Dusky Trail bike ride

well, what a weekend! and a lot of fun!!

We started the weekend with a long promised sleep in - well at least 'til 7.30am, but that is a good sleep in for us॥ then we drove to Clyde (2hrs) and biked the millennium Trail from Clyde to Alexandra - a nice cruisy bike ride,


and a good warm up for Tim's row on the Sunday - 17km from Cromwell to Clyde.



He was not smiling quite so much at then end I can tell you -

anyway this is the view from the Dusky Trail summit, worth the bike ride up really.. quite spectacular। This was Monday's effort..

and this is 3 of us at the summit on a lollie stop! Gotta have that sugar fix huh.
It was hard at work today - wanted to be outside in the garden, it was such a lovely day, although likely not the best place for me as wearing that muscle back top, I got my shoulders sunkissed! so just a little pink - will be lovely and tanned tomorrow. that is Karl with his back to us - He does not like his photo taken..

I have spent the evening tracing out some stitching, although I have just looked at Helen's (hugsnkisses) blog ( I need to learn how to hyperlink these??) and she has just released some amazing patterns - can't wait for these patterns! They have some lovely 3D flowers that are just so so cute...

well, it is late Tuesday night now, and it was such an early start leaving Twizel at 4.45am, for the 3 hr drive home to start work at 8AM, but certainly worth the extra effort to spend another relaxing night and a great way to end a wonderful weekend - back to work for a rest now - (HAHA) - roll on 3 day weekends tho, I am really a great fan of that idea.

Catch ya later,

cheers, Shiree

p.s। just checked my e-mail, and my stitching angel has just posted my parcel from America - oooh how exciting, I cannot wait and will be checking my mail box eagerly!!! Thank you angel!! Also cannot wait to see who you are... if it was not so late I might be tempted to check thru those blog sites yet again.

yay for long weekends!

I am so glad to have got to today.. it has been a really very long and busy week indeed. Working full time, keeping up with builders, house renovations,gym,gardening, blog land, housework, stitching, sewing, schedules,.. just takes one's breath away. So I really am looking forward to the weekend to having a catch up, best of all is my planned sleep in for tomorrow - I am very likely to wake up at the usual time - 5.30am ish, but I simply do not have to get up which is the best bit. And if I feel like it, then I may grab the morning newspaper, a cup of tea.. and just ENJOY!!! and I know just the spot!



We are heading away for the long weekend (Labour Weekend in NZ), but we are not off until mid-morning tomorrow. So I have tonight to get my stitching to take away organised. I am really lucky that I can stitch when we travel, in fact I get quite bored and agitated sitting in the car doing nothing. So I need to make sure that I have enough plus a little extra to take with me. Heaven forbid that I should run out before the weekend is over. Although, it may give me some time to catch up on some reading..

I should be able to find something from this pile..



My garden is looking slightly better this week, after some serious attention last weekend and during the evenings this week. It is so good to have daylight saving, and get more time for being outdoors in the evening. Still quite a bit to do 'tho, and I have decided to pull out and redo a whole bed area.. not quite sure how I will redo, still considering.

It really is rather lovely 'tho as we are into late spring now, and the garden is looking great. These are the last of the spring tulips..



We have a rhododendron festival locally in the next few weeks, so lots of garden type things to do and see, ....



..and talking 'bout gardening. maybe that' where I should be now, ... have fun - I will!!

Shiree

new bikes!

hello again,

it has been a bit since I last wrote on this. I am still getting the hang of it, and I must admit I have been spending a lot of time looking at other blogs. What a big blog land out there!

We have had builders in our house this week, what a mess.We are having the ceiling in our lounge relined, and extra insulation added so come next winter we will be nice and toasty warm. SO not too much sewing done at all, although I did manage the other night to find a quiet tidy spot and sit and do a little bit if stitching. So soo many projects to do....

Anyway, last Sunday we decided that we would treat ourselves and buy new bikes. Next weekend, we are off to Clyde to bike part of the rail trail, Tim is rowing the long distance race from Cromwell to Clyde (all by himself in a single scull - good luck to him I say!!), I really am an avid supporter of this rowing, so I shall be there with great gusto to cheer them on, and will be at each end of the course to help them on & off the water. Son, Cam is rowing also, I think he is part of an eights' crew. They look so spectacular those big rowing eights so watch this space for some pikkies after the event.

and on the Monday -'cos it is Labour weekend and Monday is a public holiday - Tim and I and 2 other good friends are biking in the Dusky Trail ride in Twizel - 44km up hill and down dale - very undulating area. So what fun huh.have a look at this website

but I am sure that I will get some stitching in somewhere along the way!!!


