I think ..very quietly now !!!

 

it may have worked not one spam message today ... lets see what happens tomorrow ... fingers crossed.

I am so sorry commenters !!!

I am so sorry but I have just had to re instate the word verification again..
I had 24 spam comments today along with the average of 5 to 15 daily
It is driving me bonkers ... not sure how to make things easy for my friends with out opening myself up to spammers ... all suggestions gratefully received.

Santa I am on time ...wheeeee!!!

I am on time ... although may be not in the same way as everyone else ... my partner and I  decided to  send all our gifts and a Santa Sack in one parcel.....


DRUM ROLL......... Da da d a d a da

It was posted to my partner on Friday

Weekend of pain...

I just love this sign... Oh yeah that's just what I am.....

Just calling to let you know ......

More pain ... it really does not seem like my year yet alone my few months ... what with the leg and ankle and all the other ailments of this winter ... please add raging tooth ache.

Being an ex Dental Nurse I never ever suffered with more than a niggle in the tooth line before I was in the chair being sorted ... but luckily since those days I have always picked up on toothy things fast and called the Dentist ... always  had regular checks and have manged a fairly dental  pain  free existence.

Till this weekend ...WOW EEEhhh! it started Friday evening   ( of course a weekend ) I was almost to the point of banging the head on the wall ... painkillers every 4 hours doing almost nothing to help, so after 2 fairly sleepless nights .... I was at the dentists this morning ( Monday ) at 8.15 am as an emergency.

So here I am with a big whole in the bank balance and the proud owner of a Root Canal treatment  ( almost the price of a small car as one friend commented)... I feel as though I have been through the mill and back  ... so have to go back in 3 weeks after it has settled... bet that is not free either ..... mind you he did give me free painkillers ... big deal.

Looks like the spammers are back .....

I see the spammers are back 30 of them today........
If they don't stop it I will set my tiger of a cat on to them......

Deck revamp ....

The deck at my house which is large to say the least ... was covered in Alge thick black stuff it has gotten worse over the last 4 yrs ... finally after copious amounts of remedies from neat bleach .. washing powder, liquid soap and  commercial bottles of this and that it seemed  impossible to move it or even clean it off to look any better ...
So I finally decided it was drastic action.. so I purchased a "Water Blaster" or a power hose as it is better known as ... it worked it took every thing off the deck until it was naked.

So then I had to restain it ... the deck is approx 25 yrs old so not in the best of state but still sound.

So off to Bunnings for stain ... why doese there have to be so many different brands, different types oil based, water based.  Every colour from no colour through to dark green ... after great deliberation I chose one ... just one step up from natural for a unstained pine deck. Which they assured me  from the sample on the wall would look just like that !! OH YEAH!!!!

So tell me why is the deck now an Orange colour ... I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it fades "toot sweet" and even quicker.

Mind it does not look to bad and my be I will get used to it given time, I think the problem is it was silver grey before. But the good thing  is it has not got the black alge which has to be a bonus.

Yesterday was the perfect day for staining no wind and not to hot and I had had enough when I finally packed it in ... may be because I was not feeling 100%  in fact thinking on it I should not have started it yesterday ... so I had a bath and some paracetamol and retired very early.. with the idea of finishing it off today just some small areas with a brush and guess what ?????

IT IS RAINING

 

The pictures were taken this morning and it looks even darker as it is wet.

Off to the Big City.....

This weekend I am off to the Big City ... well Auckland

With my Daughter and Grandsons Ben and Alex we are going to see Marry Poppins on the stage I am getting quite excited.

It is also Kathryn's birthday I wonder if this is the way she wanted to spend her 40 something  day ... with Oh! so many kids at a matinee ... but I am sure she will enjoy the day I am looking forward to it the reports from people who have been are amazing... young and old.

Some flowers of Taranaki ....

Just a few more flowers ... for your enjoyment.

We had an amazing time and I would love to go again in the future

This is may be my favourite Rose it was a stunning  purple colour

Some more flowers and gardens

A bit of a mixture today  .... I am not sure in which gardens all the flowers were taken

 

What a glorious colour

 

This garden was  perfection but mostly all fairly newly planted

 

 

Just a lovely view of the mountain

 

 

Lights in the park they were actually very disappointing this picture was not mine I borrowed it as I wanted to show you  ... all you see is just about all there was.

 

 

This garden was so peaceful

 

 

The picture does not do this justice at all it was beautiful

 

 



Just one of the many Orchids we saw

 

 

This was another black and white house  with a white and green garden ... but had a splash of deep red in one or two of the boarders  along with a red table and chairs ... it was in fact stunning.

It is one of the Hen and Chicken,  house and cottages  actually in New Plymouth

in 1800 and what ever  some one built a house on a hill and down below  they built 4 cottages for their 4 sons ready for when they married.... they are now privately owned individually but they come under a trust and they can not be altered on  the outside in anyway.



More Gardens of Taranaki ....

This farm house was built in a paddock and the pictures do not show it at it's best  but it was such a lovely spot with gentle fields and trees around I found it so calming, the garden was not spectacular  but there was just something about it that appealed to me.
Also they did a lovely afternoon tea.

 

 The Apple  blossom on the trees was beautiful

 

 

 

Another lovely house that I really loved  

"The Yews"

 the home of Lee and Roland Brumley

 just outside of New Plymouth

 

the garden was amazing they only have green growth around the front of it  and it was stunning, with a few beds with a dash of white as you look from the house across the  expanse of lawn.

 

This lovely statue was tucked away in a neat corner 

We are back .. we stayed longer.....

 

 

Taranaki Garden Festival

Prue and I had the most glorious time ... the weather was just perfection and the country side was just beautiful ... I saw every side of Mt Taranaki and must have driven just about every lane there as well.

Of the 52 gardens we managed 34 yes !! 34 gardens  also we saw  the most beautiful houses old and new .. we actually stayed 2 days extra as we could not bear to miss so many.

The gardens ... well they were stunning I have lots of pictures but have to sort them a bit and will post some in batches ... But I have to show you Perfection Personified ....  This is Mary Dickson's garden in Hawera, I think she said she was 75 yrs young..
Just a normal house on a suburban street the house is just 7 yrs old and the garden was a building plot when she moved in ... believe it or not just a small  town house. Just look what you can do with just a few hundred feet of soil, a lot of hard work and a love of plants.

When we arrived at Mary's house she was actually washing a few stepping stones because the mower had left green marks when she mowed at 7am that morning ... now that is dedication ....

I promise to post more when I come back down to earth.