Central Plateau, North Island

Central Plateau, North Island
View from a friend's farm

Thursday 20 July 2017

Day 7, and One Swan Swam.


12 Days Of Christmas in July Blog Hop banner

Today dawned, as was normal, we had another frosty start,and the firewood was/ is …. getting used up by the barrow load.

Here is a solitary Black Swan on Lake Tarawera in 2011. The other 6 must have been far away. We lived here for some 25 years, and the mountain at the back sometimes had snow in the winter.

Black Swan

And this is  Muriel, Hugh’s Mum ,sitting at the top of Mount Tarawera ,in the 1980’s. She was always keen to go on any adventure, and this was one of them.I am sure if we had suggested a parachute jump, even in her 90’s she would have said “  When are we  going?”!!!

Muriel on top of Mt Tarawera 1980's

Today blog hops will take you to another 3 ladies.

First  is Cheryl at

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting

Cheryl has already given us  some of her suggestions , on a previous day, and  today will show us more of her projects, and Christmassy ideas.

Next on the list is Jennifer at

The Inquiring Quilter

And I can assure you there will be exciting goodies on her post.

The last blog hopper today will be found at

Selina Quilts

No clues yet, so we will have to wait and see.

The next round of really bad weather has begun further north, and we are hoping it is not so severe by the time the wind,rain, snow,hail, sleet and more reach us. At the other end of the weather scale, fires rage in B.C.

British Columbia, I have  friends in 3 different places, Princeton ( they have been evacuated ) Ymir, they are  still OK at home, and a little further north of there near  Valemount. I think they are still at home as well . No news is worrying, but sometimes there is no internet available . Thousands have been evacuated, millions spent already, firefighters arriving from overseas to assist the local men and women who work so valiantly to save homes, forests, buildings and more.

This was Kamloops airport in February this year. Now there is an evacuation centre in the town, and fires  are close by.

Kamloops airport Friday 3rd February 2017

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“When the winter season seems to be endless,

remember that Spring will always follow”

Greetings from Jean.

5 comments:

Susan Heather said...

Today started fine but rain soon set in. The weather (so far at least) has not been as bad as predicted just steady, light, rain all afternoon that has now stopped. I hope it is fine in the morning as Doug is working at 4 a.m. helping his daughter with the bulk mail to Waipu.

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I love the pretty Black Swan. Your MIL sounds like she was an adventurer. It seems like the wildfires are all around the west coast of the USA, I heard about California, Washington and BC. I hope everyone in these areas stay safe. Hang on, Spring is coming. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

Carol Mattingly said...

I have never laid eyes on a black swan. Magnificent. Carol

Paige said...

Love seeing the black swan! It's so hot here, I would love a little of your cold weather!

Fundy Blue said...

What a gorgeous spot you live in, Jean. I love all the New Zealand place names, although I'm sure that I'm murdering their pronunciation as I try to say them. I think I would have liked Hugh's mother! Hugs to you both!