Brr, it's getting chilly

Our weather has turned wintry again, with snow on the ranges.  That didn't last long, when the rain arrived, and some wind.  It is still winter after all, it's just that we have been spoiled with calm, mild, sunny days for ages. Luckily, there is a heat pump installed, so there is clean, efficient heating here in my little home.  And it has been perfect soup making weather too.  My latest batch was pumpkin and kumara, so nice and tasty, with added pieces of fried onion and bacon, after it was whizzed smooth.  This was made in the microwave, and I do love home made soup.

Creamy pumpkin and kumara soup with added bacon

Gemma had a difficult morning recently, it was time for her annual vaccinations and health check.  I picked her up and put her in the carry cage before she realised what was happening.

How did that happen, she's thinking

Gemma doesn't make a fuss being in the car, and it was a short drive down to the Vets.

Here we are

Gemma was a little uncomfortable when she was lifted on to the table and the vet checked her over.  Everything was fine and she was given her vaccinations.  I had asked if she could get her claws trimmed as it always took both Robin and I working together in the past to get this job done.  She was most unhappy with this procedure and had to be wrapped in a towel, growling at the vet and struggling to get away.  I told the vet that I had never had a cat who growled before.  Finally, with three paws clipped, she was getting so distressed that we agreed to give up  - she couldn't get back into her carry cage fast enough.  Poor Gemma, I wondered if she would forgive me for this abomination when we got home.  She hopped into the hidey hole in her tower at home to recover from her ordeal.

I'm hiding, don't touch me.

I've been doing a bit of knitting in the evenings and more importantly, I'm working hard to get my secret sewing finalised for my daughter's birthday.  It's looking rather good, even if I do say so myself!  All will be revealed soon.

Sock Knitting

I'm pleased I have a sock finish, this pair seems to have taken ages.  But only because I don't work on them all the time, I tend to flick from one project to another.   These are for my daughter, I asked if she would like another pair for Christmas.  "Yes please" she said, "I'd like pale blue this time".  So they are done well ahead of time, which is good.

  Socks for my daughter

I knit my socks flat, two at a time then sew up the side seam.  You can't feel the seam and it doesn't go under the sole, but up the side.  None of those tiny double pointed needles for me!  This pair was  made using Tootsies 4ply Merino sock yarn.

But wait, there's more, I'm working on two more pair as well, both up to different stages.  These are thick 12ply socks, using double knit together with left over sock yarn, and will be for me.  The heels are done on the dark pair, and the pale ones have more growing to do to reach the heel stage.  I prefer wearing these thicker socks, especially in the winter.

Two more pair on the go

Our winter weather has been very changeable, cool but sunny some days, and heavy rain on other days.  There was a sprinkling of snow on the hills last week, which always looks pretty in the sunshine, but I'm pleased we don't live in an area with snow on the ground. 

Snow on the Tararua Ranges

Colder weather means more soup making, so I made a batch of French Onion soup in my Crockpot.  It was delicious served with some cheesy toast on the top of my bowl of soup.  Nothing beats hot soup for lunch on a cold winter's day.

French Onion soup

My birthday socks finished, and gift

 I have finally finished this pair of socks for me.  This 4ply sock wool is branded Happy Feet, no colour named, just a number, and I received it as a birthday gift last year from Sew Wot friend Mary.    As most of you know, I knit my socks flat, two at a time, and packed the finished socks in my knitting bag on our recent caravan trip planning to get side seam stitched up.  That never happened, and I finally completed this task once we returned back home.  It's about time I finished them.

Although it is now Spring, we are having awful weather and no doubt I will be wearing socks for a little bit longer.  I'm really looking forward to the weather co-operating more and being able to wear lighter Summer clothes again.  The last couple of days of our trip home were cold and bleak.  Just look at this weather out of the caravan window!

