There is a penguin in this photo, believe me there is, its that little dark speck near the sand

This place is amazing

one of Riverstone's, many shops

I know the penguin is hard to find, but it was hard to find one, as we went down to the harbour late. They keep to a schedule and penguins don't do photo ops if your tardy.
On to Riverstone, everyone says go there, your'll be amazed, well amazed doesn't cover it. I felt sensory overload, and that's saying something, it's incredible, not one shop but sheds full of things you didn't know you wanted, gardens, vege and flowers, animals, birds, and they are building what I thought was a massive castle style house with moat, but is a kid's fort with moat out the back. I'm sure if you googled Riverstone, Oamaru NZ, you would find it, not forgetting it is an award winning cafe, only cafe to win restaurant of the year. The chef is a celebrity chef now, a small but amazing menu, because it was only 9.30am we had a cheese scone each, omg if that's a scone, the lunch dishes must be out of this world.I am going back to Oamaru with Tom and Josie in October, must save my pennies intend to do my Christmas shopping there and Oamaru.  Love Aunt Bee. 

a little trip away

Oamaru's small but perfectly formed
harbour

Shops,bakery, cafe's, crafts, books, homemade ice cream, heaven

Not into Steampunk but the sense of humour is great

Outside Steampunk HQ

Oamaru, the Victorian area

Heading for Oamaru

Leaving Fairlie,  very foggy

Lake Tekapo, without Mt Aoriki/Mt Cook, freezing and cloudy

Dave enjoys the Autumn sun
Some photos of our trip and one of Dave relaxing without leaving home.We had a great trip, the weather was good except for Lake Tekapo where it was freezing and we couldn't see Mt Aoriki/MtCook. Stayed the night at Fairlie, where next morning Basil fell over moving from the bathroom to the kitchen, this had a affect on the rest of the week. But he survived but is still limping. Oamaru one of my favourite places was great, the Victorian area was as awesome as everyone said, and the Steampunk HQ, though not my cup of tea was suitably different, it's very arty/crafty/vintage and some of the people dress in Victorian/Steampunk clothes which gives it a real vibe.
I have got some more photos to show including a where's Wally/penguin photo for my next post. love Aunt Bee 








 

Taking some me time, but have to take Basil.

Sorry for lack of posts, my mojo for crafts, blogging, even ( I hate to admit) keeping up with friends has deserted me.It's just me, although we, I mean all of us in the city of Christchurch are suffering from Earthquake stress and depression. Who would have thought of that,13,000 earthquakes and we are all suffering fatigue, yes we are suffering from experts telling us we are all nuts. 
Basil and I have both a week off, and we are going on a wee trip down south, hopefully I'll come back balanced and ready to get in too the things that make me happy.............sounds good, but not sure it'll work.
So I am going to take photos of my beloved Canterbury, eat too much, and enjoy some time with Basil, I'm driving so I can stop where I want to, haha, don't think Basil has thought this through. Good bye for now.

I went for the arty photo look, sadly

Plum jam made on a slightly cooler evening in February.
 

 

Shakespeare in the Park

  Me going out for night out with the "girls"

Sorry, tried to be arty, failed miserably, but the photos show I think, how hot the summer has been, taken at all times of the day and night and the sun just will not behave. Note people wearing jackets at Twelfth Night, it got decidedly cooler in the evening under the trees. My mantra this year is go out more, so what if Basil's working, he's always working. I going to see the Wind in the Willows soon, it's in our beautiful Botanic Gardens, and signed up for a Laser Strike night. Went out to the market and stopped at a very expensive Op shop, bought Basil a milk frother, the lady at the counter didn't know what it was, it would have been more than $3 if she did know, I think.  On to the market where I bought a Chinese bamboo steamer and a book, ok, also a sausage in bread, with onions and mustard. Might as well confess my sins. No big deal about St Valentines day, neither of us celebrate it, we have been together 31 years, through good and bad, and we are in it for the long haul, the occasionally "brunch or movies out is our treat". I have been out for "brunch" actually twice last weekend, it reinforced what didn't need reinforcing, I LOVE BREAKFAST. I say  to one and all, goodbye at 5.00pm, with the smell of BBQ in the air, (not ours), children laughing, (next door) and the bloody crickets making a fearful racket in the trees. Love 
Aunt Bee.









Dahlias with half eaten plum, by me.

The printer and wi fi are out to get me???????

What a kerfuffle, with the printer, (still requiring intensive psychiatric help and the wi fi (now working) only working on the TV and Aj and Tom's laptops, but not ours,( and we all know whose is the more important) with everyone but the experts trying to fix it, it's been very stressful for ME.
How could you forget it's all about me, with the laptop, it's mine I tell you, mine, I only share with Basil because I have too.  Busy busy, hot, hot, bloody hot, to hot for me, but Tania (work) bought in this gel thingy which you soak in water and put around your neck, I bought 2 of them immediately, one for Baz and one for me, though to be fair I wanted something to encase me whole body, God knows what that would cost, the neck tie thing cost $25 for two, good deal I thought.Of course I haven't used it yet.
It's been so hot and I'm telling you something that I didn't let the family know about, so hot one night last week,I had berry ambrosia for dinner, that's right, that's the whole meal and it was delicious. 
What they don't know wont hurt them, they weren't home so mum rules apply. 
Wont bore with the rules because they are fairly fluid in nature, because I'm very good at adapting them to the situation as it develops, yes I get complaints, which is covered in rule one, Mum is always right.  Shall actually post tomorrow with photos, now there's a challenge. Love Aunt Bee.

This is coming to youall,from the comfort of my couch,through my new TV and it has been a trail. I'm going to be brief because to get this far has done my head in, Aj has told me I am on my own in this endeavovor. I shall experiment in the next few days and update my progress in this modern way. Forgive all mistakes as the bloody thing wont let me correct them. Aunt Bee

Photos are easy to download again, well it took me ONLY 1 hour.

7.30am and the surfers were out in the sea

Dave finds a basket in the sun

 

gorgeous great nephew

have faced my fears and am back walking on the beach

A quick post, the weather is fabulous, the days long and lazy. Some people already back at work, some not, yippee. Walking down the beach with Tom, everyone is smiling and talking to each other, walking their dogs and going for a dip, surfing, and jet skiing.
Lots of late Christmas books and DVD's arriving, mostly from the UK and the US, it's a prolonged Christmas which is great.
Hope your all recovered or recovering from the Festive 
Season, I confess I took down the tree on the 2nd. Noticed someone counting down to Easter, they should be given a strongly worded talking too. Aunt Bee.