These ares some of the photos from our biking trip in Croatia recently - 6 of us biked an old Napoleonic road (left over from the time way back when Napoleon was in Croatia, and it was all rocky and up hill,






you can see by this last photo how hilly it was, and we all ended up pushing our bikes, (that is me on the side in the lavender top), but it was good to be able to say "done that!!"

cheers, Shiree

well, ... the days are passing by so quickly indeed, another weekend has come and gone, and back into the working week. I so wanted a sleep in on Saturday, but my dearly beloved would not let me rest, and we were up early me for a gym session with my personal trainer, and Tim was off on the harbour rowing

It has only been a week since we have been back from our holiday, but I have been busy reliving the memories by showing off our photos to everyone, workmates, parents, friends, quilting group,...
It has been real fun sorting thru them and putting them in an album.

It was our friend Pete's 60th birthday over the weekend, and we helped him celebrate. we travelled to this lovely old homestead where we had a terrific lunch,


and then we walked around this lovely old garden...



Several of us then stayed on for a light evening meal, and stayed the night, sitting up talking to the wee small hours.

...not too much stitching done this weekend, so I have heaps to catch up on, but I did manage this for my stitching angel॥ I do hope that she will enjoy it!

and of course there are other goodies as well, I really need to get these in the post this week! She does like blue she says, but then so do I!

Until next time, have fun all,

Shiree

back from holiday...

Well, holiday over, but it was absolutely GREAT!!! I just love travelling and seeing different parts of the world, different people and sights etc. Romania was very different from Croatia, both in people, and the landscape. We did enjoy both I would have to say, but certainly the cycling and cruise tour in Croatia was a bonus. We met some really wonderful people who just made our holiday that little bit extra special and enjoyable.

...this photo is of Count Vlad's Castle in Transylvania - this was so pretty and not at all what one might expect for Dracula to be living in. OH the romanticism of it all. and a pretty little village also where they had a market selling lots of local souvenirs.


and what could be more perfect and peaceful then this shot!!

We walked the old town wall of Dubrovnik, the heavens opened up for us at the worst time possible, and we got absolutely drenched, however, it was not so cold, so we dried off pretty quickly। ..the only rain for the entire holiday - not too bad.

... and of course, time for stitching for my secret angel...

२ sleeps to go!

excitement all round - on Friday we are off on holiday for 3 weeks, heading to Romania and Croatia for hopefully some summer or the end of summer anyway.. at the end of our winter.
I just wanted to share what I was up to at the weekend, we travelled to our holiday home in Twizel,
and had the most wonderful time, both in regards to weather, and the things that we managed to do; several bike rides around the canals, lots of gardening, and some quilting as well of course.





these 2 above are Natalie Lymer's Truly Scrumptious -
and this is my version of Leanne Beasley's "Flowers and Flutterbuys!!

Both these quilts are made using Moda Jelly rolls, they are so easy peasy to use...

'til later,

Shiree

well hello there

Blogger beginnings -I guess this is going to take a wee while to sort out and get in the groove!! but here goes, they tell me that I can talk really well, and the words do literally just slip off my tongue, so it should not be too much of a problem to just sit and type huh!! I think that this will be lots of fun, and I am sure that my family is going to have a bit of a laugh at my expense, isn't that right Janet?

We are heading off on holiday on Friday evening, after Tim and I have finished work, although I have to say, currently it feels like there is much work to do before we go, both at home and at work. Anyway, come Friday, we are hopping on the big silver bird, and winging our way across the other side of the world to begin our Romanian leg of the journey, and then off to Croatia on our cycle and cruise tour of the Dalmatian coastline.

And of course, I will have my stitching with me, particularly for the long haul flights, which are just so so tedious without such a diversion, and of course it is such a pleasant way to spend some time in total relaxation. Just the way to start a holiday.

I have been playing around with my new camera over the weekend, so I hope to download some weekend photos and share them with you very shortly.

be back soon,

'til then,

Shiree