Sideways viewing, turn head when viewing please.

It's been a very busy week and alternating between stinking hot days and rainy stormy winds at night. I've been busy planning Tom's 21st which is next month, we are doing a Mexican theme, who thought of that stupid idea.... yes it was me.
This morning visited my aunty, we had a lovely family gossip, the last time I visited the next day we had a series of earthquakes, so I said be warned, we'll get a earthquake in 10 hours time and we did. 
Went to the market and picked up some things, very hot and heaps of stalls and people were there. There was a man selling of someone's fabric, yarn and craft stash unfortunately it was pre-bagged and there was a lot of mohair yarns.

not really me, but is good for work, have to have tidy  clothes that can cope with anything

Yes I will wear something under it , probably a wool vest. 

 shall wear it the right way up.

old English boarding school book obsession satisfied, tick

Now housing the mail, idea stolen from Pinterest

bag obsession satisfied, tick

egg cup obsession satisfied, tick

Yes, swivel your heads, sorry I was doing so well getting them where I wanted them.Have been crocheting away at work till a person made a remark (stupid man doesn't even work with us) so I've decided not to do any at work.Why do people who don't do anything and have no discernible taste make comments and he "dissed" my mum, note use of young language, and that really peeved me, mum in her heyday would have given him a clip around the ears. Rant over, watching Come dine with me. Yeah, I love it, horrible people who know nothing about food slagging each other off. Love to all Aunty Bee. Yes I'm a bad person.

I have new running shoes, yet strangely I don't want to run.

Basil went to the market with me this morning , I don't like this, he didn't say "why do you want that", but it was unspoken and I couldn't fossick to my heart's content...........but.

this pav was to celebrate Aj's good news which has become news delayed

my little haul from Saturday

I did get a teabag holder, 4 glasses, and two pretty cups(without saucers) and one book for Basil.
Aj's got good news and bad news in a 24 hour period about his selection for Teacher's College, he's in limbo at the moment, so we can only pray it all turns out o.k.

A gorgeous day in the park

The woodland garden with the Womens Hospital in the background

Baz and I went to the park for a walk last Sunday, he says this week we are going to walk/run around both parks. I had to go get new running shoes as mine have no tread on the soles, I think this is due to running on the treadmill.
The "men" will be both running up the stairs in the hills, while Baz and I go out for breakfast, such a treat, I do love breakfast out, actually I love breakfast, in fact I could eat breakfast for every meal, very Irish of me.Of course normally I have yoghurt and muesli but tomorrow I might be forced to have pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, and if I can sneak cream on there I will. The weather is supposed to be horrible tomorrow, snow and hail in some parts, not here in Christchurch, we are to have only rain, I am so looking forward to that walk/run, somehow new shoes don't seem that exciting. Best luck for any active endeavours you may undertake, I shall need them myself as I feel tired already and so I depart for the land of Nod. Goodnight, perchance to dream and sprain my ankle, (I know fat chance in bed) therefore not able to go around the park tomorrow. Love to all, Aunt Bee. Sorry, photos everywhere, but at least you get photos, think of them as pop-ups of a nice kind.

Busy Bee.

Not a great shot of the moon, but it was beautiful last night

The scent from the lillies is subtle, gently wafting through the lounge

The return to work was fun, yes fun, but then my colleagues are nuts.  The boss was still on holiday so there was plenty of hi-jinks, all our clients came back and actually wanted to work.
On the home front, Basil was in the garden most days, only defeated by the heat, it's so hot here, and humid at night which along with the earthquakes ( a 5 at 3am this morning) means no one is getting much sleep.
Aj had his interview for T Coll. and felt ok about it, though he did forget the name of a very prestigious local school and called them by their nickname, oops, the selection panel had a giggle, but reminded him nicknames weren't always appropriate, but by that time he had remembered the schools name. It's just wait and see and hope he does well in his last exams. Tom has his subjects for next year sorted,  the Uni has lost students, buildings (to be demolished or rebuilt), and funding  therefore losing staff  , so options have been limited and stress levels high as it's his last year.

Top, scarf and books

I got a lovely top ( labels  still on ) at the market and a scarf, old dice and tumbler and some pearl buttons and beads, it was a extremely hot there and so I didn't linger. Found two books for Tom, and an Pop Larkin in France for me. I am cooking a stew in the crockpot tonight which might sound strange, but it's to hot to cook in the evening so I'm being organised by preparing the meal this morning, stew and potato salad, it sounds odd, but will be fine.It's all that's on the menu anyway. I have been inspired by those doing the sealed tin for loose change challange and have bought a large tin money box to save all our small change, it will be opened on the 3rd December. It has proved hard to round up change from some people, no names given but you can guess. Love Aunt Bee.

Bad blogger is sorry, but relaxed.

Last night's sky

New flour container, cheap but cheerful

I've been a bad lazy blogger, actually I have just been lazy, I have so enjoyed my holiday (back to work Wednesday), that I have done very little. I say with pride I don't give a toss, so nice to do nothing, oh yes, I've thought about doing lots of things, but the God of Sloth told me not to stress myself, so I didn't. So to you all Happy New Year and lets hope that it's a good one, we have had so many quakes since the 23rd December and on Friday the people who know (not a lot, I think) say we will have earthquakes now for the next 30 years, not all the time but frequently, ha I'll be 86 by the time the earth settles down and I'll probably be under it, cheerful thought isn't it.

