Back to the Seventies

Not a lot happening as winter closes in. Shorter days, colder nights and not much motivation to do anything during the cold evenings after work.
Work itself has a more frantic air as the end of the financial year approaches, but at last that is over except for the piles of books everywhere waiting to be placed on the library system.
Knitting holds more attraction than quilting as I race to knit myself another warm cardigan before the onset of summer makes it irrelevant. But there are still fine days on the Coast and Misty takes maximum advantage.

However, next weekend should bring inspiration again as I head off to Reefton for the West Coast Quiilters' Retreat. Now if only I can find time and energy to prepare some of my still-to-be-finished projects ready for a working bee. There's my mother-in-law's quilt for her 86th birthday in August, the ongoing mariner's compass wall quilt still waiting for finishing inspiration, a bag pattern I have had since Timaru Symposium last year, and some scrap quilts I could get ready to actually quilt. Perhaps after the weekend there might be some photo show and tell of things that finally got done. I did finish a bag for a friend's birthday with bright Laurel Burch fabric and pinned a quilt ready to finish so something is getting done.

Meantime, we have been reliving history with a social night featuring a 70's music quiz. Our team was all pretty useless, but it was worth going to see some of the costumes. From hotpants, and caftans to culottes, to four inch high platform shoes, jeans with coloured flare inserts, beads, berets and headbands, and long boots. Did we really wear all those things?

Denniston, Karamea and Nelson travels

Had a wonderful trip up the coast to Denniston to do the new mine tour a few weekends ago. Seeing the Denniston incline and realising that for a time the only way up or down for people, their belongings, and the coal was over the edge and down that long drop was an amazing experience in itself. I am now re-reading Jenny Patrick's Denniston Rose and have a new appreciation for the setting and atmosphere of the book.
The mine tour is not for the claustrophobic or those afraid of the dark. An electric train takes you to the portal where you are winched inside up the shaft with the smell of coal all around and sound effects of rats and creaking timbers. Once inside some are given the chance to trial each of the jobs miners had to do - shovelling coal, firing shots, putting in posts, hitching wagons up to the wire and so on. All this in tunnels with low ceilings and lit by lamps, often working bent over all day. What a life it must have been.

Imagine dropping off this edge!

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No closer Jean - it's a long way down!

Onward from Denniston to Karamea to visit the start of the Heaphy track and the Oparara limestone arches

We struck a beautiful sunny day which made the bush walks spectacular. Wekas seemed to be everywhere, but there were also bush robins and wood pigeons.

Standing inside and under these arches gives a much better feel for their size, but my photography is not good enough to capture that.
One trip down from our West Coast wish list. For now that will probably be it as the weather turns to winter, temperatures drop and the rain sets in in earnest.

Having said that I also just had a trip to Nelson where I defied them to mention the wet West Coast. It was
hosing with rain there too and they had to admit that it has felt like the wettest summer for years up there.
As we were quilting and eating and gossiping weather was fortunately irrelevant. Made some placemats and a tote bag for gifts, a quilt top for a mother-in-law and progress on some more scrappy string blocks. I'm working on Virginia Bound from the Quiltville website. The hope is to use up my leftover scraps, but they seem to keep multiplying in the basket. I wonder if I will ever reach the bottom of it.

Lots of light reading going on, mainly chick lit. Also lots of experimenting downloading books onto the iPad.
One wonders why I can download a book from Kobo in Canada for very few dollars while our local Whitcoulls presents the same book for a hefty fee?
Speaking of Kobo we have purchased one for the staff to become familiar with at work and as a demo for customers. My learning curve is to get it set up ready to use with the new Overdrive system due shortly so that we can show customers how to use their own e-readers. It was amazing to see that about 7 of my quilt group of 40 already owned and used e-readers or iPads and most of them would be over 60. So much for the younger generation being the computer generation. We oldies aren't so bad ourselves!

Lots of time spent playing with my own iPad installing and sorting out apps for a Budget, a To-do list, and various note-taking programmes including those where you can write with your finger or a stylus, or maybe have a recording taken while you write. My husband reckons it is the best money he's ever spent and keeps me occupied for hours. He could be right, after all it is far more fun than housework.

Rain, rain, go away

Winter is definitely here. I'm listening to the sound of rain hosing down outside, which it has been doing all weekend. Tonight we have the addition of thunder and lightning just for a bit of variety.
Last weekend we headed for Christchurch for Mothers' Day. We usually meet some interesting drivers along the way, but this time was the best ever. For some time we followed a mid-size camper van which couldn't decide which side of the road we drove on over here. He solved the problem by straddling the centre line most of the time. Where is Mr Plod when you need him? Being out of cellphone range we were unable to report his dangerous driving, but I would hate to have been coming the other way, and was very pleased to finally get past him.
Driving round Christchurch and showing mother-in-law the area she used to live in was an interesting experience. Most of her old street looked fine, but a few blocks away is Eastgate Mall with one whole wall scaffolded up, and a Shell garage where tanks have popped out of the ground. Around town the Hotel Grand Chancellor on a drunken lean certainly dominates the skyline.
Speaking of skylines - we didn't leave until later coming back on this trip and were treated to a glorious range of colours as the sun went down. Here's one example as the colours changed from red, to orange to yellow.

Cold, wet weather is at least good for settling in and getting lots of craft and reading done.

