Buses,cars and planes ......

It has been a roller coaster time as I organised myself to be away from Oz for just under a month, having travelled, and am now in the middle of my stay which is being spent in three NZ locations.  I almost have to take a pause each morning I wake up to get my bearings, lol.

Before I left, I had work of course, and then my 3 monthly purge of the house in preparation for the house inspection, which meant mowing lawns, weed spraying, edge trimming, gaining a cupboard for my laundry and totally resorting that room out putting all cleaning products etc in said cupboard and rearranging boxes etc that I have things stored in, getting all washing and ironing up to date, and of course, after all the tidying, a sweep throughout the house and a mopping of the floors.  Then packing and having a meltdown as I tried three different printers trying to print out my tickets - arrrgh. 

In the midst of this, I had a bit of a social twirl - the Workmates second daughter turned 17 so had a birthday dinner to attend a week before I came home.  I had called round earlier in the day to drop off gift and finalise dinner details when Gerard said it was a shame I wasn't dressed for painting as he was thinking of painting the lounge.  Siezing the moment, I suggested he drop me home with the aforementioned cupboard, and the weedeater I had lent him so I could get changed, and lo and behold, mid dayish, we started on the lounge. 

I took around a small steam cleaner so we did the walls with that as preparation and then bang, a coat of paint that most of the kids help apply, with Gerard doing the high bits.  I moved furniture, dusted, vacuumed as we moved around the room and then helped put things back, finished about 10 mins before Bronwyn walked in the door from a day at work.  Thankfully, she loved how we did things which included getting rid of an old book case that had seen better days. The following day Bronwyn's parents who were over from Victoria for a few weeks came with me to look at a quilting exhibition/craft fair being held at the local basket ball stadium.  There were some amazing quilts on display and I found a few small projects to do whilst trawling the stalls and bought some amazing relishes/chutneys that were being sold by a woman from Angloa - was able to have a taste of each before I bought and yum - a lemon grass and mango chutney, an egg plant chutney and a tomatoe based relish that was a little hotter than the others with an amount of chili in it.  The next evening I was invited to friends of Bronwyn's for a bonfire and barbeque.  What an experience that was - a huge pile of gum tree bits pushed into a pile in the middle of the paddock which went up like a rocket when lit.  The heat was phenomenal and the speed at which it burnt gave some tiny hint at what a bush fire might look like.  Mick had mown the paddock earlier in the day like a proverbial buzz cut and before my eyes, the fire spread out burning the grass left as wide out as the fire went high if that makes sense.  Heaven knows how far it would have gone if the grass had been longer.  Much to my level of comfort, Mick eventually got the hose out and dampened all around where the fire had burnt.

The following weekend, Bronwyn's parents and I set out on another sortie to North Hampton for the 16th annual Airing of The Quilts festival held in the town.  OMG, what an amazing experience that was.  We found a park around the back of the main street and walked to the top end of the main street to look at stalls and then walked the length of the town.  The festival follows the tradition I believe that started in America that represents the coming of spring, airing the quilts before they are put away.  Quilts were strung between shops, in shops, along the footpath areas, and in front of and off the verandahs of the old convent in the middle of the town.  There was a woman driving two ponies and a trap about the town, giving rides.  In the War Memorial Hall, there were spinners and weavers doing their thing among the quilts displayed - work done by various schools for the festival.  There should have been photos posted with this but in a fit of organisation I have put everything on my hard drive and therefore not exactly to hand at the moment.  Botheration!  Will update with NZ news next post. :)