My feet enjoying the back deck, note nail polish, quite bold for me

What have I done, well Basil and I went to Sherlock Holmes this afternoon, and I enjoyed it, (though it was too long), but Basil not so much. I was so uncomfortable in my seat. Is it an age thing, that movies are just too long?

Best muesli ever

Dear Rupert and Girls Crystal Annual, I am so chuffed with these.

Went to the market to look for a container, I have started making my own muesli, absolutely delicious even if I say that myself, but unfortunately Basil likes it too and I have had to make heaps more and bought a new flour container (lucky find) so I could swap the flour into it and then use the flour container for the muesli. Quite clever I thought, while there I bought a  Girls Crystal annual, it's 1956 so I had to buy it, such a good year.

I'm glad it finished but not sure what to do with it.

Please except this small token as a apology for not posting.

I also have been cutting my gorgeous sweet peas, and filling the house with their lovely scent every other day, I love them nearly as much as freesias. I know the photos are out of sync, but really I hopeless. I would love to link into some to the new year finishing UFO's project's that are happening, but I just don't get how you join, so I'm joining in spirit, there is somewhere in this post a heart I have at long last finished, so onward and upward to the 23 other UFO's I have targeted for this year. Love Aunt Bee. Please ignore that the flowers on the heart are upside down, I am.

Christmas in an earthquake zone is interesting.

Christmas Day has come and gone, and the earth has quieten down a little, so we are enjoying the peace. It was a peaceful  family Christmas, but little in the way of presents, not because of any idealogical reasons, but because the post was late or to be honest non existent after Friday afternoon's earthquakes, everything stopped and closed and everyone went home, traffic jams everywhere, just as well as we had a further 5.3 then a 6. They have been all from the same fault line and there have been over 35 shakes since the initial one. From the same stretch of  coast and all very shallow, the beach suburbs have been hit badly again. 

Aj was very well looked after by the company he works for, I picked him up on Wednesday and he and his colleagues came out smiling, carrying bags of meat, the boss had done a cull of his cattle and given the meat to his employees, they each got a ham for Christmas as well,  and Angus won a bottle of Port, got a DVD from his secret Santa and crackers and mints from his immediate boss. He is off with his mates to a music festival for 2 days, it's Dub something music, he played  me some, I admit too not understanding it all, his father ran from the room screaming. 

Tom worked yesterday and is working tomorrow, while waiting for Uni to confirm his subjects for next year, all very stressful. 

Who cares about earthquakes when the weather is stunning.

I'm venturing to the Mall, the only Westfield Mall in Christchurch, which in a earthquake is a scary place to be, my friend Mare was there on the second floor on Friday, only her second time in the mall since February and now she is too terrified to go back. But we are given vouchers for Westfields by our boss, every Christmas and so I shall go tomorrow and hop in and out quickly, the Contessa told me to send her the voucher and she,ll use it up North, quite a fiendish plot to do me out of my voucher while being concerned about by safety. I'm on to her though. Wish me luck for tomorrow. Hell's teeth as I sit here we have had another one, bloody hell I shall still go to the mall and will post tomorrow just to prove I made it home, Love Aunt Bee.

Another earthquake, just now.

Another big quake, sitting here while the earth shakes, at least I did the shopping this morning. Bugger. It was 5.9, and shallow, sorry for this, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. Love Aunt Bee. Sorry we had got a bit happier thinking we were over them. Thank God we weren't at work.

Isn't it grand

There was a bit of a melee getting up the stairs to the top

the view from the double decker bus

Isn't it wonderful, our work "do" for our clients and their families was out of the city. We went in style in a double decker bus, kindly provided by a former colleague who lives in England, her friends and family raised funds for us to have a treat after the earthquake and this is what we did. Oh the excitement of a dd bus, we all wanted to be up the top, I of course took no prisons's and sat up the very front with Linds and Di. We regretted this on the way as we came that close to a power pole and numerous trees, a double decker bus is unusual in NZ we didn''t have them here, till people started importing them for "booze and party buses", so they are a novelty. Of course the state of our roads made the trip interesting, there was lots of arghhhhhh and ohhhhhhhhs along the way. I decided to let someone else sit in the front on the way back, something about a tree almost giving me a facial made the decision for me.
 We shared the lovely venue with a funeral which was more disconcerting to them than us. We had a great day as you can see it was wet but humid, the weather has been terrible,  rain, humidity, cold (had the heater on ), hot and flooding and landslips in Nelson.I am keeping an eye on the sky in case I spot falling frogs, as the weather is definitely strange.
We finish Thursday our clients finish Wednesday, everyone is a bit flat it's been the worst year, we are all hoping and praying that 2012 will be better, till someone mentioned that Mayan calendar, then someone else said don't worry it all kicks off at the end of 2012, so we can have a good year till the end. Madness or I work with mad people, but then how many Mayan's are their around to talk too about their stupid calendar, as I suspect none, now what does that tell you. On that merry note I leave you before  blogger has another hissy fit. Love to all Aunt Bee.