Oh my gosh it is almost the end of July

Time is flying by. I have kept myself very busy this colder wetter month. Myheat pump is doing overtime and I jump into bed early with my electric blanket. This last week I have been following on with a "learn to paint" free series of you tube tutorials from the Australian based learn to paint academy. Working in acrylics is in some ways easier than watercoluors but in other ways it is very challenging. certainly I am not a natural artist but I do enjoy having a go although I get very frustrated when the result is not as good as I want it to be. The first picture is a practice still life and the second is a practice of a cottage in the NSW Southern Highlands.

I also registered with a project with the Aotearoa Quilters which is meant to improve the use of colour and design in our quilting. I had what i thought was a good idea but it has necessitated buying extra bits of fabric - damn - I have so much fabric already that I had hoped to only use what I had already on the shelves. Photo will follow later Also been reading some interesting books - I like Ann Cleeves Shetland series - read them all and watched the TV series as well. Some very interesting foreign movies on netflix. Korean, Indian and french and even Turkish - with English subtitles. I took the children to the movie Peter RaBBIT 2 LAST WEEK - Real movie - even popcorn in a real theatre... they enjoyed it - lots of good humour - I enjoyed seeing the kids laughing at the antics of the rabbits in the movie ( it wasnt a cartoon and didnt have horrible violence - no robots, guns or aliens! or monsters) The last three days Amy has been visiting her parents in Christchurch so I drove Jonathon out to the farm each morning and we brought the donkeys and pony into the yards and fed them as well as chickens, ducks, goats and the cows. I drove the quad bike with a bale of hay on the back on the sloping paddock - very carefully! We dodged the forecast rain and I enjoyed the fresh air. Jonathan has been round to my house and decided I need several things fixing eg new railway sleepers to edge the garden at the back fence where the rain and wind has been washing the bark mulch over the lawn, and my gates are warped, so Jonathan wants to re hang them so that they close more easily, and several other outside jobs that I couldnt manage on my own. Very thoughtful of him and I will appreciate his help. My sewing group is a nice group of ladies and the one who lives in my cul de sac is someone I can easily imagine becoming a good friend. This is a quilt I rushed to make in three days for Peter's great grand daughter Willow in Bathurst. She kept trying to steal the one I made for her big brother.

I have continued to go to the gym - and although the weight is not peeling off it hasnt gone back on - definitely the key is as few carbohydrates as possible and no sugar! My legs are still pretty stiff and knees dont bend and lift as easily as they should. But the gym is helping so I will continue. I only had the children 3 out of 5 days last week - school holidays are challenging as Jonathan has had to give lectures each day so we split the kids one to him, one to me and one to Amy.. Amy and Cordelia had a couple of really good days with the new pony. Cordelia is really enjoying him and Amy says Governor ( the pony) is a very quiet easy fellow so far. He is very young and not broken in yet but he let them put a saddle on him and Cordelia sat quietly on him without him batting an eyelid.photos are School holiday activities - girls at my place painting and making models and Cordelia with the new pony. Amy says she is a natural rider and fearless (so far!).

Weather has been pretty cold and wet the last few days but we havent had the torrential rain as bad as the West Coast of teh South Island which has had massive flooding of all the river which come down from the alps. All in all after nearly one year in Palmerston north I am settled in pretty well and happy enough with my move. Good to know family are near should I need them and I am lucky enough to have enough money that I can pretty much do anything I want to like buying paints and fabric when i desire... Even took the family to a restaurant for a dinner in aid of the girls' birthdays. All well but roll on spring! I love the daffodils!