Remark-a-bull.

On the way to New Plymouth we drove through the town of Bulls. Some clever person has come up with an amusing idea. Lots of the local businesses have signs that advertise the town. I think you can get the idea from the sign above outside the used house and house removals yard, Moove-a-bull. I did not manage to catch all the signs, here are a few I would like to share. Restack-a-bull outside the local dairy (corner shop to non-kiwi's). Comfort-a-bull outside the local B&B.

Forgive-a-bull on the local church.

And my favourite Knowledge-a-bull on the local school. Whoever came up with this idea was inspired, I loved it.

This is .....my latest discovery

Or should I say these are my latest discoveries............

Angela from over at Three Buttons has been running the "This is ...." meme for a few weeks now and this weeks theme is a really good one, as usual. But me being me can't just stick to one discovery I have three. I can justify this as each discovery is in quite a different category.

The first discovery is a purely physical one. When I was gardening yesterday I found the sunglasses I lost 18 months ago. I have a bad habit of pushing my sunglasses up onto my head while gardening. Which means that as I am busy pulling out weeds my sunglasses slip of the back of my head onto the ground unnoticed. So I was pleasantly surprised to find these ones while clearing a bit of undergrowth. They are rather the worse for wear, but will do as a pair I can use for gardening only.

The second discovery is a literary one. I like to listen to BBC radio programs via my computer when I am working around the house. Yesterday I was looking for something that I could listen to with my youngest, when I found "A Traveller in Time" by Alison Uttley. This was one of my favourite books as a child. Usually I do not read a book more than once, but this book I must have read a lot, I can remember that my copy of was so well used it fell to bits. I had forgotten I had ever read it until I started to listen and the memories just flooded back. If anyone out there (hint hint Peter) ever wants to buy me a pressie, I would love another copy of this book. Alison Uttley wrote the little grey rabbit books which I also loved as a small child. Strangely enough having just looked up the author on Wikepedia I have discovered she was a physics teacher. Perhaps she should have come to my dinner party last week instead of Agatha Christie. Oh and needless to say, I enjoyed listening, but my youngest just wandered off and went to do something else.

The third discovery is a more metaphysical one. As a women rapidly approaching the big 50 (still a couple of years off, but I can see it on the horizon), I have discovered that I am totally invisible to teenage girls. The first time I noticed this was in the summer I was at the local outdoor swimming park with my youngest. We were crossing a bridge when a group of 5 girls came in the opposite direction. They noticed Peter and my youngest, but I seemed to be invisible. I could tell by the way they walked directly towards me, then a puzzled look came on their faces as they could not understand why they could not walk forwards but had to walk around me, just as if they had hit an invisible barrier. On Friday I had to take my sons homework to school as he had a bad case of Hay Fever (our Gum Tree is in flower). When leaving the school I was walking out of the school as the kids were going in. The same thing happened, blank expressions on girl's faces as they could not understand what was blocking there way. This did not happen with the boys, even with their heads down staring at the feet, they knew I was there. I have no idea why, maybe it is fear and denial. Have they just realised they too will not be a teenager for ever. Or is it that once you reach middle age you are so insignificant you are not worth noticing. Just think of the fun you could have tormenting these poor souls. I must say though that on a one to one basis this is not the case, most teenage girls I now are lovely and friendly. Perhaps it is more to do with them being self conscious of themselves than of them not noticing me. I would love to hear your comments on this, has it happened to you. Or are you one of the teenage girls that does it, I would love to know.

Sorry I have rabbited on a bit, the "This is ....." meme each week does a good job of making me think.

This is .......... my Inspiration Board

My inspiration board is really the notice board in my sewing room. On it there are a few things that I don't know where else to put. Some of my Mum's work that she has sent me, the little purple quilt is one of hers. The picture is by my youngest, and I really love it, he has managed to capture a part of the character of each of the family, I think, and obviously I always walk around in a yellow mini skirt. The title of the pic is the Coulter Whanua, whanua is the Maori word for family and the "wh" is pronounced "f".
But my real inspirations are actually my lap top and all you crafty bloggers out there and .....
The world outside my window and little things like the tiles above. I have had them lying around for years, I love them, but still do not know what to do with them.