This is such a magic summer we’re having back in Wellington, New Zealand. Having hubby not working has made the school holidays all the more special (and less stressful!) too. We have just over a week left before our two older girls start the school year (our now 9 year old homeschooler is giving school […]
In a few weeks time we will say farewell to a year of Californian blue sky. It’s as though you could walk into a paint shop and pluck that exact colour off the shelf. It’s been practically unchanging all year – apart from at sunrise, sunset and night-time. Having grown up in England, followed by […]
⤠I’m slowly getting back into the groove of multi-tasking madness that is family life, but with plenty of post holiday memories still lingering on… It’s not only me that’s still reflecting on all we did – even young Alice is a chatter of her holiday memories. As we made our way downstairs the other […]
I’ve temporarily shifted hemispheres and seasons – from spring to autumn – from New Zealand to England. I’m walking country lanes untrodden by my feet for many years. I’m finding treasures I used to know so well – seasonal markers of the year in England. On Saturday I came across a sweet chestnut and it […]
Loving a moment of freedom at sundown on Monday, with just my six year old – Sophie, at Lyall Bay. Hubbie came home a little earlier than his usual 6.30pm to mind Alice and Charlotte (who were happy to stay at home). We found star-fish and hermit crabs in the rock pools, climbed the rocks […]
I love gardens and the Botanical Garden in Wellington is very dear to my heart. I’ve walked through the gardens frequently in the fourteen years or so I’ve lived here. I lived across the road from them for a year and was fortunate to work in an office in the heart of the gardens for […]
I’m just so happy that the clocks have rolled forward an hour and it’s light till 7.30pm! More hours in the day to play and Mother Nature has gifted us a week of sunshine to kick start the fun. The garden is where the fun is happening. Play dough and water play, skipping and jumping, […]
Joining in with ‘Wordless Wednesday’ at ‘Faith, Hope & a whole lotta Love‘ and ‘My Little Drummer Boys‘
Autumn left its coat off and let summer take a spin on the weather chart today. After dropping Charlotte & Sophie at school, Alice and I played on the beach. I was quick to ditch my boots and tights for bare legs, so I could dip my toes in with Alice (plus she wanted to […]
Yesterday saw a return of the glowing ball in the sky, minus a southerly Antarctic chill. Since the clocks turned back at the weekend the weather has gone typically unpredictable. One day it is blowing a gail, pelting down horizontal rain and knocking toddlers off their feet, the next it’s warm enough to ditch the […]
The clocks have turned back. This morning when the girls awoke at 7am I wearily acknowledged the fact it was actually 6am. Tonight darkness will fall at 6.30pm. The long summer nights will, for a while, be but a memory. We shall rug up, play board games, watch sunsets and admire starlit skies before bed-time. […]
Officially we are in the season of Autumn in New Zealand. But it rarely feels like Autumn until the clocks change at the beginning of April. We have noticed the evenings creeping in, but we still have plenty of daylight hours to play after school. Earlier nightfall makes for fractionally earlier bedtimes and a chance […]
in England (and in parts of Australia!). Here in New Zealand we’re thinking of our northern hemisphere loved ones as we snip, decorate and paste paper snowflakes on the windows. My wonderful sister’s boyfriend, Mike Hutton, sent me this photograph of my father and sister at The Roaches, near where Claire and Mike live in […]
Today it is the Summer Solstice in New Zealand, but it felt far from summer this morning. Rain pelted down and winds funneled through the valleys making walking a challenge. Second day of the school holidays and not the best way to start, but the garden is grateful and so too are the birds. We […]