Brr, it's chilly out there

Low clouds followed us as we drove along the Desert Road, and the traffic was quite heavy as it was the last day of a long holiday weekend.  There is no actual sandy desert as such, and the scenery changes dramatically, from sub alpine trees, to miles of tussock covered land which is used for military training, and then changes again to rolling farmland at the southern end. The rain and low clouds followed us, obscuring my view of Mt Ruapehu.

It was time to stop and catch our breath at Waiouru.  Robin attended to the fuel requirements while I went over to the coffee cart.  I had an interesting chat with the owner and another customer inside when I mentioned we were on our way home to Levin.  Both of these ladies had lived there in the past. 

Time for a coffee

The weather had cleared and it was sunny again by the time we reached the last stop on our trip, Marton.  Gemma was keen to get outside and smell the flowers, but that didn't last long.  Before too long, down came the rain and wind again, and we spent the last night of our trip tucked up cozily inside the caravan.

We returned home safely the next day, unpacked, and put the first load of washing on.  My friend Dot called around with birthday gift, isn't it lovely!

Thanks, Dot

Heading Home

 Our last night in the South Island was quite a worry.  A storm came rolling in as the day wore on, and was fully fledged by night time.  We could swear that the thunder was right over head, and each noisy clap spooked Gemma.  She ran around the van looking for a hiding place, hunkering down on the carpet at the foot of the bed, with the overhanging duvet giving her the illusion of cover.  Lightening cracked around us, torrential rain came down, and the caravan was buffeted all night by strong wind gusts.  Dear oh dear, what would our sailing be like the following day, we wondered. 

 Luckily the storm had gone the next morning, just leaving the wind gusts behind.  Time for the final part of our journey, crossing Cook Strait.  We were hoping the return trip would not be too rough, after all that bad weather the previous day.  While we were waiting in our lane to board the ship, we noticed a silly young girl walking around with a tiny pup.  The pup was not on a lead at all, and the girl was running here and there with the pup trying hard to keep up.  No control at all, and I had visions of a car or truck driving up to wait where they had been sent, and running over the pup.  Luckily that didn't happen, but.....  Soon, the vehicles in our lane were waved aboard, our journey across Cook Strait is beginning.

It is always rather noisy down in the hold.  Pets have to stay in the vehicles, or in Gemma's case, inside the caravan.  She is left with water and dry food in her bowls, and her dirt box.  Other than that, she is on her own, and has to deal with the trip alone for the next few hours as best she can.

Gemma stays in the caravan during the trip

So it was up to the cafe for a light lunch.  As the ship started to slowly leave the wharf I stepped out on the deck to take a few photos.  Traveling through the Marlborough Sounds is always so calm and  beautiful.

 On our way through the Sounds

I had brought my knitting with me to while away the time.  Not the blue pair of socks I was knitting on the trip down - I'm up to the heels on those so put them aside till I returned home.  This is another recently started pair, the pretty pink sock wool was a Christmas gift from my daughter, Nicky.

Busy knitting socks

The remainder of the journey was surprisingly calm, hard to believe after the terrible weather the previous day.  A friendly traveler noticed the Scotch Thistle on the front of my jumper and asked if I was from Scotland.  No, I answered,  but I did buy my jumper there in Edinburgh, and my maternal grandfather came from Glasgow.  It was easy to work out that this man was Irish, he had such a wonderful lilting Irish accent.  Yes, we've been to Ireland too, we said, and spent an interesting hour or so swapping travel tales.

He  saw my camera and asked if we would like a photo.  He and his wife were very impressed that we made such good use of our caravan and traveled far and wide around our beautiful country.  "You two are enjoying life and living the dream", he commented.

The time soon passed and we arrived in Wellington.   Time to head down to the car deck and get ready.  We decided to stop at Plimmerton NZMCA Park for the night, as it was getting dark, and we didn't want to arrive home and unload the van at night time.  A quick meal, and it was early to bed, it had been a big day and we were exhausted.  The next morning after  breakfast we hooked up for the final leg of the journey.  Home at last we unpacked the van, put the first load of washing on, and sat and relaxed over a late lunch.  Phew, it's good to be home again.  We had 10 days away this trip, and traveled 1110 kms.