A second pair of socks is on the way, the last sleeve of a jersey I began last winter is half done, and several scrappy quilt tops have grown somewhat.
Working with the iPad is also my new obsession. Having been given vouchers for Mothers Day I have been researching new apps to add to my toy. I'm looking at one which will enable me to transfer and read many types of files from my computer, another which will let me make notes by typing or handwriting, and one which will let me add notes and clips from just about anywhere and synch them easily between my computer and the iPad. That's not to forget the games like Angry Birds and Bejewelled Blitz. Lots of time-wasting fun. Mind you this weekend I have hardly been able to get the iPad off my husband to do anything so perhaps an iPad2 might need to be in my future?
Figuring out how it all works is also useful for work purposes as the discussion over audio and e-books continues. I think people are only just realising how fast the e-book world is progressing. It will be some time before paper books disappear, if ever, but electronic formats are certainly becoming an option for many. Now if only the book suppliers would come to realistic pricing for e-books instead of charging almost the same as a paper book which requires far more processing.

Anyway, this weekend ordinary library books were my entertainment and I had plenty of time to catch up on my reading  as heading outside was not really an option.

Harlen Coben's Live Wire brought back a familiar character in Myron Bolitar. I prefer these to his stand alone stories, but this one had less humour and more of a dark family story in it. Still a good read, although it feels like the end for this character.

Jodi Picoult's latest Sing You Home certainly manages to mix in a set of controversial topics. She moves from describing the obsession that can come from IVF treatment for infertility, to the difficulties of living as a lesbian without the civil rights of other couples, to the treatment of homosexuals by religious fanatics, and legal questions of what makes good parents and whether IVF embryos are people or property. Told in three different voices, the characters felt a bit over the top and the ending somewhat contrived and predicatable. Not a bad read, but not one of her best works for me.  

After the intensity of that I have moved on to a rather large tome - Bill Bryson's At Home. I wasn't sure if this was going to be too 'dry', but with Bill Bryson I should have known better. Only a few chapters in and already I am intrigued by his format and the snippets of history he is revealing. Should be a good read.

 

 

Let's hear it for long weekends....

If only they weren't usually so wet! One of life's eternal questions. Why is it always so wet on weekends and the sun shines when you have to go back to the salt mines?

Jean returned from Brisbane where the weather sounded little better, bearing gifts of t-shirts, opal ear-rings and duty free Baileys.

Then he was off again to prune trees at our Nelson house in the pouring rain as their weather was equally bad. Fortunately it fined up enough for his visit to the Blenheim airshow on a boys day out with a friend.

One thing about wet weekends is that there is a perfect excuse to sit and read NZ Gardner and dream rather than actually getting out in the garden. To me gardening is just housework transferred outdoors.

So it was a weekend for crafts. One pair of socks finished, a second pair started,  one scrappy quilt top ready to border and a blue scrappy almost done. Not a good photo, but the idea is there.

Not much else to do but read, so how about this for a list:

Someone else's son - Sam Hayes. A bit of a twist on the usual crime story.  A reality TV host who interviews families she considers losers, or criminals, has her only son stabbed and goes on to try and find out the truth of his death. The truth turns out to hold yet another twist. A gritty depiction of bullying of two teens who don't fit in, the lack of communication in families, even those who appear to have everything,  and the violence surrounding even young children in some areas of the society depicted.

Treachery in Death - J.D. Robb. Another enjoyable read in this series. This time the focus is on corruption within the police department itself. Eve's sidekick, Peabody, is given a greater role in the case.

Daughters-in-law - Joanna Trollope.  A story of evolving family relationships as the mother of three sons finds her control slipping away as they each get married and form new relationships of their own.

29 - Adena Halpern. A lightweight story about a 75 year old who, on her birthday, wishes to be 29 again for a day.  When her wish comes true she finds her life is not as carefree as she thought it would be. Some fun arises as she interacts with her daughter and grand-daughter and they all learn more about each other.

To the Moon and Back - Jill Mansell. Totally indulgent, fluffy romance with well written if a bit stereotypical characters. The sort of book you can pick up and lose yourself in for a while, not a lot of action, but a pleasant read all the same.

So that was my pick-and-mix of reads for the weekend. They have been piling up on my bookshelf calling out to be read. That is the trouble with working in a library. So many interesting books cross the desk and demand your attention.

It's been so wet I've even been reduced to doing housework and baking. Now it's time to ice the chocolate slice and put a roast chicken on for dinner. A long work week doesn't usually leave me in the mood for such indulgence. For a change the smells in my kitchen are wonderful.

Cold, wet and miserable

Jean has just set out for Christchurch to catch a flight to Brisbane for four days for a work course. Recent temperatures in Brisbane have been around 26, so I'm sure they'll find time to go walking round the city in the sun. Meanwhile here this weekend has felt like the start of winter - cold, hosing rain and no sense walking round outside anywhere. I did suggest I could go too, especially as our wedding anniversary is on a day he is away, but instead I get to stay home and mind the store, so to speak. I seem to have lost the shopping gene lately, but my travel bug is getting stronger instead. Time for a trip away somewhere interesting. It was going to be Tokyo, but perhaps not!

Earthquakes rumble on where all our sons are living. Christchurch had another 5.3 last night which cut power to one son for an hour or so. Japan had another over 6 last week which our middle son said was time to go under a desk and then decide work was over for the day.

Here it is just revoltingly wet so I have the choice of housework or reading and craft. Hmm, decisions, decisions....

