Another farm trip and some fun sewing

Hard to know where to start as I am a bit late starting on this one - - two weeks late actually...so this entry is going to be a bit abbreviated.
Anniversary weekend I drove down to Palmerston North as it promised to be one of the last weekends I was going to be able to get away before the work on the exhibition really kicked in.
Stopped at 5 mile Bay on the way down - VERY crowded - and then I remembered, it was the same last year - apparently a big concert on in Taupo at the weekend. But I was there early enough to find a reasonable spot - it had been a very hot day and everyone had been swimming I think.. lots of towels hanging out to dry!

Easy drive down the next day and went into the farm the back way on the Halcombe road - the Barn was looking great, and lots and lots of work had been done on the farm. J and A had been to the stock auctions at Feilding that morning and brought home some more lambs to fatten and eat lots of grass.

Still very hot when the kids arrived  that afternoon so I took them all to the Lido for a couple of hours before dinner.. Forgot that I couldnt leave them because two were under 8 years old so I didnt really get to swim myself. Saturday was the Small holdings auction day - and second hand goods for farmers were spread out on a huge paddock - Jonathan and Amy had a ball - and the kids and I tried out all the kid amusement things- bouncy castles etc.

Saturday night we all adjourned to the farm and stayed the night - great fun - the girls in a tent, cooked under cover of the barn, and as soon as it was dark the kids played Spotlight - they enjoyed that tremendously. Unfortunately too cloudy to use the new telescope. Damn - it was clear skies at about 1 am in the morning and then clouded over again!
The next morning after a few tasks were done, the kids and I went for a walk in the adjoining bush and discovered a great play area...hanging vines a la Tarzan!

Jonathan and Callum trying out the ride on mower

Me Tarzan - you Jane!

Annabelle's new ( very second hand) drum kit

Monday , the kids and I were mostly around home - drizzly rain so we played indoor games including Monopoly and in the afternoon the kids had their first swimming training in the outdoor pool - gosh they are getting good.

I travelled home via Taumaranui, and I went down the River Rd to Ohinepane on the Wanganui River. This was usually the first camping stop after leaving Taumaranui - brought back lots of memories, but it has been very significantly improved by DoC since the old days, when it was a disused quarry. This is where I would probably do the thing with Peter's ashes - more private than Cherry Grove and camping is allowed. I didnt stay the night but decided to drive on home and get tidied up ready for a busy time ahead.

Everywhere I went there were swathes of agapanthus lining the roadsides

Then we had our first sewing day, and started the giraffe project - nine of us had such a fun day - all different colourways  - mine is the one in the middle.

Since then i have been pretty busy, organising the quilts and their delivery and doing the accompanying paperwork for the exhibition.

The major fun thing for me was starting an 8 week course in travel sketching - had my first day today. Since it is definitely a beginners course all we did today was a quick exercise using our pens and aquarelle watercolour colour pencils.. it was a fun exercise - cant rub out the ink lines though so no second chances,  and we had less than 5 minutes to do the actual sketch. Nice group of people. I am going to enjoy the group and the class.