While we were away Spring has sprung and our Kowhai tree had burst into blossom.  We brought this tree up to our new home in Levin as a seedling from our garden, and it is certainly thriving up here.

Our Kowhai tree in blossom

Not another new RSC Project, surely?

The  Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for January is green, and I thought I had already completed my RSC stitching this month.  But another project sneaked in.  Hiding in plain sight was a bag of 2.5in squares, and I had thinking of doing a project I had seen in blogland, but that didn't happen.  To be quite honest, I don't really like working with little squares, and was considering donating the bag to the Op Shop.

Perhaps I'll do something with them after all, I thought.  So I rummaged through the bag, pulled out all the soft green squares I could find, and stitched up some green hollow nines.  I had admired this block on RSC last year, so thought, why not do some myself, and use up some of the never ending squares.

I'm jumping on the Hollow Nines bandwagon

As it is green month, it seemed a good opportunity to work on a green UFO which was hanging around.  There were a couple to choose from and I selected a green and lemon hued cot quilt top I had made from 5 inch squares.  It wont take me too long to machine quilt this, I imagined.  Well, as it happens, I'm still working on it, so it wont be finished this week.  But I'm getting there, hope to finish it shortly.  

Working on the green cot quilt

As well as time spent at the sewing machine, we went out to check on a newly opened cafe this week.  Robin and I are part of a friendship group which meets monthly for lunch, and my turn to organise a day out is coming up soon.  I had actually been there for coffee just prior to Christmas, but not for a meal.  So we drove to Foxton to have morning tea and check out the lunch menu.  

The lunch menu looked fine, with plenty of cabinet food available too, for those who would prefer something lighter.  I was delighted to find Ginger Gems in the cabinet, who can remember these?  One of my favourites, but seldom seen these days.  They are the sort of thing made by grannies using  heavy gem irons a generation or two ago.  Mine was delicious, as was the coffee.  So yes, we will bring our friends here for my lunch outing shortly.

Morning Tea at Foxton

So that's what I have been doing this week.  Our hot spell has finally broken with rain all day today, not too heavy, just falling steadily over several hours.  I'm sure the farmers love rain like this.

Spring Forward

Spring has officially arrived in my part of paradise, and along with it came Daylight Saving, so we had to put the clocks forward one hour last week.  I’m always so impressed that the computers and cell phones know how to do this themselves, so it’s only a couple of household clocks and those in the cars  which need to be altered, plus watches too of course.

The last reasonably pleasant days of Winter have given way to the tumultuous Spring weather.  It’s always so much more windy in Spring, it’s been rather wet off and on, and the temperatures are jumping up and down all over the place.  The weather has been weird worldwide, and NSW in Australia is suffering from wild fires, brought on by hot temps and strong winds, that must be a terrible thing to live through.

It’s time to hang up my seasonal wall-hanging. Hello Spring was completed last summer so was this is it’s first season up on the wall.  This is hand embroidered and machine quilted.

Hello Spring

It may well be Spring but the weather is cold – so cold I decided to make some nice tasty soup for lunch.  That should last us a couple of days.

Out and About

We've been away on a caravan trip for the last week or so.  Our destination was Cambridge, and we had a nice leisurely time getting there.  The first stop was the Gumtree Motorhome Park at Taihape.     Checking out the sign, I wondered what the overseas visitors would think, there are no koalas in New Zealand.  Although there were plenty of gum trees in the park.

Gemma travels quite well in the car, but I suspect she just puts up with it.  But once we get to our destination, she bounds into the caravan, jumps up on the bed, and relaxes.  She heard some magpies calling and was keen to check them out through the caravan windows.

Those are very big birds, Mum

Then we moved on to Taupo for two nights.  The iconic Love Taupo sign was still there, but not so easy to get to with the road changes and no parking available in front of the sign these days.  Tourists love taking their photos in front of this sign, so I was lucky to snap it with no one in front as we drove slowly by.

