Lake Taupo, A Rope Bowl, Dishcloths & A New Display

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I picked the arrangement of flowers above for my daughter-in-law Sarah, who had a birthday recently.  A mixture of dahlias, alstroemeria & perennial phlox, all from my garden.  I wish I knew how to arrange flowers properly ... I am more of "a plonker" when it comes to flowers in vases. 

 

Sid was here last week & we made two banana breads, one for him to take home.

  He is such a delight when baking.  I am always in a hurry & toss everything in - he reminds me to find Joy in the process ... "look Granny, 3 of the egg yolks are still whole but one is broken & it's running into the others" ... how precious this is. 

After he went home I made Caramel Anzac Slice as I was heading to Kinloch, Lake Taupo & this is my daughter in laws favorite slice.

In the days after Christmas I sewed Sarah a Rope Bowl as I wanted to fill it with lovely body products to gift for her recent birthday.  Sarah is a minimalist girl so I struggle at times with what to give her.  I used a soft palette of grey fabrics as she has these tones in her decor.

  

I placed body products,  Gourmet choccies & packets of seeds in the basket & cellophaned it all up ready to take down with me. 

The next day I drove down to Kinloch, Lake Taupo, to visit eldest Grandson Alec & his family.

We had a picnic lunch on the Lake edge - it was very busy as it is holiday season & the weather was nice.  The Lake is always so crystal clear - Sarah swam but Alec & I both just paddled.

Sarah told me about a walk to a waterwheel not far from their home so we headed off there in the afternoon.

It was such a pretty spot with a stream running right through it, crystal clear - & often the trout swim down the stream but you are not allowed to fish in here.  

(This is part of the Whangamata Stream Trail, Kinloch for anyone wanting to google it) 

A short walk from the water wheel is a fairy grove.  I just found it so delightful & could've stayed there for several hours.  It is a large clearing beside the stream, where people have been allowed to put fairy houses in the trees or on the ground & create a little village.

Sarah told me that nothing gets removed but there are rules about what you are allowed to put there, no plastic etc.  Also children have painted rocks & stones & used these to border the area - it was just so sweet & made my heart feel full.  

And you know what I want to do now don't you dear friends .  .  .  .  make my own fairy house & put it there 😃!!

There were a few of these hut-like structures built from the fallen tree branches. 

Alec & Granny & Alec & his Mum Sarah.  The wee dog belongs to the neighbors. 

At Christmas I was gifted a very nice bundle of new tea-towels which excited me immensely because mine were ready for the rag bag. 

 I decided I now needed some new dishcloths as these too, were ragbag material.  

I've used up all my ends of bamboo/cotton yarn & knitted 6 new ones ... they are an eclectic mix of colours but will be wonderful to replace the tatty old ones.  I can now knit * this pattern * off by heart so it's great to sit & do at nights.  

After I pack the Christmas decor away the house always feels large & airy & I like to give everything a good clean, move furniture & vacuum.  Often I wish I had new-to-me decor to do some different displays with, but this is not the case - we use what we already have.  I saw this on Instagram & it reminded me, we surely do need to love & care for the home we already have.

Longtime readers of my blog will know I have a vintage Singer Sewing table in the corner of my dining area & like to change out the displays on this for the different seasons.  

I've done a wonderful new display here for the summer season .  .  .  would you like to see it friends ???  😖😠😬

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😖😖😖 I think it may be called Fat Black Cat in Slumberland .  .  .

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,