Baby Brights by Bev Caleskas. (Ravelry link here.) Malabrigo Silky Merino in Artadecer. What a dream! US 6 (4 mm) needles. I purchased the yarn at the local yarn shop with a gift certificate I had gotten for my birthday. I immediately fell in love with the colorway. The Paua buttons look so beautiful with the yarn. They were a gift from Brent. This will be a special lil' sweater indeed.
In the version of the story I told my class Rona is a man. I used the book "Maori Myths & Legendary Tales" by A.W. Reed as a source. The only version I could find online speaks of Rona as a woman & of course there are other differences in the story. You can find it here. My students loved it!
I read a sort of summary of a story that talked of the myths surrounding the creation of greenstone. I made it into a bit of a Michaelmas-type story. Super-abbreviated the story is basically about a fish. He finds a magic key to free a castle from the enchantment of a ferocious dragon. He swims against the current to bring the key to a courageous boy. Then he dies & turns into a greenstone, thus still giving us beauty today in the form of jade. I had the students draw the sea first & then draw the fish in yellow. Magic! - Green. It was nice for them to experience mixing colors in this way.
This was on my last weekend. We drove into the hills for amazing views in all directions. Steep. Slightly scary. Lots o' sheep.
The lambs just make me wanna go, "Awww. Awwwww." So cute.
The lil' path there in the background is the road & the sheep were very smart. They didn't want to be a Sunday lamb stew, so they quickly moved out of the way. But, with so many sheep all over the place, it was almost certain that there would be a sheep bum in the picture somewhere.
Well, in Kaikoura the cows had an awesome view. Here in the hills it was the sheep!
I'm looking at vacation pictures & thinking about the great summer (ehmmm winter) I had. I have 300+ pictures, so I'm only sharing a few here. It's just such a nice memory. This is at the beach in Kaikoura. A beautiful destination on the South Island. There's no way a picture can capture how "purty" it all was, but the pictures sure help me remember.
This was a picture taken from the hills. Not terribly far up in the hills, but still in the hills. I remember there were cows grazing - just imagine what happy cows they must be to have an awesome view like this!
I've always been fascinated with fireplaces & wood-stoves. They remind me of when I was little. It would be cold at night in the winter, but in the morning in the kitchen where the wood-stove had been lit, it was always warm & cozy. Just imagine sitting by the beach at night by the fire.
Seals. Yes. This was not a zoo or a wildlife reserve. Just seals at home on this beautiful stretch of beach.
This is how close I got to... these birds :-) before they took off. Ahhh. Lovely memories.
It was so nice to see sheep roaming the hills seemingly without boundaries. I suppose each & every person traveling to New Zealand takes some photos of sheep. This sheep showing bum & the wee lil' lamb is my favorite sheep picture! When Noah was little, he called sheep sheshe - thus the title.
This is a felted kiwi ornament I got in New Zealand - at the artsy kind of market in Christchurch to be specific. So cute. Hangin' in my window for now.
A perfect "flat white" at a cafe with an awesome view and then...
... one last view from the hills. What a blessing it was to see this gorgeous, amazing country! I had such a great time & I will remember it forever. But not all is meant to last. Sigh. Wouldn't it be nice?
We got there fairly early in the morning as the fog was still lifting... So, so pretty! I really like these two pictures, but in my heart what I will always remember is the walk on a gravel path through the fern bush to get here.
Over the hills & Arthur's Pass to the West Coast of the Southern Alps. It was so cold up there! Brrrr.
From a hot & humid Virginia summer to a cool New Zealand winter. The beaches are so beautiful. I can't find the words. It's amazing how geraniums & alyssum bloom here in winter. My camera doesn't do the beauty justice. I like the European flair to life here. I'm not anticipating traffic from "the other side" yet, so I fear one day I will get run over. :-) The picture was a random shot into water at Willowbank. Cropping & sepia the only edits. Something about that picture speaks to me...
