Nyle's Thai silk gown

My beautiful daughter's new dress that she had made to her own design over in Thailand, from heavy black Thai silk, she modeled it for me.
There is also a matching black silk scarf and hair piece snood.
In the background is a lovely series of three panels of Red Lacquer and inset carved Mother of Pearl of a pair of cranes, also from Thailand.

Link to my Daughters Phuket blog

My Daughter Nyle and her husband Shane are currently holidaying in Phuket Thailand, you can follow their holiday fun here

http://nylesphuket.blogspot.com/

They are having the time of their lives and it makes for interesting reading. I can't beleive they actually got to ride elephants and even to pat and cuddle tiger cubs! I am green with envy!

I've been tagged

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by A walk through Auckland

The rules are simple: Tag and link back to the person who tagged you. List six (un) important things that make you happy. Tag six bloggers and let them know they're “it”. We all feel this blogging community to be one of inclusion and friendship.

The first six happy things coming to mind:
My Beautiful cat Porsche,
Traveling in the tropical warmth, with my Husband,
Swimming in warm waters,
Reading in the sun,
Having my daughter and her children visit me,
Getting comments on my blog from people around the world.




These are my six tagged bloggers in random order ;
: Sadly I don't have the knowledge to do this so my freinds who visit and comment often consider yourselves all tagged!

Porsche in hiding.

Pretty Porsche our Silver Blue Burmese cat, is hiding behind the teddy bears.

"Haha you can't see me."



But if you enlarge the photo you will see she is peeping at me from behind the candle.

Porsche couldn't let a good photo opportunity go by with out a small secret smile.

What Vitamin are you?

You Are B Vitamins

~ B ~

You are energetic and lively. You have the resources to be very active in life.
You are likely quite athletic and healthy. Your body is a well oiled machine.

You seem to bounce back more quickly than most people. You don't stay tired for long.
Your energy seems to feed itself. Once you get moving, it's hard for you to stop!

.What Vitamin Are You?

99 things

99 things

Saw this here and I thought it would be fun to see how many I had done..... No comments, just bold the things that you have done. If you do it, be sure to link back here and then comment so I can see what you've done too!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Belgrove 18Km Race Walking Event

My Daughter Nyle just gets better and better, this is what was printed in the Nelson Daily Mail.

In the 18km walk, Nyle S. broke the women's record set by Wendy Healey in 2005 by 3min 36sec in recording a time of 1hr 55min 7sec. Her time was also an impressive improvement of 7min 56sec over her time last year.

NZ Masters Champs in Tauranga

My Daughter Nyle and several of her team mates from the race walking club in Nelson went to the NZ Masters Champs in Tauranga, they did expect to do reasonably well, but did not expect to actually win a gold each in their events.
Well done to all three Podium Winners.

The Buller Half Marathon

My Daughter Nyle and Son-in-law Shane both competed in the Buller Half Marathon, in Westport on Valentines Day; their 6th Wedding Anniversary.. Nyle entered in the Race Walking and Shane in the running. Both did very well, Nyle actually WON the event in a personal best time, beating even her training partner and best friend! She had an injury to her calf muscle and was in pain most of the race, so it truly was a great effort. Shane who had never run a marathon before, finished in a very respectable time, and is now bitten by the running marathons bug.


Nyle won a nice trophy, a pair of running shoes, a huge bottle of Bubbly, framed photos of herself and Shane competing in their events, plus a handcrafted wooden Jewelery box made from NZ Rimu. A lovely collection of winnings.
Congratulation to you both, well done!

Fun with raisin

Life with Big Raisin.
Raisin could turn the radio alarm clock on any time he wanted, he loved to help with the lawn mowing, his job was to guard the wheel barrow from wheel barrow raiders, he loved to play with Porsche, play fighting and mutual grooming, he also went for daily walks with us trotting along beside us chattering all the way, a vocal cat! Life is so much quieter now! Porsche misses him too.

Raisin's Story

Raisin’s Story.

