Green Berry

Made with olive, coconut, rice bran and castor oils and cocoa butter. These soaps have Blackberry Sage fragrant oil and colourings.

This delicious, strong fruity fragrance has top notes of blackberries, a touch of orange zest and a base of fresh green sage leaves.

A perfect blend of juicy blackberries tempered with the cleaness of sage.

I used three different micas to add colour to this soap, two of them pop micas and one a lustre mica.  A little of the colours was added to my soap pot for an 'in the pot swirl', but most was kept to decorate the top.

The smell is divine!

My Dad

My Dad has been taken to Timaru hospital and his kidneys are failing!

I want to fly home ... NOW ... but I can't and it's hard.

I know my Mum and Merv will be with my Dad as he prepares for his final journey ... and I hope I can get home in time to talk to him in person one more time.  I will phone the hospital tomorrow and hopefull I can talk to him.

I usually phone my Dad (in Waimate) at least twice a week and last week I could tell he wasn't well.  He was finding talking difficult and he thought he had another lung infection.  X-rays at the hospital show his lungs are clear ... most unexpected, but his kidneys aren't processing the fluid in his body ... and that's what was affecting his breathing.

I love my Dad!  X

Why are you soaping?

I have allowed my beatiful dog Wilson to be my 'at home' best buddy, since my wonderful hubby died on the last day of Summer 2009 (28 February 2009) ... and then I wonder why he looks at me the way he does, as he watches me get my soaping gear organised. 

His look tells me he knows that shortly the laundry door will close ... blocking his access to his freedom, his dog flap in the outside laundry door.  Then he'll have to watch me go out the sliding doors to 'our' favourite deck area ... with my box ... alone.  Return, then go back out with two bowls and a stirrer ... alone.  Return, then go back out onto 'our' deck and bring the box back in ... all while he's being praised for not following, for staying where he is ... like he has a choice, his access to his door is blocked and he watches me disappear out to 'our' deck, closing the sliding door behind me each time.

I try to involve Wilson in my soapmaking, by telling him what I'm doing and telling him why I'm choosing certain colours and this or that design.  Sadly he never seems interested.

Saturday ... busy as ...

What a fun day!

Made my first batch of 'No Calorie' chocolate soap.  It's made with my favourite recipe of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Castor Oil and Cocoa Butter.  The fragrance is 'Italian Spiced Chocolate', so added a little melted dark chocolate to the mix.  Smells divine!

Then I made my first batch of whipped soap.  I think I melted the hard oils too much, as it took ages to thicken, but it was exciting when it did.  I only have a hand held beater ... so I was starting to get over the idea when finally it thickened and the excitement returned.

When the soap was ready, the batch was split and one lot coloured with grape pop mica.  The coloured part was put in silicon cup cakes moulds and then came the fun of learning how to pipe happened!  I'm going to need loads of practise, but I was quite happy with the outcome.

Now the wait ... I'm looking forward to trying this again!

Adelaide's Giant Pandas

Have finally been to see the Giant Pandas ... and they're gorgeous!

There was a great Keeper in the area and he told us heaps about Funi and Wang Wang.  It's sad to be told there are only about 1,600 of these beautiful animals in the wild!

Funi and Wang Wang are considered a fantastic genetic pairing for the global Giant Panda breeding program.  Any cubs Wang Wang and Funi have will be valuable additions to the Giant Panda population.  The Keeper did share with us that so far Funi doesn't care much for Wang Wang, so they've moved them into each other's enclosures, in the hope that this may arouse some interest.

Funi ("Lucky Girl")

Born: 23 August 2006 at Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre, China

Personality: She is very active and playful and often makes excited mewing vocalisations at feeding time. She is also very intelligent, curious and loves to explore.

Wang Wang ("Net Net")
Born: 31 August 2005 at Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre, China

Personality: He is a very laid-back and placid boy. Like all Giant Pandas, he loves to snooze but can usually roused by a fresh stalk of bamboo.

Jandal Slippers!

Look at what my daughter bought me ... purple jandal slippers! 

This Kiwi's in love ...






