Home Again

After (almost) two weeks away in the caravan, we are home again.  We stayed at Foxton, not too far from home for several days, then traveled up to Hawkes Bay, and finally home today.  The temperatures in Hawkes Bay were HOT, hovering at 27-29C and some days in the 30s, much warmer than we are used to here at home.  Thank goodness for sun awnings on the caravans to give us some much needed shade.  I only did a little hand work while I was away, finished the stitching on Time for Tea.  This is going to be a mug rug for my USA pen friend.

Did a little more work on my New Zealand Botanical blocks, stitching blue flowers on the Chatham Island Forget-me-not.

Just a little holiday stitching

So what have we been up to while we were away in between trying to keep cool? This huge ice-cream helped, the real fruit ice-creams were $5 each and certainly took a bit of licking to get to the end, trying to get them finished before we ended up in a melted mess.

We enjoyed the ice-creams at Birdwoods in Havelock North after walking around the free sculpture garden.   Birdwoods imports sculptures from Zimbabwe and has other interesting items available for sale in the gallery.  There were metal and stone sculptures, and others, like the sheep, were made from beads.

At Birdwoods Gallery

A trip to the Saturday morning market with our traveling companions was another nice outing.  After a few purchases we walked through the very pretty and historic  Clive Square.  The gardens were formed in 1884, after the area had previously been  used as a sports ground and village green.  After the devastating 1931 earthquake, the square was used as a temporary shopping centre known as Tin Town.  A friendly local took some photos for us.

We also dined out a couple of times, including a meal out with my sister and her family in Hastings.

Sister Kathleen, niece Lisa and BIL Dennis

Our fast growing kitten Gemma had all sorts of exciting experiences while she was away.  She climbed her first tree without any help from us, she was after insects and just knew what to do to climb up the tree trunk to find them.

And the easiest way to keep cool inside the caravan was to stretch right out on the floor, she decided.  That pose isn’t very lady-like, Gemma!  She is quite happy in the caravan, and loves to get outside too, we always make sure she has her harness and lead on when she ventures outside.

Gemma enjoyed her holiday too

We've unpacked the caravan, and the first load of washing is in the machine.  Mind you, we will be doing it all again shortly, our next trip away is in two weeks time.