I have been working on my bag of fabric scraps which are slowly turning into this

I also have one sock knitted, so I can have one warm foot. Just starting another one with this lovely wool which makes its own stripes like so

Naturally I also have reading lined up and I am currently in crime mode. Just finished Linda Fairstein's latest, Silent Mercy. I usually enjoy this author, but found the religious history in this one a bit too much for me.
Next is Stuart McBride's gritty Shatter the Bones which so far has all the hallmarks of his usual dark crime tales. I think after that Vicki Myron's story of Dewey : the small town library cat who touched the world should be a light read. Who needs television these days?

Winter is in the air

This blogger has been missing in action as the time has flown by. Two weekends ago I dragged my growing pile of fabric scraps to the local high school for a quilting day. The weather outside wasn't wonderful but inside we were fortified by yummy, warm,  just-baked biscuits filled with chunks of chocolate.. There went the benefits of walking all week, but they were just too good to resist.
Last weekend we paid a visit to Nelson for the first time in a while, taking a drive past our house there, checking out some shops, keeping my library card alive in our local library, and having a good honest lunch in the local Stoke Bakery. None of the fancy overpriced food here and we enjoyed it.
As the reason for our visit was to catch up with friends visiting from Australia we had booked a motel out of town. The Tapawera Settle was about the only place available in the area we wanted, although locals later recommended the local hotel. Being a country area we were not expecting high standards, and the price was comparatively cheap, which was just as well. The campground itself was fine, and would probably be a nice place to stay if you had your own campervan.

This composite picture skews the size a bit and makes the room appear bigger. The double bed had my husband's feet hanging over the edge all night, the wardrobe was the 'handyman's dream' in the far corner, and cooking with the microwave or toaster oven would have been an interesting exercise in logistics considering the available bench space. Add on some noisy guests who had a yakfest close by until after midnight, and a helicopter parked nearby which started up and took off around 7 a.m. and it was a really restful night. I guess our tastes have gone upmarket these days and you get what you pay for. We thought we had met the best when we stayed at the Paraparaumu Motel (avoid unit 13 if you have to stay there at all) on our recent trip, but I think this is a tie! Oh well, add it to the rich tapestry of life's experiences!

My latest craft craze, aside from quilting, is knitting socks. Blame an American friend who sent me some sock wool which knits itself into patterns without any effort on your part. I should have nice toasty warm toes for the winter by the time I have finished.

The temperatures here have definitely dropped and, despite the sunny days, we can tell that winter is on its way. A great time for catching up on reading which I have done in the past few weeks. Georgia's Kitchen by Jenny Nelson is a chick lit / foodie cross, a light read for those who enjoy the details of cooking and restaurants; The Kills by Linda Fairstein' and Jonathan Kellerman's new book Mystery both provided a crime fix, although I felt the Kellerman was not the best he's written; a Stargate book, downloaded to my iPad, is my equivalent of Mills & Boon, enjoyable to me as I enjoy sci-fi, but not taking much effort to read.

My current book is Promises, Promises by Erica James which looks like more chick lit and I have just downloaded the latest Stephen Booth The Devil's Edge.  Waiting by my bed are Silent Mercy (Linda Fairstein), Shatter the Bones (Stuart Macbride), The Shelly Beach Writers' Group (June Loves) and Dewey : The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Vicki Myron).

My husband is off to Australia on a course shortly so, with these books, my quilt scraps, and a freezer full of leftovers I am all prepared to fly solo for a few days.



Tokyo, Christchurch and all

Just had a day trip to Christchurch, escaping the rain for a hot sunny day. Despite staying out of any major affected areas there are still signs of the earthquake in the number of missing chimneys, the partly fixed roads, roadblocks manned by soldiers, and parks filled with silt 'volcanoes' from liquefaction. With The Palms, Merivale and Eastgate Malls damaged, South City and Spotlight blocked off, and the city centre (as the mayor put it) munted, Westfield Mall was even busier than normal. Even for someone who usually enjoys shopping it was 'let me out of here' time. Catching up with two sons and mother-in-law filled up the day and it was nice to head home even if it was still raining.
Middle son is back in Tokyo and keeping an eye on news on the radioactivity front. To him and his friends the government warning that tap water is unsafe for young babies translates into 'no one is drinking the tap water'. Luckily he has supplies of bottled water to use instead. Here's hoping that is as bad as the situation gets.
Using one weekend day for travel does not leave much time for anything else. Quilting has been taking a back seat lately so today I was determined to do something. Yay, the mystery quilt borders are finally finished. Two more to add to my stash of tops that will be quilted one day. After that it was back to using up scraps in a pioneer braid which is one of about three scrap projects on the go to try and demolish the pile of leftover strips and squares that always collects in the basket under my sewing table.

Hours of sewing and only two braid lengths done. No wonder I need more days in my weekend!



                               

The week that was....

Another week gone by. Does anyone else feel as amazed as I do that we are almost a quarter of the way through the year again already? Despite turning on hosing down wet weather for the visit of Prince William, we have since had several gorgeous days. Today the sea across the road is blue, the sun is shining and the West Coast bush behind the house looks stunning. Days like this the Coast is a great place to be.

Number two son in Japan abandoned Tokyo after a day of shakes and caught a shinkansen to Osaka for a couple of days. Not long after he headed even further away to Fukuoka to visit a friend. This weekend he has begun the trek back to Osaka and perhaps Tokyo. His parents would probably rather he stayed out of there a bit longer, but his job and apartment are there, and so far the news is not too bad. I guess at 28 he is well used to making his own decisions, but parents always worry about their 'babies' regardless I think.
Here's hoping the Japanese manage to stabilise and control their nuclear power plant before too long.

