Glen Eden Santa Parade!

These are some of the photos I took at the Santa Parade today.  Absolutely horrible wet, cold windy day:-(  But the Parade was fantastic!  I came home with cold, numb, blue fingers..and a smile on my face! (And lots of photos!)  After coming home and thawing out I totally forgot how cold I had been!  Even the trees (above) were decorated! 

And the dogs!  So cute and colourful! Hope they didn't have a "rrufff day!

This very bouncy lady had springs on her feet and was bouncing all over the place! 

One of the pipe bands.  I have Scottish blood in me so I love the bagpipes!  (Santa!  Please bring me some bagpipes fro Christmas!!)

It was good to see my local Fire Brigade all dressed up for the ocassion!

I wish I was this tall... 

"Minnie Mouse" was there but I didn't see "Mickey Mouse" anywhere?!  I once proposed to "Mickey Mouse" when I was at Disneyland.  The person taking the photos was quick to say he couldn't marry me because "Minnie Mouse" would be very upset!!  My life could have been a "carnival"!

I'm not really into cars, but this one caught my eye for sure! 

...And this one too! 

And this one!

These kids were happy in spite of the wind and rain and were happy to have their photo taken! 

And this little boy was just gorjuss!  Such a happy face! 

Another one of the many bands at the Parade. 

"Morris Dancers" in all their finery!  Now I know what to do with all my scraps of material...Just add bells!

I loved this colourful Unicorn!  He came over and rubbed noses with me!  Shame I couldn't take a photo of that! 

The boy in the top photo was giggling so much when the Unicorn stopped to say hello to him!

OMG!  This guy had such an awesome expression on his face, I just had to take some shots of him! 

And this little girl was so cute!   I love purple and red together! 

Another Pipe band, and such a talented group! Love it!  (Santa!  Don't forget my bagpipes, please!)

Not sure who these guys were, Vikings maybe?  But they were very colourful! 

Every so often they stopped and "saluted" the crowd, on both sides of the Parade.  The crowd certainly loved them!  (Me too!) 

Love the face painting on this happy lady!  

And we all know who this bloke is!  He was probably the warmest, driest person at the Parade, in his red suit!  (Remember my bagpipes, Santa!) 

It was good to see the St. John Ambulance guys there, and all dressed up too! 

 Ok, that's all for today, hope you enjoyed your visit!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Monday's Earthquake.

At around 12.02 am Monday morning (14th November), the South Island of New Zealand experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. While it was located towards the top of the South Island, the North Island (where I live) felt it quite strongly.  I knew nothing of it until 6.30 am later that morning.  I turned on the radio to hear all kinds of warnings, from Tsunami to buildings falling down, and roads collapsing. Total chaos.  I then  checked my mobile phone and there was a message from a close cousin.  One solitary word. "Earthquake."  The next message said, "Rocked my house and creaked."  I panicked because she lives up here in the North Island about an hour and half south of me.  I sent her a text message asking if she was ok.  While I waited for her to reply I am hearing about this devastation in the South Island and how people are cut off because roads are so damaged no-one can get in or out.  Buildings have fallen down and houses have been demolished. I got more panicky by the second because my cousin was not replying to my text.  So I sent her an email hoping that would get to her.  I waited.  And waited.  Some time later she called me on my landline and said she was fine. She had been awake since midnight and  at 6 am had gone back to bed to try and get some sleep.  As soon as I heard her voice I burst into tears.  I was so happy to hear she was ok! Luckily her house was un-damaged.  She was safe but very stressed.

The damage to land and property is huge. Two people have lost their lives in the quake. There were two quakes together and luckily they were in areas that are not hugely populated, so that saved lives.  Three cows got stranded on a hill after the land gave way around them!  Thankfully they were saved and are ok!  Everyone was happy about that! People felt the quakes and some of the aftershocks up here in Auckland...I slept through it all and never felt a thing!  Yet people only a few minutes from here felt them!  My heart goes out to those people who are still stranded in remote areas. Tourists and locals. Water has run out so I hope they get help real soon.  Some of our Navy ships have gone down to help evacuate them.  One Australian ship and one from the USA too.  Thanks for that guys!  

We are ok, shaken but not stirred!  I don't ever want to experience an earthquake...I'd rather be stamping!

To Lorraine M..thanks for your concern and kind words for me:-)

There are thousands of kms of road destroyed, as well as train tracks.  The landscape, both land and sea, has been drastically ripped apart and changed forever.

I had trouble sleeping Monday night, so I was like a zombie the next day.  I still have trouble comprehending the whole thing.   My country is broken and in pieces:-(  But we will re-build and people are all pulling together and helping each other, that's what we do in a time like this.  

Ok that's it for today.  I just thought I would let people know I'm ok!  (Cats too!)

{HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Early Morning Surprise In My Garden!

A nice surprise this morning was to ind this gorjuss Wood Pigeon sitting in the tree's! They are big birds and it isn't often I get to see one this close.  I took these photos from directly underneath him.  I was very surprised he did not mind me being there with the camera!  He was very obliging and posed nicely for the camera!  

