All ready for school tomorrow!

Johnson china

This post is really about three special women."Many moons ago" I suggested to a friend that it would be great to have china in liturgical colours.Looking with her at her local "op" shop she found some Johnson china. Yes I said excitedly this is exactly what I mean.And so the collection was started.I don't know how this wonderful friend manages it but on birthdays and Christmas since then she has presented me with this beautiful china in a variety of colours and designs.Thank you Orma!

Recently another friend offered me a solution to storing my wonderful china when it is not in use. Up until now I have wrapped it back in newspaper and stored it in cardboard boxes under the office desk. So when Tracey offered me two drawers on casters my new china cabinet was born!

Lastly I thank my daughter ,who has also decided she likes this china, for unwrapping the china and putting it so beautifully arranged in its new cupboard. Think me strange but I love to come out and just stare at it all! Oh and an important thank you should also go to her for the wonderful meals she has presented to us on high days and holidays(feast days) on said china.

The chicks progress

Homemade Christmas

These are late posts and I admit I am posting them "back in time"(ie post date adjusted)But I thought the work that was put into our home-made Christmas was too good to go unnoticed.
OK I admit I'm biased, but who wouldn't thrill over two beautifully decorated calico bags, or a daughter(no photo this one) who spent(lots of time)typing out all my favorite recipes onto card which she then color coded and laminated.

The pictures show from the bottom a "sail away" ship on its designer painted sea. Next we have an ornament given from one son to his older sister. The other brother made one for a friend and I also made one for a friend.Haven't heard how she liked hers but the others were very appreciative.Next is a floral bookmark, because in a home that is almost literally supported structurally by its books can you ever have too many bookshelves! The shield and sword were made by ds8 on his own with no help from anyone(ie all his own idea!)as was the bookmark(bird again) at the top which he gave to me. I love it, and keep it in my current read.

Home-made Christmas Pt 1

This is the first of a back-dated post on our homemade Christmas. Not everything we give at Christmas is home-made. We find many good books at op-shops. And garage sales also make for good stocking fillers.But wherever a gift is "found", the emphasis is always on giving from the heart.So to the pictures: centre bottom is a Christmas "robin"from ds(12) for his dad. The robin has kind of a family joke about it. A few years back the same ds "discovered" a mysterious bird visiting our yard. The bird had red on it. Stories were written in english about our mystery bird...which we discovered later was in fact a robin(though not the english variety!)The owl with the orange beak was sewn by ds(8) and the other owl by ds(12). They were made for their older brother who has an ever growing owl collection(non-living kind!).Finally at the top are my beautiful angels hancrafted for me by my owl collecting son.

Someone special turns seven horray!

Colour me yellow!

The weather may not be ideal for a gardener's paradise. It does take some attention even to get it looking like this. It will never be a Hawkes Bay garden...but we do our best!

His eye is on the "sparrow"

This little baby was spotted on our ancient swing set by youngest son. Turtle-collared doves are frequent(permanent?)visitors to our yard. As you can see parents were close by.

And then there were two

At least they will be company for each other. This one hatched this morning.Anyone wanting some silky bantams...did I mention "the boys" bags are packed also!

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you...twelve drummers drumming, but we figured twelve drummers drumming would take up way too much room, so we drummed up something special for you...hope this keep this from being just another hum-"drum" day for you!

Look what we found!

Look what was discovered in our silky bantam run this morning. She was all by herself cheeping"won't someone come and tell me who I am". Very very cute and how she made it through the night with the rooster and some rather "batty" bantam aunts makes you feel that she deserves a chance to life...but now with hot and hotter days looming. And the possibility that...shh I'll whisper it "she might actually be a ...he!"
























We discovered that SHE (emphasis intentional!) responded well to "mummy hand".Finally the boys found this cute easter basket to emphasize the um "cuteness" of the situation!

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you...eleven pipers piping, so here is a (bubble) pipe of your own, have fun with it!

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: your true love gave to you...ten lords-a-leapin' (no one said whether they were leap frog lords or not!)

Some summer fun at the beach

ON THE Ninth DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you...nine ladies dancing...Here are some canes used by the nine ladies who were out dancing all night!

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you...eight maids a-milking. Here is some “milky” straws we got from the eight maids