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.