Welcome to tales of my stitching life, home, family and friends.

Monday, January 7, 2019

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.

P1250589

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

P1250468
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.

P1250465

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.

P1250435P1250431
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.

P1250488

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

P1250499
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.

P1250345

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.

P1250358
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.

9 comments:

Kate said...

Your ice cream cone looks delicious!

Maria said...

Wishing you All the Best for 2019 and you have got off on a good start having a lovely time with your friends and also catching up with the family...Gemma is growing quickly. Good to see she enjoys caravaning with you both.
You'll just get all the washing done , caravan cleaned ready for the next adventure.. Have fun !!!
Just checked out your last few posts, you were keep busy over the festive season making delicious treats and the pork looked good too.

TheAwakenedSoul said...

Looks like a wonderful trip. Your cat looks so relaxed! That is one tall fruit ice cream.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

it sounds like you had fun even if it was hot - I don't like camping too much if it is too hot - I don't know about where you were at but if the nights cooled down that is ok but if the night stays hot too that is just more than I like :) Love those ice creams! we always get too many of them!!

Quilter Kathy said...

I enjoyed seeing the stitching you did on your trip! And the ice cream photo made my mouth water!

Michelle Ridgway said...

Happy 2019 Jenny. Sounds and looked like a lovely trip xx

Tired Teacher said...

You've been busy! I like how you're stitching the blue flowers. I never would have thought of using the overlapping lazy daisy stitch that way. Ice cream with real fruit - yummy!

Unknown said...

Happy new year Jenny! Lovely ice cream. And enjoy the hot summer!

Karen S said...

Looks like you have had a great time away. Definitely plenty to do.