An alphabet in my house...

I stole this fantastic idea from my friend Jackson who had it suggested to him by a mate when he was bored one evening.

I'm not bored, but it's been a bit of a tough week. Been a bit crook, felt a bit yuck, and really only just starting to come right now. So what do you do when you're sick at home and starting to come right? Have a wee adventure/explore in your own house of course!

Here's the alphabet chez moi... enjoy.

A

Me and my bestie went to this last week at the last minute. Was a great wee night out in CHCH, when it's hard to remember how to have great nights out there anymore (or at least where to go). Highlight was Anika singing with her Mum.

B

Bird whistle. My lovely stepdaughters gave me this for my Hen's weekend/birthday. It's one of those awesome ones you put water in and it makes a beautiful canary-like melody.

C

 Czechoslovakian glassware

 D

My Dog. Nemo. he is choice. he didn't want to wait to get his photo taken, he wanted to run and get me a toy - which is why he's not paying attention.

E

Ok, this is actually outside, but it's the EMPTY chook nesting box. they moulted, it got cold, they've been off the lay ever since. boo.

F

This wee fern is really cute.

G

Gummies! Not in short supply in our house (these are just the hubby's!)

H

This hen is one of those errant buggers that are not laying at the moment... we call her "Big Red"

I

Interesting books... well I think they are... : )

J

Jam! homemade. thanks Mum!!! x

K

Keyholder - fantails of course!

L

Love. Husband (naturopath) made up some tonic for me when I was feeling a bit poorly...

M

Medal: Husband is a volunteer firefighter - got this last year for services to volunteering.

N

Native: plenty of NZ native inspired paraphernalia around our house. This toi toi lamp is awesome.

O

Oh, I don't think I need to say any more.

P

Paua: These are in our laundry tub. You can find them in almost every room of our house though...

Q

A real quarter. Leftover from last year's trip to the United States

R

Rainbow woolie hat. My favourite. Bought this years ago for five bucks at the Mot flea market.

S

Sailing ship. We have heaps of magnets on the fridge. This one is the hubby's. I quite like it.

T

Tractor. This one is my Dad's and is the exact same model of one he had when he was a kid. Sits on my coffee table these days.

U

Un-put-down-able.  Blair Somerville of the Lost Gypsy Gallery in Papatowai is a mate, an automator, a whimsical artist and someone who rolls his eyes every time I visit, because I always end up buying something there (which means he has to make another). This one is called "Shark Baiting" - bought it for the hubby, a keen surfer and shark-phobe. 

V

I've had this venus fly trap for two years. It's awesome. The other day it caught a wasp!

My Dad tells a story about a venus fly trap that my uncle had when they were kids. Apparently uncle fed it belgium (luncheon meat) and it grew and grew and he was scared and stopped feeding it and it died. Suspect this was in fact a tall tale for young children. : )

W

Where the Wild Things Are. This little guy has been in my house for a while. Seemed fitting to post him up after the death of Maurice Sendak this week.  This little guy is a guardian that once belonged to a good friend of mine. When she could no longer have him, he came to live with me.

X

Not quite starting with 'X', but we use OXO cubes a lot, and this week when I made a chicken soup, I was fascinated by the 'X' shape of the wee cubes.

Y

This is the hubby's 12 string. It sounds beautiful.

Z

We don't actually have a video player anymore, but we can't bear to get rid of Zoolander. "...haaaapppy..."

The mask is slipping - endangered species

Managed to get on "Breakfast" a couple of weeks ago - talking about our endangered species. Did you know how bad our conservation story is getting? New Zealand used to be a world-leader, and looked up to for it's conservation prowess. Now our Department of Conservation has a budget the same size as the Hamilton City Council to manage ONE THIRD of our land mass, which includes all our national parks, the huts, tracks, bridges, culverts, the pest control (stoats, possums, rats, ferrets, weasels, wilding pines, weeds...), not to mention the marine reserves, marine mammals - and we haven't even gotten to the protection of all of our threatened species... does this sound right to you?

From darkness comes beauty...

Hi everyone and Happy New Year.

I was going to write one of those hand-wringy posts about why I hadn't written a blog for months and months, but I'm not. Put simply, it's been a busy old time. During this time, we've had lots on the go, not the least of which has been getting married!  A great way to end a pretty massive and challenging year was marrying the gorgeous bloke in Dunedin the weekend before Christmas. As expected, we did as much DIY as we could, and bless his heart, we had our first dance with him in white gumboots.

So back to the Ka Pai Life.  Everything is still ka pai, quakes notwithstanding. (wowza, one just hit as I typed that!).

I thought I'd start with an update on my wee venus flytrap. Earlier this year, I explained about how our little windowsill venus flytrap was helping me deal to my nemesis, flies.

Sadly, along with my blog, I kind of neglected the flytrap, and by about October, it just looked like a brown, dead thing, with tiny little dead teeth the only thing distinguishing it as a venus flytrap.  Ever hopeful, I started watering it again a couple of months ago, and lo and behold, it began to grow again!

About a month ago, like some kind of triffid, it started sending out a shoot. A long, green, bendy shoot, that grew longer and taller and longer and taller until it had travelled halfway up our kitchen window.

 Atop this shoot are half a dozen tear shaped pods, which almost looked like alien-fingers to the creeping long hand as it slowly crawled up the window.  I have been peering at these pods for a week or more now!

And then, like magic, from a once-all-but-dead fly-killing plant, on New Year's Day, this beautiful flower appeared.

A very beautiful sign to mark the beginning of what I'm sure will be a beautiful year. 

How is your New Year playing out so far?