~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~≈~ What is Silent Sunday?
lyall bay beach
Snapshots from a sunny Saturday ‘avo at Lyall Bay Beach
Sunshine on the beach on a winter Saturday afternoon. A fine time for families to revive, refresh and reconnect. Lyall Bay, Wellington, you have our hearts x Ice-cream for the little ones, coffee for the bigger people. Friends from Napier, sharing our little patch of beloved New Zealand. Toys made by nature for big and […]
10 things to do in the winter sun on the beach
Draw a giant snakes and ladders games in the sand and play with pebble markers. Make a dice substitute by drawing six rings in the sand (with number 6 in the smallest, centre ring, and number 1 in the largest, outside ring). Choose an object to throw at the rings to score (could be a […]
Farewell cous from Aotearoa x
The day after Sophie’s crazy 6th Birthday party, my dear cousin Jane bid us and New Zealand farewell, travelling on to Australia for three week’s (and to be reunited with her fiance) before journeying home to England. It was so wonderful to see her after eight (or so) years and so lovely that she stopped […]
Do I stop at the beach?
I have no towels, no changes of clothes or togs for them to splash in. The air still has a chill, the water’s still cold. But I have the car and it’s a short drive home. The beach is deserted, except for another couple of mothers letting their children run free in and out of the gentle, […]
The Gallery: Chilled Out
This photograph encapsulates my ‘moments’ when I am chilled out – they are rare, and fleeting – but I have to embrace them, how ever small, as it’s never long before I’m back on my feet saving the day! Thankfully, my feet kept quite snug in my amazing boots! ____________________________________________________ This post is for Week […]
The Gallery: ‘Black and White’ mourning the loss of twenty nine brave souls
The theme on ‘The Gallery‘ this week is ‘Black and White‘. I had lots of ideas for this, from piano keys to black ink on a white page, but the saddest news has shadowed all my thoughts. Since Friday the whole of New Zealand has been caught up in the plight of twenty nine miners […]
Make hay whilst the sun shines…
We have had a beautiful weekend of weather, which has drifted into the start of the week. Saturday was taken up with two different children’s Birthday parties, but they were surprisingly sedate. The first one was in the morning at ‘Tiger Eye Beads’ on Cuba Street. One of Charlotte’s friends turned eight and a group […]
A Forecast to Smile About
After the deluge of rain that drenched Wellington on Thursday we were so delighted to see the sunshine on Friday. What’s more the forecast for the whole week is SUN, SUN, SUN! Now that’s something to SMILE about, especially on the school holidays! I’d pre-booked to take the girls to a craft activity in the […]
Getting hip with ‘Hipstamatic’
Peace brothers and sisters, last night’s howling southerlies gave way to the most splendid sunshine in Wellington this Saturday morning. Surfers were out in force in Lyall Bay and I bolted out of the door for a morning jog at a little past 7am (determined that last Saturday’s ‘I am a gazelle‘ triumph wasn’t to […]
Drawings in the sand
At low tide the wet, flat sand of Lyall Bay makes a welcome canvas. Sophie delighted in writing messages of love and mastered drawing hearts (a little something she’s been working on). Charlotte drew pictures and made trails (with maths questions!) for me to follow. They both asked for me to take a photograph and […]
Music on a School Night
Well, since my last blog post of howling southerlies I’m pleased to report the fine weather has been restored. The past week has been glorious and, as you can see from the lack of blog posts, we’ve been making the most of it! At least Sophie and I have, whilst Dan has been working hard […]