What do you do on a rainy day, on Waiheke Island?

Curl up with a magazine or good book.

I love Victoria Magazine, I think it is one of my favourite magazines, ( as I have probaly said before here.) Here are two pretty pictures to share with you.
It is a wet weekend so a good day to do indoor jobs.
I am helping DD (darling daughter) clean out her wardrobe, which is a mamoth task!
It is one of those hard jobs, for me as I am a bit of a hoarder.
She though is a little more ruthless and we started making a pile of keepers, a huge bag of clothes for the Red Cross and then one that she will take to the Recycle Boutique and recoup a little amount of money for herself.

Dad is putting up shelving for her books. The things we do to keep our kids happy!


I have been lucky the last couple of days and have got three awards.
Thank you Ces, for the Bella Sinclair Award ~ Art Inspiration, Friendship, Sisterhood, Sharing and Caring. This means a lot to me.
Next, was the Premios Dardo Award from Charity ~ many thanks for this.
And the last award was from Marsha, for the Honest Scrap Award.
As I just listed 10 things about myself in an earlier post, will not do this again.
Also most of my friends seem to already have these awards, but if you would like them,
feel free to pop them on your blog.

Thanks so much.
I really appreciate all these lovely awards.

Time to wish you a great weekend
Hugs
Carolyn

Best friends forever

A while back a friend sent me a gift and when I was thinking of what I could post today and was looking around the house, and I thought I could share a photo with you.

The very sweet box with a lovely vintage flower and tulle and some wish tickets.
Look at what my sweet friend Aleta gave me ~ the most precious pendant with a sweet girl and teddybear and the words ~ 'Best friend forever".

I was thinking about all the wonderful friends I have made through my blog and just want to say thank you for the joy and support I have had, from you all.
I truly am blessed to have, the sweetest friends ever.

Gratitude is the hearts memory
~ French Proverb

Hope that you are having a lovely week.
Hugs
Carolyn

Honeybees~

Some honey bee facts really deserve to be shared after so many healing and health promoting opportunities for us humans, start with this little busy creature.
Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for humans.

Manuka honey
It has been discovered that this unique type of honey contains extraordinary healing properties that are capable of healing a wide spectrum of health conditions.
Such as ulcers, skin wounds, acid reflux, gastritis, strep throat, acne, burns, eczema, ringworm, staph infection etc.

The bees gather the nectar from a floral shrub, Manuka (indigenous to New Zealand)
It is also called Tea tree and when it is next flowering I will take some photos of it - we have some shrubs growing on our property.
So if you remember this if you ever have a skin wound that is not healing, please give this a try.
When my Mother broke her hip last year, it was not healing very well with antibiotics and the Doctor suggested trying the Manuka honey and within the week it had healed up well.



My Grandfather and an Uncle used to be beekeepers (Apaiarist) and we used to love watching them go out with all the protective gear on, so they would not get stung.
They would smoke the bees out, to enable them to harvest the honeycomb, from the hive.
National Geographic

Don't you love the amazing structure of the honeycomb ~ all those hexagonal cells that the bees fill with honey. I do enjoy honey on a slice of toast some mornings, for breakfast.
Do you like honey?

Have a great week
Hugs
Carolyn

The colour red!

Wishing all my friends, a very happy Fourth of July!
May you have a wonderful and safe long weekend.


My Sailor bear~ Brighton.
A glowing keyhole arch and dusty red wall, frame the minaret of this Mosque in Morocco.
National Geographic.
Music legend - Chuck Berry holds his cherry red guitar. With early classics like Rock Rock Rock and Johnny B Goode, was considered one of the great rock and roll pioneers - National Geographic.
I love the colour Red.
It is always such a bright and rich colour. From the red of a strawberry and cherry to a glass of Pinot Noir.

Here are a few images, I would like to share with you.
Have a great day!
Hugs
Carolyn

A Garden

Plant a seed of friendship ~ Reap a bouquet of happiness.

A vase of French lace Roses (Flickr)
The greatest gift of a garden is that it restores the five senses. ~ Hanna Rion
Wouldn't it be lovely to have a garden like this ~ I love the fountain, surrounded with the old bricks.
Fresh herbs would proudly make a statement in this wonderful herb garden.
Beautiful gardens from House Beautiful.

I hope that you are having a great week
Hugs
Carolyn

Lovely to be back home.

Vogue - Polyvore.

The postcard I sent home to our children, arrived after we got home.

Blogging is like keeping a diary and what we have been up to in our daily lives. Sometimes it is not very exciting but it is what we are doing at a particular time.

We arrived back to Auckland on Saturday, to rain and cooler weather, so different to what we had been used to on holiday. You miss the sunshine and cobalt skies and sea and being in a holiday mode!
I love Winter though, don't get me wrong.
You know the feeling you get, when you come back from a holiday. There is unpacking the suitcase and then the bag of laundry and ironing to be done. So I must away and do some things that need doing around the house.

I hope that you have a wonderful week.

Hugs
Carolyn

Our Fiji Holiday

We have just got back from a wonderful week away, staying at the Fiji Beach Resort at the Hilton on Denarau Island. The weather was mostly beautiful except for the first night we arrived and one day when it was cloudy.

We had a relaxing time doing very little, reading, swimming in the pool and even came back with a suntan.
Every morning we would have a fresh fruit salad with delicious pineapple, mango and yummy tropical fruits.
Here are a few holiday snaps I would like to share with you.

This was the view taken from our room, off our deck and was so lovely to sit and watch the world go by. Every morning a tractor would come and rake the sand so the beach was lovely to walk along. The sand was a dark colour because of the rain the night before.

The pool was beautiful - great to be able to relax on the sun loungers and then to get in for a swim once you got too hot.

Just as the day was drawing to a close, the sky looked wonderful with the coconut trees waving about and the reflection from off the pool. Tres romantic!

This is the Bula bus which would take you around the other Hotel resorts on Denarau Island.
It cost $5.00 for the day. It also stopped off at the Denarau Island Marina where there are shops and quite a few restaurants. The bus trip was fun but one night going home from dinner we had to listen to Boney M - Rivers of Babylon about 10 times, once was great but you would think they would have some other tunes!
The gates to Denarau Island, where there is a guard at the gate watching who comes and goes.
We hired some bikes and cycled around part of the Island which was fun, albeit a little hot.
You could go out in the kayaks, fly through the sky, parasailing ( which we had done there 25 years ago. ) We had gone to one of the outer Islands, Club Natasi for our honeymoon.
Fiji has changed a lot since we were there.
You really know that you are on a tropical Island when they place a Hibiscuis on your bed.
As we watched the sun go down on the last night, while drinking a Pinacolada it was going to be hard going back to the wet weather our daughter and son were having back home.
It was a lovely break away, but all good things must come to an end.
It is lovely to be home and really there is no place like home!
Great to be back with our family and to be able to sleep in our own bed.

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend

Hugs
Carolyn