Dragons and Princesses and..

...sword wielding Princes...

Hold it right there young maiden......

allow me to check the dragon is sleeping before you come down into our cave.....

Ah... I see how yon Prince has him covered from behind his magic shield...

Now if you young sire could guard my sword,

I'll just hop up and fortify the battlements....

Shrooms....

Found these gorgoeus Amanita's on a drive round the coast....

Had to play ;o)

Gets more like fairyland every day here.....

Whites Bay

Later we drove around Port Underwood track and stopped for a couple of hours at Whites bay..

Glorious........

Great to feel the sun so warm :)

Fairywebs and Sunberries.....

The sun was beautifully hot today....

Too hot really to walk in the hills, but I did...

and found these gems :)

Three Leaves Left....

diamond sprinkled
leaves gleam like autumn jewels
heralds of winter

Bittersweet....

I think these photo's taken on a misty morning walk all speak

of the bittersweetness....

of this day......

Ginny

Beautiful little Ginny...

Ginny is another of our rescue lambs....we have had her since Christmas and although she was a poor wee thing she is doing really well now...

Ginny and Draco are now the best of friends ;o)

She loves hot buttered toast for breakfast!!!

Fat Cat Cafe...

On the way back from Nelson we called in at the Fat Cat Cafe for a treat...

The children had chips, and I liked the way they served them ..little things an all that...

I had Mochacinno......

and I like the way they served that too ;-P

Sweet Lupin

This is Lupin a loamb we rescued about 5 weeks ago....

Lupin was never strong, but very gentle and he had the softest fur on his face....

We think he was suffering from white muscle disease, we brought him onto the deck when he could no longer stand and made him deep straw beds, hand fed him, gave him hot water bottles when he was cold etc. We tried feeding him Vitamin E and Selenium, but I think the disease was too far advanced.

Lupin was happy in his short time with us though, he didn;t appear to be suffering at all and loved our attention...

In the early hours of this morning Lupin died in his sleep....

We are heartbroken, but I am gald we were able to give him these weeks of love....

May the angels watch over you Lupin, our beautiful little friend xxxxx

Apple on the Head!

Phoebe liked picking apples for Lupin who loved them....

Out of habit he picked one today and tried some balancing exercises :o)

April Autumn...

Hard to conceive of autumn in April.....
I think in kilometres and dollars..
The Northerlies are Southerlies...
But shouldn't it still be spring???
Maybe this is Narnia.....
Certainly time is a lost entity in this valley...

Autumn Light....

I love the way the

morning light

caresses the hills;

like a warming cloak

to gather around one;

and feel warm

in the joy of a

new day....

Birth of a Teepee

This morning I went with two friends to cut Manuka

We chose and cut trees that needed clearing for Teepee poles

I know how to tell Manuka from Kanuka now......

And attended my first pipe ceremony..

All in all a good experience...

Feeding Time....

We always seem to be feeding one animal or another...!!

We have 5 hedgehogs coming for supper each evening...

For the hedgehog lovers...the milk in the saucer is special non dairy ;o)

No Exit...

Sometimes it feels that this valley doesn't want to let you go....

Maybe we really are are captured by fairies....

Beware all who enter here..lest ye be away with Titania and the fairies for a very long time....

Although time seems intangible here....

More Mist!!!

Just blows me away....

Another morning that truly was breakfast for the soul...

Mist rising, sun burning through....

and lighting the autumn leaves's

with pure gold...

yep.. even those non native *noxious weeds*!!

Gallery

Went to Neslon today and visited a friends exhibition at The Refinery gallery...

saw some lovely work and particularly liked a piece incorporating a sword made by a guy called Steve Young.....

Morning Mist....

I never fail to smile at the beauty of this valley...

It is at it's best soon after sunrise....

and when the mist is rising off the hills it is stunning....

See the mountain peeking through the cloud... :)

Sheep :o)

Just because....

I love them....

Draco Gets Shorn...

Well actually not fully shorn..

Just cruched.. but that sounded rather painful for a header!

Our farmer was really very gentle with him...

We thought about having a pom pom on the end of his tail but decided we would leave him with some dignity :o)