Love Taupo sign on the lake side

I had read about the award winning new Taupo Airport building, so we went inside to have a coffee and check it out.  The interior of the building reflects the local area.  Huge rimu logs salvaged from Pureroa Forest are a feature, as is the mauri stone that came from Tauhara Quarry.  Giant photos of majestic scenery adorn the walls.  It is certainly very well done.

Inside Taupo Airport building

The following day we pulled into the Cambridge Race Course, to meet up with the International Caravan Club (ICA) group for our four day rally.  This group come from different parts of the North Island and only have 3-4 rallies each year.  It was great to catch up with them all again.  Most of this group have motor-homes, we are one of two caravans attending.  Once settled, we joined the others in the large circle out in the wintry sunshine. 

Meeting up in Cambridge

The following morning we all headed off to the Muscle Car Garage, and the petrol heads in the group were in seventh heaven.  Inside the museum was a multitude of bright shiny cars and motorbikes.  Racing cars and street cars galore - where to start looking, there was so much on display.  The walls and ceilings were decorated with posters, and there was an assortment of car related items dotted around.

Such a lot on display

I’d had enough of being on my feet by this stage so went back to the main hall to sit down.  Robin joined me on the shiny sofa by the 60s style Milk Bar, just a pity it wasn't open and serving milk shakes.  There were plenty of photos of rock bands on the wall which I recognized.

Ready to sit down

The final evening at our rally was the celebration “0 and  5” dinner, all about sharing with those of our members who are celebrating big birthdays and anniversaries during the year, ending in an 0 or 5.  After our meal the names were called out.  Birthdays first, up they came to be handed a gorgeous hand made card.  Anniversaries were next, and we were called up, along with others, as we are celebrating our 40th anniversary later this year.  Of course there was a cake to share as well.

The anniversary couples

Our beautiful hand made keepsake

The rain had set in overnight, and the next morning the ground was sodden.  Everyone was packing up to leave but some of the large motor homes had a little trouble and needed help to get off the wet slushy grass.  No problem, Robin was happy to help again. With the strop in place, it was a matter of gently, gently, and the motor home was pulled off the grass and onto the shingle.  It was lucky that we had a car and could help.

Robin pulling the motor-home off the grass

The weather conditions were checked the following morning, a winter storm was travelling up the country, with cold temperatures, wind, rain and snow  forecast.  That was a worry, but we would just take it easy and drive carefully.   We saw several groups of snow ploughs parked up on the Desert Road, ready and waiting for the snow to fall.  That’s not something we ever see down where we live.

Waiting to clear the snow fall

The snow did fall as we drove along, falling  soft and sludgy on the windscreen.  And the temperature dropped lower and lower, right down to –1C.  Goodness me, that’s rather cold for us.  There was no chance of getting a glimpse of Mt Ruapehu in these conditions with the clouds so low.

Once past Waiouru the temps started to slowly rise and we left the low clouds, rain and sleet  behind us.  We decided to stop at Flat Hills for lunch, but a bus load of passengers beat us to the lunch counter, so we tagged onto the end of the queue.  This is just one of three buses which stop here each day for lunch, we were told, which must make such a difference to the turnover, I imagine.  As it was such a chilly day I was so pleased to see soup on the menu.  So it was pumpkin soup for me, a steak and cheese pie for him, a nice hot coffee each, and we shared a piece of carrot cake.

Sitting by the fire at the café for lunch

A couple of hours later we were pulling into our village.  I don’t know how Gemma always knows when she is almost home, but she does.  The caravan was unpacked and put away in its parking area, the first load of laundry was put on, and we sat and had a cuppa.  It was good to arrive home safe and sound, and luckily the expected bad weather did not arrive during our trip.

Weekend at the Red Barn

This was a big weekend for us, it was Robin’s first time towing the caravan since his knee replacement.  We weren't going too far for the weekend, about 60km or so each .  He managed very well, of course, as well as driving, there was the hooking up to do, the legs to wind down, a bit difficult with his knee not bending very well.  He was on his feet quite a bit for this first trip away and was quite sore and achy when we returned home.  The Red Barn was a “new to us” venue, camping available on a farm, and we were joined by our caravan club friends.

