Coffee mugs and teacups

Coffee mugs - I love them.

The trouble is I have had the same ones 

for years, the blinking things won't break!

And my sis and my SIL have both said

 the same thing to me since Christmas.

They won't break! 

So when I saw these ones in the 

Warehouse I decided to buy them regardless.

They are thick glass but I think they are fun.

Good for every day use.

And then I pulled these ones out. 

I have had them for years, my youngest

 daughter gave me four of them several years ago.

Of course you'll probably recognise them

 as Avon breast cancer fundraisers.

Really nice to drink out of, quite fine china.

This pretty pair came from Korea. 

My son brought them home after he had been

 in Seoul on a three month mission stint.

They are Hankook Fine Bone China.

I've only had them on display so far

but they are nice and fine as well

 - and don't you just love the delicate pattern?

Now I just love the rich autumn colours in this

 beautiful pair. The photo really doesn't do 

them justice.They were a gift from my DIL 

the first time she came over from Japan.

It has a rather ornate stamp on the bottom 

ringed with the words BEST HOME PORCELAIN.

Eldest daughter is a tea drinker,

 I may just get them out next time she's over :)

And she's the one who gifted us these two coffee mugs.

First to come along was the big mauve one - it says:

my Mum can make the smile 

on my face come straight from my heart.

Nice sentiments you say. 

But then a little later she gave her Dad the one that says:

I don't need Google, my wife knows everything.

Mixed messages from the cheeky child, haha.

 Now you might be wondering what I did 

with all the old coffee mugs - well they have 

been cleared out of the cupboard, cleaned up 

and will be taken to the op shop 

the next time we head down there.

joining Amy at:

Five on Friday

and Martha at:

Martha's Favorites

Keep well until next time,
Diana

Brightening up a dreary day

It's a dreary day at our place today,

a touch of autumn perhaps.

The temps have dropped a wee bit

and it's forecast to be this way until at least Friday.

So after lunch my GKB said he might go

 up to the Sallies, an op shop, to have a poke around.

This is not my favourite way of passing 

time but I go along anyway. I find I enjoy

 it more each time I go and I think that

 is helped by the fact that they seem to have

 new managers and the store is quite well set out now.

We parked the car and as luck had it 

we had to pass the '$2 and Gifts' shop.

So in we went to have a look.

We have been looking for a cat ornament of some

 sort to put where we have buried our Claude.

This was grandson's (his true owner) request. 

And we found one in here. And it's ginger 

as Claude was, but with more white, Claude was

 totally ginger, but it will do the job well.

Grandson can paint over the white if he wants to.

And of course the danger with these shops 

is that you find all sorts of things you can't

 go home without. Especially if they are 

Christmas decorations on sale. I can't resist them.

But the little haul I came away with cost under $10.00

excluding the cat. A bargain in anyone's language.

Two angels, two snowmen and a porcelain Santa.

I can already see them on my mantle piece next Christmas :)

We did eventually get to the op shop! 

My GKB and I like to poke around in different areas. 

I head for the china and browse the books

 and he heads for the gadgets and cd's etc.

He found himself five DVD's and we have tried

 them all and they are in good working condition.

I think we'll be watching 'High Society' on Sunday

with my little mother if the weather hasn't picked up.

If the sun is shining we'll sit outside and chat.

And this lovely trio is what I found. 

It's a Royal Albert, Old Country Roses. 

I think it is beautiful and my GKB shouted it for me!

I think I'll keep him :)

joining Martha over at:

Martha's Favorites

and Stephanie at:

roses of inspiration

And that's it for today.
Keep warm if you're in the snow, 
keep cool if you're in the sun
and I'll see you back here next time.
Diana

Five on Friday

These five photo's are only related in that

 I took them while out and about this week.

Along the right bank of the Silverstream on a wet, drizzly walk.

The view from a friend's back deck. 

The cows are heading to the milking sheds.

The groynes at St. Clair beach, Dunedin.

Surfers coming in on the swells to the right.

The salt water pool and tearooms at St. Clair.

We popped in here for a cuppa.

Rural view along the left bank of the Silverstream.