Not much energy for quilting this week, having worked a full week and then a Saturday morning as well. The mystery quilt borders are still lying across my sewing table and no blue strips have been cut. Does finishing a sleeve for a winter jersey count?

I did take time to play ladies for an afternoon at a Home Hospice fundraiser. Afternoon Tea As It Used To Be saw a large group of ladies attend a catered afternoon tea. We were served cups of tea in fine china cups and treated with cake stands holding tiny sandwiches, pikelets, cream cakes, truffles, and other such delights. All thoughts of calorie counting went out the window as everyone enjoyed an afternoon of indulgence and being waited on.

When there's no energy for craft, there's always time for reading instead. Finished Harriet Evans and Claudia Carroll, plus the latest Diane Blacklock The Right Time. This one I thoroughly enjoyed. A tale of four sisters, each in a different stage of relationships - about to get married; separated; married but with problems; and 'the other woman' outside of a marriage. The personalities are so well written that this was the first book I have read for some time that I have not wanted to put down until it was finished. Definitely a 'chick' book, though.
It didn't take long to read Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin', a lightweight, short novel giving a slice of life in the 1960's. As it's an era I grew up in, even though not in America, I probably enjoyed it more for being able to recognise aspects of the era.
In contrast my next read, Sophie Hannah's Lasting Damage, has a plot so convoluted with twists and turns that I find it hard to make sense of it and I am a third of the way through. So far none of the characters is particularly likeable, and I would almost label it tedious, however, it holds enough interest for me to want to find out what is really happening.

We've just heard from the son in Japan that he is on his way back to Tokyo. It appears even the French friends are confident the situation is stabilizing. I wish I was as confident, but time will tell. At least the local charlatan Ken Ring is not predicting another earthquake there!

More earthquakes - now it's Tokyo

Just as everything is as settled as it can be for the Christchurch side of the family, the earthquake strikes in Tokyo where our middle son is working. Fortunately, again, all is OK. He was apparently at work when a MASSIVE (his capitals) earthquake set their building rolling for quite some time. After that it was a one hour walk home to his ninth floor apartment as all the subway lines were shut. Nine floors up he says the building is gently swaying now and again meaning not much sleep. Major damage is miles out of Tokyo and the ramshackle buildings he thought would be damaged have apparently been built to take earthquakes so they are still there.
My husband made the brilliant comment that as all the rest of the family had been 'quaked' it must be our turn next. He knows just what he can do with that comment!
This weekend he is off pitting his wits against the salmon at Lake Mapourika. To date the salmon has won, and I don't quite know what we would do with a whole salmon anyway, but he will have fun.
It amuses me when I hear comments about quilting along the lines of 'why would you want to cut up all this fabric just to sew it together again'. I figure standing for hours in a cold river tossing out bits of line, only to throw back what you eventually catch, is in much the same league.
Anyway this weekend I intend to cut up and sew together some fabric in the hope of finishing the borders on my mystery quilt tops. Then I have a lot of blue and white fabrics selected to begin a log cabin quilt for my mother-in-law. She liked this one I made in the past so I will probably copy it. Time to cut up a zillion strings of fabric.

Personally I prefer the zing of this one which I made for both my son and my nephew, but she will like the classic blue and white better.

Before I do that it is blob out time with two books I need to finish this weekend. Harriet Evans' Love Always which so far promises to be a love story intertwined with a tale of family secrets coming to light. Then, in what I feel might be lighter mode, there's Colette Caddle's Always on My Mind. Both are a total contrast to Down Among the Dead Men by Michelle Williams which is on my iPad. The writing in this is not the best, but it's a fascinating tale of a year in the life of a mortuary technician in England, best read in small sections.
So now - lunch, reading, quilting and just possibly, if I really have to,  a very little housework.

Christchurch shakes on

Another quake last night which I felt here on the Coast. My son called it a doozy, and I'm sure everyone is just wishing they would stop already.
Eldest son now has his father's bike, his work is re-opened, power and water (at low pressure), back on and food in the house. He is one of the luckier ones. His workplace has also organised showers, washers and driers for their workers and good on them for being proactive.
Youngest son lives in an area which had very little damage at all and for him life goes on much as normal, with the addition of being 'all shook up' several times a day.
Mother-in-law, with food delivered by Jean, now has power and water back on, and a chance to be taken out shopping with some stores re-opened.
We have many who have fled Christchurch here on the Coast and you can tell by some faces that they are shattered. Our family are some of the lucky ones. From all we hear Christchurch seems like a city of two halves. There are areas where people have lost everything and other areas where it is as if nothing has happened, at least in the way of damage.

Keeping in touch with those in Christchurch each evening, plus work with a staff member away, has meant little energy for quilting, which somehow doesn't seem too important anyway. Must get back to it though as it serves me as a great stress relief. I brought back fabric from the North Island to make into gifts for those we stayed with, so the placemat-making production line is going to have to swing into action.
This is usually my weekend for a quilt retreat in Marahau, out of Nelson, but having just had a holiday I have to skip it this time. Nothing like a weekend sewing, with no household distractions, to get heaps done. I will be hanging out for the next retreat in Nelson in July.

Taking up a lot of spare time at the moment is the new toy - the iPad. I have loaded on more word games, Solitaire and Sudoku,  which can all be great time-wasters. The excuse is it is keeping the brain active! There are also several downloaded books ready to read when I finish the supply of 'real' books I have on hand. I've found an iPad app which lets me check out my Google RSS feeds, plus added a dictionary, thesaurus and calculator. Then there is the app which gives me a series of Monet paintings to explore and an iPad version of Stumbleupon. If you have never tried this out then, depending on your point of view, it is either another time-waster or a form of serendipity as you are led to many websites you might otherwise not come across. The choice of websites depends on the initial interests and topics which you set up.

