Autumnnessness

I'm loving the change in seasons here.  So far the temperatures have only dipped by a few degrees (still over 20C most days) but that steamy humid summer is receding, thank goodness.

J got a new umbrella and promptly broke two of the spokes within 24 hours.  But it was fun while it lasted.  Grrr.

We're harvesting pumpkins galore and J's kindy is holding a giant pumpkin competition this week.  We certainly have the space and B has the competitive spirit so we might have to go in for that one next year.  When both girls will be at kindy oh my god.

Even my wide-angle lens couldn't get this whole rainbow in.

What's better than chubby legs in woollen tights, I ask you?  I keep getting fluff in my mouth from biting them.

We picked the last of the apples which is half sad and half a relief.  These ones will become a crumble because did you not hear me say crumble.

It's the time of the wood cutting and the stacking.  B operates the chainsaw and I take great pride and care in stacking it beautifully.  Last year we just had a big heap in the middle of the shed which made my neck itch every time I looked at it.  This year it's all going to be neatly stacked right.  They're saying there's going to be a firewood shortage in Taranaki this year.  Not at our place.  I'd better get a lock for the woodshed I think.

I don't know about you but I seem to buy way more than we end up eating and our pantry gets to this point of being so full of random ingredients that some stuff has got to start going out before new stuff can go in.  So things like this packet of jelly, that I bought on the off-chance I might make ambrosia, has been made into just plain old jelly.  I didn't hear any complaints though.

I also am looking for ideas for fifteen tubs of McDonalds hot cake syrup, five different kinds of chilli sauce, creamed corn, tinned tomatoes, and forty-five half-full packets of pasta in different shapes.  Get back to me.

What's been going on at your joint this week?  Do you throw random things in your shopping trolley that you then have to create weird and wonderful recipes to use up?  Or is that just me.

Bonfires and things

This is how we're spending our days at the moment.  

A, who has detested wearing shoes since the first time I tried to shove a knitted bootie on her newborn foot, has finally made the connection between footwear and being able to walk around outside.  She still wants a hand to hold, and I've surprised myself with my willingness to offer one.

For now, the most important thing in the world is that warm pudgy hand holding onto mine.

She's loving her new-found freedom, and every day we have to go on long meandering explorations.

Today we visited every inch of the sheep paddock: up to the road, around the ginkgo tree, checked out the pump shed and had a good look at the "wucky" water in the trough.  Past the chook house and then back past the woodshed.  So much to look at.  Such little legs.

Yesterday we had a bonfire the site of which also required careful inspection today.  "Yot", she told me solemnly as we stood next to the faintly smoking remains, "Yot".

It was one of those perfect autumn weekends, not too hot, and not too many jobs to get done.

Oh and the outcome of that silly dilemma I had the other week is that it was all a misunderstanding.  And you should always go with your first instinct and just ask about it.  Otherwise a slightly awkward situation becomes really awkward and everyone feels bad.  How am I still learning these lessons?

Have a good week!

Weekend in Auckland

We're going to dive right into a rundown of the most FABULOUS weekend I just had in Auckland, but firstly I just have to mention this pasta that my brother-in-law made us when he came to NP for a visit the other week.  Linguine amatriciana.  Amazing.  Quickly rocketed into my top five meals of all time.

We had some more wild and windy weather last week, and as I type we're awaiting the arrival of another cyclone.  For my girls, watching the trees toss in the wind is better than tv at the moment.

Right so, Auckland.  Where to start.  Let's go right back to the beginning.  I had to get up in the dark to catch my flight, but all was running smoothly.  Until I parked at the airport and turned around to do a quick final check that I hadn't left anything in the car.  Two baby seats still in the back.  Leaving B with no way to transport the girls around while I was gone.

Yes - this was a child-free trip away!

Anyway, I said an expletive word before throwing the car into Drive and speeding back home, flinging the car seat at the back door step, and then racing back to the airport to arrive in a clammy sweat with about two minutes to spare.

Luckily things went pretty smoothly after that.  I only had one night away but two full days and we packed in plenty of eating, drinking, talking, and did I mention eating.

