The one with the broken arm...

I Have a wee update....Tuesday morning I was feeding leftover food to our duck visitors when I slipped over on the wet deck smacking my wrist on the wood. Thankfully my oldest son was able to take me to the doctor's where they x-rayed my arm and found I had 2 breaks in my wrist. So for the next 6 weeks my arm is in plaster - not sure how often I'll be on here but I'll try and pop in when I Can.

Hope you have a better week than I've had...

Our world Tuesday - Roll on Summer!

Welcome to another Our World Tuesday! Here's a shot I took last year at our local surf beach. The Aotearoa Surf School here in Mangawhai teach people how to surf on a surfboard. It's something I was wanting to try at one point however I don't own a bikini or swimsuit so it's unlikely it's ever going to happen.

But I thought it was cool to see how people learned :-)

For more Our World Tuesday's click here!

Did you vote in New Zealand's 2014 National election?

So after trotting down to one of the local election spots on Saturday morning to vote, I dropped off a load of washing to one of my besties as her machine was broken, did a few errands then came back home and waited for the results to come in.

Here are the main parties that are here in NZ so if you want to check out their policies links are below:
National Party
Labour Party
Green Party
Internet Mana Party
NZ First Party
Act Party

Since in my humble opinion politicians rarely do what they say anyway I wasn't very optimistic that there would be a change and I was right. For another 3 years we got the same as we've had for the last 3 years. sigh. Oh well might as well just roll with it right?

When a day off really isn't a day off...

Usually Fridays are my day off each week and because I work in a very busy full on job it's definitely needed to relax and have some time out to myself. Today however after having coffee with the girls I drove over to an appointment at my daughter's school with her counselor which was eye opening but a positive experience. And I got to thinking how good it would be if more teenagers could have meetings with their school counselors. There's so much pressure on kids these days and it's so easy to suffer from depression as it's an awkward time, I really feel for people who don't have an outlet for their frustrations.

On the way home I snapped this shot after I pulled over to the side of the road. Now that it's Spring here the cows (in the above photo) and other farm animals are enjoying being able to get outside in the fresh air. Now I'm home, teens are at their father's for the weekend so I'm enjoying some quiet time to myself although it will be good to have them back home on Monday.

Hope your weekend goes well too :-)

Skywatch Friday - Summer sunset over Tawharanui

Until recently I use to enjoy fishing - many nights were spent out in a boat catching Snapper, Kawahai etc. One of the places we use to go to was the Tawharanui Peninsula in the Rodney District of North Auckland. We saw many beautiful sunsets and sunrises - this was one of the best, taken just as evening was coming up.

For more Skywatch Fridays click here :-)

Out with the old, in with the new!

After the stress of the last couple of weeks, this week is moving along quite nicely. No one is crabby and I've removed a very negative person in my life who thought it was ok to constantly bring me down and play games behind my back. Life is too short for negativity like this so after removing this person I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about my future - whatever it brings.

This rainbow I saw from the back deck of my house on Monday morning and for me it symbolizes a new beginning, a new future and new promises.

How's your week been so far?

Our world Tuesday - Sea creatures of Mangawhai

This week I thought I'd do something a little different. Since I like taking photos of weird stuff here are a few things I"ve found while walking along our local surf beach. As above shells, think one looks like a coloured oyster shell.

A very strangely coloured starfish that was washed up on the sand. We see a few of these lying here and there.

Some weird pinkish coloured seaweed coiled up in a ball. And lastly the view of our wonderful surf beach:

Hope you enjoyed seeing where I live. More more Our World Tuesday click here :-)

New beginnings and lighter Spring nights

On the way home from work last week I quickly pulled over off the road to take the shot of the sunset - the driveway to the left leads to a few right of ways and houses. Amazing farmland as you come into Mangawhai.

And these white tulips in the plant pot next to my red ones have brighten up my deck outside. As it's been a particularly rough last couple of weeks the things I'm seeing around me like this symbolize new beginnings and new chapters in my life. Old things are gone, I'm ready for new people and new experiences. No more negativity.

Wishing you a great week!

Sushi treats & orthodontist visits in Kumeu

Once a month my two have orthodontist appointments in Kumeu, about just over an hour's drive away. Yesterday we viewed the before and now photos of how their teeth were and how much they've moved and changed. I could see how much they clearly needed the braces and now my younger son only has about a month to go before he gets his off - good news!

On the way home we treated ourselves to Sushi in Wellsford - always love this sort of food, very healthy and much better than takeaways. Hope your Friday has been good too :-)

The magic of Langs Beach and other oddities

We just love this place! Langs Beach is a small calm beach located about 15 mins drive from where we live. It's stunning and is surrounding by golden sand, Pohutukawa trees and some pretty flash holiday homes.  A couple of years ago I went surf casting there and didn't catch anything but it was so quiet and peaceful that it was nice just to bask in the serene evening.

As for oddities this week it's been absolutely crazy. It's just been one thing after another culiminating in a few big bad dramas. Apparently there's been a supermoon here - what is it about moons that drives people bonkers? Let's just say that I've seen true colours of a few people that I thought were genuine and honest, one that was especially close to me who's really let me down bit time - been very disappointing really. This is one of those times where I've really felt like leaving the planet and was hoping for a positive week.

How has your week been so far?

