WELCOME TO THE VILLAGE - MORNING TEA

 

Another chance to get to know more people here in the Village.  There's a 'Welcome' Morning Tea in the clubhouse, and I'm going.  Sadly, (probably secretly thrilled), Stew cannot attend.

I doubt it would be his 'cuppa tea' anyway.   Sitting around yakking with a bunch of old biddys. Though, he'd probably enjoy the food.

After morning tea, I am going to have a swim, followed by a soak in the hot tub.  I've been looking forward to that for a few days now.

QUESTION:  I'm thinking of making a few of these for sale on our stall...

ABOVE:  Casserole carriers.  I had thought of making the 'traditional' round ones, but they are a massive fag to make.  I think rectangular ones would be just as  handy, and certainly easier to make.

So, what do you think?  Yes, or No?

9.30 am, and I'm getting a fairly strong 'NO' vibe for the carriers.

They could be used to carry any food, a bowl of salad, basket of fruit, etc etc?   I'm still thinking about it...

In the meantime, I've done the housework, showered, washed the hair, put the face on and am about ready for the morning tea.

Well, that was a very nice gathering.  And a nice spread on the table.  I have taken some to have later on, after WW weigh in.

I wasn't going to WW tonight, as I've gained about a kilo in the past two weeks.

Trying to eat more so my blood sugars don't bottom out, and yeah.  Gained weight.

But, I'll persevere, I'll continue what I've always done... YO - YO. 😖😏

ABOVE:  I'm relieved I made an effort with the hair/face!  They took photos of all us 'newbies' today for their 'records'.  

I don't look like some old hag who let herself go... YET!  lol

NOTE:  The eyebrows have settled down enough for me to kinda like them again.  Derrr.

I ended up staying in the hot tub for only about 10 minutes, then got too hot.  So, while it was nice, I doubt we'll be in it much over summer.

The pool though, should be fine.

Well now I'm totally undecided if I shall make one or two of them, or none!

I'm thinking... I'll continue being undecided for now! lol

It is raining, and the gardens look FABULOUS!

All the rocks look so nice WET.

I've done two loads of washing this afternoon, one is already in the drier, and the second (Stew's shirts) will go on a rack.

Boring information eh?

But seriously, I'm being quite lazy.  Just watching True Crime on the telly.  I love those sorts of programmes.

7.33 pm, and I'm semi happy to report a GAIN of .500grams. That is less than I was expecting.

Stew and I are now at Fergus for a nice dinner.

ABOVE:  Calamari and Prawns, Pizza and Loaded Fries.  Certainly could not eat all of that.  We came home with a 'Doggy Bag'.... lunch tomorrow is sorted.

Now, time to just relax for the remainder of the evening.

Catch ya tomorrow.

ANOTHER NEW WEEK ROLLS AROUND

 

Top of my 'to do list' today is to prepare the long, narrow garden out the back for pots 'n' rocks.

I will pull out all the plants, pot the ones I want to keep and chuck the rest.  Though if I remember rightly, I pulled out the ones I want to chuck yesterday.

Then it will be an easy job to lay the weed mat down etc.

Once it's ready, I'll go out and get the extra rocks I need to finish off the front garden, and the back one.

I'll see if Lacy can come over to help me with that part of the job.

After lunch I have Craft Group, which I will hopefully get to.

And that's me day planned.

ABOVE:  I was up at 8 am and out in the garden, digging the plants out of that garden, and putting them in pots.

ABOVE: Then Lacy arrived and put the weed mat down.

We placed the pots where we wanted them, then took off to get more rocks.

I got two bags of the bigger stones to finish off the front garden and 3 bags of smaller rocks for the garden we were working on today.

ABOVE:  It was the right choice getting the smaller stones for this garden, they fitted in the space much better.

AND that is a wrap on gardening for today.

There is one more garden to do, but it can wait a week or two.

Lacy has now gone home, and I am going to put me feet up for a while, before it's lunchtime, then Craft Group.

Well ... again I didn't go to craft group!  I packed everything up ready to go, sat down for lunch and well...  I just felt exhausted.

So, I lay down and tried to have a nap instead.

Then, when no sleep happened, Coco and I went for a little walk around the village.

Then I took my car back down to it's parking space, and had another little walk with Coco.

Stew is home now, and it's going to be a quiet evening in front of the telly/laptop.

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

PLANTS FOR THE GARDEN TODAY

 

Yes, a sleep in day.