Naturally I still make time for reading and at the moment it is Lee Child. Just finished 61 Hours and moved on to Worth Dying For. Despite the formulaic style they still make fairly satisfying reading without making great demands on the brain. 
I've also just scanned Martin Hawes' Twenty Good Summers which poses the question of how to spend the years left to live as we get older. It's rather intriguing to look at life in terms of the number of summers which may remain, but rather depressing to find that you probably have to spend most of the few you may have left working just as hard as usual. Guess we just have to win Lotto.

Christchurch earthquake - unbelievable

From a beautiful view like this walking up Mount Maunganui....

I returned to work to find my 'mesk' looking like this....

And then the news of the Christchurch earthquake struck on my first day back. It was felt here on the West Coast, but not as badly as the first quake in September. Having two sons and an 86 year old mother-in-law in the city there was a bit of anxious waiting to confirm where the damage was and where they were.

My eldest son was walking down a stairwell at his work, stopped on a shaking landing and then the power went off leaving him in the dark. As soon as the shaking stopped he was out of the building, work was stopped and he trekked an hour home as obviously there were no buses. He said it was an interesting experience with constant shakes, walking around piles of rubble, and avoiding silt spilling out of the ground. Several days on he has power, but still no water, although there is a water tanker not too far away. His flat is not damaged and he has had a visit from Red Cross checking his street which is off Colombo Street, and providing leaflet information on various services. Amazing that they are doing a house to house in the area to check on people which is great. Physically fine, it is the logistics of things which will be a problem - no transport and the nearest open supermarket was 90 minutes walk away. Others are now beginning to open up. His flatmates have fled to places where the ground does not move, so lack of company is also a factor.

Youngest son got under a table at work and then set off for home on his bike. His flatmates are staying around and they have a bolthole offered out of Christchurch if they wish. Being in Riccarton they only suffered things falling off shelves, and have both power and water back on, but obviously few shops open at this stage.

Mother-in-law, in her own unit in a retirement village, is determined to stay put and not come to stay with us. In fact she will not even go out shopping when offered a chance. They had water on, but it is now off again. The village has a water tanker and portaloos (which she will not use so guess her garden will be well fertilised this year!). The Oxford Terrace Baptist Church which she has attended most of her life, and which had its frontage badly damaged in the last quake, is now reported to be a pile of rubble.

Today my husband is making a mercy dash and will go round the outskirts of Christchurch, staying well away from the centre, to check on all three and take supplies. Eldest son needs his father's bike for transport, plus a supermarket shop where he doesn't have to carry heavy loads; youngest just needs checking on as he has suffered panic attacks in the past, but still has flatmates for company this time; mother-in-law needs the food she will not go out and shop for, so is getting supplies plush fresh veges from our garden.

Thank goodness it is less than three hours drive from here. Hubby has strict instructions (which he will ignore) about keeping himself safe. Hopefully he will return safely later tonight.

In the meantime it has started raining here. I hope it hasn't in Christchurch as the rescue and recovery efforts do not need it. I am about to catch up on housework which I always complain about, but not today. At least I have a house to clean unlike many devastated people over the hill.

Long time, no write....

Being a new blogger, I found it difficult to keep up with this while travelling. The iPad was great, but the lack of wireless was a downer. Despite all the visitors to our area who insist they get free wireless everywhere I certainly found things to be different. Aside from MacDonald's and the Wellington waterfront most of the places we visited made it hard to find wifi at all. Libraries in Turangi and Tauranga are also not part of APNK which is interesting.
Despite this my husband reckoned the iPad was well worth its price as it kept me amused for hours. There are many games on which I can waste time and I have downloaded several books to read including the Steig Larsson series beginning with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I have read all three, and seen the movies, but I find these books have so much content I'm happy to read them again.
During the trip I read two crime novels by Jonathan Kellerman , Gone and Self Defence, and started Sophie Kinsella's  The Wedding Girl (writing as Madeleine Wickham) for a change of pace. 'Proper' books still had a look  in as I read my first Lee Child book, The Killing Floor, while with my brother and sister-in-law who are big fans of his writing. The blood spatter and body count were quite high, but as a crime/thriller I enjoyed it and plan to read more of his books.

We had a great trip up to the 'other island' with Jean’s new Navman leading the way, despite it telling us to do u-turns if he decided to change his mind about his destination and stop to see something along the way. Figuring out how to set in waypoints along the route is yet to come, but in the awful Auckland traffic it was amazing.

Jean had fun fishing in Turangi and walking the Tongariro river. For myself I preferred to walk alongside it in the shade of the trees.

 From rivers and on to beaches, we visited sunny Mount Maunganui to celebrate my 60th birthday in style with lunch outdoors at Mill's Reef winery. They had what they called paddles which provide four wine glasses each containing half a glass. In this way you could try out four different wines. However, as there were four of us we ended up with 16 wine glasses on the table and everyone felt they would look good, once emptied, sitting in front of me!  Great food, great service, good company - highly recommended.

Holiday time at the Mount included swimming and boogie boarding at the beach, a cruise on the harbour, a walk up Mount Maunganui (over 500 steps, I counted!),  swimming in the saltwater hot pools, and visiting McLaren falls for a picnic lunch by a lake. An evening was spent seeing the movie The King’s Speech which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. 

