Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!
Term 4 in New Zealand is always a short and fast one. My youngest daughter gleefully reminded me that Christmas Day is fast approaching – and there’s me thinking that surely we’re still in September – but one look at our dog, on pick up from his pre-summer groom, and there’s no denying the festive…
My youngest daughter and I flew down to Queenstown, in September 2018, to visit a friend and support her with an art exhibition. It was a wonderfully long weekend of fun in the snow, sight-seeing, great food, wine, company and art! A few days before our visit my hubby had flown down with our oldest…
The past week and a half we’ve seen spring drift into autumn, with the weather pendulum swinging more erratically. Hot days, reminiscent of the record summer that we’ve had still linger, as the nights draw in, interspersed with sudden plunges in temperature and days of rain and wind. Our learning days are changing along with the season, as indoor…
One day we are tucked up indoors playing LEGO, reading, baking and making toy boats to float on the bath tub, the next we are walking in the sunshine, picking sweat-peas, and paddling our toes in the sea. We are definitely ‘going with the flow’ this spring in Wellington (not to mention keeping sane with…
For the third week, in a row, I’ve had at least one of my three daughters home poorly from school. They have been hit hard by some flu type virus, that is doing the rounds across the country this winter. They are all slowly on the mend, though still not at full energy. In the…
Last Thursday I picked up my youngest daughter from school and we headed straight to the museum – Te Papa – in Wellington. The museum is open late on a Thursday night and she’d been asking to go for a few weeks, so I finally made it happen. I used to spend so much time…
Twinkling in the winter sky just before dawn, Matariki (the Pleiades) signals the Maori New Year. Traditionally, it was a time for remembering the dead, and celebrating new life. In the 21st century, observing Matariki has become popular again. Heaven-bound kites, hot-air balloons and fireworks help mark the occasion. Credit: Full story by Paul Meredith…
Last week was a crazily wet one in Wellington (and much of New Zealand) and, with the short days of late autumn, there’s stark few hours for out-door fun after school; so we’ve been keeping dry at home and enjoying some drawing. Any parent with more than one child will concur; it’s a bonus when…
I adore the downtime of the school holidays and the opportunity it gives my children to be creative without any constrains on their time. It’s also wonderful to see them create with the freedom to go with whatever is currently in their hearts and minds, rather than have to work on something within the guidelines…
A tweet reminded me of this lovely ‘Linky’ (‘Mini Creations‘ by Kid GL loves), run by a couple of great kids, in the UK, to celebrate the creations our children produce. All too often I wish I’d taken a photograph of a particular creation – but then the moment has passed, the item has been…
Halloween last year was as it should be – in the northern hemisphere, in autumn (albeit living in Santa Barbara, California, wasn’t quite the northern hemisphere type of Halloween I remembered from my apple bobbing youth growing up in England, UK). It was lovely to be living somewhere where pumpkins were plentiful (as we experienced…
There’s a room in our home that I’ve always loved, ever since we first bought the house – back in 2006. It’s the laundry room, off the back of the garage, and is a sun magnet in the afternoon. It’s a large room and a space I’ve always filled with paint, paper and craft materials…
An inspiring home-school, Mum, friend invited my two younger children and I to a shadow workshop at the City Gallery in Wellington last week. It was the perfect distraction from the troubled start to our week (I’ll get around to the ‘magic moment’ alluded to in the title of this post after a slight detour…!)….
It’s been a wonderful first week in our last rental home in California. We have one month in total here. It’s a beautiful home, with a lovely swimming pool, chickens in the garden, a great tree swing and in a friendly neighbourhood. A great place to finish up over a year of living in Santa…