L had found us an apartment in a great location in the middle of Auckland, and it even had an excellent array of hideous hotel room art.

We went out for a delicious breakfast at Giraffe, and then we climbed Mount Eden to atone for our calorific sins.

We unself-consciously took wanky photos.

We window shopped, we ate sushi for lunch in the sun, before returning to the apartment and indulging in superior nibbles and bubbles.

We did some more pretending to be wankers.  Where does the pretending end and the being begin I wonder...?

We soaked in a beautiful sunset.

We went to Botswana Butchery for dinner, where we drank....

...and we ate.  I was too busy stuffing my face to remember to take photos of anything other than the dessert.

The following day we breakfasted at Oyster & Chop, then walked around Auckland, we shopped at leisure, we workshopped and debriefed, drank champagne and scoffed Maltesers and we laughed.  How we laughed.  Big, teary-eyed, snorting, wheezing, therapeutic, ugly laughing.

One thing that made this weekend extra special for me was a certain shopping expedition, which if we're friends on Facebook or Instagram you would already know all about.  But I have to record it here for posterity. 

I went into the Louis Vuitton store, and chose, and then bought, a much longed for bag.  I will probably write an entire post on this saga but for now suffice it to say that this is a shopping trip 20 years in the making.

It rounded out what was already a gold star weekend.  The whole thing went so fast it felt like a dream the moment I stepped onto the bus to the airport. 

Luckily I have Louis here to remind me that it was not, in fact, a dream.

It's a making frenzy! With bonus social politics

I'm not sure if it's the change in the seasons or what but I'm deep in the midst of a making frenzy.

Obviously I had to deal with all the apples that fell during Cyclone Gita, and after looking at many apple cake recipes, and considering the prospect of yet more stewed apple taking up valuable real estate in the freezer, I chanced upon Kate's recipe for fruit leather.  Which is now known in our house as apple strippy-straps.

They are extremely popular with J (although, predictably, not with A *EYEROLL*), and are amazingly easy to make.  The best part was that the half-jar's worth you see below came from at least a kilo of fruit.

You'll also be relieved to know that I've been ticking off some of those crafty WIPs too!  J's cardigan is finished, and true to form she is refusing to wear it.

Once again I don't care though because look how sweet it is!

Could I be more proud?  Nope.

Ravelry details here.

I also finally dragged the sewing machine out and made a couple of pillowcases out of those quilting cottons.  They took hardly any time at all and I'll certainly be making more.

I tell you, my craft basket is positively roomy with all these projects out of the way!  I haven't even been tempted to cast on anything new.  Yet.



I'm still plodding along on my Sauvie vest.  This project may kill me but I'm determined to be wearing it this winter so I keep forcing myself to work on it.  I've decided that the bit I'm knitting at the moment, which is meant to be the back, will instead be the front.  Then I can knit the back in plain old easy stockinette stitch because I just can't face any more moss stitch.



The going is soooo sloooow.



To break up the monotony of Sauvie, and to ensure that I do have at least one cosy woollen vest this winter, I've been working on another vest called Eria.  This one is working up super fast in that lovely tweedy yarn I was telling you about the other day.

Oh you might have noticed those pretty needles.  So, yes.  After expressly saying that I wouldn't cast on any new projects and I wouldn't be buying any lovely new needles... I went and did both of those things.

But look how pretty!  And satiny smooth, with nice sharp points.  I feel no remorse whatsoever.

Now on an entirely different note, I have a tricky question for you.  I'm a fairly upfront person and I always prefer to get any problem or conflict out in the open and resolve it.  

The other day I happened to find out that a group of friends I've met recently (to be clear, we are all new to each other, it's not that they knew each other previously) had made plans to catch up without inviting me.  Now don't worry, I'm not very hurt - although obviously it stings a little - because as I say we've only met recently.  But my natural instinct is to want to ask them about it.  But then I think, they're hardly going to say "Yes we don't like you", are they?  

So rather than make everyone uncomfortable I should just let it lie and move on.  Right?  I'm curious, what would you do in that situation?