We then moved on to stay in Auckland with my niece and her partner and two children aged 3 and 1. They were certainly demanding. I had forgotten those days!  We also stayed a couple of days with a cousin and her partner who live out in a peaceful bush area out of central Auckland in a cute and cottagey house I love. What's more it was only minutes from a quilt shop. The perfect location.

Naturally I found a few quilt shops along the way including The Dog Box in Picton, The Quilted Gumboot in Taihape, Clever Hands in Taupo, Krazy Cow at Levin, FibreFlair at Waikanae and The Quilters' Barn in Blenheim. Just a few and just a few fabric pieces to play with.

Now back on the 'Mainland' Jean has returned to work today to see what is waiting for him after two weeks away and for me it is one last day to catch up with home. Back to work tomorrow to see what has piled up on my desk.

Holiday by the sea

The last day of another decade and at least before I turn 'ancient' I get to relax at the beautiful beach at Mount Maunganui. Yesterday I was walking by an equally beautiful river at Turangi while hubby went trout fishing. Along the way there's naturally been necessary stops at The Quilted Gumboot at Taihape and Clever Hands at Taupo. We have three days to enjoy this lovely area before heading to the vast, noisy metropolis of Auckland to visit family. Quilting has been reduced to drooling over fabric. Reading has been an experiment in reading downloaded books on the iPad. In this case what I call my 'chewing gum' reads that don't take a lot of concentration - Star Trek books (yes, I confess to being a long time Trekkie) and Debbie Macomber short stories. Well, I am on holiday after all. Today a scenic tour of the area is planned, plus shopping in Tauranga and a long lunch somewhere nice with a glass of wine. It's a hard job being on holiday.

Where did this week go?

Actually, that should be 'where did January go'? Spent the week setting up and playing with the iPad when I wasn't interrupted by little things like having to go to work. The free wifi at work proved useful when learning to buy ebooks on the Internet. Both Whitcouls and Amazon (with a Kindle app for the iPad) worked like a charm and downloaded my books in no time at all. I now have several ready to read on my travels, plus my contacts loaded and email connection sorted. My husband has figured out how to add photos through the separate photo connector which should prove handy on our trip.

Not much quilting done again this week, but I have made a handy dandy bag for my iPad using some bright Laurel Burch fabric sent to me by a U.S. friend. Doesn't it look great? Maybe next time I'll add a pocket for the accessories, but it was quick and fun to make.
Tomorrow we are off on our great 'overseas' travel - overseas to the North Island that is. With neighbours for house and cat minders we will set off early for our ferry trip to Wellington and onwards. The iPad will provide entertainment while the other half fishes, and our trip will take us past (or maybe not 'past') several quilt shops along the way. It'll be fun to see if I can add to this blog as we go.
Her majesty, the ruler of the house,  is alongside me and talking loudly. It might be a reminder that I have things to do, but is more probably what my husband calls an 'impolite request' to add to her food bowl.
Oh well, chores to do, packing to start, iPads to play with.......

Fun and frustration

That pretty much describes my weekend.
The trip to Christchurch passed quickly thanks to some fun with my husband's new GPS. There is not much for it to do for a while once it has said 'continue for 160 kilometres', after all the road to Christchurch is fairly straightforward. However, as we have a shorter route into Christchurch and the GPS kept trying to turn us back onto the main road, it created a bit of a laugh as we kept saying 'nope, not going there!'. It did pretty well at getting us to our destination in Christchurch though.
We confused it by stopping at the mall to pick up my iPad. Naturally it was a comfort stop too and here came some of the frustration. I can't believe some people. Here were two hand driers and a queue of people waiting to use them. One lady seemed to be taking some time. Turns out she was actually drying a shoe! Too bad about everyone else, and I'm not even going to consider how the shoe got wet.
More fun in seeing my two adult sons and visiting with my mother-in-law before heading home to play with my new toy.
No quilting done this weekend, and not a lot of reading. Plenty of frustration in sorting out the iPad to set up, but lots of fun now I have audiobooks, ebooks, Solitaire, Bookworm, and Mahjong to play and all our contacts entered. Photos still to come. There are a couple of quilt apps that could be interesting and I still have to try buying a book online and getting it onto my iPad.
Naturally it's going to work with me tomorrow to try things out on the free wifi. Do you think I could consider testing out options on the iPad as part of my work? Nope - oh well, worth a shot.

An iPad weekend

After a sunny week on the Coast while we are at work, naturally the weather turns to rain for the weekend.
The weather probably suits the  mood of many locals with the Pike River Coal tragedy to the forefront as the Coroner's inquest has been held in Greymouth this week. Another terrible time for the families as they relive details of the tragedy in the attempt to find out more about what happened to their family members.

Tomorrow we head over to Christchurch for a visit to family and, importantly, to pick up my new iPad. That's right folks, even though we have Noel Leemings, Smith's City and Dick Smith stores here none of them hold iPads in stock. So much for trying to spend our money in the local community. To be fair, there seems to be little stock available in Christchurch either so I will end up with a dearer model than originally intended just to get my paws on one. I figure I am all set. I have my quilted iPad cover and I have borrowed iPad for Dummies from the library. I shall have a week to get things set up before we set off overseas (the North Island).