I first spotted him from my kitchen window, and thought it was a white plastic bag stuck in the tree!  I could only see the white bit as the rest of him as camouflaged by the tree and the blue sky.  So, of course, being curious as to what was in the tree, I went outside with my camera and discovered it was actually a Wood Pigeon! He was up quite high and I had to use my zoom lens to get him.  He stayed int he tree for about twenty minutes, so I was able to admire him for some time!  

This photo is of the Super Moon early in the morning.  I never got to see it at night because it was too cloudy:-(  But I managed to wave it good bye early this morning!  I guess it's not so "Super" now! 

This is one of my Geraniums I have growing. It's such a pretty pink colour and I notice the bumble bees love it as much as I do!  The flowers grow in clusters and don't open any further than this.  

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

Crazy Cats! And a Gripe About Vodafone:-(

No, no! It isn't Spiderman,  it's "Romeo-Valentino" after a moth on the security screen door!!  Although, he thinks he is Spiderman!  He had spotted a moth and he just had to get it.  He didn't.  The moth was on the outside of the door and he was on the inside!  Lucky moth, he lived to annoy "Romeo" another day!

Above and below is "Mr. Alfie", looking stunning and oh-so ready for Christmas with his antlers on!  He was not a happy little vegemite when I put those antlers on him!  I had about 2 seconds to take the photo and then he bolted!  He went one way and the antlers went the other way!  He is a lot happier in the photo below!  Or maybe not?!

These two pics, above and below, are of "Miss Lily".  In the top one she was hanging out of my kitchen window.  The door was open and she could have easily come out that way! 

"Wheeee!" say's "Miss Lily", as she swings wildly in the bucket hanging on my clothesline!  "Mr. Alfie" pulls on the string to try and tip her out!

Life is so simple when you are a cat!

**Serious stuff below!...**

I am still having trouble with VODAFONE not being able to stop texts from being sent multiple times all hours day and night.  This is harassment and in spite of sending emails to the CEO of Vodafone, I have gotten nowhere:-(   So I am now changing networks. I have requested a refund of the credit on my phone and as soon as they do that, I will switch over to another network.  Shame on you Vodafone for mucking me around and giving me SOOOOO many excuses as to why you cannot fix this issue.  I have spoken to multiple "Ninja's" who have all told me something different.  I have sent email after email giving them all the details of times and dates of the multiple texts I am receiving.  I have also spent some ours on the phone with various "Ninja's", and they too all tell me something different.  I have also sent several emails to the CEO, and still they cannot get it fixed.  I am over it.  The good news is, it only costs me $5 to change to another network. But if VODAFONE got their act together, I wouldn't be paying anything.  Shame on you VODAFONE.  One VERY unhappy (soon to be ex) Vodafone customer:-(

Thanks for dropping by, enjoy the weekend coming up!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Christmas Cards!

These three Snowman cards were made using a Memory Box die called Snowman Collage. Very easy to use and assemble the snowman!  As well as the snowman, you also get the hat, heart, scarf and button dies.  I punched the star using a small star die from SU.

The bird is from a stamp and matching die set called Yuletide Birdies, and they are from PoppyStamps.  The words on the cards are also from the Yuletide Birdie stamp set. On the card above I used my fringe scissors (SU) to "fringe" the scarf end.  Forgot to do it on the others!

Below is the Memory Box Snowman Collage Die.  I got the big die, but there is also a much smaller one.  This one fits nicely on a 6x4 card, which is around the size card I usually make. 

Here is the Yuletide Birdies stamps set.  It has a lot of stamps!   

A couple of close ups of some of the stamps in the set. 

And below is the matching Yuletide Birdies die set.  Because the stamps are perfectly clear, I actually die cut the shape I want and then stamp it. I don't usually do it this way round, but for some odd reason I find it easier with this stamp and die set.  The first time I used the set, I stamped and then die cut it, but I wasn't getting it even, and ended up with too much white space around parts of the die cut and not enough white space on others! Basically the die got int he way!  I guess it is a matter what works for you.

While searching for "something" I didn't find, I came across this CD case Christmas pocket which had some tiny cards inside.

These are the cards inside.  The Elf stamp is from a Stampin' Up! set.  I no longer have that set as I sold it some time ago.   "Fluffles" the cat is from Stampendous.  He has been well used!

The tiny card below was a very simple and quick card I made one day while trying to get some ideas.  The hat and face is from an SU stamp set. 

 

 The cat cards were also some very quick cards I put together one day.  They are not quite finished and need some words stamped on them.  I have die cut the cats from Memory Box dies I think.  These are kind of whimsical cards!  I try to make something a bit different to the usual red and green Christmas cards with the usual Santa theme.  Not that I have anything against Santa!  I love the bloke but don't always want him on my cards!  (Apologies Santa!)

...I'll get that star... 

...if I can just reach up a bit...

...Oh!  Here comes another one...

...I know I can reach it if I jump up high...

Darn stars!  I'll just sit here and wait for it to fall out of the sky and into my paws...you'd think she would have put it a bit lower so I could reach it...

Yes! yes!  I've nearly got it...it's mine, it's mine...

Thanks for dropping by,  hope you have a great week!  {HUGS from me to YOU:-)