making the most of it!

making the most of it!

we've been making the most of the summer weather and went to lake hayes for a spot of swimming last weekend... or should I say flying through the air!


broken femur...?

we took advantage of some nice summer weather last weekend and finally went camping! moke lake is only 30 mins from our house and a conservations area.



a nice walk in some late evening sunshine - and we had a lot of fun making shadow art...



...and splashing!


before cooking some dinner



and having a campfire



with marshmallows



which burnt so well in the night breeze we had to extinguish it before going to bed



complete calm in the morning meant a swift getaway to avoid becoming breakfast for sandflies!



then the next day we had a walk up to the top of the remarkables (well, almost the top... after driving up to the skifield car park!) for a pretty good view!

3 weeks til lift off!

3 weeks til lift off!

well actually 3 weeks was yesterday... but it's still really soon!!! all our leaving preparations are going well - our expensive sale items all bought, some people who really want to rent the house, getting organized slowly but surely! summer is still with us - super sunny & hot most days... I think even a texan january is going to come as a bit of a shock to the system!


nice view after walking up to the gondola

fran and I have been trying to take advantage of all the loveliness that is queenstown before we go. last we night we had our christmas BBQ with small group at blair & christine's - the baptism place with the amazing views - and I started to think about not being in QT surrounded by the mountains and beauty here... hmm, what will sheffield feel like after this?! so we've been going for walks, I will finally get my camping trip, at least one, somewhere pretty and hopefully away from the sandflies, and fran will make the walk up Ben Lomond before we go.

I'm selling some art so here's a look for you - prices are in NZ$ at the moment but if you're interested send me an email and I'll translate with postage for your currency!

TEXTILES IN RED 1 - 8 x 10 inches, acrylic paint on raw canvas with fabrics and freehand machine embroidery. mounted stretched on board. (click to enlarge image) SOLD


TEXTILES IN RED 2 - 8.5 x 10 inches, acrylic paint on raw canvas with fabricss and freehand machine embroidery. mounted stretched on board. (click to enlarge image) $120


DAISIES - 12 inches square, acrylics on block canvas extends around the sides. $200

LAKE COLERIDGE AT DUSK - 8 inches square, water based oil paints on block canvas, image extends around sides. $100


DOORWAY - 8 inches square, acrylics on block canvas, image extends around the sides. $100

splots & stripes

splots & stripes

my legs are the most tanned they have ever been. not that you'd know it if it weren't for the birkenstock stripe. I still reflect the sunlight. I have the most freckles ever too. on the undersides of my arm even. I look like a cheetah. six out of seven days here are clear blue & sunny - when you're missing some ozone that's not such a good thing and daily I slather myself with factor 30, repeatedly, and still end up a little pink. this is my summer. I'm sure I'll miss it when I leave it, but right now I'd love a good old fashioned rainy day.

5 weeks to go...

5 weeks to go...

all change! 5 weeks today we get on a plane in sunny queenstown and arrive seemingly mere hours later in dallas, texas. it has been a super hectic few months, dealing with my monkey broken husband, working out where to go & what to do with ourselves, and my mum being sick back in the UK, visitors & lodgers.... I'm ready for a little simplicity in life! steve ward is now living with us til we go (hopefully we can make him stay on & pay the rent on our lease!) and rachel hall's just been to visit. frankly it's way too much to talk about so I'll just give you some nice pictures...


steve & rach about to kick ass on the luge


fran getting some face time with the cockatiel in invercargill aviary


summer!