The only thing we want to do today is go and buy a few more plants for the gardens.

I'm going to try and fill up the gardens so much that weeds don't even get a chance to grow.

I had thought of doing them all with weed matting and rocks/pots, but that would be a huge mission, not to mention cost.

So ... plant shopping today.

And that is about all I have for now.

Catch ya later.

Slight change of plans for the gardens. We are not buying more plants, we are...

ABOVE: We are using existing plants from the gardens, putting them in pots and putting down weed matting and rocks. Let's NEVER have to get the gardens weeded again. 🙂🫠

ABOVE: After buying all the extra pots we wanted... we went and got the rocks.

ABOVE:  Coco and I watched the shop, while the men bagged up the rocks for us.

ABOVE: Then it was home to get the job done.  I had thought we would just pot the plants and lay down the weed matting, and have Lacy put the rocks down tomorrow.  But Stew had other ideas.

ABOVE: We stripped out the garden, potted what we wanted to keep, then Stew laid down the weed matting...

ABOVE: Then we positioned the pots, and Stew put down the rocks.

I have to buy two more bags of rocks tomorrow to finish it off.

But for now... how gorgeous does it look?

It should too, cos that was not cheap.

Well... I did spend quite a bit on the pots... and a blue bird bath.

Cos, well it was pretty.

It is now 2 pm, Stew has a headache, and my tummy is rumbling.  Might just have some lunch.

We had a kebab for our lunch, then went to Palmers to look at their pots.  I wanted 5 smaller pots for the long, narrow garden around the back.

ABOVE: And now I have more pots.  I can start on that next garden on my own tomorrow, unless Lacy can come over and gimme a hand.

Let's just wait and see.

10.41 pm:  Well I think Stew and I are both very happy with what we got accomplished today.

And on that note, I'm outta here.

It's bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

TAMAHERE MARKET IN NOVEMBER

 

5.42 am, and yep, we are up and getting ready to head off to Tamahere Market.

With any luck the showers will hold off and we will get a nice crowd of people arrive to do some shopping.

Depending on the weather, we might be able to get a few extra tables out the side of our gazebo, IF it doesn't rain.  Otherwise, we will just do our 'wet set up', and keep everything inside the gazebo, towards the back.

It's frustrating, as it means we can't put out anywhere near as much as I'd like.

But... oh well.  We will just have to wait and see what eventuates.

...

ABOVE: Ready when you are...

ABOVE: The nice view... And all around and behind us.   Huge clouds. 

ABOVE: The bedlam with all the stall holders arriving to set up. 

We have made some good sales, chatted with some lovely people....

ABOVE: And then down came the rain! Grrrrr.

It's supposed to ease up around lunchtime.

ABOVE: Raincoat weather.

I became the 'entertainment'... I stood in the rain and said "When was the last time you jumped in a puddle?"

AND then I said NOW! And jumped in a puddle.

🤣😅🙂🙃😍😅   

I made people laugh.

Job done.

Its now 10.24 and the rain has stopped....

Sadly, the crowds did not pick up after the rain, and it was super quiet for the rest of the market.

It was still a good enough day sales wise, certainly not a waste of time.

ABOVE: This is a Burmese Mountain Dog... baby.  He's 4 months old.

ABOVE: And the bigger one is baby's relative, but not father or brother.  

ABOVE: The owners of the dogs come to market every now and then, and it takes them FOREVER to get around the market.... because everyone stops them to pet the dogs, and ask about them.

2.04 pm:  Stew has gone to the supermarket, and I'm about to have a Nana Nap!  I'm knackered.  

Oh before I forget, the couple who adopted our Teddy about 10 years ago came to the market for the first time today.  We had a really lovely catch up, and we found out that Teddy passed away in January.  I was sad to hear that, but I know he had a wonderful life with them.  I loved Teddy, and often wondered how he was doing, and if he was still earthside.  

Teddy was one year older than Coco.  I'm scared of losing Coco, but know her time will come one day.

And that's enough sadness, I'm off for that nap.

9.32 pm, and I had a nice nap.  Then we got fish 'n' chips for dinner.  It's not sitting well on me stomach now unfortunately.

Been watching the telly and playing online jigsaws.

LOTTO was won by 3 lucky people.... 18 million each.  I haven't checked my ticket, I'll probably do that tomorrow.

For now... it's bedtime for us.  We are tired.