Wednesday around the world - Thoughts of Queenstown

Last June we were fortunate enough to visit the lovely Queenstown in NZ's South Island. We don't get snow up where we live in the North Island so we were hoping we would see some during our 3 day trip. This photo above is the view we saw from the rented house we stayed in. Very pretty isnt it?

We drove out to Arrowtown and explored the historic area and enjoyed the pretty late winter/early autumn colours.

Something we did was sat in the gondola and went up to the top of the mountain. This is the view out over the area - the restaurant is in the right of the picture. Bet they get an awesome view from there.

And on the last morning it did indeed snow. My two teenagers were impressed and before we left to come home we spent some time having fun making snowballs and feeling it crunch under our feet.

We totally love this part of NZ and are looking forward to going back there at some point.
For more WATW check out Betty's blog :-)

Busy Spring nights and lighter days

This is what the road through Wellsford (where i work) usually looks like when I"m going home at night. It's the main thoroughfare between Auckland and Whangarei so it gets very very busy at times.  Pink Spring skies in the background are cheerful and it's nice knowing that when I get up in the morning and leave work it's light not dark. Highlights for my weekend are:

• Being able to walk my dog Tia at 6.30am before I get ready for work.
• A good family lunch - good converations and good food.
• I'm experimenting with hair colour, trying out different shades, deciding whether to go darker to my natural colour or stay lighter...hmm decisions.

Anyway have a good week :-)

Waipu Pizza Barn - a great family restaurant

If you've ever been to a great eating place you'll know what I"m raving on about. We don't often go to this place but when we do the Waipu Pizza Barn is one of the best places to visit. They are a Scottish themed pizza making family restaurant who make the bestest food ever. 

We had arranged with my cousins up north to get together for my mother and her twin sister's birthday for lunch. Since I'm gluten intolerant it's sometimes hard to find gluten free food but thankfully we were able to order pizzas that we were okay with. Mine was called a Wharfinger and the topping was sweet chilly sauce, prawns, avocado and feta cheese - very very yummy!

My 3 teens love this place, 2 of them were at high school so I ordered some takeout food for them but my oldest who is 19 years old came along. As you can see below there's a shot of hm and I after we'd had lunch.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend. Mine is going to involve making another cheesecake for my dad for father's day then lots of relaxing, reading and hoping we have some fine weather. Enjoy!

Skywatch Friday - Spring Sunsets after work

We've had some neverending rain here over the last few months that it was a nice change two nights ago to see these spectacular skies on the way home from work. This is the main road into the town where I live - I pulled over just before the school into a road, parked my car, grabbed my cellphone and took these two shots. Not the best quality but hopefully you can see what I saw - amazing colours here in Northland, NZ.

Spring is here!

For more Skywatch Fridays - click here :-)

What a mind boggling week!

You know I'm the sort of person who tries to stay positive and see the good in everything but sometimes things just totally boggle my mind. I'm pretty straight up with people and I like others to be the same with me but one thing that bothers me is when games get played, silly little games.

I don't let the small stuff get to me and most of the time I let alot of worries go completely over my head. This week has been all about second guessing myself and other people which isn't a nice attitude to have had following me around. I also don't like it when people go behind my back and discuss me with others, I'd much rather they come to me directly with concerns. In saying that it's good to know that I do have friends who are true and not false, it's good to know that I don't work Fridays so I can spend tomorrow vegetating and resting and not worrying about what others think of me. This weekend I'm letting all the troubles of the week go and next Monday I'm starting off brand new!

Oh and I"m hoping that all the copious amounts of rain we've had is going to stop so things can dry up here a wee bit...

Wednesday around the world - Time for some colour!

So you know what it's like when you're at the end of winter and you've had enough of dreary wet damp days? yep me too! Normally I love winter, it's a great time to get cosy, snuggle up and watch winter sports on tv. Now I'm sort of over it. These are some of the things I'm looking foward to for Spring and Summer...flowers - lots of them! Roses, above were in bouquets for sale at Matakana Markets.

Hydrangeas - above - photo captured in a friend's garden. These ones are a green/yellow but most varieties we get here are blue or pink.

Red Pohutukawa flowers - NZ's Christmas tree - these come out every summer around November/December. They grow mostly around beaches and sandy areas - perfect coastal plants.

Purple Gazania daisies growing all over the sand at some of the local beaches. These ones love life by the surf! While I"m at it a good friend of mine Jen has started up a blog called Napier Daily Photo - she also lives in NZ but a different part, further down south in a lovely vintage art deco city so do try to check her out :-)

What sort of things are you looking forward to in your coming seasons?

Strelitzia - Birds of Paradise - funky plants and duck visitors

*sneeze* That's me with my sinuses which are suffering terribly at the moment. Worst times of year for me are Autumn and Spring - usually the two things that set it off are pine and privet trees. Some days it's like feeling as if my brain is fogged up and other times I just continually sniff.

However these Strelitzia aka "Birds of Paradise" are one plant that will not cause my nose havoc at all. They look pretty and very funky and make a nice display of colour when they're planted in clumps. Love them!

In the midst of our week we've noticed that we have a male and female duck coming to my back door for food most days. They're quite friendly and I give them leftover bread, the male seems to be standing by the female while she eats so I wonder if she's going to have babies soon. They make a nice change from the Pukekos, Seagulls, Sparrows and Crows we have here...