This week I've read the latest Shelia O'Flannagan A Season to Remember which reminds me of a Maeve Binchy with the technique of intertwining the lives of a group of people staying in an Irish hotel at Christmas. We are given a glimpse of the lives of each room's occupants in a light but enjoyable story.
Nothing like a total contrast as I am now 50 pages into the epic which is Justin Cronin's The Passage. Somewhere I read that this is to be a trilogy which will make it an epic work as the first book is doorstop size. I'm enjoying the writing style so far and no doubt the several threads which have begun will merge somehow later on.
Still managed to find time to finish two of the four borders for the second single 'mystery' quilt, but I have a feeling that once the iPad hits the house there won't be much quilting done for awhile. Mind you the iPad store has a few quilting apps which could be worth exploring. I'm definitely looking forward to using the free wifi at work to try out finding ebooks and audiobooks. All in the name of professional development naturally :-)

Quilting and reading - what else is a weekend for?

Another beaut weekend on the Coast, and someone else's turn to have all the rain. The washing's all done, some gardening attempted, and lots of blobbing out enjoyed.
A library customer loaned me a copy of an early Wally Lamb book She's come undone. Having enjoyed I know this much is true and The hour I first believed, I thought I'd give it a go. It's an interesting book being written by a male author from a female's point of view. He certainly crams in a lot of topics from rape to obesity, from domestic abuse to homosexuality and HIV-AIDS. The main character is not loveable in many ways, plus the whole work could be viewed as depressing with all that happens in her life, and yet for me it was a book I didn't want to put away until I finished it. Maybe though, I will fill in with something lighter before I tackle the next book on my list- The Passage by Justin Cronin.
There was also time for some quilting in my weekend. I may not have that iPad yet, but I already have an iPad cover made in a Laurel Burch cat fabric. I used the tutorial from http://oneshabbychick.typepad.com/one_shabby_chick/ as I just wanted something simple. I did take out the batting around the lining as it seemed too bulky. It was probably because I didn't have any leftover cotton batting and used whatever I had handy instead. It still looks fine to me and I can't wait for it to be in use.
And here's the first of my two single bed quilts from the Quiltville mystery quilt.

Taken on the only large piece of floor space I could find and not a great photo angle, but the idea is there.
I've also made most of the pieces for the second quilt border. Once that's done I guess it's back to finishing some of the projects still lying around. My aim was to spend last year finishing instead of starting anything new, but we all know how that goes.....
Ah well, back to work tomorrow. The rest will have to wait for another day.

Beaten by a book

For the first time in ages I have given up on reading a title. The Stephen Frey book defeated me. What first looked like an interesting story about smoke jumpers in Montana became, for me, a mish-mash of several stories which didn't link well, some women who were very obviously going to become the romantic interest, and the stereotypical good and bad guys. In fact I even returned it to the Library without having a peek at the ending. After that Fiona O'Brien's Without Him is, for me, a better read even if it would probably be decried as chick-lit by some.
Checking book lists today for ordering revealed some more titles which add interest to the job - Justice for hedgehogs (about philosophy believe it or not), Teenage as a second language (I could have used this years ago) and Seriously senior moments : or have you bought this book before? (I can relate to this).

But now the weekend is here and while I may have given up on the book I didn't give up on the quilt, naturally. My one large quilt is now two smaller ones which means more borders to make. Oh, joy!
Hopefully I can sort that out this weekend, because I intend to begin putting together projects to take with me on an upcoming two week North Island trip. I'm looking forward to finding quilt shops, poking my nose into other libraries, catching up on reading and visiting family. Only another two weeks of work before holiday time!

A day at the races

Honour is satisfied after we watched my brother's horse come second in its race and only lost a couple of dollars in the process. We're told he ran very well after having a bad barrier draw (don't ask me, I know nothing about it!).
The next day, being showery, was the perfect day to work on my quilt or, as they are now, quilts. Having decided to follow my neighbours advice I have managed to split one large quilt in two and put on the inner border to stabilize things. I've even managed to begin adding the outer borders on one quilt.

Having made the switch I wonder if the large outside border would balance better on one large quilt rather than two small ones. Too late, it's done and I don't intend to go back. Now if only I had time to sit and sew the 'x' more rectangles I need to make to finish the extra borders. Maybe next weekend.

David Baldacci's Hells Corner is finished and enjoyed even if it was your usual spy thriller with a twist in every chapter. Finished reading too is Jennifer Weiner's Fly Away Home, a story woven around the lives of a mother who has spent her life being the perfect wife to a husband who then has an affair, and their two adult daughters each with their own problems.  I found this a pretty pedestrian chick-lit version of the old 'finding myself' story, but a reasonable read if you're not expecting something you can't put down.

After the mystery quilt comes a mystery book. Next on my list I have Hell's gate by Stephen Frey. I have absolutely no idea why I reserved this one to read. Never heard of either the author or the title, so here goes.

End of the working week

TGIF! Greymouth has had a week of lovely hot weather which was a shame to waste at work really, but here's hoping some of it lasts for the weekend.
Tomorrow it's off to the race meet at Omoto. I confess to knowing three tenths of very little about horse racing. However, I have a brother who owns, as he might put it, "one leg of a horse" through a syndicate and that horse is racing tomorrow. We feel we should show some family solidarity and go and watch the race. My brother has been warned that if we lose money we will take it back in wine when we visit in a month's time. Go General Georgi!
Also in the mix this weekend is more work on my no-longer-a-mystery quilt. I was happily joining border pieces together until my neighbour, who is also a quilter, suggested that it might be more use to split the large quilt and make two singles from it. At this point it could be easily done, but my mind balks at the thought of making all the pieces for another two side borders. She's probably right, unfortunately. She's also a very wise lady as, having thrown that spanner in the works, she is now moving house before she has to listen to my complaints. I don't think the two things are connected.
So racing, quilting, housework (blah), grocery shopping, and that's the weekend gone. Somewhere in there there must be time to continue reading David Baldacci's Hell's corner and listening to Debbie Macomber's Married in Seattle on my iPod.
How many hours in a weekend? Not enough.

