I’ve been looking everywhere!

This weekend we are away at a caravan club rally, a chance to give my sore throat and head a change of scene.  I’m slowly coming right, and as often happens, my cough worsens at night.  While packing up for our three day weekend away, I was looking everywhere for my sewing pouch, where I keep my New Zealand Botanical stitchery blocks.  I looked here, and there, in all sorts of cubby holes, and then again in the places I’d already searched, just in case it’d missed it the first time!  Checked the caravan of course, but to no avail.  And once we had arrived at our destination, what did I see on my bedside cabinet?  You guessed it, my missing sewing pouch, tucked away on top of some books.

That’s what I was looking for!

We left our kitten Gemma in the van while we caught up with our friends, and what a fright we got when we returned.  She had managed to wriggle herself out of her harness – how on earth did she do that, we wondered?  We had attached the lead which got caught up on something, and obviously that gave her something to pull against while she wriggled out.

After all that excitement, she settled down in the sunshine on top of the couch and went to sleep, the picture of innocence.

This is a pretty camp, nicely maintained with spotless ablution blocks.  Happy birds chirped and fluttered around in the aviary.  And what's this?  Someone had constructed a large moa out of left over branches – very well done, I thought.  Moas were large flightless birds (about as big as an ostrich) and were hunted to extinction over 500 years ago.

I did some “slow stitching” sitting outside in the sunshine over the weekend.  This is my Alpine Buttercup block.  It’s been put aside for a while, and then I couldn't find it, but with a bit more dedicated stitching time this block will soon be finished. 

We were very lucky with the weekend Spring weather, it was lovely and fine, and  warm enough to sit outside and enjoy.  Our group took a walk around nearby Virginia Lake and saw all sorts of water birds, elegant swans, noisy ducks, some with tiny ducklings paddling hard to keep up with their Mum, even  a terrapin sunning himself.  As we walked slowly along the path, enjoying the sights, we had to step aside smartly as a posse of mad joggers came racing by.

Maori mythology tells a haunting story of how young maiden Tainui met up with a bird lover named Turere. They shared a passion and ability to talk with the birds, but jealous and angry Ranginui wanted Tainui to become his wife. He set off to kill Turere where the lake now lies. In her grief, Tainui cried tears adding to the water of the lake.