Another month gone

Yep here we are on the 2nd day of March already. Dare I say it but where have the last two months gone?

I have finally settled down to make some cards but as yet no scrapbooking. So, dear brother if you are reading this, have you remembered you were going to send me some photographs of a certain little girl?

Around here on the beach, we get stones, little rocks that have holes right through them. Over the Christmas period I started to collect some of them and threaded them onto fishing line to form a hanging sculpture. Can't say that the idea was mine as they are everywhere but it was good fun putting them all together. Now waiting to see how high winds will affect it as I don't want holes in the exterior walls of the house!


Weather has still been humid (for here) and warm but yesterday we had rain all day and just had a shower today. The other week we had 100mls rain in one day and that certainly helped everything to grow rapidly, including the weeds! Can't belive how green everywhere is looking now.

I have been very quiet

Because it has either been too hot to sit at the computer or I have been busy sorting through family history documentation.

I started looking into the family history about 10 years agao and then I got very sick and was unable to drive to Christchurch to visit the Family History Centre. 10 years ago there wasn't much information freely available over the internet. Just recently my brother in Australia has started to get involved. He had the opportunity to visit London prior to going on a photography tour and was able to do some research there. He uncovered some very useful information which got me going again. He ordered birth, marriage and death certificates for certain members of family and these would ascertain whether or not we were on the right track.

The certificates were posted to me and were fascinating to study when they arrived. How could somebody who once listed his occupation as Gentleman ended up dying in the Workhouse? Then you start investigating conditions in the Workhouses and boy, it soon makes you realise just how lucky we are.

I had to scan all the certificates and send copies over to my brother via email - a very slow and laborious task when you are on dial up!

So, there in a nutshell is why I have been very quiet and as the weather has turned cold and wet I will probably be doing more research

Today

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. Can't believe it was 16 years ago and what we have achieved in that time. Most of all we are true friends as well as husband and wife

Yesterday

Yesterday (25th) was the anniversary of my arrival into New Zealand. I arrived on 25 Jan 1974 which happened to be the day after the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. This means I have been here 34 years and very much a true Kiwi !!

New Zealand mourns Sir Ed 1919-2008

Yesterday at 9a.m on 11 January 2008 Sir Edmund Hillary passed away. The man who put New Zealand on the map by being the first person to reach the top of Mt Everest in 1953. An editorial in The Christchurch Weekend Press states that
- in 1956 he went to Antarctica to establish Scott Base as leader of the New Zealand section of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
- 1957 Scott Base officially opened on jannuary 22. Hillary winters over with 22 others.
- 1958 Hillary and four others arrive at the American base at the South Pole on January 4, becoming the first to reach it overland since Robert Falcon Scott. Hillary returns to Scott Base by plane, returning to meet Vivian Fuchs when he reachess the pole from the Weddell Sea on January 18, then guides the group back to Scott Base.

A quote on the front page of the Press prints a quote made by Sir Ed which is very poignant
'It is not the mountains that we conquer but ourselves'

A state funeral will be held for Sir Edmund Hillary, Tuesday22 January 2008. Sir Ed will lie in State until his funeral

Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this sad time in their lives.

NZDares #34

As a result of my Cosy layout I was asked to be guest designer for this challenge. The challenge was to alter a photo digitally and scrap it. I altered this photo to black and white.

NZ Dares #33

This challenge was to scrap using just 2 colours so i chose Brown and Pink. The scan isn't very good unfortunately. The buttons are all different shades of pink.