Scroggs Hill in the background and beyond that the Pacific Ocean.

Little mother's bushes getting a bit of a trim by my GKB.

And I'm pretty sure that is six photo's. I'll just pretend I can't count, 

or we could say the two from St Clair constitute one :)

joining Tex at:
Good Fences
and Amy at:
Five on Friday
and Stepanie at:
roses of inspiration

Oh, their bags are packed...

...and they're well on the way. 

In fact they must almost be back in Christchurch 

to catch the flight back to Sydney tomorrow.

Then they will separate and head back to 

their homes in different parts of the country.

Yes, my youngest sister and her family have been and gone - 

doesn't time go quickly when you don't want it to?

We had a great visit, they stayed with my little mother 

so she was always invited to join them on their excursions.

Sometimes she went with them and sometimes not

coffee in the back yard

The day we all went into the Warehouse she decided

 to join us. We had a good day out and enjoyed lunch

 at Kelly's Cafe while we were there. On the way home

 I suggested we call in to my youngest daughter's home 

so the wee fellow could play with the kids for a while. 

I can do it...I think

He is only four and had been so good. 

So the boys played and we all relaxed

and had a catchup over coffee until it was

 time to head home for tea. It is so nice not to

 have deadlines or timetables to be adhering to.

sisters, cousins, aunties and grandmas

Sis and her daughter took turns at the cooking and I think 

little Mother cooked one day when she stayed home.

As on this day when we had a family gathering at the park.

As it's school holidays we decided to have lunch at the park - 

pizzas and playtime I called it. $5.00 pizzas didn't set us

 back too much and we all took some home afterwards. 

A nice easy day out for kids and adults alike.

climbing...

And of course there was lots of playing. 

The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, 

was a bee sting. And that happened as we 

were leaving. Maybe next time the child 

will keep his shoes on when he's told to :)

...and even more climbing

A couple of nights ago we went out for dinner

 with my brother and his partner and his two sons. 

We don't see a lot of them so it was good to have

 a catchup with them as well. The meals were very big, 

well worth what we paid, and I ate far too much.

 I should have stopped at the main but I didn't.

 I had dessert! It was big, decadent and too much,

 but I ate it anyway. All in all a lovely night out.

That's me on the right with my GKB beside me, then my brother and his partner,
his sons at the end and coming back up the table, little Mother,
 my great nephew, his mother and my sister across from me.

I went for a long walk the next day, with the odd bit

 of gentle jogging thrown in for good measure.

Looking back I see we gathered a lot over food, I think 

that is a good way to socialise, over the common meal.

I shall miss them for a while but look forward

 to seeing my other sister in a few weeks time - when we

 shall have a very different sort of holiday with her.

joining Martha at:

Martha's Favorites

and Stephanie at:

roses of inspiration

That's it for this week

or for a few days anyway.

Keep well until next time,

Diana

Thanks and a reading challenge

I'd like to say thanks to everyone who made such 
kind comments on my previous post about Claude. 
Your kind thoughts are really appreciated.

###########

I have decided to take part in the Mount TBR 

reading challenge this year.

I will be aiming for Pike's Peak level which is 12 books. 

Books I already own, not new ones I might buy, or library books. The idea is to reduce the number of unread books you own and I guess in that way to declutter your bookcase just a little. 

If you're interested and want to know more
 about this challenge go here.

I have found 10 books so far that I want to attempt and there are another two that I have seen just recently and which have disappeared again, so I should complete the twelve okay.

I won't list them here though, but will try to remember to mention them as I cross them off the list. Currently I am reading '30 Days to Understanding Church History' and although it might sound a bit dry I am enjoying it. How much I will retain once I'm finished doesn't really matter these days - this is just for interest. And it takes 30 days to read if you do a chapter a day.

I think that's about it for this week

so take care and I will see you

all here again sometime soon.

Diana

Claude

We went out this morning and found our old cat Claude had died in the night. He was 17. He had been failing in the last couple of weeks and we had just decided last night that the good thing to do was to have him put down. He didn't give us time and we found him lying in the sun on the back lawn when we went out early this morning. He was always an outside cat and had only just begun coming indoors in the last year, having discovered beds and couches and cushions. We buried him in the back garden and will put a stone over him as well so we know where he is, and so we can show our eldest grandson, who he really belonged to. 
We are a little sad today so this is just a short post.

