COROMANDEL DAWN

When Doug was in the Air force he was asked by a lady to make a small loom for her grandmother to to make tapestries.  Later on she gave him this as a very nice 'thank you'.  I admired it and Doug loaned it to me for my bedroom wall.  

On the back is written "for my Good Samaritan who made me my frames with many thanks Grace Rushton".  It also says that it has been exhibited in the Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington and that it pairs with Coromandel Dusk.

Wisteria

The two photos above are of my neighbour's wisteria.  The first was past its best and has now finished flowering.  The white one is not quite at its best yet but is still specatular.

The reason I am showing my neighbour's wisteria is that I only had flowers near the ground on mine. The sparrows ate all the buds.  It will serve its purpose of providing shade but I would have liked some flowers as well.

They have been flowering all over town so it appears as though the sparrows only targeted mine.

Hundertwasser

The new Hundertwasser style folly called Te Kokana was opened yesterday.  This is a precursor to the actual Hundertwasser Art Centre that is (hopefully) to be built here.  It will house the largest collection of Hundertwasser art outside Europe and also a  contemporary Maori art collection.

Apparently before a Hundertwasser building gets underway a folly must be built for the local tradespeople to practice building in this style.

After going to the Growers Market we went down to the Town Basin as usual but walked in the other direction to see Te Kokana.  I did a bit more shopping than usual at the market and see it was about 7.50 when we got to the Town Basin.

FLOWERS EVERYWHERE

It was Max' funeral this afternoon.  When the Funeral Director visited on Friday he said he was arranging a "small spray" of flowers for the casket.  

The small spray consisted of a lot more flowers than I expected.

R.I.P. MAX 10/01/1930 - 07/10/2016

Max has been deteriorating for a while now and lately he has been sleeping most of the time.  Yesterday I went in at lunchtime to feed him but he didn't want his dessert which is most unusual and he fell asleep while I was feeding him.

I still got a shock when the phone rang at about 1.10 a.m. this morning.  For some reason I was awake and thinking of my visit yesterday when I was told that on one of the regular two hourly checks they found that he had died peacefully in his sleep.  Of course, I was unable to get back to sleep and think I am running on Adrenalin at present.

Rest in Peace.

NEW CARPET

The carpet layers arrived promptly at about 8.30 yesterday and have done a wonderful job.  They worked busily until just after 4 p.m. Doug had gone home at this stage but returned earlier than usual and managed to get the whole house vacuumed.  After an early meal he went home exhausted.

Today after the usual dog walk etc.  We came back here and Doug shaved the bottom off three doors that were catching on the carpet while I did several loads of washing.  Last night we brought the settee inside and my bed back into the bedroom but the rest will be done as time and energy allow.  I haven't even opened the new curtains I have bought.  I hope they are suitable - there will be some alterations to do.

The blue plastic dust sheet went back up last night and will remain until the curtains are fitted.

TODAY (9/11)

Today is Doug's birthday and most of it has been spent uplifting carpet.  The painting has been finished - it has been a long job as he has been fitting it in around everyday life but finally all the rooms that need to be painted before the new carpet goes down have been painted and I am thrilled with the result.

Over the past week we have been moving the furniture into first the outside room and then into the large enclosed porch.  Today we uplifted carpet and vacuumed in the morning and then went down to the Town Basin as Doug's daughter and grand daughter wanted to take him to lunch which was a pleasant break.  Then it was back here to finish the job off.

Now, I just have a small trolley/table, 2 chairs and a bed.  Tomorrow morning they will be moved out and  at about 8.30 or 8.45  the carpet layers will arrive.

                                                              The Porch holds a lot

       
                                                     

and so does the outside room

Doug went home as usual at about 3 p.m. and will come back at about 6 p.m. for a light meal.