I feel it is now time to tell the story of our big black Maine Coon cat Raisin.
Sixteen years ago, before Erle and I were married, I was a housesitter looking after a very nice home in Blenheim while the owners went overseas. These people owned a spaniel dog and a young girl boarder, which I was to look after and feed – both of them! No problem, the dog was well trained and the young girl Tracy was a pleasant person. One day she asked if her girl friend, which was going to be passing through Blenheim on route to Auckland to live, could possibly stay overnight with us. I was only too pleased to have her share the boarder’s room. Both girls spent their time giggling in Tracy’s room, as girls are likely to do.
During the evening I went outside for some reason and could see a big fluffy black cat sitting in the middle of Tracy’s bed. I gathered that was the reason for all the giggling and playing in the bedroom, but I didn’t mind and didn’t mention the word Cat.
After a pleasant night, I woke to hear Tracy and her friend, tiptoeing around the house and also out doors whispering ‘Raisin, Raisin here boy.’ They were getting quite desperate and started actually calling Raisin, then came and asked me to help look for the friends cat who had escaped outside during the night and was lost. The girl had to catch the ferry to the North Island, and was forced to leave without her cat. She told me he was a very special cat, not like others, with long silky black fur, she asked if I managed to find him would I please look after him. I agreed reluctantly, to do so.
By the end of the day a very hungry black fluff cat was meowing loudly at the door, but when I opened the door he ran very fast back to his hidey-hole under a stack of timber in the next section. The next day hungry overcame his fright and in he came demanding food with a loud voice.
Erle and I were to be married in about one month’s time, we already had bought our new home, but it was sitting empty until we were married. When Erle came around to visit for the evening we talked about how we were going to look after a cat, with a spaniel dog in the house it was not feasible to have Raisin for any length of time, so we decided to move Erle in to the new house from his little flat, he would settle in and take care of Raisin until we were married and settled. Both of us knew we would like to have a cat, and Raisin would do very well. We thought he was about a year old at this time, he was already neutered and a large cat.
Raisin was a quite different type of cat really, he had a huge long fluffy tail that looked like a squirrel or a possum’s tail, and he carried it sort of up over his back like a squirrel. He also had rather long fur around the side of his face, like mutton chops and curling out of his ears too, he was jet black with no white fur at all, rather a special cat. It wasn’t til many years later we were told that he was a Maine Coon cat, which are quite rare, especially in New Zealand at that time. He also had plenty of personality and intelligence, his main claim to fame was his ability to turn on radios, he could turn two quite different ones on, reason for this was that we used a bedside radio as an alarm clock, when the clock came on in the morning, we jumped out of bed and first thing we did once dressed was, feed Raisin, he was certain that we would feed him any time the radio clock turned on – and he was right, mostly.
So that is how we came to be Raisin’s Mum and Dad. He earned his keep catching masses of mice and some rats, since we lived in the country, even a few rabbits, he did also catch some birds but he was a cat and that’s what cats do sometimes. E also assisted us in raising three Burmese kittens; he was good at giving a quick wash and at amusing a wee kitty that just wanted to play all the time. We used to say; we called him Raisin, Raisin, Raisin, such a good cat we named him three times.
Sadly today was his last day with us, he has been a very sick cat for a while now, eating less, loosing weight and vomiting frequently, he also started howling in such a manner that we just knew he was in pain, so we finally did the last kind thing we could do for him, and had his suffering brought to an end.
Goodbye Big Raisin boy cat, we will really miss your companionship, life won’t be the same without you, for us and for Porsche.

Shakara my Grand daughter.

Shakara.
My second Grand daughter took this photo last time I was visiting her in Nelson. Shakara is 18 years old and has grown in to a delightful attractive young lady, she is flatting with her brother in Nelson.
She was clowning around with me, and suddenly she just held her camera at arms length and said 'strike a pose Gran' I grabbed her for a big hug and snap, this is the result! Nice one Shakara.

What mystical Gem stone are you? I am a Topaz

Click on the title to go find what mystical gem stone you are.

Almost tagged by my follower Pug.

I Have been almost tagged by my follower Pug.
Picture Tag!

Here are the rules:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer\

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same.
My 4th Folder 'Fur Seals and Otters' and this Fur Seal sitting on a lichen covered rock at Kaikoura NZ was photo number 4.
I would like to tag the next 4 people who look at this post!
Plus my Daughter Nyle and my freind in Finland.

Jingle bells Jog Fun Run, Nelson

As a fun run Christmas event, both my daughter Nyle and her husband Shane, entered in the Jingle Bells Jog. Shane jogged and Nyle powerwalked. most people wore some kind of Christmasy articles to make the whole thing more jolly.




They both had a lot of fun, as did all the other participants. It is not often that they can both compete together, in any way at all. That's them with the Santa hats on. After the 5KM jog they rested a few moments, then ran the 5km back to their car.

You Are a Sphynx Cat

Some say you're part monkey, part dog, part child, and part cat. You're unique and mysterious enough to seem a little otherworldly. You're so hyper active that you almost literally climb the walls. You are also devoted and loyal. But you demand a lot of attention in return.

What Breed of Cat Are You?

My Daughters new Venture

My daughter has decided to venture into the online retail business with some delightfully sexy lingerie and negligies and teddies and other wonderful things .

Go have a quick look at these naughty but nice garments by Goddess.

http://www.goddesslingerie.co.nz/

Maybe there might be something that you have just got to have.

Our new chair.

Soon after we moved into this nice new home we decided to buy ourselves a nice new chair. We specially wanted another lazy-boy type chair as they are so comfortable, but some are so heavy you can't move them around easily, so we saught out a lightweight model that was still very comfortable, and asked the company to order us one in a maroon coloured leather so it would fit in well with our other furnishings. The order was placed, overseas somewhere, and we were told it would take a while to have it made as we wished. We didn't expect it would take more than five months, but it did.

The new chair was delivered and unpacked and placed in position in a nice sunny place. next thing we know our two cats came flying across the room, jumped up on to the seat and settled down. They said "This chair is ours, thankyou." and have made it there own as much as possable ever since.

Big Raisin

We have 2 beautiful cats, Big Raisin is a Maine Coon Cat, or so we have been told. We just know he is a long-haired black cat with personality. He has the bigest fluffiest tail, just like a squirrel tail we think. Raisin and Porsche are very good friends, playing together all day long, with never a cross word between them.

Raisin is now about 16 years old and still going strong, though he is not as active as he used to be and no longer catches birds or mice like he used to.

Porsche

Porsche, our Siver Blue Burmese cat, is such a happy cat, notice the big smiles. She is all grown up now. This was her favourite chair, but we have moved home and no longer have this old chair so she is still finding good sunny places to sit and dream.