Three weeks later...

I haven't updated this blog for three weeks or so.  It's been school holidays and that's always a busy time.  And this holiday we decided to take the kids camping - yes in the middle of winter!

After a hurried departure to make the most of the weather, we drove down to Lake Waikaremoana, spending one night at the Hamilton cousins on the way. 

Lake Waikaremoana is on about the same latitude as Lake Taupo but further towards the East Coast.  It's in the middle of Te Urewera National Park and to get to it you have to drive on about 90 km's of dirt road.  Now I live on a dirt road so they don't scare me, but the road to L. Waikaremoana is pretty bad!

We finally arrived and settled in for one night at the camping ground, in a cozy cabin.  The kids were very excited to wake up the next morning to snow on the hills and a doozy of a frost - the first real frost either of them had seen.




That's snow on them thar hills.

The weather forecast looked great for the next few days so we loaded up the boat and set off to find ourselves a camping spot.  Lake Waikaremoana has a very popular tramping track circumnavigating it and so has big, well appointed Department of Conservation huts around it.  But you have to pay quite a bit to stay in them and we wanted to give the kids are real tenting adventure so we decided to find our own spot.


You can see the glassy stillness of the lake.

The lake was absolutely flat and we motored through 'the narrows' (a skinny bit of the lake that cuts up rough when it's windy) without so much as a ripple.  We found a perfect camping spot on our first attempt and within a couple of hours we were relaxing in front of a roaring fire.

My Hubby sets up a large tarp as a 'roof' then we light the fire at one end and set up the tent at the other.  It gives a large area that you can live in and spread our your gear without fear of getting wet if it rains. 

We spent two nights here and we were snug and warm at night (if a little uncomfy - not used to hard ground!) and the kids had buckets of fun. 

And I think that's enough writing for today!

To be continued......

Don't slurp your soup.

I have a lunch guest. This is King Theodin, who completely lost his head when he tasted the soup and found out how good it is ;)

Soup is a favorite standby in our house at the moment. Fantastic winter warming food, and the kids adore it. Yesterday, at their Grandmother's house, they had a choice for lunch: soup or pie. They chose soup!
Today’s recipe: take the water from boiling the corned beef last night, add a couple of left over potatoes cooked in the same water, a cup of dried split green peas, some frozen chicken stock, chopped fresh pumpkin (the kids won’t touch it normally), a few big spoons of leftover spaghetti bolognaise mince and simmer for a few hours till mushy. Add extra water to the thickness you like and serve.  Leftovers make the best soup.
After lunch, the first job is to find some glue to re-attach Theodin’s head. The second job is making loads of bias tape for my big blue and white quilt and the third job is starting to appliqué the signature blocks onto the 21st quilt.
Thank you all for your thoughts on whether the 21st quilt is big enough. I’m still undecided, but leaning toward leaving it just as it is. So I figured I’d work on the back until I’m sure.

The back of the quilt so far - you can tell we are having lovely weather this afternoon!

How big is big enough?

A while ago I started a 21st Birthday Signature quilt for a friend's son.  I had planned to put all the signed blocks on the front, but lots of them were too rude.  So I decided to applique them to the back (they all ignored the seam allowance too) and make a nice top instead.  Today I finished the top as I had planned, he's a hunter so I think he'll like it.  However, I'm now thinking it's not big enough.  It measures 50" square - get out your tape measures and tell me what you think.  My hubby thinks that it's big enough - it could be a wall hanging, a lap quilt, or an accent on a bed.  I'm not sure and want more feedback - put your two cents in!

However, I'm not asking the advice of this crazy looking monkey!  Miss Wild Hair got into my bag and found lipstick and mascara - and she knew exactly where to put them.  She just needs to learn to look in the mirror during application ;)

Comments

I think I've got the commenting problem sorted out.  If anyone else is having trouble leaving comments on other people's blogs - try deleting all your cookies, they might be corrupted (Corrupted Cookies, now there's a recipe I'd like to try!).  There is more info if you go to Blogger Help. 

Memories

The thing about a blog is that you can pretend.  You can make your life seem as perfect as you want.  Your house can be clean, your children cherubic.  But in reality, we all have our fugly bits.

But I'm happy to announce that in the week just been, one of Windyhill Farm's fuglier bits got towed away to become someone else's treasure.

 

The caravan served us well.  First as a shelter and cup-of-tea making place when we first owned the land.  Later it became a storage shed when we moved out here.  But now (finally) it has been emptied and all that's left is a mark on the ground.  Next spring there won't even be that.

In that caravan was a whole pile of junk, lots of stuff that has already been shipped off to the op shop and a few boxes of memories.  I've spent the weekend periodically immersing myself in my teenage years.  The above picture was my sixth form ball photo.  Taken in about 1995.  Can you guess which one is me?

I've burnt the scary love letters, thrown out all the really terrible photos and the birthday cards from people I can't even remember anymore, but there is still more to sift through.  So much of it makes me cringe - as a teenager I was boy crazy, incredibly self-centered and terribly superior.  I really wonder how my parents put up with me.

On TV recently there has been an advert for a program about parenting teenagers.  The psychologist says,"Teenagers - they're not right in the head!  And judging by my diaries and letters, I'd have to agree.

Consequently, I've also been spending a bit of time this weekend watching my kids and imagining them as teenagers.  If karma has anything to do with it, then in a few years I'm in for a rough ride.  I'm guessing that there will be plenty of fugly moments.  Wish me luck!