My Christmas Decorations!

These are the beginnings of my Christmas decorations this year.  I have used a broken umbrella hung upside down and added various Christmas decorations to it.  The other decorations are miniature parasols from the $2 Shop, also hung upside down with Christmas baubles & some gold beads on them. The upside down umbrella has lights on it & looks awesome at night!  These were hard to photograph but I gave it a go!  They look MUCH better IRL!  I have another photo to post but will do that next time.
Thanks for visiting, {{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)

I Made Some Cards!

...and three bookmarks!  I had an "Owl" of a time making these over the weekend, so much fun!  And yes, I LOVE that Owl punch from SU!  He/she is so verstile and I have used him/her for all kinds of cards!
Most of the card I used is also from SU as is the branch, which is from the bird punch.
If you look closely you can see that each owl has a diamond necklace, so I guess that makes them female owls?!
My favourite card is the black & white one, that is for my friend Yo who just loves black & white cards!  I am sure she will enjoy this one for Christmas:-)
Thanks so much for visiting, due to chronic health challenges I have not posted much for sometime.  Today I am trying to catch up!
{{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

I met Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall a few weeks ago when she & Prince Charles were in New Zealand.  I went into Auckland City to meet her. 
It was a terrible day weather-wise, it poured down three times while waiting to see her!  I had a raincoat with a hood but still managed to get wet!  It was very hard to get a decent photo of Camilla as she had an umbrella over her which had this big black band around the bottom.  It covered her face which made it hard to get decent photo's.  This was one of the best shots I got - not bad considering the weather & all the media surrounding her!  Before she arrived I was interviewed for one of the television channels!
I didn't get to see Charles as he was on the other side of the road.  I have photographed him before so I wasn't too disappointed.  I just shook hands with Camilla & said 'welcome to New Zealand'!  What else do you say when you have about 3 seconds?!  She was lovely & she has really soft hands!
Everyone had a good time in spite of the wet weather & the crowd was well behaved.
Thanks for visiting, {{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)

A Day At The Domain

I took these at the Auckland Domain about a month ago.  The first photo is of a fat friendly goldfish in one of the ponds.  He was looking right at me!

The second photo is of some of the many beautiful lily flowers in the ponds.  I just love these!

The next photo is of some of the lily pads.  The gold colour gave the photo an interesting twist - it was from a gold coloured light above the pond!  I just happened to be in the right place to see it.

The hands were some of the performers who were drumming (and playing these unique instruments which sounded similar to castanets) outside the Museum.

The noise was deafening but awesome!  We loved it & watched & listened for ages.

The performers but all their energy & strength into their drumming.  Some of them were from Japan, others were from New Zealand.

Thanks for visiting, {{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)

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Helen

This is my friend Helen.  I took this photo of her in the Domain the day we gatecrashed the wedding - see post below for details of that adventure!
I used Photoshop to surround her with the purple & white flowers!  She hasn't actually seen this photo yet!
Thanks for visiting, {{HUGS}} from me to you:-)

I Gatecrashed A Wedding!

My friend Helen & I went to the Domain about a month ago to photograph the beautiful gardens there.  It's a truly amazing place with acres & acres of green grass to play on as well as many tall tree's.  We had just had lunch after arriving by train when we came across a bridal party!  Of course, we wanted photo's of the gorgeous bride and her bridesmaids/flower girls.
We were quietly snapping away trying not to get in the way when the groom came up to me & told me to get right up in front & take as many photo's as I liked!  So I did!  They were all very bubbly & friendly and there was a lot of giggling going on by the flower girls!  We had a blast & I am sure the bridal party did too!
It was a gorgeous sunny day & the setting for the photo's was so pretty.
Thanks to the bridal party for letting us share your day!  You all looked gorgeous!
Thanks for visiting, {{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)

One Tree Hill, Auckland City

This is the view from the top of One Tree Hill.  This is about 25 minutes drive from where I live.  The top photo is taken looking towards Auckland City.  You can see the Sky Tower in the top left hand corner. 
The second photo is looking towards the Waitakere Ranges - way off in the distance.  It was a beautiful sunny day but oh-so-windy!!  I had to brace myself against the rock wall as the wind was pushing me all over the place!  A great day:-)
Thanks for visiting, {{hugs}} from me to YOU:-)