I love warm feet ...
I love wearing jandals ...
and my favourite colour ...
so these make me very happy!

Drive responsibly

Wilson watching me!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Too Much ...

Sometimes the ache in my heart is ... too much!
Sometimes I miss you ... too much!
Sometimes my tears are ... too much!
Sometimes I need you ... too much!
Sometimes I want to scream and yell ... too much!
Sometimes the pain in my chest is ... too much!
Sometimes I ace for your touch ... too much!
Sometimes I hurt for you ... too much!

But my love for you will never be ... too much!

I will miss you always and I have learned that just because you died, I haven't stopped loving you!

Love in my vegie patch

I love dragonflies ... dragons flying!  This day in my garden was really special.  I think this photo was taken in late summer, early spring.

Purple Carrot Juice

While my kids were staying I made them fresh vegie juice ... purple carrots, celery, carrot and ginger.  The colour the purple carrots gave the juice was amazing!  Plus the taste ... unreal!






























My son Andy ... looks like he really enjoyed the fresh vegie juice ...

A Thought ...

Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Some things should remain secret ...

February 2011

While my kids were visiting from Sydney we cleaned up an area that had a few pieces of timber stacked one on top of the other.

When we removed the last piece of timber ... there was a snake skin ... and ghee it was long!  It was quite scary to realise a snake had been there, as this area is at the bottom of the steps Wilson and I use to get down to my vegie garden ... and we go down and up these steps at least twice a day during the week and more often during weekends.  I wonder how close we got to Mr Snake? ... Did Wilson sense he was there? ... Where is Mr Snake staying for autumn/winter? ... Is it true that snakes are territorial and return to the same area year after year? ... What can I do to make sure we all remain safe when the weather gets warmer ... that includes Mr Snake?

Deep down I have this feeling of ... why didn't this remain a secret ... there are some things I'd rather not know about ... and this is one of those!

Merv's second anniversary - 29 February 2011!

Where has time gone ... it's two years already and yet I seem to remember every detail as if it's still happening.  A couple of the biggest things I've learned is that when a person dies you don't stop loving them ... and when your heart is breaking there is a real physical pain!

I think of Merv with every breath I take ... I miss him more than I thought was possible!

This year we decided to repeat letting the environmental friendly balloons go, with messages written on them for Merv.  We chose colours for special reasons - Blue and  Gold to represent Otago and Taieri.  We lived in Otago on the Taieri plains and Merv played for the Taieri Hockey Club and represented Otago at all levels in hockey and coached both the Taieri Hockey Club and the Otago U21 Mens and Otago Senior Mens hockey teams.  Next we chose black and silver for New Zealand ... for all top sports teams in New Zealand.  Finally I chose purple, as Merv called me his Purple Dragon ... and I loved that name!

Amie and Andy came to stay

In February 2011 both Amie and Andy came to stay.  It was lovely having them home with me and we did many fun things together.








We went to my favourite cafe in Strathalbyn ... Argus House!

I love their chai and the way they serve it. It's spicy rather than sweet and you can see whole spices in the teapot ... divine!

This is their lentil, curry and kumara pie ... to die for!

Amie's T-Shit

This was one of Merv's favourite songs, sung by one of his favourites - Dave Dobbyn.

We played this song at his farewell!  What a great t-shirt!

Gift from those I work with

Moth Orchid

... the orchid my colleagues gave me when I returned from New Zealand was beautiful. It's continued to flower for four months. I'm hoping it will have a new flowering spike next season.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Farewell

My Dad

An emotional farewell to my precious Dad and it was time to head to Christchurch to catch a flight to Adelaide via Melbourne.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

My Next Car ...

Sweet as ...

A drive to Dunedin to see some friends and family is never complete without a visit to the home of Speights.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

South Island Beauty

Birth at Moeraki

While visiting my girlfriend we celebrated a birth. Such a beauty.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Earthquake

A foot bridge in Christchurch. Showing a little of what one of the big earthquakes has done.

While I was home, my girlfriend drove me to Christchurch. It was confronting.

A couple of days after I flew out of Christchurch, another huge aftershock hit and now the damage is much worse.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]