THREE OUT OF FOUR AIN'T BAD

 

This morning I'm going to set up the trestle in the garage for painting the Wooden Lettering.

I will put a base coat on all of them first, then top coats and 'decorations'.   I'm thinking of painting each letter with a different design, a bit like fabric.  Not 100% sure what I'm doing yet, but I want them to be pretty.

I might even incorporate some mosaics on some too.  No matter what I do, it's going to be fun.

Last night I got Stew to wear his new Waikato shirt to the pub, and I took the other two with me.  I got our friend 'R' to put his on, and Steve was there too... so he had to as well.

ABOVE:  If 'G' had been there in his shirt, I would have had all four of them.  But, three's not bad.

 ABOVE:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SON MIKE.  Guess what Mike?  I've got one of those shirts for you too!  lol  

We are looking forward to a little trip down to Palmerston North and Wanganui in 5 weeks to see Mike, Joyce and Stew's sister Khady before Christmas.

OK, I might just roll over and get some more Zzzz's, before I get up and make a start on the day.

Catch ya later.

11.10 am.  I'm home after spending a while out and about, gathering paint etc.

I have had to order another letter from Spotlight, as I'd inadvertently grabbed an L instead of a T, and of course, Spotlight don't have any T's.

So I wait for that one now.

In the meantime, I will put the white undercoat on all of them a bit later today.

Then I have the fun part, decorating them.

ABOVE: Ready to go...

ABOVE:  I decided to not start the painting today, as we have to load the car in readiness for tomorrow's market, and I didn't want wet paint near all that stuff.

So instead, Coco and I went for our daily walk.

ABOVE:  The river levels have dropped a few metres from the highs of late.

ABOVE: Because I access the river path from our Village, I didn't realise it was blocked off in both directions.  So, Coco and I  had to climb through a fence to continue on our way.

ABOVE: Watching this girl bounce, hop, skip and jump through the long grass, you would never guess she was well over 15 years old.

She constantly amazes me.

Though looking at her now, sprawled out on the floor... yeah, she's getting old.   She really only has one or two spurts of energy each day now.

Once Stew gets home, we are going over to Steve 'n' Bex's to get a piece of wood for my letters to go on. I better get a measurement of how long it needs to be.

It will be going above our garage door btw.

9.37 pm, and we are off to bed, early night as we have the Tamahere Market tomorrow.

And it's supposed to be showers in the morning.  OH YA.

Catch ya tomorrow.

YEAH, OFF TO GET PAINT I SUPPOSE

 

I sold the little fridge/freezer last night, and the bloke is coming around this morning to pick it up.  Yaaa... that was fast.

Lacy is going to visit me this morning, which I'm looking forward to.  She's not been around much lately.  

She's been working a lot, and loving it.  Damned if I'd want to be getting up at 4.30 am to milk or inseminate cows!

Though, I do love cows.  But not early in the morning!

ABOVE: Coco after her bath last night, she looks gorgeous.

ABOVE:  My wooden letters... waiting to be painted.  I will go out first thing this morning and get the paint, I'll just need test pots.

Right, that's me for now.

Catch ya later.

12.37 pm, and it's been an excellent morning.

The fridge/freezer is gone.

So is all the old shelving from our linen cupboard, the village gardeners have taken it for their new glasshouse.

AND...

ABOVE:  Our gardens got weeded, and the lawns mown ... so it's looking beautiful again.

I went out for paint, then felt hungry, so stopped for some sushi.  And came home, totally forgot about the freakin' paint!

Oh well... next time I'm out I'll remember.

LOTTO has jackpotted to something like $55 million for this Saturday, so I'm going to buy a ticket.  Ya gotta be in to win right?  And it's a MUST BE WON total too, so hopefully a few people get to share it.

I sure in hell wouldn't mind even a share of it.

6.04 pm. Well I've got me LOTTO ticket. I've been to the pub and given out Waikato shirts to Steve, Stew and our friend 'R'... got a photo. Will post it later.

Right now I'm visiting the kids, before heading back to the pub for hot chips and a few laughs.

After a lovely time at the kids home, then the pub, we are now home.

I'm regretting helping the guy get the fridge/freezer in his car this morning.  My BSA is a bit sore.  Silly me.

But what do ya do?  He was on his own and couldn't do it on his own.  Lucky I'm not some 92 year old biddy!  

Right, I'm off.

Catch ya tomorrow.