A Sunny Winter's Day

On Tuesday before going off to Salem's costume fitting for Cinderella, we had a lovely afternoon at one of Salem's favourite parks which is at the top of Hobson Street in Wellington city.

There are lots of good climbing trees and Salem just goes from one tree to the next.

He had to make sure he didn't disturb the pigeons in this tree.  They were having an afternoon nap.

The park has two gardens, the first at the north entrance is the Lady MacKenzie Garden for the Blind which is a lovely scented garden.

It has a lovely little waterfall and pond area which makes a lovely sound.  Kids love climbing over the rocks and of course paddle about in it in the summer.

It's a lovely setting to come and have a picnic lunch or a takeaway coffee.

Along with the music of the waterfall is the gorgeous aromas of all the flowers.  There is the lovely sweet smell of some White Daphne.  There are patches of Lemon Balm, Rosemary and other fragrant herbs as well to enjoy.

Lots of bushes of the usual common pink coloured Daphne.  Yum.  Just love that smell.  I had to pick a little bit to take home with me.  Naughty, naughty!!

No fragrant garden is complete without lavender.  Can you spot the bee in the photo?

Spring flowers are already up and blooming and it is still the middle of winter.

It's hard to believe that this lovely park is right next to a motorway.

Right next to these gardens is the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Park.  Katherine Mansfield is a famous New Zealand writer.  Salem's favourite story written by her is "The Dolls House".

There are always plenty of pigeons here.  They are very well behaved too ;^)

More great trees for climbing.
We had a lovely relaxing time in the sun before going off to watch the politicians argue while sitting in the gallery while Parliment was in session.  We both love politics!!!

And of course we managed to fit in a cup of tea and filled our tums at Arthur's in Cuba Street.

And a quick read.

Hill Street Matariki Winter Craft Market

On Saturday the 23rd of June we had a stall at the Hill Street Market.  They had a special Craft Market along with the usual farmer's market for Matariki (Maori New Year's) and the Winter Solstice.
The weather was absolutely awful so our stalls were inside.

Salem went around the market selling bits and pieces from our stall to the brave people who dared the weather.  He also sold many raffle tickets  for the hat, scarf and fingerless gloves pictured above.

I had spent the previous three weeks frantically crocheting to get more stock together.

I used every opportunity to crochet, on the bus, the train, while waiting for Salem at his dance classes and while watching telly at night.

We did have stock left over from our last craft market stall, but we did need more.

Salem had made the toys.  I think he was a bit tired this time to make too many things.  He is very busy with his dancing.

I must say that I am now having a bit of a break now from knitting and crocheting.  I think my next project is to continue with some of my cross-stitch, especially my Colonial Cottage one.

We made a good profit considering the awful weather.
We haven't been to the normal Hill Street Market for a while due to Salem's dancing commitments but it is now the school holidays so no dance classes for a couple of weeks and then we will be going into Wellington for rehearsals for the Royal New Zealand  Ballet's "Cinderella" as Salem has a small part in that.
He's looking forward to that.

That's all for now

Nellie B