Nearly March -Cyclone Gabrielle, Stitching and More

As you may have heard, two weeks ago now, Cyclone Gabrielle left a trail of destruction around New Zealand's North island, including here in our lovely Hawkes Bay region. Our property was fine and most around our town, there were precautionary evacuations in place for some areas situated by the river. Schools remained closed for the week and many businesses too. The nearest town to us and outer rural areas suffered extreme flooding, including the business where my sister in law works, and the school where my brother in law is the principal. Further north, near Napier, some of the surrounding areas suffered devastation, ravaged beyond repair, including Esk Valley and Puketapu. Entire communities were cut off. There were ongoing power outages, lost of communications and we recently had a Boil water notice lifted that was in place for nearly two weeks. Tragically, the death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is 11, with most of these deaths in Hawkes Bay.

The emergency response has been like nothing we've seen in New Zealand and so many people have assisted in rescues to get people and animals to safety, reconnecting power and communications, roading, etc. It's been absolutely incredible. Local community volunteers have been out there helping with clean ups, food and supply drop offs, and getting rid of flood damage goods. With homes, businesses, wineries and orchards destroyed, the damage bill is estimated at least NZ $13 Billion. 

It's been a very surreal time and today, the last day of our NZ summer, it's raining again and there's rain warnings in place for the east coast again and some of Hawkes Bay.  

Before I move onto an update of stitching and other stuff, I just wanted to say thank you to those who reached out and checked in with me, greatly appreciated, thanks so much for getting in touch.

Back in early February, we spent a long weekend at one of our favourite beach spots, the farm at Blackhead Beach. I was so happy to be there as our January holiday week was cancelled due to bad weather. The weather was glorious, sunny and hot, and we enjoyed the days, fishing, going for drives along the beach, reading, and enjoying time with our friends.

Perfect spot for some early morning stitching with a cuppa.

This little stitching project was one of my February ornaments, Rudolph and Friends by Brenda Gervais. My 2023 ornament stitching is well underway, and I have four stitched so far, they just need to be made up sometime.

Now to share a few recent finishes from during this month - 

Dasher & Dancer by Natalie Bird, the Birdhouse

2022 Christmas Stitching along by the Tiny Modernist, Christmas Snow Globe. This was my Christmas holidays project and I really enjoyed stitching the fox, deer, nutcracker, penguin, polar bear and snowman. 

Lois Stocking by Shepherds Bush, name to add and charms, stitched on Floba linen with DMC pearl 5 threads.

A new start and it's Hector's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush.  I just love stitching these stockings.

Lastly for today, a good boy update - Mr Diesel is now 7 months old, and he's just such a joy, brings us so much laughter and fun. His latest trick is to bring in a piece of wood from the pile we have drying out on our driveway ready to be stacked away for winter and proceed to spread bark and bits of it around the entire house before we can catch up with him! 

Hopefully from today, I'll be back to some regular blogging, fingers crossed!

See you soon x

Beach Fun

As it was a public holiday here on Monday, we decided to have a small break away at the beach, our last trip out there this summer.

Despite the rain on Friday and early Saturday, the skies cleared, and Sunday and Monday were beautiful days.

The sea was a bit rough for swimming and fishing but that didn't stop the guys from having a try!

Looking back towards the farm where we stay, such a gorgeous spot

It was a very chilled out weekend, my parents and our friends and kids were with us so lots of good chats, hilarious games of petanque in the paddock, walks along the beach, delicious food and as always, lots of laughs. My heart is full.

See you soon xx

A New Year

Hello and happy 2021 to you all. Way back in January last year, who could have imagined what 2020 had in store for us. I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Christmas - we certainly did, filled with family and friends, making special memories and reconnecting as we all know just how precious those moments are when we are unable to be together in person.

A few snippets from over Christmas:

This week I'm back to work after my annual summer holidays. How fast did that time go?  Glenn has been back at work for the past fortnight and Hannah still has more time before her school year starts back on the 1st February.

After Christmas we headed to our favourite beach spot, Blackhead Beach.  It's only 30 minutes to the coast from where we live. Once again we had a fab time - lots of beach walks, surf cast fishing, reading, cricket, boogie boarding, card games, our days were easily filled.

We have one more beach stay weekend booked in early February so already looking forward to it!

Next time I'll have a big update about what I've been stitching, new projects, advent swaps and will share the last of the Christmas ornaments and gifts. Until then, take care and happy, happy stitching xx