Diana

Run! It says RUN??

 Blogger alert

Google is about to change it's policy for people to follow blogs on Jan 11th. You may want to check it out as there is a very real possibility of losing followers. 

The link is here.

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Otago Rail Trail.
photo credit: Kay Humphries Travel

My sister is coming over from Australia in a few weeks and while she is here we intend to walk part of the Otago rail trail together. How far we'll get is incidental really. Once upon a time we thought we would walk the full distance over a three day period. Back then it was achievable by both of us. But almost 10 years on we are not as fit or as young as we were so we decided to just start walking and after a couple of days, or maybe three, we will stop. And when she comes back again we will pick up where we left off and keep going. Eventually we will accomplish the full 150 kms. My GKB is going to drive and be our support person. 

I'm really looking forward to it and so decided to follow a walking programme to get myself reasonably fit. The programme is over a six week period and my sister arrives in seven, so it works out quite well. This week is week two. I went out for the prescribed time and came home and checked to see what the times were for the rest of the week as it seemed to me I was repeating week one. Uh oh. Week two you RUN! How on earth did. I. miss. that. when I was reading it originally? I can't remember the last time I ran so this is going to be interesting. I will take it gently and ease into it, she says apprehensively. This evening. On the Silverstream bank where no one will see me if I time it right, haha. 



Watch this space :)
**********************
Oh, and I nearly forgot to tell you that my youngest sister is arriving tomorrow from Australia with her daughter and small grandson. They are staying with little mother but I hope to
 see quite a bit of them.

And that's it for today. 

See you next time

Diana

Hotere Gardens, Port Chalmers

 I know we are a day or two into the new year

 but as this is my first post this year I would like

 to wish you all a very Happy New Year

 and all you could wish for during 2016.

************

On New Year's Eve afternoon my GKB and I went down the harbour and spent the afternoon with his sister 

and her husband. It was a beautiful day and we spent 

a large part of the afternoon sitting out

 in their garden overlooking the water. Beautiful.

Unfortunately I never took a photo of the view 

but here is another one of the harbour 
from further up the hill at Flagstaff Lookout.

On our way home we decided to go up Flagstaff, 

we haven't been up there for years, and we had a nice surprise.

When we turned around from taking photo's we saw 

a sign telling us about the Hotere Gardens Oputae. 

So take a load off your feet and take five minutes

 to have a look around the garden with us.

They were new to us and definitely new to my GKB 

who grew up in Port Chalmers. So we went exploring.

Ralph Hotere is (or was) a New Zealand artist 

who lived in Port  for a few years. My father knew him 

and I think Mum may have met him once or twice 

when they lived there. I have seen his work in art galleries

 but it is not to my taste. I just don't get it. Other people do.

This is his work.  

It is called Black Phoenix.

I like the fact it has been incorporated in a native garden

 along with three other sculptures from other artists.

A totem pole. It has the word Aramoana carved onto it.

Aramoana is where there was a lot of political controversy 

about an aluminium smelter being built.

Several years later a shooting tragedy occurred 

involving the whole community and I'm not sure which event

 is being commemorated with the totem. Maybe both.

It was carved by Chris Booth.

This is a sculpture by Shona Rapira Davies.

The plaque nearby reads:

They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky. 1989.

This one is by Russel Moses and is named 

Brick Column.

It was a lovely day just to stroll around the little garden, 

and it is small.There are nice paths to walk on and one

 or two seats to sit and just enjoy the garden or the view. 

Take a picnic lunch. And ponder!

And when you are finished if you want to you can walk 

down a path to the road around to Back Beach 

or the Yachting Club.

I hope you've enjoyed this little hidden gem as much as we did.

And if you want to know more just click

 on the links in the dialogue.

joining Stephanie over at:

roses of inspiration 

and

Amy at Love Made my Home for:

Five on Friday

Have a wonderful week,

look after yourselves and 

I'll see you next time.

Diana