Beautiful warm evenings invite adventrues, which are especially fun with a few extra kids and dogs.

We whizzed down the Mot river to give the dogs a run tonight, the birds overhead were making a horrendous racket! The red head and I looked down and he was about to stand on a nest! We took a quick pic and moved away, hopefully the birds will settle down again. We're not sure what kind of birds they are but we think they are the Black fronted tern.

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Stone throwing, splashes, family, friends, barking, laughing, teasing.............

Things all the good memories are made of.

Thinking of the West Coasters

Some of you will be aware that my kids Dad works in a mine in Reefton. Friends and family started texting me on Friday evening to ask if he was alright? News had just surfaced that there had been a big mine explosion on the West Coast. For a few minutes our family was feeling a bit shell shocked as their Dad wasn't answering. A wave of relief swept over everyone though when he did answer his phone, he was in shock too for his fellow miners involved in the explosion at Pike river.
Our families thoughts and prayers are with the miners, all their families and the entire West Coast community.

Garden goes rampant

Ok lets be honest, I haven't spent any time in my garden. God bless nature for doing it's own thing.

Nana's knitting aside

I love living in paradise:
visited the Ngarua caves today:

An easy walk through the beautiful local landscape, I should have listened more carefully to the guide so I could tell you all about it, but I was just drinking it all in.

The water from the cave comes out here at the Riwaka source. Freezing cold, fresh and pure.

Jannelle, he drew out your name.

A fabulous red head will do the draw tomorrow night.
Some other stuff I just need to write is here, it's not for the fainthearted I just need to get it down. Invites only.

Lucky to call this place home

We were lucky enough to go on the Aqua Taxi into our nearby National Park today.

We got up close to our iconic "split apple rock" where the red head was most impressed as the boat driver said they think it has been there since the last ice age.

I loved the wildlife. Getting to view it all up close from the boat was fabulous. It was just the right time of year to see shags nesting and a mother seal feeding her pup on the rocks on the predator free Adele Island.

The water was quite rough today so we didn't spot any of the dolphins we had been hoping for, but that just gives us an excuse to go back again another day.

Perhaps if we had lived here 150 years ago we might have been lucky enough to see some giant moa which were native to New Zealand but are now extinct. The statues at the gallery by the entrance to the National Park were pretty impressive. How lucky are we to have all this at our back doorstep.

shop update

Yesterday I popped some new bags into the shop

Fantastic odds on the giveaway though so don't be shy.

Thank you, a giveaway

A thank you to all who have read, smiled, frowned and reflected at this wee place for almost 4 years. It has been a pleasure to share here. Your comments and emails have meant more than you could possibly know.
You may not know, I love orange (and red heads) so I'm giving away one of my favorite orange and black retro fabric tote bags to celebrate 300 posts. It's a good size for knitting, magazines, market, shopping, etc. It's one of a kind, no one else will have one of these.

But,

If you don't love orange as much as I do I'll send you a mystery package, it will include hand spun wool, patchwork scraps and design samples. Just make a comment or send an email with your preference at the bottom of this post. I'll happily post to the winner anywhere on this fabulous Earth.

Just promise me you'll make one concession for your environment this week and try and make it a priority at least once a week if you aren't already.

Simple ideas to start you off are:

buy local,

buy in season,

teach it to your kids, friends and family,

walk,

bike,

give,

recycle,

share,

grow it,

smile,

love,

forgive,

THANK YOU,

From your friend GILLY BEAN

Quick change of plan

I just passed my 300th post and I've been thinking about a giveaway to celebrate,

but when the fresh caught whitebait arrived for dinner last night sausages went off the menu really quickly and a salad was sourced from the garden. I just had to share the images here for your mouthwatering pleasure.

Whitebait patties:

For 1lb of freshly caught whitebait, have the children beat up two free range eggs, sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour and season with pepper and salt, add whitebait. The kids will enjoy tipping the whitebait in the bowl and giving it a stir. Mine love the eyes and tease each other to eat them raw.

Then easy peasy, put spoonfuls in a pan to fry in butter.

Come back for the giveaway next week.