Not a good way to have a day off

Having a tummy bug is not the best way to have a day off work. It did mean that in  between sleeping and drinking lots of fluids I finished reading the J.D.Robb. I've also downloaded one of her audiobooks to my iPod for when I get out walking again. This is practice in using the Overdrive system which some libraries are looking at providing.
A U.S. friend was given a Kindle for her birthday and is rapt with it. Overdrive can also be used for eBooks if a library chooses and it's likely that will happen in the future. That is my excuse for coveting an eBook reader to try out. I have a significant  birthday coming up shortly and am angling for an iPad! I think that picking up a physical book will still likely be my first choice, but the nerd in me is fascinated by the new formats coming out.

Meantime, my mystery quilt is getting its borders slowly pieced together, photos to come shortly.

 As for reading I picked up a very easy book to start today - Samantha Smythe's Modern Family Journal by Lucy Cavendish. An airy bit of chick-lit, based around a family with young children and the chaos they can cause in life, it suited my concentration span and my tendency to doze off today.
Lined up next I have the latest David Baldacci. Nothing like a change.

Mystery quilt almost finished

Hooray for weekends! My mystery quilt is now together except for the final borders which are still underway.

Here is Misty giving it her seal of approval. What is it with cats and quilts anyway?
And if you can't see the picture for one fat cat, here is the top laid out on the only large floor space I have.

After all that sewing it was time to get back to reading for a break. Nora Roberts Sanctuary is finished and turned out to be a (predictable) romance come family intrigue come murder mystery. Not a bad read but a bit too predictable for my taste. So now on to J.D. Robb an author who tends to the predictable also in that the pattern of her books I find much the same. The actual crimes and character dialogue though usually intrigue me.
Time to see how much reading I can get through before it's back to finding reading for others at work tomorrow.

Quilting, blogging, reading - who has time to work?

Having dived in the deep end with this blog during a training course I have just dipped into two books on blogging and found out what I could have done better. Ah well, perhaps it is, as we quilters say, a UFO (unfinished object) or PhD (project half done), or perhaps better yet a WIP (work in progress). I definitely need a new title and the brain is working on it.
It is a little like some other unfinished ideas of mine. I do wonder if other quilters attend classes, do the projects and techniques and then never find time to return to try more. I attended a wonderful class using fabric pastels and pencils and made a sample piece. I now have sets of oil pastels, Derwent watercolour and Inktense pencils, the books Faux Applique by Helen Stubbings, and Quilts of a Different Color by Irena Bluhm. lots of ideas, but nothing further made yet.
Similarly a Gloria Loughman workshop produced this and I also have her Luminous Landscapes book.





I would love to make another project using her techniques and I'd like new wallhangings to complement some home decorating we are doing, so maybe this year is the year to try these techniques again.

In the meantime it's back to my warm conservatory, my bean bag, and Nora Roberts Sanctuary which is proving to be an intriguing read. When I can put that down it's time to retire to my sewing room to wrestle my large mystery quilt together. I cheated by sewing the shorter rows at each end  first, but this will now come back to haunt me as I have to handle the long rows in the middle. I'm really looking forward to trying out putting the border together so better get a move on.

Roll on the weekend

Unfortunately it's a conundrum that when you are working in a library surrounded by books, you don't have time to read because you are busy ...working in a library.  The pile of "I must read that"  beside my bed is getting taller again, but I aim to make inroads into it in the weekend. After all, housework can wait, reading can't, at least in my world.
Next up I am going to re-visit two sides of Nora Roberts with Sanctuary and (as J.D.Robb) Origins in Death.
Of course fitted in there will be more work on my Quiltville mystery. Finally started joining the rows of the top together tonight and learned two things. Firstly, when Bonnie Hunter says she likes big quilts she means it - this one is going to be what my sons would call 'gi-normous' and the border is yet to come. Secondly, I'm not accurate enough at making half-square triangles, although after making 600 they are improving!
I take heart from looking back at some photos and remembering how much I enjoyed making last year's mystery quilt (as yet unquilted)

Love those double green stars. This time I wasn't sure how the colours would go together - pink, brown and red? And pink is definitely not my favourite colour. Just the same I am loving how it is going together so far.
Photo to come.....

Hi, ho, hi, ho it's back to work we go

Holidays are over and it's back to work tomorrow.
Rainy weather has at least given me the excuse to be totally lazy and catch up on some eclectic reading: Forensic Investigator: true stories from the life of a country crime scene cop by Esther McKay which deals with horrific accidents and crimes and the effect they have on those who have to attend them.
Fat chance : my big fat gastric band adventure by Melanie Tait which is an incentive to return to better eating habits and exercise after the Christmas blow-out.
And now - John Marsden's three parts of the Ellie Chronicles following on from the Tomorrow When the War Began series.

Last night my husband and I ventured out to one of the new Greymouth theatres for the first time to see The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest which I enjoyed even more than the previous two movies in the trilogy.

Lots of off-work time, and little housework, also gave me the chance to get into my quilting room and complete the blocks for the Quiltville Christmas mystery quilt, a sample of each shown below.

Also this McKenna Ryan dolphin block which was made into a cushion for my mother-in-law

Amazing what can be accomplished when not spending hours at work. Ah to win Lotto and retire to my quilt room ........