The Plage

That's the beach in French.  The Big Wave Cafe on the walkway has given way to Paris Plage - bean bags, canvas chairs, umbrellas and a shipping container that serves great coffee, french pastries and other yummies.

and this is what you get if you order tea: milk in the top cup, teabag in the bottom and hot water in a lovely little old fashioned thermos.  Mix to your own specifications.  Perfect tea every time.

We have Art!

I took a walk past the carvers the other day and there are some truly beautiful works appearing.

On the not so beautiful side and more craft than art, a friend is teaching me to weave.  This is my first flax basket under construction,

 and here it is finished and starting to dry plus my second effort, the taller one, to see if I can remember what to do

The carvers are back

It's always a bit of a surprise to realise that another two years have passed.  The stone carvers are back on the foreshore and although this photo was taken in sunshine they have had mixed weather, including torrential downpours over the last couple of days.  At this early stage it's difficult to see what the finished product will be like but if previous years are anything to go buy it will all be stunning.

Ornithophobia

Fear of birds - Ornithophobia.  Not a thing you would want to have if you are flying domestic out of Wellington.

Hint: the terminal has "Welcome to Middle Earth" emblazoned on the outside so you see it as you are taxiing.  You guessed it!  These guys and Gollum in the background (if you squint you can see his arm) are promoting the latest Hobbit movie.  Actually, I kind of love it, nothing says unique quite like giant eagles.

They speak my language

Recently my supermarket finished a major upgrade, everything is looking much slicker and there is now a cafe at the front and new trolleys that go where you point them.  However a couple of trips ago I noticed that despite all the corporate loveliness they have still managed to be a little quirky.  Look - chippies!

Christmas craft

It's been a little while since I posted, things have been busy but with nothing much to share.  But it's December and that means that the decorations are going up.  In our children's library we have a wonderful advent calender - themed this year to match our summer exhibition on Surf.  Various staff from across the organisation have put their creative hats on and decorated a board, 25 in all and here the are...

this one is mine...

 and here is Santa, arriving in Taranaki on Christmas day

35,000

That's the number of frequent flyer points I had that were about to expire so, rather than waste them, I went shopping.

I realised when I unwrapped them that I had gone a bit retro but all in a good cause.  The phone because I only have a walkaround one that will be no good if the power goes out (emergency planning in action!), the mincer, well, just because. The wine aerator is the mod con, I only drink one glass at a time.