Our caravan parked beside the Red Barn

What a weekend of strange weather we had at the rally, it was warm, wet and thundery.  Generally, the days were fine, but by late afternoon the clouds would roll in, thunder would rumble, and the heavy rain would fall, and fall, and fall.  Although we didn't sight any lightening, Mr Google tells us these two always come hand in hand,  and it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. We certainly didn’t notice any, but the lightening would have been flashing somewhere in the sky.  Gemma was happy cuddled up inside, mostly. She has practically outgrown her favourite place on top of the sofa, but curled up tight can can just about squeeze herself into the corner.

Gemma is snoozing

Our group was offered the use of the implement shed to gather in for our morning teas and 4zees, but the resident swallows were not at all happy with our presence – I think they were busy building nests inside the shed.   The birds  were rather agitated and flew about, swooping from corner to corner.  Gemma came on her lead to join us one day  and really enjoyed the interesting smells everywhere, until one of the swallows swooped low and buzzed her!  People were bad enough, but to bring  a cat as well, just too much!

Happy caravanners nice and cozy in the implement shed

Pat planned a little 4WD adventure on Saturday, he was told that he could drive through the farm and reach the Manawatu River.  So off we went, three 4WDs in a row, with the front car opening the gates, and the back car closing them, as you must do on a farm.  The grass was so thick and lush we remarked it was rather like driving over the African  savannah.  Instead of being attacked by lions, we were set upon by a bunch of steers who galloped up from the adjacent paddock. Just as well there was a fence between us.

Here they come, thundering towards us

One of our newer lady members brought our a quilt to show the ladies.  I remarked that I didn't know she was a quilter.  Oh no she said, she doesn't sew, but got it made for her bed in the caravan.  We all oohed and aahed over it, it was full of caravan prints.  She has a vintage style caravan and this quilt looks right at home on her bed.  I know I took some photos of the quilt but goodness knows where they went, how frustrating!

I can show you this though.  I cleared the mail box when we returned home from the weekend, and there was a small parcel from my daughter.  I had sent her up some handkerchiefs which I had tucked away for several years, the type which have tiny stitched holes around the edge to add a simple crotchet edging.  I knew I would never get them done, as I  don't know how to crochet and it really seems too hard for me to learn.  Low and behold, she had done these two in no time at all, different edging on each, and said in her message that she really enjoyed doing it.  It is such fine work, and I’m very proud of Nicky as she has taught herself to crochet, something that I couldn't manage.

Such lovely work

Leaders and Enders

It’s no secret that I love working with leaders and enders.  It may have been around for a while, but I got the idea from  Bonnie Hunter, who likes to have a parts of a project sitting beside the machine ready to sew, such as two patches, while you are stitching your main project.  When I first started sewing, I used a ratty piece of fabric to start and finish the sewing sequence, but now I use this other method.  And before you know it, there is a whole lot of little pieces stitched together – something for nothing, and with very little effort, I always say.  This is my latest leader and ender -  a small cot quilt for a little girl.  In the box are cut 3in squares which I put under the needle at the start and finish of other seams.  Then four of these are finger pressed and pinned together, waiting for the next stage.

Leader and ender pieces prepared and waiting

Doing this project as leaders and enders, it doesn't really matter how long it takes, it will get there in the end, it is a secondary project, after all.

And some four patches stitched together

Another project assembled in this way is this little boys quilt of farm machines.  This was a panel which I cut apart, and added borders bit by bit.

Another leader and ender project

This is now assembled, layered and pinned, ready for machine quilting, so I’ll be working on this over the next week.

Next machine quilting project

We awoke to quite a frosty morning, cold and chilly.  Thank goodness for my selection of nice cozy wool socks to keep my feet warm.  I love my hand knitted socks!

Cozy toes