I look forward to reading your comments and

catching up with what you are up to!

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane xx

Reflecting on Treasured Moments of 2018

The photos in my collage represent some 

of our treasured moments

over the past year.

Our French family have now been in New Zealand

for 16 months!

They moved north of Auckland in April,

and bought a cafe which they renovated and

it is now a French Bistro!

They found Auckland was too busy and expensive

and wanted to live in a smaller community,

close to beaches, as this was what our daughter

missed the most when living in inland in France.

The girls have thrived, both physically and intellectually.

The eldest has adjusted to the different school system

and is doing well academically.

At 15 she has set herself goals for the next few years,

through to university and more!

Our middle granddaughter is 13, 

she is very sporty, and takes part in everything that's on offer!

Before Christmas she had surfing lessons and just loves it...

She is very outgoing, has lots of friends and is up for

adventure!

Our sweet 6 year old turns 7 in a few days.

She found the change of countries the most difficult.

Initially the Kiwi school children

had difficulty understanding her french accent.

However, she has now made two or three good friends

and finished the year on a much happier note.

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane xx

2017 - Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
from Auckland where I live.

Wishing you all good health
and a safe and peaceful world 
for each and every one of us to live in.

This year is very special for me as
 I'm looking forward to the arrival of my French family 
coming to live in New Zealand!
For me this will be a dream come true and
something that has been on my New Years wish list
for a very long time.😃

Here are the latest photos of

my granddaughters in Paris for

Christmas week

They visited Disneyland Paris

and Galeries Lafayette to see the Christmas Tree

and meet with Papa Noel!

For me the last six months of 2016 simply flew by.

My 2-3 days a week working

more often became 4 and sometimes 5 days

which sadly left me no time for writing blog posts.

However, I feel fortunate to be valued as a team member
in a young working environment!

With both of our children living overseas
I enjoy my contact with the younger generation.
I admire their 'can do' outlook on life
they all have dreams, plans and long term goals
and in today's market of higher salaries
life is good for them!

So here I am back in this wonderful world of
Blogging!
My goal is to post as time allows
I'm very much looking forwarding to rekindling
the wonderful friendships I've made while blogging
and I feel blessed to be part of this great on-line family!

Thank you to the special friends who popped in to say hello!

Please fill me in on what's happened, what I've missed
out on and any updates you think I should know.

Let me know if there is a new party you think I would enjoy
what books, CDs, movies you recommend not to be missed
special recipes you consider "must haves" and so on.
Whose had babies and grandbabies?

I'm way  behind the eight ball after missing 6 months here!!!

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane

Five on Friday

Our weekend breakfast often consists of

bacon and egg on toast

followed by a couple of cups of coffee

and enjoying eating at a leisurely pace!

I subscribe to this magazine and it

arrived in my mailbox during the week.

I love a good magazine

and there's lots to inspire in this issue.

A patio rose in my garden called
The Fairy
she's not a good picker but lovely in the garden.

This little antique french porcelain box
was given to me by my embroidery friends
for a special birthday.
It's only 2 inches (2.5 centimeters)
just to give you an idea of size.
It's one of my very favourite things!

Can you see the little bird
sitting expectantly on her nest?
As you know we are moving into Autumn
on my side of the world,
therefore she seems to have her seasons mixed up!

I'm joining Amy for Five on Friday


Thank you all for your visits and
wishing everyone a happy weekend.

Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt


Shane

Roses... I Love You

My new rose Munstead Wood bred by David Austin

As I'm writing this post it is late afternoon on

St Valentine's Day.

A special day to say

I'love YOU.

It has become a day for giving someone special

in your life

a bouquet of Red Roses

or

a box of Chocolates

This is the biggest day for flower shops

and the post popular order is

a bouquet of one dozen red roses.

This was a birthday card I received last year but wouldn't it make the perfect Valentine card!

My husband wished me a
Happy Valentine's Day
this morning.
We don't go overboard on these commercialised days
sometimes he will buy me a box of chocolates
and I might make him a card
however this year
there are no choccies as we are both watching
our respective waistlines.....

With clear blue skies
I've been busy in the garden all day
so I haven't had time to make a card.
We're very low key compared to some of our friends
We feel we don't need chocolates or cards
to say "I love you",
we both know we love and appreciate each other!

I'm joining Karen for Sunlit Sunday
Judith for Mosiac Monday
Bernideen for BTTCG
and
Stephanie for Roses of Inspiration


Thank you all for popping in to say hello

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

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

First up some exciting news!
This Saturday 7th March, my blog is being featured on
Saturday Spotlight
over at Kris's lovely blog

Junk Chic Cottage
So if you would like to know a little more about me
I would love you to pop over and have a look!

I told you a couple of weeks ago of the impending
visit of my oldest and dearest best friend.
I was all of a flurry cleaning the house from head to toe.
Everything had to be perfect
so the windows were gleaming - the cushions all foofed up
flowers and candles in place, baking treats in the tins
all ready for our very special VIP visitor!
My husband mentioned a couple of times
'is the Queen coming to see us'!
They just don't get it do they.

After work on Tuesday I picked Ange up from the airport
(I snapped the photo above as we left the airport on dusk)
and we didn't stop talking until she left on Friday morning!

That's what best friends do!

In preparation for Ange's visit

I decided the guest room needed freshening up

I painted the old dressing table with

Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Grey

then finished it with several coats of AS Soft Wax.

I was thrilled with the result - Merci Mary dear!

My friend Mary at A Breath of Fresh Air

inspired me to try this colour!

Do pop over and visit her gorgeous blog and please

tell her I sent you!

We enjoyed an action packed few days
visiting the 'Wow' exhibition at the museum
(I'll do a post on that next week).

Also the Auckland Art Gallery where we both loved
the "Soom" installation created by a very talented
Korean/New Zealand artist Seung Yul Oh.
It comprised of sixteen oversized transparent PVC bubbles.
'Soom' translates as 'breath' in Korean.
It was quite magical!

And all too quickly it was over and she was gone....
we had a wonderful time with lots of laughs and reminiscing,

On Saturday morning things were back to normal.
 I spent a couple of hours
'dead-heading' the roses in the Nancy Steen Rose Garden.
I'm part of a group of volunteer rose lovers
who help out to ensure this public garden is looking it's best
at all times. It is visited by a huge number of tourist
who join the city bus tours, so we want them to
leave with a lasting memory of a beautiful garden!

My long time blogging friends will know I'm a lover of
old fashioned roses.
I belong to the NZ Heritage Rose Association
you can go here for more rose photos!

On Saturday my blog is

I'm joining Amy for Five on Friday

Take care and
be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt


Shane